This is the prologue to my new fic. I will post the first chapter over the
weekend and then I will post a chapter every week.
Thousands of years ago, the dim consciousness of primitive man expanded to allow new thoughts and several ranges of emotions. Over the centuries, humankind, with an increasing consciousness and intelligence, settled down into structured communities. They created technology to improve their lives. They built great temples and castles. They created an economic system for their society to flourish. Humankind became civilized. At the very first moment of civilized thought, humankind encountered a horror that threatened their souls - nether spirits.
Nether spirits were the spirits of civilized people that fell to the evil that lives within every civilization. Although there was another world for nether spirits to reside, the nether spirits wished to haunt and cause harm to those who knew them when they were alive. After the passing of two generations of civilized man, the island of Japan was rampant with nether spirits.
The nether spirits, like mortals, needed to survive or else perish. However, since they gave in to the evil part of human nature, they relied on suffering, anger, and greed to survive. Badamon, the leader of the nether spirits, arranged an alliance with the snake demons who were also going through a food shortage. The snake demons killed the humans slowly for food while the nether spirits fed off the pain of each death.
War soon engulfed all Japan. Two distinct groups of fighters emerged - those who could battle spirits and those who could battle mortals.
Families such as Kuroda, Koji, and Yamano in the Clan of the Ancient were descended directly from people who fought valiantly against the nether spirits and saved the world during that period. Other families such as Sasaki, Sanada, Date, Mitoma, Hideyoshi, Mouri, Koma and Yamanouchi were descended from people who fought against the snake demons and also saved the world. During that century of warfare, the Ashi family sympathized with the nether spirits and the snake demons. The Ashi family believed that the nether spirits and snake demons had the right to exist. After 34 years of warfare, Badamon, as a gift of the Ashi family's comradeship, made an armor for the leader of the Ashi family to wear. After 78 years of warfare, the Ashi family controlled the majority of Japan. The Kuroda, Sasaki, Koma, Yamanouchi, Mitoma and Hideyoshi families were decimated and faced extinction. One year later, people whose descents became part of the Clan created a special staff to fight against the evil armor of Ashi. A lengthy campaign followed to free the land. In the 109 year of the war, the first bearer of the staff died, but his spirit resided in the staff to guide the next bearer of the staff. After ten years, he left the essence of his spiritual power in the staff while his soul passed away into the next life. Finally, after 125 years of constant warfare, what became known as the Clan of the Ancient won the war. The nether spirits and the Ashi family were banished to the nether world while the snake demons scattered into small pockets across Japan.
Then, the people with special powers gathered together near the western coast of Japan to protect their country and to further develop their knowledge and their ability to fight evil. As more centuries passed, the people, who were later known as the Clan of the Ancient, eventually became their own ethnic group due to constant marriages and training within the clan over millennia that distinguished them from the other Japanese and heightened their abilities. The Clan of the Ancient acted like an independent, self-sufficient community. The Kuroda family and the Koji family were farmers while the Yamano family were artisans who bought materials from the other families in the clan to create items for sale in the neighboring villages.
Until 500 AD, the clan only had one leader who also functioned as the clan's warrior and defender - the one who controlled the staff. Around the year 500 AD, the clan began studying Buddhism and Shintoism. The two were combined to suit the clan's needs. The position of warrior monks, each with a certain trait - Virtue, Life, Justice, Wisdom, Trust, Loyalty, Obedience, Piety, and Serenity, were created to be the defenders of the Clan and the world, and also advisors to the one who controlled the staff. The warrior monks were the predecessors of the Ronin Warriors and inspired Kaosu, the Ancient One, to create the nine armors.
During that same period, the vengeful snake demons also underwent a cultural change. The snake demons captured the daughters of their most powerful enemies to produce powerful children with snake blood who would later battle their enemies. Being small in numbers, the snake demons were not considered a major threat until they attacked the Clan of the Ancient a hundred years later. The snake demons were more dangerous than they were centuries ago when they relied on Badamon and the Ashi family for support. After several bloody battles, the warrior monks defeated the snake demons.
Again drastically reduced in numbers, the snake demons were forced to live near the coastal areas. For centuries they lived shamefully in the waters until the last descendent of the Ashi family, Talpa, took the evil armor and slaughtered the warrior monks. The snake demons were again allied with the Ashi family and Badamon. They believed themselves to be invincible because not only had their former allies returned and the warrior monks were dead, but also because the bearer of the staff suffered from a nether curse. However, Kaosu, who was later known as the Ancient One, killed the last descendent of the Ashi family and the snake demons were fought back to the coasts.
By that time, the snake demons were tired of losing so they pledged never to give up. For five hundred years, they fought the people along the area of southern Kyushu in Japan. Their control of the lands fluctuated constantly. During the 1300s AD, their hatred of losing transformed into a hatred of certain families in southern Kyushu. The Yamanouchi family was one of those families.
In the late 1400s, the spirit of Talpa sent an army of youja and nether spirits to attack the Clan of the Ancient while Kaosu, then known as the Ancient One, was busy in other parts of Japan. The campaign was successful beyond imagination. Out of the 2000 or 3000 members of the clan, only a handful estimating near 50 survived, the majority left with nether curses. Several members of the Clan were captured by the snake demons and placed in harems. Six or seven escaped and for the most part were unscarred. The Yamano and Koji families fled, unharmed. Through marriage with other families, the powers inherent in the Clan of the Ancient diminished and by the 1600s, everyone believed the last true descendents of the Clan were dead. A nether spirit in the massacre cursed the only survivor of the Kuroda family, Jiguro, in the late 1400s. The Ancient One found Kuroda Jiguro stumbling among the wreckage of the Clan and insane from the curse. The Ancient One restored Jiguro's sanity and gave him the Autumn armor. The armor's trait of Serenity helped control the nether curse.
In the early 1500s, the Yamanouchi family and the village which housed the Yamanouchi family was almost under the control of the snake demons. After several relentless attacks, the snake demons succeeded in poisoning Yamanouchi Nataki. Nataki's son, Nazaka, was torn between fighting the battles to protect his village and helping his ill father. With the powerful Yamanouchi family preoccupied, the snake demons were confident in controlling the village and then Japan.
Then, the Ancient One gave Yamanouchi Nazaka the Summer armor. When Nazaka, then the Ronin Warrior of Piety, left to fight a different evil, the snake demons hoped that Nazaka would be killed. To their dismay, Nazaka returned with the Ronin armor and used it to repel the snake demons from his village. For five years, the war was at standstill until finally the snake demons were defeated.
Yamanouchi Nazaka also used his armor to cure the poison in his father. After Nazaka's victory over the snake demons, the village enjoyed ten years of peace. During the fifteen years after his return, Nazaka married and had a son and a daughter, Nakazo and Serika. His children never lived to start happy families of their own. After the decade of peace ended, Nakazo was killed in one of the first battles of the new war. Serika was raped by a snake demon and later gave birth to a son who was named Sekhmet. She later killed herself in despair.
Sekhmet lived a sad childhood. The village hated him because of his father. Only Nazaka treated him with kindness. Although the village eventually won the war, Nazaka died in the decisive battle against the snake demons when Sekhmet was nine. While the village celebrated their victory, Sekhmet ran away with his grandfather's armor and was hunted by Naga, the leader of the snake demons. After a few days, Naga captured him and tortured him. Due to years of torture, abuse, and lack of communication, Sekhmet developed a rather animalistic attitude until his seventeenth year when he retrieved his armor while Naga was sleeping and became the Dark Warlord of Venom for Talpa.
Thousands of years ago, the dim consciousness of primitive man expanded to allow new thoughts and several ranges of emotions. Over the centuries, humankind, with an increasing consciousness and intelligence, settled down into structured communities. They created technology to improve their lives. They built great temples and castles. They created an economic system for their society to flourish. Humankind became civilized. At the very first moment of civilized thought, humankind encountered a horror that threatened their souls - nether spirits.
Nether spirits were the spirits of civilized people that fell to the evil that lives within every civilization. Although there was another world for nether spirits to reside, the nether spirits wished to haunt and cause harm to those who knew them when they were alive. After the passing of two generations of civilized man, the island of Japan was rampant with nether spirits.
The nether spirits, like mortals, needed to survive or else perish. However, since they gave in to the evil part of human nature, they relied on suffering, anger, and greed to survive. Badamon, the leader of the nether spirits, arranged an alliance with the snake demons who were also going through a food shortage. The snake demons killed the humans slowly for food while the nether spirits fed off the pain of each death.
War soon engulfed all Japan. Two distinct groups of fighters emerged - those who could battle spirits and those who could battle mortals.
Families such as Kuroda, Koji, and Yamano in the Clan of the Ancient were descended directly from people who fought valiantly against the nether spirits and saved the world during that period. Other families such as Sasaki, Sanada, Date, Mitoma, Hideyoshi, Mouri, Koma and Yamanouchi were descended from people who fought against the snake demons and also saved the world. During that century of warfare, the Ashi family sympathized with the nether spirits and the snake demons. The Ashi family believed that the nether spirits and snake demons had the right to exist. After 34 years of warfare, Badamon, as a gift of the Ashi family's comradeship, made an armor for the leader of the Ashi family to wear. After 78 years of warfare, the Ashi family controlled the majority of Japan. The Kuroda, Sasaki, Koma, Yamanouchi, Mitoma and Hideyoshi families were decimated and faced extinction. One year later, people whose descents became part of the Clan created a special staff to fight against the evil armor of Ashi. A lengthy campaign followed to free the land. In the 109 year of the war, the first bearer of the staff died, but his spirit resided in the staff to guide the next bearer of the staff. After ten years, he left the essence of his spiritual power in the staff while his soul passed away into the next life. Finally, after 125 years of constant warfare, what became known as the Clan of the Ancient won the war. The nether spirits and the Ashi family were banished to the nether world while the snake demons scattered into small pockets across Japan.
Then, the people with special powers gathered together near the western coast of Japan to protect their country and to further develop their knowledge and their ability to fight evil. As more centuries passed, the people, who were later known as the Clan of the Ancient, eventually became their own ethnic group due to constant marriages and training within the clan over millennia that distinguished them from the other Japanese and heightened their abilities. The Clan of the Ancient acted like an independent, self-sufficient community. The Kuroda family and the Koji family were farmers while the Yamano family were artisans who bought materials from the other families in the clan to create items for sale in the neighboring villages.
Until 500 AD, the clan only had one leader who also functioned as the clan's warrior and defender - the one who controlled the staff. Around the year 500 AD, the clan began studying Buddhism and Shintoism. The two were combined to suit the clan's needs. The position of warrior monks, each with a certain trait - Virtue, Life, Justice, Wisdom, Trust, Loyalty, Obedience, Piety, and Serenity, were created to be the defenders of the Clan and the world, and also advisors to the one who controlled the staff. The warrior monks were the predecessors of the Ronin Warriors and inspired Kaosu, the Ancient One, to create the nine armors.
During that same period, the vengeful snake demons also underwent a cultural change. The snake demons captured the daughters of their most powerful enemies to produce powerful children with snake blood who would later battle their enemies. Being small in numbers, the snake demons were not considered a major threat until they attacked the Clan of the Ancient a hundred years later. The snake demons were more dangerous than they were centuries ago when they relied on Badamon and the Ashi family for support. After several bloody battles, the warrior monks defeated the snake demons.
Again drastically reduced in numbers, the snake demons were forced to live near the coastal areas. For centuries they lived shamefully in the waters until the last descendent of the Ashi family, Talpa, took the evil armor and slaughtered the warrior monks. The snake demons were again allied with the Ashi family and Badamon. They believed themselves to be invincible because not only had their former allies returned and the warrior monks were dead, but also because the bearer of the staff suffered from a nether curse. However, Kaosu, who was later known as the Ancient One, killed the last descendent of the Ashi family and the snake demons were fought back to the coasts.
By that time, the snake demons were tired of losing so they pledged never to give up. For five hundred years, they fought the people along the area of southern Kyushu in Japan. Their control of the lands fluctuated constantly. During the 1300s AD, their hatred of losing transformed into a hatred of certain families in southern Kyushu. The Yamanouchi family was one of those families.
In the late 1400s, the spirit of Talpa sent an army of youja and nether spirits to attack the Clan of the Ancient while Kaosu, then known as the Ancient One, was busy in other parts of Japan. The campaign was successful beyond imagination. Out of the 2000 or 3000 members of the clan, only a handful estimating near 50 survived, the majority left with nether curses. Several members of the Clan were captured by the snake demons and placed in harems. Six or seven escaped and for the most part were unscarred. The Yamano and Koji families fled, unharmed. Through marriage with other families, the powers inherent in the Clan of the Ancient diminished and by the 1600s, everyone believed the last true descendents of the Clan were dead. A nether spirit in the massacre cursed the only survivor of the Kuroda family, Jiguro, in the late 1400s. The Ancient One found Kuroda Jiguro stumbling among the wreckage of the Clan and insane from the curse. The Ancient One restored Jiguro's sanity and gave him the Autumn armor. The armor's trait of Serenity helped control the nether curse.
In the early 1500s, the Yamanouchi family and the village which housed the Yamanouchi family was almost under the control of the snake demons. After several relentless attacks, the snake demons succeeded in poisoning Yamanouchi Nataki. Nataki's son, Nazaka, was torn between fighting the battles to protect his village and helping his ill father. With the powerful Yamanouchi family preoccupied, the snake demons were confident in controlling the village and then Japan.
Then, the Ancient One gave Yamanouchi Nazaka the Summer armor. When Nazaka, then the Ronin Warrior of Piety, left to fight a different evil, the snake demons hoped that Nazaka would be killed. To their dismay, Nazaka returned with the Ronin armor and used it to repel the snake demons from his village. For five years, the war was at standstill until finally the snake demons were defeated.
Yamanouchi Nazaka also used his armor to cure the poison in his father. After Nazaka's victory over the snake demons, the village enjoyed ten years of peace. During the fifteen years after his return, Nazaka married and had a son and a daughter, Nakazo and Serika. His children never lived to start happy families of their own. After the decade of peace ended, Nakazo was killed in one of the first battles of the new war. Serika was raped by a snake demon and later gave birth to a son who was named Sekhmet. She later killed herself in despair.
Sekhmet lived a sad childhood. The village hated him because of his father. Only Nazaka treated him with kindness. Although the village eventually won the war, Nazaka died in the decisive battle against the snake demons when Sekhmet was nine. While the village celebrated their victory, Sekhmet ran away with his grandfather's armor and was hunted by Naga, the leader of the snake demons. After a few days, Naga captured him and tortured him. Due to years of torture, abuse, and lack of communication, Sekhmet developed a rather animalistic attitude until his seventeenth year when he retrieved his armor while Naga was sleeping and became the Dark Warlord of Venom for Talpa.