In The Beginning
It seemed to shine, no matter the time of day on the mountain, which stood at the center of the world. Upon that mountain rested a grand palace or, what was once a grand palace. What stood there now was nothing but a ruined shell of what was once the home to the creator of the universe itself. Smoke rose all around, blotting out the sun, but not nearly as much as a looming shadow of immense size, holding near its top two pin points of crimson flame to serve as eyes with which to see the destruction it had wrought. Before the shadow stood four men; of red, blue, black, and white dress respectfully. Behind the four men sat in the air itself, a woman of indeterminable age, watching on with a stoic expression, already knowing the outcome of this confrontation.
The man in black stepped forth, having formulated his plan some time before, and setting it into motion. One spring from his robed legs brought him soaring towards the hovering shadow. Once he had reached his target, the robed man began to throw attack after attack his way. A punch coming from an impossible angle from the right at an amazing rate of speed, though easily it was evaded by the looming darkness, which moved only fractionally to the left to avoid before ducking a swinging leg from its left. Through the whole exchange which seemed to last for mere minutes, the face of the black robed man grew hot with rage. "Back to the darkness with you, demon!"
"I think not, Genbu." Still the exchange went on, even with the booming voice of the shadow, which sounded more unto thousands of screaming souls than anything else, let loose. In that moment, Genbu's guard fell, leaving his chest open for the shadow to hammer home a fist of his own, one to embed itself halfway into the chest of the beast god. "I shall not return to such abysmal surroundings again. Rather, it is you who shall be banished to the darkness!" Those flaming points on the shadow's face flared to an even greater height as a bright light enveloped both it and Genbu.
As the light faded, there stood only the shadow and no Genbu in sight. Seeing this act sparked something within the blue and white robed men, as they took to the air towards the shadow, screaming out with the thunderous roars of a dragon and tiger. Unimaginably fast, however, the shadow closed the gap between it and the two men, its right arm sinking into the stomach of the blue robed figure while its left hand plunged through the chest of the white robed figure.
Spurred to action, the man in red leapt up, crimson wings shooting from his back as he did so. However, his forward progress was halted by what could only be described as the leg of the shadow, which placed a strong kick straight to the side of the man's face, sending him hammering back down into the mountainside. The shadow's head shook, and an almost apologetic, yet annoyed voice boomed outward. "Do wait your turn, Suzaku." The shadow turned back to the two men it now held and turned its vengeful gaze to the one on its right. "And as for you, Seiryuu. Farewell." As those words were spoken, flames of brilliant purple surrounded Seiryuu's form before burning him into nothing.
The white robed man spat in the face of the shadow, screaming out, "Death will befall you, Majin!" Even as the man finished his proclamation, his face contorted in excruciating agony followed by an inhuman scream as his body was turned inside out and then consumed in a torrent of green flames. As the flames cleared, there was only the shadow left, dropping both arms and looking down to the collapsed body of Suzaku. The shadow's form descended upon the battered god and a foot was placed on the small of Suzaku's back.
Putting all of its weight on the back of the god, hearing a reassuring crack issue forth, the shadow chuckled. "Byakko, your words hold little power when you consider that your last is a bug under my foot." Withdrawing from the body of Suzaku, the shadow extended an arm and a purple flash of light flew from it and engulfed the body of the god. When the flames cleared, all that was left to show the presence of the beast god was a burnt shadow in the shape of the god's body upon the rocky ground.
Through it all, the old woman chanted, drawing on the last vestiges of power from the four gods to rip the spirits of their divine warriors from their final rest, and send them flying into the future to be reincarnated. The old woman did this to insure that while the Majin had conquered, he would not obtain a true victory to gloat about. As the ritual was finished, she turned to look at the man dressed in black, wearing an abnormally large golden guard around his chest, back and shoulders as well as a golden headdress on his brow; covered by flowing strands of snow white hair down to his feet. The lady met the demon's golden eyes with her own. "This day is yours, Tenkou."
"Indeed I have, Taiitsu-kun." Already gloating at the victory he had reached, and confident that whatever the woman had done, it would not be a major problem to his goal.
And so it was that Taiitsu-kun, the creator of all, was sealed into the darkness of the void with which she had placed Tenkou in. Soon after, he went about creating his four generals to aid him in reaching his goal, the Shittenou, the Four Kings of Heaven. The darkness which is Tenkou had reached the beginning of his long sought after dream, he had became a god.
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So it begins. This had once been the story of a girl who gathered the seven stars of one of the beast gods and gained omnipotent power, making her every wish come true. The story itself was supposed to be an incantation and whosoever finished it would gain the power to make their grandest dreams come true, just as the girl in the story.
However, things have changed since then, and what follows are the chapters that chronicle the grandest story of all. These chapters lay out the final and greatest tail in the Everlasting Story known as the Mysterious Play. From here on in is the story of four Mikos who gathered the twenty-eight stars of the Four Gods of Heaven and Earth in defense of and to destroy a common enemy. The story itself is an incantation, and as soon as the first page is turned, the story becomes truth and begins...
