AN: This is my fourth work in progress. I am deeply sorry everyone. My brain simultaneously wants to do so many things.
"Michizane Sugawara."
An old priest, Master Haru Tengen, appraises the boy standing before him.
He's clearly tall for his age, but perhaps a young teen, wearing simple robes and a metal pin that signifies his status as an owned sorcerer-slave of Lord Tanashiro, the ruler of the lands. Extending one hand from a humble bow, he offers a letter from the lord.
There are curious looking bandages wrapped around the top half of his face, as if he has lost his vision, yet he seems to have found his way to this mountainside shrine without incident. He assumes that the young man has likely acclimated to his disability or possibly possesses a cursed technique that allows him to compensate.
His head is crowned with thick, snow white hair that is currently pulled into a messy bun, a few tendrils free after having slipped from the hair pin.
Master Haru allows the young sorcerer entry once he reads Tanashiro's request to show Sugawara to the artifact housed at this shrine so that he may 'look upon it.'
This seems like quite a rude joke since this boy is clearly without sight, but he will not argue with the lord.
Lord Tanashiro is himself a very powerful sorcerer, which is what allows him to control so many weaker sorcerers, like Sugawara. The island is currently in a state of unspeakable violence as Tanashiro and those like him use sorcery to fight over land and wealth. These wars have led to incalculable suffering for ordinary people.
Wars bring with them every bad thing: famine, plague, poverty, grief, hopelessness.
Sugawara has probably been a slave most if not all of his life, purchased by the highest bidder when he first manifested a talent.
The thirteen-year-old follows the old priest, making polite conversation. The old man has a certain warmth and friendliness about him that makes Michizane feel bad that he's stranded on the mountain guarding the dark idol.
Sugawara struggles with his technique, because it's difficult to understand. It's even more difficult to try and explain to someone else. With Six Eyes, he can see so many things that other people can't: a strange energy pulling everything toward the earth, the fact that things seem to be made of even tinier things that like to be stuck together. He can see the heat emanating from a fire and the light coming from the sun in a different way, and lightning seems so much bigger and brighter to him than it seems to be for normal people.
Lord Tanashiro calls his technique 'Invisible Armor,' but he doesn't think that's correct. He feels like there's so much more to it than that.
His technique feels so big and mysterious, and he feels so small and ignorant.
As they arrive at the room that contains the dark artifact, he pulls the bow on the cloth wrapped around his head and in that dark hallway, Master Haru glimpses those strange eyes for the first time.
They glow, illuminated by their own light, and are a glittering shade of blue that reminds him of ocean waves glimmering under the sun.
"I thought you were blind."
The kid gives him a sheepish smile and says, "It's hard to explain, but my eyes are so sharp that sometimes I see too much and it makes my mind very weary."
"Does your cursed technique involve your eyes?"
"I'm actually not sure. I don't fully understand my abilities right now. I'm not from a family of sorcerers who pass techniques down. I'm still figuring everything out as I go.
The cursed object this shrine was built to protect is actually quite small, only as tall as the priest's hand is long from wrist to the tip of his middle finger. It's a jade carving of unknown devil or god, a monster with four arms and two faces, standing tall with both sets of arms crossed.
Inscribed on the metal base are symbols that are already so ancient that some of them are out of use, but if they were modern, and Japanese, the name would read 'Ryomen Sukuna.'
No one knew where this anathematic object came from, although based on the style of the carving, it seemed possible that it did not originate on the island at all and may have come from the continent at some point.
All that was known was that two centuries ago, it made its way into the nearby valley and drove people to madness because some local sorcerers tried to turn it into a weapon and somehow damaged it.
The statue still bears a crack, even now.
Lord Tanashiro wanted Michizane to look at it with Six Eyes to determine if it could, in fact, be made into some incredibly powerful weapon because it was already clear to the lord that his slave could read all kinds of things in the sorcery world that were not knowable to others.
The boy leans over and stares at it, and determines that yes, this thing could be made into a weapon, but he didn't think anyone would ever be able to hold it. Unlike a traditional cursed object, this statue was essentially a cursed tool, except the tool was a box containing the cursed technique of some person who is likely long gone from the world.
Sugawara has so many questions, but based on the information he was able to take from Six Eyes, the object was used to seal away a powerful cursed technique. Maybe this was to prevent it from continuing in a bloodline, maybe it was to transfer it to someone else, maybe there was some other reason.
But two techniques were involved: the technique trapped inside the box, and the technique that made the box.
The curse that causes people to go mad is fairly unimportant, essentially cast on the completed object in order to prevent foolish people from tampering with it.
Most importantly, he knows that this object is incredibly dangerous. The power inside of it is unlike anything he has seen.
Sugawara has never kept a secret from his lord before, but he instinctively feels like the power trapped inside of this idol should stay inside. There's not a person inside; there's no soul or spiritual presence, no will or intention. It is only a source of power wrapped in a dangerous package that attempts to dissuade the curious.
As he stands there, he decides that he will report to his lord that it cannot be turned into a weapon and that further damaging with the idol would be a mistake.
Even though he is young, he feels like he has to make the right choice. His lord is greedy for power and desperate to gain an edge over another sorcerer warlord who takes a little more from Tanashiro each year.
After he finishes with the idol, he thanks the priest for his hospitality.
He arrived at the shrine late in the afternoon because he got lost, and so the priest offers to let him stay the night even though travelers are typically turned away.
Sugawara is grateful for a little hospitality, because he is used to making do with whatever is given him.
Master Haru lives at the shrine with two shrine maidens, Momo and Ayame, who were both abandoned at the shrine as newborns.
Momo is an older teenager and a priestess in training under Haru with plans to lead the shrine once the old priest is unable to continue. It will be unusual for a woman to have a role like that, but her abilities are quite spectacular and well-suited for the job.
She is tall with dark hair and eyes, perhaps plain, but lovely nonetheless. There is a kind of elegance that comes with how serious she takes her role, although when it's just the three of them, she loves fun and games like any young person.
The other is Ayame, who is about the same age as the boy, and she is a vision even unto Six Eyes.
Everything about her is beautiful at first glance, and she's such an exotic-looking girl in some ways, with light pink hair, like the color of cherry blossoms. It looked so shiny and silky, pinned atop her head. Her eyes were light, vibrant green, like the first leaves that grow in spring. When she greeted him, for some reason she smiled, and that was lovely too. While introducing herself, her cheeks stained a bit with pink, and those thick pink eyelashes fluttered a bit.
To him as a half-grown man, she was the embodiment of feminine beauty, a dazzling, glittering girl lovelier than the stars and twice as bright.
But then again, he kind of gets carried away, and he tells himself not to be so silly over a girl offering him soup.
Even if she's the most beautiful thing he's ever laid eyes on, and he really likes soup.
"I really like soup. This is good soup."
Ayame is shy and blushes as she replies just as awkwardly, "You like soup. I'm glad. We eat a lot of it here."
He wants to say something suave, like 'is that an invitation,' but instead, the worlds that flow forth from his vessel are, "I'm a…I'm a soup boy."
It may be the stupidest thing he's ever uttered in his entire life, and for some reason, he spoke it in the presence of this young goddess, the most beautiful girl that has ever been sent to the earth to make it a slightly less awful place.
The priest hears this flub and smiles a bit behind a bite of food.
Ayame giggles like it's a funny joke even though Michizane kind of wants to die because he just called himself 'soup boy.'
When Momo joins them, they poke a little fun at him and he doesn't mind. From the outside, they seem kind a family, a father and his two daughters living on the mountain together. It's warm, and they're kind people.
Michizane is a child soldier, so he is grateful for a little pleasantness.
Momo asks, "So Soup Boy, you're a sorcerer? What sort of special power do you have?"
Michizane flashes a grin and says, "Guess!"
"Does it involve soup?"
"I wish! I'd be so happy if I could just conjure up soup. Lord Tanashiro calls my technique 'Invisible Armor,' because I'm able to prevent things from touching me when I want. I think it's so much bigger than that. I don't know how to explain it, but it's almost like…my technique is the power of everything. I don't mean I have power over everything, but, the everythingness? It's so hard to explain, but in my mind, it makes at least a little more sense. I know it sounds crazy."
The priest finds this boy quite charming if not a little bit weird, declaring his love for soup and abstract philosophical concepts.
It's like there's an idea in his mind, and it's out of reach despite his stretching and working and thinking.
Master Haru says, "When I was studying at Heian Kyo, there were some older scrolls from the continent, and on them, there was this concept that some philosophers and even some mathematicians wrote about called 'wuji.' Wuji is a concept of everything. I don't remember it all as well as I should, but it almost sounds like what you're trying to describe."
Michizane is happy to have someone who will talk philosophy to him instead of telling him he's an idiot or that his head is in the clouds or that such things weren't for a slave to consider.
With Six Eyes, he can tell that Momo is both a powerful sorcerer and someone not like anyone else he has ever known. The existence of star plasma vessels was perhaps known to sorcerers, but their significance and power was not yet part of humanity's knowledge. It is this girl, Momo Tengen, who will use her currently obscure power to shape the future of sorcery.
For now, she is not that different from the strange idol to Michizane: something unique and interesting for him to look at and think about.
But really his mind is so full of so many things, the idea of wuji, and the sweet cherry blossom girl who offers a sneaky, shy smile to him. Michizane doesn't know how to talk to her the way he wants, but he's sure if he did, they'd have a lot in common.
These children, none of whom know who their parents are or where they came from, didn't even have proper family names. Master Haru Tengen chose to share his name with the girls as he has raised them from birth like his own, and the young sorcerer-slave chose to take the name of an older friend who was killed in one of Lord Tanashiro's endless wars.
After he continues on his journey back to the citadel in the morning, the girls are chatty, even giggly for a few days.
Master Haru doesn't mind; Momo is dedicated to learning her technique and guarding the strange, evil artifact, but Ayame lacks spiritual abilities entirely. There are few paths for women to take in the world, so he knows that someday, a man will take her away, and that thought makes him kind of sad.
It's only a month before the boy shows up again, this time on his way out of the valley to run an errand for Lord Tanashiro. Since he is a sorcerer, the old priest allows him to stay overnight, but notices as time goes by that whenever Sugawara passes by, he never merely passes by.
Master Haru perceived Michizane was a good man, as evidenced by the fact that Lord Tanashiro trusted him to run errands and travel alone, knowing he wouldn't run away even though he was a slave. Of course, they all knew what the nearly indescribably powerful Tanashiro did when his little sorcerer-slaves ran away.
He would be killed, of course, and put on display to scare the others.
The priest knows as the boy comes and goes that Michizane will probably never be free in his life, and when he gets just a little bit stronger, Tanashiro will send him to the eastern front, where he will probably die at the hands of Kenji Fujiwara and his Ten Shadows or some other sorcerer.
That's what happened to the others, and to the boy whose name he took.
He thinks Michizane knows this will happen, and how it will end, so these little visits where he sits with a pretty girl and plays games with bone tiles or eats fruit are the only moments of freedom and joy that he will likely have.
Of course, he dreams of a different outcome.
Master Haru hopes for things to go differently as well, but he is old and for most of his life, he's not lived in a land that was at peace. He's seen all kinds of young men, dragged off to the war, never to return, or to return as someone else. There have been dark nights when an enemy army sweeps through, and the screams and pleas of women can be heard through the night.
He will hope and pray, but in all likelihood, one day Michizane is going to visit them for the last time, and some time later, the girls will cry, especially Ayame, because her imagination ran away to happier places than this, places orphans and slaves can only visit in their dreams.
For now, they are all happy.
They are discarded children, lost in a world that is so cruel that it might devour them at any moment. Born without privilege or opportunity, they dream, but even in their wildest dreams do they ever imagine the impact each of them will have on the world.
They don't know that the flames of war will soon burn too close to home, or what will happen on the day that Michizane meets Kenji Fujiwara and his Ten Shadows, or that before the war is over, the dark idol will be broken.
One is the seed that will grow into the mightiest tree that sorcery will ever know, so that even in a thousand years, any descendant born like him will be feared by all of creation.
One will become the founder of an order of sorcerers and will make a better world where sorcerers do live as warlords and do not use their powers for greed and violence.
One will suffer and perish alone, but she will leave behind her precious son, and he will be the king.