The Ushitora

Two thousand years ago, on the last day of the battle between Gods and Demons

A silver-haired man stabbed his broadsword into the ground and leveraged himself to a standing position. The cries of those who were dying were fainter now, but the stench of burnt bodies and blood was sharp in his nostrils. He gasped for breath, trying to clear his lungs of the bitter scent of death.

The fighting between gods and demons had been so intense here that all the surrounding earth had been scorched and it was almost impossible to tell that this had once been a mountain top. Levelled flat, it was now a desolate, smoking crater. In the center of this destruction knelt his opponent, dressed in black armor, cradling an unconscious youth who was bleeding from the head.

Still panting, the silver-haired man pointed his sword and sighed: "Lord Xuan...have you nothing to say to my lady?"

The man in the black armor did not look up. His eyes lingered on the young man in his arms, tears sliding down his cheeks. He slowly wiped his face.

"What's there to say?" Xuan responded darkly. "Even if A'Wu had offended all of heaven and committed the most terrible of crimes, I would still have followed him down this path. That's what it means to love someone wholeheartedly...a selfish deity like yourself would never understand, Bai Xie An."

Bai Xie An shook his head with a weary snort.

"Loving someone wholeheartedly doesn't mean ignoring right and wrong. It doesn't mean allowing the betrayal of everything we know..."

"That's where you and I are different...if Mu Shan had chosen this path, wouldn't you have also gone to the abyss and back?"

"That's...not love..."

Lord Xuan smiled crookedly as if he knew something that Bai Xie An didn't. His expression flickered with contempt, but then it slipped away as he smoothed his features over.

Lord Xuan carefully laid the unconscious boy in the dirt, and stood to his full height, recovering some of his former dignity as the guardian deity of the North. His expression said he was not afraid of taking responsibility or facing things head on, and it was this quality that had made him such an admirable and respected leader of the Guardian palaces...but it was the same quality that had made him such a fearsome opponent. The evidence of his tenacity was all around them and this victory had come at great cost to Bai Xie An's forces. Right to the end, standing like a huge unmovable tree, he was still the Black warrior of the North.

"Pronounce your judgement then, as I know you must. Though I don't deserve to beg favours, I ask to be allowed to take on A'Wu's portion of punishment as well."

Bai Xie An took a breath, turning his gaze into the distance as if weighing something. Then he turned back.

"You are banished from Qingyun mountain, and will serve your time here. However, Lady Hongyi did not wish to separate you from A'Wu...you'll both be held here."

Lord Xuan looked shocked, eyes shining with new dampness. Then a shadow of regret flickered over his features.

"Even though I don't deserve to call her 'sister,' Hongyi Meimei was always the kindest of the four of us...Please thank her for grace in allowing us to be together."

Bai Xie An ignored him as if he had not spoken and continued with the sentencing.

"During your imprisonment here, you are forbidden from taking your human form and your godhead will be stripped from you. Are you still certain you wish to take on A'Wu's portion of the punishment? You may completely lose your reason..."

"You don't have to ask me..." sighed Lord Xuan. "I'm doing this for his sake..."

Bai Xie An nodded, but thought: is it worth it?

"Very well..." he sighed, raising his hand to begin the sealing spell that created the Ushitora.

***

The Illusion Realm, Ushitora

Present: Late Spring, 1472

Hanging over the cliff, swinging with one hand still on the spear, Feiyan said a bad word.

The great black tortoise opening its mouth below her was many times the size of the boar king. In fact, it was not wrong to say that it was close to the size of Moutan's great palace. The miasma of menace and resentment emanating from it in great black clouds made her more nauseous than its smell.

How could Xuanwu, a guardian god, have become like this? He's closer to a demonic beast! she thought, staring down into the clouded, sightless eyes.

"HA!" Gamera grinned maniacally.

Wrapping his tail around a tree, he slid down over the cliff and smashed his fists into the rock above where the spear was wedged. Dirt and dush fell into her face, and as the cliff face crumbled away, the spearhead came loose.

Feiyan clenched her teeth.

Grabbing the spear and flipping herself in the air, she shot towards the tortoise with the intent of jamming the spear into its mouth, but instead of falling, there was a 'snap' sound and she slid to the side in mid-air. She realized with a shock that she was hovering and that four great flaming wings had opened from her shoulders. Her ears filled with the unfamiliar sound of the wind rushing around her as her wings beat of their own accord.

The 'snap' she'd heard had been the sound of the tortoise's jaw coming together, narrowly missing her bright red wings. She shifted out of range, beating her wings fiercely, and controlled her flight as if she'd always been able to do it.

That's it...said a voice in her head. Just like that...

There was no time to think: the great black tortoise opened its mouth again, reaching out of the water to snap, roaring with rage as she swooped down underneath him.

"Divine fire..."

She looked up at Gamera who had once again assumed his full human form. He stood on the cliff, holding his bleeding side with an expression blank with disbelief, but there was something else...something that shouldn't have been there. Why was it...hope?

Divine fire purifies...she thought. Xuanwu was originally a divine being. Would he regain his reason if the dark miasma was purified...?

Reacting out of sheer instinct, she put her hand out. A fireball shot out of her palm, sliding right into the creature's mouth and down into its guts. The fireball's light was so bright that it lit him up from within, pulsing with the brightness of a star. The great beast clawed at its throat, thrashing angrily and roaring in pain, before it sank into the waters.

"Xuan!!!" Gamera screamed, diving into the churning darkness. The sea seemed to swallow them whole.

It's finally over... she thought.

Feeling exhausted, she somehow managed to fly back to the cliff, and then collapsed, wings folding back into her back. Hajoon was there to catch her before she smashed her head on the ground.

"What kept you?" she laughed breathlessly, glancing up at his bruised face.

He gave her a look that was full of regret. Kissing her forehead, he whispered: "Sorry I came late..."

She sighed, going limp in his arms. She'd ask him later...and no doubt he would also have things to ask her.

"Help me go to the side..." she instructed, gripping his arm.

He nodded, carrying her to look over the edge. Below the cliff, the churning of the tortoise was causing huge waves to inundate the shore, but she could still see the light of divine fire burning in the dark waters.

It's growing... she thought to herself, in surprise. Both the beast and Gamera had sunk into the waters, but the light was expanding and rising.

"It's getting even brighter now," Hajoon said, coughing a bit.

"Mmmn," she agreed, too tired to talk. She frowned though, thinking that Hajoon seemed to have sustained internal injuries.

"Something's coming..." he murmured, nodding to a bubbling on the surface.

She forced herself to open her eyes wide, and then she saw it: Gamera was swimming to shore was something in his arms.

No, not something...it's someone.

"Go..." she whispered urgently to Hajoon as darkness crept into the edge of her vision. "...Go help them..."