…After the initial moments of silence, a scream filled the cave.
The daughter has just obtained centuries' worth of lost memories, feelings, and emotions.
So she made herself on her way, leaving her cave behind.
Walking on her path to put an end to this once and for all.
The Tale of Sun and Moon
The daughter's journey was long and dangerous.
She had encountered many atrocities.
Atrocities incomprehensible for most.
But she kept on walking down the path.
Learning more wisdom than most.
Meanwhile, the son, who was followed by hunger and death, was unfulfilled.
He was missing the few years he had spent with his sister close by.
But not because he was fond of her.
Instead, he missed the feeling he got from power.
Power, which he is still given, but can't hold for long.
So he wanders around the world, kingdoms decaying wherever he steps.
Until he suddenly remembered, he had always been able to decide who lived and who died.
Except for once, he did not want for his mother to die. It just took him years to realize.
This revelation drove him nearly mad, the sheer audacity it took for life to betray him.
The once so prideful and controlling son was void of any spirit.
Then one day, he just brought death upon another village with his mere presence.
He was just walking down a crossroad when he met someone.
It looked more like a shadow than a human, standing, stripped of any grace.
No mouth, yet speaking, no ears, yet listening, and no face, yet beautiful.
His name was Amaterasu, bearer of the sun.
He offered a deal to the son, a deal the son could not refuse.
"I shall fulfill your greatest wish… Only if you prove yourself worthy."
The hooded shadow had pulled out a book and handed it to the son before disappearing.
The son, at first sceptical, was deceived by the book. And he listened.
He spent every waking moment reading the ancient scripture.
Hours turned into days, days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months.
His eyes had turned crimson red, and his mind hazy.
Hazy enough for one to kill what's most precious to them.
Then he finally found the page, the page that would lead to his demise.
He went along the instructions, following each step carefully.
Finally, it was done, he was standing before the altar.
Quiet voices were whispering into his ears.
"Do it." "The time has come." "Fulfill your purpose."
So he did. Sacrificing what's dearest to him.
The initial silence is filled by a blood-curdling scream.
The candlelight casts grotesque shadows against the walls of the cave.
All 12 sticks of incense burn out at the same exact moment.
The son was bending and stretching like no human should.
Then silence, followed by deep and slow breaths.
"Oh, what have you done, my brother? What terrible fate came upon you?"
The daughter, having witnessed the scenery, cannot do anything but feel dismal.
He had been corrupted, but he was still her own blood, desecrated by this thing, now inhabiting his body.
"You shall not wander this earth any longer."
The daughter, holding the ancient power of the moon, was standing right before him,
The son, holding the ancient power of the sun.
Their battle ensued, the daughter holding the knowledge of the past generations.
While Amaterasu was using the knowledge he himself had accumulated over the centuries.
Their battle was brutal; two true equals fought for days.
No one got tired, no one got hungry, no one got thirsty.
Sometimes it looked like the battle was decided, just to pick up once more.
Thousands of people in the surrounding villages were massacred; no one lived to tell the tale.
Only the omnipresent wind whispering the tale till this day.
Eventually, like everything, it had to end.
The winner of the battle was decided by sheer luck, or maybe fate, it was.
With one brutal blow, the daughter managed to separate her brother and Amaterasu again.
Yet killing Amaterasu is as impossible as counting the sand in the desert or the hair on one's head.
Amaterasu, using his last strength, in his weakened shadow form, uttered a powerful curse.
A curse that sent him into a 500-year-long slumber.
"If you shall do as much as utter my name, I shall return… The world will be mine-"
Aimed at the moon, his voice turned quieter until it completely disappeared.
Left behind was the daughter alongside her brother's cold and empty corpse.
She gave him a quiet burial, not even time itself knows the location of the grave anymore.
Decades went by, civilizations rose and fell, the daughter always watching, waiting.
An estimated 450 years after their fight, the daughter knew her time was coming.
No human soul is destined for eternity, but someone as wise as she knew that.
Therefore, she was prepared.
She lies on her deathbed, surrounded by her loved ones as she speaks one last time.
"My time is near, but there is one thing you need to do for me."
Her words are directed at her youngest daughter.
A beautiful young child with light hair and dark eyes.
"You will be the heir of the moon."
"He is bound to return eventually; thus, you shall take the moon and the book of knowledge and find them."
"Go find the one person who is intelligent enough to look through the web of illusions covering this world and give it to them."
These were her dying words; after this, her body turned into a puddle of blood, staining the hospital bed crimson red and continuing the cycle.
What a weird book…
Akane sits at her desk, the black book resting on her desk. It is vastly different from Aqua's book; his version is filled with bizarre rituals; Akane's only contains stories about the past, telling long-forgotten tales about the world hundreds of years ago. The silverish Kanji's on the cover are rather simple too; it seems to be called "Book of Knowledge."
Akane turns onto the next page and begins to read.
"The three great powers are as old as time itself."
Wait…
Suddenly, it's three powers?
So I already know about Sun and Moon, but what is the third one?…
I should just continue, it will be mentioned later on, probably.
"The first one is the power of the sun, typically referred to as Amaterasu. His strength lies in the manipulation of the human soul, yet he can't affect just anybody. His greatest strength is also his biggest weakness, for him to influence a being, it is said that they already need to have experienced great dread, more than a human is believed to be able to obtain in a single lifetime. His presence is described to be harmful; humans in direct contact with him tend to turn more violent than they would under normal circumstances."
A loud thud sounds through Akane's room. She has dropped the book to the floor, and her posture is frozen in place.
I think I understand it now…
She slowly reaches down, picking the book, which seems to give off a calming aura, back up, continuing where she left off.
"The second one is the power of the moon, typically referred to as Tsukuyomi. Her strength lies in the manipulation of reality and life itself. She can hold souls at bay as well as warp your perception of reality. Yet she can only trick the ones that haven't understood her, just like a magician would lose his ability to trick you once you've seen the second coin. Her presence is described to be soothing; humans in direct contact with her tend to feel a certain clarity in their heads."
Akane sits quietly and lets the information sink in.
Why would she give me something like that?
Is this trust, or is it lies?
Whatever it is, I can't waste time on it.
I need to read faster.
I don't know why, but I think Aqua is in great danger.
"The third one is the power of the Storm, typically referred to as Susanoo. Their true strength is unknown; no human or deity has ever laid eyes upon them. Most go as far as dismissing their existence entirely, yet some whispers claim that they are everywhere all at once, quietly listening and telling like the wind. There is no known weakness or knowledge on how their presence impacts the human soul."
"There are many other deities around the world, yet none of them are noteworthy, most don't even know they have any kind of power."
Hours pass by as Akane continues to read, the shadows on her wall, cast by the setting sun, rise higher as the sun itself sets. Until she finally shuts the book close, getting up and letting herself fall onto her bed, looking up at her, in an orange light, dipped ceiling.
"What have you gotten yourself into again?"
"I don't understand any of this…"
Akane rolls over onto her side as she stares at her empty wall.
"All of my beliefs just turned out to be wrong… I thought I understood this world, but now I'm here, having to fight against some… thing and make sure it doesn't kill you…"
Akane reaches for her pillow, hugging it tightly, already preparing for another sleepless night.
"I will help you get out of this mess, the same way you helped me out of mine. And then we can… and then… and then we see…"