On the Brink of War

     The planet of Shogai was the definition of complexity.

     The land itself was divided into three continents. Its people were more divided than the oceans that formed a barrier between each of the three continents. Monsters born from the depths of Jigoku crawled out from pits that ran deep into the planet’s molten core, seeking to destroy every last soul of the humans. Magical bonds tied people down onto the earth, while others’ sole purposes were to snip those bonds and release the souls of the mortals. If one were to arrive on Shogai with no prior knowledge about its land, its people, its religions and its magic, they would have one hell of a time learning.

     The three continents of Shogai were all vastly different from one another. The largest continent, Nozomu, was a land covered with lush forests and wild meadows. At the center of the nation’s capital, was the Tengoku Tree, which was rumored to reach all the way up to the heavens. It was said that the fruits it bore were blessed by the Empress, the divine creator and righteous ruler of the entire world.

     The second largest continent was Hanei, the rainforest kingdom. Lush jungle trees and vibrant macaws resided in the tropical nation, and their capital was built around a sacred pond that was supposedly a portal to the Land of the Spirits. Heavily religious priests and monks traveled to Hanei’s capital to attempt to come in contact with the Empress through the Kiniro Pond.

     The smallest continent of them all was Kanpeki, and it was a cold barren tundra where the biggest threat the inhabitants struggled against was the land itself. Their capital protected the Aisuru Beacon, a beautiful display of color lights that lit the sky during the night. The lights of the beacon acted as a guardian over the people of Kanpeki, keeping the wrath of the Empress and the monsters from Jigoku at bay.

     For centuries, humans lived in the capital and villages of their home nation, protected by the Knights, an elite group of trained warriors to defend humanity against the demonic beasts that roamed the land. The people were happy and content.

     But that was all about to change.

     In recent years, there had been more clashes between the three nations over territorial claims on smaller islands scattered across the oceans, and they had grown more violent and bloody each time. The monsters were growing stronger and evolving, more villages were being destroyed, and the climate itself was morphing into something else. The winters in Kanpeki had become longer and colder, the summers in Hanei even hotter and longer. Wildfires constantly plagued Nozomu, burning down hundreds of acres of woodland that had survived for thousands of years.

     Everyone was scared. The leaders of the three nations withdrew themselves from any connections or reliances on the other nations, drawing their Knights back to the capital and securing their Gift from the Empress tightly. Tensions grew stronger, the leaders of the nations more paranoid than ever. 

     Shogai was on the brink of war, and nobody knew what to do.

     Samui Fuyu was the proud daughter of the Fuyu Clan. A family known for protecting Kanpeki for generations. Her parents were honorable Knights, and so were her grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. Despite only being 23, she had already been declared the Royal Advisor and Protector of the Kori, the ultimate ruler of the land who took their orders directly from the Empress. 

     She had been given a mission by the Kori, to stay vigilant as ever and look for a sign. Samui had inquired about what kind of sign, but the Kori had only said that when it came, she would recognize it immediately.

     Samui searched far and wide for this sign. She asked all the Knights in the Palace if they had seen anything unusual, did a thorough search of the capital for any odd occurrences, and even visited the Aisuru Beacon to pray to the Empress, in hopes that the almighty creator of the world would send the sign. 

     Samui even considered visiting the Tengoku Tree and the Kiniro Pond, if that idea had not immediately been shot down by the Kori.

     So instead, Samui studied. She locked herself in the Grand Library of the Palace for days, reading up on all sorts of religious matters in the forbidden section. And boy the things she learned.

     Samui learned that when the monsters first crawled out of Jigoku, the Empress had acted to try and seal the cracks in the earth where the Human World came into contact with the Demon World. When that failed, the Empress sent four holy spirits down to Shogai to try and quell the darkness’s uprising. The Mamoru, the forgotten inspiration behind the creation of the Knights.

     But within a century, three of the four Mamoru had fallen by their own hands, and the fourth had locked himself away deep inside one of the three Gifts. Saddened by the downfall of her very own trusted spirits, the Empress completely cut off the connection between Shogai and the Heavens, only leaving the three Gifts open as portals, wanting the fourth Mamoru to be able to return to the Heavens if he ever came back around.

     Since then, not a single human had been able to make contact with the Heavens, nevertheless seek assistance from the Empress. Honestly, it was a miracle that humanity had managed to make it this far without her guidance. After all, without the Empress’s guardianship over Shogai, the monsters from Jigoku remained unchecked. It allowed them to evolve, to grow and morph into deadlier beings.

     Samui comprehended the tales that she had read. How could they possibly help her find a sign, if they were relevant in the first place? What did this mean for Shogai? Were the changes in the world a sign that humanity’s existence without the blessing of the Empress was coming to an end?

     Then one day, it all clicked.

     Spiritual beings raised in the Heavens were born with the blessing of the Empress, and nothing could take that away from them. They could settle arguments, calm the minds of unsettled people, and help quell natural disasters just by being there. Monsters cowered at the mere sight of them. All Shogai needed was one spirit from the Heavens, and the balance would be restored, at least for the next millennium!

     But…there were no spirits left on Shogai. When the Empress cut off the connection with Shogai, she called them all back.

     Samui hit a roadblock with that revelation. She pondered the thought, wondering where and how they could get a spirit to come down to Shogai. 

     Then one day, returning from a rigorous training exercise, Samui found the book on the forgotten history of Shogai lying on her table, flipped open to the page on the four Mamoru.

     That was it.

     The sign.

     Not all of the spirits were called back to the Heavens.

     There was still one, hibernating inside one of the three Gifts.

     The fourth Mamoru…