THE ARCHAIC SKY

CHAPTER: THE ALMIGHTY EMPEROR'S IMPERVIOUS PATH

The celestial calamity

A war Amongst gods who wish to be the singleruler of their land and seek dominion over the mortals of their land. Somechose to step down, preferring to be helferins to a greater cause. Other grewgreedy and shed blood to earn their place in the heavens. Though gods were themain casualty of the war, mortals earned much larger losses.

walls of crimson red, decorated in unlit white lanterns and tassels that hung on large twisted ropes. the windows were covered in a white translucent paper as they were closed. the stairs were like golden wood, matching the hold that decorated the dramatic large arching grey green roofs that cover the railed engawa from the sun. Miko shrine maidens swept the grounds of leaves falling from the thick bunches of threes that surrounded the temple. one of the trees that gave off a shower of falling leaves, was a knotting large tree with golden leaves, the cracks on its trunk showing off an odd amber like substance under the wood.

it's large twisted and tangling roots trying to remove the red shrine door that was placed in front of it. a stone pathway, with unlit garden lamps with pretty patterns cut on the paper of the lampshade, having smaller shrines on the side for gods and goddesses of the seven fortunes, it's beams and pillars of red holding up a curved greyish green rood, it's beams that stuck out hung un lit lanterns of its own. behind it, a rock that had a Shimenawa twisted rope loop placed on top of it that hung cut pieces of paper in a zig-zag shape.

As the sun approached the highest peak it could reach, the music prepared for the rite of descension began to fill the air. Strings that fly high and low in a melodious fall and flight as drums were beaten at the exact moment. The moment Amara blinked she could see a golden warm moon on a shimmering glazed sea of the sun's tears.

The day was clearer than ever. She could say the clearest day of the entire year. It was perfect day for the lord of the afternoon sun to descend.

Jinsei was one of the handful of nations whose gods descend. Other than Jinsei's eternal goddess Himiko, Amara could count on her hands how many nation's god descend yearly. Immerabendreich on the other hand had a god that descend every 24 years to symbolize the 24 hours one would have to wait to see the sunset once more. The sunset held a dear meaning to the god of glory, he himself had said that the sunset was the border between celebrations.

But she knew some gods don't even descend. Such as how she knew that some gods do not even own a land to rule. Like the god of luck, Ebisu, who is known only in Jinsei.

At the end of the straight pathway of emptiness in the crowds, Amara could see the priests and monks that came from all the shrines in all the corners of Jinsei, walking down the side. Behind them Amara just realized was a torii, an entrance to the sacred spaces of gods, jinja.

She was so busy talking to Ruyi she forgot she even walked through that large red gate. She's sure even down the dozens of flights of stairs she took, she must have passed many red gates to reach the shrine.

As the priests finally settle where they were supposed to stand. Musician's strings began to settle to leave the beating of drums. And a single shrine maiden began to stand by to greet the goddess of eternity and immortality.

A fox envoy, the shrine maiden was. Holding a high position in the grand shrine as she was a saiguu. Her clothes were that of a wealthy and adorned high priestess, a unique and stylized variation of a traditional shrine priestess's outfit. The white only as bright as the snow and the reds as dark and as vibrant as crimson blood, or the wood of a torii gate.

If one paid more attention. Her hair actually hid her long fox ears. And her red eyeliner actually hid her foxy eyes. and her long four pieced skirt actually hid her tail. At least amara thinks it did, though she always claimed that she didn't have a tail at all.