Promise

Ch1 Promise

(There will be two different routes you can take following the next two chapters.)

Do not go where mortals are never meant to venture.

Never speak to the deities that you do not understand.

Don't play with things your mortal mind can't comprehend.

Never make promises you can't keep.

There's an old shrine within the mountain top to which people used to pay respects to. The gods of the Sun and Moon are said to reside there in ever slumber until a mortal would call upon them to leave offerings and to plead that they hear their woes. But overtime the legends faded and twisted to something much darker. They saw that there was never gods there but really demons who tricked the mortals into worshipping them. You know not how true this is but the fear enough that they might've actually been tricked into worshipping something evil was enough for the shrine to lose followers.

Slowly people and future generations stopped going to the shrine up the mountain. Slowly it had started to be forgotten. Slowly people forgot about it. Until finally there was no more shrine maidens or priests that took care of it. People stopped going altogether after that. Eventually most didn't even believe it was there anymore. Most didn't care and didn't bother to go see if it was true. The ones who did believe the tales didn't go either too scared of the demons that lurked there still to this day.

Most were.

But you weren't.

As a child you'd often run from home none too interested in the duties of a woman that your parents tried to teach you and mold you to be. One day after they figured out all of your usual hiding places, you ventured deeply into the woods and stumbled upon the old walls of the garden surrounding the old shrine. Old rocks crumbling away slowly from the elements and overgrown by vines. The state of the inside was like a gold mind for a curious child such as yourself as you climbed over the wall. Giant grass and wild flowers growing up and taking over the stone walkways that cracked badly with neglect.

Tiny footfalls were the only things that sounded around the garden as you toddled around in awe at the pretty place. The old shrine was still there as well waiting for use as the child's tiny form walked up and pushed the nearly falling doors open with a loud creak to poke your head in. Only to cough and sneeze at the amount of dust accumulated inside. But what might've been the most mysterious thing in the garden was a giant stone jutting out of the earth. Misshapen by the elements over time and overgrown like everything else around the place. There was symbols including two giant pictures of a sun and moon faintly still visible if you looked but otherwise they were too worn away to really make out what they were.

You had found your new hiding place.

From then on you'd sneak up to the mountain to your secret haven to escape. No one ever suspected this place was where you'd be running to. And so you're childhood was bliss hours spent playing away with your adventures and discovering new things whenever you went. Your parents were horrified whenever you came back dirty and bringing back frogs and snails from your adventures scolding you for such unladylike behavior. You did grow out of it by the time you got into your teens. But you still went when your parents' pressuring got too much. It was only then you became aware of what a shrine truly was.

It was explained to you by one of the elders when the old woman caught you sneaking back through the forest late in the day. She scolded you harshly about journeying where demons lied in wait in their shrine.

A shrine huh?

It seemed wrong to just trespass on an ancient shrine without at least leaving offerings to the olden deities. What you didn't realize was that would be your undoing. For when you returned to your secret sanctuary a few days later, you brought a bottle of sake for an offering. Seemed appropriate. You left it in the shrine..but it seemed like no one was occupying it because the bottle remained untouched other than dust. You had figured this proved that the superstitions weren't true at all and you didn't have any need to worry about anything after all. If there was any spirits here they most certainly weren't demons. What you had failed to notice was that even though the bottle remained unmoved, the same within had been drained over the course of a few days.

For the moment you set the offering upon the threshold of that forbidden sanctuary, unimaginable forces stirred from deep within the earth.

A stirring force awoke. Another presence opened it's eyes. Both looked down upon the beautiful maiden giggling perfectly on their grounds and frolicking through the flowers of their garden. The first awaken one stared in awe at the smile that lit up like the sunlight while the second was taken aback by the eyes that shines like the stars. The maiden that kept coming back bringing them gifts of flowers that joined their garden and freshly baked breads that disappeared into their stomachs. Waiting for her to wonder the garden and sleep soundly on a soft patch of grass or read under the protective shade of the tree. Her smile and eyes captivating even those who mortals would never see.

You were unaware of their presence. Sometimes you felt like you were being watched and at first you thought someone had discovered where you've been running off too but always found yourself alone. Eventually you brushed it off as paranoia and just the animals that were around you. You chalked the disappearing food and flowers also to the animals getting hungry or taking the flowers as building material for their nests and burrows. However some strange things would happen. One instance you were in search of roses but couldn't find any to take back home with you, however you suddenly found a rose bush growing near the entrance you never saw before. You chalked it up to not paying good enough attention. Another time you were reading and a humongous wasp had landed on your arm causing you to shriek only to be stunned as it was repelled backwards from your sleeve. As if a strong force had slapped it away...You only could conclude that your arm waving must've thrown it off and your scared brain was playing tricks on you.

Other times you could've SWORN you heard voices.

Sometimes you would be doing nothing but weaving a flower crown to place it onto your head before looking at your reflection in an old pond giggling at how the soft petals tickled your skin. Imagining yourself as a princess and waiting for your prince to compliment you-

"Radiant."

You had jumped out of your skin at the sound of a man's voice and whirled around only to see that there was no one and nothing there. .. Your mother might've been right about your imagination running wild. You didn't bother to notice the large reflection of a man with pomegranate eyes softly gazing at your retreating form from the pool before rippling away. Another time you had fallen asleep for a nap but jolted awake swearing you felt a hand caress your cheek and a man's voice speak out.

"You're beautiful."

You jolted awake, a hand slapping your cheek where the touch was felt, but once again you were all alone except for the chirping birds and a squirrel running away from you. You stared at the nothing then looked at the open romance novel next to you...You stopped reading romance novels after that. You had no idea of the eyes peeking at you from the shadows before closing and disappearing once more. However you hardly let these things detour you from your one sanctuary. Smiling and placing a small home made woven flower wreath as an offering under the old stone you were sure the squirrels would just take for their burrows.

Silently promising.

But that begs the question.

Will you claim an oath to the Sun or a vow to the Moon?