The God Out of Time

Necessity

A god is nothing without a regalia. Regalia are untouched human souls that gods take in and use as their weapons and in many cases, friends. Regalia have the ability to transform into different items, from weapons to armor, to things as unusual as earrings. Xankai, does not have a regalia. As Xankai is jumping from tree to tree in his attempt to avoid the "Phantom road" the reality dawns on him that he does not have a regalia and can therefore do nothing but run away from phantoms if they were to appear.

As if on queue with Xankai's thoughts a terrible sound began in the distance along the "phantom road". It sounded much like a great beast growling in the distance,
"That is obviously the roar of a phantom" Xankai said as he hid in one of the trees. The loud noise grew closer, and closer, Xankai could feel the ground rumbling ever so slightly as it approached.
"It is moving  faster than anything I've ever seen!" Xankai exclaimed quietly to himself in the tree as the monster flew past along the "phantom road". The driver of the semi-truck didn't notice the man in the tree.

Xankai continued along the tree line following the "phantom road" to what he believed to be the nearest city. As he traveled, he began to see more and more of the fast moving phantoms along the phantom road, of different sizes and shapes. Before long, the trees began to get thinner and thinner until there were no trees remaining to jump from, but by that point the trees were the last thing on Xankai's mind. He could see great towers of steel in the distance. They had the appearance of mountains, except they were reflecting most of the light that touched them. When he got closer he realized that those tall mountains of steel were actually great buildings,
"Obviously one of the world wonders" Xankai said to himself.

As he approached the city Xankai was in a constant state of nervousness because the "fast moving phantoms" appeared to be everywhere and yet no one was being attacked. It appeared as if people were willingly climbing into these phantoms to be consumed and taken away. There were so many humans he could not possibly count them,
"They are as abundant as ants" Xankai exclaimed to himself.

Xankai, caught in the wonder of the technology of the modern world lost his sense of caution and began to act much like a child, scared of most things until he comes to better understand them. He was running from store window to store window gazing at all of the products and lights. He was stopping humans to ask what items were, only to have them stare at the weird guy in a kosode who didnt know what a cell phone was. It was this same carelessness that led to Xankai nearly dying.

Xankai was traveling down what, at one point was the main street of the village that was present for old times sake, but is now a back alley, dark and grimy. He saw what looked like a person crouching next to a large green box (later discovered to contain garbage). Xankai approached this figure with the same childish attitude he had everything else since coming to the this modern city,
"Hello there!, what activity are you participating in?" he asked. No response.
"Are you feeling well?" He asked, moving towards the figure with his hand extended.
"It's okay, I wont hur-" The figure suddenly looked straight up at him with its many large eyes, (one of the sure signs of a phantom) and lurched forward, biting the hand that Xankai had extended toward it. Xankai's attitude immediately reverted to his cautious godly self and jumped back with speeds only a god could move, immediately binding his hand to prevent the blight from spreading. The phantom, now casting away its disguise grew 12 times in size to the size of a small building. Its shape reminiscent of a large spider with only 4 legs. Its many eyes all turned and stared at Xankai with ferocity that would paralyze a human, its massive green body then lurched forward like a lion pouncing towards its prey.

Xankai was panicked, not only had he let his guard down, he did not think to look for a regalia before entering an area where humans were abundant.
"Where there are humans, there are phantoms" he said if lecturing himself. He began to wildly jump from rooftop to rooftop in an attempt to lose the phantom, but the phantom was just too fast and so Xankai was forced to dodge its nonstop attacks. With swift dives to the left and right as the phantom pounced Xankai was managing to not be consumed. Xankai was running and just barely dodging the phantom for a solid 20 minutes, which exhausted the out of practice god. As soon as he slowed down, the margin in which he was escaping was getting smaller and smaller. At this point the god began to get clumsy, tripping over assorted vents and clotheslines that dotted the rooftops of the buildings and it was just when he believed that he would not be able to run any further from the phantom he saw it. A single soul glowing at the foot a building which was bearing a large red cross on it. He knew that his only hope was to make that soul a regalia and kill the phantom, as he could run no further.

Xankai, dropped to the street level, onto the phantom road. All fear of it seemed to fade. In that moment that he dropped, the phantom continued forward on the rooftop, losing sight of him. The hideous roars from the phantom could be heard violently seeking its prey but Xankai had made his way to the soul, if the phantom was unable to find him just long enough for Xankai to complete the regalia process, he could survive. He began immediately.
"Lost soul, I require your aid and in return will give you eternal life. I well make thee my regalia and together we will protect the earth. You shall be Akiko, and as a regalia Aiki" the god said while writing the kanji for the souls name in the air.
"COME AIKI!" Xankai shouted, and on command the soul transformed with brilliant display of light which split into beams all coming together into a gorgeous recurve bow that was nearly gold in color. The bow had no quiver, but no need for one, as the arrows formed as the bow was drawn.
"It's beautiful" said Xankai, as a single tear streaked down his face. The phantom, then was able to pinpoint Xankai, and began to charge from the roof top. The phantom at a full sprint dove from the roof towards Xankai. He calmly drew the bow back, aimed it at the phantom and quietly said , "I cleanse thee" as he loosed the arrow. The motion was smooth, the string seemed to glide through the air perfectly. The arrow moved silently piercing straight through the phantom and continuing on into the sky. The phantom then exploded into a display of red lights all arranging themselves into shapes that reminded the god of snowflakes falling on the mountain side.

"Aki" Xankai said, releasing the regalia and revealing its human form.