.:Of Broken Bones and Forgotten Hearts:.
~
The vicious circle has begun.
As most believers know, the gods only survived so long as their subjects, mortals, believed in them. What most don't know is that, when deities start to weaken, so do their personalities. They become broken, apathetic, insane and cold-hearted. They no longer care.
It's been years since anyone took notice of the gods-even Amaterasu, Mother to all that is, Goddess of the Sun, has been forgotten.
Even so, Waka is surprised when he stands before her (a feat indeed, some might say) high in her mountain home, atop the highest point in the Celestial Plain.
Her eyes are listless as she taps her fingers against the cool white granite of her throne, one after another, one after another.
He thinks the tapping noise is irritating but is too frightened to say anything about it.
She sighs. "Ushiwaka, the Brush Gods and I have all come to a unanimous decision. But, first, I'd like to hear your side of the story. "
Waka winces at his childhood name, but doesn't say anything to deny the charges lain out before him: desertion, attacking the goddess herself, manslaughter. (How many counts of manslaughter? He doesn't know.)
Instead, he sets his jaw. "I have no more to say, Amaterasu."
He marvels at the change she's gone through: the once motherly, compassionate, vaguely tomboyish goddess has turned cold, ruthless and uncaring. She no longer wishes to help the mortals, who, in turn, lose faith. A vicious circle.
"So what do you plead, guilty or not guilty?" Amaterasu studies her nails, gaze unfocused.
Waka swallows. "Guilty."
He's changed as well, he realizes. Gone are the days where he could call her 'ma chèrie' or play the flute for endless hours while she listened and smiled-smiles, he hopes, that showed all the words they could not share but so desperately wanted to.
A man of the Moon Tribe and the Goddess of the Sun can't be together, he thought. But, thankfully, now he's not so sure.
He feels fear instead of that warm fuzzy feeling he can't quite describe because he guesses her next words.
"Then you are sentenced to death," she says, standing up from her throne.
The other Brush Gods get up as well, and the summit fills with light. A snarling white wolf, fur streaked with swirls of crimson and banners of light radiating from around it, stands where the goddess once was.
It bares its fangs in a wolfish, almost sadistic, grin. "Death, at the hands of the Goddess of the Sun."
Waka knows he won't last long.
~
Their arena is the battle-scarred ground of Tachigami's Domain. The land is torn up from the constant training of the rat god's new followers, brought into existence by the sun goddess herself.
The execution is to be nothing short of painful, bloody, and terrifying. Amaterasu spares him some things, though:
His death is not to be public.
He is allowed his weapons, including his Celestial Brush.
But Waka realizes this is not for fairness. Indeed, even with any weapons and all the health items he could need, he would always lose miserably, such is her power.
