[IC] [Skybreaker] Melody of the Gods [FrozenEcstasy]

[Skybreaker]

It wasn't that he had never seen the wilderness before. It wasn't as if he didn't know what nature looked like. It was simply he did not know how harsh and brutal the outdoors were. In the palace, there were paintings. In fact, in his culture, nature was one of the most important aspects of daily life. It was due to the fact the gods handcrafted everything in nature. As such, their creations held inspiration for the country's citizens.

But now, nature was only the young heir's enemy. Ivory was a young man of fifteen, and the first heir to royal family. He was known far and wide for his looks and respect. All in all, Ivory was the ideal ruler. Unfortunately, it appeared the gods did not agree. About two weeks ago, he had been cursed by the gods, so a thick black mist of death surrounded him, killing anyone that got near. He had wanted to stay in the palace, but he wouldn't be able to get near anyone.

Eventually, Ivory came to the conclusion the only way for him to live was alone in the wilderness. It soon became apparent that only humans were affected by the mist. He had even been attacked by a small passel of boar.

Ivory may have had a few scratches from his encounter with the boars, but it was still easy to see why he had many royal suitors. His color was a very light beige or ivory, his namesake. It was fairly short, but was long enough for him to brush and take care of it properly. It usually had a neat, yet windswept look.

Like most royalty, Ivory's skin was lighter than the average persons'. However, since the kingdom was very hot, he had a slight tan. The robes he wore were a little tattered, and his dark eyes were tired and filled with exhaustion. He was walking in a forest of some kind. The trees were far apart, but no path was there to help him find his way. The trees had few branches, and were very tall. Ivory didn't even that his shoes were getting scuffed by the dirt. He exhaled deeply. He was just so... tired. His legs felt like lead, and he decided to stop walking. Ivory didn't place his hand on a tree trunk he had learned trunks were rough, and his hands were soft.

Suddenly, the heir felt his eyes slip shut and he passed out from exhaustion. When you go from being royalty to being a vagabond, you're bound to have withdrawal.

[FrozenEcstasy]

Juni bounded through the Forrest rather fast, so where between jogging and skipping on his route. He enjoyed travelling through this portion of the woods around sundown, it was extremely pretty and whatnot. He couldn't just walk though, walking was barely fun for a canine youkai. He barely broke a sweat as he sped along.

"HOLY SHITAKE MUSHROOMS!!!" He screamed rather abruptly, his naked foot caught against something large and warm on the ground. He threw his hands out to catch himself as he found himself laying in the dirt with whatever wallump decided to sleep in the middle of the woods. "Can we not? Don't you know it's dangerous to sleep in the middle of nowhere?" He complained as he stood up and dusted off his black and dull-red kimono. "Oh wait, your not..."

Juni bent down next to the palefaced boy with a worried look on his face, his small nose twitching wildly as he sniffed. The kid wasn't from around here, he smelled to clean, and honestly looked to impractically clothed. Then again Juni was in his business kimono... He was an inumimi though, sometimes cleanliness went over their heads.

He picked up the boy in his arms as he looked skyward. "I'll take care of this one, friends." Juni said in pseudo-prayer. He felt it was his god-given duty to help those in need, so he often picked up strays like this and nursed them to health. The youkai that came by his trading post everyday would often bring him medicinal herbs and food as that was what he charged for tax. (He honestly didn't make any money, he was non-profit. Inumimi feel rich even if they're naked in a ditch after all... At least he did.)

---

Juni brought the boy back to his trading post which was built into a small cliff. A small wooden cabin jutted out of the cliff, disappearing back into it. Surrounding it was a place to tether horses, a large dirt patch where creatures came and went and scuffled. There were a few empty pins for livestock on the occasion someone brought some to sell. The doors and windows of the cabin where in traditional eastern style, characters for protection and wealth dotted the place. This place was claimed by his family centuries ago and has been a hub for youkai trading and interaction. His family is said to have been priests of some god of trade in the past, but the priesthood has long died out.

Juni took the boy inside where it was extremely spacious considering how small it looked on the outside. The cliff was thanks to that. It was a large cavern that had been hollowed out a century or two before that had been hollowed out by one of his ancestors. You couldn't see the rock now as Juni's father had a ceiling built. The front was sectioned off and had various shelves of herbs and trinkets, weapons and other artifacts hung on the walls in that area which was considered the "storefront."

Again, it was walled off except for an open doorway that looked into the next room, which was a granderoom holding the kitchen on the left wall, a bed on the right wall, and a little wooden furniture in the back made of carved wood. Past that was a closed doorway that lead to the bathes which split off into two directions (male and female), where hot springs laid in torch lit caves.

---

Juni laid the boy down on a bed in a corner of the granderoom (the bed where he kept his "strays"). "Okay let's see, what sort of youkai are you? Need to know what to do and what not to do..." He said, speaking to himself as he looked the boy over. No beastial ears to give a clue, so Juni ruffled through his hair to see if there were any horns, of course there weren't. The boy didn't have a tail either...

"Oh dear, you're a human."

Juni grimaced. Shit, shit shit shit shit he thought to himself over and over. Humans didn't come here anymore, not in these woods. Did this boy not know these were the youkai lands? There were shrines and whatnot... The kid must not get out much.

"We'll have to keep you hidden until I can see what to do with you." He spoke aloud as if the boy was awake. Youkai didn't take kindly to most humans anymore after the human kingdom ran them out. If youkai caught wind that Juni was housing a human he'd lose business.

He stood up and took off to the door to the storefront and let down a curtain to cover the door as he often did to tell people he was sleeping. Then went back over to the boy who was rather scuffed up and dirty. Juni knew for humans that was not good so he begrudgingly removed the boys robes and went to get some rags,

[Skybreaker]

Whenever Ivory was really tired, he would have the strangest dreams. In the realm of dreams, it is nearly impossible to capture any scene on paper. Many artists strove to recreate what their mind showed them to no avail. Currently, Ivory was swimming in sand. For some reason, he was laughing. Or perhaps he was watching himself swim? He kept a constant stream of laughter and giggles.

Soon, the thunder split the sky and Ivory found himself floating. He was wearing his intricate gold and silver robes. Suddenly, he was face-to-face with a man with an impressive mane of hair the color of the night sky, and skin whiter than the moon. It was a god, Sozano, of the storm. Ivory knew of the gods of the east, but in his palace, worship of them was banned. The heir had, admittedly, wondered why, but he was taught never to question his father's orders. The emperor was never to be questioned, just obeyed. You must follow this rule, his father would tell him, if he was to succeed. The god's voice cracked and roared like thunder and shook him like lightning.

"You shall never be emperor."

With that, Ivory fell into a deep abyss, screaming all the while.

The human let out a groan and rolled in his sleep. His light hair was strewn messily as he did so.

---

Meanwhile, in the forest, a youkai was observing an imprint. He had been following young master's steps for a while now, but had strict orders from the gods not to interfere. His job was to make sure he didn't die, but survived and suffered. The gods were cruel, and he had to admit he had no bad omen from Ivory. But Ivory had bad blood in him, and that was enough reason for him to be cursed.

He was wearing a hooded cloak that covered him completely. It was silver. He was a spirit of the lantern, and had served the royal family along with his brothers for generations. Though there were the malicious youkai such as the tanuki and kitsune, the lantern spirits were helpful to humankind. They gave them advice, warmed them on cold Winter nights, and led lost travelers home. But they obeyed the gods' every command. Though he was Ivory's servant, he was first and foremost a servant of the gods.

"I should make sure he does not die." He said after watching the inumimi pick him up and carry him away.

---

Back at the trading post, Ivory finally blinked his eyes open. The human couldn't really think when he first woke up. It was one of his weaknesses. He didn't notice he was wearing patched rags, or that he was laying in a less than tidy bed, or even that there was an inumimi right by him. Whether he had woken up by himself, or if he had heard something was beyond him. Ivory yawned once, the black mist surrounding him increasing in depth.