Gods and Legends

The steep mountain steps were cut directly into the ancient bedrock, winding upward like a jagged spine toward the heavens.

In the soft, waning glow of the late-afternoon sun, two silhouettes ascended the path. Behind them, the horizon dipped below the sharp alpine peaks, washing the long mountain trail in a warm, bleeding amber light.

Eight-year-old Haikun practically flew up the stone stairs, his small boots stomping rhythmically against the rock with a cheerful, boundless energy. A few paces behind him, an old man moved slowly, his plodding steps heavy with age but his heart entirely light. A soft, wrinkled smile spread across the grandfather's face as he watched his grandson tackle the daunting mountain path with such unbothered glee.

Finally, the trail broke open into a wide stone plaza, revealing the front threshold of the high temple.

Haikun skidded to a halt. His jaw dropped, his wide eyes tracking upward in sheer disbelief. Towering above them were the colossal, double-leaved wooden doors of the sanctuary. They were built of such gargantuan, mythic proportions that the old man beside him couldn’t have even reached the lower structural rail.

"Oooohhhhhh! It’s so huge!" Haikun gasped, his mouth forming a perfect 'O' as he craned his neck. "Grandpa, how can you even open doors like this?"

A deep, hearty chuckle rumbled in the old man's chest. His eyes crinkled into half-closed slits, a warm grin stretching across his weathered lips.

"Haha! I don't have to open them, little one," the grandfather explained gently, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "This is the sacred temple of Lord Theria. To gain permission to cross this threshold, we do not use physical strength. We simply must offer our reverence to the Goddess of Gods—Theria herself."

Haikun blinked, looking up from the massive wooden panels. "Pray? But... how?"

"Just do exactly as I do, Haikun," the grandfather said, releasing the boy’s hand and lowering his aged body into a kneeling position directly in front of the colossal gates.

Even on his knees, the tall old man towered over the child. Haikun quickly mimicked the movement, dropping his chubby knees onto the hard stone.

The grandfather bowed deeply, pressing both of his open palms flat against the stone step of the doorway entrance. He tilted his head slightly, giving Haikun a subtle, encouraging nod.

Haikun stared at his grandfather with wide, earnest eyes filled with unblinking curiosity before copying the pose. But his arms were simply too short; even when he bowed his little torso forward, his small hands fell completely short of reaching the threshold step.

"Lord Theria, we are here to present ourselves before your gaze," the old man prayed, his deep voice echoing off the mountain rock. "Please permit us to cross your sacred threshold."

A heavy, grounding THUD reverberated through the stone plaza.

The colossal wooden doors ground backward, opening smoothly into the dark interior. As the final rays of the setting sun cut across the courtyard, they cast two long, stretched shadows of Haikun and his grandfather clean across the doorway step.

The pair stepped inside. Because the frame of the doorway reached nearly to the vaulted ceiling of the sanctuary, the incoming sunlight sliced through the shadows, creating a brilliant, red-glowing pathway of light directly in front of them.

But as they walked deeper, reaching the end of the crimson light beam, the atmosphere shifted . The world around them became completely, heavily dark.

The only illumination left came from a small, low-burning crimson fire flickering inside a stone brazier. As Haikun looked up, the dancing orange flames cast long, eerie shadows across a massive, towering idol.

The idol possessed a fierce, terrifying countenance, yet it radiated an undeniable, serene majesty. Two long, elegant whiskers curled gracefully from its jaw toward the back of the altar, and two grand antlers jutted skyward from between its long, extended ears. Its sharp, monstrous teeth were entirely hidden behind firmly closed lips, and its massive stone eyes were shut in deep, eternal meditation.

Timidly, Haikun reached out, tugging hard on the right sleeve of his grandfather's loose robe. "Grandpa... what is that?"

"She is the supreme deity of the entire universe, Haikun," the grandfather answered, his voice dropping into a reverent whisper. "The Goddess of all Gods. The great Lord Theria... our eternal savior."

Suddenly, a violent gust of wind howled through the open entrance hall. The breeze tore down the long hallway, catching the embers of the brazier and forcing the crimson flames to explode upward. The sudden, brilliant flare illuminated the entire back of the sanctuary, revealing the true, staggering scale of the colossal idol.

It was a magnificent dragon. Its curved, armored stone body coiled back dynamically, wrapping all the way around the massive perimeter of the high altar.

Haikun gasped, pointing a shaking, chubby finger at the front legs of the statue. "Grandpa, look at those claws! Ooooh, they're so big! Grandpa, is it really a god?"

"She is the Goddess of Gods... the sovereign entity above all deities," the grandfather replied softly. He looked down at the boy's wide eyes. "Would you like to hear her story?"

"Yes, Grandpa! Yes!" Haikun cheered, cupping his hands excitedly beneath his chin and bouncing his little body into the air. "Tell me the story! I love stories!"

The old man settled down, clearing his throat as his eyes looked into the flickering flames, beginning the ancient tale. "A long time ago..."

"How long?" Haikun interrupted instantly, his glowing eyes widening even further.

"Perhaps ten thousand years ago," the grandfather smiled.

"That laaaaaang?!" Haikun astonished, his tongue practically slipping out of his mouth in sheer disbelief.

"Yes, that long," the old man nodded solemnly. "It happened in an era before this temple was built, before the four great kingdoms arose, and before the Legion ever existed. Out of the vast, darkening cosmos, an ominous cosmic seed plunged into our earth, carrying a corruptive, infernal malice. Within seconds of hitting the soil, a horrific, pitch-black leafless plant burst from the ground, rapidly mutating into a massive, suffocating tree. Its twisted roots extended unnaturally from its very branches."

The old man's face grew serious under the firelight. "Whenever a seed fell from that black tree, it birthed a massive, savage, brown-fleshed beast with glowing purple eyes. Our ancestors named them the Vinedooms. Within a few short years, the entire planet was infested by these insatiable monsters. To halt the apocalypse, Goddess Theria looked down from heaven and wept. Her divine tears flooded the earth, and from that sacred moisture, a forest of Shojo Trees violently bloomed."

"The Shojo wood possessed the divine spiritual strength of Fire and Water—the only two elemental weaknesses of the Vinedoom horde. From that sacred wood, our ancestors began carving weapons to slaughter the beasts. To aid them, the dragon also bestowed a powerful, glowing sword upon the people of Xotiko, the very first kingdom established on Planet Tedmora. United by this gift, warriors from all four corners of the world formed a grand military coalition: The Legion of Shinsei."

Haikun hung on every single syllable, his mouth open as he listened.

"The Legion trained their recruits in Kajido, a sacred, elite fighting style designed to channel elemental fire and water perfectly through their Shojo weapons," the grandfather continued. "Sensing its imminent eradication, the wicked Devil Tree made a desperate, horrific sacrifice. It burned the vast majority of its own life force to engineer a single, ultimate monster: Morlock ."

"Morlock was built with near-total immortality. His hide was so dense that fire, water, and traditional Shojo weapons shattered against him without leaving a scratch. Driven to despair, the Legion offered a final prayer to the sky. Theria answered, descending into a cataclysmic war. She systematically vaporized Morlock’s physical body until nothing remained but his severed, mutilated head. Yet, because of his artificial immortality, his dark soul refused to dissipate."

"To contain the evil, Theria trapped Morlock's immortal soul inside the very sacred sword she had gifted to the Xotikons . The demon’s malice instantly corrupted the steel, turning it into the parasitic weapon known today as the Soul Sword ."

The old man paused, his voice turning incredibly sharp, his eyes reflecting the deep mystery of the cosmos.

"It was then that Goddess Theria revealed the absolute, unalterable rule to permanently dethrone Morlock—a prophecy known as the Dual-Birth Paradox."

"She declared that when the ultimate sword and the absolute shield unite, a unique mortal savior will arise to completely annihilate evil from this world and cast the devil back to hell. But the cosmic price of this savior's soul is absolute."

The oldman leaned closer to the boy. "The savior must be born twice within a single lifespan. At the first birth, the baby must enter the world as a girl, born to one woman. Then, without ever crossing the threshold of death, that exact same child must somehow transition into a boy and be born a second time to an entirely different woman. Two births. Two genders. One single, continuous lifespan. A total paradox... a feat that seems entirely impossible."

Haikun sat completely mesmerized, his mind utterly diving into the grand puzzle of the myth.

"Oooooh! That’s such a cool story, Grandpa!" he breathed, before his face filled with worry. "Will Theria ever come back to save us again?"

"Yes," the grandfather nodded, his voice filled with ancient certainty . "Before disappearing back into the higher celestial realms, Theria left a binding blood-oath. To reward the young Xotikon prince for his father’s ultimate sacrifice in the containment war, she left a permanent boon. She vowed to return and serve a prince of Xotiko blood, provided he possesses the true, unwavering strength to stand against the ultimate evil."

The old man stood up, shaking the dust from his robes. "Alright, it is already far too dark now. We must head home. Let’s go, Haikun."

But as Haikun stood up to follow, his eyes drifted past the altar, catching a glimpse of the massive stone wall situated directly behind the dragon idol. Instantly, his expression of historical awe shattered, replaced by a surge of pure, ecstatic excitement.

"Grandpa! Grandpa, look!" Haikun squealed, aggressively pointing his finger at the geometric structure carved into the ancient temple masonry. "Look! It’s my board game! What is it doing all the way up here?!"

Spanning across the wall was a massive, micro-sculpted layout containing exactly 100 perfectly square stone blocks arranged in an intricate maze. Carved squarely into the dead center of the grid was a terrifying, giant face of a monster. The creature featured a long, protruding mouth baring jagged stone teeth, two massive twisted horns curling from its forehead, and two deep, dark, scary black eyes that seemed to stare right through the room.

The grandfather's smile faded, replaced by a quiet, historical shadow.

"As per the deep legends, Haikun... some elders say that after destroying Morlock's body, the King of Xotiko and the Shinsei Legion built a real, physical impenetrable labyrinth. They imprisoned the demon's living, mutilated head inside those corridors, sealing its gateway forever from our mortal world."

Haikun froze. His chubby face turned completely pale, his entire body shivering in sudden, raw fear as he looked at the stone grid. "You... you mean... there is a real monster inside my board game?!"

Seeing the boy's panic, the grandfather instantly burst into a loud, booming laugh, reaching out to ruffle the boy's spiky hair with his right hand.

"Hahaha! No, no, of course not, silly child!" the old man laughed reassuringly. "There is no monster inside your toy. It is just an old legend—a simple bedtime story to pass the time, haha!"

"Uuuuffff..." Haikun let out a long, heavy sigh of relief, his shoulders slouching as his heart stopped hammering. "You scared me, Grandpa."

"Come along now, we truly must go... it is already far too late," the old man urged kindly.

Turning back toward the grand altar, Haikun offered one final, respectful bow to the silent dragon idol. He locked his small fingers securely around his grandfather's hand, turning their boots toward the massive entrance.

Behind them, the high silver moon crest rose over the mountains, casting its pale, brilliant light through the high temple windows, illuminating the silent stone maze as the two figures walked away into the night.