In a temple where light always fills the hallways and the darkness never looms was an old man kneeling before the statue of a young beautiful girl.

Wearing a white priest robe, he began to pray. His sweat fell as his fate burned brightly.

‘Oh dear Goddess gift us your protection and let us control our hearts. Release the seal of the mind and let the emotions flow like the river of the North. Dear Goddess, hear your lowly servant’s prayer and help us vanquish the church of the wicked, the darkness that looms over the heart of the people must be cleansed, help us oh dear Goddess…’

The prayer of the old man was heartfelt. Untainted by his own agendas, his brows creased and his wrinkles began to show. Black lines began to appear on his forehead and the pain on his knees began to surface, but the old man kept praying, he continued to pray for he can do nothing but pray.

“How long have you been praying to the Goddess, Emperor?”

However, prayer was cut short when the voice of the young man echoed within the confines of the church; but with the voice came no sight of its bearer. The old man’s tightly closed eyes opened as his forehead touched the ground as if to apologize for his prayer being cut short.

“If you are here, then, that must mean they have finished their job? Is the south finally open?”

The old man wiped his sweat as he waited for the answer. Luckily, it didn’t take long for the voice to echo once again.

“Sadly, they have not. The south remains closed, the power of the guardian protecting it has yet to wane. Truly, it is an impregnable fortress.”

“Then, have the mind of the Tiger been rattled? Or have they at least whispered in the ears of the child of the Black Crane?” The Emperor questioned as he puts away the handkerchief.

“They have yet to do any of those. The only thing they have accomplished is wound the tiger, but even then, the cub only grew out its fangs and claws. As for the child of the Black Crane, it appears that the cub had already spoken the truth, bewitching her kind would be impossible at this point.”

A sigh escaped the mouth of the Emperor.

BooM! That simple sighed caused the ground to sink around him, “It appears that your people have been acting truly weird. For them to fail every task handed over to you, do they even know what they are doing? The more time passes, the more the people are corrupted!”

Speaking once again, the Emperor’s tone was no longer calm, instead, it was enraged and yet not at the same time. The pressure from the Emperor gradually disappeared as the voice answered once again.

“Worry not, my Emperor. They seem to have managed to catch a Snake; he should be enough to be of use to our cause. With him, they’ll be able to move freely.”

“Is that so, then do it. We need to slowly wither them, the year’s end is coming, his death should come. The Tiger must lose its vitality so get it over quickly! Fjord, take one of the Children of Light and head west; hunt the beast yourself. Forget the Crane and just take the child, with her in your hands she should be enough to become bait.”

“I understand, my Emperor. I shall fly west and do as you have commanded. I Fjord Volusk Lumiere shall not fail you….my Emperor.”

A lifeless and sad voice echoed from Fjord who cannot show his face from the shadows. A whisper that could not reach anyone made its way to the abyss never to be heard by anyone and from one of the twelve pillars inside the church was now water droplets that should have not been there in the first place.

The Emperor raised his head to the Goddess of Light and smiled before returning to his prayer.

“Dear Goddess, guide us to a…”

From that church filled with light, the prayer pierced through the laws of the world and slithered to a White World where a shout resounded in the distance!

“Taihai! Shanpai! Chonbo! Furiken! Noten! Mopai! Double East Doubt South Reach Kick!! Mahjong!” The Goddess Light and Darkness celebrated at the fall of the oldest.

“We did it, Darkness, we managed to beat big sis together. She has fallen!” The Goddess Light ran around shouting their victory filled with delight.

On the floor was the Goddess of everything else, Root acting as if she had been vanquished, ‘Ths should be enough right? These guys even took the move from “Kintama” just to beat me. I don’t even know if this counts as a loss.’

Root was on the ground twitching as she had been beaten. After ten minutes or so, only when Light had recited her victorious cries did she got up from where she was lying.

Their day in the White World resumed. The trio continued their games and Light frowned as she heard the ardent prayer of a certain follower.

The other two saw this and Darkness spoke, “You have done your job, Light. You have already picked a Shepard; we can only watch the Mortals…”

“I understand.” Light weakly nodded her head.

Root could not help it but smile wryly as she looked at the young Goddess and decided to speak, “Hey, do anyone of you want to watch the Drifted? He ought to be doing something nice by now.”

When the word drifted was uttered in the room, the other two Goddesses’ face blossomed. Light in particular was beaming.

Water appeared and gathered atop the Mahjong table then formed a thin sheet on top of it as the pieces disappeared. The reflection of the Mortal World appeared and it reflected the edge of a cliff.

A cat and a human were standing on the edge of a cliff watching the moon. The two of them sighed the cat meowed and the human showed a crying expression.

“I don’t think I’m human anymore I…” Colt felt his left-hand burning and then his throat began heating up as well. His mouth opened widely and then…he breathed fire like a dragon.

FUUUUU!

The cat looked at Colt and sighed.

“Nya, nyaaa.” (Fightinggggg)