“…”

(Where am I…? And how did I get here…)

One moment I was standing Infront of my father, and the next I’m in the middle of a field.

“…Where are we, Nana?”

The book sparkled indicating that Nana wrote a response.

“This is where your mother is… Head north and you will find a safe house. That's where she’ll be.”

My eyes sparkled as I read that text. I held the book high up and praised:

“Oh wow! YOUR SO WONDERFUL NANA...”

And while hugging it, I continued:

“…I love you so much.”

“…….”

“So how did you find my mummy anyway?”

“It was a little difficult. She doesn’t emit a lot of starlites.”

“…”

“…”

“Huh?”

“You know, starlites…”

{They didn’t seem to be on the same page at all.}

“...What's that?”

“You mean you don’t even know that? Ugh. Listen child. In short terms, everything in creation has a soul, and that soul generates and emits an energy called ‘starlites.’ If you concentrate hard enough you can feel it all around you.”

“…Are you fibbing?”

“Gah! No, I’m not fibbing!”

“So, these starlites. You said everything has them? Even me?”

“Your situation is a bit different. Humans have them but Lucifer made it almost impossible to sense them. I hear humans can’t even use the damn thing.”

“But my mami is a human.”

“…Huh?”

“…Huh?”

“No way, she’s clearly a spirit.”

“…Wha?”

“Wait now that I think of it, if that's your mother then wouldn’t that make you-”

“-Ahh.”

Paying too much attention to the book, I hit my head on a solid structure. The sudden impact caused me to take a few steps back and hold my head in pain.

“Ow-ow-ow. That’s gonna leave a bruise.”

The pain eased after I while, and I was able to see what I hit.

It was a wooden structure. Like a random cabin in the middle of the woods but instead of woods it was fields.

I never saw one up close before so I could be wrong.

The door in front had a distinguishing crack in the middle. It caught my eye because it looked more like a crack in space than one on the door.

*Knock! Knock!

Two taps to the door were common courtesy. Didn’t want to be rude.

“!”

Suddenly a bright light escaped through the crack, blinding me.

*Swoosh!

Before I knew it, the light enveloped my body and took me to a whole new world.

***

“Kyoko. Kyoko. Wake up, Kyoko!” a voice demanded.

(…Hmm?)

“Where…am I…” I muttered while barely awake.

“Kyoko, it’s me, your mother.”

“My mom…?”

(Wait what?!)

I jolted awake after realizing her words.

Surely enough, it really was my mother. The same mother who I thought had disappeared and left me.

Well technically she did…

“M-Mother? What are you doing here? And where have you been…all…this time…”

(…Huh?)

Something was wrong, very wrong.

I haven’t seen every human in the world, but I know for certain they don’t look like this.

(Her body. It’s transparent. Like glass! No-no-no. That can’t be right, maybe I’m seeing things… Nope. Definitely not seeing things.)

“…Umm. Mother?”

“Yes, Kyoko?”

“Are you… alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“Y-You. YOU’RE INVISIBLE!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that… Silly me.” She replied while knocking her head.

“T-This is serious!”

“It’ll be alright. I’m supposed to look this way. It’s how all spirits look.”

“Spirits?”

(Where have I heard that before…)

“!”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

While thinking about where I heard that, my eyes started to wonder. And that’s when I saw them.

“Woww…”

Wyverns, phoenixes, even 2 tailed foxes soared the skies. And that was just the sky!

The creatures on the ground were just as unbelievable!

Roaming this unfamiliar land -I happened to stumble upon- were creatures unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Creatures straight from a fantasy novel.

One in particular caught my attention.

It wasn’t the scariest, nor did it seem like the strongest. But it was definitely the cutest!

Its large floppy belly and huge puffed cheeks. It was the stuffed animal of dreams!

{It was just a big frog}

“More importantly, what’s that book you have there.”

“-Huh? Oh this? She’s my friend, Nana. She says she’s some angel or something.”

“Angel, huh… Come with me, Kyoko. I’ll explain as we walk.”

***

“So, this is where you came from, mommy? It’s really pretty. Just like you.”

Izanami couldn’t help but sniffle from how innocent her daughter was.

“Yep. I was summoned back home for some business. Not to mention your dad went insane.”

“Some business…?”

“Yep. Spirits do not possess physical bodies. So, we can only temporarily travel between realms. Y’know, you’re taking all of this surprisingly well.”

“Well Nana told me you were a spirit already.”

“Nana, huh… Oh, we’re here.”

“Oh. My. God.”

When I tell you this place was gorgeous, I mean it was capital G gorgeous. Gorgeous.

It was a massive Japanese style temple. Its pillars were decorated head to toe with strange symbols and the walls were a glistening bloody red.

Truly a temple fit to worship a god.

“Wait out here for a sec, Kyoko. I have to speak with lady Susanoo.”

“Okayyy.”

***

Inside the temple

“Lady Susanoo, you called for me?”

Appearing from the shadows was a mysterious woman, wearing a lovely white kimono.

She could’ve been mistaken for a bride with how beautiful she was.

“Good afternoon, Izanami. Ah my mistake that was out of habit. *Ehem. Let me try that again. Good afternoon, Shichifukujin…”

Her voice was like a field of flowers. It gave off a gentle and beautiful feeling.

“…I have found the container” she continued.

“Truly?!”

Think of the spirit realm like one big container.

Because of a barrier placed around their realm long ago, their world cannot exist without something holding together that barrier. And as time goes on, the barrier cracks more and more.

When the barrier was first enacted, Izanami was hailed as the Seishin Emperor and held together the barrier herself.

But due to unfortunate circumstances, that responsibility was handed down to Amaterasu.

Of the three great sisters, she was by far the most powerful, and the only one fit for the role.

…But due to even more unfortunate circumstances, that responsibility is now without a shoulder to rest on.

“As you know, ever since Amaterasu left, I’ve been desperately searching for a way to fix the container. But alas, I was never able to find one… But I’ve decided to change tactics… You see, upon reincarnation, a person’s soul is greatly reinforced, and the quality of their yang is vastly improved. But for the task I needed, one or two reincarnations wouldn’t work.”

“…How many reincarnations are we talking?”

“…Like a gazillion or something?”

“…”

“…”

“Umm. Could you repeat that?”

“Like a gazillion or something.”

“…Oh dear. It seems Lady Susanoo has gone mad.” She cried.

“Huh?!”

“*Sniffle. Poor Lady Tsukuyomi will have to take over.”

“W-Why are you calling me crazy?!”

She simply side-eyed Susanoo.

“Gah-! Listen I really did find someone like that!”

“Suuuree. It’s hard enough to find someone reincarnated once, but a gazillion? Yeah, no chance in hell. And I bet you pulled that number out your ass too.”

“T-That is no way to talk to the Seishin Emperess! And for your information I did find someone.”

“…You found the container?

“Yep.”

“And who exactly is this guy?”

“Why do I feel like you still don’t believe me… But he’s a resident of the planet of Gaia. And I’ve already begun imprinting our world into his soul -without his consent of course…”

For some reason, she seemed smug about that.

“…It’ll take about three years to finish.”

“And what of Lady Amaterasu?”

“…Unfortunately, we haven’t found anything...” Her smug persona was replaced with an air of dread.

“…She hasn’t left a trace ever since she left with Hades.”

"…I see."

“...Anyway, tell me about your travels! What did you learn in the human realm?”

“Umm…”

“Hmm? What’s the matter?”

“Hhm. How do I say this... I didn’t learn squat.”

“…Eh?”

“Hehe. My bad.”

“DON’T HEHE ME! THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN’T LEARN ANYTHING! THE WHOLE REASON I SENT YOU THERE WAS TO GAIN INFORMATION ABOUT LUCIFER.”

“Well, you see, when I got there, I was immediately captured and sold off as a slave. I wasn’t familiar with human culture, so I just went with it. I was trying to wait for the right time to run away but one thing led to another, and I ended up having a daughter.”

“A d-d-daughter?”

“Yep.”

“YOU CAN’T JUST HAVE KIDS WITH HUMANS… Oh my god, does that mean your kid is half huma- “

“Yep! And she’s the cutest thing ever.”

Susanoo’s raging emotions vanished and what was left of her body was an empty shell.

“Ehm. Is she dead…”

"*Ehem. Originally, I had planned to send you to the keep tabs on the container. But since you obviously can’t get a simple job done, I’ll send your kid!”

“…Eh…?”

A silence comes forth. Then suddenly it left just as fast.

“…WAIT. NO. YOU CAN’T DO THIS. NO. SUSANOOO WHY. WHY ME.”

She whined like that for a while. Grabbing Susanoo’s shoulders as she bobbled her head back and forth, that kind of whining. She even forgot to address her as Lady.

***

Kyoko

“Oh, mother you’re back.”

“…Kyoko…”

“Yes, dearest mother?”

(Why so serious all of a sudden.)

“*Sniffle. Please don’t die.”

“Eh?”

“Before you die, I want to give you as much information as possible.”

(Die? What is she talking about…?”

“*Deep Inhale…”

{She’s getting ready to explain really, really fast by the way.}

“…Currently, there are five beings that work directly under God. They are:

Kibuka – The Overlord of Fun.

Atlas – The First Titan.

T.S.B.J. – The Ancient Rulers.

Hades – Warden of the End.

And lastly, the strongest of them all

Zues – The Absolute God.

Despite them all being lesser gods, he’s the only one with ‘god’ in his epitaph. I heard he’s even as strong as lucifer… So did you get all of that?”

“Uhm… Vaguely?”

{She indeed did NOT get all that. You could see the smoke coming out of her ears.}

“*Deep Inhale...”

{Once again, she’s getting ready to explain really, really fast.}

“…The legend goes like this:

There was once a time of peace and prosperity. The term peace was no longer some fairy tale believed by children, but an actual thing that existed all around the world.

This was all thanks to the new rules and messages sent by God.

Until he changed all of that.

It’s said that more than anything he hated the Gods.

He mercilessly butchered any and all humans who sided with the new rules of God.

Strangely, the boy had radiant golden hair that soon came to be associated with the devil. He carried a legendary sword in his left hand and pure hatred in his right.

And behind him, were two enormous wings that screamed divinity.

Any who knows the prophecy refers to him by one name… The AntiGod.”

I’ll admit that I wasn’t listening for 80% of that story. But that last 20% absolutely captivated me. It felt magic to my ears. Like a child hearing about Santa or the tooth fairy for the first time. Something in me just resonated with it.

I want to meet him. The AntiGod.

“This is goodbye, Kyoko…”

(Goodbye? Why does she keep saying stuff like that.)

“*Sniffle. Please baby… Don’t die.”

“?”