Long ago, in a place far beyond the oceans of the east, close to where this world ends and the next one begins, there was a country amidst disaster. Foul magic turned nature against the people, and fear turned the people against one another. An endless winter had descended upon the country, bringing with it constant struggles: the biting cold and ghastly, freezing winds did not stop with the turn of the seasons nor did the days ever become longer; it was the opposite: the nights steadily grew longer and longer. Every day the citizens would open their eyes ready to work, only to barely see the crack of dawn in the sky. And every day, it took longer and longer for the sun to finally shine over those that had already risen. Winter had brought the night, and the night brought horrors.
The people cowered in fear during the dark hours of the night, unable to sleep for the wind brought otherworldly laughter, and the sounds of destruction and mayhem. Ungodly sounds, followed by shadowy demons that rampaged through the land, their rule unimpeded. In their wake, houses were left broken, fields were left dead, bodies were left lifeless and cribs were left empty. And the people feared, and prayed to the gods to end the winter.
In a village among the mountains of the country, in the second year of the long winter, a young woman fell pregnant. She loved her husband and her child with all her heart, but the love was almost matched by the fear that she had for the life of the child; she feared that it would not even be born due to the freezing cold, or that it would be whisked away by the demons as soon as it drew breath, or that it would not live to see its first birthday due to poisonous winds. In order to fight against fear, the young couple travelled to a shrine that their people had long since built to the god of the sun. It was almost deserted when they arrived, and had suspicious claw markings on the entrance gate, but the inside of the shrine had not been desecrated. So the couple entered and made their offerings, paying their respects to the gods. And there they got down to their knees and prayed with fervor, both for the safety and life of their children and for the end of the winter so that the child could grow in a land of sun and beauty, and their countrymen could thrive instead of cowering in fear.
Months later, in their humble home, the young woman gave birth to a strange baby. The child had silvery hair and eyes, and was incredibly warm to the touch despite the freezing temperature outside. The boy would sleep peacefully close to the fire and never burn; he was named Sun in their language, as a way to honor the gods that heard their plea.
Sun grew up healthy and strong, but the long winters continued. Little by little, it was almost like peaceful bright days had never existed, and the country became a land of dark nights, bleak days, and dangerous roads. Survival was harsh, and the wandering spirits of those that fell to the long winters were a constant worry to the people that were left. Some turned to crime, giving in to their fear and base instincts to try and secure any crumb of safety and wealth that they could for themselves. The government had closed itself off inside the capitol, leaving the people to fend off for themselves.
In Sun’s home, the people were at the edge of despair as every year survival became more difficult. It was only due to the efforts of Sun and the young folk of the village that they could hold on to hope; when the freezing winds made it too harsh for the elders to work, they would step in and support as many people as they could. Although many of them had not grown up in a world where the sun shone bright, they still looked forward to better days, and fiercely defended what little they had.
One day rumours of mountain bandits started to reach the village; the few travelers that still managed to make trips from town to town were scared and fearful of being assaulted on the road, and a travelling merchant that had been robbed blind cried her woes. She said that there were dozens of bandits and the bandit leader was raving mad, as strong as he was malicious, and gathering offerings to a great wandering demon that was coming in that direction. She said he had only left her alive so that she would go on to bring despair to others, as the demons enjoyed the taste of human fear. Amidst such frightful news, a shadow fell upon the village. Spirits were low, and people were afraid, talking about leaving everything behind and trying their luck getting to the nearest town and beg for shelter.
The young folk of the village knew this was destined to fail - there were too many elderly, too many people that had grown too weak for dangerous travel in the past years. And although they were all strong and willing, none of them knew how to properly hold a blade. It was a young woman by the name of Yukaru that took the first step, and made the decision that she would be the first one to stand against the bandits. She was the daughter of the village blacksmith, and took one of the blades from the shop to ready herself, and her courage inspired the other young ones - including young Sun, who although he had no experience in battle and his parents begged him to not get involved, asked for a blade to be forged for himself as well so he could stand against evil.
However, there simply wasn’t enough time to forge blades for all - three nights passed, and the village was taken by storm during the dark night. A piercing scream cut the air, and bright red flames illuminated the night. The bandits had snuck in past the guards that the village left at the gates, and set fire to the watchtowers. Panic and fear were everywhere as the villagers scrambled to flee the marauding bandits. Sun’s home was set ablaze by a torch thrown through his window, and his parents were scrambling to find him, fearing that he would have already perished to the flame and the smoke.
Instead, mere moments after the entire room was consumed by the inferno, Sun walked out of it with singed clothes but unburned skin, flames dancing in his eyes and a scowl of rage in his face. He leapt to action, guiding his parents through the burning house and making sure that they could flee unimpeded, before he heard the screams of his friends.
The bandits had dragged most of them by the hair and clothes to the center of the burning village; they rode horses and laughed madly, with a dark miasma surrounding them. They took glee in kicking down and breaking with their weapons any improvised weapon that the young people of the village could find to defend themselves, delighting themselves in seeing their expressions of despair. Their leader was a massive man atop a black steed with black and golden robes, and a dark cloud following him like a bad omen, observing the show with a satisfied look in his face. He turned to the side and saw Sun standing amidst the flames, breathing heavily and furious, and smiled. It was at that moment that, through the flame and the darkness, Sun saw that his face was not that of a man, but of a massive spider-like creature disguised as a man riding a horse. Upon seeing the look of shock into Sun’s face, the man laughed and turned towards the young man.
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“Round them all up, boys! every single woman, child and elder - the ones that escaped will not go far into the night! Smoke them out, bring them here, and let’s make whoever survives the ride dance on the embers of their homes! Appease the Mayakashi, let them know we are one and the same!”
The bandits cheered madly at these words, and the leader charged towards Sun, intending to trample the young man. Without a weapon, he could not fight back and put up his fists reflexively, wondering if he could dodge out of the way. A battlecry suddenly came from a burning house nearby, however, as Yukaru leapt through a burning wall, sword in hand and fresh blood on its tip. The flames were licking at her body and her clothes, and leaving terrible burns on her body - but they did not match the fire in her eyes, or the flames that crackled along the length of her blade as she leapt towards the bandit leader and stabbed both him and his horse, right through the thigh.
Sun saw the man’s face distort and scream, and the spider creature screamed as well. And yet he did not fall. Yukaru’s expression was one of disbelief, for no man nor animal could have simply stood after such a blow, yet to her eyes, not even the man’s horse had fallen. Sun could see that in truth, the blade had simply pierced one of eight legs of the spider creature, which still had seven hidden legs to support himself with. The burning embers that had stuck to Yukaru’s sword were snuffed out, and the bandit leader looked down at the young woman with glowing green eyes. Yukaru saw through the dark miasma at that moment, and four glowing, inhuman eyes stared down at her. The young woman’s will faltered and she screamed in terror at the demon’s true nature. The leader lifted one massive hand and backhanded her off to the side with inhuman strength, throwing both her and her blade away. Sun ran towards her, and saw that the terror in her eyes was real.
“It’s not human!” She shrieked, a large gash on her forehead dripping blood. “My blade didn’t even stop it! Save yourself and anyone else you can, Sun! Run!”
Sun’s blood started to boil after seeing the courageous Yukaru assailed by fear and pain at the hands of the demon, even more so when it laughed, delighting itself in the fear of the young woman. Wrath overtook fear and doubt - Sun stood once more, recovering Yukaru’s blade from the ground.
“Will you, too, fight me, boy?!” Boomed the bandit. Through the darkness and the flames, Sun could see grotesque mandibles opening and dripping poison. “Courage! What a foul taste that you young ones have! Even after heeding her warning you will not give me fear and despair? Shall I cook it out of you, then?!”
The demon made a gesture. To the rest of the bandit gang and the young people of the village, the bandit leader had utilized a mysterious magic that defied reason, and it filled them with fear as the burning blacksmith house nearby toppled towards Sun and Yukaru, bringing down flaming debris and straw on top of the two young ones. To Sun, it was much more clear - it had shot out a thick, sticky web out of its mouth towards the blacksmith building and pulled its fragile wall towards the two with supernatural strength.
The bandit leader approached the burning rubble, laughing at his handiwork.
“Pay close attention! This is the power of demons, the demons that we serve!” he shouted, lying naturally to all watchers, enjoying the sheer terror of all villagers. “The mighty Mayakashi shared their magic with me, in return for sacrifices and mayhem! All those that would serve them and turn against their fellow humans can know this power! The night belongs to them, and so do you! !, for none can stand against me, Tsukahagi the Poisonous, who has rejected humanity in this endless night!”
So taken by his own speech was the demon that he did not realize that not all of the fear in the faces of the watchers was because of him. It was only when he heard the sound of splintering wood behind him and saw one of his men lift a hand to point. He turned, all four eyes widening, for there stood young Sun, his silvery white hair reflecting the flames like glass, with orange fire licking his body yet leaving no burns - although he was bleeding, having shielded the fallen Yukaru with his own back upon which the burning house had broken - she laid in a bed of splinters and embers, in pain but alive. The intense heat seemed to not bother Sun as he locked eyes with the demon.
Sun lifted the sword, once more wreathed in flame - but whereas Yukaru could only keep small embers on the blade for a moment, the flames seemed to be gathering and growing on the edge of the katana in Sun’s hand. They coalesced into bright orange and then mellowed into a silvery, ghastly blue - and the heat became more intense. Taking advantage of the distraction of the bandit leader and his surprise at seeing his prey alive, Sun screamed and brought down the blade with all his strength on the disguised demon.
His form was off, and the blade snapped soon after making contact with the spider’s tough exoskeleton - however, the spectral flames stayed in the shape of a blade, cutting through the demon’s body with ease as it screamed in pain and surprise. The cut was on the creature’s back, going from one shoulder to the opposite side of the waist, with flickering blue embers being left behind on the demon’s body long after the blade had passed through, slowly spreading to consume it’s flesh.
“If you are no human,” Sun’s voice was ice amidst the flames. “Then it just means I shall not have to waste my time digging a grave for you, demon!”
The scream that left the demon’s throat was horrible and ghastly, and it went on for a long time - in which the dark miasma that coalesced around its body was shot off in the sky, until the mortal body fell limply on the ground. The miasma that was surrounding the bandits also was shot off in the sky, and it was as if light had been returned to their eyes. They saw Sun standing amidst flame without burning, a blade of fire in his hand, and they felt true fear. Mistaking him for a different demon, they all scrambled to get on their horses and left, rushing into the night as fast as they could lest the demon of fire caught and burned all of them to a crisp.
Meanwhile, Sun stood among the flickering flame, and a sudden exhaustion came over his body. He left go of the broken sword, and had just enough strength to drag Yukaru out of the burning rubble before falling to his knees, letting the pain of enduring a falling building, as brittle as it had been, take him over. His vision blurry and his body lacking strength, the only thought that Sun could entertain as he slowly lost consciousness was the proud and loud proclamation of the ones responsible for the atrocities that the bandits had unleashed on that night.
Mayakashi.