*TONK*

*TONK*

‘What a freakish nightmare…’

*TONK*

*rustle*

‘So… This is not a dream… I guess’

After having collapsed, Yamato woke-up to the sounds of a shishiodoshi ringing nearby. Waking up begrudgingly and sitting upright, he finds himself in a new situation.

First, he finds himself seated on a luxurious white futon that was both comfortable and had elaborate embroidery of gold and red threads.

His clothes had also been changes, from his modern casual wear of shirt and jeans, to a traditional yukata for lounging. It too was exquisite, as it was soft and cool and in a deep blue color.

Yamato was slightly taken aback due to noticing the change of clothing. He first inspected himself to notice that he was still wearing his underwear, before turning to look around to find his original clothes folded and left at a side near the futon.

He heaved a sigh of relief, and grumbled about might have been an embarrassing situation.

Relieved of his temporary worry, he moved on to observe his new surroundings. Different that the hall he was previously ‘summoned’ to, he now finds himself in an exquisite but traditional Japanese parlor.

Firs thing to note, is that the room was normal in size to that of a typical, ancient Japanese style room found in old samurai homes. Not at the scale of the ginormous hall, but still bigger than a modern-day room and in a long rectangular shape.

Second, was the pristine and prestigious traditional ambiance in the room. Placed far inside the room, Yamato had to his back, a clean white wall, that was partitioned into three sections. Each section had a piece of décor hung at its center, for a total of 3. The center piece was a pair of large golden Karps. And to the sides, there were large paintings left hanged. From his position, he could not see the forms of the paintings.

Opposite to the back wall, the wall to the front was also a clean white wall, but it was un partitioned. The only feature on this wall was its magnificently grand and wide double doors that was of a dark oak color. This was without doubt the entrance to the room, and its appearance and natural aura was both magnificent and noble.

Moving on from the walls, to each of the long sides of the room were continuous shoji screens. Through the screens warm sunlight filtered into the room. This gave the room a very ethereal feeling.

Last to note, the room had a curved-racked ceiling, made of wood. The ceiling also had a long screen center piece that also allowed the entry of sunlight. The total arrangement of the room gave it more than enough natural light that shown on the wooden floors to give it a golden hue that reflected all across the room. The entire room had a look of gold, calm and neatness that was truly profound.

*Sigh*

But, the room’s arrangement and design only served to further increase Yamato’s lament, as he heaved heavy and long sighs.

Just as he felt helpless to his situation, he was suddenly spoken to.

“It is fortunate that you have awoken.

Your collapse was a bit unexpected.”

The same feminine voice from before spoke, and broke Yamato’s train of thoughts.

A small flash of light burst from near the entrance door, and goddess Amaterasu showed up. Following behind her was Tsukuyomi and 11 other figures spread to the sides. This time around, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and 11 other individuals arrived. The other figures could be deduced to be gods and goddess from Takamagahara, the world of gods. They were all now of a normal human size, rather than the enormous size that he was greeted with before with Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi.

“So many have come.”

Yamato quite abruptly blurted out. This caused some of the new arrivals to have wide eyed expressions where as both Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi smiled in return.

Not answering Yamato, Amaterasu approached the center of the room before seating herself down, directly opposite to Yamato. To her right, sat Tsukuyomi, and to her left, another god also seated himself. The remaining 10 figures also quickly seated in a semicircular shape.

Yamato also rose from the futon and approached closer, before properly seating himself infront of Amaterasu and the other gods and goddesses in the room.

“I hope you are doing better now.”

“Thank you for your concern. I have slightly calmed down.”

“Is the room to your liking?”

“I would still prefer it was more normal that is. But it is better than the hall.”

A small exchange of pleasantry and dialogue happened between Yamato and Amaterasu. This is suitably to settle down the awkwardness from the previous meeting. After having completed the small pleasantry, goddess Amaterasu returned to a serious expression.

“Now, from the previous meeting, I am sure you have some… no, many things on you mind.

Please speak freely.”

Amaterasu offered Yamato.

He couldn’t help but raise a brow before heaving another long sigh. To which the gods also reacted with varying expression and raised brows.

“First off. Why on all of Earth and Takamagahara, would you choose me?

For what purpose reason and under what logic?

I am just a typical mortal human, who is not of adulthood and at best in the middle of third-year high school. I am not so spiritual like the priests and shrine maidens. I actually rarely visit a shrine.

To be technically ‘abducted’ at night, and then told that I have been chosen to ‘protect earth world’… What should I be making of this?”

Yamato spoke in several breaths, with a pause after each of his questions. He truthfully let out his frustration at the gods.

Receiving Yamato’s frustration, a couple of the gods had dark expressions. Not unexpected, as a mortal human had just genuinely critisized them.

However, most of the gods had a sympathetic expression. Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi also had apologetic expressions.

The one to reply to Yamato was Amaterasu.

“First of all I express apologies on behalf of the gods of Takamagahara.

As a mortal human of earth world, you have reason not be content with the situation.

It is a fact that us gods have little to do or any direct relevance in the daily lives of the humans, even for those who worship us. We have offered nothing, but have called you here to make a request of you.

I hope you will give me the opportunity to explain, and that you will listen to it with an open mind.

The final decision will be yours.”

Amaterasu spoke amicably and unperturbed, taking upon herself to be show as the weaker side in this discussion. This was unexpected for Yamato who slightly grimaced, feeling uncomfortable. Technically, he now looked to be bad guy bullying the other side.

After a moment of hesitation, Yamato replied with a slight bow.

“My apologies for the outburst. I will listen through your explanation.”

Amaterasu gave faint smile to Yamato’s behavior before continuing.

“To explain the situation, I must first explain to you, the ‘worlds’.

The ‘worlds’ are a classification for parallel worlds, that exist both in harmony to one another and also independent to one another. There are many, many parallel worlds in existence. And these worlds are segregated into various levels and definitions based on the nature and laws governing them. There are 3 classified types of worlds. They are; Origin worlds, Lower worlds and Greater worlds.

The world you are from, Earth world, is an ‘origin world’.

An ‘origin world’ is a world that had properly stabilized, with no imbalances and imperfections its creation and function. Such worlds normally progress in the route of science and development, like that of earth. These worlds are also often called ‘blessed world’ since the tumults in these worlds are minor and only man-made. Peace also prevails to the greater length of its existence.

On the other hand, there are the ‘lower worlds’.

The ‘lower worlds’ are a step lower than origin worlds and are lacking in almost every way. They are neither stable or peaceful and are mostly enraptured in bloodshed and conflict continuously. Additionally, these worlds have incomplete laws of governance and there many of its functions are unstable and sometimes disabled.

‘Lower worlds’ don’t ravel down the scientific path. Because, in supplement to the instability and imbalance, the worlds are filled with other forms of ‘energy’. This can be called magic or spirit essence or alchemy and more. Such situations like these can be found more in the fictions and literature of your world.

Now these worlds are also in varying formats. They can be either ‘spherical worlds’ with a flat map-like layout, or ‘planetary worlds’ with the same features of earth, but without a greater cosmos.

Then we have the ‘greater realms’. These are where the ‘gods’ worlds’, such as Takamagahara, and the ‘demon world’, such as Tartarus exist. These are the plains of powerful beings with relative peace, and odd conflict.”

Speaking up to hear, Amaterasu takes a pause. It is Tsukuyomi who continues after her.

“Now, the worlds explained to you, have been operating since time immemorial. Each has had channels or lanes of connecting with one another. This has allowed for the ‘greater realms’ to be always aware of the existence and situation of the other worlds. That said, the worlds have existed individually with no direct collusion or collision. There has only been spiritual connections, that has led to the creation of ‘religion’ in the parallel worlds.

However, change has come to the system of the worlds. The ‘lower worlds’ that were in constant tumult have had drastic changes. Some of them have turned into the 2 sided conflicts, instead of the great disorder and tumults of the past. Some of the ‘lower worlds’ have also vanished altogether, with no way to trace or connect to them. This was noticed by all the ‘gods’ worlds’.

Actions have been taken to find the missing worlds. And the result that we have uncovered, is both shocking and still incomplete.

We found the missing worlds in a distant and separate space in the void of the worlds. In this space, the worlds had somehow started to meld and merge. There were over 50 worlds that had gone missing over a presumably long period of time, and all of them have been traced there. Due to the merger of the various worlds, the previous nature and structure of the worlds had changed, with new, complex laws taking form.

Because of the phenomenon of having multiple worlds combine, we named this the ‘realm world’. We still lack any factual information regarding the form and development of this world.

We have tried observing this parallel world, to find the reason for the disappearances and mergers. However, our efforts have been fruitless. Those of the ‘greater realms’ are unable to venture into the lower worlds. The same is true for the amalgamating world as well.

However, those of the ‘lower world’ and the ‘origin worlds’ can travel to all the worlds, under a set of certain conditions and circumstances. When this was discovered, the ‘gods’ world’ decided to send several mortals to the new world. Some, even from Earth were chosen. This was almost 4 years ago, from earth time.

Those we sent into the other world were gifted with things collected through fate and Fortuna. Over 1000 beings were sent into that world to investigate the situation.

They made progress in adapting into that world and within several months many had progressed a considerable amount. This progress, lead us to be hopeful of the endeavor.

However, just as hopes were raised, an opposition arose. Beings called the ‘Satires’ arose in the other world, raising their own factions. They took action against those that we had sent. Most were annihilated in conflict. Others, were tempted and turned to the opposing side. The efforts to investigate were defeated ruthless and spontaneously.

The only thing we gained was the knowledge that there was a force at play. Whether the name is true, or is but an alias is yet to be confirmed.”

After speaking gravely, Tsukuyomi stopped here. The mood, among the gathered gods and goddesses had turned slightly gloomy. After a momentary pause, the other god, seated with Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi spoke-up.

“In the four years since, 2 more worlds have now gone and merged with the ‘realm world’. We have had no other contact with this world and do not know of their current situation.

However, we have now started to notice that connections being drawn from this world to the ‘lower worlds’ and also some ‘origin worlds’. And, this is where you come into the paly of things, Yamato Shigeru.

The ‘realm world’ is trying to connect to Earth world and take it in. If this happens, the earth will undergo a cataclysmic change, changing everything anything you have ever known. Many will perish during the turbulent change. And when other energies invade, science of your world may not hold out. The laws that your world has studied and accepted, would be turned on their heads.

For this reason, the gods have thought to take new action. Each of the Earth’s ancient mythologies and religions like us, such as the Greeks, the Chinese and the Egyptians. Each of the groups are deciding to take independent actions.

As such, we, the gods of Takamagahara, have decide that, unlike the last attempt where many were scattered to the other world, this time, we would try to build a comprehensive force. A faction.

For this we needed a leader. A commander.”

Speak up to here, the god paused as he gazed directly at Yamato. All of the gods and goddesses, also directed their attention to Yamat, mounting pressure on him.

“The chosen individual, is you. Yamato Shigeru.

You have been chosen, because you were found to be the most suitable. And frankly, you are the only options we have, from after having used the Akashi records to make a decision. The Akashi records are the compilation of known history and knowledge and is kept here is Takamagahara. It has rarely, if ever been used.

If you choose not to accept our request, we would be forced to think for other solutions. For that we need time, that we are sorely lacking.

It is estimated that if things proceed in the current speed, Earth world, would be dragged into the ‘realm world’ within 10 years’ time. This may seem like a lot of time, more so that a ‘lower world’, but is not enough time to find another solution and act upon to prevent the merger.

While the other groups are also taking action, who will succeed, is unknown. One thing that is certain, is that every action taken, increases the chances of success in preventing this merger.

Earth world, is the first ‘Origin world’ under threat. If it falls, it would truly be unprecedented, and more will be put at risk.

Therefore, with matters as they are, Yamato Shigeru. What will you do?”

The god seated near Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, posed the question as he ended his explanations. The entire situation as at present has been unraveled to Yamato. The other Gods and Goddesses sat as they were, scrutinizing Yamato to see his reaction.

Remarkably, Yamato had little reactions. Suring the cause of the long explanations, with the exception of the odd times when his eyes slightly widened or when his brows scrunched, he maintained a blank and emotionless face. At the end of the explanation, Yamato closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

The gods were left aside helplessly as they awaited his response. A nerve racking silence fell in the room.

This situation was unique, with a mortal human seating himself, ignoring the gods and goddess that are around him and waiting for his response. A situation where gods are left in wait, powerless and ruffled in anticipation.

While Yamato continued to keep, his eyes closed, the gods and goddesses couldn’t stay still. Some exchanged looks at one another. Their nerves were feeling strained due to the odd silence.

The three gods seated directly opposite to Yamato kept a serious gaze fixed on Yamato. Amaterasu had hopeful eyes as she observed restrainedly. The two gods to her sides kept a serious and slightly perplexed look on their faces. After having said so much, they expected Yamato to step forward willingly, like a boy wishing to be a hero. A reaction most of the gods would take a novelty.

A good length of time passed by as the restlessness grew. Some shifted their seating position several times as everyone felt like sitting on pins and needles.

It was enough time to burn an insane stick, before Yamato slowly opened his eyes again. He raised his head to meet the gazes of the gods.

“How far will you go to meet this problem?”

This was the question Yamato posed after his long period of silence.

The gods were startled. An unintentional smile almost crept on most of their faces as realization dawn on them.

A god seated to Yamato’s left, responded.

“We are willing to offer any support we can to you, if you are willing to do this.”

Yamato turned to that god.

“I am sorry, but you are?”

“Hahaha. Sorry for not mentioning it, I am Bishamon, the god for War and Happiness.

Yamato Shigeru, if you are willing, we will arrange for anything you request as long as it is possible for us to do.”

“Is this the collective will of all of the gods of Takamagahara?”

“Indeed. All of the gods of Takamagahara are united in this decision.”

Amaterasu responded this time.

“Another question. What about my life on earth?”

“For this… I am afraid you cannot return, at least not anytime soon. Do you have any…”

“I see. That is fine. I have no attachments anyway. I merely wanted to confirm for formality sake.”

To Yamato’s last question, the expressions of the gods couldn’t help but cramp, but were quickly bewilderingly relieved thereafter.

“So, can we take it that you have agreed to our request?”

Tsukuyomi, asked once more, for confirmation from Yamato.

“I, Yamato Shigeru, accept the request of the gods of Takmagahara, based on the knowledge disclosed to me.

And while I accept, I request for the care and support of the gods in this task.”

Yamato gave his ascent and a formal bow.

“We swear an oath upon this, that all of the gods of Takamagahara, herein nominate, Yamato Shigeru, for the post of faction leader and commander to go to the ‘realm world’.

We task him to build a foundation and power to contend against any adversity in the otherworld, and find the cause and a solution to the imminent crisis faced by the order of the worlds.

We gods, vow that we will provide all of our support, unhindered, to make this endeavor a success.”

“““We affirm our commitment.”””

Amaterasu gave the vow as all of the gods’ present responded with a nodding affirmation.