Ikémen Sengoku: The Goddess of Life

Waking Up in Azuchi

"Where... Where am I?"

A girl suited in bright, white armor laid in a ditch by her lonesome, utterly weak and seemingly helpless.

"How did I get here?"

She kept asking herself these questions—as if anyone could answer her. She turned her head, but just barely. Her eyes were able to catch a glimpse of her small digits. The girl tried willing them to move, seeing if her body wasn't completely paralyzed. They wiggled. Stiffly, but surely. Only problem was that she couldn't feel them whatsoever. She wasn't paralyzed, but her body was so numb that she should've been.

"The last thing I remember is..."

Her thoughts trailed off as she recalled her sister, Shi, shooting her in the back of the neck with a sort of poisoned dart before kicking her weak body away from the heavens to the land of the mortals. That's why she'd landed in an open field, and the ditch was a result of her impact.

"Shi..." Her eyes became glassy as she now gazed above her at the freckled night sky. "Why did you betray me?"

This simple girl that lay in the mud of her defeat turned out being far more complicated than one would think. This girl was none other than Irey; Goddess of Life. Defeated in battle, she was far too weak to move anything.

A single tear rolled down her cheek as she spent her time worriedly wondering where her other sisters were and what her twin was planning to do with them. The ability to think, however, slowly escaped her. She was drifting into a state of unconsciousness again, being completely vulnerable to whatever encountered her next. She should've recovered by now, but the healing process was taking far longer than it usually would. It probably had something to do with that strange poison Shi injected into her blood system.

The sound of gentle zephyrs suddenly became inaudible to her. What noises that also deafened were the creatures of the night and her own heartbeat. Somewhere in the distance, the whiny of horses rang in her disabled hearing. Figures stood at the top of the crater she was in, standing over her in the form of dark shadows. They made sounds, but she couldn't even come close to comprehending what words were being spoken to her. Her vision was blurring and she no longer had the ability to keep herself awake. Her eyelids began to fall as a man slid down into the hole by her side, propping her body up against his arm. She saw his lips moving, but this time, there was no sound. All she could hear were the heavy pants of her exhausted breaths. And before drifting away, she saw a pair of crimson red eyes. A pair that would be important to her in the near future.

"Is this... what it feels like... to die?"

Darkness overcame her and she soon lost herself...

In sleep.

♡

The next time she'd awoken, the goddess' eyes were introduced to the brightness of her surroundings. She laid in a futon; her armor being replaced by a flowery white kimono and bodily bandages. Sitting next to her, handling a pot of hot water, was a woman with her back facing the goddess—presumably a nurse. Quick to survey, she dragged her eyes across the room.

It was large and elegant, with priceless knick-knacks lining the shelves. This place most definitely belonged to a man of wealth.

Willing her arm to rise, she placed her hand on the nurse's wrist. The woman jumped, nearly spilling the contents in her teapot.

"I'm sorry..." The goddess apologized. "I didn't mean... to scare you..." Her throat was dry and it was hard to get her words out. Noticing this, the woman poured her a cup of tea.