"Where rivers meet the sea, the waters do not fight — they become one.
So too must the living and the divine, in the endless estuary of existence."
The Narrator—
Waking up is an act which occurs in the life of every being alike, whether it be waking up in the morning, or spiritual awakening at some point in life. The only difference is, it is easier to accept the change in the serenity of dawn. Unless you are in high school, because it was always the absolute worst thing for Arata. It is important to soak your senses with the atmosphere in order to truly feel this, but a student would not have time for this. The sky is still pink and the city barely awake, when the first bunch of beings leave their homes, whether it be the small- adventurous birds, or the young and curious humans.
"The lens makes the difference", is what they say, but what difference does the lens make if the frame is not built to hold it. To find happiness, one must learn to wake up, and accept what surrounds them rather than forever living in the dreams of slumber, for sometimes what exists in reality can be really ambiguous.
A hall is visible, the palace of heaven, described as 'paradise' in tales. The gods seated in two rows at each side with the seat of the Fudō in the center at one end. In front of him stood Hōkai, the one who embodied death itself,
"This accounts for no argument, the dead are no different from the living and don't deserve to be overlooked by the gods".
"Oh really? Well, it is THEIR fault for being stuck down there with you, they get their chance at redemption in every life."
The God of Wind taunted, true to his mocking nature,
"The souls do not carry the light of wisdom to their bodies and can take a very long time to finally fulfil their purpose, it is only the duty of gods to forgive the naive souls and show them the path to liberation".
The God of Death had argued with the gods for over decades. As the Ruler of the nether Underworld, the gods belittled him and his subjects. They viewed the dead as filthy and lowly, so much that they granted them the most miserable realm of all, to make them face endless torment and suffering, which Hōkai opposed strongly.
He demanded that a separate realm be made for the souls of the dead to stay, where they can be enlightened with universal wisdom for in this world, death is not final. Every being must go through the cycle of life and death endlessly as long as they fail to understand the true way of life, which is to find happiness that comes not from any malicious actions and the courage to give away that happiness for helping another being without any selfish intent.
"You get too carried away with yourself, thinking that your kind even deserves enlightenment.", "I agree, you shou-",
"SILENCE". All of the gods looked toward Fudō, the voice of the Creator himself. "For gods, who embody order and divinity to mortals, such paltry quarrelling is truly unfit, I wish to hear your conflict, Hōkai."
"The realm I ask for is not purely out of greed. Early men used to have values of justice and righteousness and the ones who could not find liberation were rare. Now, to my concern, humans have grown more twisted and are starting to lose vision, hence more and more souls are left behind and unable to meet their ultimate purpose, of merging with the Creator, the supreme entity. Hence the need to enlighten these souls in hope of easing their journey is no desire of malice.".
Fudō closed his eyes. "I have reached a conclusion"
A sudden startlement occupies the room which had been silent for some time now. The words of Hōkai have spoken to me, the humans are unable to see the estuary that ties their existence with that of ours, and with that in mind, it is only fair to let them see it after their death, to hope they will be able to reach their goal in the next life. Oh God of Death, your wish shall be granted."
Fudō holds the staff of the creator and chants softly.
The air is filled with divine energy, a vortex of cosmic power swirls in his hand, the energy soon fades, leaving behind a scroll. Everyone watches in awe,
"Here.. take this, go to a desired place in the universe and open it. A realm will be created, a serene floating piece of land in the abyss. All the dead will be summoned there and it will serve their new kingdom, I will even allow some gods to visit and help you, ~lesson of humility."
The gods are not happy with this choice.
Fudō holds out the scroll and hands it to Aomi, the God of Water, as calm and serene as water itself. Aomi moves toward Hōkai with a consistent pace, like a gentle reminder of how a calm tide hides its devastating power. Hōkai sends forth one of his men to receive the scroll, but just as everyone had thought that the meeting had come to an end, a new chaos erupted.
The gods watched with horror and surprise, as the soldier, moments after receiving the scroll from the Mizukami, dropped it down, below the clouds — down to the realm of mortals. He gave an arrogant, eerie smile with no explanation, and before he could even say a word, a flaming arrow from the God of Fire strikes him, incinerating his soul with hellfire.
A hysteria is sparked in the divine hall of gods,
"You traitor! all you wanted was to stir up trouble in the mortal word" shouted the voices of enraged gods as they took up arms, prepared to charge.
"No! please believe me, this was not expected by any of us, I declare his actions completely independent of my interests".
The God of Destruction was silently spectating from his seat in a corner, until Fudō finally speaks.
"There is no time for such internal discord, this matter needs to be dealt with before the mortal realm collapses, the scroll is a heavenly artifact of immense power which can cause much disaster if discovered by the living. I hereby order all gods of this divine council to retrieve the 'artifact' from earth as soon as possible".
The artifact became the bridge connecting the worlds of the living and the dead, the bridge which was not meant to exist. The gods make contact with their avatars, determined to demolish it. Divine word is sent across the universe about the incident.
Down in the living world, the city is mostly awake by now. After the children, it is now time for the working-population to start their day, the smell of morning coffee coming from apartments fills the air as shopkeepers are starting to lift the shutters of their stores. Arata reaches school, unaware of the devastation that is to come in the wake of this heavenly conflict.
-------------End of Chapter---------------