Izumo Gensei and Takama Divine Realm

Two planets are woven into each other's tragic fate, dancing an eternal rondo around the great dark sun.

In the beginning, one of the planets gave birth to human beings. They bowed their heads and called the land beneath their feet “Izumo”; then they raised their heads and called the world above “Takamagahara”. On a day not recorded in history, the “Yaoyorozu no Kami” descended from Takamagahara. These savage beasts under the name of “gods” turned the sky upside down, set the oceans and rivers ablaze, and made the earth collapse… People were stunned to realize that this was not an invasion for the purpose of ruling, of dominating or of plundering. The fierce gods had come only to hunt and kill.

In that moment between survival and ruin, Izumo set foot upon the path of “god-slaying”, used the whole strength of the country to destroy the great calamity “Lord of Revelation”, and forged the first “Edict Blade” from that beast's body. Repaying the enemy in their own manner, by reciting the incantation hidden within the blade the bearer could hold divine works in the palm of the hand and use them to fight the evil gods and save the world. From then on the country of Izumo began a long campaign of conquest, trading countless sacrifices for the fall of one god after another, breaking a thousand swords in this world, and at last casting the twelve “World-Guarding Edict Blades”.

In that brutal war for survival, in less than ten Amber Eras the country of Izumo borrowed the power of the Edict Blades to light up a dark and uncivilized world and to build a city-state brilliant with color. The divine realm in the sky that could never be touched in the past was now near at hand, close enough to reach out and touch… But history stopped abruptly at this moment, and in the blink of an eye the two planets were erased and vanished without the slightest trace.

Today the past of the frontier planet “Izumo” can only be gleaned from scraps of story scattered through the universe. Scholars hold many different opinions about its disappearance, but no one has been able to decipher the mystery. The history of Izumo ought to have been a long flowing river, yet it was severed by a single cut, and all its past and all its future vanished to the other side of the void. Could it be that it never existed at all and is only a fiction? Could it be that it never happened, and is stranded on a shore where cause and effect are overturned? Is this one more tragic experiment in the life of “Dr. Primitive”, or a sign of the return of “Voracity” from the far end of the galaxy?

Only the great dark sun knows the answer. And yet he keeps silent and has never said a word.

For everything that happens must have an ending, and the things that have ended will happen again. The universe will repeat itself forever beneath his black shadow, and Izumo is only a footnote to an ellipsis.

Two planets are woven into each other's tragic fate, and a folk song long since lost lies scattered in the Cave of Hidden Light.

That folk song has no beginning and no end, and no sound. It passes from no one's mouth and reaches no one's ear. It is written like this:

Takamagahara, as far away as Izumo, was once a paradise land of happiness and peace.

Sky and earth turned into the great dark sun that made the tides rise high, and the gods left behind countless traces as though they were migrating.

Magatsuhi no Kami appeared upon the world and slaughtered without mercy. Who could have guessed that supreme power would be stolen away.

The country of Izumo broke 70,033 warriors' blades and cast them into twelve Edict Blades.

The first is “Truth”, cast from the “Lord of Revelation”, and it can let mortals see through the law, decode all phenomena, and recreate divine miracles;

The second is “Heaven”, cast from the “Eternal Zenith”, and it can turn the sky into a solid wall and block the steps of the Magatsu no Morokami;

The third is “Thunder”, cast from the “Almighty Lightning”, and it can make bolts tear the sky open, meteors fly high, and thunder carry out divine justice;

The fourth is “Storm”, cast from the “Endless Wind”, and it can make the wind split the ground open, with heavy rain and great gales that never cease;

The fifth is “Frost”, cast from the “Winter Cloak of Heaven”, and it can freeze and hold fast the order of time, create a land of solid ice, and stretch a single moment into eternity;

The sixth is “Fate”, cast from the “Forsaken Sister of Death”, and it can make the graves bloom with flowers, and make life and death dance through a cycle and then dissolve;

The seventh is “Blaze”, cast from the “Flame of Misfortune”, and it can make roaring fire burn up the world, a fire so magnificent that it burns the whole wide sky;

The eighth is “Insight”, cast from the “Peerless Wisdom”, and it can make the Water Mirror reflect past and future, and speak the truth out of the lies of many years;

The ninth is “Foundation”, cast from the “Father of the Earth”, and it can hang islands high in the sky and make mountains and ground burst apart before the battle;

The tenth is “Thousand”, cast from the “Lord of the Netherworld”, and it can link all human beings into a single net, so that countless forms rising and falling become one;

The eleventh is “Bind”, cast from the “Cage of Omens”, and it can make every mistaken road lead into the cage, and wipe away all wickedness and evil in a single moment;

The twelfth is “Devour”, cast from the “Endless Calamity”, and it can corrode and age the mortal world and create gods and demons alike, so that the four souls of one being are split in two.

Afterward the underworld was swept clean, the war paused, and the twelve blades were broken and locked away;

In the emptiness the souls of the dead could find no rest, and beneath the shining of the black sun two blades were forged to carry the fate of the world.

One is “Origin” and one is “End”, beginning with humankind and ending with demons.

The lamenting stops, flowers bloom and flowers wither, the loser returns to nothingness, and the winner… becomes empty.

The limping monk sings a song with no melody, and those who hold the power of the gods step back toward divinity as well.

Under the witness of the great sun, in the land once called “Izumo”, human beings, gods, demons… none of them exist any longer.