Echoes in the Tide

The tide had not moved in weeks.

In the once-prosperous coastal village of Minato-no-Sato, the air had grown thick with salt and sorrow. Once, the people here whispered prayers to the sea and sky, leaving offerings at the foot of a seaside shrine. Now, those offerings lay scattered and rotting, forgotten amidst creeping black seaweed. The prayer bells were missing, their silence ringing louder than sound.

Something was deeply wrong.

And so, in the halls of Takamagahara, the Celestial Court took notice. From the ranks of newborn Kami, a few were chosen—divine spirits, barely formed, yet full of potential. They were given a single command by their Ruler Amaterasu:

“Investigate. Intervene. Restore balance.”

Bathed in sacred mist, they descended from the heavens—some through torii gates kissed by salt wind, others riding waves of drifting petals. The moment their feet touched earth, the world reacted. Ripples spread across still ponds. Blossoms danced where there were no trees. The air stirred with unseen purpose.

The Kami had arrived.

The village greeted them not with celebration, but fearful silence. The villagers, once proud and lively, now spoke in hushed tones. No one looked toward the shrine. No one dared.

In time, the Kami met Mizuki—a teenage girl with fire in her eyes and the Sight in her blood. She was training to become an oracle, though too young, too spirited, and now, too alone.

Her mother, Kaede, the shrine maiden of Susanoo, was dead.

The villagers told their story in pieces. A peddler, smooth-tongued and silver-eyed, had arrived months ago. He sold miracle elixirs—potions that promised richer soil, bolder harvests. At first, they worked. But soon, the land began to rot, and the fields refused to grow. Still, it was too late. The village was already poisoned.

The Kami followed the trail, unraveling threads of corruption. They discovered that Kaede, in desperation, had accepted an artifact—a belonging of Orochi, the ancient eight-headed serpent god. It had once been sealed by Susanoo himself, and in bringing it into the shrine, she had unwittingly broken the seal, unleashing a curse that tore through her life like a storm.

The source of the corruption was the peddler himself—Hebikage, a serpent-tongued wanderer whose eyes saw through lies. When confronted, he revealed the truth: he was one of the Eight Aspects of Orochi, shattered long ago by the divine blade Totsuka-no-Tsurugi and scattered across the world.

But there was more.

Hebikage confessed that the artifact Kaede had brought home… was not merely a relic.
It was his child. Their child.

In a strange and terrible union, Hebikage had sought to corrupt Kaede, but somewhere along the way, he had fallen in love. He tried to save her, tried to shield her from the curse, but the power of Orochi was unrelenting. He could only watch as it claimed her.

And now, the child—a dragon-kin infant, born of sea and shadow—was missing.

Hebikage, once proud and sly, was now a husk of guilt. He begged the Kami for help. Not for himself, but for his daughter.

In the final hours of twilight, the Kami discovered a trail—white fur, and three delicate clawed prints, always just out of reach. A three-tailed fox, pure as moonlight, had taken the child and vanished into the mountains.

The hunt was on.
The tides had begun to stir once more.
And the Kami’s first steps in the mortal realm were already echoing through heaven and earth.