Hi! Hope you all enjoyed christmas and the new year!
So this story is a one-shot, and meant to be the link between Taishou Tsukiko's life and 4.0. There are quite obvious element of the next story, even if most of the story is original.
In the meant time, I hope you enjoy this one-shot, and the conclusion of Shadow's adventures as Tsukiko.
The next installment is already in writing but it will be rather long to write I think...

Game On 3.5

Tsukiko slalomed between the piles of old tomes that cluttered the familiar living room of the Higurashi shrine, calling a hello to the female silhouette in the kitchen "Tsuki-chan, welcome." the bright green eyed, lush brown-haired wood elemental welcomed the Moon Hime "Souta is waiting for you in his study."
"I'm heading right this way, Lan Fen." the ookami nodded "How is he?"
"Stressed. Afraid." the woman sighed "He's found something, in these old books, and it's not something I can help him with..." she admitted
Tsukiko patted Souta's wife shoulder reassuringly, before heading where she could feel the high priest of the Higurashi Shrine.
"Tsuki-chan!"
His wife hadn't exaggerated the situation – the forty year old looking man was pacing agitatedly, eyeing charts on the walls and opened books on the table. He forgoed greeting her anymore, directly pushing a dusty tome in her hands...
She eyed the section he was pointing to, her brain taking an instant to switch to the correct language – she wasn't that proficient in Atlant after all, as much as it resembled ancient Celt.

"After nearly a hundred years it seems like the Low Tide is finally over, which is just as well, as we were on our last stocks.
Around the city, we've sighted the first grindilows in decades, and Bradán swears he's seen a kelpie. He reckons that if the kelpie actually survived out there, the Tide mustn't have been that bad, but Ardra thinks they managed to hide in a pocket where the level didn't drop that much.
It's possible apparently, around area very saturated, so Atlantis may have incidentally saved quite a few local creatures during the Low Tide.
I really hope this is the end of it, and that we'll finally be able to rise the city from the ocean bed, I miss fresh air and the exploration out in the savage lands."

She paused in her reading – there was something strange going on, clearly.
What was the link between low tides and food? Or magical creatures? Or hiding beneath the sea?
"They aren't talking about a regular tide, aren't they?" she realized rather easily
Souta nodded, snatching the tome back to replace it by another.
This on wasn't as old – and she recognized old english.

"Ever since Myrdhin has been sorted into his house, Salazar has been insufferable!
The two of them get along far too well, spending their day in dusty old tomes with Rowena, or doing dangerous experiments in the dungeons. I didn't know the old snake could manage even more explosions than before! And after that Helga says I'm the dangerous one...
Their latest idea is to try and store the Ley Lines magical power rather than use it directly on the castle's wards. Apparently the Ancients used to do that. That's well and all, but the two seem to have forgotten that the ancients also managed to destroy their own city. And their nearest neighbor. And nearly destroy us all...
I don't want them to play with such dangerous things. Still, Myrdhin may be an Ancient, he's not usually an idiot, so I wondered if there was a reason behind this.
What he explained terrified me."

Here, the script of Godric – it was rather easy to guess it was him – became unsteady.

"He talked about a phenomena I'd never heard about before.
Not too surprising of course, as it only happens every few millenia.
Apparently, the magic of the planet is not simply traveling around in the Ley Lines, impregnating the area where numerous magical beings live, it also fluctuates with time.
Currently, we're at the height of what is called a magical High Tide.
But eventually, the Tide will lower, and with it the level of ambient magic planet-wide will decrease until the near depletion of the Ley Lines."

Tsukiko dropped the book.
Ambient magic – was as necessary as air or water for all magical beings.

"Tsuki-chan." Souta's voice broke "I think a Low Tide is coming."

¤.¤.¤

Only the decades of meditation to hold her temper had prevented the young goddess from having the same break-down Souta had already gone through.
Another book, correlated with some wave of unknown illness in the less magically saturated area of the planet were soon confirming the affirmation in her mind.
"What do we do?" the high priest asked, the same faith in her in his eyes now than he had as a young boy, nearly two centuries ago
"It's too late to store magic like the Atlant did." Tsukiko immediately ruled out "The current pocket-dimension could probably survive through a century of low magic, but they don't have the capacity to welcome all the magical beings, and making a new pocket dimension right now would be useless, it wouldn't have the time to accumulate enough magic magic for it's anchoring wards to hold through a century without external magic." she summed up quickly "We have to leave."

"Leave?"
She picked up a tome laying perilously close to the edge of the desk, leafing rapidly through it before slamming it open on one page "This. I remember reading this a few years ago, at the time I'd only thought it interesting, but now..."
He looked over at the charts and pictures that were sprawled on the double-page, and visibly continued in the next few pages. The first picture was rather familiar, and explained why the Moon Hime had read the book – it was a representation of the Earth and its Ley Line, the model turning lazily in the book to show all the globe. He didn't really know why, but he knew Ley Lines had always been a topic the princess and her friend from a previous life had always been interested in.
The next picture was the Moon.
Then the other planets and their own satellites.

He hadn't even known every planet and satellites had their own Ley Lines...
"At that time, the study was pointing out that Earth was clearly the planet with the strongest Ley Lines system. Some planets have more than our own, but with less magic, other have even less Ley Lines than us..."
She pointed at the Moon "For example, the Moon only has Earth Ley Lines, like us, she's probably the most similar place to Earth in term of Ley Lines layout. But the magic is also slow and nearly stagnant, not to mention the Ley Lines even more depleted than ours."

"Which means magic would take a long time to recover, and be harder to use than here."
"Exactly. Not to mentions the mundanes are well on their way to colonize it." he hadn't realize the venture was so advanced – but then again, he wasn't aware of the things going on in governments like the Heiress of the House of Moon was thanks to her position, even if he did spent some time on the mundane side of life since he'd taken over the shrine from his grand-father a few decades ago "But here..."
"Mars?"
"It's still hard to colonize for mundanes." she shrugged "But with the correct wards and enchantment, it should be possible for us."

¤.¤.¤

They'd taken their news, and solution, to their inner circle of friends, pack and family first.
Then to Mahoutokoro.
Finally, to the International Council of Magic Beings, the latest evolution of the ICW.
Of course, the first reaction had always been to first try and reject the possibility, then to panic – but the fact they were also presenting the first elements of a solution helped.
Making Mars livable, and taking the magic population, wasn't going to be easy nor fast; and the fact they had a rather dangerous deadline didn't help. But for the first time, nearly all of the magical world was working together.

Within the first month, explorers had been sent to do a first evaluation of the land, equipped with enchantment-weaved protective clothing and numerous wards anchored on jewelry.
By the third month, the first team of magical Terra-former was on site.
By the end of the year, the areas that would be teleported to their new lands were inscribed with the correct symbols and other runes, all waiting to be activated.
Magical seeds and cuttings of all kinds were already in stasis, and other already growing on the lands that could now be lived in.
After that, the preparation for portals to the red planet were made to move the population and animals.

Of course, during all the preparations, one problem stood out, more and more.
Power.
Because with the natural reserve of the planet dropping, all were already feeling the results, wards weakening around the world, the weaker magical beings having more difficulty replenishing their energy...
It was the dragons that gave an answer.
Because where most type of energies used by Holy Servants, Youkai and other Witches and Wizards relied on part on the ambient magic fed by the Ley Lines – there was one type of power that was completely different, a power that even mundane humans could awaken.
Soul Fire.
Numerous arythmancy, runes and other ritual masters poured their knowledge together, until finally, a plan was ready to enact.

On Earth, three people would activate a planet-wide array that would transport all magical beings to the pendant of the array – another planet-wide array, opened this time on Mars, and that would need far more people to active.
The Earth side of the array would be giving the power needed, probably depleting the planet's magical reserve along the way; but it wouldn't be doing much more.
On the Mars side on the other hand, the people managing the array would have to direct the people and animals incoming in order to avoid disaster.
Meanwhile, the buildings and other monuments that would be taken along would arrive in places set up for them earlier.

On Earth – they would need the strongest Sky, Earth and Ocean user.
On Mars, the complete set of guardians of these three people, to keep them alive while magic dwindled down on Earth thanks to their bond.
The requirement terrified the Soul Users.

For the first time, Ryoichi regretted harmonizing with Tsukiko.
Because Sky users may be the most numerous – there still wasn't the shred of a doubt she was the most powerful of them all.
There wasn't much doubt either, that once the Earth's magic was depleted, then all those that were left on the planet would be stuck there to suffer through the Low Tide.
Because the pocket realms would be closed to them once the ritual enacted – well Under Hill had already gone under as soon as the Tide had been announced, not waiting to see what would happen to the rest of the magical world; nobody had been really surprised at the species that had always taken pride in themselves and their self sufficiency.
But even Makai and Shangri La, that were helping as much as they could would have to close their borders before the beginning of the ritual in order not to be affected...
Second Life, as a completely separate world, was helping too, but would have to completely cut the access to Earth once the ritual started too, with the inhabitants stuck either inside, or outside. Xiao Lan, or rather Prince, once she'd learned Tsukiko would be stuck on Earth, had opted for remaining in what had once been a game, as had numerous previous players that were now part of the magical world.
Ryukossei, the elder Long, was torn between his duties as elder Long and Storm to the Moon Hime's Sky. Eventually, his Council on Shangri La had encouraged him to go with an entourage to Mars as the time would go by far faster on the planet than inside the pocket-dimension that was under a heavy time-dilatation – a Ring, as the dragons called the group of Sky, Earth or Ocean and guardian, was something eminently important in their civilization.

The Earth user, Sarenhes Tohasa was an Elder of the vampire race, so old he didn't quite remember how he'd been turned – so old he was born of the ancient continent of Mu that had been destroyed by the Atlants so long ago.
The man had been living a rather secluded life, despite living in New York, nearly never contacting the magical world – but when the word had gone out about the requirement for the ritual, he'd came out of the woods, like many others.

The Water user was a rather young and beautiful snow dragon, jeweled amethyst eyes sparkling with life and happiness, and like most ryu, a pair of antlers circling her head.
Xiao Dan was very kind, and she and Tsukiko, even if they had only met in passing in Shangri La quickly grew close to each other.

¤.¤.¤

"I never thought I'd say that," Ryoichi commented "but I'd rather have at least Ryu staying with you..."
"You know staying would be a death sentence for him."
"It may well be for you!"
"It won't be." her hand gently settled down on his body, heart slowly beating beneath her fingers "You will be keeping me alive."
"This ritual was meant to last for one life! We've never put it to the test since!"
"The gods told us it had worked on our very soul."
"I know." he sighed, enfolding the slender silhouette in a hug "Yet I can't help but worry. Please live bambina, so I may find you yet in this life rather than the next."
"I will." she promised

She had nearly broken her vow.
So focused had they all been on the Low Tide incoming, they'd only vaguely taken notice of the natural disasters that were shaking the planet more and more often. One calamity after the other had made the mundane word countries turn against each other, contrarily to the magical world.
While Tuskiko, Sarenhes and Xiao Dan were putting their very life on the line, and emptying the Earth of magical beings, the first shots of war had been fired.
They had also been the last.
When the three of them awoke, they were in the ruins of Stonehenge, the last magical alive on the planet – and among the last living being too.

They'd been changed by their ordeal, that much had been clear nearly immediately.
The first evident sign had been that Tsukiko's godly aura was now partially unleashed permanently, yet wasn't doing any further damage to her not quite mortal anymore body. Because she should have died, during the ritual – but had been anchored to life by not only her guardians, but Ryoichi himself thanks to the ritual done life-times ago.
Her heart had stopped, yet her soul hadn't left the anchor to go back to the familiar shores of Death Islands, and the Immortal Realm.
With so little ambient magic, her powers were replenishing very slowly, and it would probably be years or even decades before she could open a portal to the other Realms, but she didn't need to see the other higher deity to realize what had happened.
The Moon Hime had somehow managed to become a minor deity to the planet – just like her two partners.

She hadn't had anytime to dwell on the strange fact – as waking up had made her realize that they'd spent months in limbo in the ritual aftermath, not found by anyone because of the destructive war, protected from the fallout and weather by their godly powers.
And she was about to give birth – she hadn't even known she was pregnant!
The twins she gave birth to were her second pair in this life – and just like their elder, one looking more like a canine, the second more fire than blood and flesh.
She sobbed as she realized just how hard it would be to keep the children alive in a planet not made to support magical beings anymore.

Little Yuhiko and Hideki were very different from usual youkai and spirit children.
They didn't have a growth spur after birth, instead growing even more slowly than humans – taking nearly a decade to look like young children rather than baby. They were bright children, but showed nearly no traits of the species they were born from, never having had enough magic to express them.
The twins also never had to hide their rare specific traits from the few humans they eventually encountered. In a world nearly destroyed, where few had survived and technologies were being forgotten by the day and the radiations were still influencing people, the two children were on the contrary respected.
With Yuhiko around, sniffing a prey was easy, her acute canine senses helping. Meat was had more often thanks to her.
And Hideki wasn't only a natural heater thanks to his high body temperature, he was also able to start a fire in any weather, preventing people from getting ill, wet or cold.
Tsukiko's gift of healing, as limited as it had appeared to her back in the days, was a literal life-saver in this new era.

It was only decades later, as she leafed through the numerous entry of her Grimoire that she realized one of the numerous fallout of the nuclear disaster that had occurred while they were saving the magical world.
Leaving the latest group of survivors she'd been traveling with, she quickly honed on her two fellow Earth deity easily, managing the energy necessary to open a portal to the two. The three of them were soon in the middle of the fallen stones where they'd waken up but a few decades ago.
"There aren't Ley Lines anymore."
Xiao Dan stumbled at the affirmation.
Sarenhes sighed, and nodded.
"You knew?" the dragon asked accusatoryly to the ancient vampire
"I had my doubts." he admitted "You have to remember I was born in an era where this planet still had Air and Water Ley Lines, I lived through their destruction. I remember the change in the air that followed..."
"What... What's going to happen?" Xiao Dan asked with a bit of fear in her voice – not that the other two would fault her about it

¤.¤.¤

Neither Tsukiko nor Sarenhes had any answer to give her – because they really didn't know.
Their next worry had been for the pocket-reality still anchored around the planet, living on their own magical stock.
The wards would endure for a century, sure enough – but what would happen after? How long would they last?
Because without the Ley Lines, the wards wouldn't regenerate.
And when they emptied, the pocket-dimensions would fail, taking all their inhabitant with them. This, none of them could let happen – and so, the trio started to travel together once more, finding first Makai and Reikai anchorage, since Tsukiko knew them the best. Reikai they knew now stood empty, the Holy Servants going back to the Immortal Realm when the news of the Low Tide had come – except KoEnma, who'd gone to Mars as her own guardian.
Makai on the other hand still held three thriving kingdoms, even if the fourth, the Sanctuary, had gone to Mars.

They'd managed to alter the wards after several years of theoretical work, making them absorb ambient magic in a large area rather than directly from Ley Lines. After all, in this situation, they couldn't well proceed by trial and error, it would put the life of a whole realm in jeopardy.
After that, they'd gone to Shangri La, and finally Under Hill, having to do custom work for each Realm, not to mention find their anchorage on the planet, something that was traditionally well hidden.
By the time they'd ensured the safety of the few pocket-dimensions hanging around their planet, nearly two century had gone by since the ritual – they'd gotten to Under Hill in the nick of time before their wards failed.
And the planet magical level weren't close from anything they'd been before.
No one had come from Mars for them.

Which – wasn't a bad thing, because the planet still wasn't fit in any way to support magical life on it, but still pointed out once more how utterly alone they felt.
The humans had nearly forgotten all about the world they had been born in, never having known anything but the lands post-disaster.
By the third century, new civilizations were rising.
And in a small land in the middle of the new continents that had risen in the wake of the earthquakes and water level changes, whispers were heard of a gigantic tree, so tall it touched the sky, that held magical powers.
None of them really paid any attention to the strange rumors.
After all, gigantic trees hundreds of years old existed even in the mundane world...

As the half-millennia point was drawing nearer, they finally had proof that they hadn't been forgotten by the Martian magical world in the form of a small team sent by the Cardinal Lords Council, now the reigning power of the planet.
They'd realized that something strange was going on Earth thanks to a team send to the Moon at the end of the first century.
Up until now, the ambient level had still been to low for anyone to dare go down, and any magical missive would loose its energy before arriving on the planet. But now – a small team of volunteers, all young enough to not have too high magical levels, yet magically strong enough that their core wouldn't be depleted simply by touching down, had come.
Their job was to discover what they could about the situation, and if needed – which it was – sacrifice the last of their magical reserve to sent back a message.

Mars had thrived in the five centuries, the lack of need of hiding magic anymore making all magical development boom ahead.
Tsukiko, Sarenhes and Xiao Dan were as good as worshiped by the young generation, who'd grown on tales of the three heroes who'd sacrificed themselves to save the magical world – which explained why two dozen of young youkai and spirits of all species had volunteered themselves for a one-way trip to Earth; and it would have been more had the Sage council not put it's foot down.
More surprising – or maybe not that much – was the fact that, just like themselves, Ryoichi had become a planet-bound deity, which explained why he hadn't come.
The kitsune could no more leave his planet than they could.

The realization that she wouldn't see her mate in this life had been hard for the Moon Hime, but she, Sarenhes and Xiao Dan had given part of their slowly recovering magical pool to sent back a message too.
She'd enjoined the hit-man not to stay alone.
And promised she wouldn't either.
They had, after all, talked about – maybe not this precise situation – but this kind of separation, and determined that each would rather know the other alive and happy, rather than that he or she was letting himself waste away in solitude.
She would have to thank Love, who'd been the one to trigger this talk when she'd warned them that love wasn't something exclusive in the life of an Immortal – that loving each other didn't forbid each of them to love other people.

¤.¤.¤

The youkai that had come to Earth had all settled down around the continent, and just like Yuhiko and Hideki, their innate powers had been reduced to a fraction of what they were supposed to be.
Their children, be it from human partners or other youkai, were just the same – if a bit weaker, and less long lived, a trend that would continue with the next few generations, as the passing centuries would show.

Xiao Dan, still not really healed from the shock that waking up in a destroyed world, had become the most peaceful dragon ever – even if, truth be told, she sometimes barely remembered she was a dragon.
She'd been barely three centuries, a few decades younger than even Tsukiko – a child as far as dragon were concerned when she'd left Shangri La for the first time to sacrifice herself for the magical world.

Just like Tsukiko herself, she hadn't been able to take her true form ever since, and with how surrounded by empty lands or nearly savage humans they'd been – the memories of her native realms were starting to be nothing more than distant dreams...
When war had inevitably come with the rise of new civilizations, the young goddess had been devastated.
Which was probably why, when she heard once more, about a magical tree, in the middle of a small country on the verge of war, she went.
To do what – Tsukiko herself didn't really know, nor, she thought, the dragon herself did.

Sarenhes, who was far more jaded, what with being the oldest being on the planet – quite literally – and probably having already been the oldest back before the Earth's near destruction; had not been surprised with the up-rise of violence.
He hadn't wanted any part in it either.
With the small quantity of magic he'd accumulated over the near millennium, the last child of Mu disappeared in the inhospitable sandy desert that covered nearly a quarter of the main continent.

Yuhiko and Hideki died from old age – at around nine hundred years old, and barely looking seventy year old physically.
Tsukiko, who'd settled down not to far away from them for the last decades of their life, had said her goodbyes after that – not that her grand-children and great-grand-children had been surprised.
They'd promised to pass on the legends of the world of old – not that she'd asked them – and she made them promise to live and prosper.
Respecting Sarenhes desire for solitude, she went to see Xiao Dan.

¤.¤.¤

In order to blend in better with the local population, the goddess had changed her name.
She'd also gotten in a relationship – and even if it wasn't evident for those who didn't know her well, Tsukiko immediately realized that she truly loved the emperor whom she was a concubine of. The ookami wasn't too surprised, given that Tenji, the emperor of what was now called the Land of Ancestors, was a peace-loving monarch, sharing the same ideals as the dragon.
Sadly, Tenji also had the same failing as the dragon who loved him – not understanding that avoiding wars at all costs was impossible.
This led to the man's worst mistake.

The air shuddered with a feeling of power that hadn't been felt in centuries – a power far different than back in the days.
A power now solely held by one goddess.
Tsukiko eyed sadly the lands that had once been So no Kuni, the Land of the Ancestor, and were now devoid of any life – the ground zero of the inferno of power that had been unleashed when Xiao Dan, or rather, Kaguya, had eaten the sole fruit of the mystic tree she'd came to the country to study, gaining back with it the true powers a goddess should have.

In a world where none, not even her two fellow deities, held any consequent powers anymore, the woman was all powerful.
Her beautiful amethyst eyes had lost nearly all color, and a third, blood red gleaming one had opened on her brow; the beautiful antlers had lost the nine branch marking her as a nine-tailed powered daiyoukai, instead looking nearly like an oni's horns and her skin had lost nearly all coloration.
Humans had worshiped her at first, as she single-handedly ended all wars and took over the world.

She had given birth to twins, from the emperor she'd killed herself when he condemned her to death for the crime of defending her life, and was now apparently a benevolent tyrant.
Tsukiko had known better – and she'd slipped away while the world fell under the rule of Kaguya, knowing there was nothing she could do about it.
She'd encountered a toad along the way.
She could immediately feel that beyond the unusual size, since the beast was as large as a big dog, this wasn't a regular animal.
Gamamaru had confirmed her hunch easily upon seeing the emerald green moon on her brow.
"You're the Moon Hime!"

Apparently, things had changed drastically in Makai.
While it hadn't been as bad as on the planet itself, the repercussions of the nuclear war had still been felt, as the instantaneous extinction of the Ley Lines had affected the wards before she'd come with her partners to fix them.
The three kings had united together, and managed to save the realm by changing the time-dilatation ratio, which meant that instead of two thousand years with the previous time-dilatation ratio, about ten millenia had gone by in Makai.

Recently, they'd deem the ambient magic outside of their realm high enough, and scouts had been sent, him among them.
"The human form of the daiyoukai of old have been lost." the toad explained "Honestly, it was a sacrifice worth it rather than condemn our whole realm. The older youkai haven't lost their form, but for us youngster..." her shrugged, something rather strange to see "Well, we've always been like this, so we don't really have anything to miss."
The three kingdoms hadn't lasted after the loss of human form, the youkai assembling themselves rather naturally by species, gaining new alliances and enemies as the centuries went by, even if they did have peaceful zones where all could come and go to trade and hang out.

Gamamaru and Tsukiko got along very well, and the young Toad – he was very proud of his species – had started to teach her a new art.
She had wondered about it, but never settled down long enough to really do it – learn to harness the ambient magic so different from before to gain, if not her old powers back, at least new ones.

They called it nature energy, rather than magic, since it now suffused every place, if in far lesser quantities than magic used to be, and it was wild and dangerous to harness, just like magic had been for the ancient Witches and Wizards, in the days before the Founders.
But day after day of training, the new flow came more naturally to her, until she was able, by slipping into meditation, to naturally call nature's energy to her, mingling with her youki and starting to replenish her empty reserves.

While she trained, and meditated, they dropped in the lands controlled by Kaguya from time to time, watching as her sons grew up just as slowly as Tsukiko's own twins had.
Hagoromo, the elder, had the same jeweled eyes Xiao Dan had had once upon a time, while Hamura, the younger, inherited the paler ones she now held. Both also had the same light skin, and horns.
But as they grew up, even if the elder was calm and wise, while the younger was brash and loud, it was soon evident that they had also inherited the old spirit of the dragon.
While Kaguya was hiding behind the benevolent facade she'd constructed, yet falling day after day deeper into power-lust and madness, neither boy knew the true face of their mother.

¤.¤.¤

The shock had awakened Hagoromo third eye, when he'd followed Gamamaru's hint and discovered the true madness of his mother. While it didn't held nine tomoes, but only three, it still had some power, that much was clear.
After that, the two brothers had come back to Gamamaru, without surprise, ready to learn more in order to depose their mother – because Hagomoro and Hamura held something unique within them, something probably due to the fact that Kaguya had eaten the fruit that had granted her so much power while she was pregnant with them.
The twins had powers.
Training and studying with them soon made Gamamaru and Tsukiko realize that those powers were more akin to youkai that humans – their powers were born from their body and mind.

"So this is where the Ley Lines had gone." Tsukiko couldn't help but whisper as she finally was able to do a magical scan
"What do you see?" wondered Gamamaru
"Something akin to another blood system."
Remembering the belief of old, Tsukiko was reminded of the way Indians viewed their magic – an old, skewed view that had been proven wrong with time, but had still been remembered in the mundane world.
"Chakra."

In the next few years, dipping into her Grimoire, she would wonder – if an old seer hadn't misinterpreted a vision at the beginning of magical India. Because beyond the old philosophy of balancing mental and physical energy, they would also realize that the pathways chakra used in the body had seven main gates – the seven chakra points of old.
Whatever the truth was, the twins thrived as they started to learn more about both their own chakra and the senjustu, the art of melding nature energy to their own chakra.

Then, Kaguya found out her sons had the same powers as her.
Knowing she wasn't all-powerful anymore completed her fall into madness, as she easily realized that you could rule unchallenged only as long as no one could challenge you.
Tsukiko knew – that even if she'd regained much of her powers, she was still nothing compared Kaguya, who had the advantage of having chakra path, and with them a much easier access to her own talents, and naturally regenerating powers rather than her own obligation of meditating long hours each time she wanted to gain a bit of her youki.

The era of youkai was over on Earth – and now was the time of Chakra users she realized as she failed in her tentative to stop the other goddess before she did the unthinkable.
Too badly hurt to move, she could only watch as the dragon tried to take her True Form, transforming instead in something grotesque, the gigantic form far taller than anything this new civilization had built – ten-tails waving with untold powers.

Madness or not, Kaguya was a goddess.
While he didn't realize just who he was facing, Hagomoro was intuitive enough that he knew this wasn't something he could kill.
The Ten-tail's chakra was separated from it's body, Hamura helping his brother seal the monstrous power into himself. As for the body – when they realized it wasn't decaying, Hamura took half of his descendants, and established a village as far as possible from his brother to keep the two half of the beast appart.
On the Moon.

¤.¤.¤

Tsukiko had nearly died at the hands of Kaguya – because a goddess she may be, she wasn't one meant to stay on a planet, and in the strain of accessing more powers, she'd unlocked a bit more her own godly powers, that were now putting a constant strain of her not quite mortal body.
The twins had found and healed her after the battle – but she knew her time on Earth was coming to an end.
And so, while Hagoromo's legend grew, as he spread Ninshu around the lands, she went back to her descendants. A few decades had gone by, a new generation had been born, and as they'd promised, they'd not only passed on the tales of their origins, but also thrived in the forest. The descendants of Yuhiko had started to partner up with the wild wolves and dogs that had survived the disaster and found their way back to the forests, Hideki's own children had adapted their fiery abilities, making them quite fierce protectors of the forests.
If some had left, quite a few of the visitors from Mars had settled around in the forest, Souta's own descendants making the very forest prosper thank to their remaining abilities as wood spirits, and so on...
The time of Youkai may have passed, there was still a place on the planet for them, as long as they adapted, which they had managed brilliantly.

Tsukiko spent the several next decades with her family, before Hagoromo, in his travels, eventually arrived deep within the forests where her children's children lived, followed by two sons of his own and nine far different children.
Not having expected to find her, the one who was now know as the Sage of the Six Paths settled too for a while. He explained to her how his youngest son had given his the idea of separating the Ten-Tail chakra into lesser entities as he had been worrying about who would carry his burden once he'd pass on.

The nine chakra beasts may not have a true physical body, they all had their own mind, character and traits, and just like Tsukiko got to know Hagoromo's sons, she also soon learned to know the nine beasts.
Because they were living among people who were all used to strange powers, neither the beasts nor the chakra users were really standing out in the crowd, which they all really enjoyed. It wasn't rare to see Indra training with the other youth of the village, running among the trees as easily as on the ground, the various beasts rolling on the ground with the village's own children, or Asura calmly talking about his father's teachings with the less adventurous adolescents...
The Sage had also awakened the chakra pathways of those he could, and it became apparent that all those born on the planet after the disaster had possessed them - but they had remained stagnant up until now - it also explained why Tsukiko and her two fellow deities didn't possess those same pathway, having been born before they became necessary for life.

"I... had been growing worried about Indra." Hagoromo confessed one night "But being here seems to settle him."
"You two are so different, you have difficulty understanding him, he's inherited far more of your mother's ancestors than you, you can't hope to force your own ideals unto him." she warned the man she'd grown so close to
She worried too, not that she said as much – because he may not realize it, but Hagoromo had his own falling, the same belief in absolute peace his mother's had held among them.
And she really didn't want to see Hagoromo fall in the same madness as his mother had, as much as she doubted he would.

Hagoromo stayed nearly two decades in the forests.
By the time he left, Indra had wedded one of the fiery descendants of Hideki, the young woman leaving with him, a baby already in her arms.
Asura would come back a few decades later, finding his own wife in one of the wooden elemental descendaing from Souta when he'd come to learn more about his own newfound mastery of wood.
Hagoromo himself would come back regularly, alone, to see Tsukiko – and later on Tsukiko's last child on Earth – Inari.

The child had deep emerald green eyes, so similar to her own when in the Immortal Realm it was stunning, and vibrant red hair – that probably came from Ryoichi's youki so deeply entwined in herself as a mated pair that it could influence even the birth of a child that he hadn't fathered.
She wasn't that surprised – after all mating weren't always between only two people, so Youkai had found a way to add parents to a child's very DNA early on. She had felt after all her own mating mark pulse when Ryoichi had fathered a new child worlds away.

She had even been able to tell who the mother was , since she had left her youki on the woman too. Tsukiko really wondered about this child, who would bear all of Ryoichi, her own and Luna Lovegood, or rather Silvana Argento's own inheritance...
Just like Ryoichi was probably wondering about the child from both of them and a man he didn't know.

Tsukiko loved Hagoromo – but she wasn't in love with him, no more than he was with her.
But the child they had, both had fallen in love with the small being before he'd even been born.
Inari may not have been born in his animal form – Tsukiko knew that had the child had the same access to his youki as she had, he would have been a fox; and indeed as soon as he started to grow up, he'd exhibited the same mischievousness as Shippou, not to mention the enhanced senses and vitality.
And the child maybe growing up just as slowly as his half-siblings all had on all sides of the family, he also was very intelligent.

The Moon Hime lived nearly a hundred more years, and by the time her mortal body finally let go of her immortal soul, Inari, even if he only appeared ten year old, probably was among the few alive who really understood what was going on.
He did learn under his father after, yet never asked for any grand inheritance – having already all he needed thanks to his mother's Chaos Game.

¤.¤.¤

"So... What's the bad news?"
"Bad news? What makes you think there's a bad news?"
"Chaos. You're fidgeting. Yet I think I've never seen you so calm. Something is going on."
"Well... It's not a bad news per se," the seemingly young boy with blue hair and golden eyes similar to her own in this life, if more intense, hesitantly said "It's just that..." he shrugged "Well somehow you ascended as a minor deity in this life."

"I'd realized."
"And well... you weren't one of Death, so... Er... congrats, you're now a minor Chaos divinity!"
Shadow nodded, not too surprised – using any powers had been as good as impossible after the disaster, and even Chaos Game had been nearly inactive, giving only the barest information and no quests.
Up until she learned to use nature energy that is – when ChaosInterface had flared to life, all sub-system active and providing a multitude of Events.
The new affinity to Chaos, she hadn't noticed immediately, since she already had a minor affinity to one of his aspects thanks to ChaosGame. It's only when Inari had mentioned having the Chaos Blessing, on top of the expected Death Blessing from herself, and Life Blessing from both Kaguya and Ryo, among his Inheritances in the game-like interface that she'd taken a look at her own Holy Affinities System.

To her surprise, her affinity for Change, the Revolution Art as the Interface put it had jumped from the 25% limit that marked it as a minor affinity to the staggering 75% limit marking it as a high affinity, only a High Deity able to have a better mastery of the power - and well the only high deity that she knew that qualified was Chaos himself...
"You knew?" Chaos realized at her lack of surprise – his eyes widened "Of course you knew, you saw it inChaosGame..." he whispered in realization
Tsukiko stepped toward the surprisingly uncertain looking god, automatically enfolding him in a hug – older than her he may be, right now he really looked like nothing more than a kid needing reassurance.

"I'm sorry." he sighed "Now you're saddled with my powers too!"
"Well it's not uncommon for high deity to have powers from other gods, you were the one who told me." Tsukiko reminded him
"But now you're a goddess of Chaos! People don't like change, little Shadow!"
"Chaos." she forced the blue-haired boy to look up "I'm the goddess of Death already. Do you think normal people like or understand my duties? I'm not even ten millenia and I've already destroyed the soul of a Holy Servant. I don't care about what people like or not. I like change. I like Chaos."

She ruffled his hair "You were the one who told me you wish I developed your power because it was unfair Death got to me first!" she reminded him "Don't you want me as a sister?"
The molten golden eyes seemed to gain life back as he laughed amidst his tears, looking far more like the happy-go-lucky deity she was used to than a few seconds before.
"See! I knew you would be the best sister ever!"
Breakdown under control, they were soon heading out of Death Islands and toward the center of the Immortal Realm, where the high deities were usually hanging out.

¤.¤.¤

Life was the first to see them, a smile lightening her face "Little Shadow! Here you are!" she dragged the younger goddess along with a smile, adding in a lower voice "Thanks. I don't know what you did, but Chaos looks better than he has in centuries..."
"You have no idea about the mess you created!" Fate was dramatically proclaiming
"Er... sorry?"
"No no no don't apologize, I hadn't had this much fun in several eons!" Fate waved away at her apologies "This little boy of yours..."
"Inari?"
"Yes! Him! Between your own influence and this child descending from three different gods, the time-line of this world has been drastically changed!"
"And... You're not angry?"
"Of course not, it's boring when everything happens exactly how I've predicted!" the goddess affirmed "And in a way, you were doing your job as Chaos' own affiliated deity!"

Whatever she would have answered was pushed to the side, as a familiar aura was suddenly felt, a new god entering the Immortal Realms – and a pair of familiar arms enfolding her smaller form.
"I've missed you bambina."
"As did I, Ryo. I hope you took good care of Luna for me."
The hit-man laughed "She told me you would know it was her, I should know better than to bet against the two of you! Still, I've heard you cause quite a stir with your own choice of company?"
The couple were soon deep in discussion, leaning against each other and talking easily, each wanting to know all about the other's years while separated, just as in love now than they'd been before – just as the wedding and mating mark pulsing with both's energy still proclaimed.

It was only after the two lovers had had the time to reconnect that Order reluctantly spoke "Still, There are two things to take note of... Light, Shadow, your mortal bodies main have died, the ties as a minor god to your planet is still existent on your soul."
"What does it mean?"
"Concretely? Those planets are now your responsibility, which frankly is far too soon in my opinion. You have to ensure that us higher deity can do our job in our world, and if necessary correct the situation." a shrug "Most of the time, this means having Fate spawn a hero, and hope he does his job correctly. Sometimes, you'll receive a prayer and be able to make a pact..."
"How will it mesh with our life in the Mortal Realms?" Light wondered
"I'll update the Game Interface accordingly," Chaos affirmed "Since I've already started to implement a Holy System to keep contact with your Holy Servants, I'll simply improve it."

"I'll be granting you the same Spiritual Affinity as Shadow." Magic interjected "This isn't something I grant every god, but you'll need it to be functional and we wouldn't want to cause any undue heartache to our little goddess because you've recklessly healed someone!" she eyed the man with mirth "After all, you do have the tendency to heal first, think later; I really hadn't expected it from a hit-man!"
"And I'll be granting Shadow a minor Abyss Afinity." Chaos added, uncharacteristically serious

"Chaos no!" Order protested
"Chaos yes!" he contradicted whimsically, before explaining more seriously "I know that it's dangerous, Order, believe me I do... But there is a fallen goddess in that world, and any solution the mortals comes up with can only be temporary, whether they realize it or not."
"I know..." his counter-part sighed "And I do admit that you've been far better at your job than I'd expected for a goddess so young." she added toward the other deity "But the Abyss is dangerous."

¤.¤.¤

"They don't even know what is the Abyss." Knowledge pointed out, eyeing the two youngest gods that were sharing clueless glances
"Chaos is a factor of change. It can both create and destroy, which is why those are my three affinities." the blue-haired god explained "But just like Death has the burden of destroying souls, I also have an inescapable duty."
"This has to do with Kaguya, right?" Shadow realized – after all, Order had just mentioned the mad goddess
"It has." he confirmed "You know that gods have achieved true immortality."
She nodded.

"But well... Even among us, problems can arise. Sometimes, it's as simple as some time-out, like with Truth siblings. Sometimes, those gods become too dangerous to be left free." a shrug "Then, I have to act."
"And this is when the Abyss comes into play?"
"It is." he closed his eyes "The reason why I'm the one that can change your soul despite not being Death is because I'm the only one able to modify an Immortal Soul. Some changes are temporary, like Chaos Game that only lasts through a mortal life..." a smile "Or well, that's what used to happen before you made it a part of your own powers." the smile disappeared "Sometimes it's more permanent. Like sealing the powers of gods that cannot be trusted with their gifts anymore."

Shadow and Light were stunned – no wonder the boy was so hesitant to talk about it, this was a duty just as heavy as Death's own ability to destroy mortal souls...
"It's something named 'calling the Abyss'..." the deity forged on after letting them take in the new information for a few seconds "After, the worst of them are cast out in Purgatory, while others can be left to live somewhere in the mortal realm."
"And the last time Chaos had a minor deity inherit this power, things didn't end well for both of them!" Order interrupted loudly "Chaos was left weakened for millennia, and his child ended asking to have his own powers bound!"
The affirmation made Light tighten his grip to his wife and mate unconsciously.

"Void couldn't handle the pressure..." Chaos confirmed "He had to cast a friend into the Abyss, using the power before he was ready to make it his own. After that, his mind broke, and he didn't get better until I bound his powers. He's exiled himself in the Mortal Realms ever since..."
"And you want to grant this ability to the bambina?"
"It won't be easy." Chaos admitted easily "It will be worst that all the soul-binding I had to do to sent you back to the Mortal Realms... But you..." his hand unwittingly raised toward the emerald moon that was still on her brow "You are the first able to master a high deity ability in less than a thousand years." he eyed her brother "The first to be able to bear the weight of Death's duty beyond himself."

The affirmation made both Light and Shadow startle – they hadn't realized just how rare what she had done was, but then again, even if she hadn't met every deity in existence, she realized she hadn't yet met any Death or Chaos affiliated deity at all, while she'd met quite a few lower deities affiliated to all the others.
"If it's you," he affirmed "then I know you won't fail."
The black tipped white haired goddess closed her eyes for a long moment, thinking deeply about what the one that was now as good as a second brother to her was asking of her.
Finally, she opened her eyes back.
"So... I guess this is back to Earth for this next life?"

Tension visibly lessened from Chaos' shoulders as he took the answer for the acceptation it was. But it was toward Light that he turned "The after affect of this gift will blend into this new life, Light. And this world is an old one, seeped in magic, or rather nature energy as they now call it. I won't tell you to restrain yourself this time. Grow strong, as strong as you can, because she'll need you."
"I will."
Order threw her hands up in exasperation "That's it! We've all gone mad if we're going along with this!"

Peace laid a calming hand on her shoulder "You know it's the best solution right now. Otherwise, how long would it be before someone realizes that Kaguya is always coming back, and knows to make the right pact for Chaos to be able to exert his powers?"
The silver-eyed woman sighed and nodded reluctantly, knowing it could take millenia, or even more. She was so used to have to be the voice of reason in some of Chaos sometimes harebrained plans that it was a habit by now to protest all of her counter-part's plans.

"Come," Chaos commented as the discussions were falling into lighter topics "It will take longer than usual this time."
Shadow and Light followed to a more secluded part of the Immortal Realms. The molten gold powers swirled around him far more intently than before, and soon Light's form was fading from the Immortal Realms.
Then, he turned his attention toward Shadow – and just as promised, pain came.
When the air around them finally stopped throbbing under the dangerous powers, and Shadow too had disappeared from the realm, the young looking god let himself drop to the ground.

He was soon joined by Order, the goddess wordlessly sitting by his side.
"I really hope she makes it, Order... I don't want to bind another of my own..."
"I know, Chaos, I know." she sighed "After all, you're always the one who's hurt the worst when they fail." Order eyed the place from where the two deities had recently disappeared "But you're right you know... If it's those two, even I can somehow believe that this time, just like Death, you have finally gained a sibling that won't break under the weight of our powers."

Chaos smiled hopefully – and the two of them didn't move for a long time.