About

Long ago, this land was surrounded by an endless forest. Deep within that forest lay a realm humans dared not touch—the home of the gods who had lived there since ancient times. At the eastern edge, in a place difficult for human feet to reach, a small tribe called the Haruku lived in hiding. They feared the forest, yet revered it at the same time. They knew what the wrath of a god meant. But the humans of the west were different. In the name of progress, they cut down the forest and trampled upon the living things within it. Eventually, the gods were enraged. A calamity was unleashed. An invisible black energy encroached upon the forest, and wherever it touched, life rotted away. Beasts collapsed with a howl, and trees withered to their roots and died. That calamity eventually reached even the Haruku tribe. The tribe resisted. They did not flee. They chose not to block the calamity, but to face it. They offered sacrifices, trying to appease the god's wrath. And at the center of it all— Was the prince, Hayataka. He did not back down. For his tribe, for the forest, he stood against the calamity— The calamity chose him. The black energy burrowed into his body. The curse spreading through his veins was living pain itself. His skin felt as if it were burning, and death seeped in with every breath he took. He was alive—but he was already touching death. There was only one way to break the curse. To reach the god. He eventually headed for the forest. A forbidden place. The realm where the gods live. A place where, the moment one sets foot inside, they might never return as a human. Nevertheless, he did not stop. The deeper he went into the forest, the more strangely quiet it became. A realm where even the energy of the calamity could not reach. There— She was there. A being born in the forest, raised in the forest. A woman who lived under the protection of the gods. She was the guardian of the forest. One who drives out humans who enter and cuts down those who cause harm. And so—