Tales from the Cosmos - Yugashii & the Sleeping Goddess

Yugashii & the Sleeping Goddess

The universe was young and planets were still forming in their orbits. Conflict, sadness, and tears did not yet exist. Soon life stirred in the ocean and on land of countless worlds across the cosmos, and even they lived in peace for a time. But when the first drop of blood spilled in anger hit the ground, an indomitable force was born. His skin was charred black with fire, his eyes burned with crimson rage, and his red hair streamed in the wind.

In this way was born Yugashii – the Tempest of Blood. He lived in a castle made from his enemies’ bones, decorated with his enemies’ entrails, surrounded by a moat filled with his enemies’ blood, which was strewn with his enemies’ body parts. He wore clothes made from his enemies’ skin, sewn with his enemies’ hair. He alone of all the known gods was not bound by time or place, and his followers numbered more than there were stars in the sky. Hymns to him were chanted across the universe in a myriad different tongues, and he was called by countless names, yet to all he was the god of war, blood, and fire. Though he had been destroyed before, each time another drop of blood hit the ground he was born anew. As long as there was bloodshed anywhere in the universe, he would exist! Yugashii wielded the ultimate power: to grant victory to those he favors.

But even a god as mighty as he had his match, for when the world came to know war it had also come to know grief and remorse. As the first tears fell, a goddess was born. In accordance with the laws of complementary polarity which permeated the Manifest through the power of the Cosmic Dragons, she became the sheath for her brother's hungry swords. Nobody saw this happen, and nobody noticed her pass, but she was there just the same, shedding her healing light on those in the depths of despair. This was the goddess of harmony and mercy, of hope and regeneration. Most importantly, she was the goddess of tears: the bitter tears of sadness, the joyful tears that had known sorrow, the grateful tears of adversity overcome, the healing tears of release that bring renewal to a war-torn world.

A notoriously elusive deity, she was too pure for the mundane world, and spent most of her time in a pocket reality observing the universe through a scrying pool. Because of this, the very few that were even aware of her existence, called her the Sleeping Goddess. They said she only appeared in times of global crisis and massive cataclysms, when whole planets cried out for help in one voice, and that this shining memory of her died with the doomed worlds. It was also rumored that she could be invoked, however slightly, by a pure heart in pain, appearing to them as a radiant vision in dreams of guidance. The believers had a hard time convincing others of her existence with such flimsy evidence.

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