Uzume

U Z U M E

Uzume was a kind-hearted and gentle creature who was unfortunately born into a renown family of proud and ruthless warriors during a time of endlessly bloody wars. Unlike the rest of her family, she lacked the malice and joy gained from harming others and refused to take any part in their battles. She instead loved helping others, especially the weak and the poor who suffered as colloquial damage from a war that was not theirs. However, being the family they were, they prided themselves on their strength and their name - they did not take no for an answer.

Forced to take part in wars as soon as she came of age, Uzume never actually had a chance to swing her claws at the enemy. She would instead find herself running to the aid of her injured or fallen comrades - and over time, she became the warm sun of the bloodied battlefields. But this 'betrayal' did not escape the ears and eyes of her family, and they made it their objective to break her.

During a prolonged struggle with a neighbouring pack, the fields echoed with gut-wrenching screams as Uzume's comrades were being slain before her very eyes. She tried to best to keep her composure as she dressed a young male's wounds, promising him that he would soon recover as the blood oozed from every inch of his body. When finally she breathed a sigh of relief as the blood seemed to slow, she heard the footsteps of an enemy running towards her, screaming a war cry that revealed the sadness of his own losses. Uzume closed her eyes, satisfied with ending her life here if it meant easing this stranger's pain just a little bit, but snapped them open when she heard the familiar voice of her family member yelling at her in the distance. "Save yourself! If you die, that boy dies!" They were right. If she died, who would be left to defend the boy?

Before she understood what was happening, she felt a crunch in between her jaws. She looked down to see the lifeless body of the soldier hanging from her mouth, neck crushed in the grip of her fangs, his blood running down her face. Everything went black.

All those that remained the battlefield went still. All eyes were on a female in a murderous frenzy, whose coat was no longer white but tainted with a deep red that was indistinguishable from the blood of her kills. The warm sun that shone hope on them had now become a daunting red moon that danced in blood in the way that made her family known throughout the land. Her claws and fangs sank into the throats of everyone that crossed her path - enemies, comrades, family.

Next thing she knew, Uzume woke up in a shrine, residing inside a large wolf statue. The villagers had worshipped her as the goddess of hope and prayed to her to bless the warriors with a safe journey and return. She has no recollection of the events prior to aiding the young male, and can find no one to fill in the gaps in her memory. Little does she know that the murderous blood that runs through her very veins is the same one that slew her enemies and beloved friends as if they were one and the same.