The story begins in the land of Zo, a land of prosperity and peace. A land where many autonomous clans prevailed in perfect harmony, governed by a strict martial code. Engi was no stranger to these martial laws. From a young age she knew she had more to her than what her rich silk merchant parents would have her to believe.
Firstborn, she received all the attention of her dynamic parents, all their wholehearted love and protection. But she never wanted to be protected. Even at a young age, she never understood fear and thought it to be a futile emotion. She may be a princess for her father, but she knew she was a warrior.
Engi would silently wander off into the forest on the hills behind their estate. With her beloved violin in her hands and unattended by her barrage of maid servants and body guards. She loved nature and all the sweet music it offered. But little did her parents know that the hills had more secrets to keep. And so they did. Silently, observing.
She could never make her parents understand the strange feeling she had every time she walked into the forest. It was as if the birds suddenly stopped singing and the animals stood frozen in time and space, acknowledging the presence of a force unknown. It made her feel uneasy, gaijin. And so she would take her seat, on the stump of the tree that fell eons ago and left a clearing in the dense canopy, to play on her beloved violin.
As the notes start pouring out of her strings, a strange feeling overwhelmed her senses. It was as if she was drifting deeper into a trance with every note she played, every time with greater precession. The melancholy of the instrument sent shivers through the forest and its dwellers, sending them scattering in fear of the creature that has just walked into their domain.
At the end of each symphony she would open her eyes, only to witness the fear in the eyes of the creatures that dared to meet her gaze, watching her from a safe distance and never venturing any closer than a sprint away. Far from her gentle love and caresses that she wanted to gift them with, for being her silent audience.
And so she would leave the forest like she found it, in silence. She could sense the relief in the hearts of the inhabitants as they watched her leave. She got the same feeling every time she came. Yet she kept coming back for reason yet to be apparent to her. The forest kept calling her in her dreams. The beauty and her magnificent beast!!