This story begins on a far distant and remote mountain of an ancient island-chain nation densely populated by a forest of cedar, where only the animals made their home. It had long been forgotten by man.
What makes this place special is that there lives on this mountain a solitary and slumbering Forgotten Kami, enshrined an eon ago at a now forgotten shrine, located deep within this now forgotten forest.
This Kami had slumbered for a millennia, without priest or miko, without a prayer prayed to them nor an offering made by the hands of man. Endlessly sleeping and dreaming throughout history, and slowly fading into nothingness.
However, that changed on a wickedly frightful and snow-covered winter's night when a blinding white pillar of light shone down from the clear and starlit sky. It illuminated the entirety of the dilapidated shrine for an instant and then ceased.
It would have been a beautiful sight to have seen, and it was. It was a mightily powerful light, waking the Forgotten Kami for the first time since they had decided to sleep.
But this all-encompassing light was not without purpose.
Where there was previously no human life to be found on this desolate mountain, suddenly a small and silent child had appeared atop the simple yet ornate offering box that had miraculously survived the many years of neglect.
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〘Another place shortly before the Forgotten Shrine became illuminated〙
At present a group of three figures could be seen closely huddled together around something in what seemed like an endless field of white nothingness.
It was a Meeting Place.
For who you may ask, but you might have already guessed who these figures are, and you're probably correct. They are Gods, and at the moment they appear to be visibly desperate.
"What do you mean you don't know who this wretched looking and weary old man is!? Surely one of you summoned him here, along with us other two, otherwise he wouldn't be here!" said a striking and femininity-exuding woman who had been leaning over the poor creature in front of her before quite rapidly moving to sternly look at the other two present alternatively from a distance that was entirely too close.
Her name was Mhati and she was the Goddess of Rebirth, a title she was proud of as it was given to her by her creator, the Forgotten One, the creator of the world they govern and of the Gods themselves. Her responsibilities and duties were to grant souls from the Lower World rebirth back into their world to find their happiness. And though the creatures of the Lower World now worshiped her as the 'God of the Dead' she enthusiastically ignored that and preferred her divine name instead when thinking about herself.
"Wait a minute M-Mhati! We too don't know what is going on." said one of the other two God's smiling through his precariously perched glasses, but clearly flustered, as he held his hands up in front of him to put distance between himself and the now space invading Goddess... he was never good at dealing with Mhati.
His name was Taith and was the God of Magī, responsible for governing and endowing the workings of magick to everything capable in creation. He was a head taller than Mhati and somewhat of an ikemen, though he didn't see himself this way and dressed as a somewhat sloppy looking scholar.
Off to the side the third God said, or rather laughed, through a massive grin in a somewhat booming voice "Hahaha, Taith and Mhati are always interesting!", to which the other two both turned to look at him with slightly blushing red faces.
This massive beast of a god was Michi, the God of Lands, and stood some nine feet tall, which was a good three-odd feet taller than those standing before him. He held the responsibility of granting abundant life to the lands of the Lower World, something he relished in thanks to his bull-like constitution.
After calming down the two straightened themselves up, especially Mhati who had been increasingly leaning in towards Taith as he was floundering to keep distance, and looked down at the poor creature curled up at their feet.
"Now, if you two say you both also don't know who this child at our feet is and also don't know why we are here, what are we to do?" said Mhati who seemed to finally believe the other two had nothing to do with her current situation.
She proceeded to pull out of nowhere a small, ornate gilt mirror and held it up to the deathly still old man, lightly touching the mirror's surface to create a series of reflective ripples on its surface. As the three Gods were extremely curious about who, or what, this man was they decided to peek at its information; it's Status.
All beings in this realm they govern were the loved children of the Gods, and as such they kept a certain amount of information on hand about them at all times for both themselves and for those who the information is about,, so much so that a New Era Goddess was created shortly, relatively speaking, after The Forgotten One's disappearance just for this matter.
The mirror turned transparent after the ripples died down and the man could now be seen through it. The Status of the old man began to float up around his body, as if it were trying to hug it.
"So, let us see who you are…!!!?!?" Mhati couldn't finish her words as she had instinctively clamped down her mouth in surprise after seeing something that was beyond comprehension, even for Gods!
Frantically looking between Taith and Michi she says, "This Child, he is as old as we are!! A member of the Ningen Races being as old as we are is impossible, none of the Races have that amount of vitality! N-n-none!" she began to stammer. "He's listed as being 40,00—" she slightly snapped out of it at this point and immediately slammed her hands over her mouth. "Ahem! Yes, he's as old as we are in any-case…"
A sheepish look appeared on her face. She knew that those present knew how old each other was, but she hated verbalising this number. She began to tremble when she again started reading the man's Status.
An interrupting "Yaho~!" suddenly came resounding throughout the hollow white Meeting Place. It was the Goddess Svågrad, the one who presides over all Records.
"I felt someone encroaching into my domain with a true 'Yata no Kagami', it's quite the strange feeling you know so I had to come to see just who would be snooping into the Lower Worlds data without asking first~"
She took a reproachful stance a short distance away from the group and waited to be noticed, but no one did…
She began to feel embarrassed.
"Hey~! Why is no one responding?!" came the voice of a half-shouting, half-crying Goddess of Records.
"Svå-chan, shush please! We are busy"
"But Taith-senpai you're looking into my Domain with a relic Truth Mirror, it feels unpleasant and creepy you know??" Svågrad rebutted with a childish pout and a quiet voice. A relic Truth Mirror is far more powerful than those the Lower World uses, it looks deep into the soul of what's being examined.
"His name appears to be 'Ichirou-no-Mikoto', and..." this time Michi continuing on from where Mhati had abruptly stopped, "…is of Ælf descent, though not purely. Hmmm, it appears even our Records can't display the rest of his parentage. This is strange..." he silently paused and thought before asking, "Wait, doesn't the 'no-Mikoto' part sound familiar?"
Now Taith decided to look at the displayed Status.
"Hmmm, what's this now?" he said while peering at the man's displayed Levels, "His Body Level is beyond ridiculous! What do these values even mean?? Isn't he at our level of Strength!? Not to mention these Skills, I've never heard nor seen these displayed before, and what is this Guidance— Hey Michi, did you say 'no-Mikoto' just now? That's the Forgotten Ones honorific!" he asked his question but answered it himself.
He quickly got down onto his knees by the side of the old man and declared, "This child is the Forgotten One's son!!!!", with an astonished and bewildered look on his now deathly pale face.
Those present stared at Taith with hollow eyes. They all thought in unison "What did he just say??"
"Wait, Taith-senpai what did you just say!? You said The Forgotten One just now, as in THE Forgotten One, right??? This is Their child? To start with what's going on, who's this man and why is he here in the realm of us Gods… and why are you looking into my Domain without asking?" Svågrad was the first with hollow eyes to ask Taith what they were thinking, although she did also add on her original question she had come here to ask.