"Morning sleepy head." The soft words of Amaterasu spoke into my head, I slowly opened my eyes and saw that no one was there. I was only met with trees, colourful plants, a river with a pond next to me and I was lying against a tree with soft grass underneath me.
"Where are you? Where are you talking from?" I was a little nervous as I was expecting her to be beside me when I woke up. Trying to hide the disappointment in my voice.
"I'm currently residing in your soul right now and I do have to say it's very cosy and warm here. We can speak to each other telepathically here, I wouldn't appreciate it if people thought you were crazy."
"Well that's handy, so what do I do now? Looking around I appear to be in a thick forest. As a matter of fact, where am I in this world and what is this world called?"
"You're currently in an area that's filled with strong monsters, nothing you won't be able to handle eventually though. I wouldn't place you in an area you wouldn't be able to handle once you have trained to control your powers, to at least their basic level. This way you can start your training and start serving me as your superior. No better place to start wouldn't you say?" She ended that sentence with a sing-song laugh that was so smooth it could melt butter. I started getting incredibly motivated and decided to make way to go fight some monsters when I was interrupted.
"Hey hold on, you're not going to fight right now are you? You don't even know any of your latent abilities yet nor do you even have a weapon." That sudden realisation set in, she was right, I had never been taught how to fight before. I can't just go waltzing around asking monsters to lay down and just die. I don't even know how big they are or even if they're carnivorous.
"Okay then, so are you going to teach me how to survive in this world?"
"Yes, and first of all I'm going to give you a history lesson on this established world called Lurra, it's named that way as it's a mirror of Earth and the only world that our kind can live in, that way, human's like yourself and Yokai, our kindred spirits, that are made manifest here, are no longer a spiritual entity.
It's split up into 5 continents. The one we're currently located on right now is called the continent of Yorusora, as it's where myself and My Ex-Husband Tsukuyomi reside along with our Brother Susanoo. Though there have been issues on this continent." I had felt her feelings as she spoke. As I felt bad for her, she laughed.
"Why are you laughing?" I wondered in confusion.
"I felt your feelings through your soul, it made me really happy."
"I truly can't hide anything from you, can I." At this moment I knew all thoughts and feelings that were held within me would always be displayed like clothing left hanging out to dry.
"No you can't, but I appreciate your concern. Tsukiyomi and the rest of the world will know that I have come back, as the Sun is in the sky right now. So I know how you feel about not being able to have any privacy. So you aren't alone there." As she said that, I stood there like a deer in front of headlights.
"Hold on, how long have you been gone and how long has there not been any sun-light?"
"Not long, only 8 hours. Why do you feel so relieved?" Not being able to hide my emotions is going to take a while to get used to.
"I feel relieved knowing the world isn't going to move into some Ice age because of your stalker behaviour of watching me since I was born." laughing visibly as I said that. I could feel her unamused glare, which was an odd feeling. When she was happy, it felt like I was warm like it was a nice hot sunny day and I was sunbathing at the beach. This feeling was cold though, like she withdrew all the heat, I wish I had a coat on because right now. I wasn't in anything besides my underwear. Speaking of which, I'm going to need to get some clothes soon.
"Amat? I've just realised I'm naked, near enough. Is there any possibility that you could get some clothes from earth? Amat?" I sighed at that point. It appears that Amaterasu was ignoring me because of what I said. "I'm sorry I called you a stalker, I will not call you that again." After a minute or so, she responded back to me.
"You mean it?" she sniffed. I couldn't help but laugh at how cute she sounded.
"Yeah I mean it." I sent over my warm feelings for reassurance as I smiled for her and spoke to her in a soft voice. She seemed to cheer up from that gesture of goodwill.
"Okay then, you don't have to worry about your clothes, I brought some over for you but you won't be able to live in this world long for those. I would recommend selling them if you manage to keep them in good condition when you go to the first town after training with me. You could get a lot of money to help you with equipment like armour and medicine for when you start dungeoneering." The element of dungeons perked my ears up, I wonder if I have abilities like appraisal from those stories I liked to read. Picking up on this Amaterasu pitched in.
"There's no ability like appraisal. No one has them. I also remember those stories you read. The god's decided that it would be too unfair to just figure out everyone's weaknesses just like that. Also I personally wouldn't like it if you didn't rely on me to help you either." So the great Sun Goddess herself is going to be my personal assistant.
"Don't worry, You're my only Shinto Priest, I was cast out of this Continent left to just do an administration job in maintaining the Sun in the sky and making sure the proper day and Night cycles occurred. So when it came to night time, You were my only concern, no one is going to think anything different with you walking around, though you're going to have to practise keeping a hold of your aura because you are glowing right now and I have to say. I really like it, your aura is so strong." Her warmth was pretty heavy right now it felt a little suffocating. It felt like she was smothering me with her love. Right, I'm going to have to learn to control my power then I guess.
"So how do I control this power?" After I asked that, my glow rose higher and higher as it was leaving my body and a form manifested in front of me. Slowly Amaterasu's figure and features faded in and her glowing had died down.
"First off, we have to get you to start learning to control and use your power without me residing in your soul." With me not saying anything and just nodding to carry on, she continued. "To do so I want you to start meditating, you are to make a fireball with both of your hands. Once created, Open your eyes and focus on your breathing, don't worry about your eyesight, they are immune to your power. The focus of this is to treat our power as like an extension of your arm, just as you would a weapon of any kind, this fire is your very life and soul. As such, I want you to be able to get to the point of manipulating it as it's second nature to you. When you breathe in, you are to make the ball smaller and when you breathe out."
"I'll make the ball bigger. Right?"
"Correct, though it wasn't hard to figure out, I'm glad you caught on. Eventually I want you to slowly make the ball smaller and smaller until it's around the same size of a candle flame before we can move onto the next step, Right now. With it being the size of a basketball as I'm seeing right here. The corona slipped out and the flames are currently going too wild around its edges. It's far too unrefined. Here I'll show you like this." Sure enough, Amaterasu created a fireball the same size as mine but it was so smooth around, afterwards while maintaining form, it shrunk smaller and smaller and smaller until it was nothing but the size of a penny. "With control like this, you will be able to control your aura and your eyes will not turn golden either. You will maintain your blue colour. I can't afford you or I to be found out on our travels. We're only safe right now as this forest is currently in my small domain. I have left as the rest of the continent is being managed by Tsukiyomi and my Brother Susanoo."
"What's this country or rather, your domain called?" I had to ask as I was curious.
"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mention, It's called Taiyō and this forest in my domain is the Forest of Saisei. It means Rebirth in your language." A sudden realisation sets in.
"You had this planned all along didn't you?" I asked carefully as I didn't want to offend.
"I did, yes, my followers were dying out or leaving me for both Tsukuyomi and Susanoo. I needed someone on my side otherwise I wouldn't be allowed to live in this world anymore and I would have to go back to watching over earth permanently where their belief in us is also dwindling. Safe to say, no belief in the gods means no life for us either." With that being said, I didn't ask anything further. I sat down and started my training. After this revelation smacking me like the broad side of a great sword, I knew what I had to do. With this renewed focus given to me. I wouldn't let this gift I've been given, that I was born with go to waste.
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A week went by, Amaterasu taught me how to create weapons using knowledge she learned from Hachiman the God of War. With that I created a makeshift spear using a stone as a spear head and then using that spear head to carve a smooth staff to put it on. I then taught myself how to fish in the lake of the forest, steering clear of the monsters. One of which seemed to look like a Brontosaurus. I wouldn't normally be worried as I had learned as a child they were Herbivores. Amaterasu had different ideas though, these variations were carnivorous and were very sensitive to blood, they had tough armour covering their neck and vital points, with a sharp exo-skeletal spine that could be used as a weapon when it swung it's head, these guys were the king of the jungle no doubt. My heart sank when she told me that. So I had to be careful otherwise it was my life on the line. There were smaller sized monsters as well but they were still twice the size of my height. They looked like a hybrid between a Lion and Tiger. I told her she basically created a Liger but she absolutely hated that name and decided to rename them Tigrans. I couldn't fault her, she was a Goddess after all. With these outside my small safe zone, I focused primarily on meditating and learning to control my power, To which I managed to smooth out. I just had to condense the power down. Freely manipulating this power was definitely going to take a long time.
My daily meals were fish, Where I would practise throwing my spear. Taking me a few hours at a time to try and catch a fish each night. There was also fruit and herbs which balanced out my diet somewhat. If I wanted meat I'd have to go hunt the 10 foot tall Ligers out of the safe zone. To which I was absolutely not ready to do yet. The only thing I had to do in the way of living was to make a grill to cook the fish on. Which didn't take much. The stones around were super convenient to put together and the wood seemed to burn real easy as well. So easy in fact I charred the wood, completely. Amaterasu laughed so hard she rolled off her seat in the small shrine she had to herself. Safe to say it took an hour or two to properly control my power to the point of being able to light the fire so I could cook properly on it. The meal that night was incredibly satisfying, The fish was delectable, it was soft with a crunchy skin as I was told I could eat the scales as well on the fish. Though she did remind me that only the fish in this area which were specifically designed by her would allow me to eat their scales. Outside of her realm the food would have to be properly prepared to avoid sickness. Handy to know in all honesty and it made my appreciation grow for her as I worked out how much she designed this for me specifically.
I laid down and looked at the stars that night, admiring how beautiful they were and lamenting happily when I felt Amaterasu lay down next to me. She had done this every night since I landed on this world, at first I was tense but by the third night. I started to grow comfortable with it. She was in something I could only describe as a nightgown, wearing sandals and her hair was down. She whispered into my ear.
"Won't you come to bed with me tonight in my shrine? It's a lot more comfortable than out here in the wilderness."
"Are you sure?" I had to ask because she knew my attraction for her, I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable with me and I had to be respectful to my Goddess. Insinuating I could just bed her felt impudent to me. When she heard my question, she turned my face to her and kissed me softly, transmitting her feelings for me through her aura. The warmth I felt this time wasn't suffocating as I was getting used to it. Instead this was comforting as she held me in her embrace, I returned her feelings by holding her in my arms, picking her up in the bridal carry, and she guided me to her bed. One look at this bed anyone would know this was clearly a king size bed but the back had a curve, Her pillows were small, clearly intended for only one person. I laid her down gently and climbed into bed with her. We slept the night away as we held each other.