Okami Renshin:
When I stopped throwing up, I looked around to gain a sense of my own surroundings. I was in a forest, that much I knew for sure. However, as far as knowing which forest I was in, I had no clue. As soon as I felt a strand of my hair tickle my nose, a bright idea popped into my mind. "It's no dumber than all the other things I've done to get this far," I remarked to myself. As soon as my mind was made up, I raised my head and stuck my nose into the air. Though I was in my base form, I figured I'd try to activate my divine form on my own accord. I shut my eyes in an attempt to focus. The moment I began to focus, a realization hit me in the face like a right hook from a trained fighter, "I have no clue how to activate it. As far as I know, my emotions are the trigger for it. But do I really have to be mad every time I want to transform into a god?" I asked myself with a tilt in my head. I sighed as I chided, "Well, it's better than not knowing where I am." I put my nose into the air, shut my eyes, and pictured my father's face. I imagined his voice. I thought about how prideful he sounded about killing my mother. Before I knew it, I felt something in my sternum, something unusual. So, I grasped onto that feeling and pulled it forward. As soon as the feeling made itself known to me, I realized I was well acquainted with it. "Rage," I murmured to myself. For once, I could feel the change in my body. Every part of it felt warmer. Almost as if I was being enveloped by a hug. I could feel my sense of hearing and smell being sharpened by the second. It was strange; I could hear nearly everything, and I could smell roughly anything. However, the most bizarre thing I experienced was when I opened my eyes.
I could see differently. I saw glowing insects. They looked like they weren't alive. Yet, they moved with so much vibrancy that it made me think they were scared. As soon as I caught myself asking, "What are they scared of-" I cut myself off. I realized the answer to that question was previously answered by my teacher. It wasn't until I took one deep breath that I realized where I was. I was somewhere between Tokyo and my home. I scoffed in amazement at my sense of smell. This caused me to turn my head from right to left while saying, "Well, I'm too close to turn back now. Besides…" I turned to the south and started my run while continuing to think, "... I'm still being hunted!" It wasn't until I began to get closer and closer that I realized something was pulling me toward Tokyo. What? I had no clue. However, I did know that something was expecting me, beckoning me even, and I was more than inclined to accept its invitation. After five minutes of sprinting, I finally began to see signs of life. "Well, can't walk around with ears and a tail," I remarked to myself. I stopped in place and shut my eyes once more. Since my head was filled with thoughts aside from the kind of man my father was, it was far easier to seal my divinity than it was to utilize it.
As soon as I could walk around somewhat regularly, I opted to walk among the crowd in an attempt to blend in. However, though I was blending in, I was also looking around every corner, every crevice, and every chance I had, I looked over my shoulder. I may have been walking amongst mortals, but there were still the distinct white strands of hair that I possessed. It may have been a dead giveaway as to who I was, but I would've been damned if I hid it.
It was among one of the last things that reminded me of and made me look like my mother. Even though I'd only been there a handful of times, for some reason, I knew exactly which streets to take to get there. Soon, I stood before the massive stairway leading up to my shrine, "There's no way I have to go up all of these," I remarked. A sigh escaped my lips as I began to tread up the extensive staircase. I contemplated using my divinity to run straight up the stairs. However, when I realized that I had no clue who might be at the top and that I could quite possibly trip and fall all the way back down, I decided to keep walking. After the most infuriating walk I'd ever had in my life, I stepped through the front gate.
I saw an awe-inspiring life-sized statue of a dire wolf carved from a massive block of all-black granite. The sculpture portrayed a majestic wolf. Its sharp eyes were molded with such detail that they appeared to follow my gaze as I stared at them. The carving's stance was a regal, confident repose. The pointed fangs were an apparent show of the raw strength of the deity it represented. Surrounding the central statue were smaller, carved figures of wolves in miscellaneous poses. They stalked through the undergrowth or howled to the pale moon that shone through the shrine's windows. "Looked a lot bigger as a kid," I commented with a slight chuckle. Since I was the only one there, I decided to look behind me to see if anyone else was coming up the stairs. Once I saw the coast was clear, I stepped forward. It wasn't until I was standing right in front of it that I realized the wolf had the exact same language carved into it as Tora's sword. "Guess I am in the right place, huh? What'd he call it again? divine language?" I asked curiously. I crouched down before the wolf statue, which looked larger the closer I got to it. I extended my arm, and my katana appeared within the palm of my hand. A bright grin formed on my face as I commented, "That will never not be cool!"
Once I placed my divine instrument on the ground in front of me, I decided to shut my eyes, put my hands together, and give a prayer. After all, whether I liked it or not, this was a part of my family legacy, which unfortunately meant it was a part of me. "I know that it's all on me. I'm the last Renshin. I'm the Wolf God. However, I'm not ready," I stated.
Yet another sigh left my mouth as I continued to say, "I'm not ready to bear the weight of those responsibilities. I can't be who it is you want me to be. I cannot protect these people. I can't even protect myself. Not just yet. There is someone out there, someone who wanted all of us dead. I don't know if they're gone. In fact, I believe that they've come back. Whoever it is has already taken my family from me, but now my mother. Now it's just me. Right now, is the time I need to dedicate to learning, to investigating. If I leave the demons of our past to be just as my grandfather and mother had, I will die too…"
I gnashed my teeth together out of anger while saying, "... that's why I want strength! I want the power to prevent anyone or anything from ever being taken away from me again! That's why I draw this blade,"
I quickly wrapped my left hand around the sheath and my right around the handle. While pulling the blade from its sheath, I continued to say, "I draw this blade to protect!" As soon as I presented my divine instrument before the wolf, I watched as some of the divine writing glowed the exact same hue as my scarlet eyes. Suddenly, the words of the wolf appeared on my blade, changing its color from its silver hue to scarlet. Once I looked back at the wolf, each of the divine writings was gone. "Huh, well, that was pretty cool-" Before I could finish my sentence, I was enveloped by the warmth of my divinity. In the next moment, I watched as a red light exploded from my hand. Though it knocked me onto my back, it seemed to phase through the walls, almost as if it was incorporeal. Before I even knew what was happening, I felt a searing pain surge within the palm of my right hand. I let out a yell while holding my wrist in an attempt to ease myself.
Just as fast as it appeared, the pain dissipated before I even knew what was going on. It wasn't until I looked down at my hand that I realized I never let go of my sword. In fact, I couldn't let go of it. The next thing I discovered was that my ears and tail fully manifested without me even noticing it. My head began to pound with the amount of questions that flooded it all at once. Each new realization only raised yet another question. It caused me to gnash my teeth together and remark, "Tora didn't tell me about any of this!" Suddenly, my divinity sealed itself. This only angered me further. "How is it just going to come and go whenever it pleases?!" I asked with spite in my voice. The moment I was no longer a deity, my sword fell out of my palm. I quickly raised my hand to my face while cursing, "What the hell is going on-" I was immediately silenced by the discovery I made. There was a vertical line of words within the palm of my hand. However, I couldn't read them. "Great, I got a tattoo of something I can't even read," I scoffed in an agitated tone of voice. I finally picked myself and my divine instrument up off of the ground while saying, "A better question would be what that explosion of red light was. Was that something I unintentionally triggered? It doesn't seem to have affected anything or anyone, so I guess I'll take the small victory." Once I raised my katana to my face to further examine it, I was immediately impressed by the change my divine instrument had gone through.
To say that I was nerding out would've been an understatement. The new scarlet blade color and divine writing gave my sword the look I never knew it needed. "Well, it does look pretty cool," I say to myself in an attempt to justify everything that just happened. I sheathed my katana while saying, "That's one task out of the way; onto the nex-" I stopped. My ears caught the sound of someone running in my direction.
I quickly hid my divine instrument and turned toward the entrance. What stood before me was something that should have usually terrified me, considering what happened the last time we met. However, the fear in the three-tailed fox's eyes only confused me. "You have to save my little sister," the fox shouted in a petrified tone of voice. "Huh?" Flew out of my mouth while tilting my head and narrowing my eyes.