EndlessChase/History

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History of Creation 101

Pre Primordial War

Mahako, Mistress of the Pride

The Legend of Mahako:

Before the dawn of the Primordial War, The behemoth named Mahako was alone, resting in a cave already long forgotten, sleeping. It was during the first years of the war that She was awakened, and enslaved by the Primordials to help fight their war for them. So she fought, dealing with the soldiers of the Gods as though they were nothing more than rats in a basement.

For thirty years she fought, enslaved by masters she could not reach, until she met with the Lunar Tyr and his mate, the young Twilight Solar Rensei the Blue Eyed, whom she could not defeat. Their battle lasted for ten days, all combatants constantly wounded, constantly engaged, until the dawn of the eleventh day, where Tyr offered to free her of her enslavement if their battle could be ended. Mahako, compelled by her masters to destroy the chosen of the gods, could not end their battle until either they or she was defeated.

Tyr spoke with her then, while they fought, and told her their story. They were fighting not to simply destroy the Primordials, but to assure their freedom and the freedom of their gods forever. Mahako, sympathizing with their plight, struggled against her captor’s control. Her fighting ceased, giving Tyr and his mate the time needed to sever the ties that bound Mahako into servitude.

Mahako, now freed of her bonds, set her considerable power to bear against her once captors, joining the war on the side of those who freed her. The course of the war led her and Tyr with to free many more of her kind from enslavement. Some left to slumber, or walk the world as they once did, but many joined Mahako in her vigil. These were called The Pride, and Mahako, first freed and strongest of all, was its master.

Some years before the cessation of the war, Mahako approached Tyr, bearing wither her two gifts that were one. A long blade, crafted from one of her fangs, and set into a hilt of Moonsliver, and a smaller blade, harvested from one of her talons, set in a long hilt of Moonsilver crafted in the likeness of one of her fingers, bearing three gleaming rubies at each of the knuckles.

Handing them to Tyr, she named them Tooth and Nail, and relinquished these parts of herself as a gift and thanks for her freedom.


The History of Mahako, as written in the chronicles of Rensei the Blue Eyed

"It was nearly four decades ago when last my husband and I saw Mahako, and it is now only under my husband's duress that I write about these things now.

When we first encountered Mahako, she was our enemy, and she proved herself to be as potent as any force we had seen thus far in the war. Our first glimpse showed us her form from afar, that of a great cat, like a lion or tiger, though her stripes were of black and crimson. It was not until nightfall that we ventured closely enough to see her full form. Though later we found she was female, she bore a mane like only a male lion does. Though she was laying, her shoulder still rested above my husband’s head, even when he was in his battle form, and her length was easily four times this. Coiled around her resting body was her tail, nearly as long as she was, and tipped with a tremendous blade that looked to be made of obsidian.

Our mission was to kill the beast that had destroyed the Ivory Circle and their legions. Each member of that circle would be my age now, were they still alive. Tyr wanted me to stay behind on this mission, afraid that I would be killed during the fight. Tyr himself was entering his second century as an exalt, and he had already mastered the art of Celestial Circle Sorcery. I had just been introduced to the art of celestial spells myself, so I knew well how potent he could be, between his skill and his age.

Our fight began at dusk, when we started by raining arrows upon Mahako’s left flank. She was roused from her slumber at once, and immediately began searching wildly for whom had harmed her. With little trouble she found where we had fired from, and pounced, leaping nearly two hundred feet without so much as a running start. Had we not already moved several hundred feet to the south by this time, we most likely would have died there.

The battle continued this way for quite a long time. Tyr and I used essence sparingly, making sure we had as much as possible for when the real battle would start. For three hours we sent occasional volleys at her, watching her movements, judging her prowess, until she did not jump at the place we had fired from, but straight up. It was then that she saw through our stealth charms, and marked us. The real battle had begun.

The few soldiers that we saw on both the way to the battle and the way started a tale depicting the three of us battling for ten days straight. While no means completely true, the tale has some merit. We did fight the beast on ten days, though at times we were forced to run, and at time she was forced to do so as well.

At the dawn of the tenth day, Tyr grew weary of fighting a battle that we were not sure we could win, and approached Mahako through the trees and into the open, unarmed, and in his human form. The behemoth lunged once, and Tyr dodged her with a fluid grace so beautiful it reminded me of when we fell in love. He continued to avoid figting for some few minutes, the whole while telling Mahako about the true battle being fought, the war against her masters. She paused in her fight as well, and spoke to us for the first time. “Then we wish to fight the same dark masters.”

Those nine words were the only ones that she said, but they came from her with so much regret, so much suffering, that both Tyr and I took pity on her. The pause from conflict was momentary at best, her compulsion driving her to strike again. Tyr told her that he thought she could be freed, though there would be a cost for the bargain. His words said that he could break her binding to the Primordials, but only by replacing it with a bond, willingly given, to him. He would try this method, and if she was willing, his spell could work. He stepped back and began to cast, leaving me to defend him.

It was then that I truly entered the fight. I drew my Orichalcum dagger and dove between them, using the greatest defense that I had learned. Seven times she struck at me, and seven times the glory of the unconquered sun protected me. I knew that if an eighth came, I would be left with no other defense besides the mortal skill that I had learned with the blade, and I knew that it would not be enough.

Time, luck, perhaps even fate was on our side, because as the eighth blow descended, Tyr’s spell finished. A great silver light enveloped both he and the behemoth. When it faded, I saw Mahako kneeling before my husband, head bowed, with his palm against one of her crimson fangs.

“Mahako, you are bound to me now, for one day and one year, to do all that I command without hesitation. My only command is this…” Tyr paused for a moment, perhaps considering his next words, and then he spoke to her, “Live freely, and obey no master.”

Mahako rose then, and kneeled before Tyr once more. “I owe you my freedom, Blessed of Luna, and for that, I pledge myself to your cause, freely, not from duress. Let us crush together those that would enslave all.”

And that is what Mahako helped us to do. With her help, we offered the same to many of her kind being used as weapons, and while most left with their own freedom, some joined us in our crusade. Mahako was named Mistress of the Pride by her fellows, and she took charge of them as the strongest lion does with his pride. A tiny army of immense beasts joined the war, and with her help, the Primordials were defeated.

She came to us at our home some years before the end of the war, and she bore with her a package, tied around her neck. It was a gift to Tyr that she brought, and in it were two of the finest artifacts that I had ever seen before. One was Tooth, a Daiklave made from one of her fangs, sharpened even further and cut to shape the blade, with a Moonsilver hilt. The other, Nail, was a long dagger, and it had an eloquence matched only by the ferocity of Tooth. The handle is nearly as long as the blade, and it is crafted to look like one of the fingers on her forepaw. The blade itself is, in fact, one of those talons.

When she brought him these gifts, she said that it was her time to sleep, and that this age was not hers to live in. She bid us farewell that night, and left. That was the last time that she has been seen. I think my husband misses her. She was a companion to him as much as I during the war, and I think he regrets letting her leave. Though he lost one of his hands in the final battle with the primordial called Fenrir, Tyr still wears both of her gifts at all times. Perhaps as a sigil of their friendship."