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Prologue
Dreams or Memories?
Ben tossed and turned in his bed, his naked body covered by a sheen of sweat.
Though the night was freezing, his cabin warmed only by a low-burning fire, he’d kicked off the thick comforter hours ago. Only the thin bedsheet twisted around his hips and legs.
He didn’t know that his body quivered with stress, his longish hair matted to his scalp and face. He didn’t hear the low moans escaping involuntarily from his throat. Didn’t realize his breath hitched and shuddered with a soul-deep pain.
Most of all, he wasn’t aware how helplessly, hopelessly, he reached for something…someone…who wasn’t there, his arm stretching out to hold her, his fingers clutching at emptiness.
She was never there…
Age of the Twin Goddesses. Tens of thousands of years ago.
When he was created, he was a Pure thing. A wild thing. Untamed and unsullied.
He knew joy, freedom, curiosity, aggression, and the satisfaction of the chase. Of conquering foes. And of simply playing. Simply being. For it was a wonder to be alive.
He was the first of his Kind, born fully formed. One moment he was merely an inkling of a thought in his Creator’s mind, and the next he existed. He lived.
He was given as a gift from one to the other. And his new Master was so delighted with him, she clapped her hands for more. Thus, the Beasts came into being.
She named him: Byakko.
His Master had no name herself. He only ever thought of her as the Bright One or Master. For, she was the very opposite of her Twin, who embodied pervasive darkness. To Byakko, both Twins were beautiful, especially when they were in each other’s vicinity, for each balanced the other perfectly.
After all, how would we know the brilliance of Light if there was no Darkness to remind us? How would we thrive in the night without the sunrise to warm us?
His Master took him everywhere. He was her constant companion and fiercest protector. He fought monsters and other gods for her. She gave him Sustenance that made him strong. Fearless.
But it was the affection she showed in small, everyday gestures that made him loyal and gave him courage to exceed the limits of his creation.
She loved to pet him for hours throughout the day and night. She would run her hands through his thick white fur, trace the black stripes that were unique to him, scratch the scruff around his face and behind his ears, and tickle him playfully on his belly when he rolled on his back with tongue lolling to beg for her magical touch. She would rub noses and foreheads with him, tease his whiskers and massage his paws.
He loved it when she gazed deeply into his eyes best of all. There were no words; beings such as they didn’t need them. He could hear her thoughts, just as she always knew his.
“Besides my sister, you are my best friend, Byakko,” she often conveyed.
“The other gods are either jealous or fearful of us. We are too powerful, especially together, they whisper. They are always trying to tear us apart, my sister and I. They challenge us at every turn, under the guise of innocent fun. As if creating monsters and sending them to hunt us down is simply a game that we should play along with.”
“I see their apprehension when we always emerge victorious. Thanks to you and the Beasts, and the Elementals I gifted my sister. It’s us against the universe…”
His Master didn’t dwell on these depressing thoughts for long. She was fearless and matter-of-fact. If there were foes who wanted to bring her down, she simply made it a point to beat them at their own game.
But it isolated the sisters from everyone else. They could trust no one. Friends never survived tests and tribulations. Betrayal was to be expected. Lovers could turn into assassins in the blink of an eye. Only the Twin Goddesses’ creations remained true.
And Byakko was the truest of all.
One day, the Bright One flashed into the cave where Byakko slept, startling him immediately awake.
She threw herself at him and hugged her arms tight around his neck, burying her face in the thick scruff there. She was breathing raggedly, and her body was racked with shivers.
He chuffed at her to ask what was wrong and purred deep and low to soothe her.
“He tried to kill me!” she raged.
“He was fucking me and killing me at the same time! I thought he was a friend, at the very least an ally. I thought he was different!”
