HASALYNX PRESS
Read Romance Ebooks Legally — Anytime, Online, With a Monthly Subscription

After the death of the old emperor, marquises and marquesses warred with each other over dominance in the region. True peace wasn't present anywhere, not even in the Mayu’s Monastery, which was situated on an isolated mountain peak.

The monastery took its name after Mayu, a legendary goddess, said to appear as a white tigress. Her two sons showed up as two tiger kittens. They were named Presence and Absence. One day, Absence went missing. Presence cried tears that turned into rivers streaming down the mountain peak. They irrigated farmland, allowing villagers to get rich and build magnificent cities. In an attempt to thank the goddess and her sons, commoners built Mayu’s Monastery. Its walls protected one precious artifact: Mayu’s necklace. She used to wear it on her neck in both forms. The stone embedded in the pendant had two sides: one was jagged, and the other one smooth like the surface of a quiet lake. The necklace reminded everyone that there are both harsh and easy times in life. It was also said to transform negativity into positivity. Because of this unique quality, many prominent people visited the mountain monastery. They confided in monks, hoping to receive a blessing. The monks let them touch the necklace. This small ritual really made a difference in several prominent people's lives. So, the necklace became the object of everyone's desire.

The monks needed to protect it from thieves. Hence, they invented their own martial art. It became the pride of the mountain monastery, which remained safe for many centuries.

However, after the sudden death of the emperor, a turbulent period dawned on the empire. With no one to fear, rogues started plundering buildings, and many young men came to the temple, begging monks to teach them some of their martial art so that the young men would be able to protect their wives and children.

Monks agreed and taught them a few techniques, but the majority remained secret. The Mayu’s Monastery was supposed to remain a bird sitting on the trees' tallest branches. It was meant to be close enough to the people, to affect them with its singing, but far enough to avoid being caught in the cage, or shot.

*

Yet, not everyone important for the region's religious community was born inside the temple complex. A notable exception was Isamu, the grandson of the elderly master ruling in the times of the emperor's death.

It wasn’t clear when exactly Isamu was born, but it didn’t matter. He left his family home around age ten. His grandfather prepared him to take over the temple after his own death. Isamu had a critical mission to fulfill: to protect the grounds from the soldiers of Duke Ozuru. Duke Ozuru was a local ruler who favored another religious belief, which came from the east. He proclaimed he would come into possession of the necklace and end the cult of Mayu and her sons. There was no emperor to stop him, so it was just a matter of time when he would attack.