“Long ago...

When the world was young, before the tie between man and gods was not yet severed, there were the Atīndriya (Ah-Teen-Dri-a). Three mighty and powerful gods; 

Shizen the god of nature, Chishiki the god of knowledge, and Sentō the god of combat.

These three beings traveled across the cosmos spreading the seed of life. Their greatest creation, man. Since man was the closest to them, they blessed them with a version of their most sacred and ancient device called the Crox. Hexagon in shape, the device allowed man to power their cities, their homes, their everyday lives. But its most important function was, it served as their key to travel to and from the realm of the gods.

Each Crox was uniquely designed for each individual. At birth the Crox would be handed to you and embedded with your DNA. It was yours to use freely. But the source of the Crox’s power was controlled by the gods. Man prospered and praised the gods for giving them their gifts; so much so that man built statues in the gods’ likenesses, delineated in their colors.

Shizen - green, Sentō - red and Chishiki - blue.

But as time passed, man’s knowledge, strength and ingenuity grew enough to garner the attention of Sentō, a being revered for his strength and prowess in battle. Sentō recognized the potential threat they posed. He began to view man as a formidable scourge. One that needed to be stifled. So he decided to take it upon himself to end man’s progression.

Sentō approached his brothers with his concerns, depicting an image of man one day rising up against them. He proposed that they take the Crox from the humans. Chishiki and Shizen disagreed with Sentō, seeing man’s growth as a victory and acknowledged humans as their own. This response infuriated him, but their law prohibited him from going against his brothers.

So Sentō reached out to his followers, those who were most faithful to him, to those that praised him and worshiped him as the king of all gods. He planted seeds of division into their minds and hearts, and commanded his followers to wage war on those who did not revere him as their true god. Shizen and Chishiki, knowing their brother and realizing his intentions, went to their followers and sowed seeds of peace and unity, to stand against those who would wage war on their fellow man.

This began the war, known as The War of Man. Battle and conflict swept the earth and many lives were lost. But what shook the gods the most was man’s ingenuity to adapt, evolve and weaponize the Crox. Man’s creativity allowed them to unlock devastating weapons and alter the Crox’s DNA properties, allowing those who have fallen to pass on their Crox to members of their family. So long as the bloodline was kept. The gods could only watch, for they were forbidden to directly interfere in man’s chaos.

The followers of Shizen and Chishiki had driven back Sentō’s men to a small stronghold. It seemed like they would soon put an end to Sentō’s uprising. But in a last desperate effort to attain victory, Sentō’s followers revealed a catastrophic weapon they had forged through the power of manipulating their Crox. In a horrific final act, Sentō’s followers pulled down a passing comet from the heavens forcing it to break through the atmosphere, and collide with the Earth. The gods recoiled in horror as man was surely destroyed. But to their miraculous surprise a handful survived the devastation. Those who did, ultimately realized the destructive power of the Crox. So a truce was forged between the followers of Sentō, Shizen and Chishiki. They took it upon themselves to hide the remaining Crox. Families that still had control of their Crox agreed to hide and guard them. These families scattered themselves across the land. They began to teach younger generations how to live off the land and the sweat of their brow. Thus the knowledge of the Crox was lost and turned into legend...”

Young Japan - Deep in the Mountains:

“...ultimately severing the tie between man and gods,” finishes Kashikoi Senshi. A man that has been blessed with the title of grandfather at a young age. He is draped in a blue Shinto attire with a hexagon symbol woven into the fabric.

Riding on his shoulders is his granddaughter Usagi. She is draped in a white Shinto priestess outfit. The leaves of the overgrown trees dance in the wind, as Kashikoi shuffles at a slow and deliberate pace. His feet, a steady rhythm, climb worn steps that seem to have been built into the mountain itself. What once might have been a path, has now been lost to nature and hidden under the shadows of the trees. As he glances up at his granddaughter sitting atop his shoulders, he stops and smiles at this special moment they share. He affectionately calls her Usagi (Japanese for rabbit), and she calls him Rōken (Japanese for old dog).

At the summit of the mountain there is a small clearing with tall grass. They reach a small shrine. The shrine looks to have remained untouched for what might be centuries and, like the rest of the mountain, covered in light moss. Its pillars are buried deep under the ground, giving the impression that they sprouted from the interior of the mountain its self. Housed under the shrine is a stone protruding from the ground in similar conditions to the pillars. The stone has a cracked charcoal texture, at its center it has a hexagon insignia imprinted into it, similar to design on Kashikoi’s attire.

Kashikoi takes Usagi off his shoulders and puts her in front of the stone. Kashikoi kneels down, claps his hands together and bows his head in prayer. Usagi follows suit. The two share a silent moment as they wrap up their prayers. Kashikoi grabs his Usagi and puts her back on his shoulders, and they begin the journey back down the mountain.

Time passes...

The once soft breeze begins to pick up. The overgrown moss on the small shrine and surrounding trees at the edge of the clearing begin to shake violently as though a shift in tempter was sweeping the mountain top. Suddenly, from behind the trees, two mysterious figures appear.

Stepping away from the trees, they are revealed to be two cloaked men.

As if the shrine was calling to them, the two men move cautiously toward it. One stands watch as the other kneels down and presses his hand onto the ground next to the shrine as if he’s probing for something. Suddenly the ground underneath his hand begins to glow a bright golden yellow. A smirk grows under the hood of his cloak.