Ancient Steel [PRIVATE]

Izanami finished her tea and listened to the story that Henrex told. She could really see some similarities to what she had gotten up to in her life, and also a few bits that were completely fabricated for the narrative. Creative people, she had to admit, and belief could be as belief was. Just because it happened a different way didn't mean they couldn't believe differently, so long as it didn't cause trouble to other people.
"Mmm, that is an interesting story. And a bit true as well. See, I didn't quite give birth to a Fire God, but I did almost die from getting set on fire"

Izanami let go of Henrex and returned to the throne, leaning back and staring a thousand miles as she cast her mind back.
"Mmm, Wulin was a place of much conflict. There were some rules. Don't bully the weak, don't involve the people who do not walk The Path, stuff like that. Enforced by the Five Spiritual Lords. But for people of my level, the rules were simple. Take what you wanted, and defend it with your own might. And that was what I was doing, protecting one of my villages from a man who wanted to take it. Proper lunatic pyromaniac that one. Anyway, fight progresses, he's getting his ass kicked, so he pulls out his Rank 9 Technique, Descending Pheonix.

I couldn't get my Mirror of Yata up fast enough, and so I got a face full of the hot stuff and went down. Took a few days for the army he had brought to be subdued, and when they finally got to me, I was pretty messy. My attempts at recovery had halted the rot, but had at the same time kept my wounds rather fresh and juicy. Not sure about the maggots, I was kind of out of it at that point, but I was definitely a hagged corpse. Burns are not pretty when some of them are fourth degree"

She let out a sigh, and played with her hair a bit, getting it into the perfect position before carrying on. It wasn't out of place at all, she was just feeling a little overwhelmed talking about the past.

"So, they made me this tomb. And despite later renovations, then it was a tomb. I was dead, to the sight of everyone. Izanagi would have been able to see I was still alive, but I guess he was too distraught to think clearly. I don't know how long it took me to recover, but I eventually got up, and my head was hazy. I couldn't think about anything proper, all I could feel was how angry I was that Izanagi had abandoned me. So I sent out my Eight Deathly Devas to go find him, but at the time I still wasn't looking very good. My wounds had healed, but my body was still sub-optimal from the long recovery period, and so my Devas were far from pretty.

A lot of people got scared by them asking rather heatedly for where Izanagi was, and I achieved nothing, so I pulled my girls back and fumed for a bit. In my anger I decided I would push beyond the Realm of Heaven and then use that power to take my revenge. But it was far from forthcoming, and I had a lot of time to cultivate, and calm myself. And then I started to realize that maybe he hadn't left me. He could have just given me time and space to heal. He could have really believed I was dead. He could have been told I was dead, and in his despair believed it. There was any number of things that could have been the reason why he left and never came back. So I focused on my Cultivation. If I could reach the Realm Beyond Heaven, I would be able to find him where ever he was on this Earth, or elsewhere. But, you can see how well that went down, huh?" Izanami lingered on the memories for a few moments, and then sprung back off her seat.

"Not for nothing. I'm on par with the Third Spiritual Lord these days, if they are still around. But I never managed to break through, so I guess I should be content with this. And maybe recruit the Iga Ninja to find Izanagi, where ever he might be these days"