Unanswered Prayer

[youshi-semenjyu.livejournal.com]

Title: Unanswered Prayer
Rating: PG
Media: Fic
Pairing/Characters: Calgara
Word Count(if applicable): right at 300
Prompt: Religion



The most beautiful girl in the whole village.

Those had been the priest’s words, and they were the words of the great Kashigami as well. Nothing could change them, they were absolute. More bloodstains upon the altar were needed to appease the angered gods; the past four girls must not have been suitable.

He knew this, he understood this. It was the will of the gods that this be done for redemption.

But he did not accept this.

Standing at the base of the sacrificial altar, Calgara looked up the steep stairs, past the plinth where the girl would be laid out, past the engraved wall of sacred texts, and into the skies at the baleful moon. The monsoon clouds cast a gloom over the clearing. He paused, teeth gritted bitterly, before he ran up the stairs, seeking to become as close to the gods as possible. He may not hear their voices, but if he shouted loud enough to the heavens, perhaps they would hear his own.

When he finally spoke, his voice was angry and full of anguish.

“…WHY?” His voice echoed off the masonry. “Have I not followed your divine law faithfully?! What have we done to incur your wrath?! Is this my punishment?! Am I to survive your curse only by spilling the blood of my only daughter?! What more will you ask of us before you are satisfied?!”

Calgara fell to his knees, his spear clattering against the stones. He breathed heavily, tears blinding his eyes.

“I will gladly relinquish my own life if you will spare Muse! Tell me, Kashi! Take the blood of a warrior over the blood of my innocent daughter! TELL ME!”

Sunrise came silently, and with it, the rain to mask the Great Warrior’s tears.

Another girl for the gods.