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CUMULATIVE WORD COUNT

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BLURB

In which a feral fox demon tries to keep her promise in a demon ruled hellscape.

In which a yaksha struggles to keep his oath to a broken god.

A dark fantasy tale set in a world where the demons won a war against the gods and the mountains still fly upon wings of stone.

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COVER

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PROMPTS

62. ʜᴇʟʟ ɪs ᴇᴍᴘᴛʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴠɪʟs ᴀʀᴇ ʜᴇʀᴇ. - ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍ sʜᴀᴋᴇsᴘᴇᴀʀᴇ

25. "ɪғ ʜᴇ sᴍɪʟᴇᴅ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ, ʜᴇ'ʟʟ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ. ɪғ sʜᴇ ᴡɪɴᴋᴇᴅ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ, sʜᴇ'ʟʟ ʀɪᴘ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛ."

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CHARACTER AESTHETICS

the kitsune

the yaksha

(Stretch the vowels with a bar over them. Eg. Indee-va-rah)

(Random bit of info, one of the many kanji iterations of Akari means red lotus and Indīvara is straight up sanskrit for blue lotus / water lily.)

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Greetings folks and welcome to Upon Wings of Stone.

My second entry for the ONC 2023 is a high fantasy tale featuring two master shapeshifting spirits, one from Japan and the other from South Asia.

On the Japanese side, I've decided to go with the legendary (and beloved) Kyūbi no Kitsune, the nine-tailed fox yōkai that has been overused to the point of saturation in modern media but remains a staple.

It's interesting to note that the kitsune have a mixed representation in traditional Japanese folklore. On one side, they're the benevolent guardian spirits serving the fertility deity Inari Okami, wise and powerful, able to command the elements to their will, shapeshift and be loyal lovers to humans.

On the other, they are mischief makers with the ability to possess young women, trick and devour unsuspecting wayfarers and ruin entire clans by sabotaging their families. Mix those two aspects and you have a very interesting, morally grey creature to portray. To capture this duality of the kitsune would be a daunting task, but yeah, it would make for one cool protagonist.

Also, I have a soft spot for kitsunes. Blame it on this guy.

When most of my classmates were having a vampire phase (looking at you Vampire Diaries/Twilight), I had a kitsune phase all thanks to this one dude from Kamisama Kiss (Nanami is one of the best shoujo protagonists I've seen hands down). Also the reason why I have a thing for white-haired, cocky bastards (*cough*Gojo*cough*)

On the South Asian side, I'll be using Yakshas/Yakkhas, particularly the versions found in various Indian/Hindu traditional tales.

Just to be clear, this is not a Genshin Impact fanfiction.

Yakshas are guardian nature spirits depicted as fierce warriors on the stone reliefs in temples, associated with the bounties of nature, hidden treasures, untamed wildernesses, lakes, forests, and fertility. Their king, Kubera is usually worshipped as the god of wealth and prosperity. Female yakshas are called Yakshīs or Yakshinīs, they're depicted as tall, gorgeous celestial maidens.

They are often portrayed to be master illusionists and shapeshifters, often appearing as protectors of sacred grounds and spiritual guides to mortals.

Yakshas too have a wide spectrum of traits attributed to them. On one hand, they're the guardians keeping their cousins the Rākshasas, bloodthirsty demons with ravenous appetites who feast on human flesh, from rampaging through the mortal realms. They are also worshipped as local deities in sacred groves alongside nāgas (snake gods), who protect a settlement from harm. Being fertility deities, yakshas are also portrayed as passionate, devoted lovers. The great Indian playwright Kālidāsa's Meghadootha (The Cloud Messenger) is a ballad about a banished yaksha's yearning to be reunited with his wife, and in his agony, he pleads to a passing cloud to deliver a message to his beloved.

Yakshas also get cursed a lot. Plenty of rākshasas appearing in the Hindu epics had been yakshas at some point before their transgressions (including and not limited to lust, vandalism, mischief, or laziness in either the same life or a previous one) got them cursed by a sage. In such cases, they're depicted as ugly, ogre-like monsters or deceitful tricksters. They're usually freed from their curse and have their immortality restored once they're killed.

Again, they're a very interesting type of spirit to work with.

Now for the myth I got the title from.

Many moons ago, according to Hindu scriptures, all mountains used to have wings and were capable of flight.

This was a huge problem for the mortals populating planet Earth because the mountains would land wherever and whenever they pleased and would promptly level entire villages and towns with their bases. So one day, Lord Indra (King of all gods, lord of the heavens, the sky, rain, and lightning) lined all the mountains up and clipped their wings with the help of Vajra, his divine diamond/thunderbolt weapon.

One mountain, Maināka however escaped with his wings intact thanks to the wind god, Vāyu's intervention. He later turns out to be a very noble mountain, who risks his life to help Lord Hanuman in the Ramayana, and in turn, Lord Indra decides to let him keep his wings and live under the ocean.

This story is the tale of a pair of shapeshifting spirits in a world where the demons won a war with the gods and mountains still fly upon wings of stone. There might be a hit of romance sprinkled in there somewhere but it's mostly going to be a dystopian fantasy.

Akari the kistune, being a shapeshifter, will appear in both male and female forms, whereupon I will be using either he/him or she/her pronouns corresponding to the form they're in. Akari does have a lean towards her female form though.

I will not be using actual deities from Hindu or Japanese mythology, since this is a parallel universe, however I will draw inspiration from them rather heavily.

I hope to portray them correctly and to the best of my abilities and if any corrections or mistakes occur, please jump right in and point those out.

Thanks for reading Upon Wings of Stone!

- Indu Knight

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TRIGGER WARNINGS

Gore
Violence
Mentions of sexual assault
Death
Trauma

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