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We rounded the corner and came upon one of the tall spirit-mirrors that my Father had a specialty in enchanting. He clasped his hands together before it, and it turned as black as void for a moment before crawling with lights across the surface like a thousand beetles scurrying from a torch.

"Where are we going, Lord Father?" I asked solemnly as he opened his eyes again and the mirror started to swirl orange and white and black, outlined by gray marble on all sides.

"I'm taking us to the Mountain, of course," he growled at me as he concentrated, the mirror now forming into a green nd white blur. Soon, a blast of chill air flowed through the mirror, and we both walked through into the other side.

The mountain fortress was in the mortal world, and the shock of slipping from one to the next made us both pause to catch our breath and make sure that our hearts were still beating in the fragrance-free, dark chamber that we strode into. My Father sighed and started towards the heavy wooden door, motioning for me to follow and grabbing my axe from me for a walking stick.

"Lord Father, are you letting me fight with you?"

"No, Akiko-sama," he purred, "I am showing you what is to be your duty." As the door was flung open, I was greeted with the smiling faces of several humans, dressed in nerly royal attire.

"King Akio, Blessed by the Sun and Moon, Awesome and Beatific," they said as one as they bowed low to my father. I smiled as his eye started to twitch from the formalities. "Great and Dark is our Master, who guides our hand and our fates until the day we die and become a part of your great history, by your hand as children or by your grace as elders."

We both rolled our eyes at that. My Father had not killed any of his subjects since their great-grandfather's lifetime. You could kill all the spirits, animals, and whatever else you like- but mortals never forget it when you kill some of their own. My Father then turned to me and, without any kind of warning, bowed on his hands and knees to me.

"Princess Akiko, Born of a Virgin and a God, Awesome and Beatific! Powerful and Wrathful is my Daughter," he titled me embarrasingly as he looked at the ground, and then finished, "May your new subjects hold you in their heart as I hold you in mine, and your new captains serve you as well as they did I." The captains, in turn, gasped and started shuffling to bow again.

"Princess Akiko, Born of a..." the captains tried to remember the full title, covering their short memories with coughs and incoherent babbling before resuming, "our Mistress, who guides our hand and our fates until the day we die and-"

"My captains, that is all," I said harshly before they could finish. "I do not require your souls, only your service, just as my mother did."

"Yes, My Lady," they answered in a slightly-less-practised voice.

"My Lord Father, I do not ask you to bow to me," I said nervously as I looked down, the Phantom God not reaching my gaze. "I accept the charge that you have given me. More than that, I very much hope that you find what you seek on your quest."

My father looked up at me, his face relieved. He took the axe blade that was once his and placed it in my hands after he stood. "By this axe, I name you Akiko-shogun, General of the Mountain." Instead of continuing the meeting, he turned to the captains again- first looking as if he were going to give them and order- then raising his eyebrows at them. "Hold on a moment. I don't know any one of you. Where is MacDule? Where is McKallhen?"

"Great One, I am MacDule," squeaked one of the younger female captains nervously. "My father served under you."

"That was less than a hundred years ago. Where is he now?"

"Killed by Dragons, Dark One." She shuddered. Most mortals couldn't even stand the thought of Dragons- if they were to all disappear, and the mortals had a say in it, they would probably just be relegated to children's stories and hoaxes. "That is one of the reasons we begged for your help. We are attacked at random, and require Gods to fight Gods."

"Very well," he said, turning back to me. "Listen, my Daughter. This is not a failure. You may now train all the new captains the way you see fit, and when dragons attack we will see their true strength." He smiled at me, but my mouth dropped open in shock.

"I will require help, Akio-sama!" I gasped, looking the group of mortals up and down. A plan started to form in my mind- one that would make my stay bearable. I put aside my anger to try to focus on what needed to be done.

"There is no academy at this fortress, only a village and a palace. Could I not form one here so that they may be trained in the way I was? Then, we could take the common people of the area to defend it."

"That is quite a demand!" spoke up one of the other captains. "Are we to let whatever rabble we want into the only place where we're even a bit safe?

My Father turned his cold, silver eyes to the captain. "It sounds as if you have insulted my daughter and admitted your own cowardice in the same breath. Do you care to add to your list of blasphemies before your light is put out forever?" He strode towards him at a slow pace, and the others bcked away instinctively. Internally, I snickered as I realized that none of them had ever dealt with the beast that was my father before. Only the female soldier- MacDule- stood her ground. Whether she didn't budge because of wisdom or because of bravery didn't matter to me- I noted her as my favorite.

"I believe that what you were implying is that this has not been opened as a place of shelter for my subjects?" he growled, barely audible enough to hear. He extended a single claw and sundered the deep blue cloak that hung around the captain's shoulders, then traced the pearly, curved digit down his shirt with an obscene ripping sound. My father could only reach down to just below his heart without stooping, so he cut across his chest instead, and soon his once-noble clothes were exposing his slender, only slightly hairy chest- heaving with panic.

"Forgive me, my Lord. When I was put in charge-"

The Phantom Beast God lowered his mouth to anoint his subject with a kiss of death upon his forehead, slipping out his bright pink tongue- the only part that really looked like it belonged in the mortal world. The textured surface left a red mark that must have stung bitterly from all of the sweat cascading down onto the man's naked forehead.

"Asking for forgiveness from me, Tiny One?" My Father looked deep into the man's earth-brown eyes. "Who put you in charge? No one but yoursef. Oh, yes, I know about your mother's machinations and how you disposed of her." He broke his gaze, and the man started to weep bitterly as his deity prowled in a cirlce around him once, saying, "Did you think I was blind to you? I only left you here so that your fear of me could age like cheese, curdling your mind until it was nothing but darkness, before I devour you." He was finally coming to rest just behind him when I caught a wink. My heart leapt from shocked revultion to a calm humor as I realized what he was trying to accomplish.

"Akio-sama, release my captain," I said with as much conviction as I could muster. My father and mother had done something very similar in front of me once- I had thought at the time that my Father truly was kept in check by her. I tried to keep a regal bearing as best as I could after being on the road for so long. "He is my subject now and will be dealt with by my laws, not by your Mothers'."

He smiled, then turned it into a false grimace as he acted along. "Daughter! He is still my subject as well, whether you are General or not!" He shoved the weeping man onto the ground while he yelped pitifully, then placed one of his footpaws onto his back as the man started to try to wriggle away on his belly.

"Greatest of all Heroes among Spirits, Greatest of all Gods among Mortals, I choose to let my captain live, by your grace, of course. As you will not allow me to venture with you, I suggest tht you bring him- and his fear- with you on your journey to the Dragon's Seat." This was apparently not my Father's plan, but he played along anyways, lifting his foot and earnestly scratching his head. "Surely his mind will curdle all the more at the sight of a dragon's eyrie?"

The man wailed harder than ever at that, and his Master smiled. "Very well then, Akiko-shogun. I hope you know that mercy does not serve a warlord well- this is to be the first, and last!, life that I spare for you." He said it with an imperious sniff. I lifted the man up easily with one hand as my Father took away his foot. The stripped man wiped the tears and sweat from his face, looking around at the people that he thought himself the commander of only minutes ago. I squeezed harder than strictly neccessary- only enough to crush a few of his finger bones- after I lifted him, and he yelped and then kissed my paw. I released him as he looked into my eyes, and looked at the axe-head as if it were the first time I held it.

"Now, Cap- I mean, private- tell me what comes with guarding this place."

"My Lady, Awesome and Merciful, White and Black and Beautiful as the moon and sky!" I shuddered without thinking at recieving a compliment from such a person, but listened intently. "The great fort is guarded at every river that the Mountain feeds, including the main gate of the River White. That is seven great gates, and all of us command one eighth of the city, with this, Your Father's palace-" he gulped, then ammended, "I mean, your palace, in the dry east quarter opposite the River White." He motioned to the window, making his sleeve detach completely from his shirt and slump onto the ground, and I saw that we had emerged from the mirror in a high tower. "We rarely see a reason to defend ourselves, because the Dragons are happy to attack the surrounding villages at random and leave us alone."

"Well, that is going to change. Thank you, Page. You are dismissed." I turned from him to the other captains, who had gathered around behind MacDule almost as if by magnetism. "MacDule the Younger, I name you Ningen-shogun, Mortal General, and place you in charge until my Father or I return."

That solicited an inquiring growl from behind me, and I continued, trying not to shake as I felt my Father's evil eyes fall upon the back of my head. "My Father, as you have already guessed, has a noble quest to partake in. As for myself, I shall be back before the moon is out with new allies."