Sea of the Wind, Shore of the Maze, Prologue

clouds felt like.
    He sensed someone beside him, sturdily holding on to his hand, but he could not see who it was.
    Through the dense fog, he could barely see a milky white figure swaying, but that might have been just his  imagination.
    So it stayed like this for a moment, and then the hand that was holding on to his wrists pulled him in  another direction. He didn't know why, but he wasn't frightened at all. He just obediently went wherever the  hand pulled him.
    In the amount of time it approximately takes to walk through a short hallway, he finally saw the sky  again, as if he had floated to the surface of a pool.
    To suddenly see the dazzling sunlight shocked him momentarily.
    Towering in front of him was a great tree. He had never before seen a snow-white tree trunk that  looked as if it was made with a pure white metal. The tree trunk was very thick, but not very tall. White  branches extended a long way with their ends hanging down.
    Behind the tree, he saw marvelous landscapes for the first time in his life. He also saw a strangely- shaped, enormous green rock and a group of unusually dressed women.
    Also, the strangest of all was the woman who had been holding on to his hand.
    She looked like she was half-human and half-tiger or leopard. Her face was flat and her round eyes  were opened wide and radiating a glimmer that was hard to describe. He should have felt scared, but for a  reason he didn't understand, he was not. On the contrary, he sensed that those eyes were very gentle.
    "Taiki..."
    This word came from the lips of the half-woman, half-beast. However, he didn't understand what it  meant. And he also didn't know that this was the first time she had spoken in ten years.
    "Taiki!"
    She used her soft hands to gently stoke his hair, as her round eyes filled with tears.
    Like he had always done very naturally with his mother, he held her hand and drew closer to her face.
    "Did something happen that hurt you?"
    She shook her head not as if she was saying no to Taiki's question, but that he not worry about her.
    This action was also very similar to something his mother would have done.
    "Taiki? So, is he Taiki?"
    It was because of this human voice that finally triggered a realization of his surroundings. Just when he  was wondering what strange thing had happened to him, a woman approached him.
    "This is very rare."
    "Who are you?"
    The woman kneeled in front of him.
    "I am Gyokuyou. I have probably not seen hair like yours for hundreds of years."
    The woman raised her hand and ran her fingers through his hair.
    "You are a kokki, a black kirin! This really is very rare."
    "Is that weird?" he asked.
    He was not looking at the woman who was standing in front of him, but at the half-woman, half-beast  beside him holding his hand. He didn't know why, but in his heart, he had already recognized this half- woman, half-beast as someone he could rely on.
    She once again shook her head silently.
    "Of course it's not weird. This is a very good thing!" said the woman standing in front of him.
    "Since you were born in another world, you were probably already given a name. However, here we  will call you Taiki."
    "Taiki? Why is that?"
    "Because this is the rule."
    "What is this place? I was just standing in the yard."
    He had already realized that what had happened to him wasn't ordinary, but he had not yet come upon  anything that would inspire fear or panic in him.
    "This is Mt. Hou. This is where you stay."
    "I...don't think I understand."
    "You will understand in the days to come. Oh, that's right. This is Sanshi, called Haku Sanshi, and her  particular responsibility is to take care of you."
    He lifted his head to look at the half-woman, half-beast at his side.
    "Sanshi..."
    Gyokuyou then looked to the side again.
    "This is Ren Taiho."
    A golden-haired woman was standing next to the white tree trunk. When he followed Gyokuyou's line  of sight, he was just able to see the white snake curled around the golden-haired woman's wrist turn into a  silver bracelet. That snake had had two tails, and he thought he saw the second tail turn into a silver ring, but  because he was so astonished, consequently he didn't dare decide if what he had seen was real or not.
    "You should thank her. In order to help Sanshi get you back, she specially lent us her very precious  treasure."
    He look up to see the golden-haired woman smiling and then glanced at Sanshi again. Sanshi nodded at  him, so he then obediently