Sea of the Wind, Shore of the Maze, Prologue

now? Or were you born this way?"
    Sanshi gently stroked his head. "Nyokai cannot transform. Transformation requires a special power in  order to perform."
    "Oh..."
    "Changing your outward appearance is not a very easy thing to do. There are youma that are capable of  it, but their magical powers are extremely strong. Even monarchs may not be able to control them."
    "Youma?"
    "They are creatures that possess supernatural powers and do not listen to the will of the heavens."
    "Are nyokai also youma?"
    Sanshi shook her head. "Nyokai are creatures that are between humans and youju, called nin'you or  youjin. The special ones born on Mt. Hou are called nyokai."
    "Then... are kirin considered youju?"
    Sanshi revealed to Taiki an expression that no one else had ever had a chance to see. "Kirin definitely  possess powers, but we don't call kirin by the name youju. Kirin are shinju, divine beasts."
    "Why?"
    "Because in this world, only gods and monarchs are nobler than the kirin. More particularly, only the  Taiou, Lady Seioubo and Tentei hold a higher status than you."
    "I...don't quite understand."
    Sanshi brushed his hair. "Then just remember that since Seioubo and Tentei don't usually come down  from the Heavens, you will probably never have a chance to meet them. Thus, the only one who is nobler  than you is the Taiou."
    "Then what about everyone else? Doesn't Lady Gyokuyou have a higher status than me?"
    "If you can call her by the name Gyokuyou, that means that you and she share the same status. It is  only etiquette that requires you address her as Lady."
    "This is so complicated."
    "Is it very complicated?"
    "Yes." Taiki lowered his head to look at the scenery below his feet. After standing in the wind for a  moment, he asked Sanshi another question.
    "What do I need to do...to be able to transform?"
    Sanshi looked at the depressed expression on Taiki's face. "That is an ability that you were born with...
    When the time comes, you will do it naturally."
    "Really...?" Taiki lowered his eyelids. Recently, a lot of the nyosen had told him to quickly transform  into a black kirin so that they could experience something new. Taiki knew that the nyosen all adored him,  so that he could satisfy their hopes. However, he had no idea as to how he would do it.
    "You don't need to worry... you just need to live your days with happiness."
    "Okay..." Taiki leaned his head on Sanshi's wrist.
    It was at this moment that he spotted two figures on a small path in the vicinity of Hoto Palace.
    "Sanshi, there are people over there."
    Sanshi looked over toward Hoto Palace and nodded her head. "It's probably a couple nyosen who've  gone to burn some incense. They're bringing flowers and sticks of incense to the altar in Hoto Palace."
    "Sanshi, let's return with the nyosen."
    Taiki had no way to get himself down to the path from the top of the crag, so he prepared himself for  Sanshi to carry him down. At this time, Sanshi suddenly jerked her head fiercely.
    "What's wrong?"
    In the second that it took Taiki to ask this question, Sanshi's outline looked like it had been sucked into  a little crack and disappeared.
    "Sanshi?"
    "Stay where you are and don't move."
    He only heard Sanshi's voice--her voice came from beside him, full of a tense feeling, but he couldn't  see her.
    Taiki stood on the crag. Hearing such a nervous tone, as well as an unimaginably monstrous ferocity  develop in her voice, he guessed that something was definitely out of the ordinary.
    Taiki carefully looked around, not daring to breathe too loudly. He grabbed onto the cliffside, and  stretched his neck out to see if he could find Sanshi's figure. At this time something suddenly brushed past  his neck.
    "Huh...?"
    He felt something fly towards him and graze his cheek. And then, something else wrapped itself  around his hands, with which he had been holding on to the cliffside. Suddenly, his hands were tugged by a  strong force and it flung his body over the side of the rock face.
    In that second, Taiki saw that his hands were bound by a long chain.
    He began to fall.
    --Someone was pulling him off the crag.
    "I've got you!"
    Taiki was startled awake by a loud and coarse voice.
    He suddenly remembered that he had fallen off of the crag and into the area beyond the boundary  where the nyosen had told him never to cross. When he tried to think back to why he had fallen, he heard  another deep shouting. He was laying on the ground and turned to see