[Crossover] Half a World

You can see a rotting pillar in the forest from here, right? There used to be a shrine there. A magnificent shrine dedicated to the Wind God. Once, after days of unrelenting wind and rain, a flood threatened to swallow the village at the foot of the mountain. The villagers came here in droves to pray, begging the gods to protect them. But the Wind God ruled over the wind, not water, and should have been powerless to stop the flood. Even so, the Wind God forcibly diverted its course and ultimately saved the village. The price was one of his eyes.

After the disaster passed, however, people gradually forgot the god. One by one, they left this place, and the shrine was slowly abandoned.

But the god never forgot his worshippers. Every day, he still waited for them beside this road, at this shrine. Yet no one came. Not a single person.

Day after day, year after year, the god waited, until moss covered the stone steps and dust settled over the shrine. That once-magnificent shrine was reduced to nothing but this rotting pillar.

Alone, the god spent a long, long time here.

At last, with no worshippers left, he lost his right to be a god. He should have vanished from this forest in solitude.

But the god chose to become a monster instead.

As a fallen Wind God, he could no longer bring blessings to his people. Yet he still hoped to use his power to protect them. Even as a monster, he would continue guarding this place.

To protect his people, the god fell into a deep sleep.

And when he awoke, a thousand years had passed.