(This short story was originally published as part of the Extra Fes 2025 event pamphlet. We’ve translated it for fun. Let’s go!)
The work required to maintain a temple was never ending. Especially when that temple was the Skydome Temple. Still, Shukra thought, it was better than being fired after everything that had happened.
“Shu-kra-chaaan!”
She turned around to see Huang and Bai, the Divine Tigers. Since their time in the Nexus Labyrinth Dharma, the Divine Generals had taken over a portion of the temple for their assembly. They seemed to be on a break.
“Shukra-chan, you know all about the first Divine Tiger, don’t you?”
In Dharma, the primal beast Svaha had cast an illusion over the daughter of Sankara to replace her dead mother. Sankara’s memories and personality were passed on to her, and this process had been repeated over the generations all the way down to Shukra. It was a cursed inheritance, but because of that, Shukra could call upon Sankara’s 500-year-old memories as if they were her own.
“Of course I know the first Tiger! I remember her as if I just saw her yesterday.”
The twins let out an impressed “ooooh” in unison.
“Tell us what she was like! That sounds fun.”
“I don’t mind. But…”
Shukra looked meaningfully at Laolao floating nearby, who sighed “It’s fine, gawr.”
“Lao is old and senile, and I don’t think he remembers anything anymore. Don’t worry about him.” Huang smiled mischievously, and Laolao narrowed his eyes at her.
“Don’t say that, gawr! This is a rare opportunity for you to hear about the first Divine Tiger from someone who isn’t me, so let her tell her story, gawr.”
With Laolao’s consent, Shukra started her story with a polite “By your leave.”
About 500 years ago, some time after the end of The War, the self-styled Divine Cat Sankara stood on a grassy plain overlooking a lake in Dharma and groused.
“Those Divine Generals get called heroes just because they’re a little handy in a fight.”
The wind caressed the hills gently, but there was a storm in her heart.
The Divine Generals had set out from the Skydome Temple and built temples in twelve directions, and each day brought crowds of pilgrims and visitors.
“You wish to be a Divine General, and I will grant it.”
“Thanks. I won’t slack on my training, either.”
Svaha’s reply was a short “Okay.”
There was no emotion in his voice, but Sankara knew him well enough to know how he felt. They had spent every waking hour together when she was stranded in Dharma, and she believed that he would learn to express himself soon enough. Some day, his face would be just like the budding flowers that heralded winter’s end.
“I think I’ll take on the Divine Tiger! I owe that woman a beating! Back me up, Svaha!”
The cat had made many rounds of the Divine Generals, and had taken aim at the Tiger again.
“You wish for long range support? That would require me to leave Dharma.”
“No! I mean that you should cheer me on! Say ‘Go get her, Sankara!’ That’s what backing me up means!”
“Go get her, Sankara…”
As Svaha pondered the meaning of the cryptic incantation, Sankara smiled at his confusion and went on her way with a proud “You got it!”
When Sankara arrived at the freshly built gate of the Tiger Temple, her eyes met the Tiger’s familiar.
“Ugh, she’s back, gawr! Master! Masterrrr!”
Sankara snorted as the tiny beast fled to the temple without even greeting her.
“Always so rude. What was his name? Gaogao?”
She stood patiently with her arms crossed until she heard a voice resound from within the temple.
“You never learn, do you, Divine Cat Sankara! Back for another round?”
A woman with long red hair approached her with relaxed strides, grasping a hammer as tall as she was in her tail as if it weighed nothing at all. It was the Divine Tiger.
“This will be the last round, because I’m gonna beat you. Get ready to pack your bags and leave town!”
“Nyahahaha! Feisty as always! The fire in your eyes really brings me back. It’s like you’re the only one still fighting a war in these peaceful times.”
The Divine Tiger looked her straight in the eyes, and Sankara didn’t flinch.
“My war isn’t over yet.”
“Hmm. You’ve got your reasons for that, don’t you? Hidden deep down…”
Each of the Divine Generals had a seasoned warrior’s intuition that gave them some insight into the motivations of their opponents, but none of them could have suspected that her true aim was to free a primal beast trapped in Dharma.
“We all know you’re not making these visits just to satisfy your pride, Sankara. We talk about you all the time when we get together. Isn’t it about time you coughed up what this is really about?”
Sankara shot back a simple “No.”
A moment’s hesitation was death. That ironclad rule had been impressed upon her through a lifetime of martial training. Don’t waver. Stay focused on the goal.
“You’ve got spunk. I like that in a woman.”
“Sorry, I’m not into girls.”
“You got a man back home?”
The face that appeared in Sankara’s mind was not the man her father had commanded her to marry.
“I didn’t come here to chit-chat!”
“Fine. The usual spot, then?”
The two walked away from the Tiger Temple to a small grove of trees that looked over a nearby village.
Sankara remembered readying her blades and rushing at the Tiger with a “let’s go!”
The next time she opened her eyes, she saw nothing but clear blue sky and treetops. Before she had time to take in what that meant, the Tiger’s voice brought her back to reality.
“You made a good show of it this time. It took me four attacks, and that’s a record. You’ve been working hard. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. How’s food sound?”
Sankara’s jaw clenched in frustration at the Tiger’s boisterous laughter.
“You have it so easy. You were picked for the job right at the end of the war. There were so many nameless heroes who fought those battles too, and I’m not afraid to say it: all of you just happened to be in the right place at the right time!”
“Hey, nicely put! I think that all the time too!”
“What?”
Sankara had voiced the gripes of a sore loser without thinking, but the Tiger seemed genuinely pleased to hear it.
“We hold the title of Divine General, but there’s no war to fight anymore. We all fought so hard to end the war, and we want people to be able to live their own lives. All the nameless heroes included. But…”
“But what?”
“We don’t know how long this peace will last. We can’t see what the Astrals are doing, so they could just invade out of nowhere some day. Us Divine Generals will keep watch, and some of us are preparing to pass that duty down to our families.”
Since her goal was to undermine the watchful eyes of the Divine Generals, Sankara stayed silent.
“But me, I can’t have any kids.”
“What?”
Sankara was so shocked that she turned around to see the Divine Tiger caressing the bark of a nearby tree with one hand, and rubbing her belly with the other.
“I messed up. The good thing was, I was able to save my friend from the primal beast’s attack. But I shouldn’t have tried to strike back so quickly. It was faster than me. I killed it, of course, but it cost me a lot. There was only so much the healers could do.”
“What are you going to do, then?”
“That’s what this tree is for.” The Divine Tiger gave the tree a solid knock, and smiled. “This peach tree may look frail, but it’s stood here for ages and isn’t going to die any time soon. My hammer is made from its wood, you know. And that’s why I’ve picked this one to make my babies.”
Sankara’s jaw dropped so far she was afraid it had dislocated.
“Are you going to fuck a tree?”
“Nyahaha! No, I’m not into that. I’m going to infuse this tree with all of my power, and every so many years, it’ll make a little copy of me.”
“You’ll be able to make a copy of yourself with magic?!”
“The Divine Generals and Buddhas have been putting our heads together trying to figure out how to do it, and this one looks like it’ll work.”
Sankara shut her gaping mouth and tried to digest what she had heard.
“Even if it does work, it would be awful if they were just copies of you.”
No one’s sense of self would be able to withstand having copies of themselves out in the world doing things they weren’t aware of.
“They won’t have my memories or my personality. All they’ll have is my flesh and blood. Well, kind of. They’ll have the flesh of peaches.”
“Sounds like a hard life you’ll be giving them…”
“But the most important thing is, I’ll be able to give them a life. That life may be tough, but they’ll be able to stand proud on their own two feet.”
From the stories Sankara heard in the months and years after their conversation, the Divine Tiger spent 5 days and 5 nights standing before the peach tree, gathering her energy until she finally delivered a punch that made the tree bear a single fruit. As the peach grew, it revealed a newborn baby curled up inside.
She had driven her entire heart and soul into the tree.
Sankara stared up at the sky and wondered what the Divine Tiger had gained from the fulfillment of such an exhausting task. At the same time, she felt ashamed that she had claimed the Divine Generals had easy jobs and easier lives.
All people had their wishes, and they would fight tooth and nail to see those wishes fulfilled. The Divine Tiger had struggled, and fought, and had apparently found what she wanted.
She resolved to fight just as hard for Svaha’s freedom. If it took five days for the Tiger to do it, she was ready to take ten days to punch down the walls herself if that’s what it took.
“And that’s the story of the Divine Tiger.”
Shukra knew that it wasn’t the whole story. They were Sankara’s memories, colored by her emotions, prejudices, and experiences.
“Huh, so that’s what she was like?”
“Did she really need to spend all five days standing around like that? Couldn’t she have taken some breaks? Some sleep would have done her good.”
The story had apparently not impressed Huang and Bai.
“Don’t be so disrespectful to your ancestor’s greatest achievement, gawr! If she hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t be here today! She almost died doing that, gawr!”
The twins paid no mind to Laolao’s scolding and seemed more bored than ever.
“The first Divine Tiger might agree with them more than you think,” Shukra giggled to Laolao.
“Gawr?”
“Instead of listening to boring old stories, she’d be happier enjoying the moment.”
“That’s not tr-” Laolao started to disagree, then looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. “You know, you might be right. She did think like that, gawr.”
“Right?”
It was, all-in-all, a pleasant chat in a quiet corner of the Skydome Temple.
A moment made possible by the hard-won peace earned by those who fought in the War so long ago.