Izanami

Lore
As Izanami gave birth to the god of Fire, his searing skin scorched her flesh. Fearful she would die, her husband, Izanagi, the man with whom she had created the world, held her close and wept. But it was too late. So grievous were the wounds, Izanami succumbed to death.

To rescue her soul, Izanagi traveled to Yomi, the realm of the darkness and death. Through the black maze he searched, until finally he came upon her, hidden amongst the shadows. He implored her to return with him. She could not, for she had already eaten the fruit that grew in Yomi. Izanagi insisted. He would not leave her in this place. He swore it.

Izanami agreed to take her husband to see the Gods of Yomi, to implore them to free her. Meanwhile, remain in darkness, she cautioned him, for the realm of the dead was not meant for the living to see. Taken by foreboding, Izanagi lit a torch and laid eyes upon his wife. No longer the graceful, elegant beauty she once was, Izanami now appeared a rotting corpse, hollow and decayed, maggot ridden and foul. Frightened and disgusted, Izanagi broke his vow and fled.

Through the bowels of Yomi he ran, pursued by the fiend that was once his wife. Escaping the cave entrance, Izanagi rolled a boulder in place to block it. Sealed within, betrayed and cursed, consumed with wrathful anger, Izanami swore, one thousand lives would she take each day. One thousand to pay for the broken promise he made.

Since then, Izanami has kept her vow, each day reaching beyond the grave to pull souls to Yomi. But war has broken the boulder that once kept her sealed away, and Izanami has emerged, cold and lifeless, but burning with a vengeance against all that lives. One thousand souls will not be enough.