Konoha’s Guardians : Book II :
Prologue
In the beginning, humankind and the animal clans remained separate—both ignoring and accepting the others’ existence as they went through their daily lives. Interactions between the two different societies were minimal and never actively sought.
It was peaceful…
There was a balance…
Then Chaos came.
Chaos was a being of darkness, but it was not an orderly darkness, as the mortal realms know it, but one of disorder—or, no order. Of darkness that light cannot and will not reach. It was nothing and everything. It was nowhere and everywhere. Hatred and deceit filled it, malice and corruption fed it, and it came. Unknown and uninvited it arrived—and it found the mortal realm ripe for its destruction. Its first and favorite weapon of choice; deceit combined with confusion.
Humanity and the Animal Kindred suddenly found themselves painfully aware of each other as confusion arose. Friends were killed, homes destroyed—hatred bred.
Then Chaos made a misstep—Human and Animal both discovered the true identity of their foe. Chaos faced a new battle and was forced to set aside his favorite weapons as the two separate societies united into one. Of the thousands of Kindred, just over one hundred had the strength to form Guardian bonds with the strongest of their new human allies. The bonds were formed. Clan leaders binding themselves forever to a secondary existence, an existence bound to a human partner throughout time till they were killed. The strongest of these were those of myth and legend—Kitsune, Dragon, Unicorn, Gryphon, Phoenix, Tanooki, and many others. Clans that did not had the strength to form the Guardian bond signed contracts with human partners—both societies promising to honor a call for help from either side and so what became known as summoning contracts came into existence.
The battle raged on, and eventually, Chaos was sealed.
However, they knew it was not forever. Though the battle had been won, Chaos would eventually find a way to free itself into the mortal realm once more. A co-existence was agreed upon so that Chaos could never set the two societies against each other again.
Both sides had lost much in the war. Several of the Guardian and Bonded had been killed and the clan leaders forever lost. Others survived, and when their human partners passed away they faded from the mortal realm, yet lived— and waited for the time when the next human born to the mortal realm with enough strength was ready for them to bond with once more.
Chaos broke loose, but was discovered and caught quickly, but once again at a high cost; more Guardians had been lost, but still both Humankind and the Kindred prevailed. Once more the greater of the animal Kindred took up the watch and sounded the alert when Chaos tried to break free. He was stopped; humanity began to forget the truth of the bonds with the Kindred. Life continued, hope still shined, and Chaos waited.