Many centuries ago, when the lesser peoples still dwelt in the dark and ignorance, there lived amongst the human beings a samurai of no particular importance. One day his young and pretty wife informed him that she was with child. Elated, as this was to be his first child, the samurai went to the temple and made sacrafices to the appropriate gods and spirits of his family and master and in patience went about his life awaiting the child's birth.
On the day the child was born the samurai waited outside his wife's room while his village mid-wife and nurse and an old temple priest tended to his young and pretty wife. The samurai heard the birthing screams grew louder and knew that the childs arrival was nigh. Then came the child's cries and the samurai rose to his feet eager to look upon the child but instead was greeted with shrieks of horror and the mid-wife and nurse exploded from his wife's room and ran past him scraming in fear.
The samurai burst into the room. The priest lay dead upon the floor, his face twisted and aghast in terror. Yet when the samurai looked upon his wife, all seemed to be as it should. She lay peacefully resting from her labors and the child suckled from her breast.
The samurai lifted the child, anxious to look upon the face of his first born and found the source of the commotion for his child's face was so hideously ugly that he felt for a moment that he held a demon. His young and pretty wife looked up at him, apparently unaware of the child's countenance. The samurai began to tremble. So disconcerted by the child, the samurai drew his sword and slew his wife with a single stroke across her neck. He then fled his house with his newborn in his arms. Reaching a cliff high above the sea, he glanced at his child one last time and saw his first born was a son. Then raising his son high above his head, the samurai cast the new born child into the sea and, in the weariness of his new found insanity, followed; ending his life without his master's permission on the rock's along the shore.
And so the child sank beneath the water; but, neither the beasts below nor the waves above would abide his hideous face and unwilling to feast upon or sustain the child, the waves cast him upon the shore, where laying alone and rejected the babe began to wail and cry for warmth and hunger.
And the day slipped into night and still the child lay upon the pebbles and sand alone. The gulls wheeled and turned away from him. The crabs and other scavengers turned aside when they looked upon his face. The dawn came and went time and again and even the breeze refused to roll up the beach. And so it went on until one day the daughter of the great sea god happened upon the boy while she was disguised as a great oyster. Having no eyes to be offended with, she bumped into the babe and took pity on the lonely naked child. Cradling him in the softness of her innards, she took him to the bottom of the sea and determined that she would raise him there as her own.
And so for many years the hideous one endured in the muck and mud, growing and learning from his foster mother. His skin and his heart took upon them the cold carapice of the the oyster from which he was suckled and weened. His body grew strong as swam in the great depths.
The sea princess knew though that this child would one day need to return to his own kind and he would need to learn to act of his own kind and so before he grew to his full youth, she took him up upon the land and, first removing from him the shell she taught him to grow, deposited him at a temple dedicated to her father, the god of the sea. Charging the monks and priests with the child's safety and training, she left. And the hideous faced child was abandonned again.
The priests were befuddled for none could look upon their new charge and all cringed when he came into a room. The other students shrieked in fear and would flee his presence. Amongst the slaves, even the eunichs would refuse to teach him how to properly bathe or dress. The child would be banished to unoccupied sections of the temnple for fear that pilgrams woukd see him and flee and so things went for years. With each passing day, the isolated child grew more bitter and cold and the monks grew ever more fearful that the sea princess would return and see their failure and in her anger devour them.
And so it seemed that this would be how the child's life would pass until fate stepped in. A carpenter from the village was set a work in the temple. Seeing the child, the carpenter was frightened, but; instead of fleeing he set about and carved a wodden mask for the boy and gave it to the monks for the child. To the monk's dismay. the child refused to wear the mask for he had long since stopped caring for the feelings of others and grown a stony heart. The Monks would not be undone. They brought the mask to their fattest monk. And he was indeed great in size for his father had been a great whale and his mother a massive bear from an island in the north. He swept the child up in his arms and threw him to the ground. He knelt upon the chid's chest and pinned him with all his weight. Unable to see the hideous face of the child from beneath his massive belly, the monk demanded the child yield. The child refused and continued to struggle until the great weight of the monk became too painful to endure. Finally the child yielded and the wooden mask was fastened to the child's face.
And in this way, the hideous faced child's spirit was brought to order and thus began his education.At last there was a moment of peace in the child's life for his mind was sharp and his body strong from his years beneath the waves. He took to all the monks lessons, his only weakness being his skill at making the speech of humans. From the tiger monk he learned his skill of swords and and the monk declared him the greatest warrior he had ever trained. It was the great white cloud though, the monk from whom the child learned his prayers, who taught the hideous faced boy who wore the wooden mask his greatest skills; those of magic and the ears to hear the gods. Particular of these skills was the ability to project his cold and icy heart outwards, until his skin hardened as stone.
One day, while sparring with the swordmaster, the wooden mask, that concealed his hideous face, was dislodged and broke when it struck the floor. The master and all the students cried out in horror and fled. It was at this moment that the child realized that it was his own face that bore the guilt for his long suffered lonliness, and he stood unmasked and ashamed. He sought out the carpenter who had crafted his, but alas, the man had long since died and there were none who would allow themselves to be hired.
At last, the child with the hideous face wrapped his ugliness in rags and approached the monk who made armor on hiss knees and begged for his assistance. Together with the monk who worked silver, they crafted the hideous faced boy a mask and so his unbearable countenance was hidden once again.
Discovering, as he had, the source of all others' revulsion towards him, the child who wore the silver mask threw himself to the floor before the altar to the sea god. He prayed to the sea princess who had fostered him and bade she return him to her home in the muck where none had eyes and the world was thick and dark. And there he remained prostrate for many days until all the candles he had lit burnt out and the chamber before the altar grew chill with a winter air. But it was the sea god and not his daughter who at last came to the child. And the sea god spoke without revulsion, for there are beasts of great ugliness in the sea. And the sea god spoke without pity or compassion, for the sea is a cold and hard place which tolerates neither weakness or failure. The sea god told the boy to stand. He told the boy he was no longer a child but was now indeed a youth. And, he told the youth to train until he was a man and that the gods would send word to him. The youth who wore the mask to conceal his hideous face arose and did as the sea god told him.
The sea god, for his part, was cunning in this lie, for he knew not the fate of this human and resented that a mere samurai of no particular merit had thrust this grotesque being upon him. The sea god went to his brethern with his problem and it was the sun god, the sea god's elder brother and the greatest of the gods, who smiled for he held the solution and it was by his design that all in the life of the hideous youth in the silver mask had come to pass.
Some years later, on an evening after the youth had trained hard and knelt before the altar to pray for many hours, the sun god whispered in his ear.
And so the sun god spoke to the hideous youth for whom he had designs on. The sun god asked the man what was his most fervent desire, though the sun god knew the man's desire was for love, though the man himself knew not the words but spoke with his open heart. And the sun god told the man that someday he might indeed fullfil this dream but first he would be tested. He told the man to leave the temple and go out into the world where the human's dwelt and that he was to be their protector.
And for the first time in all his life the man knew hope and he did as he was told and went into the world. And the sun god smiled for he knew his plans were set further into motion.
And after a time the man in the mask traveled back to the only places he knew, along the coast towards the village where he was born. And there he met a band of theives who were raiding from village to village, and he defeated them easily. and so he traveled along the coast for many years. And the human beings thought him a ghost. A kindly spirit known only in whispers. Thought to be a dream, a hero in a silver mask whom none could defeat. And so it went until one morning when, while sleeping in a cave upon the cliffs, the hideous man behind the mask of silver was awakened by a strange and beautiful sound coming from the beach.
The sun god smiled down, for like the puppeteer, all was as he planned and controlled.
The man with the hideous face stole a look from the mouth of his cave but could see little. Scaling the face of the cliff carefully so as to not attract attention to himself, he crept through the boulders on the shore towards the source of the starnge and beautiful sound.
At last the source came into view and down along the beach he spied a small and pretty woman gathering crabs from traps in the shallows humming as she worked. The man was flooded with emotions that he did not understand. He was overcome with the memory of his mother who was the only human being who never screamed at the sight of him and yet there was more. There was something about her beauty that drew him. There was a softness in the melody she hummed that made him feel a warmth that he had never experienced and he knew without comprehending the experience that he would lay down his life for this human being as he would not other and he spent the day in simple observation of the tiny beautiful woman.
He saw her build a fire and cook the crabs and he became aware of the small shack that was built of drift wood at the edge of the sand, just before the trees. And from within the shack there came coughing and following in the shadows the hideous faced man in the mask peekied into a window and saw and old man and watched as the young and pretty woman fed the old man, her father, the crabs she cooked while she herself went without.
The man in the masked was so moved and he ran into the trees and he collected fruits and nuts. And that night he piled them outside the shack for the woman. Then he dove into the sea and gathered her fish and turtles and these too he left just outside the shack where they could not be missed. And the next morning the young and pretty woman found them and, though she was apprehensive, she was thankful to her invisible benefactor. And this went on for many days and sometime the man would draw pictures in the sand for her amusement and entertainment. One such morning the young and pretty woman giggled at the drawings and the man with the hideous face was moved for he had never heard such a sound and it was to his heart like the tinkling of rain to those who lived in the desert.
But the man's desire to hear this particular music almost became both his and the woman's undoing. So intent to bemuse her, the man spent so long one night drawing in the sand, that it was well past morning when he broke the surface with the fish and turtles he caught for the small and pretty woman. And so focused on her was the hideously ugly man behind the silver mask, that he didn't realize that pirates were following him. Using their own magician, the pirates were able to follow his gaze and find the shore and the small and pretty woman.
The pirates swept up the shore and grabbed up the small and pretty woman and then turned towards the village, but the man behind the silver mask, again felt something new, a beat within his cold and icy heart. The iciness melted and exploded with the fire of an anger he had never known. And so hot was he that he rolled up the shore with a speed greater than the strongest storms. Ever boastful and prideful the entire band of pirates dropped their victom and turned on the man. Never knowing fear the man whith the hideous face attempted to turn his skin to stone, but; was unable to for the presence of the small and pretty woman kept his heart melted and realizing this the man turned away from her, for he was being struck by the enemiy's arrows and blades. And once his heart again burnt cold he became as stone and defeated the enemy easily. For the first time ever, though, the man knew wounds and bled, and exhausted as he was, he collapsed on the beach. The small and pretty woman recognized the man as her savior, rushed forward and pulled him to a dry place on the beach. She cleaned and dressed his wounds and then ran to her father's side to check on him.
Once the woman saw that her father was unharmed she sred across the beach to the man behind the silver mask. Upon her return the man was just awakening and somewhat confused as it had been many, many years since he had experienced pain. When he saw the woman bent close and about to check his wounds, he flushed beneath his mask and quickly drew himself up to his knees.
The woman asked if he was her unseen benefactor, but as he had never heard a womans voice, he was overcome and confused. The emotion welled up inside him and unable to control it as he was, a laugh tore from his throat. Poor at words and unfamiliar with what he was experiencing he replied simply with a knod for his yes. The woman thanked him and began to express it with a simple embrace, but the man again was unsure of the experience and he jumped to his feet and backed away when the woman extended her arm and apologized. He turned and sped off for the caves from where he had first heard her. There he laid down and rested.
That night he returned to the sea to again collect food for the woman. As dawn broke he approached the shack and made to arrange his tribute outside the small and pretty woman's door, but; she had suspected him and she burst from through her door. The hideous faced man in the silver mask was indeed startled and the young woman again giggled. Still finding the sound of her giggle strange, the man chose to join her in it. And so the two passed the earliest part of the morning sun. The small and pretty woman told the man much about herself and while he offered little, he chose instead to revell in the sound of her voice. Until at last she fell silent and, after staring into one another's eyes, she at last leaned forward and kissed the man upon his mouth and scared though he was to accept the tough of another human being, the hideous faced man found himself returning her kiss and his heart melted, and sang. High above, the sun god smiled.
It was at that moment that above them a cloud began to twist and thicken. Bolts of lightning began to erupt from it and it darkened until it was a deeper blue than the sea. Moments later, with a roar, the cloud had finished transforming into a blue dragon and litning exploded from its mout and rained down upon the man behind the silver mask. pushing himself away from the woman he ordered her away for while his heart remained melted, the lightning scorched his flesh. This may have been the moment that the man had trained his life for. This was battle was the test of all his sword and magic skills and the air flashed and burned in the struggle between the two titans. The dragon admitted it had come with the pirates and that it had blown the pirate's ships to the shore and for it that the pirates had stolen the small and pretty woman. The dragon revealed that it had seen the hideous faced man when he was a child living in the muck on the sea floor and it goaded him that it would tear the mask from his face and reveal his repulsive countenance to the woman. Remembering how other humans had reacted to his face the man knew fear for the first time in his life and to the dragon's regret, the man began to battle all the harder.
And so the battle raged on for all of the day and through the night. The dragon tearing with tooth, shredding with claw, and searing with the lightning bolts it breathed. The hideous man in the silver mask did his best, but; never had he faced a foe of such immortal power and while he gave no quarter his very skin was being seared from his body. Ever closer to the shack edged the dragon, determined to uinnerve the man. And when at last they hung above the simple home of the small and pretty woman, the dragon again began to taunt the man with threats of unmasking him. But this proved to be the dragons undoing. Summoning all his magic and the last of his stony strength, the man gripped the dragon's lower jaw and tored it from its skull. Then the man behind the silver mask flung himself down the dragon's throat and struck the dragon from within when he reached its gullet. Then he went to the dragons heart and with his blade did he ruin it.
Soaked in his own blood as well as that of his foe, the man with the hideous face who wore the silver mask sliced his way through the dragon and spilled himself onto the pebbles and sand of the beach, just outside the door of the shack and much like the fish and turtles he so often left there he lay in a stupor approaching death.
But, death did not find him. Instead his nostrils were filled with an unfamiliar odor and he drifted to consciousness to find himself on a soft mattress and on the floor beside him sat a tray with a bowl of steaming broth. Uncertain of the bowl, for he had never had food cooked and served to him, he slowly picked up the bowl and sipped from it and so delighted he slurped greedily from the bowl.
Hearing the loud slurping, the small and pretty woman slowly, so as to not startle the man, entered the room with a bundle in her arms. It was only then that the man with the hideous face behind the silver mask realized that with the exception of many bandages, he was naked. Holding forth the bundle the woman offered it to the man. At first the man was confused for while he had seen cloths, he himself had never owned any and had instead always worn the bones of his enemies woven between the rags he had been wearing when he left the temple so many years ago. The woman smiled when she saw that the man had drank all the broth and, as he dressed, she offered him more. Reluctantly he accepted and, though he did not make well with the talk of the human beings, he inquired as to how long he had been there asleep. The woman recognized that the man had trouble speaking, and told him that he had slept there for many days and that she and her father had carried him in and cleaned and dressed his wounds. Once again she reached forward to embrace him, but this time something too powerful stirred within him, and already disconcerted, he gently but firmly pushed her away. Bowing respectfully he left the shack and returned to his cave. There he cut a swath of moss from the cave wall and made himself a blanket and fell into a deep slumber.
The small and pretty woman then acted. Following the man from a distance, she came to his cave and entered it quietly. She came upon the man where he lay beneath his moss and her heart was filled with warmth for this her saviour. Removing her robes she crawled beneath the blanket and gently woke the man and frightened as he was, for he had so little touching contact with human beings, the feeling that her ministrations gave him filled him with such joy, that his fears subsided as her loving washed over him. High above, the sun god looked down and saw all followed the script of his play and he smiled. The day and night had come and they lay together in his cave listening to a light rain drizzle down outside. The hideous man drifted in and out of sleep. His dreams tortured with visions of both heaven and hell and the threats of the dragon echoing fresh in his ears. He felt the softness of the small and pretty woman against him and was reassured and again allowed himself to drift off to sleep.
Some hours later, the man awoke in the darkness of his cave and immediately realized he was aloneand then, to his horror realized that he was not wearing his mask and that it was laying on the cave floor beside him. Jumping to his feet he ran from the cave and to the shack but to his dismay the shack was empty. Neither the small and pretty woman nor her father nor any of their belongings remained in the shack and the man knew he had been rejected. The shame he had not felt since he was a child and the pain he ahd not known since he had last been abandonned, flooded from his memory and back through his heart. The sun god staring down applauded and now the man with the hideous face heard the god and screamed into the sky. He swore his hatred on the god who had once promised him happiness and love. He cursed the sun god and named him a liar and leapt into the sky. He struck the veil of night with his sword over and over until he tore through it and then he passed into the heavens. There in the heavens he began a war as he slaughtered angels, saints, and heroes alike. All the while the sun god smiled and neither did he, nor would he allow any of his brethern, to offer the man any resistance.
And as the years passed, when few except the gods themselves remained in heaven, the sun god at last assembled an army. Down in the tunnel that lead to the pit, stood those who guarded against the gates of darkness and they were considered the harshest of all the heroes. The man with the hideous face saw this assemblage, and laughed mirthlessly. He raised his sword above his head and bellowed. As he approached the mouth of the pit a sound penetrated the heavens; a sound that the man remembered for it had drawn him from his cave so many years ago and staring down from the heavens he saw the small and pretty women but now she hummed as she prepared for her wedding. The hideous man wailed as if in pain and took his short sword to his face and cut around it then took his face from his head for he knew he needed it not to see the army in the pit. Now the faceless man dove into the pit and burning anew in pain and hatred began his war anew upon this last army of the gods.
More fierce foes the man had never faced for each hero was like a thousand dragons and each one felt as though it took months to defeat. And the tunnel grew slick with blood and sweat and the faceless man began to slide as he had but mortal feet. And weary from anguish and battle, he finally slipped and fell the length of eternity until he crashed upon the gates. Above him the forces of heaven swirled, readying to throw themselves upon the man.
Beneath his feet, demons rumbled from the other side of the gates.
And so the faceless one drew a deep breath believing it may be his last, cheerful that it might. And the last army of heaven dove down on him together as one single force. He who was once the hideous faced man but who was now faceless, drew upon his magics one last time and his foe was split into its many parts and the faceless one made war against each one. And the shrieks of his foes were great and their blood began to fill the pit above the gates. Below him all the host of hell purred and growled, eager to be unleashed and, when the last of the heroes of heaven were vanquished, the faceless one dipped his head into the blood and bathed in it! The maddness of bloodlust thunder through his veins and he raised his sword in defiance at the gods and the roar of his mouthless scream froze the spirits of the dead in terror and even the demons ceased for the moment to churn against the gates. The faceless one stooped to open the gates.
And the sun god smiled. Again the humming of the small and pretty woman tore through the veil of night and echoed through all heaven. And the sun god whispered in the faceless one's ear and told him that he would see her, though he had no eyes, for the sun god, too, had magics, and his magics could not be denied.
The faceless one tried to resist the sun god's magic and he struggled to open the gayes to the underworld and release the demons for such was the sorrow and hate within his heart. As the gates were barely opened and the demons began to pour through, the magics at last forced the faceless one to look towards the small and pretty woman and he saw her, tending to her family. He saw her husband and her children and the love she bore them all. But the magics turned the demons eyes on her as well and the demons hunger was ravenous. But the faceless one could feel their hunger and while his heart was stony and iced with pain, he could not allow her to be devoured. The faceless one turned upon the demons and thrust them back beyond the gates and brought the great doors closed once more and with a resolve he knew not he had, the faceless one sealed hell tighter than he had found them. Exhausted, he collapsed, wishing he were ruined. The sun god smiled and applauded and came into the faceless man's dream, there the sun god spoke. He told the faceless man that he had manipulated the faceless man's life since ha had been cast into the sea. He told the faceless man that heaven had need of a new army for spies had long ago began to let evil creep forth from hell. The sun god said he had made the faceless one as a blacksmith made a sword and that he knew the faceless man would never betray the doom he created for himself for to do so would chance the demons would escape and that they would descend upon the woman and her descendents for he had betrayed her as prescious to him, their jailer. The faceless one knodded in aquiesence for he saw that the sun god was right.
