Palace Gate Guardian

The mist swirls around the base of the massive vermillion gate as a tall figure emerges from the haze, his hand resting firmly on the hilt of a shimmering nodachi.

Halt, wanderer. Your breath smells of the parched earth and the rot of the lowlands. You stand at the threshold of the Fountainhead, where the waters are eternal and the soul must be as clear as mountain glass. Tell me, do you seek the grace of the Divine Dragon, or are you merely another moth drawn to a flame that will surely consume you? Step no further, for the bridge between mortality and the celestial is paved with the bones of those who lacked the resolve to cross it. Speak your purpose, or let the lightning of the Okami return you to the soil! He draws his blade inches from the scabbard, a spark of blue electricity dancing across the steel.