THIS IS STILL A WIP BUT I REALLY NEED TO SHARE MY OC AND THEIR STORY SO FAR. I LOVE HOW THIS AU IS COMING ALONE AND IM ALREADY PLANING FICS
MEET TORIN HAYASHIGAME | 林亀 虎麟
Species: Lion Turtle Yokai
Status: Deceased (over 400 years ago)
Former Title: Mystic Healer
Affiliation: The Hidden City Council, Healing & Spiritual Division
-Born in a coastal yokai settlement near Kyushu during the late Muromachi period (1300s-1500s).
-The Lion Turtle Yokai (Shishigame) were considered sacred mediators between the physical and spiritual realms embodiments of balance, healing, and reiki’s natural flow.
-They weren’t worshipped, but honored as living pillars of harmony, sought by other yokai for counsel, restoration, and elemental purification.
-Their rarity made them targets. Rival yokai and power-hungry mystics harvested their shells and spiritual cores for alchemy and spellcraft.
-The resulting exploitation drove their species to near extinction centuries before humans reached many yokai colonies.
-MIGRATION TO THE NEW WORLD-
-As human expansion and inter-yokai conflicts worsened, the Council of Eastern Clans orchestrated a massive migration, a spiritual and physical exodus westward.
-The goal was to find untouched lands and rebuild a sanctuary for all yokai.
-Among those leading the plan were the Hayashigame and Draxum families known for their expertise in alchemy, spiritual engineering, and mystic ecology.
-Torin and Haru were teenagers when their parents joined the founding expedition.
-They sailed vast oceans to reach the land that would one day be North America.
-Beneath what is now New York, they began constructing the first Hidden City, a vast network of sanctuaries, shrines, and markets.
-The yokai settlers made peaceful contact with Native American tribes, sharing knowledge of healing, elemental spirits, and land reverence.
-A period of mutual growth followed, a harmony between humans and yokai that would not last.
-THE CLOAKING WAR (1492–1700s)-
-The arrival of European colonizers, beginning with Columbus, shattered that balance.
-Disease and violence tore through both native and yokai populations. The yokai were branded as monsters, their lands seized and their allies slaughtered.
-Torin became a frontline healer, using his fire-aligned reiki to purge illness and regenerate wounded souls.
-The excessive use of that power left him scarred his body emitting a soft, orange mist that circled his neck like vaporous flame, a mark of spiritual overuse.
-Chronic pain followed him for the rest of his life, though he rarely let it show.
-The war raged for centuries, taking countless lives. Illness, colonization, and conflict erased entire yokai bloodlines.
-The Cloaking Ritual,an act of last resort, required immense life energy. Many Lion Turtle yokai, including Torin’s kin, sacrificed themselves to fuel it.
-Their deaths sealed the Hidden City forever, cloaking it from the human world.
-In their mid-twenties, Torin and (Haru) Draxum married, one of the last recorded celebrations before the Hidden City’s isolation.
-Torin stood half a head shorter than Haru, where Draxum’s energy was fierce and intellectual, Torin’s was steady and grounding.
-Their union became symbolic, alchemy and empathy, intellect and spirit, united to heal a fractured world.
Torin used to call Draxum by many names for example, “Haru” his real name. Reserved for moments of deep affection or when he’s scolding him with love. Hearing it from Torin always softens Draxum.
“Kumo” (くも / 雲) it means cloud. Torin used it teasingly because Draxum’s hair used to puff up when he was frustrated. It later became a sweet, private nickname between them.
“My genius” / “Sensei” Torin said it half-mockingly, half-admiringly. Draxum acted unamused but secretly loved it.
“Old goat” used later in life as a teasing jab, though with fondness.
“Dear heart” / “Koibito” (恋人) very rare, spoken softly, usually when Torin sensed Draxum was overworking or isolating himself.
Draxum was less cheesy, he used more poetic pet names such as “My flame” / “Honō” (炎) his main term of endearment. It represents Torin’s warmth, energy, and his species’ orange mystic aura.
“Tori” affectionate shorthand of his name; only Draxum uses it.
“Sunscale” poetic nickname Draxum once used in a love letter, referring to Torin’s peach-colored scales and bright presence.
“Little one” said teasingly, since Torin was half a head shorter. Torin pretended to hate it.
“My storm” used in the later years, when Torin’s mystic powers became volatile due to chronic pain, but Draxum still saw beauty in his strength.
-THE FALL AND THE BIRTH OF AMERICA-
-When the colonizers consolidated power and “America” was declared, the Hidden City fully retreated underground.
-Draxum, now a leading alchemist, was instructed by the Council to develop revival alchemy, the attempt to restore extinct yokai bloodlines through controlled mutation.
-It was meant to preserve diversity, but to Draxum it became a distraction from grief.
-Torin, unwilling to give up on coexistence, continued to venture above ground in disguise, saving enslaved and displaced souls, both human and yokai.
-He established hidden escape tunnels that intertwined with early Underground Railroad routes, using his healing fire to protect the dying and purify the sick. His empathy would be his own downfall.
-On one mission, Torin received word of a “peace offering” a supposed treaty from colonial leaders.
-Believing it could end the bloodshed, he went alone.It was a trap.He was ambushed and fatally wounded.
-Draxum arrived too late, managing only to ease his suffering in his final moments.
-Witnesses later claimed that his orange reiki mist lingered for days, visible even to human eyes, a sign that his soul had not fully left the realm.
-Torin’s death broke Draxum’s faith in humanity entirely.
-He retreated into isolation, obsessing over prophecies that spoke of the fall of yokai.
-Decades later, he discovered Torin’s personal journal, written in an ancient dialect long forgotten by most yokai, Within it was an unfinished prophecy words foretelling destruction rising from the surface world.
-Consumed by grief, Draxum misinterpreted it as a warning about humans, believing their kind would destroy the yokai.
-That mistake birthed the mutagen experiments his attempt to create beings who would protect yokai from humans. Which leads to the story he knows.
-Centuries later, he would realize the prophecy never spoke of humans at all, but of the Krang.
-PHYSICAL & PERSONAL DETAILS-
-Aura: Warm, steady, radiant described by Draxum as “a sunrise before dawn.”
-Notable feature: The “orange cloud” perpetual reiki mist from overexertion; fluctuates with emotion.
-Pain condition:Chronic mystic fatigue,internal reiki burns from centuries of healing work.
-Personality:Empathetic, disciplined, quietly witty. A pacifist who believed in change through compassion.
-Draxum still wears a ring fused with a shard of Torin’s shell(from a scute peal), a token from their wedding.
“If the world burns, let it burn for renewal,not vengeance.”
“Healing isn’t mercy. It’s rebellion.”
“Every scar I carry is proof I refused to stop trying.”
