“It has to be you,” said Saburo after the draw was over.
Oshizu nodded silently.
Without the pillar, castle walls will fall again and again. Without a castle, there won’t be a lord, the land will wither, and people will suffer. The pillar will help hold the structure together and lend fragile, delicate stones enough strength to endure. Because the pillar is a kami, a god.
“It is so much more than I was,” Oshizu said.
The woman descended into the pit and raised her face to see the sun. The first clods of warm earth gently kissed her cheeks. She was about to become a god.