A Home Far Away

While on her way to high school with friends Tenma and Shimon, Akane Motomiya is drawn to an old well. Together with a sudden gust of wind, a mysterious shadow appears.

Princess Fuji, a girl of the Star clan, ancestral servants to the Priestess, accepts Akane and Shimon into her palace. There, Akane unintentionally unleashes the rampant power of the Dragon God.

Akane is safely reunited with the once missing Tenma. However, she is still unable to accept that she is the Priestess of the Dragon God. Amid all this, Akane falls over from a fever of unknown cause.

Major General, Tachibana-no-Tomomasa, pays a visit to Princess Fuji’s palace as an Imperial messenger, offering the Priestess of the Dragon God, Akane, an invitation to the Flower Purifying Ceremony.

Thoughts of Akram continue to sway Akane, though the quick response of the Eight Guardians in sensing her troubles further proves to her the existence of a mysterious bond connecting the Priestess and Eight Guardians to one another.

One night, at the Chief Councilor’s banquet, the Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Fujiwara-noTakamichi meets the dancer Shirin. All of the noblemen are intoxicated by her beautiful figure and graceful performance.

Upon hearing that white-winged vengeful spirits have appeared at the foot of Daimonji Mountain and threatened the people there, Yorihisa remembers the “Nue” he encountered in the mountains of his homeland in his youth.

Inori is a young boy who lives a tough life in the capital, working as an apprentice blacksmith while protecting his sick elder sister.

An incident occurs at Toji Temple involving a young monk who dies after touching an eight string harp. Akane visits the temple to see the harp and meets Eisen by the lakeside.

The one responsible for the curse of the eight string harp was Sefle, a demon boy. He reveals the secret to breaking the curse—one of the Eight Guardians must play the harp and give up his life.

A young girl calling herself the “Priestess of the Dragon God” appears?! Akane seeks her out, while Tenma frantically searches alone for his missing sister.

Ran, the girl with the Demon clan, places Akane under a curse that calls for her death the next evening. In order to have that curse dispelled, Akane travels to the home of Seimei, Yasuaki’s master.

Akane agrees to Akram’s offer in order to save Ran, and suddenly finds herself in the demon village. She enters a mysterious manor, where she discovers Ran unconscious.

Some time after the Eight Guardians wrest Akane and Ran from Akram’s clutches... The midday sun is pierced by a white rainbow—a sign of ill omen.

“The Four Sacred Talismans” can only be found when two of the Eight Guardians, representing the Heavens and the Earth, join their powers together.

Unable to find so much as a clue, Takamichi grows increasingly anxious in his search for the Talisman of the West while Tomomasa, lackadaisical as ever, only causes him further irritation.

One day, Akane and the Eight Guardians meet Maiden Akane, a young woman who looks exactly like Akane.

One day, Akane and the Eight Guardians meet Maiden Akane, a young woman who looks exactly like Akane.

Eisen is unexpectedly summoned by a former guardian while searching for his Talisman.

Shirin appears before Takamichi as he searches for the Talisman of the West. Takamichi sees the figure of his foster mother, whom Shirin is holding captive.

A drought brought on by a Demon curse continues to plague the capital. While the Eight Guardians discuss possible countermeasures, Inori anxiously feels that he must take action on his own.

Shortly after the appearance of the Talisman of the South, Tenma pays a visit to Ran, who feels frustrated by the fact that her brother continues to avoid talking about what happened to her.

Akram steals away not just Ran, but three of the Four Sacred Talismans that the Eight Guardians had collected.

The Demon clan, having tainted the Four Sacred Talismans, seeks now to use Ran’s power of the Black Dragon to rule over the capital.

The Demon clan unleashes the Four Gods, plunging the capital into utter chaos. Yasuaki ultimately breaks the seal upon Little Tengu in order to combat the onslaught of the Four Gods, controlled by the Demons.

Akane and the Eight Guardians head forth to their final battle, firm in their bond of faith. Akram, however, sacrifices his own body to summon the Black Dragon.