Show me the thing you call love.
From: Ayashi no Ceres (Watase Yuu)
Love can take on many forms. There is filial love between parents and children which forms a family. There is romantic love between equals which forms lifelong partnerships. And there is self-love, which provides the strength to face life's challenges. In the course of a lifetime, passion may give way to betrayal, and the desire to protect may become the need to control. What once was healthy and joyful devours itself and leaves behind only bitter rancor and the hunger for vengeance.
For such as Ceres, love in all its forms was an alien and unknown concept. A tennyo, (Eng: heavenly maiden) her surpassing beauty and phenomenal cosmic power were matched by an almost childlike innocence.
When a love-smitten mortal man stole and hid her heavenly mantle, (Jap: hagoromo) instead of striking him down, she acknowleged his gentle charms and became his mortal wife. Despite his mate's sacrifice, Ceres' husband was afflicted with insecurity and mistrust. His all-consuming love turned to jealousy, contempt, and finally a hatred that destroyed that which he sought to protect. Ceres' only experience of mortal love ended in a brutal betrayal.
Having lost both her innocence and her mortal life, Ceres' otherworldly power changed its gentle nature. Ceres began a
campaign of vengeance, directed at those she might otherwise have loved, her mortal descendants. That blood-stained lineage held both the object of Ceres' ire and her only hope of salvation, the twins Aki and Aya Mikage.
Posessing Aya's body enabled Ceres to carry out her annihilation of her children and her mate. However, the onetime-callow girl repeatedly put her own life on the line to save those dear to her: friends, lovers, and even finally her treacherous family. Caught as an unwilling spectator, Ceres battled the emotional
onslaught with harsh practicality. Even so, the trials of Aya offerred Ceres a renewed chance to experience the many forms of love, both good and bad. While pursuing her quest for karmic justice, Ceres judged mortal love once more and regained her joy, if not her maidenhood. Finding the strength to face and forgive the man who betrayed her became the new pattern of her life.