Tonight, we will begin a new phase in the world of the shijintenchishyou. The silly, light-hearted escapades we have been seeing so far will still continue, but a serious overtone will begin to seep into the story. Always an absentminded person who sat back and let life sweep her along, Miaka will now begin to learn the meaning of responsibility. She has so far taken her role as miko as something of a game, something fun that would help make her frivolous wishes come true. However, as the turning of the pages continues, Miaka will discover just how trivial and how utterly frivolous her previous lifestyle had been. She will slowly realize just how fragile, and how precious, happiness and love truly are.

The title of the book that began it all is "Universe of the Four Gods". It is about a world divided into four countries, each protected by its own god. The four gods are:

Genbu, the black Tortoise of the North
- country: Hokkan
Seiryuu, the blue Dragon of the East
- country: Kutou
Suzaku, the red Peacock of the South
- country: Konan
Byakko, the white Tiger of the East
- country: Sairo

Each of the four gods has seven constellations in its own quadrant. Each of the total of 28 constellations has its human counterpart, the seven seishi of each god, with a character on each body naming the constellation he or she represents. The constellations and the gods in this story are not made up. In ancient star-lore, there really were four animal gods that made up the four directions (and four seasons) in the sky. They were the Red Bird of Summer, the White Tiger of Fall, the Black Tortoise of Winter, and the Blue Dragon of Spring. All the names of the seishi are derived directly from this old lore.

There will be more information on the seishi themselves later, but in the meantime, sit back and let the story in the pages sweep you away.