Once in a land where villagers of all ages lived a young woman of the name As�mouto Nizlaun performed an act that saved all her people and more. As�mouto was a strange girl when all the other girls would play with their dolls As�mouto would make strange drawings in the mud. When all the other girls would study to learn about how to be a proper wife As�mouto would study about the world and its history. For being different As�mouto was bullied by the other girls. This lasted throughout all of her childhood and into adulthood when As�mouto's twenty-fourth birthday came around all the girls and boys from her village had left and started families of their own and her family had become unliked because As�mouto had no man for her to love. One day four months later her younger brother Hyiehu was sent to war because their kingdom had been invaded by samurai. Hyiehu was only sixteen years old As�mouto tried to intervene but was thrown to the ground for trying to say no for her brother. A year after Hyiehu left Asemouto and all the people of her village had been kidnapped by the samurai the women were forced to clean all the clothes of the soldiers and the men were forced to farm and lift things for the samurai. The samurai sent their tents up near the woman because they knew the women weren't meant for war. But As�mouto was unlike the other girls because she listened in on all the classes the boys had taken so she understood all the plans the samurai were planning for. A few days later As�mouto was speaking to her friend Nijum�i because she had a plan to escape and stop the samurai. Nijum�i protested As�mouto but didn't want As�mouto to go out to the world by herself. At night As�mouto and Nijum�i snuck out of their tents and went to a passageway to leave the samurai. As�mouto and Nijum�i got out of the passageway when the sun started to rise they raced away because they knew the samurai would be looking for them. As�mouto and Nijum�i reached a dead end where a stone sculpture of three dead men rested by it. Nijum�i turned around but As�mouto stopped her. Nijum�i looked at As�mouto confused because As�mouto was climbing to the top of the sculpture. Nijum�i asked As�mouto "As�mouto why do you climb to the top of the sculpture?" As�mouto had read about this sculpture it is called Dead Man's Staircase and at the top of it, there is a lever that will make the three men a staircase leading to a passageway. As�mouto answers to Nijum�i "For Nijum�i this is Dead Man's Staircase i shall pull the lever at the top and we will go down the staircase to the secret passageway." When As�mouto gets to the top she pulls the lever and the sculpture turns into stairs As�mouto and Nijum�i go down the stairs and threw the passageway at the end of the passageway they see a camp sight with their countries' flags waving threw the air the two girls race over to the camp sight to tell them of the samurai and who they kidnapped when As�mouto and Nijum�i get to the camp sight As�mouto is surprised to see Hyiehu is outside guarding the camp. Hyiehu lets them in to speak to the head chief Captin Iyneg�m the tell him of the kidnapping and As�mouto tells them of the samurai's plans Iyneg�m and his soldiers start to make plans but As�mouto interrupts them and tells them she has plans but the men just laugh at her. As�mouto starts to cry and runs to a tree to cry. As�mouto draws her weird figures in the mud and starts praying to them. Nijum�i walks over to As�mouto and asks her what the figures are. As�mouto tells Nijum�i what they are "The figures are the guardians of my family and my country and of the world." Nijum�i looks at As�mouto and then starts drawing her own figures to then pray to like As�mouto. As�mouto starts to cry for nobody had ever listened to her or believed her when she talked about the guardians. As�mouto then started praying again she prayed that her family would be okay and that the samurai army would be disbanded and ended. When As�mouto opened her eyes she did not see the tree but all of her ancestors and the guardians she had prayed to. The guardians blessed her with three gifts the guardians of her family blessed her with the gift of health for your family can heal you from the deepest of pain, the guardians of her country blessed her with the gift of strength for she is stronger standing with her people, and the guardian's of the world blessed her with the gift of knowledge for the world is still so mysterious. Nijum�i was standing up waiting for As�mouto to finish praying when As�mouto got up she told Nijum�i that they needed to go to the palace right now because the samurai would attack them. As�mouto and Nijum�i steal two horses and start riding As�mouto starts going but Nijum�i doesn't know how to ride so As�mouto tries to teach Nijum�i how to ride but Nijum�i can't do it As�mouto won't leave without her friend so she draws the guardians around the horse and prays to make Nijum�i be able to ride the horse suddenly Nijum�i starts riding the horse extremely fast and As�mouto hops on hers and they start to ride to the palace Nijum�i trys to find a map but As�mouto tells Nijum�i the way to go. In half a day the two women get to the palace and try to get to the front of the palace as fast as possible. When they get to the front of the palace they are stopped by the guards and not let into the palace As�mouto and Nijum�i try to tell the guards that they need to speak to the king but the guards don't let them through. Suddenly a girl comes out and orders the guards to let them in. As�mouto and Nijum�i go to the girl and introduce themselves the girl tells them she is Princess Amunsh�. As�mouto tells Amunsh� that the samurai are coming and she needs to tell the king her plan to ambush the samurai. When the girls get inside they see that the soldiers are fighting against the samurai and all the soldiers from the camp except Hyiehu and Iyneg�m and a few others As�mouto grabs a sword and races into the fight to stop the samurai Amunsh� and Nijum�i race up to the top of the palace and start dropping objects on the samurais heads Hyiehu sees As�mouto surrounded and races to help but when he gets there As�mouto has taken all of them out Iyneg�m is fighting off soldiers when he sees As�mouto fighting and races over there to tell her she can't Hyiehu goes in front of As�mouto and blocks her from Iyneg�m trying to kill her. As�mouto sees a samurai much larger than the others and is wearing a larger helmet he climbs the pillar to get to the king's room. As�mouto races to the top of the palace where Amunsh� and Nijum�i are dropping heavy things on the samurais As�mouto tells them to continue while she races into the king's room where she sees the samurai trying to get the king to bow down to him. He is about to kill the king when As�mouto goes in front of the king and knocks the sword out of the samurai's hand the samurai goes racing for his sword but As�mouto grabs his sword and throws it to the ground the samurai is furious and tries to kill As�mouto with his fists but As�mouto is to fast eventually As�mouto ducks under him and shoves him to the ground As�mouto then drops her sword on top of the samurais head to kill him for good. As�mouto goes into the hallway to see that Amunsh� and Nijum�i and the rest of the king's army have killed the rest of the samurais but Iyneg�m and Hyiehu were still fighting Hyiehu was corned by Iyneg�m and about to be killed when Amunsh� yelled "LET HIM GO NOW IYNEG�M!" Iyneg�m then let Hyiehu out of the corner when the king entered. The king took away Iyneg�ms helmet that was meant for the captain and walked over to As�mouto and told her "The guardians and I bless you as the captain of my army." As�mouto is shocked not only that she is captain of the king's army but also that the king believes in the guardians. Iyneg�m is furious that he is no longer captain and a woman is so he grabs his sword and races to kill As�mouto but Nijum�i grabs another sword and stabs Iyneg�m killing him to protect As�mouto. The King then lets As�mouto, Nijum�i, Hyiehu, and all the other soldiers go. But Amunsh� then asks her father if she can go with As�mouto and Nijum�i to live with them. Then the king says yes so that his daughter can explore more of her kingdom. As�mouto, Nijum�i, Hyiehu, and Amunsh� get to their village but, As�mmouto and Nijum�i are surprised to see that everyone who was kidnapped has returned to the village As�mouto asks her mother how they escaped and she told her that when the samurai left they raced back to the village to continue life. As�mouto told them about her and Nijum�is journey and Hyiehu told them about his life as a soldier Amunsh� went to live with Nijum�i and when Amunsh� became queen she started a school where any gender could learn anything and when As�mouto died of old age she became queen of the guardians and when Nijum�i, Amunsh�, and Hyiehu died the ruled beside her and As�moutos story has been told ever since.