A drawing of Mika's tiger form for the zodiac gods au

Wip setting, current thoughts are that Mika lived in one of the few villages where elemental cultivation was still done and who still looked to search for the gods, who had all but been lost. The village was attacked by one of the main imperialist nations - who had outlawed the use of elemental power beyond certain imperial high citizens. When fleeing the destruction, she took shelter under the tiger god temple - who awoke and brought her to her scape.

The tiger god reveals that she stayed silent to their prayers because she wanted a perfect hero, almost predestined, but the truth is no one came, and no one like that would ever exist in the first place. Realizing her mistake too late, she says that Mika will be the first mortal to who the gods will beg forgiveness for, and gives her the mission to release the other gods - alongside a tiger form with the powers of the tiger god, the bringer of flame. She was not given a choice, and must bear the burden of the other gods failures upon herself.