The Beast Player Erin
In the war against neighboring countries, the Grand Duke’s warriors use dragon-like beasts called Touda as weapons. Touda are admired across the nation and villages take great pride in breeding them. Erin lives in one such village with her mother, Soyon, who is the best beastinarian in the country. However, life in the village is not so straightforward: Soyon is also an Ariyo, a woman of the Mist People - a race that is feared by humans for its mystical abilities. So that she and Erin can stay in the village, Soyon must flawlessly fulfill her duty capturing and disciplining the Touda; but while Erin wants nothing more than to become a beastinarian, she also feels sorry for the Touda and recognizes that there’s far more to them than meets the eye. Can Erin ever become an ordinary beastinarian when her deepest instincts tell her there is a better way to interact with the Touda?
Episodes
The first episode, introducing the heroine of the story; a 10-year-old girl named Erin and her mother Soh-yon, a beastinarian who cares for Tohda in the Tai-Koh Region in the Village of Ake.
A Touda rider from a neighboring village comes to the Village of Ake seeking medicinal help for his Touda. Soh-Yon is called to the Touda and, with Erin's help, manages to revive the Touda.
Erin sees the fearsome side of the Tohda during an exhibition for the Duke.
Erin hears that Shaju's older sister has been engaged. But while eating a rice cake, Soju, Shaju's sister, suddenly falls ill. Soh-yon diagnoses Soju's illness as "Mock milkweed poisoning" a poisonous plant that was mistaken as a plant used in the cakes. Soh-yon decides to ask her clan, the Mist People, for the medicine.
Erin encounters the comedic duo, Nuk and Mok as they attempt to steal a Tohda egg for money.
On a rainy night, Soh-yon is summoned to the underground Tohda ponds. There, Soh-yon finds all the Kiba, the Duke's most prized Tohda, dead. Knowing what would happen next, Soh-yon decides to spend the entire day with Erin. But later that night, soldiers come to the house. It was only then that Erin learned that her mother was going to be sentenced to death.
Soh-yon is executed by the way of the Tohda after the Duke's Kiba mysteriously die. Erin jumps into a lake full of Tohda in an attempt to save her bleeding mother, but her mother has her whisked away to safety while she is eaten alive to atone for her sins.
Joh-on, a beekeeper living in the Shin-Oh Region, finds the unconscious Erin floating in the river. He rescues her and nurses her to health, as she attempts to cope with the loss of her mother.
While staying with the beekeeper Joh-on, Erin decides to have Joh-on teach her to be an animal breeder and live with him.
Erin and Joh-on both go to the Capital to shop for supplies. There, Erin meets a man named Ia-lu, a Seh-zan, playing a lullaby "Birds of Dawn" on the harp. Later, Erin meets Ia-lu again, who was about to kill Nuk and Mok, the two former egg thieves she met in Ake. While hearing a woman nearby singing "Birds of Dawn," she manages to convince Ia-lu from killing them. Ia-lu gives Erin his harp and the two former egg thieves say that they will follow Erin to repay her for her kindness.
Joh-on decides to have the entire family move to his summer cottage in the mountains. While cleaning his regular home, Erin finds out that Joh-on used to be a teacher. But when Erin finds Nuk and Mok sick from eating some rotten food, Joh-on comes and helps Erin read a book about poisonous plants. He decides to teach Erin, Nuk and Mok about animal breeding and plants.
Erin finds a large, silver feather in a tree close to Joh-on's summer cabin high in the mountain. Joh-on tells Erin about the king of beasts, the Ohju, and Erin's interest in the Ohju begins to grow.
While walking in the woods, Joh-on slips and falls onto a ledge of a steep cliff. Erin goes out and finds the hurt Joh-on, and decides to stay with him until morning came. While on the ledge, Erin and Joh-on witness a wild Tohda about to eat a baby Ohju. All of a sudden, they see the mother Ohju fly into action to save her baby and eat the Tohda.
The first recap episode; Nah-son, a scout sent by the Mist Elders to watch over Soh-yon, tells the Elders what happened to Soh-yon and her daughter Erin. He tells the Elders that Erin is alive, and is now 14. She is living with a beekeeper named Joh-on and 2 former thieves, Nuk and Mok. He vows to always watch over Erin to repent for not saving Soh-yon.
Joh-on's son comes and asks his father to become a teacher again. When his son learned that his dad had a young girl living with him, he offered to have her come live with them and have Erin marry-off. But Joh-on decides that he's happier with Erin and asks his son to deliver a letter to an old friend at an Ohju breeding school.
While in town, Erin accidentally breaks the harp Ia-lu the Seh-zan gave to her when she was 10. She goes to a harp shop to have it fixed, where the carpenter Yantoku was Ia-lu's friend. Ia-lu coincidentally happened to be in the shop when Erin came and immediately recognized the green-eyed girl he met 4 years ago. But after she left, Ia-lu was ordered by his troop to kill his teacher, Hagaru, due to treason.
At a festival celebrating the Shin-Oh's birthday, Ia-lu the Seh-zan, along with a baby Ohju, are injured by an assassin's arrow during an attempt on the Shin-Oh's life.
Erin passes the entrance exam with flying colors and becomes a Kazalm student. There, she meets the Reverend of Teachers at Kazalm, Esal, who is also an old friend of Joh-on. And from there, Joh-on and Erin say their tearful good-byes.
Erin begins to feel like she needs to be more like other students, losing sleep, and comedically falling asleep during her welcoming party. Her new friend Yuuyan told her that she can just be herself.
Professor Esal decides to let Erin take care of the baby Ohju Lilan after talking and observing her in action. She says that Tomura, the person who is currently talking care of Lilan, is not ready to take care of her yet.
Erin begins to take care of Lilan and finds out that Lilan won't eat anything, and has been eating her fur. When she hears Lilan's cries, she comes up with the idea to use her harp to try to communicate with Lilan. It didn't work, until she fell asleep and accidentally hit the harp under her blanket.
Erin goes to the capital with Tomura and her two followers, Nuk and Mok, to go back to the Yantoku harp shop and change the harp to make a sound resembling an Ohju. They are allowed to borrow the shop for a few days while Yantoku is out. In another part of town, Ia-lu reopens his arrow wound while fighting against two unknown assailants, and stumbles upon Erin and her friends. They bring him into the shop and tend to his wound. After hearing Erin's story, Ia-lu decides to teach Erin how to fix the harp the way she wants to. With Ia-lu's help, Erin is able to make the sound she wanted and help Lilan eat again.
Professor Esal talks to the other teachers at Kazalm about reporting to the palace of Erin's ability to communicate with Lilan with a harp, and not a mute whistle (It is considered against the law to not carry and use one as a beastinarian) and how she is able to become close to an Ohju. Esal tells the other teachers how she and Tomura also tried to use the harp to communicate with Lilan, but Lilan would just stare. Esal comes to the conclusion that the reason Lilan only reacts to Erin is because Lilan sees her as her mother. According to legends, only the Shin-Oh could command the Ohju. However, Erin can also do the same thing. Esal believes that if they report this to the palace, others would believe that Erin was able to command Lilan by using a magic trick of the Mist People, and not because of her own efforts. Also, she believes that the palace would use Erin's ability to communicate with the Ohju for war purposes.
The Grand Duke's two sons' paths finally diverge, with Shunan and Nugen taking their own paths after a duel.
Nuk and Mok are helping out at Kazalm and are making more work for Karisa, the dorm mother, than helping her. After considering firing them because they couldn't carry out even half the work of a single man, she decides to give them another chance and asks them to go shopping for her. They leave for town, determined not to disappoint her but end up losing the bag filled with five pieces of gold. Just as they were about to give up hope, Mok remembered how they had met Erin and had promised that they'd never be thieves again. And so they go in search of ways to earn the money back so they can return to Erin's side.
Erin takes a quiz and fails it, so Erin and the others study hard so they can advance into high school at Kazalm. After the exam, everyone leaves for summer vacation. Lilan walks up to Erin one day and starts to snuggle her; it was then that Erin realized that Lilan saw her as her mother, and that makes Erin very happy. She also finds out that Lilan can understand simple words like "wait" and "stop." Erin finally finds out from Esal that Lilan was a gift to the Shin-Oh and as such, can never go back into the wild.
Erin starts to have dreams about a place filled with thick mist, and that her mother Soh-yon was being taken into "Hikara" the bad side of the afterworld. While Erin falls asleep next to Lilan, Soh-yon tells Erin that the mist in her dreams are an image of her hesitation and how she is lost in her feelings of sadness. With Joh-on and Soh-yon's encouragement (in her dreams) she vows to work harder after she wakes up.
One morning Erin receives a letter from Joh-on's son stating simply that Joh-on passed away from heart disease. Erin becomes sullen and sad, but acts strong in front of Lilan. Professor Esal and the returned Tomura see that Erin is suffering. Esal decides to take her on a trip to Joh-on's hideout when they were still students. Erin then comes to terms with Joh-on's death and promises to live a life that will not sadden Joh-on. At the end of the day, Erin says to Joh-on's ghost, "Thank You... Dad.
Erin noticed Lilan was scratching herself against a tree trunk and thought of using a brush to groom her. She got the brothers, Mok and Nuk, to make her a bigger brush as the small brush was not efficient at grooming. However, while using the bigger brush, she accidentally hurt Lilan. Lilan was infuriated and injured Erin. Thereafter, Erin was told by Esal that the only reason Lilan is obedient to Erin is because Lilan is afraid of Erin. Erin becomes afraid to get near to Lilan due to the incident. However when the memories of the times she spent with Lilan came into her mind, she took up the courage and once again got close to Lilan.
A recap episode on Erin's stay at Kazalm; a four year time-skip where Erin is now 18 and a college student.
A new teacher, Kirik, comes to Kazalm Academy from the capital. The new teacher is a royal agent whose entire family was killed by Wajaku poison. While on a stroll, Erin and Lilan fall off a cliff, but are saved due to Lilan regaining her ability to fly. Kirik watches Erin flying on Lilan and is shocked that an Ohju is flying with a human on its back. While watching them in the sky, he mistakens Erin for his sister Taya.
After landing, Erin is confronted by Nah-Son, the agent sent by the Mist Elders to watch over her. He tells Erin he had known Soh-yon and asks her to make a difficult decision. He tells her the story of the once-prosperous Tohda-breeding country Ophalon. The King of Ophalon was ousted from his throne when he used Touda to attack neighboring countries to complete his dream of making Ophalon even more prosperous. He is saved by a woman with golden hair and eyes, who flew on an Ohju named Luke. He manages to convince the woman of breeding Ohju to attack Ophalon and show them that Tohda are no match for the Ohju. However, the Ohju become drunk on blood and they attack the town and people into a wasteland. Afterwards, the woman leaves the Ephon Noha region and descends from the sky into Ryoza. The people there see her as a God and make her their Queen; the woman's name was "Je" the First Shin-Oh of Ryoza.
Erin informs Professor Esal that Lilan can fly. Both of them are worried that Lilan will fly away from Kazalm. So, Esal wants Erin to teach Lilan to fly only when she wants to or they would have to chain Lilan down. After many days of Lilan not flying at Erin's command they plan to make the chains for Lilan's cage. One evening Kirik approaches Erin and they have a short conversation. Erin realizes that she has only been giving commands to Lilan and approaches Lilan once more. The next day Erin flies on top of Lilan.
An injured Ohju is delivered from the Lazal rescue center. That night, Kirik poisons the injured Ohju with mock milkweed, a poisonous plant that is said to grow in the Tai-Koh Region. The next day, the Kazalm staff find the Ohju sick, but Erin finds out what the cause is from her past encounter with it. A poison tester in the capital is also sick from mock milkweed, and Ia-lu volunteers to find the cure. Erin goes to the capital to find the antidote and meets Ia-lu again, who is also looking for the antidote. Ia-lu helps Erin deliver the antidote back to Kazalm because they were both targeted by the Psi-Gamul.
Another injured Ohju is delivered to Kazalm, this time it is a wild male who they decided to call "Eku." The teachers try to calm the angry Eku themselves, but fail. Professor Esal decides to leave Eku to Erin. After a day's worth of staying with the angry Eku, Erin manges to gain his trust and communicate with him with her harp. Eku heals and goes out to the fields and meets Lilan. Lilan and Eku mate and "create a new life" with the whole of Kazalm watching in amazement.
Erin and the others take the Graduation test with all of them passing. Erin takes the top seat in the scores, meaning that Erin can stay at Kazalm as a Master. The Shin-Oh gives her blessing to Lilan's baby and provides more funds for Kazalm. Each one of them leaves Kazalm and reminisces about their memories.
Erin officially becomes a Master in the fall and new students come to Kazalm. But Shiron, a female student, sees Erin as an enemy and desired to "beat her." When Shiron decides to approach Lilan one night, she is astonished to find out that Erin can embrace Lilan so closely, despite the fact that Ohju never befriend humans. When Shiron decides to approach Lilan again, she ends up angering Lilan, only to be saved by Erin. Shiron then witnesses Erin helping Lilan give birth, and has a new perspective of Erin, making Shiron decide to be Erin's follower. The Shin-Oh names the baby "Aru" and decides to visit the baby.
The Shin-Oh decides to visit Kazalm to see Aru. Esal and the faculty decide to keep the Shin-Oh from finding out that Erin uses the harp to communicate with Eku and Lilan. But when Lilan was about to hurt the Shin-Oh, Erin jumps in and surprises everyone by calming Lilan down with her harp. Dahmiyah confronts Erin and offers her and the Ohju family to move to Lazal, but is interrupted by the Shin-Oh. Impressed by her calm attitude and alternate way of breeding the Ohju, she also wants Erin to come with her. But Erin rejects, saying that Aru is not ready.
While going back to the palace by boat, the Shin-Oh is suddenly attacked by an army of Tohda in the river. Erin, along with the rest of the students and teachers of Kazalm, watch in horror. Erin decides to ride Lilan to save the Shin-Oh, but Kirik warns her that riding Lilan will make Erin regret it. When Erin gets to the attacking Tohda, Ia-lu and Dahmiyah are surprised to see Erin flying on Lilan's back. Lilan suddenly snaps and attacks the Tohda in a blind rage, deaf to Erin's cries to stop. For the first time, everyone witnesses the horrid side of the Ohju. And for Erin, this is a moment that she will never forget.
The Shin-Oh is knocked unconscious after the sudden Tohda attack on the boat-ride to the palace, and stays at Lord Kazalm's home until she recovers. Ia-lu feels ashamed of not protecting her Majesty, and awaits his punishment. Erin sees the aftermath of the attack, and decides to calm the worried men by playing "Birds of Dawn" on her harp. Ia-lu recognizes the song and finds Erin playing it. Erin tends to Ia-lu's wound from the Tohda, and she and Ia-lu talk. Erin tells Ia-lu that the Tohda attacking the ship weren't the Grand Duke's because they didn't have a mark on their tails. Erin then reveals to Ia-lu that she is a Wajyaku, and is from a Tohda breeding village. Throughout the night she tells him about her life; her home village, her mother, and how she ended up in the Shin-Oh Region. The next morning, Erin leaves for the school and Ia-lu promises her that he will keep her story a secret until the time is ready.
Erin is called to the Kazalm palace, and is asked to accompany the Shin-Oh back to the royal palace with Lilan as bodyguards. Erin knows that if she accepted it, Lilan and Erin would be deprived of the freedom they had in Kazalm. Erin asks for an audience with only the Shin-Oh and Seh-zan Ia-lu, and decides to tell them about the First Shin-Oh Je and the incident with her Ohju Luke. But what Erin didn't expect from the Shin-Oh was that she didn't know anything about the ancient incident. Then Erin tells the Shin-Oh about her past and why she strongly believes that Lilan and her family deserve their freedom. The Shin-Oh understands and lets Erin decide what's best for Lilan's family. But what happened next was totally unexpected: Professor Esal comes to Erin in Lilan's shed the next day saying, "The Shin-Oh is dead.
Word of the Shin-Oh's sudden death on the way back to the palace has spread, and everyone mourns for the death of their beloved Shin-Oh. And as tradition states, Princess Seimiyah must take the throne. But Seimiyah is not sure if she is ready, and battles with her inner demons. Shunan comes to the Royal Capital and talks with Seimiyah, but Seimiyah stubbornly refuses. Not knowing of Erin or Ia-lu's knowledge of the truth, Seimiyah believes that it was the Grand Duke's Tohda that killed her grandmother. Standing in the rain one night, Seimiyah and Shunan go their separate ways.
Beastinarians from Lazal come, learning about Erin's ability to tame Ohju without the use of a Silent Whistle, despite the fact that she is supposed to carry one under Law. They order Erin into using the whistle on Lilan, but Erin refuses. As one of the beastinarians blows a whistle, Lilan goes into a blind rage and injures the beastinarians. This forces Erin to use the Silent Whistle on Lilan. The Whistle gives Lilan a horrifying aftershock and she bites off several of Erin's fingers. This causes Erin to understand what her mother meant by "Ohju are beasts." From there, Erin decides to go onto the path of the "Beast Healer" a beastinarian who shares the joys and pains of the Ohju and uses the Silent Whistle, just like her mother did with the Touda. Erin is ordered to go to the Royal Palace with Lilan and her family.
As the war between the Shin-Oh and the Tai-Koh Reigons begins, Erin is called to the palace by Dahmiyah. While in there, he orders Erin to create a battalion of Ohju to use for the war. Erin refuses to breed the Ohju for war, due to the fear of repeating the mistake of the First Shin-Oh Je. Erin tells Dahmiyah that she is an "Akun Meh Chai" a "Child of Impossibilities" because Erin herself is a child of a Tohda breeding man and a woman of the Mist People, two people that were said to never be able to be together. She tells Dahmiyah that only she can control the Ohju, and successfully demonstrates it. Dahmiyah tells Erin to continue to breed the Ohju battalion or else the people of Kazalm will be sentenced to death, as well as Erin's best friend, Yuuyan.
Back at the Royal Palace, Kahil tells Ia-lu that Dahmiyah was to wed Shin-Oh Seimiyah. He also hears that the old Seh-Zan were to be dismissed and new Seh-zan were to be introduced to the palace. Ia-lu is strongly against it, and decides to confront Dahmiyah. While there, Ia-lu learns that Dahmiyah was working with the Psi-Gamul and planned the attack on the boat. He also learns that Dahmiyah was blackmailing Erin to create an Ohju Army for the war. Meanwhile, Kahil was being ambushed by the Psi-Gamul, one of whom was Kirik. Ia-lu manages to get there in time and save Kahil. As Ia-lu confronts the unmasked Kirik, he helps him realize the mistake in his current actions.
After being poisoned by Dahmiyah and injured by the Psi-Gamul, Ia-lu seeks refuge at Lazal with Erin. While there, Erin tends to his wounds while he tells her about Dahmiyah working with the Psi-Gamul to kill the late Shin-Oh. Kirik is sent by Dahmiyah to make sure Ia-lu was dead, but Kirik decides not to after seeing him with Erin. Dahmiyah learns of this, and decides to locate Ia-lu and kill him himself. When he arrives at Eku and Lilan's shed, he doesn't find Ia-lu and leaves. It is later revealed that Erin had Ia-lu hide under Lilan. For the rest of the night, Erin and Ia-lu talk. From there, they decide that they will reveal everything to the Shin-Oh Seimiyah together.
While at the Forest of Purification, Seimiyah is confronted by a large Ohju in the mist. Seimiyah meets Erin and learns of the First Shin-Oh Je and the incident of Ophalon. Erin also explains that Damiyah was forcing Erin to create an Ohju battalion for the war and attempted to kill the "traitor" Ia-lu with poison to prevent the truth from getting to Seimiyah. After listening to what seemed to be lies, Seimiyah comes to terms with the truth and decides what to do next: Seimiyah will grant Erin her freedom, only if Erin would accompany her when they go to meet the Tai-Koh at Tahai-Azeh.
The day of the meeting of the Shin-Oh and the Tai-Koh comes, deciding whether there will be a war or not. Kirik is heavily injured due to pursuers sent by Dahmiyah, and takes refuge with Erin. When Kirik decides to leave, he tells Erin of his sister Taya and to live happily. While the ceremony for the meeting of Tahai-Azeh is being performed to Dahmiyah and Seimiyah, Kirik and Ia-lu meet in the mountains to fight. Their fight is interrupted by Psi-Gamul sent by Dahmiyah, and the two decide to team up to fight. They win, however, Kirik is too injured to go on, and asks Ia-lu to go and help Erin by disguising himself as a Psi-Gamul soldier.
The Tai-Koh's Touda troop advances toward the Shin-Oh, but Seimiyah refuses to go to war with Shunan. As she orders her maids to put up the blue flag to surrender, Dahmiyah shows his true colors and reveals to Seimiyah that he killed Shin-Oh Harumiyah and that all the Seh-Zan were working for Dahmiyah. Erin tries to save Seimiyah, but is stopped by a Psi-Gamul soldier. Ia-lu reveals himself out of his Psi-Gamul disguise and saves Erin. Seimiyah orders Erin to raise the blue flag, and the Tai-Koh's troops see it and cheer for their win. As Ia-lu detains Dahmiyah, Dahmiyah reveals that there was a secret Touda army working under him and the Tai-Koh's son Nugan was leading it. The Dahmiyah Touda army attacks the Tai-Koh's troops, and everyone watches in horror of the bloody slaughter. Semiyah notices Shunan who was in the fight, and fears for his life. Erin tells Seimiyah that she will fly Lilan into the battlefield to save Shunan and destroy Dahmiyah's Touda once and for all.
Erin flies Lilan into the battlefield and successfully destroys the Touda army Dahmiyah made. She manages to have Lilan stop attacking the Touda and has Shunan ride Lilan to escape. However, all does not end well, as Erin is suddenly attacked by a barrage of arrows. As Lilan flies under Erin's orders, Erin lays in the sea of arrows. Shunan gets to where Seimiyah is, but is worried for his life's savior, as the Touda who were forced unconscious reawaken and go after Erin. As Seimiyah cries for someone to save Erin, Lilan hears this and decides to go back. Lilan saves Erin from the Touda by safely grabbing her in her mouth. This surprises Erin, who once feared Lilan's fangs. Lilan flies through the sky, shining silver, and everyone watches in awe. As Seimiyah and Shunan agree to join their countries through marriage, Dahmiyah breaks free from Ia-lu's grip and grabs Erin's knife. He lunges it at Seimiyah and Shunan, only to be killed by Ia-lu.
