When fifteen-year-old Miaka accompanies her friend Yui to Tokyo's national library they find an ancient Chinese book, titled 'The Universe of the Four Gods'. The book transports the girls inside of it's world where Miaka is stranded alone after Yui is thrown back to Earth. Inside she finds herself in a fantasy version of ancient China, where she is rescued from slavers by the handsome Tamahome and becomes a ward of the emperor. The land of Konan (Southern Scarlet, as it is called) is threatened by invaders from Kotuo, and Miaka volunteers to be the long-awaited priestess of Suzaku whom will assemble the Seven Stars of Suzaku and save the world.