Strangers In A Strange Land (Open)

[Neko]

Prologue


Dialogue in < > marks is Akashiman.

The forest seethed with hatred. Every branch, leaf, and trunk twitched in revulsion. The Oni that stalked the woods was offending nature itself, and nature made its offence heard.

“<I do not like this>,” said a nekojin, brave, foolish, and heartily watching the monster approach.

The Oni danced with pale light. Its head was glowing grey, its body white, and its limbs twilight. Branches, when they could, bowed out of its way. Foolish roots tried to trip it up, to guide it away, and to do anything that would halt its advance.

“<Why is it doing this>?” Neko replied, looking to his companion for answers.

The wisent shrugged. He had served the Namoki tribe for decades, but never witnessed more than a will-o-wisp in person. He knew the creature before them was dangerous, but not its name or its purpose.

“<I fear we must warn the town>.”

“<It would not dare advance against Underwood>!” Neko hissed.

Ever since the spirit warder Lady Kazumi (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?23988-Flower-Drum-Song-(Closed)&highlight=flower+drum+song) and the swordsman Lord Janelle (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?22856-Saiketsu-(Closed)&highlight=in+her+web+she%27s+caught) had travelled to Akashima, things had changed. Though Oni attacks were not unheard of, they typically occurred in the wilds. Only when man grew foolish, and strayed too far into the wilds, did he encounter the ancient enemy. For one so large, and powerful, to walk up to the great walls of the human city of Underwood was ominous.

“<Neko, my child. It has already clambered over the Comb Mountains. The understanding we have of the spirit world is virtually worthless now>.”

[Neko]

Strangers In A Strange Land (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5hrqd1sP0I)

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2497/mazukabg1.png


Open thread. Please contact me prior to joining.

[Musashi]

This isn't so bad.

Musashi had to be honest with himself, he had been worried. It wasn't shameful to admit to, however it did feel strange that the worry was there at all. Musashi had wanted this all of his life, trained to survive it, learned to live in it. Being sent out on this journey was a way for a warrior to grow past that which he could do at home. On top of that he was well aware that he was already better than many of the students that had left throughout the year. So it was none of that which he had difficulty coming to terms with, none of that was unsettling him.

He looked again at the tiny old woman who stood behind the stall, gesturing for the rest of the money in his hand that he owed with more than a little frustration. The dawning of realisation as he glanced at the, not inconsiderable, line of people before turning back, finishing the transaction, bowing and hurrying away. That was probably it. You live in a single culture for so long and no one gives you time to adjust.

The ship hadn't been any better. But it had rained. which ruined the rolls of paper he had poorly packed, it had been a long journey until Musashi found the small woodland settlement and a general store that could replace them, which he had: at a cost which seemed unreasonable, but the sky had cleared and the sun was shining. The small village, surrounded by trees was a marvel to see. In every direction there was foliage that either covered more foliage or a road to more trees.
Musashi decided to walk to the edge and then decide where to go from there. He had to pack his paper properly.

He sat on the grass, Feet under his ass and packed away the paper in the pack that he brought along with his two swords and the clothes on his back.

Finishing, he lay the pack to his right and let out a deep sigh. Looking back into the deep forest, the sun hitting it just right.

This isn't so bad.

[Lillith]

Lillith and Neko stood at the centre of Underwood. The main roads into and out of the sleepy town crossed over one another, and at the four compass points, tall lampposts lit the way. In the daytime, they remained nothing more than incongruent flickers, but at night, they danced with the ferocity of certainty.

“I am still surprised it is just stood there,” the geisha remarked.

Standing side by side, the duo were a strange sight. Though Akashima had become less isolationist of late, the elegant gold attire of Lillith, and the fur of the nekojin still drew much attention in the wilds of Corone.

“What do you think it’s doing, Lillith-sama?” Neko cocked his head to one side.

That question had weighed heavily on her mind for several hours. Now that she was here, standing a few hundred feet away from their quarry, she was no more certain of her answer. She folded her hands across her front, pressed against the obi, and shook her head.

“I fear I will never know what has happened to the ancestors.”

Ever since their mutual endeavour against the Greater Oni, the spirits had become wild, unpredictable, and stranger than ever. To see one at the heart of a Coronian settlement was unprecedented. Fortunately for Lillith, and for the citizens of Underwood, the deer was invisible to those not from her homeland.

“…I guess it is time.” Neko unsheathed a knife and spread his gangly legs, as if readying to sprint. When they broke their pause, the deer would almost certainly try to flee.

“We must drive it into the woods, way from these people’s homes.” She waved a hand along the street to her left. “We’ve lost enough to the Oni to be reckless here.” She kicked her geta from her feet, and put them into her satchel. “Are you ready N-“

Neko darted forwards before she could finish. Her red fringe bobed in his wake, and she hissed with frustration at his impatience. Before she could compose herself, the deer bolted, it’s white and black mane dancing with white fire as it became threatened.

“Let’s go together…,” she mumbled under her breath as she began her pursuit.

The onlookers would see a man-cat and a golden woman stream through the town, along its eastern road, her zeal apparently pursuing the cat’s rampant battle cries. When they broke free of the centre, and passed an idyllic embankment, Lillith caught a glimpse of someone resting in the sun.

“<We could use your help!>” she roared in Akashiman. She did not wait to see if he would. She saw only the tanned skin, katana’s hilt, and the sense of duty, and knew that the gods, once again, had sent an ally to aid them in their quest.

Neko’s battle cry and her cantor intonations echoed long after they crossed the tree line, strangers in a strange land, in pursuit of stranger things still.

[Musashi]

The sun was at least warm which was a benefit of lounging in it. Musashi was a few breaths from falling from meditation to a blissful state of unconsciousness when the commotion started. Shouts from the forest settlers sounded out, near the centre of town. With more and more crying out closer and closer to where he was sat. burned

So he was already looking in the right direction when an otherworldly beats broke into sight from the corner of nearby buildings and ran past, no more than about one hundred feet away.

The beast was magnificent in a near ethereal sort of way. It's black and white mane imitating flame as it ran, treating any onlooker simply as an obstacle in it's escape. Where any onlooker saw it as... Incredibly out of the ordinary. With only theoretical knowledge with anything like this, Musashi was ready to count himself out as one of the onlookers as the rampant beast was already making it's way back to the forest line and out of harms way. Whatever the beast was, it was leaving and any possible curiosity that the samurai may have had was quickly dried up in the sun.

The screaming man-cat was a shocker, filling the Akashiman with enough curiosity to follow it with his total attention. It's wild cries for battle echoing after it's rampaging journey into the foliage of the forest. Musashi was considering going after it, maybe watching what happened between the two... Oni? That didn't fit with what he knew. And what he knew, they tried to teach in school books, were they not bound behind the Mountains to the north?

Basically, I know as much as a child.

The thought was not comforting.

Musashi was still seated. Staring after the two beings which had just galloped past. Trying to make sense of what he had been exposed to for the first time when his hearing was bombarded with.

“<We could use your help!>”

His head snapped round on reflex, the weight of the voice was astonishing in it's intensity. The near physical weight of it drove Musashi to his feet as he watched the second of the party race off after the monochrome'd deer. The golden woman, running with enough skill and grace to show that she must have mastered it long ago to be able to cover as much ground that she did in such attire.

The golden gown reached the shade of the trees and promptly vanished, just as Mushashi stood and began sprinting for the forest himself. Not being one to deny a request of a maiden, nor to ignore such event as this.

When inside the Forest it quickly began to impede his own speeds. Roots seemed to have been pulled up in knots. vines hanging in front of him forced the wariot to unsheath the wakizashi, the smaller of his two weapons, to clear the way with a little extra applied force. The toughest way, felt to also be the correct one for reasons that Musashi could not yet comprehend.

The human stranger was up a head, and he made his way towards her, keeping as low and quiet as possible to not spook any creature that may be near. When he was close enough to whisper a quiet communication, he did so in Akashiman The same tongue that he had been called in.

"So what, exactly, is going on?"

[Lillith]

Lillith stooped on an arced vine, her geta expertly tilted to maintain her balance. Her golden attire had lost its sparkle when they had crossed the treeline, but in the gloom, her eyes danced with light instead.

“<I sorely wish I knew>,” she whispered. Her voice was sullen, full of promise, and obviously irritated. “I am sorry to snare you into the madness,” she added, to express that the irritation was not towards Musashi.

“<Kazumi-sama is a spirit warder>,” Neko said helpfully.

“<Now is not the time for introductions, Neko-san>,” Lillith chided. She turned her head to face the swordsman, and pulled a weak smile. “<Forgive his enthusiasm, he is protective of me>.” She wanted to add’ to a fault’, but the semantics of Akashima would not have put the point across in the correct tone.

The forest teemed with the intensity of the unknown. In the brief silence that followed, Lillith produced a red-bound tanto, which hummed with a radix of ancient power, and unsheathed its miniature blade. It glowed when she rotated it expertly, a vermillion light that hinted at the demon contained in the metal.

“<It is the Kami of the Harvest,” she said softly. Her menacing, belittling tone faded. She gestured with a wave for Musashi to approach, and as he crept stealthily alongside the spirit-warder, she reached out with her chi to test what sort of man they had entangled in another maddening adventure.

“<Why is it here>?” he asked, recognising the need to share as much as give in this exchange.

“<It should not be here, but something, or perhaps someone, has driven it far from home>.” It was all she could surmise. She had theories, by all means, but the Kami could have travelled leagues before she finally has to discuss them in full. “<Look>!” she bolted her blade’s tip forwards, and tensed every muscle in her body.

Neko’s fur bristled, and his tail whipped cat-like and prehensile. He barely contained his reflexes, and dropped on all fours out of sight. Ahead, in a small clearing, the Kami of the Harvest appeared from behind an ancient, withered, and indomitable oak. It glowed in its eerie manner, and set the bark of the forest’s kings ablaze with purity and obscurity. For every wave of light that rippled from its ethereal body, roils of darkness were sure to follow.

“<I…>,” Musashi mumbled. Though composed, meditative, and knowledgeful of these manners, he, and many thousands like him, seldom saw the gods in the flesh. They remained in the north, in the mists of the Jagged Peaks and the bewildering heights of the Comb Cliffs. “<What must I do>?” he pressed. His breath began to steam as the day’s heat left them behind.

Lillith became suddenly aware that the forest was old. She knew it was old, but here, around the Kami, it was ancestral. The vines were laden with moss, and every branch could crumble through decay, rot, and damp. She looked at the clearing, careful not to move too quickly, or stray from the Kami, and picked out holly bushes and hawthorn.

“<You, firstly, must tell me your name>,” Lillith did not look at the swordsman when she asked, throwing the etiquette of her homeland to the winds. She flipped her tanto into a reverse grip, and pressed the fingers of her free hand against the vine. She leant forwards, mimicking Neko’s readiness to launch into a sprint.

Musashi smiled, realising his faux pau. “<My name is Mitsura-san>,” he said with self-knowing pride.

“Mitsura is your family name,” Lillith turned at last, smiled wickedly, and made her true origins known. “Forgive me, but pleasantries aside, Akashiman is still buried in my mind after a long sleep.” The allusion seemed odd, but he would find its merits in the coming hours. “I am Lillith, this is Neko, and what we can do…” she trailed off.

“Musashi,” he smiled. “My name is Musashi.”

“…Musashi is track this beast, find out why it is here and then do what we must…”

She turned. She leapt off the vine, and hoping Musashi would follow, the duo continued like shadows in pursuit of their quarry. As soon as they did, the Kami pricked its ears, screamed an idyllic yet tormenting sound, and bolted. Once again, strangers in strange lands found themselves running full speed into the unknown, wind in their hair, feet splashing through mud and mulch.

[Musashi]

Lillith-sama was something unexpected Already a world that he only half knew was forcing it's way into his own reality. The thoughts in Musashi's head were trying desperately to keep up and so far, they were. No doubt his theoretical knowledge of the subject matter was acting as a buffer that allowed him to keep his pace through the trees.

The way Lilith had spoken about the beast before they moved on had sent a shiver through his spine. The uncertainty of it all and a detached chill that had rolled from her tongue felt almost unnatural. The warrior still had many questions and much doubt that still persisted as they drove deeper into the ancient land of green. His look of calm however hid more than he would allow to let on.

Talk of Kami and spirit-warders. Disbelief pushed words from his mouth as they ran side by side. Lore that he knew, that he had known for his life was struggling to remain relevant:

"Surely a fox spirit should have came before, are they not messengers?"

He looked towards Lilith-Sama as they traveled after the beast. The gold dress beaming in the stray rays of sun that pierced the canopy. The edges of Musashi's hakama had picked up a fresh coating of damp moss. Watching where his feet were hiting the ground, The samurai heard the vague response.

"The Kami of the harvest is roaming a forest, there is little logic in what is happening." She answered with a bite. The uncertainty of the situation was an important point in the mystery. And for such a being to be roaming here was not right. Harvest meant fully prosperous. Something which was not this forest Musashi decided. A thick branch snapping easily as he leaped from it.

Was it his imagination,

or was it getting worse?

Not knowing enough to be comfortable charging straight ahead, even with one obviously greatly experienced, Musashi picked up his own pace and over took the Woman, stopping when he hit the ground. He stood deathly still as the footsteps of Lilith and Neko halted beside him, this scenario was too familiar for him. But the voice at his ear was not enough to change his mind.

"We are being led."

The samurai couldn't tell if they were being led with benevolent or malicious intent, or if spirits had intent at all. It was all a very new experience.

Just a head the white and black beast had halted, another clearing had appeared, too convenient for chance, too similar to the last to be possible. Glancing towards the strange duo that had been hunting the beast, moving to the rest of the trees that had them surrounded. and realised that if they got turned around, it would be incredibly difficult to backtrack the way you came.

Suddenly the hilt of his wakizashi was more comforting as his eyes scanned the tree lines. Uncertain of what the true motives of the situation were.

"Hunting the spirit is not the way to ascertain the beasts motives if it being forced out so far."

[Lillith]

“Musashi, I am the fox spirit.”

Lillith’s words echoed through the forest, stagnating in the air like prophecies carved into stone. For a brief moment, the samurai assumed she was plying ‘humour’ to alleviate the tension. His hesitation did not last.

“I do not believe you.” He remained vigilantly with his blade in his hand, ready to draw it at a moment’s notice, against friend come enemy, or enemy trying to be friends. “The kami are not…human.”

Lillith rolled her eyes. She pulled the hair from her forehead, concentrated, and slipped a hand mirror from beneath her obi with her free hand.

“Kazumi-sama is anointed,” Neko explained.

Musashi had heard of the word before, though long ago, when youth was his essence, and time free and jubilant. He had never considered such a thing possible. It meant transcendence; it meant a human had served the Kami enough to take on a spirit’s form, power, and responsibilities.

“I dare not think of the things you’ve done to deserve such a boon.”

Lillith approached Musashi in an unthreatening manner, and showed him her reflection. Sure enough, dancing in the distorted, well-used glass was a human with a fox head. Its animalistic charm somehow eased Musashi’s worries, though he had to look between Lillith and the other-Lillith several times to shake his amazement.

“I don’t know if it’s a boon yet, I’m afraid,” she sighed. She put the mirror away. She pointed ahead. “If the kami are leading messengers astray as you say, then whatever power I have is worthless.” She dropped her hand to her side.

Neko, tired of rhetoric, unsheathed his blades.

“Let us stop hunting it,” he said, glaring at the samurai, “and confront it directly.” He did not wait for consent from his mentor. Before Lillith could interject, he bounded away on his own volition, a tumbling mass of obsidian plates and haughty pride.

“Neko!” Lillith bellowed. She cursed in three languages, gave Musashi a pleading look, and darted after him. “Do not touch its fur!” she warned. Now Musashi had instilled an idea in her head, she realised this was no mere kami. This was the Kami of the winter, and to touch it, was to invite hibernation unending.

[Musashi]

A Kitsune, here, with him. One that had once been human no less.

Myth told how the kitsune tricksters would lead travellers astray some times to their demise. Other tales. Were different. Musashi pushed the whole issue out of his head. For now there were much larger issues to get through. The kami of winter no less, and a forest who's grip he was unsure they could escape with any ease.

But Neko had bounded off, Somehow convinced that charing forward would give a different effect from charging forward. Lillith chased after her... pet seemed cruel and Musashi wasn't truely aware of whatever relationship they had, be it protector or protégée. Musashi lept forward also. His heightened reflexes helping marginally as he sidestepped the clearing. Only just hearing the spirit's call:

"Do not touch its fur!"

For whatever reason she had called it out; Musashi felt the seriousness of it as they all split off. Keeping close to the clearing to avoid getting trapped he moved, silently and as quickly as possible. As the Kami turned again to travel through the forest, Musashi Crashed out from the circle of greenery in a massive bound, gaining just enough distance on the spirit to halt its escape. Lillith's warning echoing in his head.

His palm filled with the wooden hilt of the katana at his waist. He drew, still mid jump, sliced and replaced the blade into the rosewood scabbard.

The warrior hit the ground, in perfect form and silence filled the clearing.

The blade had passed barely millimeters from the beast's charging throat, forcing it to a stop. Musashi's spinning eyes stared down the beast, ready to draw again as Neko came in closer who's limited experience with any spirit which was not a simple wisp caused him to falter and mutter...

"I may have acted out of turn."

Unsure what a simple steel blade would do to the spirit of the harvest, Musashi stood still and ready. Curiosity driving an examination of the beast who's fur seemed to have a life of it's own.

Lillith approached, the only one with any real understanding of what could be going on and the danger of such. A voice echoed throughout the clearing. Laced with nobility and power.

Kitsune, Neko, Warrior. To have caught me so quickly is truly a good omen. A task I beg of you.

The sound resounded from everywhere and still somehow you knew it came from the beast. The request shocked Musashi, who turned his gaze to Lillith. The spirit being would be able to better communicate with the quarry.

"What does he want?"

Help.

[Lillith]

Neko fought to keep his anger back, but soon saw sense in Musashi’s actions. He sighed, as much as a nekojin could, and stood at ease between spirit-warder and samurai. He held his blades unthreateningly, uncertain as to wherever he would need them. He realised just how foolish he had been in acting so instinctively. Despite all his providence with the kanji-arts, what could he have done?

“Forgive me, Lillith-sama,” he said meekly.

“Not now, Neko. You did what you thought best, save apologies and semantics for later.”

Help.

The kami repeated its plea, and when it spoke a second time, Lillith could not ignore the notion again. She had tried to wrestle with all the possibilities, but fell silent.

“<Help you how, kami-san>?” she enquired. Though the creature’s voice sounded Tradespeak in her mind, she knew it would be disastrous to speak to it directly in anything other than its mother tongue.

Forest. Dying.

It bowed its head slowly, brandishing its horns like a withering crown. It began to graze on the few blades of grass left living in the heart of darkness that was Underwood. At that moment, Lillith realised something about the clearing. It was not that they were walking in a circle, tricked, deceived, and misappropriated. They saw the forest was rejecting them.

“Oh no…,” she mouthed.

Neko, concerned as ever and overly so, approached Lillith’s side. He held out his paw gingerly, and brushed it against her shoulder with a smile of compassion.

“Lillith-sama?” His eyes sparkled.

Musashi watched silently, stoic and determined, grimacing and succour at the events unfolding. His trust still not yet fully placed with the Kitsune, nor its accomplice, but now he suspected the Kami was not all it appeared.

“The Kami of Winter is, according to myth, the Shepard of the seasons. He ebbs and flows as the seasons change, and his power allows the forests of Corone time to hibernate, to heal, and to sleep.”

Neko nodded. He knew the tale well, even though he had never seen the Kami depicted in texts and paintings.

Power changes. People fade. Kami die.

Lillith narrowed her gaze. Once again, the creature’s words upended her train of thought. She had assumed a mistake, a cruel trick. With its words, she came to understood fully what the Kami was doing so far from Akashima. It sent a shiver down her spine. Their defeat of the Greater Oni had changed the hierarchy of the gods, and a new Kami had risen in the Kami of Winter’s place.

“The Kami is dying…,” she said to Neko, and then turned to Musashi. “It is no mistake you are with us Musashi. We must find the heart of this wood, and let the Kami be reborn anew as the spirit of Underwood.”

Lillith’s eyes stopped sparkling. Neko’s fur stopped bristling. Though Musashi might not understand the implications, the spirit-warders did. To save the Kami, and Underwood, they would have to kill it, and only a samurai could perform such a task.

"You must be a kubikiri asa*, Musashi-san," Neko explained.


*executioner.

[Musashi]

The wind picked up for a moment, spinning dead leaves into the damp air. When it passed, the clearing felt all the more still for it. The weight of it pressed down on top of Musashi's shoulders. Even the dead tree in the centre seemed to be holding it's breath while Musashi considered his situation and after what felt like an age or a single moment he had done so.

His eye's moved from Neko, to Lillith and came to rest on the former Kami of winter. Whatever the scenario he was in for now Musashi was ready to invest his trust in the strangers who had been forth-coming with him the whole time. Had called for his aid as they passed. Ready to give it then, Musashi was ready still. Despite his doubts.

The traveller relaxed a little and bowed deeply to the trio.

<"Then I would be honoured to aid in the changing of spirits.">

The heart of the forest was not this place, that was clear as they had already passed by it already, standing out only in how little filled the space. The Kami had been trying to lead them there, the forest moving against the change. Like all living things do. The Kami of winter had no true power over the forest on any other day, now it was weak to the point of being snuffed from existence. A truely terrifying prospect for a near immortal being.

Turning to the Stag Kami before him he asked how the four of them would reach the centre of the forest.

The being of two worlds will be able to guide us. A unique perspective gifted by her station.

The statement took them all by surprise as both Samurai and Neko looked towards Lillith.

It seemed they would all have a part to play in this after all.

[Lillith]

“Don’t be silly,” Lillith chuckled. She pointed astutely at Neko’s forehead. The nekojin frowned, as best a cat could.

“Me, Lillith-sama?” he asked, taken by surprise. His heart had skipped at a beat at the prospect of the Kami requesting aid of his mistress, but his hope quashed.

“I was born on Althanas, and am entirely a part of this world.”

“What do you mean; this creature is…a kami?” Musashi asked, though his tone perhaps not as inquisitive as he had hoped. Lillith shot him a glare. “Sorry, this nekojin,” he corrected, even his astute knowledge of his homeland failed him when it came to the secretive spirit warders.

If she sees promise, follow its heart.

They all looked at the Kami, mutual expressions of doubt and intrigue on each of their faces. Lillith pouted.

“I remember the Kami used be less oblique,” she moaned. She pointed ahead, and Neko turned to look.

“What is it?” he asked.

“That’s where we’ve been leaving the clearing each time, and each time we’ve ended up right back here,” she exclaimed, a little exasperated by the seemingly endless amounts of walking they had endured. By now, she cursed her geta, ill-fitting footwear for anything besides court. Even barefoot, she could feel their presence, wearing her down over the years she had spent courting, and not killing in Akashima’s name,

Neko examined the natural portal into the darkness. He sniffed the air. He skittered ahead, skirting around the kami, careful not to touch it and end their adventure there and then. He stopped at the verge, and reached out a tentative paw.

“What is he, if not a kami?” Musashi asked Lillith. He approached her dutifully.

“Kami-touched,” Lillith said flatly. She bit her lip. “He died, fighting the Greater Oni called the Crane.” She did not often recall that day, and to remember it vividly for the benefit of another was painful beyond admission. It had been a dark day, lit up only by the presence of Sir Jehan, and his Olbina knights.

This was a strange concept to Musashi. He rested his hand on the hilt of his katana, its cold touch a poultice on his aching head.

“If he died…”

“He’s not a ghost,” she chuckled, suddenly released from her remorse. “Often, nekojin who have not yet fulfilled their destiny, or died too righteously in its name are given a second chance.”

Neko got a second chance. It was in that moment Lillith Kazumi realised what for. Neko was to guide them to the heart of the woods. Neko was set to save the kami from their past mistakes. If the nekojin was the party eyes, and Lillith its heart, then Musashi, in the spirit of three, was its strength. She did not wait for further questions, as Neko pounced off, the kami in frivolled pursuit.

“Let us go,” she said over her shoulder, auburn hair catching the last light, golden threads dancing with spider silk glow. She vanished into the darkness and the unknown.

[Musashi]

Musashi's face reddened slightly despite the gentle chill that was creeping through the forest and the pacing of his heart returning to normal after the latest mad dash. The three of them had been following Neko for near twenty minutes and very little words spoken. Returning to the clearing three times. Each time with a longer pause between all four returning. A sigh of quiet disappointment sounding out from each of them as the familiar tree burst back into full glorious view.

Again they charged after Neko, as the furry being bound down natural clearings, stopping every now and again to decide on a direction to take. On the third round, Musashi noticed the being glance towards an option. Judge it. Only to bound down a path that seemed more convenient. Soon enough, they had arrived once more in the clearing. Time wearing on, the light from the sky soon to get ready it's drop into twilight. They were running out of time. And Musashi was ready to take a dive.
Leaving Lillith and the Kami near where they had arrived in the clearing, he paced towards Neko, The strange feline examining the treeline around them. His moral weakening.

Musashi Padded across, leaving the Kami and Kitsune behind. He was still confident and the tall man held himself as he always would.

As he approached, Musashi got his first proper look at Neko who had turned his head to greet whomever was approaching with a nod, before returning such attention back to the line of trees that seemed dedicated to blocking their path. The warrior stood beside him, contemplating the silence of the forest wondering if he would be the first to break the silence growing between them.

"Storm's coming Maybe we don't have another try."

The black furred beast turned, eyes staring towards the Akashiman worry showing through the cat shaped face. Forcing some of the worry onto Musashi who took it gladly. Sharing the burden was a strong look on life and helped many achieve greatness. As the warrior's hand gripped Neko's shoulder, the tension in the being's body started to ease slightly.

"One try is all anyone needs. You are hesitating on the path, Why?"

Neko looked down. Unsure of how to describe it.

"The path. It changes. And when it does not... I fear it would be too much for you."

The worry in Neko's voice resonated with the warrior's own, but the young spirit warder was trying to coddle Musashi, or protect his friend. Unintentionally or not.

"Follow the path you know to be right. And trust that we chosen can follow."

Musashi turned and beckoned the other two over. They would all go at once, the signal given by Neko. Stay close or they would become lost. A fate akin to a slow death. The gravity of the situation was not unknown to them. Soon they were racing down the woodened path. Neko dancing through the branches with feline ease. The quartet ran for longer than before. Sweat growing on Musashi's brow but his legs continued to pound against the ground. Each of the group driving to the heart of the woods.

[Lillith]

All at once, the party careened to a chaotic halt. They felt at one with each other, and the woods, and the skies. Something ahead wished them to stop. Lillith felt it strongest, and attested its presence with a cough and a splutter. Something dredged the air from her lungs. Neko felt it next, as it turned from an aura to a wave. He balked, buckled at the knee, and thudded the soft earth with a clenched claw.

“<Kazumi-sama!>” the nekojin cried. His fur bristled. His eyes glistened. His nose dried.

“Stay strong, Neko, it is but a murmur!”

Musashi, somewhat bemused, teetered between concern and bewilderment. He stood betwixt the beast and the belle, uncertain as to what to do, and what was happening. He turned his attentions then to the kami, who stood cocksure and proud ahead of them. He was not certain how long they had travelled as a unit, but through the trees and the vine creepers, there was a light.

“The…sun?” the samurai asked. His voice was sullen, dim, and lifeless. Not through fault of his own, but the strange environment. He clenched his hand around the hilt of his blade, ready to produce its edge to the air in a ritualistic manner.

The pulse waned, leaving the occupants of the clearing drained, but otherwise unharmed. Neko and Lillith composed themselves, rose, and turned to Musashi. Whatever strange potency remained in the heart of Concordia it was anathema only to spirits. The assassin curled her lips into a jealous expression.

“Did you truly not feel that?” she enquired. She flicked her red hair from her eyes, and began to pick the leaves from her obi, and the mud from between her bare toes.

Musashi shook his head.

“<He is human, Lillith-sama,>” Neko attempted to explain. He did not mean to sound bitter, but his body still tingled with whatever had stricken them prone. “He is not folly of the gods,” he added in rugged common.

Lillith shook her head. “No, Neko. Musashi is folly, for he is here. The kami do not appear to mortals unless they are somehow deigned important to the tapestry of events unfolding through time.” She bowed to the swordsman, recognising his importance to them now more than ever. He, not she, was their guiding light.

“You do me honour, Kazumi-sama,” he replied with a smile. All the same, he could not help but doubt what part he could play, so estranged from his homeland, in the fate of a god.

“What do you see, honoured one?” she said.

Musashi turned to the kami, but looked beyond its scintillating, efferent scales. The light he could see, unseen to the others, resembled an evening’s sunlight clinging to the horizon. If appeared as though the forest ended not far ahead, and looked out over a rolling hillside. He narrowed his gaze to look for tricks.

“I see sunlight,” he concluded. He was certain, even this far into darkness, that the day was awaiting them.

Lillith’s eyes widened. They showed fear, awe, and realisation. Instantly, she withdrew her tanto, the Spider and Crab, and stood ready to fight. Neko followed suit, his obsidian plates dancing with purple energy unseen o Musashi, but calling through the twilight a challenge to all.

“Oh no…,” she despaired. “That is not sunlight,” she continued.

Sure enough, the kami looked over its shoulder. Its horns shrunk. Its fur scaled. Its tale split into three pronged edifices of a darker more virulent power. It was only then, at the heart of the woods, that Lillith realised her utterly grave mistake. This was not the kami. This was the heart of woods, but it was anything but welcoming.

“<Revenant!>” Neko bellowed. His voice pierced the shadows.

The clearing erupted into springtime colour. Flowers bloomed, trees grew, and animals lingered on the fringes. The sunlight intensified. The Revenant, a spirit of the earth enraged by transgressions against its lands, turned on them full-force. It resembled a Kirin. It resembled a falcon. It resembled a fish. Then it resembled its true form, and each one of the party, strangers in a strange land, came face to face with Concordia herself.

[Musashi]

Musashi's curiosity washed away the instant that Lillith called out in warning, to be replaced by a readiness for battle. Knees bent, Musashi was already prepared to defeat the being before them with a single master strike with his blade. Beside him his companions stood ready, the many twists and turns this journey had taken them on Musashi wondered if they should have seen this coming. The realisation dawning on him as the words left Lillith's mouth.

"We've led it here. Against everything else, We've led it here."

Musashi was worried. He didn't know what was going on. But when the resident spirit expert was worried it's as good a cue as any to fall back onto your skill set.

The creature/spirit/anigma Stood there for a long, long moment. Examining the three strangers, each one in a position ready to strike forwards with a killing attack. The samurai meeting it's eye as it passed over him, A great human like being with skin and movement so like the forest it would be lost in the trees. Musashi changed his grip, tightening his palm over the weapon's hilt, still unsure of what the correct action was going to be in this situation. Lillith had said, however, that he was here for a reason. And as the Revenant lunged forward, great arms flung towards them he reacted on an instinct ingrained so deeply that it was neigh impossible to resist.

Musashi lept forward two spaces as the steel of his blade left it's scabbard.

Musashi stood, back straight. Blade lowered to his side, a green ichor dripped from the furthermost tip of the blade.

A slash across the Revenant's side. That slowly grew over. A mocking, sticky, laugh: sounding, reverberating through the clearing. Turning, Musashi looked first at the creature then to his two companions for the journey. Then his blade, the first threes inches covered in the thick ichor. Which slowly grew, what looked to be fresh roots. Entrapping the blade where the Ichor struck surface. Covering the bright steel in a protective living coat.

"well that's a problem..."

Leaving his long blade to rest against a newly grown tree, he unsheathed the shorter wakizashi sword. Musashi lifted the blade, readying for another strike. Speeding his perception, watching the clearing as it slowed to half it's pace. The blade's living coat now at the same height as his eye-line, pointed towards the opponent.

Neko moved next, a fury of fur and blade.

[Lillith]

What little beauty remained in the clearing waxed and waned with every nuanced dagger strike. The cut and thrust of the nekojin’s offensive did little to usurp the Revenant’s domination of the trio, save to anger it further. An obsidian arc here severed phantasmal limb, and an obsidian arc cut nothing but air.

“<Kanji, Neko, nothing else will hurt it!>” Lillith roared over the din. Her eyes flashed with malice and meaning in the encroaching darkness. “Musashi, if you would lend me your blade?”

The assassin did not wait for condolence of her actions. She jaunted over to the swordsman, and began drawing symbols in the air that mirrored those precise strikes of her feline companion. In unison, obsidian blade glowed and fingertips glistened. The symbol was that of calming cogitation, reflection, and meditation. The symbol read ‘heiwa’ in Akashiman.

“What does this do?” the swordsman enquired, natural curiosity setting in. He tilted his wakizashi to the last of the light, and saw the symbol dance up the blade in roils of colour.

Lillith frowned. “You must strike it in the head, or what passes for such.” She turned and charged. The golden cloth of her kimono an ocean of colour. “I’ll distract it!” Her words sounded brave, but erred more to the side of foolishness.

Neko ducked a swipe of a steel tipped wing. As soon as it struck, it melded back into the creature’s body. Two lion’s heads formed as Lillith approached, each bellowed at an aggressor, lashed with foot long fangs, and vanished. The creature was mimicking every inhabitant of the forest, uncontrollably flowing with the rage of the seasons and the cycle of life.

“Lillith-sama, it is worthless to try!” Neko trilled as he saw his mistress approach, flat-footed and Tanto brandished eagerly. He twitched his whiskers, cut a tentacle loose before it garrotted him, and rolled in a bundle over the dying, oil slicked grass that formed their new battleground. The kanji danced from his daggers.

“You, less futility.” She prodded a digit at the creature’s side. “Daggers to the heart, and I’ll see about its chi!”

Whatever plan she formed in her mind, born of half-actualised memories of a battle long ago, she was not going to share just yet. Had she the time to explain, she would have done so in detail. Musashi would have mused in his scholarly manner. Neko would have chided her for hesitating too long. For once, they would have to simply trust in her ancestral recall, before they all lost their heads.

[Musashi]

Musashi felt at peace while he paced around the creature of the forest. It was more than that, he knew on some level that this creature was representing and protecting all things in it's domain. The way your blood may attack the medicines of a healer, knowing no other way, even if such actions could kill, more likely than the disease already plaguing the host. As the healers; Lillith, Neko and Musashi worked to get past the forest's guardian to save it's life. Their patient was going to be fighting them all the way. No matter the cost. And the cost was clear.

All around them, the battle was beginning to dig up earth, life ebbed away from the clearing and wildlife had drawn itself deeper into the guts of the forest seeking safety. Full and unwavering trust in the revenant to protect them from any outsiders. As it should be, for the laws of nature are the laws followed by nature. It was why the spirit world existed, Why Kami and Kitsunes and Neko's walked the earth. When the forests, the deserts, plains, marshlands, when the land suffered; when it was twisted; when it was broken and beyond it's own powers to heal. Someone would be there to heal it. The forest was dying, not suffering. The healers had arrived, Musashi counted among their ranks. An honour known to few.

Neko barreled at the guardian. Light flashing from blades Musashi could not see. The feline was naturally graceful and a true wonder to watch. All movement right, with little to no errors.

Lillith moved too against the creature. Spinning back from heavy clawed swipes and stomps from oversized hooves. Wielding a weapon in each hand, her golden attire didn't cease in it's motion. Spinning outwards as she dodged and weaved. Congealing behind her form as she danced forward with another jab of attack.

The warrior, the human. Temporarily chosen by the gods to aid in the healing of this small slice of land. Looked down, blade in his hand: Kanji danced up and down the steel in a cascade of subtle changes in colour between golden yellow and a deep green. The blade beside him, standing against the tree. Roots now advancing slowly further up the blade towards the hilt. Almost covering a third of the blade's natural shine, a silent reminder to get a move on.

He was still stalking around the creature, keeping himself behind the beast as best he could. Waiting for an opening. Time slowed, examining every movement in the clearing. It's back changed, mass growing out of it. Musashi knew, before he could possibly know what it was and he ran forwards. Leaping onto the guardian's back, driving his finger's into it's rough skin with one hand, wakizashi in another.

His feet braced his weight. Arm held him steady. The great wings, recognisable now for what they were, grew beneath him at a steady pace. Forming into massive eagle wings, dark green with moss and grass. A single flap only raising it an inch off of the dark earth, but another would take them to the sky. Musashi was faster.

As the wings came down on their second beat, lifting the defender up off of the ground and further into the sky. So too did Musashi's enchanted blade. Driving straight down in a formless drop, Held firm by his dominant hand. And forced down with his other. The enchanted blade forced it's way down through the changing mass that passed for the beast's head.

It fell.

It fell only a few inchies but for Musashi, the fall was much more.

The ground forced the air from his lungs, like a final act of defence and spite. He lay motionless for a handful of moments. The creature had fallen beside him, It's chest raising and falling. In the state of a deep sleep. The kanji from his blade had flown out of his blade and filled it with calm and quiet. Forcing it into a quiet and temporary coma.

Musashi turned his face towards Lillith and Neko. Both watching him with a level of satisfaction as the warrior made no attempt to raise or move his body for fear the forest would turn another trick against the healers.

"What do we do now?"

[Lillith]

“I wish I knew…,” Lillith said. Her voice was shrill, dry, and weak. It told a tale of devastation and soul worn sorrow.

With great reverence, the assassin approached the fallen kami slowly. She knelt at its nape, and ran a finger gingerly over the phantasmal form. Weakened by Musashi’s blow, its toxic mane only writhed beneath her touch. She felt nausea doing so, but not dead; a blessing, she assumed, she would be thankful for when this was over.

“You do know, Lillith-sama,” Neko crooned. He too touched the kami, paws scuffling the broken earth; eyes glistening with what he would call ‘respect’. “It is the same as the oni, they serve the same purpose, and they are as abhorrent as one another.”

“Musashi,” Lillith spat. Whatever Neko said in parables irked her. “What do you think?” She pointed to the kami’s eyes, lingering on the border between life, death, and whatever lay between. “Should we give this creature a ‘burial’, or destroy it?”

A revenant was, to put it simply, antithesis of life. They turned their backs on the Elder Kami, and sought only to destroy all they could. Given their connection to the fabric of the earth itself, they could devastate entire regions for millennia, given the chance. Lillith saw the forest wither and die in her mind’s eye. She shook, visibly and mightily, scared for what would happen in Concordia if they failed.

“He has no say!” the nekojin mewed. He rose, walked around between them, and stood on his haunches. His tail whipped. His claws flexed. His eyes glared at the human.

“I…,” Musashi wavered.

“Neko, Musashi has as much right in deciding what transpires here as you or I.” She meant every word. She did not know if she had it in her to end the creature’s life, regardless of what it was, or once was. She had killed too many of the old gods of late.

“Let it be said I objected,” he retorted. He eased up, moved out of the way, and gestured for Musashi to make up his mind. His condescension did not need words to show his true colours. It dripped from every twitch of his muscles and fur.

“Will you end life to save a forest, or condemn a forest to death, for honour’s sake?” she said, looking at Musashi plainly, so as not to sway him further on his path. She had not seen his part in their task until here and now. This swordsman, a stranger at first, was now resoundingly familiar. He was, though she would not admit it, strikingly like Lillith. They were honour bound, lost, and torn between faith and freedom.

[Musashi]

Musashi found himself caught in the middle of conversation of the two friends. Even as he picked himself off of the ground, he was talked around instead of to. A slight he would often let pass between two beings he did not know. These people, or spirits, however were not discussing evening plans. They were discussing himself and the situation that all three had found themselves in. Despite what he thought he felt for the duo, Musashi felt it sting.

He moved. Musashi felt at peace when he was moving and it was easier to quiet your thoughts while focusing on one's feet. Musashi strode over to where he had lain his Katana against the tree. The living coating of the sword was already dying away, loosing its strength and falling back to the earth in crumbling pieces, a trail of dead foliage stretching behind Musashi as he walked forward to kneel beside the unconscious creature. Running his hand over it's form, an inch above the beast itself. A small, resigned smiled, quietly curling Musashi's lips. Lillith's words cut through the forest: a challenge before a question.

“Will you end life to save a forest, or condemn a forest to death, for honour’s sake?”

It was not a fair question. It didn't matter. Musashi was young, freed by the honour that bound him to the strangers he met upon his travels. Not nearly as wise as Lillith or as trained as Neko, the warrior had his relatively small quantity of life to fall back on. The honour that may one day bind him, for now would lead him in the time that passed in the clearing.

One of the paper rolls that he had purchased not that long ago unrolled in front of him. Rough paper pressed against the uneven earth. Silence filling the clearing as Lillith and Neko watched over Musashi's actions. Uncertainty and curiosity for once moving them instead of the stranger. Musashi.

Brush against paper. The samurai's hand moving in ill-practiced motions. Well learned but almost clumsy. He spoke, as much for Lillith's benefit as his own.

"Revenant or not. Respect shall always be given to the fallen."

He finished, not more than two minutes after he sat on his ankles and began to write. A single slice of paper remained between him and the spirit beast. Kanji filled the page. Musashi was not creative, it was a haiku he learned as a child which had been recalled to his memory as the fight had sped to it's conclusion.

A subtle breeze calms,
Water cools a fiery soul,
Life begins anew.

And with that. Musashi's ichor soaked sword sliced it's way cleanly through what passed for the beast's throat.

A great sigh sung throughout the forest. Wind rippling through the trees. Birds danced upwards towards the sky and the creature that had lain before Musashi had vanished without a sound, simply ceasing to exist. Lillith moved closer, her every movement a refined flourish of gold. She didn't need to say anything. Even Musashi could feel it. A massive surge of strength. Deep rooted and thankful.

The forest was free.

[Lillith]

Lillith could not decide wherever to laugh or cry. On the one hand, they were victorious. On the other, a kami was dead. Part of Corone would live on, but Akashima had paid too high a price in her mind.

“I cannot thank you enough, Musashi,” she said softly.

“Thank him for what?” Neko spat. Free of his burden, he limbered up to fight fatigue. His fur was matted, grimy, and a shadow of its former self. His armour was blacker than ever, the obsidian shining through the ichor of the spirit’s soul that hissed and steamed on his family’s heirloom.

“For doing the right thing,” Lillith retorted. It, in its own way, silenced the nekojin. He could not argue with her logic.

“The right way is not always the easy way,” the swordsman erred. He knew what to say but not why he said it. He stroked his chin pensively.

Lillith chuckled. The turn to literature amused her, as though it reminded her of an old friend.

“You’re quite the scholar, as well as a warrior, Musashi-san.” Free of the perils of their adventure, Lillith soon found herself returning to the etiquette and conventions of her homeland. Though Akashima was a distant memory, she carried its people and its customs in her bosom. “Might I ask what had you planned for this afternoon?”

The samurai sheathed his blade with a slight stoop, as though praying. When he righted himself, he gave the question some thought. He had until the duo had streamed past chaotically, been bent on musing the infinite wonders.

“I do what a man should, Lillith-sama, and might I add, what a good man ought.” He pointed through the tree line: towards where the spirit had been leading them. “We, however, are not good men in the eyes of this wood.”

Sure enough, when the geisha and the spirit-warder turned to look, the woods were coming alive. The trees themselves grew faces. Tormented expressions of fear and loathing shifted in the ancient bark. They had gone further into Underwood than they had realised, and the elder trees were not fond of rude awakenings.

“Quite right,” Lillith said nervously. She tightened her obi, retrieved one of her fallen tanto, and sheathed it somewhere secretively. Neko trailed after her dutifully. “I think it be wise we continue this conversation anywhere but here.” She pointed in the opposite direction, away from the lashing vines, and pushed Neko and Musashi gently to their own strange freedom.

“Back to Underwood Lillith-sama?” Neko chirped. He bounced ahead, the worries of their tribulations already fading from his mind.

Lillith nodded. “Yes. I believe wine is in order.” She would rather sake, but that was a pipe dream anew. “Whilst we walk, good sir, tell me what you know of the state of affairs in Akashima of late?” She walked with elegance, but strength. Her barefoot, unbound from geta and unheeding their height, treaded the sluice and peat of the heartland daintily.

[Musashi]

Leaving the forest was remarkably simpler than entering it. Like being shoo'd from another's home they didn't deviate for a moment.

After leaving the central clearing, Neko bounded a few steps ahead and the trio were found in the first clearing they encountered many times over. The dead tree in the centre showing signs of life, as roots began to show colour, a bright purple flower of sunshade blooming a few inches up it's bark. Soon after that they had emerged from the forest and out into Underwood. The sun was streaming down from the sky. Musashi wasn't fully aware how long they had been tracking and fighting the Revenant through the forest. He was sure they had been here longer than the sun was claiming. He knew little of the spirit world. And he considered the possibility that the heart of the forest was not a physical space at all.

And he realised for the first time, that such a thought didn't strike him as strange.

He looked over to the other two who now traveled with him. They were no longer striking or out-of-place. They talked about current politics. Musashi found it refreshing to be able to discuss his home with another. How steady Akashima was, an ever present rock in a changing world. To be able to return home whenever the need arose. Akashima was somewhat isolated from the outside world. Strong traditions a pleasantry for some visitors to come and witness, a deter-ant for others. Like a million different places to a million different people: Akashima was home. Musashi saw it through the same rose tinted glasses that everyone saw their place of upbringing through.

A light breeze picked through the air, warm afternoon sun beat down on them. Musashi, Lillith and Neko mutually walked towards the nearest watering hole. A small selection of tables with individual, comfortable looking chairs arranged in front of the store. The warmth of the outside was inviting enough and Musashi sat peacefully. Ordering wine for all three of them from a staffer for the store. A lull in the conversation allowed the warrior a moment to stretch. His limbs were used and warm but he had no feeling of exertion. No aches were clawing for his attention. The warrior rolled his shoulders. Relaxing into the chair and now filled with a curiosity over the two that now joined him. Unsure how to ask, his Akashiman etiquette forced him to stumble over his words a few times before finally being out with it. In the simplest way possible.

"Who are you?"

[Lillith]

Lillith let out a light, pleasant, and cordial chuckle. Her surprise at the questions visible on her face, which bathed in the lantern light, and her friendly aura. She tilted her glass to the swordsman, and gesture for Neko to do as he always did.

“She is Lady Lillith Kazumi, of the northern tribes.” His voice was stoic, and carried an air of authority gifted through respect. Few people in the country had earned the right to know the lineage of ‘The Fox’.

“This is Neko; his second name is a mystery even to me.” Lillith’s part of their introduction was friendly, but a little begrudging. The Nekojin people only went by first name to outsiders. “Though we have fought by one another’s side through hell a high water, a life debt ill affords me such an honour.”

Wine continue to flow from jug, to glass, to lip. Weaker than western counterparts, the rink offered a floral bouquet that drew on jasmine a lime flower, much to their enjoyment. Lillith was impressed with Musashi’s transition from spiritual warrior to debonair person and consumer. That in itself was a deadly skill to possess amongst Corone’s young gentlefolk.

“A name is as much a soul to some,” he reflected. Musashi smiled at the Nekojin’s comment.

“I can attest to that, though I have not met many of your kind to understand why.” He drank with fine sips. “May I ask a lady of what, or where, Kazumi-sama?” He raised an eyebrow into a perfect half-moon, full of intrigue and diplomatic undress.

The tavern continued to bustle, and more and more patrons streamed in through the now open door and the rear entrance. The chrysalis of the evening let lose dusk’s violet and beating wings, kissing the treetops with purple glow and flickering flame. Lillith turned to admire it, pursed her lips, and made a decision.

“I am the rightful heir to the Tiger Clan. They are ninja, who dwell in the south presently, but hail from the Jagged Peaks.” The incident in which her master perished was still a sore point for the assassin. It had been her fault. “I remain here, now, a wanderer until the last of the Greater Oni dies.”

At the mention of gods, Musashi fell silent. He stroked the circumference of his glass, musing on what she meant. His conceptualisation of Akashima’s deities was, like many natives, fundamental to rhetoric, philosophy, and morality. He furrowed his brow, folded his tunic afresh, and set the now empty glass onto the haggard tabletop.

“Greater Oni…dies?” His wizened expression warned Lillith to tread carefully.

“The Greater Oni, four Ancient Kami who turned their backs on their enlightened kin.” Lillith grimaced. “Three have perished by my hand thus, and Neko’s claw.” She neglected to mention her other siblings. She did not want to complicate things. “The one that remains…the Komodo is whom we seek.” She corrected herself. “Whom we sought, before we stumbled across you.”

Neko refilled their drinks with a wave of his claw.

“So…,” the Nekojin erred casually. “Who. Are you?”

[Musashi]

Lillith was a fascinating concept to behold.

The spirit warder talked of other worlds wrapped inside this one. Impossible ones that drove the possible. He smiled and let it sink in. Knowing on some deeper level that all Lillith told him was a truth. Some of it lay hidden, Musashi was sure. It added together with what had occurred in the heart of the forest. A heavy burden he was sure. Not something he could lightly put to action. But he was glad to have been able to aid her in what way he could in shouldering the final responsibility with the turned Oni. A symptom of the Greater Oni's turn to darkness, he guessed.

They lulled into a contented quiet as they drank together, fire light danced across his swords and the tables, as the sun set at it's normal, steady pace soon to be inevitably hidden behind the horizon. Neko returned Musashi's question it sat
in his mind for a moment, rocking back and forth before an answer arose. Not sure he was satisfied with it he proposed it.

"I am just a man."

He almost...almost left it at that. But something in the way Lillith's gaze fell upon him urged him to speak. Musashi was relatively young. He left Akashima only a few months prior to walk the world and become wiser. To grow in ability and knowledge.

"And I travel. I suppose for the reasons some might expect. No one has become great without seeing the world. I try to do the right thing."

Lillith saw it, Musashi was not unlike her. Much younger in spirit, without a care or an attachment yet made in this world. He could grow into something great. She smiled. A refreshing sight after they had ended a life in the forest. She listened to the samurai who had taken the burden of today from her. His first true accomplishment and memory from leaving his homeland.

There was something else there, something he could not place. Lillith had talked of her current self: heir to the tiger clan and hunting these greater Oni, with such gravity.

"Tell me. After you finish this quest and Komodo is defeated, what will you do? Return to the Tiger clan?"

More wine flowed into his mouth in gentle sips from the glass, most of the heat now radiating from the lanterns. More than enough for the adventurers drinking around the table, exchanging life stories. The drink was of good quality, if weaker than wine from the further reaches of the world. A strong taste of berries and apple had now taken up residence upon his pallet.

[Lillith]

Lillith bowed her head. Her solemntiude told stories that Musashi would never hear spring from her lips. She settled on a simple summation of what had happened in the deadly shadows of war, years ago.

“The Tiger Clan are…,” she sighed.

Neko continued on her behalf. “Leaderless, and dwindled in number.” He clucked. At least, he clucked as best his jaw could manage. “They are nothing more than a shadow of their former self, a broken vestige of history.”

Musashi nodded slowly. He assumed that meant Lillith was no longer bound to that path. He sympathise with the notion of abandonment, of wading out onto the open trail, aimless, directionless, goalless. Perhaps, though, he was wrong. Perhaps she had a goal, just not with her kin.

“I thought you were the heir?” He realised something was amiss. She had seemed so proud before.

Lillith tried to smile. She drained her glass. She ordered another round. Noodle steam and smoke lingered overhead. The tavern lived on, even if the life in her heart, and her soul, was dying beneath the weight of what had transpired over the course of the previous day. However, Musashi was revelling in their ‘glory’, and Musashi was none the wiser…dark days lay ahead. Nature was eschew. The gods were angry. Unbalance everywhere.

“Unwillingly. I let the Tigress die, before my eyes, and I will not live in their company with that shame.” She swallowed the lump in her throat bitterly. She had failed. She had to pay a self-serving price to atone for her defeat. “They will find themselves again, in time, and I will tread new ground and find a new family.”

In the comfort, or relative comfort of the tavern, the conversation continued. Over broken floorboards and piss-stained tiles, the occupants of the establishment revelled in similar tall tales. Orcs slain. Dragons toppled. Trees felled, jobs gained, and wives bedded. As Lillith listened to Neko’s attempt at justifying her actions during the Ronin skirmish, she let her eyes glaze over. It was only then, in the dull sensual world of the in-between, that she realised something. Musashi was, as she had been centuries ago, the perfect sort of man to help them.

“I…,” she interrupted. Neko closed his mouth slowly. He knew better than to put her to rights. “I think I have a proposition for you, Musashi.” She set her hands onto the table, wavering in her seat, and pushed away her glass.

“Oh?” The swordsman raised a debonair eyebrow.

“You ask what I will do. I do not know. I cannot think past the Komodo, and until he is dead, Akashima may as well be in ruination and fire.” She pointed to the door. “You can leave after we are done here, and let this fond day forever drive you forwards.” She dropped her hands to the wood. “Or,” she paused to smile, “you can come with us.”

Neko coughed.

“Come with us, Swordsman of the Wilds, and lend your blade to the Komodo’s end.”

Never had a more honest, and exciting offer been levied in that tavern.

[Musashi]

The two of them were similar in some ways and vastly different in others. Musashi had chosen to be direction-less in an attempt to grow outside of the world he had lived in his whole life. Lillith had lost it all. Walking a path of redemption but at the end of it there would be... what? Release? A journey that consumed you completely would not lead anywhere. Musashi sat in his reverence listening to, but not fully hearing Neko speak of the spirits that inhabited the forests whenever it was healthy. Small beings that had hidden from their passing through the foliage of the forest. It didn't matter. He was watching Lillith think. Perhaps considering what would happen after her journey, without anywhere to go it could be a harrowing experience.

His attention rose with the tilt of lillith's head. Dark red hair framing a soft face and Musashi found himself wondering how such a creature could come to pass. She pointed, building to something and he considered the path he would take as he left. Perhaps he would return to the room that had been rented. And then. After that? He didn't know. An unsettling feeling he had grown accustomed to during his journey.

Again, Lillith's comments threw Neko. A stronger reaction than Musashi had, who had felt it coming. Together? It was a prospect that even Musashi had considered proposing, had it not felt like an incredibly personal journey which his friend was on. 'Swordsman of the wilds' Stirred something inside him. And so he nodded, before responding.

"It would be an honour to join you on this journey."

Musashi would not leave his home to burn. And he would not allow a friend to drift.

[Otto]

Plot: 17/30


Storytelling: 5/10
In and of itself, this thread didn't have a huge amount going for it, plot-wise. The end of the initial chase through the forest was anticlimactic, and the second fight was not a huge amount better. Even the journey itself could have been fleshed out - for example, how is Neko able to navigate the forest? What is it about his death that lets him do this, and how does it make him perceive the forest differently?
What's more, it's unclear what they have achieved, exactly: post 10 explains that killing the kami at the heart of the wood will allow it to be reborn, and act as 'the spirit of Underwood' - but as it's a revenant, apparently keen on endless destruction, won't this cause more harm than good? It's not clear if this is the issue that they are struggling with towards the end, or if it stems from something else, or if it's not an issue at all.
What was done fairly well was the attempt to situate this thread within the three characters' own story arcs. One definitely gets a sense of where each one has come from, where they are going, and as such, the thread gains some relevance from that.


Setting: 6/10
As mentioned regarding Neko, it would have been good to see the forest from his perspective, perhaps compared to that of the others, to show what he knew that the others didn't. In terms or general description, the setting was adequate, but not particularly rich. There exceptions - for one reason or another, the approaching 'daylight' struck a powerful chord - but by and large, a strong sense for the forest was not achieved, and nor did the setting feel particularly relevant. Perhaps it also have been good to expand on the settlement, at least to act as a contrast to the untamed wild.


Pacing: 6/10
Much of the thread felt too abrupt - the end to the chase, the end to the fight, the transition back to the town. Make the first two matter, and use the third to let events sink in.


Character: 21/30


Communication: 8/10
Though there are considerable issues with plot and prose, both of you shine when it comes to character development. Your dialogue was fluent and credible, without much dissonance between writers, conveyed the characters' personas, and remained relevant. Musashi, once you get a solid grip on literary mechanics, I believe you will excel in this area.


Action: 6/10
My biggest gripes are with the chase and fight: how easily Musashi caught up to the beast after it had been effortlessly leading them into the heart of the forest, and the single, fluid killing blow at the end. Where was the struggle? Apart from a few scrapes and bruises, did it actually cost these three anything to end such a powerful creature? Keep in mind this is a spirit who's very touch can bring about death.


Persona: 7/10
Thanks largely to the banter, and to a lesser extent, each character's actions. You did quite well here considering that the story didn't really offer much chance to explore each character to a greater depth.


Prose: 19/30


Mechanics: 6/10
Alright, Mord - good mechanics here, as usual. My only advice is to proofread, proofread, proofread! There were a few little mistakes which wormed their way through, but otherwise, solid work.
Musashi: perhaps the most obvious problem that you are having is with sentence structure. Each post was littered with sentence fragments, misplaced punctuation, and incorrectly-capitalised words. Apart from that, spelling mistakes were also a frequent issue. In order to illustrate this, I've decided to take one of your posts and work my way through it, pointing out the various issues so that you might be able to spot them if they pop up again in your future writing.
Example from post #15:

Musashi's curiosity washed away the instant that Lillith called out in warning, to be replaced by a readiness for battle. Knees bent, Musashi was already prepared to defeat the being before them with a single master strike with his blade. Beside him his companions stood ready, the many twists and turns this journey had taken them on Musashi wondered if they should have seen this coming.


The highlighted sentence doesn't really make any grammatical sense, as it consists of two separate clauses that don't seem to have any relation to one another. You could instead split it up like so:

"Beside him his companions stood ready, but given the many twists and turns this journey had taken them on, Musashi wondered if they should have seen this coming earlier."

The clauses are now properly linked by a conjoining phrase, and makes grammatical sense (especially when clarified by the word added at the end, otherwise the sentence could be interpreted as "his companions stood ready, and Musashi wondered if they should have known to be ready". Which doesn't really make much sense).

The realisation dawning on him as the words left Lillith's mouth.


This sentence does work better standalone, since tacking it onto the previous one would make it a bit long and clunky. However, this means you will need to change the participles:

"This realisation dawned on him as soon as the words left Lillith's mouth."

The first two changes make it more grammatically sound, but the third one is more out of personal preference (I just think it looks better).

"We've led it here. Against everything else, We've led it here."


You only need to capitalise proper nouns, and the word at the beginning of a new sentence; it's unnecessary for words following a comma, hyphen and (generally) a colon or semicolon.

Musashi was worried. He didn't know what was going on. But when the resident spirit expert was worried it's as good a cue as any to fall back onto your skill set.


Probably a good idea to follow convention and mark the conjunction in the second sentence above with a comma:

"But when the resident spirit expert was worried, it's as good a cue as any to fall back onto your skill set."

It's usually a good idea to do this, as it helps the sentence flow naturally and avoids ambiguity. Sometimes, however, it's better to leave the comma out for the same reason (such as when the sentence already has an abundance of commas, and is at risk of becoming crowded and clunky).

The creature/spirit/anigma Stood there for a long, long moment. Examining the three strangers, each one in a position ready to strike forwards with a killing attack. The samurai meeting it's eye as it passed over him, A great human like being with skin and movement so like the forest it would be lost in the trees. Musashi changed his grip, tightening his palm over the weapon's hilt, still unsure of what the correct action was going to be in this situation. Lillith had said, however, that he was here for a reason. And as the Revenant lunged forward, great arms flung towards them he reacted on an instinct ingrained so deeply that it was neigh impossible to resist.


"anigma" = enigma (typo).

"Examining the three strangers, each one in a position ready to strike forwards with a killing attack" - remove the full stop separating this sentence from the previous one.

"meeting" = met (wrong participle).

"human like" = human-like (needs hyphenating to make a compound word).

"being" - add a comma after this to denote a conjunction, in order to improve flow.

"them" - as above (add a comma after this).

Musashi lept forward two spaces as the steel of his blade left it's scabbard.

Musashi stood, back straight. Blade lowered to his side, a green ichor dripped from the furthermost tip of the blade.


We have more sentence fragments here. This would read better as:

"Musashi stood, his back straight, his blade lowered to his side, and a green ichor dripping from the tip of the sword."

I removed "furthermost", since it seemed redundant, and changed the second usage of the word "blade" to "sword", just to avoid awkward repetition.

A slash across the Revenant's side. That slowly grew over. A mocking, sticky, laugh: sounding, reverberating through the clearing. Turning, Musashi looked first at the creature then to his two companions for the journey. Then his blade, the first threes inches covered in the thick ichor. Which slowly grew, what looked to be fresh roots. Entrapping the blade where the Ichor struck surface. Covering the bright steel in a protective living coat.


"A slash across the Revenant's side. That slowly grew over" - turn into one sentence, and mark the conjunction with a comma ("A slash across the Revenant's side, that slowly grew over").

"sounding, reverberating" - one of these might be redundant, and could be removed. May not be necessary, though.

"creature then" - this definitely needs a comma ("creature, then")

"Which slowly grew, what looked to be fresh roots. Entrapping the blade where the Ichor struck surface. Covering the bright steel in a protective living coat" - these are some more sentence fragments. Try instead:

"It slowly grew into what looked to be fresh roots, entrapping the blade where the ichor struck surface and covering the bright steel in a protective, living coat."

"well that's a problem..."


Capitalise "well", since you're starting the sentence with it, and it would also look better with a comma after it ("Well, that's a problem..."), since the pause might better mimic natural speech patterns.

Leaving his long blade to rest against a newly grown tree, he unsheathed the shorter wakizashi sword. Musashi lifted the blade, readying for another strike. Speeding his perception, watching the clearing as it slowed to half it's pace. The blade's living coat now at the same height as his eye-line, pointed towards the opponent.


For the first sentence, change the participle for 'speed', from present to past. Also, the pronoun 'it' is used a little ambiguously here, so it might help to clarify that, and you used the contraction of "it is" ("it's), rather than the possessive "its" (edited to "their" instead, since I changed the singular pronoun "it" to a plural "they"). Last of all, I fixed the structure of the second sentence (just a minor edit).

"Musashi sped up his perception, and watched the events in the clearing as they slowed to half their pace. The blade's living coat was now at the same height as his eye-line, pointed towards the opponent."

Neko moved next, a fury of fur and blade.


Clarity: 6/10
Clarity was mostly an issue as a result of the plot points I mentioned above, and to a lesser extent, some of Musashi's mechanical errors. By and large, though, the activity in the thread was easy enough to follow as it unfolded.


Technique: 7/10
I can't help but devolve in to a subjective analysis here, at least for your writing, Mord. This was very typical of your style, and I'm sure you've heard pretty much every opinion about it that there is to give. Whatever others might say, I personally don't think you've quite crossed over the line into literary wankery, and I'll leave it at that.
Musashi: I think this is another area where you have some budding potential. I particularly liked the metaphor of the rejected medicine and the unwilling patient, and you have skill in describing things so. Perhaps just make it a bit clearer that this is what Musashi himself is thinking and drawing parallels to, and you'll bring the reader a even deeper into his head (as it is, that section read just a bit like a narrator's monologue).


Wildcard: 7/10
There's good potential here, both in terms of the writers involved, and this story arc specifically. It'll be good to see Musashi's evolution as he, Lillith and Neko continue on.


Total: 64/100



Lillith receives 1875 experience and 400 gold.

Neko receives 135 experience and 35 gold.

Musashi receives 1740 experience and 475 gold.

[Silence Sei]

Exp/GP Added