Quietly I Wait

It’s been over a year since the last time the bastard son of Akashima visited his families’ home. Hayate often found himself thinking of the cherry blossoms that used to fill the pagoda with a sweet aroma which always reminded him of his mother. She was a sweet woman with a big heart; he wondered what she would be doing now if he had the chance to see her again. The days were begging to stretch into months as Hayate held control over Tylermande, a time he wished he spent searching for any clue to his families’ whereabouts.

“Sir,” One of the Immortals spoke up as they waltzed into Hayate’s office, formerly that of the townships mayor. “There seems to be a disturbance along the canal. A group of fishermen took a few of our men hostage and are threatening to execute them if we don’t leave their town.”

Hayate sat behind the magistrate’s desk in quiet contemplation as he stared off into the void behind his soldier. Had he really been left behind just to quell the rabble? Was this his reward for a job well done and a city taken in the name of the Brotherhood? Vann Osiris wouldn’t be the first to manipulate Hayate into doing unspeakable things, but he would surely be the last. Once the war was over he planned to leave this land and make his way to Keribas, surely his past couldn’t follow him across the great northern sea.

“And what exactly do you expect me to do?” he said as he began impatiently taping his metallic fingertips on the desk between them. At this point in his career he was now the general of the forth division and a well-known and respected warrior feared by friend and foe alike. He hadn’t the time to deal with the commoners that he stepped on, but his orders demanded it. “Never mind… be assured that there will be no death on either side. I’ll handle it.”

For whatever reason Hayate fought his urge to slip away in the night, he fought the instinctual drive within all of use to survive. Deep down the Shinobi knew that he lived on borrowed time and that when his usefulness ceased then he would be disposed of. He’s seen just how cruel Vann Osiris could be and how his ambitions clouded his sense of morality. It was simply a matter of time at this point.

The smoke was still settling after the Brotherhood’s bombardment on this poor fishing port as Shinsou and Storm both marched their armies on the capital. They hadn’t even bothered to stomp out the embers before they left with their eyes set on the final battle. Hayate noticed it first and foremost, and their lack of concern for the damages they cause if pursuit of their goals was jaw dropping. As Hayate left his office and made his way to where the disgruntled citizens were held up in the canals below he fought with himself. What was best for the people of Corone? What was best for the people of Akashima? What was best for him?

These questions and more flooded his thoughts as the busy soldier of the brotherhood continued to inventory their spoils without a care in the world. At one time he felt a bond with these men and women, but now he saw them as mindless drones. Unable to think on their own accord and fallowing a bastard into combat with only a promise of a better future but no evidence of it. The very though shook him to the core as the last son of Akashima was no better. Where did he fall? How long had he been at the bottom of the barrel?

The walk to the canals was brief and as he arrived to the cascading steps leading down to the water he was met with a handful of Brotherhood soldier all taking cover behind the cobblestone wall above. They peered over with bows at the ready to end the lives of the men trying to stand up for their rights. Hayate barked at his men to lower their arms and not to set loose a single arrow or they would have him to deal with. Unable to object the four or so soldier lowered their weapons but remain out of sight for the time being.

“This is Amatsukami Hayate, i'm coming down there, don’t do anything you’ll regret.” He yelled loudly so that even if they were deaf bastards they should still hear him. This was his chance to change his fate, how could screw it up now?

It was a crude set up but from what he had been told and what he could see from the elevated streets above there must have been twenty or so poorly armed farmers barricaded near the far end of the canal at the opening of portion that flowed beneath the city. Hayate took a deep breath as he flipped his black cloak over his left shoulder hiding his arm, if only to alieve some tension of the situation. The worst case scenario would be the terrified farmers seeing his bladed prosthetic and force him into a situation he desperately wanted to avoid. There had been enough blood shed here, there wasn’t a need for another show of force.

“Hold it right there!” a brave soul screamed from behind their sandbag cover as Hayate stared down the cobble stone steps. “Take another step and we will execute one of your men!” Hayate froze, as if paralyzed with responsibility to his soldier or with responsibility to his own continence.

“You don’t need to do that, i’m here to talk about the terms of your release. I don’t wish to see any more hard be done to the citizens of Corone.” Hayate spoke from the heart. Too long has he fought as the unyielding force known as the Corpse King, the power has long since corrupted him. Now he chose to act as his own person, and to stop needless conflict before it could lead to more problems.

“Let’s talk about you packing your shit and getting out of our town!” the man stood up showing his bruised and half beaten face. Blood dripped from his eyes and nose staining his shirt and at this very moment Hayate got sick to his stomach. Flashes of green aura flickered in his mind as he was brought back to the moment he stood in this man shoes. He had become the very thing he once lost everything to fight against. He had become Hiruzen, worse, he had become a monster.

“I’m sorry…”

“What’s that?”

I’ve been telling you all this time, do you see now what you allowed yourself to become? You have been so obsessed with avenging your clan that you’ve become the very thing you strove to destroy. I’ve stood by ling enough, i’m going to put an end to this.

The light began to fade from Hayate’s vision as the world grew cold and dark. And as he slipped into unconsciousness a blinding red light erupted from the ground beneath his feet and a loud bone chilling scream pierced the air. Suddenly sinuses tendrils began to wrap around his form before taking the shape of a mighty giant’s torso clad in ethereal samurai armor. In a moment of weakness Yamato overpowered Hayate’s will and took control over his body, he planned to rid Hayate of his burden and do what must be done. Even if it wouldn’t redeem his master.

Suddenly Hayate found himself floating in a realm of complete blackness, void of anything other than sparse slivers of red light spotting his view. Where had the son of Akashima traveled to? Oddly he felt completely at home in this space as if he had been here before. For what seemed like minuets he drifted weightlessly until as if by the work of a god he found footing on a transparent floor. The Shinobi stood upright and as he did the red lights around him began to flicker and he heard a familiar voice.

“You have failed…” the raspy voice of the Corpse King scratched at Hayate’s ears. “This man Shinsou Vann Osiris has led you far from your path. Now you must suffer as I correct your folly.”

“What do you mean?!?” Hayate yelled as he suddenly remembered where he was. This was the mindscape that he and Yamato shared. This was the very place where the seal binding the two together was located.

“You have always known that the day would come when you would have to prove your worthiness to contain me, today is that day.” As the ghostly voice finished a figure appeared some fifty feet from Hayate.

“I see…” the Shinobi said as he saw the form of his father, the projection of the last holder of the Corpse King. Yamato always did favor his father and mentioned it frequently, it was only suiting that he would take his form. “Then if that’s the case, I’ll do anything if it means avenging my clan, even if it means forcing you to obey.”

Outside Hayate’s mindscape the titanic visage stood almost completely still as red steam billowed out from under its spectral helmet. The farmers that had been hold up below had all retreated farther into the underground waterway and the Brotherhood soldiers above stood in complete awe at the mighty size of Hayate’s avatar.

Hayate stood a stone’s throw away from the visage of his father and the personification of the demon that lived within him. They stood resolute and unwavering, eyeing each other’s stance and looking for weaknesses. He was enraged with Yamato for daring to invoke some kind of reaction from him by using that form. Yet strangely enough at his core the shinobi was happy to see his dad once again, even if like this.

“So you’re pulling at my heart strings now?” Hayate said as he shifted his weight readying for an attack. His voice cracked slightly. “This will be the only time you will ever get away with pulling something like this. I swear it Yamato.”

“Then show me your resolve!” Yamato screamed through Hayate’s father as the elderly swordsman drew his katana and broke straight for the shinobi. He was quick, otherworldly in motion, and precise with his steps as he closed the distance between them faster than Hayate could blink. His long katana left behind a trail of red vorpal energy as he swung it in a crescent slash trying to cut Hayate down the center. Luckily for the Shinobi the edge of his blade caught the black titanium of his prosthetic arm and was casually defected away.

In a single fluid motion Hatae recovered and twisted his body so quickly that the wakazashi attached to his elbow impaled itself deep into the shoulder of Yamato’s apparition. Then he brought his knee up to his chest before kicking off his enemy and staggering back a few paces. In the process he flicked a handful of shuriken into the palm of his hand before letting loose a volley of razor sharp death onto Yamato.

“Not good enough!” he yelled once more as the second the shuriken struck his Yamato released a red pulse of energy deflecting them all away. “You have always been weak, relying on my power to do what you could not.”

“That’s not true,” Hayate stuttered. “We have always been a team.”

“I have only ever been your tool.”

“That’s not true!”

“Then why do I remain sealed?”

Hayate hadn’t a good answer. Yamato has always been a force that has been passed down within the Amatsukami for generations. He was the power that ensured their position as an imperial family. For lack of a better term, Yamato has and will forever be a slave to the Amatsukami and their ambition.

“I thought when you were born that your father would be the one to end this cycle. But on that day he decided to trust you with my power instead. Why? Why you? What did he see in you that I can’t.”

“I was five!” Hayate cried out as the two locked blades in a shining clash of black and red. “My father died when I was five! I tried every day to live up to the task set before me, all the blood ive shed for my family and for my friends. I don’t know everything there is about you Yamato, but ive never thought of you as a tool or slave.”

Outside Hayate’s mind scape the towering presence of the Corpse King rattled the moral of the Brotherhood. This would have been the first time anyone other than Shinsou himself set eyes on the power the dwells deep within Hayate. The sheer heat emanating off the brazen red armor caused clouds of steam to drift in the wind. For a moment it appeared that the handful of soldiers lost their courage and chose flight over fight as two of them holstered their bows and took off in the opposite direction of the titan. But still others stayed, readied their arrows, and fired upon the lumbering giant assuming it to be the enemy. This was the greatest mistake any of them could have committed.

Without warning the Corpse King reacted to the arrows ricocheting of its ethereal plate armor by turning sharply and dragging its forearm across the walkway. Cobblestones and debris flew widely in all directions as the blood of the Brotherhood washed away their transgressions. The titan let out a great bone chilling howl as it leapt from the canal up to the surface streets above where it noticed a few of the soldiers still trying to get to their feet. They were terrified as were the hundreds of nameless grunts killed by the Corpse King before.

Suddenly something happened and a dark cloud soared through the sky and smashed against the helm of the titan knocking it off balance and staggering back into the side of a low hanging veranda. Whatever it was the attack had potency behind it and was strong enough to at least impact the beast. After a moment of recovery the titan returned to its upright position at its red eyes surveyed the direction that the magic attack had come from. By this time the soldier on the street had disappeared and all that was around Hayate and the Corpse King were empty streets.

Back with Hayate’s consciousness they two spirits fought vigorously causing flashes of red and black light to light up the desolate place. Hayate had always been confident but now was different, he wasn’t fighting an opponent. He was fighting a friend, one who literally trained him and was like a father to him. With every one of Yamato’s strike he felt like a disappointment to the only person Hayate had left he cared for.

“I’m sorry…” the words left his lips as the two clashed once more. Hayate grabbed Yamato’s ethereal blade with his titanium arm and forced the visage of his father to look him directly in the eyes. At spitting distance the two felt each other’s emotions and truly knew one another.

“Whatever the reason you all of a sudden feel betrayed is irrelevant I have no intention of abusing you or anyone else in this world. I am the last son of the Amatsukami, and as long as the blood of my ancestors’ courses threw my veins I swear that ill avenge my clan.” Hayate said through clenched teeth as he and Yamato clashed. Crimson sparks flew in every direction as the ethereal blade Yamato used grinded against Hayate’s titanium arm. The force his partner was capable of astonished Hayate never knowing he could even assume a corporeal form such as this. “Yamato!”

Hayate brought the pad of his foot up to Yamato’s chest before kicking off with all his might and staggering back a handful of paces. As if by reflex the shinobi twisted his metal wrist and launched his grappling hook towards his partner and latching around his ethereal blade. The chain coiled itself nicely around the sword and in one precise pull Hayate had disarmed Yamato, making it appear relatively easy. Hayate’s spirit companion hesitated before dropping his guard completely.

“Fine, but the moment you screw up and forget who you are and where you came from. The moment your ideals become that of another’s and you are corrupted by greed and power I’ll be ready and the next time we clash… will be the last.” These words resonated with Hayate as the world he was in began to quake and shatter. The red aura that was surrounding him vanished and in an instant he was back in his own body.

A flash of red light covered the area as the magic of the corpse king was dispelled and Hayate, naked and shivering, lay in the middle of the street. A quick look around gave proof to Yamato’s claim, he had gone on a small rampage while they had clashed. Quickly Hayate took hold of his Yamato strapping it to his back before finding some scrap of cloth to cover himself. As he did he could head an unfamiliar voice approach him.

“I have never seen anything like that!” a smooth masculine voice said as Hayate noticed a dark magic encircle him. A fog of sorts rolling in covering his ankles in what he could only presume was dangerous.

“Are you Brotherhood?” the only words Hayate could muster being as confused as he was.

“No…”

“Are you here to kill me?”

“No… I’m here to free you.”

A while had passed since Hayate officially went AWOL abandoning his post at Tylermande and his rank as general of the Brotherhood and with the aid of his new friend he successfully slipped out without anyone being the wiser. It was a smart move promoting squirrel girl and leaving the port in her hands, even if they were Shinsou’s personal guard the Immortals and bolstering them even more would be foolish Hayate knew that Reina would remember what he had done for her in the past. No matter what happened he was sure that he would always have a strong ally in the Brotherhood, so long as Shinsou never finds out.

It was a strange feeling to be back on the run again and Hayate as well as Yamato, who had been very quiet again as of late, had felt any sense of freedom. It took a lot of work but through Yamato’s aggression Hayate realized the error of his way and decided to abstain from the fight for Radasanth. The shinobi, as if without anywhere better to be, fallowed the stranger for what seemed days as the two made their way north towards the capital. All the while avoiding the main roads and keeping their position away from both sides. During their travels Hayate had come to know this man as Ioder, the leader of an outfit of battlemages under contract with the Assembly. He along with his shields, fellow mages, was originally sent to Tylermande to capture or kill Hayate once the news of the port’s capture. But seeing his wild display and his almost eagerness to leave the military behind, voided their mission and took him into their custody secretively.

They were stationed fairly far apart but every few hours or so another of Ioder’s shields would appear and join the caravan as if they had pit stops planned out for their journey. By the end of the two day hike through the rolling hills Hayate was surrounded by a band of about fifteen highly trained and respectable warriors of the highest order. Though he was little more than a stranger, and a dangerous one at that, they treated him like a friend. Never once raising so much as an eyebrow questioning his actions or leading him to believe he was in danger. It was again strange but he in the span of only a few short days already felt more at home now than he ever did as a Castigar.

“Are you ready from what comes next?” Ioder once asked him, early on their travels. Hayate wondered what that meant, he wondered what was next. As far as this man knew Hayate was just a time bomb ready to go at any moment. He avoided telling specific details about the Corpse King but with what information he did divulge Ioder must have thought he stumbled upon the answer to his troubles. But whatever his troubles were Hayate knew they were nothing compared to the overwhelming force about to descend on Radasanth.

“We will set up here for the night, come dawn we make our move.” Ioder said as he and the others stopped in the basin of the Growth. This great ravine separated the southern border of the capital with the fertile green fields of the farmlands. From here there would only be a few hours walk before the party would reach the main gates of Radasanth. But why in the world were these men hired by the assembly be putting in so much effort to stay out of sight? Hayate tried not to impose as much as he could but needed to know exactly what he was about to get himself caught up in this time. As the rest of the shields made a makeshift camp Hayate for the first time in days spoke up.

“Ioder before I can go any further I need to have a chat with you.” Hayate said as he walked past the cloaked man and made his way towards a small patch of trees just further ahead. Ioder fallowed without saying a word. The two stood side by side looking off into the distance neither uttering a word letting the sounds of whipping wind fill their ears.

“I need to know a few things before I can travel any further with you,” Hayate started turning to face the cloaked man. “Who are you and why didn’t you complete your mission in Tylermande?” Ioder sighed unveiling his face for the first time showing his young appearance, crimson hair, and pointed ears.

“Ioder Belle Horvat and these are the Shields of Alore,” he said with a bow. “And it may be hard to believe but in the moment I came across you I saw the potential you had. I witnessed you lashing out at the brotherhood as if they were ants. I felt an overwhelming power lingering in you that would put those in my outfit feel like mere children in comparison. Honestly the world needs a symbol to stand behind in the days to come. And as a member of the Assembly myself I’d like to offer you a unique position.”

Hayate didn’t say anything for a while instead he turned his back. These were the same words Shinsou used those long years ago to sway Hayate into fallowing him blindly. Would he let himself fall prey to flattery again and piss of Yamato?

“I’m not interested in fighting other people’s wars.”

“I’m not asking you to fight, I’m asking you to stand strong and be the hero we need. There is more to this life than battling and waging war for one own ideals. I’m asking you to be the one who endures for the sake of peace. What happened in Tylermande will forever stain your reputation but will also show that when forced to make a decision you, Hayate, are going to stand up for those who can stand for themselves. Don’t think that your history in Akashima has alluded me, I know that you fought to protect your clan.”

“How do you know all this?” Hayate said refusing to look Ioder in the eye. How had this elf become privy to such delicate information?

“The Shields of Alor have eyes in many places…”

“I have my own goals; I’m not willing to get caught up in this fight any more than I have already. Even if you’re suggesting I’ll stay out of conflict I don’t want to be associated with the outcome of this war. The Brotherhood is strong, stronger than you or the Assembly could know and within the month Radasanth will fall.”

“You’re so sure that the might of two estranged wizards is stronger than that of an entire nation, yet have you even considered who was able to stop you from completely destroying Tylermande.” Ioder said as he raised his fist to his chest before conjuring a dark nebula within his hand. “I may have praised your strength and uniqueness but don’t mistake that for fear.” The magic he harnessed swirled briefly before disappearing.

“All I want is to avenge my clan,” he said turning to meet Ioder’s gaze. “To see the light fade from Hiruzen’s eyes as he watches my daggers pierce his chest. Anything that stands in my way will be turned to rot, including you and the entire country if you so choose.”

“Hayate, think for a moment about what you are saying. If you turn the entire world against you then who will be left?” Ioder said as he turned to walk back to the others. “I have no intention of stopping you and you’re free to leave whenever you wish; So long as you refrain from fighting on the side of Shinsou then the Shields will not take arms against you. But consider this, have you ever searched for your family. Our eyes have…”

Quietly I Wait.
Reward Judgment

Rewards:

Hayate Amatsukami receives:
1130 EXP
150 Gold