Re: Chapter 3 - Dawn of Dreams
The hillside is covered in knee-deep green grass; dotted with chrysanthenums, lilies, orchids. It stretches into the distance, meeting a cloud-streaked sky; brillaint blue of midday. Jiro Koji walks, his geta'd feet rustling through the grass, blue-and-green kimono highlighting his strong form. At his hip rides Naru-Kami, the Koji clan honor-blade, in its black sheath; stormclouds picked out in silver gliding along its length.
The wind begins to blow, rustling the grass and tugging some few petals from the flowers. Before him suddenly looms a building; squat and low; he recognizes it - a hall-cum-bunker, in Singapore. People move within, and suddenly he is beset; shadowy figures looming over him, black glades glittering like obsidian fangs in their hands. Naru-kami flashes in his hands like lightning; flashing through the shadowed forms, which dissolve like clouds at the blade's touch.
Suddenly, he is within the building, and the shadow attackers he strikes down are old men; children; women; and the sword in his hand will not stop, even as he cries out; tries to stop himself. Forced away from innocent flesh, Naru-kami twists in his hand and lashes at floor and wall and ceiling. Flames flash up, devouring the dead, devouring the building, devouring those few he had saved from the sword. One man, younger than the others, with a face both blank and instantly recognizable, staggered towards him as the fire seared him; devouring flesh. "You killed us; self righteous, would-be samurai. You killed us with sword and with carelessness; what do you imagine will happen to those you leave in your wake? Killer. Despoiler. Honorless; killing like a frenzied dog." The last words hung in the air as the flames burned away even the man's bones, leaving them to fall in a cloud of ash. The flames swept up, devouring his kimono, tearing at Jiro's flesh like a thousand knives, digging, melting, shaping.
Then Jiro was on the plain again, but the endless green fields were brown, the flowers wilting. She was on her knees, clad in nothing but ash. From behind came the voice of her father. "You have brought dishonor to our house." To his left; the voice of his mother. "You have squandered your gifts and talents." To his right, the voice of his uncle. "You have wasted your training."
Before him, Omiko Nakamura stood, clad in a kimono of purest, shimmering white. "You come to me seeking pity, but reject me when I offer it. Begone from my sight." She turned her back, and it hit Jiro like a physical blow.
Now Jiro knelt on asphalt, her body clad once more; but as gaijin. From behind came the voice of Alexandria. "You use me like a tool, to further your ends and slay your foes. And you would cast me aside the moment I become inconvenient to you." From her left, the voice of Chen Ming. "You claim to trust and respect me, yet you lie as a snake whenever it suits you." From the right, the voice of Wei. "You offer worthless words and worthless actions; it shames me to hear the very offer from you, weakling. You can kill, but you cannot face those whose life you end. Dog and coward." Ahead; Alex stood. "You call me friend and claim you care; yet you drag me into danger. All for what? To have someone watch you and applaud? To use me to gather tidbits?" She began to change, features and figure running like heated wax. "You say that you will watch my back; that I can trust you; but you spout lies and whisper my secrets to other ears." Now, she was beyond any recognition. "And when I cease to be a perdictable, appreciative audience, you shatter my very soul in your hubris."
And then Jiro was again on the plain; the grass now dead, the flowers all withered and gray. The sky above was black; studded by points of light that glared down in baleful judgement. Alex stood before her, Naru-kami in her hand, little lightnings playing along the blade. "Now, Koji, explain yourself. Rationalize yourself. Justify yourself. You have never had problems in the past doing so."
Her voice was ashes and dust. "I never meant harm."
"Good intentions pave your road."
Naru-kami raised in Alex's hand, glittering in the starlight. Then it descended like the very wrath for which it was named. She felt it cleave into her body; bisecting her torso from shoulder to crotch-
With a scream to wake the dead, Jiro Koji awoke, lurching, crashed to the floor. Tears streaming, she curled into a fetal ball.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:50, Tue 23 Apr 2013.
