Toturi's Army Letter - #7
Old friend -
This day, on the plains of Otosan Uchi, the seven great clans joined again in war - but this time, against an unholy enemy that had taken the emperor's palace. In the twilight beforethe battle, I walked through the armies looking at the faces of old companions, gathered for one last struggle. The fear was so thick you could cut it with a tanto. An army of Lions stood on one side of the hill, their banners ready for the charge, and yet another stood before the gates of the palace, ready to receive. madness. On the wall, undead soldiers marched in stiff mockery of life, and their rotting flesh stank on the wind.
In the morning I heard rumors that Shinsei had returned, that he had gathered a new group of thunders and they had gone inside the palace to face the Dark Lord within his walls. Well enough. I had my own battle to fight. I drew my sword beside a group of Crane planning to assault the northern wall. When the fighting began, the great gates of the palace were flung open and we were surrounded by oni, beasts without name. Insanity reigned on that battlefield, not strategy. The dead rose even as they were cut down, and the gibbering chatter of the soldiers of the Emperor filled the air. Darkness, hurled down from the walls of the palace, fell upon the fields and where it landed, nothing remained. The Lion charged the gates, cutting down the zombies with steady hands, and I saw the Unicorn arrows fly past me, imbedding themselves into a massive oni. The Crane around me screamed as a huge beast with three tongues lifted them from the ground one by one, tearing their bodies and leaving them in shreds upon the blood soaked ground. My blade was hungry that day, and I killed with a lunge and a prayer.
When it was done, and the dead finally stayed down upon the field, I stood among the blood and the flames and looked up at the walls of the palace. There, far above me stood two figures - the first sign of life from that dark place.
I raised my weapons, blood drenched and dark with death, and screamed my victory to the sky. We had won.
The eta brought the bodies of the dead from the palace, draping them in white cloths and building pyres of the scented wood to send them to their rest. Noble men, with noble burials. I asked Toturi what to do about the thousands who lay rotting on the plain of Otosan Uchi, and three bitter words were his reponse: "Burn them all." When the wind was right, I stood alone, a burning torch in my hand and the Emperor's fields stretching out before me. Looking out at the dead I saw the faces of the past - Morito Tokei, with his arrogant laughter and his quick smile. The men who fought at the battle of Beiden Pass. The lost souls who stood their ground at the palace of the Doji so that their families could escape the horde. Yotsu Seiki, whose courage shamed greater men that I. Young Tokiuji.
All my friends. Your lives have led the way. Yours and those of the countless hundreds who lay on the darkened fields of the emperor's palace. There were no pyres, no tearful goodbyes, no shrines to immortalize their deaths.
I threw my torch among the waving grasses and watched the plains of the Emperor burn.
Farewell, brave souls. You will be remembered.
I remember you.
Ginawa