Redemption

By Shawn Carman & Rich Wulf

Somewhere in the darkness…

Once, there had been something other than darkness and pain. Once, there had been light. There had been fulfillment and contentment. That seemed so distant now that it could have been another lifetime, or even the lifetime of another. It had been before the burning, before the blood and the madness. Before the pain.

The pain came again, turning the darkness red.

There was screaming.

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The Twilight Mountains, the Crab provinces

It was strange, the difference that existed between the northernmost and southernmost mountain ranges in the Empire. A little more than a month before, Mirumoto Narumi had left her home in the Dragon mountains. When she left, it was still the latter portion of winter. Blankets of white covered most mountaintops, and only the most heavily traveled roads were even remotely passable. It had taken her over a week to make the trek from Shiro Mirumoto to Shiro Kitsuki, a trip that would take perhaps three days under different circumstances.

Despite the harsh weather that dominated her home for so many months every year, Narumi could not help but find the winter beautiful. The pristine purity of snow was something that spoke to her soul, and she often meditated among the boulders for hours, even on the most frigid of winter days. As she had traveled south, she had left the winter behind and watched as spring struggled to be born in the Unicorn and Scorpion lands. If winter was a time of quiet stillness, then spring was one of chaotic growth, and every bit as vital and important to the soul as the calm serenity of winter. It had been a most refreshing journey.

And then she had reached the Crab lands.

The majority of Crab lands were not necessarily unpleasant, but were decidedly dour. There was no sense of burgeoning life or tranquility, only a bleak and unforgiving sense of oppression. It was as if the land itself sought to dominate you, to overwhelm your senses and demand that you submit to the inevitable. Narumi found it most disquieting. When she had reached the Twilight Mountains, the sensation had only worsened. The last throes of winter here did not seem serene or pristine. It seemed as if the heavens had cast a shroud of death upon the land, killing everything that it touched. Though she would never tempt the Fortunes’ wrath by saying so, Narumi knew in her heart that this was what Meido, the realm of the waiting dead, must be like.

The young samurai-ko’s brooding came to a sudden end as she spied a thin ribbon of smoke spiraling skyward. It was too small to be a wildfire. There were no villages in the area, and Narumi had not seen another human being since she left the company of three very unpleasant Crab magistrates in the Twilight Mountain foothills some days past. Narumi paused for a moment and regarded the ribbon impassively, weighing her options. Her business in the mountains was intended to be discreet, and she wished to avoid involving anymore more than absolutely necessary. Still, the mountains were cold and lonely, and it could be to her benefit to find a guide or perhaps even an ally. Otherwise, she could wander the mountains for months and find no trace of her quarry.

After a moment’s further consideration, Narumi leapt down from her perch atop a large boulder and made her way toward the smoke.

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The ribbon of smoke led to a small hollow in the mountain, a sparse hole that provided some meager protection from the elements, but little else in the way of comfort. A lone Crab sat within it, hunched up uncomfortably near a small fire, absently chewing at a stale rice ball. Every so often, the Crab would glance around suspiciously, as if sensing someone’s eyes upon her, but Narumi remained perfectly still and said nothing. She observed for several minutes before finally deciding that this person did not pose any significant threat.

“Hello,” Narumi said pleasantly, her voice strangely booming in the silence.

The Crab was a blur of motion, leaping to her feet and casting about for any sign of an intruder. Her eyes settled on Narumi. Her hand flew up and a torrent of fire leapt from her palm to blister the stone’s surface where Narumi had been crouching.

Of course, she was not there any longer. She had hurled herself upward into an arcing somersault, carrying her effortlessly across the divide between her previous perch and another boulder several meters away. She landed and instantly leapt upward again, easily dodging the second gout of flame summoned by the Crab. She landed on a third boulder, and this time paused for a moment. “I mean you no harm.”

The Crab scowled, her features tired and worn. “A Dragon? What are you doing here?”

Narumi gestured toward her belt. “I have the proper travel papers, signed by both my Champion and yours. They allow me unrestricted access to this region of the Twilight Mountains.” The samurai-ko hopped down from the boulder and bowed.

“It is dangerous to travel alone in places such as this,” the Crab said. “You should have sought a guide.”

“I did not wish to distract the Crab from their duty,” she replied. “All is well, I am a skilled mountaineer and as I said, you have nothing to fear from me.”

The Crab’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know that you have nothing to fear from me?”

The Dragon gestured to the other woman’s obi, where a tiny jade charm hung. “You bear a witch hunter’s seal,” she explained. “I have nothing to fear from one who hunts the darkness.”

The surly woman seemed to deflate at Narumi’s words, and slumped back down beside her fire. She gestured wearily for Narumi to take a place opposite the flame. “I was a witch hunter,” she corrected. “No more.”

“My apologies for the mistake,” Narumi said. “May I ask what happened?”

“I failed,” the Crab said miserably.

Narumi nodded sadly. “It is a difficult burden that the Crab carry, to stand alone against the Shadowlands.” She glanced around at the makeshift campsite. “What are you doing in these mountains?”

The Crab said nothing for a few moments. “Seeking something,” she finally answered.

“I am as well,” Narumi agreed. “What do you seek?”

“Redemption.”

Narumi smiled. “I seek the same thing, of sorts. Perhaps we can find it together.”

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There was a stirring that drew him from the darkness. He fought against it, because the sweet oblivion was far preferable to the terrible pain of the waking world, but he could not resist the call. He groaned in defeat, and his eyes slowly opened.

It was night. The open sky above them was filled with stars and the half-concealed image of Lady Moon, who cast a weak light down into the stone circle where he lay tied to a jagged chunk of rock. As he became aware of himself and his surroundings once more, the pain rushed in to fill his memory. Pain where the rock cut into his back. Pain from a thousand cuts all across his body. Pain filling his leg, which felt like a loose bag of flesh filled with stones. And pain from the burning, searing agony within his veins that filled the edges of his vision with red and threatened to take control of him once more.

“Hello again, my friend,” a voice said. It was smooth and comforting, but he took no pleasure upon hearing it. It filled his mind with the image of a serpent, winding sinuously among the rocks waiting to strike. “I trust you feel well enough to talk.”

“Where… where am I?” he demanded. “Who are you?”

The voice sighed heavily. “We have this conversation often, you and I. I must confess, so far our relationship has not proven very fulfilling.”

“Who are you?” he repeated.

“My name is unimportant, and you would not remember it in any event,” the other man replied. “Let us suffice to say that I am a seeker of truth, and that I am currently seeking the truths you carry locked within your unfortunate soul. Thus far, you have not revealed them to me, but you will.” The man leaned forward enough so that the dim light from the campfire behind them illuminated his sickly pale skin. “You will tell me what I want to know, Kokujin Kobai, or I will hurt you again.”

The battered husk of a man slumped back against the rock, his eyes gazing up at the moon. The radiance shone through the pain, and for the first time that he could remember, he felt something blaze to life within him. It was the briefest spark, but it did not die. “No,” he spat. “Not Kokujin. Hitomi Kobai.”

The pale man raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Interesting,” he mused. “Perhaps this time you are feeling a bit more like yourself? A bit more lucid, if you will? That will be a great help to us.”

“Don’t play games, Migawari,” a thick voice came from the firelight’s edge. The speaker’s features could not be made out, but his form was hulking and loomed above even the boulders around them. “Find out what he knows. I grow weary of this.”

“Truth is never a game, Horii,” the pale man said in an exasperated tone. “Gather the others and prepare them for the ritual. I will continue my conversation with our friend.”

The larger man lingered in the shadows for a moment, as if deciding whether to tolerate the smaller man’s impertinence, and then finally withdrew. Kobai could hear him speaking harshly to others somewhere in the background. The man called Migawari loomed in closer, smiling at Kobai with a terrible, empty grin. “You really are a treasure,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper. “I can find no reason why you should still be alive after what Kokujin did to you, and yet you are. Your spirit is bound to this realm due to the unique condition of this place and by the circumstances your death. I wonder if your tattoos also play a part as well. I have heard of tattoos that heal the injured, that let a man live forever. I wonder if yours bind your soul here, in a body that should be long since dead.” He smiled again and withdrew a long, wicked knife. “No matter how much damage I do, you do not die. Kokujin chooses his vassals well, it seems.”

The mention of his former master caused the blood within Kobai’s veins to seethe and boil. He grimaced at the pain, and could feel the madness threaten to consume him again. It would transform him into the creature that had followed blindly Kokujin, that had killed his own clan in his master’s name. Kobai stared up at the moon and desperately wished for the strength to resist, but he did not beg for forgiveness or salvation. She would not save him if he was weak. “Hitomi,” he hissed through his teeth, his eyes tearing up at the pain. “I am a Hitomi, now and forever. Lady Moon, give me one more chance to wreak vengeance on those who defy you.”

“Fascinating,” Migawari said. “Tonight shall no doubt be very enlightening.” He drew the knife across his own well-scarred palm, allowing a few drops of blood to trickle onto Kobai’s skin. “But you were a Dragon once, so that is no surprise. Is it not your duty to help others seek enlightenment?”

Kobai fixed Migawari with a murderous gaze.

“Tell me about the Shameswords,” Migawari asked in a sweet, rich voice. “Tell me where they are, and how they were created. Tell me everything and I will give you no more pain today.”

The madness was upon him. Everything ran red. “You will punished you for this, you puling maggot,” he snarled, spraying spittle and blood. “You will suffer for meddling in such affairs! You meddle with the power of a god!”

Migawari sighed. “I wonder,” he replied, “do you speak of Hitomi or Kokujin? Perhaps both?”

Kobai fell silent, though he still seethed with anger. In truth, he did not know.

“Perhaps if I cut the tattoos from your flesh,” the Bloodspeaker said in a musing voice. “I wonder what that would do?”

The screaming continued long into the night.

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Kobai slumped against the stone, weak from blood loss and exhausted from the constant torture. He should be dead, just as the foul creature that tormented him had said, and yet his tattoos would not permit him to die. He had struggled to remain strong, to endure without weakness, but between the pain and the bouts of madness that came over him, he had broken down several nights ago and prayed to Lady Moon. He prayed to her for death, and that she would show mercy for his weakness. In truth, he was not surprised that she did not answer. He was unworthy.

“This is useless.” The voice of his tormentors drifted across the campsite to him, warped and twisted through the veil of pain that separated him from them. “He knows nothing.”

“Perhaps not, Horii.” Migawari’s voice made him cringe despite his stupor. “He may have no conscious knowledge of his connection to the Shameswords, but he died upon the Anvil to create the final blade. Whether he knows it or not, they are connected. I simply need more time to find the truth.”

“We have no time for this. There are other matters to deal with. Several cells in the north have gone quiet, and we must discover the reason before our master loses even more ground.”

“Bah,” Migawari scoffed. “Either they have been destroyed, in which case they were weak and of no use to us, or they have betrayed us.”

“After the fall of the City of the Lost I fear even weak soldiers will be needed.” Horii said darkly. “And what if they have betrayed us?”

“Then you and I will show them the truth, as we always have.”

The larger man sounded angrier. “I grow weary of your fixation on the ‘truth.’ Such philosophy as yours has always led us astray, causing us to waste time and toy with our enemies when it would be better to destroy them or escape. Do not make the mistake of angering me, lest I forget how useful you can be.”

“I can’t imagine how one could forget such a thing,” Migawari said smarmily.

The voices droned on, but Kobai could not make them out. The men must have withdrawn further from the slab where he lay bound. He drifted in and out of consciousness for some time, but the world came back into sharp focus when he felt a burning pain at his wrist. He opened his heavy-lidded eyes and stared up mutely at a young woman who was tugging at the leather straps that bound him.

“Say nothing,” she whispered. “Are you strong enough to come with me?”

Kobai stared at her blankly, then nodded slowly. Surely this was a hallucination.

“We must move quickly,” the woman continued. “There will be only a few seconds before they notice that we are gone.”

“Perhaps less,” a terribly familiar voice said. Migawari stepped forward from the shadows and lashed out at the woman with his twisted knife. The young woman moved with incredible speed, easily stepping back out of range and drawing her blades in the span of a heartbeat. “Yaruko!” she shouted.

A blast of sickly green energy cascaded through the campsite, arriving like a blast of lightning from the shadows somewhere behind the Dragon woman. It narrowly missed Migawari, but struck something huge behind him. Kobai heard the painful scream of the larger man, the one called Horii, and felt a slight shake in the ground as his massive form struck the earth like a boulder.

Migawari snarled and lunged forward, but the Dragon was far too fast. Her fighting style was bizarre, with both blades held out the side and seeming to leave the body open to attack. In his dazed state, Kobai mused that her stance was oddly reminiscent of bird in flight. As her enemy moved in, her blades clashed rapidly, blocking and cleaving. The two danced back and forth for a brief moment, then the Dragon parried the Bloodspeaker’s strike and severed his left arm at the elbow. Migawari screamed and ran into the darkness, his blood leaving a trail across the cold, unforgiving stone.

“Do not touch the blood!” a Crab woman hissed as she emerged from the shadows. She cast another spell, sending a wave of earth to bury Horii’s limp form and to crush the meager campsite just beyond. There were a handful of muffled cries, but they were cut off by the collapsing earth.

The dim firelight was gone, and now only the light of Lady Moon illuminated the mountains. “Help me get him free!” the Dragon said to Yaruko, cutting at his thick bonds with her wakizashi.

The Crab withdrew a strangely familiar knife from her obi and hacked the bonds on her side away. She helped Kobai to his feet, but his legs would not hold him. The women helped him, but he had to grind his teeth against the pain. For several minutes they carried him through the woods before finally stopping in a shallow cave. The Crab knelt over him, whispering softly as she spoke prayers of healing. Kobai shivered as soothing magic coursed through him, eyes opening wide in terror as his pain was torn away.

For years the pain was all he had. Without it, what would become of him?

“This man bears the symptoms of corruption,” Yaruko said, “but he bears no Taint. How is that possible? How can a man escape his Taint completely?”
“I do not know,” Narumi said.

“Who is this?” Yaruko pressed. “You said we sought Togashi Mitsu. Is this him? How did he even come to be here?”

The Dragon glanced at her comrade strangely, her mouth pressed into a fine line. “There was an… incident here, some years ago,” she said. “Mitsu was not the only one lost here.”

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The darkness had come and gone again, and Kobai did not remember. The flight from where the Bloodspeakers had held him was a mystery, as he remembered nothing of it. He glanced at the moon and could see that several hours had passed. Thankfully, the rest seemed to have staved off the madness, at least for the moment. Kobai rose to a sitting position, his hands shaking from the effort.

“Are you rested, Mitsu-sama?” Narumi asked. “We can not risk staying here much longer. We are too close to the Bloodspeaker camp.”

Yaruko nodded. “Migawari will not be defeated by losing a limb, and Horii may well still live.”

Narumi glanced oddly at her comrade, her thoughts obvious. Kobai shared them as well. “You know them?” he asked in a rasping voice.

“I have faced them before,” Yaruko said. “Horii was once a Crab. Migawari is… something else.”

“Are you rested, Mitsu-sama?” Narumi repeated.

“Mitsu?” Kobai replied and his body heaved with a rasping chuckle. “I am surely not Togashi Mitsu.”

The two women stared at him blankly. The Crab glanced at Narumi questioningly. The Dragon, for her part, seemed shocked and embarrassed. “Who are you, then?”

Kobai thought for a moment. “I am not entirely certain who I am now. Once, I was Hitomi Kobai.”

“Kobai!” Narumi hissed. She was on her feet in an instant, her blades drawn. “Traitor! You should have died with the Bloodspeakers!”

Kobai nodded. “Yes, I should have. And you must kill me now.”

Again, the women were taken aback by his response. “What is the meaning of this?” Yaruko demanded. “What are these Dragon riddles?”

Kobai stood, his shattered leg now repaired by Yaruko’s magic and his restorative tattoos. “I died corrupted, bound to Kokujin’s will,” he said. “My soul was trapped in a Shameswords, but somehow… part of me remains. There is something in this place, these mountains, that would not let me die. I can feel the sword, calling to me from across the Empire. And I can sense Kokujin’s madness welling up inside of me. If it overtakes me, I will kill you both. You must kill me first.”

“What is a Shamesword?” Yaruko asked.

Narumi ignored the question. “You can sense them?” she asked quietly. “You can sense the swords?”

Kobai nodded. “At least one of them. It is a part of me now, and the others are tied to it as well. I can feel them, like stings on my skin.”

Narumi sheathed her blades. “Satsu-sama told me of the blades. I was to search for any clue as to their location. He seemed optimistic that I would find them here, but it seems even our lord can be wrong from time to time.”

“Are you so sure?” Yaruko asked. “Perhaps Kobai is your clue.”

Kobai frowned at her words. “You cannot return me to the Dragon lands. I am a danger to everyone around me. You must destroy me before the madness returns.”

“I have heard of enlightened madness,” Yaruko said. “Sometimes the wisdom dragon tattoo magic brings is too much for a soul to safely handle.”

“What would you know about it?” Kobai growled. “I am no Dragon. I am a monster! You must kill me.”

“I will not kill you, Kobai,” Narumi insisted. “I was commanded to seek the location of the Shameswords, and if you are the only clue then you must live.”

“Kill me,” Kobai snarled, “or I will take your swords from you and do it myself.”

“My life is unimportant compared to yours,” Narumi said flatly. “If you are a true servant of Lady Moon I do not believe she would let you destroy yourself. If you are untrue, then the Dragon have lost nothing but a madman and a woman foolish enough to have faith in him.”

The kikage zumi’s hands curled into fists as his anger rose. He struggled to calm himself, lest he encourage his own madness. He glanced around absently, looking for a way to destroy himself. But wouldn’t his tattoos only keep him alive again? It seemed hopeless.

“I have always heard of the Hitomi’s legendary strength” Yaruko said quietly. “What is this weakness?”

Kobai turned to face the woman with a wild, wide-eyed stare. “Do not dare speak ill of Lady Moon’s Order,” he said through clenched teeth. “Defeated as I am, I will not endure such insult to my brothers!”

“Then cease to be one,” Narumi said, meeting his gaze squarely. “Cease your self destructive moaning and help me find the Shameswords.”

“You know nothing!” Kobai whispered. “I was the most loyal of Lady Hitomi’s followers! None could dare question my devotion! I was her chosen vassal!”

“And she allowed you to succumb to Kokujin?” Yaruko asked. “Hitomi is stronger than that. If she wished to retain you, she would have done so. The weakness was yours, Kobai. Overcome it now.”

Kobai opened his mouth to reply, but said nothing. He flushed darkly in shame.

“I have worked alongside the Damned,” Yaurko entered impassively. “I have seen men suffer from madness and rage as products of the Taint. You bear no corruption, but I see many similarities here.  You are not weak because of your madness, Kobai. The very fact that you have retained any sanity at all demonstrates that there is hope of return. Tell us more about how you came to be here, Kobai.”

Kobai frowned. “After Hitomi ascended, I was… it was difficult. I was lost. I had no purpose, no meaning.” His frown deepened, and he sat heavily upon a rock. “I had followed her so completely that when she left… I had nothing. I was empty. I could barely think for myself.” He paused. “You are right. I was weak. I threw myself into the hunt for Kokujin because I hoped he might destroy me. I hoped I might rejoin my Lady in death.”

Yaruko nodded. “Instead Kokujin sensed your weakness, and exploited it.”

Kobai bowed his head in shame. “I needed to follow someone,” he whispered. “I needed a master. I was lost.” He buried his face in his hands. “How could I let that madman control me?”

“Kokujin has bent the wills of many great men,” Narumi offered. “Even Satsu could not stand against him alone.”

“Lady Hitomi abandoned me,” Kobai said miserably. “Kokujin used me and left me for dead. I cannot imagine why I am still alive.”

“What interests me more is how you have discarded your Shadowlands Taint,” Yaruko added.

“According to Satsu, you died,” Narumi said. “When you were sacrificed upon the Anvil of Despair, perhaps the part of your soul that embraced Kokujin, the part that was corrupted, was torn away and locked within the last Shamesword. That is why you can sense it. It is everything dark that was in you. Kokujin left the rest behind, the parts of your soul that he did not need. He expected you to die, but in the Twilight Mountains not everything happens as it should.”

“He did not strip all the darkness from me,” Kobai said. “There is madness yet within me.”

“How do you know that is Kokujin’s doing?” Yaruko insisted. “How did you survive being tortured by the Bloodspeakers all this time?”

“The madness,” Kobai said, staring at Yaruko as the realization dawned upon him. He looked up at the night sky, catching a glimpse of the moon between the clouds. “The Lady never abandoned me,” he said, breathless.

“This Kokujin is a plague on all men, not just you Dragon,” Yaruko said. “Your Lady Moon is a warrior goddess. I do not doubt that she requires servants who are also warriors – not slaves. Your Lady’s protection, Kokujin’s magic, and the strange nature of these mountains have combined to grant you life. Your betrayal, your death, have instead become a test of your strength.”

Kobai bowed his head in a quick prayer to Lady Moon. “I will not fail her again.”

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The Dragon provinces, two months later

Even in the midst of summer, the winds atop the Dragon mountains could chill one to the bone. When winter had not yet gone, they were like daggers cutting through the flesh. Even the hardiest ise zumi tended to avoid them during winter months, which meant that Kobai had the balcony overlooking the empty mountains to the west all to himself. Or at least, he believed it to be so.

“Have you adjusted to your return?”

Kobai turned and bowed deeply. He had not heard the man approach, but then this one was not bound by the same rules that restricted others. “It is difficult, sama. I am still having difficulty, but it will come easier in time.”

“Your fortitude is a testament to Lady Moon’s favor,” the man observed, watching him with pale golden eyes. “Clearly she is beside you. Even your tattoos look different than they once did. Kokujin’s twisted insanity no longer binds you.”

“Yes and no,” Kobai said. “The madness remains, but it is mine now. It is my weapon.” His lip curled up in a smile. “I have ever been a brute. Hitoden, they called me. I earned the name”

“I see,” Satsu said, watching Kobai thoughtfully. “And perhaps it is your madness that will lead us to the answer we need. Perhaps it will lead us to Kokujin.” He paused for a moment. “How much do you remember of your time spent under his will?”

“Everything,” Kobai said, gripping the rail so tightly that the metal curled between his fingers. “I remember everything.”

“I am sorry,” he said sadly. “I fear you cannot forget. We will need that knowledge.”

“I cannot believe Mitsu has not returned,” Kobai said. “I cannot imagine that he is dead.”

“Mitsu will return in time,” the other said said with a smile. “Until then, heroes like you must take his place.”

“But can we defeat Kokujin without Mitsu?” Kobai asked. “All that we have done, all the warriors we have sent against him, and his power only grows. The threat he poses will only grow. What hope do we have that we can ever defeat him?”

Togashi Satsu looked at him with a sad smile. “You, Hitomi Kobai. You escaped his madness, his control, and even death itself to return to us. That alone is proof that Kokujin’s power is not absolute.”

With that, the Dragon Champion left Hitomi Kobai alone to ponder an uncertain future.

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