Act 0 Prologue
With the Warlords and Lady Kayura departing for the Nether Realm the Ronin Warriors resumed their somewhat normal lives. The powers of the nine armors had destroyed Talpa, and were now the keys to his remains. Each armor was a critical piece to ensuring the lock remained strong around what was left of the ancient warlord.
The Warlords, once back in the Nether Realm, took Anubis' body to the shrine and placed the Jewel of Life around his neck and, for the first time in four hundred years, prayed to the Ancients. After three days Anubis' body began to stir and he rejoined his comrades. . His life would be forever bound to the Jewel of Life's power and would wear it until the day he finally departed from the living world as an old man.
As penance for their actions under Talpa's rule, the Warlords rebuilt the Nether Realm alongside Lady Kayura as the leader of the newly reconstructed kingdom. Together they drove out Talpa's remaining forces. Bademon, along with his Nether Spirits, were sealed away and hidden deep under the castle. Once the remaining servants of Talpa were dealt with, the land began to heal and thrive once again. The small towns and cities destroyed in Talpa's takeover became lively centers of hustle and bustle with reconstruction efforts; people, coming out of hiding, once again lived on their own land.
The years passed and without the influence of Talpa's magic, the Warlords slowly began to show signs of aging. During those years, the Warlrods raised their children in the traditional ways, taught them the Samurai's skill with weaponry and battle strategy and instilled a sense of responsibility to protect the Human Realm in their parents' place. Their children in turn kept the tradition alive and passed it onto their children.
Future generations were taught as such in order to redeem for the Warlord's past mistake, resulting in them having to work harder so the Ronins wouldn't have to fight again as well. In order to maintain protection over the Ronins, the bearers of a Seasonal armor teleported to the Human Realm once a month to watch over their respective opposite armor bearer. However, most of their time was otherwise spent in the Nether Realm with their families.
The Ronin Warriors raised their own families, but since they did not see battle after Talpa's sealing their children became less and less interested in the armors or the legends. The descendents of the Ronins soon began to question whether it was even necessary to continue to pass on the armors to their children. Eventually, they decided to use the power of the armors to shield their children to prevent the armors from transferring to them. Unbeknownst to the Ronins the act weakened the armors' powers and crippled the strength of the seal on Talpa's remains, allowing him the opening he needed to return…
200 years after Talpa's remains were sealed away
A young girl, about sixteen, sat on the roof of a high-rise apartment building, her feet dangling off the side as the day faded into night. She sat there, intently watching a ten-year-old boy play with his toys and video games all day through the window of the apartment complex across from her. The girl rested her elbows on her legs and her head in her hands dejectedly.
"This is boring," the girl sighed. "Why do I even have to do this?" The entire day proved to be extremely uneventful. No signs of attacking enemies were to be seen, not even a car wreck or a neighbor arguing about dog droppings on their sidewalk 'Such a boring town,' She thought as she flopped onto her back and glanced up at the clear, night sky.
"Shouldn't you be doing something more important than star gazing?" came a voice from behind her. The girl shot up and spun around, knife ready in hand.
"Oh, it's you Kado. Forgive me," the girl put her knife away and bowed to the older man. He wore a simple Shinto monks uniform and carried a shakujo, a mark of his status as the current head of the Ancient's clan. He smiled warmly at her, kneeled down and ruffled her blue hair with his hand.
"Always the impatient one aren't we Kai?" the Kado smiled down at Kai.
"I'm trying to work on that, teacher," Kai explained. The Ancient stood and walked to the edge of the high-rise building, his eyes focused on the boy in the adjacent building.
"So, that's him," the Ancient said more as a statement than an actual question. "You are sure he is the one?"
Without turning to notice, Kai came to stand beside him. "Yes, I can feel it," Kai said with certainty.
"Well then, you best go get him Kai. We have a lot to discuss and a lot to do before the ceremony," the Ancient reminded with a smile.
Kai nodded and leapt from the roof of the building, grabbing onto the window ledge of the boy's room. Kai pulled herself up onto the ledge and summoned her armor's power of darkness to merge into the shadows outside and reappeared in the boy's room. He boy's back was toward her as Kai emerged from the shadows and gave no sign of hearing her slow approach. Sneaking up behind him, Kai snapped her fingers and the room was plunged into total darkness. The boy's muffled scream could be heard carried upon a light breeze. Light returned to the child's room, but there was no sign of the boy. The only sound could be heard coming from the video game on the television. The words 'GAME OVER' were written across the screen.
