Accursed Steel
By: Tamphis
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, no any other series, game, artwork, music, celebrity, concept, or situation mentioned in this story. This work is done for fun and is in no way meant for profit. Mutant zombie ferrets rule the world via the power of radioactive cheese. Long live Emperor Zho. Thank you.
Chapter 1.
Sometime in the mid-to-late 10th century, when iron was still considered the metal of the Gods, there was an apprentice smith who had a nasty habit of only half understanding things he had learned. It is common knowledge that, when learning a skill such as blacksmithing or magic, one must learn both the how and the why. It's all well and good to know that a sword must be tempered three times before it's sharpened, but why must that be? A summoning spell requires a mystical circle to be preformed in, but why must it be there?(1) These are the things that this apprentice did not care to learn. True, the apprentice's work was technically flawless, but it occasionally failed the final tests. Eventually, the blacksmith grew exasperated with this apprentice and sent him away.
In the course of time, the apprentice smith came to be an apprentice to a rather notable mage and found that he had real talent for the craft. However, once again, he only paid attention to the how and not the why. Unlike his last master, however, the mage felt that so long as nothing disastrous happened, technical perfection was good enough and promoted him to journeyman.
During this period, the young mage learnt of the wars going on in the lands to the south and decided that he would apply both of his crafts towards ending the conflict there. So, he forged a weapon based off of a set of Bagh Naks, or tiger claws. Instead of simply being a bar with blades projecting out from it, these weapons had the look of angular bucklers with a pair of long blades affixed to the end(2), theoretically enabling them to be used for either offence or defense. However, instead of stopping there, he also bound into them spirits of strength, law, and peace. He then presented this set of weapons to one of the southern warlords and bade him to use them to put an end to the conflict. The enchanted weapons would grant him all he needed to be an effective ruler once donned. The Warlord asked the young mage what these weapons might be called, and the mage responded "Dragon's Fangs".
What the young mage failed to learn is that while some spirits can cohabitate within an item, they must be aligned with one another and agree to it first(3), otherwise the spirits will fight and struggle for dominance over the wielder and their powers invert themselves(4). The warlord, knowing nothing of magic, put the weapons on and fell into a killing rage. He single-handidly slew his family, court, and the majority of his army before the surviving general was able to bring him down with a well- aimed arrow. The blades, having never been used, as well as being filled with squabbling spirits, had been used to claim over 1000 souls and were now officially cursed in the worst possible manner(5). The general, now made warlord by the people, had the blades cast into the sea, where he hoped that they would remain lost forever.
Time passed, as it is want to do, and history became legend, legend became myth, and the myth was forgotten. The blades, lost at the bottom of the sea, grew dormant and their powers weakened. Until they were found by a fisherman in his nets and sold to a local antiques store for some quick cash. This store, unfortunately, was located nowhere else but Nerima, Tokyo.
Akane Tendo, of the Tendo Dojo was not normally drawn to such establishments as the antiques shop, but for some reason felt compelled to enter this one. She spent the better part of an afternoon browsing amongst dusty shelves filled with curios from bygone times and foreign locals, wondering at each of their stories. For, you see, any good actress is very interested in history. One never knows when one will be called upon to perform a historical role, see? And, as they say, accuracy is next to perfection(6). It was then that she happened upon the blades, and a powerful desire for them drove her purchase the blades. It is true that they were, indeed, rare works of the blacksmith's art, and their beauty as weapons was nothing to trifle with, but it was the intangible qualities of the blades that drove her to purchase them.
Ranma, her erstwhile fiancé, had been sent to fetch her for supper and was somewhat surprised by her purchase. He figured her for the traditionalist in Japanese martial arts, only favoring the katan and naginata for weapon-based practices. To see her purchase so esoteric a weapon drove his respect for her up a notch.
However, it came as no surpise to him that she practically snarled at him when he asked to see the blades, knowing full well how volatile her temper could be, being more often than not the target of it. However, once he was able to see them, his admiration soon turned to foreboding as he sensed a malicious energy from the blades.
However, Akane ignored his warnings and took them to her home, and thence upstairs to her room. Ranma knew that not only would this end in tragedy, but that somehow, he would be blamed for it.
End of Chapter 1
(1) You temper a blade three times to ensure that it has the strength to withstand combat, and the circle is there to keep "hitch-hikers" from escaping into our realm. It's reall a common sense kind of thing.
(2)
(3) Aligned, like peace, wisdom, and mercy. Also, spirits hate being cooped up without agreeing to it first, it tends to make the rather… angry when they are basically imprisoned like that. Not a pretty picture at all, dear reader.
(4) This is a little more complicated… Law becomes anarchy, Strength becomes domination, and wisdom becomes insanity. These powers then posses the wielder until the cursed object is removed or they die.
(5) Hey, 1000 innocent souls will stain any object with evil, even a teddy bear.
(6) I don't actually know if they say that, but it fits Akane's personality, don't you think?
Authors notes:
I have risen, temporarily, at least, from my author's crypt. Please, bear with me for a while as I, once again, attempt to juggle family, work, life, and writing to form some sort of whole.
…Wish me luck…