Brother,
I need your help. This place, that I now find myself in, it is, I cannot describe it, I am lost in it. It traps my senses, I need your help. You can save me.
Please come to Shiro Himeji as quickly as you can. Bring Father's jade necklace.
-Your brother Isawa no Shiba Akutsu
Shiba Ito looked up from the faded letter, the red ink barely legible with the erratic scrawling handwriting of Akatsu. It was strange, Akatsu had always been better than him at calligraphy. The bushi gave a mental shrug, as his deft hands folded up the letter and put it back into his kimono. Above him towering in the rocky barren wastes north of Mori Kage, was Shiro Himeji. It's elegant central keep, supported by four towers at its corners, stood as silent and reproachful sentinel against the North.
The thin Shiba tilted his head taking in the sight, the castle had been abandoned centuries ago according to the records he had looked at, after receiving his brother's letter. Built to counter the Yobanjin hordes as they were driven beyond the Phoenix lands, it had been abandoned as the southern provinces ended the fragile lifeline that supported it. The Builders of the structure should be honored as it was remarkably still intact for an abandoned castle.
Ito's hand rubs over the spot where he put the letter.
A single letter, the first he had heard from his brother Akutsu in ten years.
What had Aku-kun been up to?
Why did his little brother need the jade necklace of their father?
Why the letter?
Shifting his travel bag, Ito walks up the mountain towards the castle, those questions rolling around in his head. There are no answers for him, there wouldn't be until he found his brother,
The only family he had left since their father passed years ago. Come to think of it that was the last time he saw Akatsu to. Ito firmly pushes away that thought to focus on the questions at hand.
Why Shiro Himeji? Why had Aku-kun's letter been so strange? And what was going on here?
The moon had risen overhead by the time Ito finally reaches the gate of the castle. A massive thing of lacquered oak, and metal bars the gate was made to withstand the force of Wyrms and other beasts beyond the mortal ken.
Ito looks up, yes the gate is impressive, and short of climbing it like some sort of demented monkey, he can see no way around it. Yet, that isn't what draws his attention.
The two lamps that light the small gatehouse are lit. By whom, Ito has no idea, but they're lit, and there's a sensation crawling up his neck as the orange and red flames flicker blue.
Blue?
Ito's instincts react before his mind does, as he throws himself back. In front of him a cloud of dust rises up, as a loud crash echoes through the still night.
Rolling back into a fighting stance, his blade drawn, Ito takes a single moment to figure out what his foe must be and charges forward, swinging the katana in his hands high to kill the monster before it could jump up again.
It's a perfect strike, even his old rival Kakita Naname would not find fault with it.
Yet, there is no feeling of flesh wrent from flesh by cold steel, no sound of bones shattering under the force of the blow, not even a gurgle of air as his opponent struggled to breathe, nothing but empty air.
The dust settles as Ito looks at his katana gleaming in the pale moonlight.
Below him was not an opponent, but a massive blade, as long as his leg and twice as thick around. There was no foe, just this blade.
With a wary glance from his brown eyes. Ito looks up from where sword had come down, there's no-one up there, no source for the falling sword. With a frown, the puts his katana away, and kneels down in front of the the blade, looking for something to tell him where the blade came from.
Instead all Ito finds a phrase burned into the blade somehow.
"So whoever wields the truth will cut through all barriers, even your own"
The Shiba frowns, his hand coming back to stroke his beard,
What an odd thing to carve on a sword, more suited to a book or a philosophy scroll than a blade. A sword did not reveal truth outside of the duel, and in the duel it defended your truth, not destroyed it. No it wasn't the sort of phrase that you put on a sword at all. Not even strange swords that looked wrong. Wrong was too strong a term, it was a sword, but it was so massive and broad that it looked closer to an axe head in use, a brutal weapon of no finesse meant to batter an enemy into submission.
Ito looks up at the flames, which still flicker red and orange in the night. Had it been a delusion that he saw blue in those lantern oils? His mind playing tricks on him as his other senses reacted to something, or someone hurling this blade? The darkening shadows held no answer for him.
Instead the bushi's eyes turn back towards the sword, again his hand reaches out it, as the feeling of electricity tingled around his neck. With one firm hand Ito takes the sword by the hilt and stands. A profound sense of deja vu overwhelms him for just a moment, as if this act has been done countless times before. Ito dismisses the thought, no that was insane no one would have done this before.
In spite of its size, Ito finds the sword is light in his hand, indeed he does not even need more than one hand to lift it around. The balance is oddly perfect too. Why would such a large weapon be designed to swing one handed?
The Shiba frowns even as his swings the sword around in a practice kata. It's an awkward thing even with it's design, the size is simply impractical for elegant motions that are meant to be used with a Katana.
A loud creaking noise erupts from the oak and the gate swings inward. It's only as there's thud of completion, that the bushi realizes he had swung the sword at the gate.
The words inscribed on the sword come back to him 'cut all barriers'
Was it a clue?
Shiba Ito frowns, he is aware that he should leave now. That there are too many strange things here, even with the jade necklace of his father, he is no inquisitor to walk into the dark places and come out the other side whole. Nor is he a learned shugenja who can navigate the spirit realms with carefully hoarded knowledge...no his is a simple bushi, this place is not for him.
Yet, his brother, his kin, was in here somewhere, his little brother, lost and alone.
Ito hefts his new weapon on to his shoulder.
He would be damned, if he abandoned his family to this place.
And so, he walks into the abandoned castle with lit lanterns.
The crunch of his steps on gravel, masks the quiet noise of the dirt shifting behind him, to make the crater disappear.
The outer courtyard sprawls out in front of him, and Ito takes it all in. The stone path ways run across it in a pattern that makes no sense to him. Always twisting to and fro, never making a straight line longer than a few feet. He shifts his sight upwards towards the walls, there the moonlight makes a mockery of the burning torches. There's no need for them, but they try futilely to reveal the whitewashed wood and stone walls.
No hint of grass growing, or trees over taking the castle, no hint of life here at all.
Save for those lit lanterns.
Ito sighs, he doesn't like this, but he can only go forward now.
Courage he tells himself, courage like the heroes of old.
Yet as Ito walks down the stone paths, he can't help but shiver.
Must be the cold.
"Is anyone there?" He calls out, his baritone booming across the courtyard.
Ito can only give an annoyed grunt at the lack of response.
Someone lit these lanterns, and someone threw the sword on his shoulder at him…
So why didn't they answer?
The Shiba continues to walk forward towards the central keep, the steading sound of his sandals on the stone keeping him company. In spite of Shiro Hemiji being a small castle, Ito can feel his legs begin to ache and shoulder complain of the weight it carried as he continued to walk.
Ito's eyes glance up at the moon, it hadn't moved, so why then did he feel so tired? He hadn't even walked the entire courtyard?
The samurai takes a deep breath and wills the fatigue away, it was just the long journey, that was all.
When Ito's almost at the door into the keep, he hears a woman's voice, it sounds old, filled with rich cracks of age and sophistication.
"Do not go further Samurai-san"
He turns around looking around for who spoke. There was nothing there except for a small hut, a place to store things maybe? Ito frowns, walking off the path towards the hut.
"You are wise to come to me…" The woman speaks.
Ito stops outside the hut, looking for a door.
"I am Shiba Ito, who are you?"
"...Oh just a woman, you can call me. Kijo if you like." The woman says.
Walking around the hut, there on the back of it is the door..why there? Ito wonders. The moonlight doesn't reach here, nor do the torches, it's only by the barest of margins that he sees the door at all.
"Why didn't you answer me earlier?" Ito asks.
"I tried, but you may have noticed my voice isn't the best." Kijo answers.
"Hmm, if you say so Kijo-san, where is everyone else?"
"Oh it would be easier to show you."
"Who lit the lights?" Ito asks.
"I would not know Shiba-sama, I have been locked in this hut for a crime I did not commit...I know where everyone is, because I know the habits of the castle"
Ito frowns, recalling that indeed there were no windows on this hut.
"But you cannot see out of the hut, thus you do not know who lit the lamps...people change and the seasons stay the same."
"Precisely Shiba-sama." Kijo answers. Sounding delighted.
"What crime were you accused of?" Ito asks.
Kijo's voice is much less happy as she answers.
"The mistress of the castle accused me of 'bewitching her husband and son' said that she wouldn't stand for it. She tricked me into this hut and locked the door."
The Shiba looks at the door, and indeed there is lock made of iron and jade on it.
It looks new, he thinks as he lets his free hand trace the material. Just slightly raised on the material, is a series of letters. Ito carefully traces each letter in his mind to piece together the message.
'Do not open this lock'
"Why didn't anyone free you?"
"Who would dare to ignore the commands of the mistress?" Kijo says seemingly resigned.
"Her husband?"
"There was a witch Shiba-sama, but it wasn't me."
Ito frowns, the pieces fitting together in his mind. If the wife was the witch...then...well blaming another, is standard practice for criminals.
Yet the lock gave him pause, iron and jade...it was not something a witch could touch was it?
"Kijo-san?"
"Yes Shiba-sama?"
"Why does the lock tell me not to open it?"
"Well it would not be much of a lock if it told you to open it now would it?" Kijo answers.
Ito frowns, it was true a lock was meant to keep things well at bay. So a lock that told you not to would be strange, and yet…
A scream erupts from the central keep, Ito knows that scream.
There's no hesitation from Ito as he turns and runs towards the central keep, trying to body check his way through the doors. Only to find himself flying back away from the doors, as a piece of paper glitters brightly on it.
The samurai lands on the ground, a woosh of air escaping from his lungs.
"Please Shiba-sama, if you want to save your brother, free me."
His brother? She knew his brother?
"My brother? You know him"
"Hai, free me Shiba-sama, if you want to see him again!"
Ito's hand grasps around the lock, instinct warring against instinct.
This woman was strange, she explained nothing. She was locked away…
But if she was telling the truth…
To save his brother, he would do anything, Ito knew that in his heart.
Ito lets go of the lock and picks up the blade that had opened the gate.
With one motion, he swings the weapon at the lock.
Ito wishes he could say the world went white, or that shadows fell across him, something to hint that what he had done was good or ill.
Yet there was nothing, the lock shattered under the weight of steel, and Kijo quietly walked out of the hut.
In the pale moonlight, Ito was struck by contrast more than anything. Her face was too thin, stretched almost, pulled back into an ugly face, at least that was his first impression. Yet when he finished looking down her admittedly voluptuous body…
No it's not. Something inside him says instantly, a reflex against the idea that any part of Kijo could be attractive. Yet, why would he have that reflex?
Ito shakes his head, he has to focus. His brother is screaming and that's what matters, not his mind playing tricks on him.
"Kijo, lead me to my brother,"
The strange woman nods and leads him towards the keep, not the main door that had thrown Ito to the ground, but towards the side.
They stop at an empty castle wall…Ito blinks. No not empty, he can see the door, but Kijo also wavers in his vision. The Shiba looks at the words on the sword. 'So who ever wields the truth cuts through all barriers, even your own'
"Allow me" Ito says, trusting once more in the blade he picked up.
Kijo steps back, seemingly afraid of the sword, but says "Of course Shiba-sama"
Of course Shiba-sama.
Of course Shiba-sama, it's not your fault.
Of course Shiba-sama, it is your fault.
Ito swings the blade, ignoring the echoing words in his head. Why was this happening?
Why was his mind seeing things that weren't there? Hearing things that made no sense?
The blade, Truth, Ito realizes that its name is Truth now. How he knows, he can't say, so much as he feels it, like something was peeled...cut away.
Truth cuts through all barriers.
That word, barrier, what did it mean? Ito's mind quietly works it over as Kijo leads them into the castle.
The castle is ruined, yet whole. With each step, Ito can see the flickering lights of blue torches illuminating halls that were abandoned only yesterday. With every other step, he sees the fitful half moonlight trickle in from the ruined walls, as damp moss and plant crunches under his sandals
Barriers, was there...a barrier between him and the truth? Was swinging the blade revealing it to him? Ito looks a Kijo and then back at the blade and stops.
Kijo flickers again, for the briefest of moments Ito sees something else in the black robes of a priestess. She turns around and looks at him, red eyes studying him intently.
"Shiba-sama?" She asks.
"How much longer?" Ito asks.
"Not much longer Shiba-sama… just through this door here." Kijo steps forward, sliding a door open.
There was no door there a moment ago.
Ito palms his face, is he going insane?
No...he's seeing the truth, a small part of him decides.
Is there any difference? Another part asks.
That isn't something Ito has an answer to.
Carefully Ito steps through the door himself.
Through one eye he sees a great banquet hall, with dozens upon dozens of people in masks, all eating and drinking, hanging above them is Akatsu, his brother….one servant carefully tortures Akatsu to create the sweetest music.
The other eye sees a damp, empty place, the banquet hall is filled with the mummified corpses of those who sat down generations ago, and never stood up. His brother half cocooned in stone silk, seems set to become the newest one.
Both can't be true.
Ito looks at Kijo, hefting Truth into his grip.
"What are you?"
"I said I'm-"
"NO!" Ito swings the blade at Kijo, and he feels that sense again.
Of something be cut away from him.
Kijo steps back, seemingly nonplussed by the fact that Ito swung a sword at her.
Ito flows into another attack he can see her now.
Can see the dripping flesh that hangs from her arms and legs, see her face twisted by hate and jealousy into funeral mask of sin. See her too long ears and horned tongue.
He can see it...thanks to the sword that someone sent him, the sword she feared.
The Samurai's attacks against the demon woman are relentless, pushing forward as the banquet hall fades away to reveal an empty damp room.
Kijo ducks and dodges, her hands twist into blue fire that she begins throwing at him, but it's no use, Ito is guided by Truth, guided by righteousness he will not fail here of all places, not when his brother is so close.
The jade necklace of his father glows pure white, as Ito finally catches Kijo's neck with the sword. The demon woman screams in anguish as she's forced back to Jigokou.
The insistent illusion ends, the castle walls collapsing all around Ito.
Now he sees the ruins of Shiro Himeji, and his brother, still in his cocoon of silk.
The Shiba runs to Akatsu and peels off the silk and stone, the sword clattering to the ground beside him.
Akatsu's skin is far too pale to be healthy, and it seems like he's not eaten in days, but as he collapses into Ito's arms. He whispers. "Knew you could do it"
Ito can only smile, as he picks up his family, and begins the long journey home.
The gates slam shut.
To the honourable Kakita Naname.
I wish I had someone else I could ask, but although you are my rival, your also the strongest and most honourable bushi I know. There is a conspiracy afoot in the Phoenix lands, although it shames me to say it. I need you to come to Shiro Himeji, post haste, bring a Jade necklace.
-Shiba Ito, your friend and rival.
Kakita Naname folded the letter and put it back into her kimono. She looks up the mountain path towards the abandoned Shiro Himeji. Why had Ito-kun summoned her out here?