The years of war
Notes from the author:
I know some of these are a bit well off but it is still a work in progress. There will be more to come don't worry about that. The name still needs work and I'm sure so does the introduction I will try to make notice to the newly added material I hope you enjoy.
Master Inari
Anbu – dark side.
Kasai – fire
PrefaceTen thousand years ago there was a difference between those with summoning powers, those others with elemental powers, and those who protected them with neither power. There were wizards, shaman, summoners and warriors. Many times the warriors were the fighters of a tribe who protected the inhabitants. Many years before the war was over; all the warriors were either killed in various battles or died off and did not have any children. One day a summoner decided that he would surpass his teacher and summon a forbidden demon. The ambitious summer lost control of the demon and lost his life to the demon. This demon, no longer having a master to answer to went after many of the powerful tribes that had risen throughout the centuries. The warriors, who were trained to kill demons, were already dead. Many of the summoners went into hiding when this demon showed its face, due to pure fear. The wizards fought with all their might and knowledge of the elements, but many were still killed the remaining wizards ran to various mountainous regions and forests to hide from this powerful enemy. This left the tribes of shaman to defend themselves.
The first tribe that the demon went after was that of earth. The shamans are much like wizards with extensive knowledge of their specific element. The earth elements allowed for strong offensive attacks and even stronger defensive techniques. The earth tribes had always specialized in elemental seals. When the demon showed up to that area of the planet, they summoned countless clay golems to attack the demon and defend the village. The demon called out 200 hellhounds to destroy the thousands of clay and stone golems. The hellhounds were very successful. Many of the hellhounds took out thousands of golems without ever receiving a scratch. Once the hellhounds cut through the golems they moved on and killed as many of the earth shamans as they could. The shamans that were left went into hiding for ten thousand years co-existing with the other humans.
The next tribe that fell victim to the air tribe, the protectors of the phoenix's temple. The phoenix would only awaken if one event were to take place, a complete apocalypse. The air shaman controlled the winds of the world. They could keep themselves hidden by creating a large wall of air that no one could pass through. This is what they did in centuries past when the warriors or wizards attempted to raid their villages. The temple of the Phoenix had one of these walls and the retainers of the temple were said to live forever. No natural cause could kill them many believed that not even a stab wound could kill them. The other shaman would defend this temple with their lives.
When the demon showed up there were three of these walls in place. The walls allowed the village to be protected, but they walls need shaman to maintain them. Many of the air shamans, after hearing about the earth tribe, went into hiding as well because they thought that the demon was unstoppable. The weaker shamans went underground. The stronger ones stayed in the village to protect it. The demon broke down the air walls with ease using his own-clawed hands. The air shamans that were maintaining the air walls were killed in the process due to the power used to destroy this wall. Once the demon got into the wall he summoned a handful of hellhounds and killed the rest of the village that was left behind. As he progressed to the Phoenix temple, he started taking so much damage, thinking that he could destroy the wall with sheer force he started summoning hellhounds. After about half a day's fight with no progress and the hellhounds started refusing to sacrifice themselves on a wall they began refusing. He decided that he could leave some air shaman alive to tell his tale. He could come back to them later on.
The third tribe that he tormented was the water tribe. These shamans were masters at the water elements. They could summon water hydras that could wipe out armies if the shaman was powerful enough to control and maintain the creature. When the demon showed up he was very surprised to find that the entire tribe had summoned a creature that they could control at their various skill levels. Some of their hydras that were so big they reached higher than the clouds, there water serpents that were bigger than the tallest trees in the Forest of the Dragon. The Forest of the Dragon was a huge forest that the legendary dragon spirits resides. There was a holy river that the demon could not cross separating the forest from the human world and the spiritual world. Many of these dragons had powers of water and one or all of the other elements. Mostly wizards would train with a dragon that knew how to control a certain element or elements. The water tribe was bound and determine to protect it. When the tribe laid eyes on the demons many of them released their summoned creatures and ran to the forest and started to live underground like the air and earth shamans. The demon did not have to soil his hands with the blood of this tribe instead he took control over the abandoned summoned creatures and got them to destroy the tribe that they had protected for all these centuries. The remainder of the tribe ran to the forest and when the demon tried to follow he was not allowed to cross the river. This is where the water tribe thought they could wage their war against the demon from, but they were mistaken they took too long to plan their counter attack and the demon had moved on and no one knew where he went.
The fire tribe was said to be the strongest tribe and the final tribe to be tormented by this demon. They could summon fire golems and with one air wizard or air shaman they could form a monstrous wall of fire that no one could pass through. This was their main form of protection and only those who they allowed through would be able to pass through untouched. The demon walked though it as if it were a shallow river. The shaman summoned their fire golems to hold off the demon until the chief could bind the demon with a fire-sealing spell and finally seal him inside a vessel. The chief bound the demon with ropes of air and fire, and then he used an enchantment to seal it into a child. Now the problem with this is that if the vessel were to be broken the demon would be released. So the vessel had to be a person preferably a fire shaman. He was sealed into the most powerful branch of the tribe and was to be passed down like a family heirloom from generation to generation if one of them were to die or fail to reproduce then the demon would reign over the world again. The family knew this and never let that happen. This ended the wars of the shaman and the other branches. The Temple of the Phoenix was to rule of all of them and was to enforce the laws that were set down. The chief of each tribe was to be a judge and had to pass down their rule to anyone in their tribe.
Chapter 1
The shaman tribes were at war in ages past, but now they are protectors. The four tribes, fire, water, air, and earth. Each tribe protects something special. Thousands of years ago there was a demon that tormented all four tribes, this demon defeated three of the tribes quite easily but when the demon moved onto the shaman fire tribe he was sealed into a child that was to be the most powerful child in that generation and could control the demon powers. Anbu was the name of the child of the original descendant. As he grew up Anbu developed a bit of a temper, but that is for another time.
Anbu had been in a strict training for years to control his demon, but he never quite got the hang of keeping the seal intact in times of mortal danger. While out looking for the kasai flower, a flower that is continually on fire and can never be extinguished; with it the chief of the tribe could make a potion that could increase his will power over the seal. While searching for the flower, Anbu came across a water wizard who was training on a defensive spell. The training was to be solitary and never interrupted, if the wizard was to be interrupted, water wizard would have to either kill the one who interrupted the training or kill himself. Well the wizard decided to kill the shaman who interrupted him. With a quick slight of hand he summoned and monstrous water serpent and flooded the ground killing the kasai flowers in the area and making them unusable. Anbu attacked the wizard with all his might summoning fire golems to attack the wizard. The wizard then summoned a water missile that was powerful enough to take out an entire army. The demon seal released with a bright red and blue glow coming from under his arm. His facial expression changed from one of pain and anguish to one of evil joy. As the water missile flew at him he dodged it and ripped the wizard's head off and sent it flying.
When the young shaman returned to the village the villagers were in an uproar he continued through town to the chief's hut. The chief, who was usually a large, happy, carefree man, was violently angry. He was destroying the ancient artifacts that had become useless against the demons that sometimes roamed the earth. Anbu tried to calm the chief down so that he could talk to him about the potion.
"Did you kill a wizard, Anbu?" asked the Chief.
"What?!?! I met one in the forest while looking for the kasai flower, but I don't know what happened to him." Replied the young shaman.
The chief reached behind an ancient chair that had been passed down for generations and produced the head of the water wizard, still wet from the water, twisted in anguish. "I here by banish you from this tribe to wonder the land until you can get control over that demon." The chief sadly said. "I'm sorry that I have to do this, but you know it is the law. If you kill a wizard, then I must do this to you, you're very lucky that you have that demon, if not you would be sentenced to death by the other three elements. I'm sorry Anbu but that is the law."
"I never asked for this demon to be sealed within me your family was the one who created the seal so you can just remove it from me." Screamed Anbu angrily.
"I'm sorry, Anbu, you are like a son to me, but that is the law. The only way that I can allow you to return is for you to prove to me that you have control over the demon sealed within you."
"Well can you at least teach me how to make the kasai flower potion?"
"No, you must be a member of this tribe and since you've been banished I can't do that."
"Fine then! I will leave. Can I at least say good bye to my family and leave in the morning?"
"Yes, I will allow that as long you don't cause any more trouble." Replied the chief kindly.
Chapter 2
The next morning at the edge of the village, Anbu's mother handed him a vile of a health potion that would allow him to heal from a battle. His father gave him a medallion of protection. The rest of the village gave him miscellaneous items that ranged from flowers with healing powers to vials of potions that did various things. After saying his goodbyes he went on his way, alone and depressed.
As Anbu traveled down the road, he came to another shaman tribe, the remnants of the Earth tribe. The only indication of what tribe Anbu came to was the large clay guardian golems. As he approached the village there was a loud booming voice. "Who goes there and what is your business?"
"I am Anbu of the fire tribe…I am traveling to train and control my … ummm… temper. Will you let me pass, Guardian?" asked the young shaman.
"Wait here! The chief will be here shortly…"
The young shaman waited for hours and hours on end and became more and more bored while he waited for the Earth shaman chief to come to talk to him. While waiting, the young shaman practiced his control he would find random things like field mice and shoot fireballs at them. As time passed he realized that he was getting more and more accurate with the fireballs. The golems, with stone faces, became more and more annoyed when he hit them in their massive shins. The guardians just gathered more earth from around them to repair their damaged shins. One guardian finally got so angry that he attacked the shaman. "What are you doing? I'm not a threat to the village!!"
"You are setting our fields on fire…you are as much a threat to our village as a demon that would attacks us." The guardian formed a large stone made of earth and hurled it at Anbu. Anbu used a fire technique to launch himself into the air and dodge the boulder. While in the air there came a barrage of large stones. After getting hit with ten or twenty of these boulders, his demonic seal released with a bright blue and burning red light. The demon took control. The demon threw himself toward the huge bullets that were being launched in his general direction. The demon jumped from stone to stone and finally reached one of the golems and started to set the large guardian on fire. "STOP YOU HOOLIGAN!!!!" shouted an elder man with a cane.
"Whose going to make me…. you?" replied the demon.
"Your father sent a golem messenger to me, told me that you were on your way here, and asked that I help you control that abomination sealed with in you! Now leave my guardians alone! My champion is on his way to escort you into the village. Now calm down. Guardian golems stand down; this is the word of your master and the Earth tribe chief!"
The golems released their weapons and bullets and went down to one knee. The demon tried to take this advantage and turned a few of the golems into rubble. The demon summoned up large quantities of fire and set to attempting to crush the guardian golems. After a few minutes and he failed he fell tired. Once the demon wore down the earth shaman cast an earthen dome around the young boy. The demon with his reduced power returned to the seal thoroughly pissed off. The champion finally came to the edge of town and sealed the now sleeping boy in an earthen wrap so that he could not move.
While sleeping and traveling to the Earth shaman village. He dreamed of the times when he was young before he lost his parents to a demon invasion. The thing that he hated most was sealed inside him and he had to learn to control it. His father had taken him outside and taught him how to use a bow and arrow.
It was ten years ago when his father took him out to the practice field to show him how to accurately control his power over nature. The field had many large embankments of earth around the arena; there was water in many parts of the ground that would spring up from time to time and extinguish small fires that would pop up during practice. It was really a beautiful place, full of power, and it was calm. The targets would present themselves out of the water. His father stared into one of the many pools. A large circular target jumped out of the water the droplets of water were like small diamonds in the afternoon sun as they flew off the target. His father concentrated fire from the air into a small fireball and threw it at the target, shattering it. The target then sizzled and evaporated into thin air and a number value registered in the now still pond. "Now you try." Anbu concentrated a large mass of fire into his palm and threw it at the next target that presented itself. He completely missed and started a rather large fire on the other side of the arena. The mystic waters from the crystal clear pools rose and extinguished the flames on wall opposite the young shaman. "Damn it I missed more than the worse shaman in the village!"
"It's ok son. When the chief first started to work on his accuracy, he burned the original arena to the ground. If you can't hit the targets from a range you can find the Sword of Four Elements. This sword is a legend and no one has found it, but if you can't get this you will have to work on your close range combat…you know what let's try that now it will at least be fun!!" Remarked Anbu's father with an ear-to-ear grin. Anbu's father went over to the armory and found a lightweight and medium weight sword. "Here, attack me with this." They took their swords and fought for hours until the sunset and they went home to eat.
The next morning they went out on a walk just to see what was out there and what they could find for the day for training. On the road they met the chief who decided to tag along since he did not have anything to any way. On their walk they decided to go to the Forest of Fire there were trees there that are eternally on fire. As they walked through the forest they found many things that were on fire and used for many different potions and many that were used for healing. As they walked through the forest the group came across a group of wizards training with swords, maces, and other close range weapons.
"That is odd, that group definitely looks like a group of trainee wizards, but since when did wizards specialize in close range combat?" Asked the young shaman chief
"Perhaps they are trying to revive the warriors of legends that kids grow up with…" replied Anbu, "Can we test their defense?"
"NO!" Anbu's father answered with desperate concern in his voice, "if there are training wizards around there is definitely a head wizard around that can take all of us out without us even knowing it. Most wizards can and will launch an elemental missile that will take out an entire tribe. So let's just leave them alone to train."
"Yes father. The wizards look they would be fun…" said Anbu.
"Yes they can be but if you piss one off you better have some damn good golems to help defend you." Replied the chief.
"Yes chief…it's getting dark shouldn't we be heading back to the village?"
"Yeah and if we don't get back before sun down your mother will set my ass on fire again…like she did when I left for a battle with the chief." Anbu's father teased
As they walked back laughing a joking Anbu realized that he had been given wonderful people that would be with him no matter what. When Anbu awoke in the earth village he realized that he was no longer bound but being kept in an earthen prison like a rat. He went back to sleep until morning.