Author's Notes: Back for chapter 2. This one will give us our first glimpse of our heroes and show us a connection to the Soul Calibur universe. And by that I mean that we will have a guest appearance by one of the game's fighters. I don't mention his name, but you should be able to figure it out. Anyway, enjoy and let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur or its characters. I only (kinda-sorta) own the characters of my own creation and the situation they are in.


Chapter 2: Soul of Courage

7 years after the events of the destroyed village….

A young woman walked along a path. She wore chain mail under a sleeveless black gi. Her black pants tucked into the wrappings of her boots. Fingerless gloves cover most of her wrist with a large purple trim while her fingers keep close to the kunais placed in her purple waistband. Though some of her short hair is kept out of her face, much of it falls down her forehead and covers her almost glowing violet eyes. A cloth choker holds an amulet with a purple gem to her neck.

On one side of the path is a forest while the other side houses a great plain that fades off into the distant mountains. The trail itself stands as a dividing line between them and leads to the crossroads that connect to the major roads all across the land. From that junction, you could make your way to anywhere on the continent. The woman knows exactly where she must go, but as she nears the multitude of forks in the road, the trees rumble and a voice booms out of the forest,

"You're not going anywhere!" Soon a large human-like creature lumbered out from between the trees dragging a massive ax behind him. Its red skin matched by the orange fire of both its eyes and, seemingly, within the scars formed on its body, most notably the large half-circle scar across its chest and a starburst dot in his forehead. Its voice bellowed out of a leather face guard, with the mouth loosely stitched shut, that covered the lower half of his head and most of his shoulders.

"Ares has found out about your plan, worm, and he sent me to make sure that it never happens." The monster arched the ax above his head and brought it into both his hands with a few steps forward. "And to do that, I'm gonna have to take that little gem of yours…" The woman clutched at the item at her throat with one hand and brought out one of her weapons at this pause. Meanwhile, the creature planted the staff of his mammoth weapon into the ground and continued, "… right after I tear you apart!"

At this the woman steeled herself and held both her kunais ready for battle. If she were to have any hope of completing her quest she would need to survive the attack of this puppet created to do the bidding of someone named Ares. Whoever that was, she couldn't let him stop her, for the very reason she was on her quest was to keep such power out of the hands of those who would use it to continue the endless war. With that thought in mind, her resolve was strengthened. In a low, gritty voice she taunted the ax-wielding beast before her as he began to charge. "You're quite a disgusting sight to behold."

The difference in styles was incredible. While the woman used her agility well to give quick kicks and slashes to her enemy, she offered little in the way of power and didn't seem to be phasing the creation at all. Meanwhile, the red giant, easily 3 times the size of his opponent, was swinging his ax around wildly and hardly seemed to notice the damage he was taking. He hadn't yet hit the woman, but all he needed was one good hit to take her down.

A powerful vertical strike sent the monster's ax crashing into the ground. Its target managed to avoid the attack but now jumped onto the pole of the massive weapon. Using it as a platform, she leapt up and over the red-skinned creature and buried her two small blades deep into its shoulder, eliciting the first painful reaction to her attacks.

As she hung on the monster's back, still clinging to her kunais and the monster writhed in pain, one of her feet slipped and came out under a bulky arm. Taking advantage of this, a monstrous hand wrapped around the foot and pulled it forward. The woman held fast to her weapons and as she was being pulled her kunais were wrenched out of the creature's shoulder, causing another scream of pain.

The monster only held her upside-down for a few seconds before swinging her into the crossroad signpost, cracking and splintering it in the process, and tossing her down the path. She rolled and tumbled down the way, losing her kunais in the process, only stopping after several dozen feet. This left her battered and bruised and she didn't know if she could stand again. Meanwhile, the monster was coming closer, intent on finishing the job.

As the beast stepped over her lost weapons and the woman began to think the end was near, she also thought of everything in her life that had led to this gruesome death.


Her name was Tairene.

She had wanted to protect her home, and her home was the Kingdom of Ursprung. Ever since the king had taken his throne there had been many wars to expand his empire. And during these wars the people had seen many terrible things. Tairene wanted to protect these people and make sure they never had to be witnesses such atrocities again. Unfortunately, the only people the king allowed close to him were the higher ranking members of his military. In order to provoke a change she would have to be in the very army that was committing the crimes she hoped to stop. Aside from not wanting to partake in these activities, the king was quite intent on keeping the women of his kingdom within their diminutive roles. He had been known to be hostile to dissenters from his ideals and this was likely no different.

Nonetheless, she was driven in her goal and would not allow anything to stop her. Dressing up as a boy and claiming to be an orphan of the wars, she managed to get recruited into the king's forces. While with the other soldiers she was taught basic combat strategies, instructed on how to use various weapons and put through intense physical training. She learned a lot about the ways of combat during this time. Though she could not hope to keep up with the strength of the men around her, she proved incredibly agile and managed to outdo many of her fellow soldiers through acts of speed and craftiness. Her plan to quietly climb the ranks until she reached a certain level of authority seemed well on its way. The situation changed, however, as after a year in disguise she was discovered to be a woman.

At another time this could have meant death for the young woman, but as it turned out the king himself had been seeking to change the way his wars were fought and had taken an interest in a class of warriors from an island far to the east. These "ninjas," as they were called, used methods of stealth and secrecy to perform covert tasks ranging from retrieving important documents to assassination. Intrigued by the potential of having such warriors under his command, the king hired a master of these arts from the far-off land so that he might train a number of soldiers in his ways.

Now the girl, who had remained in disguise for so long and was amazingly agile, seemed perfectly suited for this. She was brought into this new corps along with several soldiers who had volunteered. Before they began their training, they were told that they would be in charge of "information retrieval" and "alternative diplomacy."

Tai could see right through that title. What they would be doing was stealing information on their enemy's weaknesses and quietly killing people who posed a threat to the king's plans. This was not how she had hoped to protect the people from the ravages of war, but she could, at the very least, help to end the wars before they truly started. Then none of the families she had grown up with would have to see the terrible things that happened. This would have to be how she helped the change. At the very least, that was how she could justify it.

Each of the soldiers was given a gi, an outfit worn by fighters from the land the ninja master hailed from. Once the training had started, Tai and the others of the company were introduced to new forms of weaponry, they were taught how to fight unarmed in the styles of the east, and they were shown secret techniques that could only be performed by masters of the craft.

Tairene excelled in this new system. She was well-adapted to the light weaponry of the ninja and quickly took to the martial arts lessons. Though she still could not perform the techniques the master had shown them, she still far exceeded the skills of those around her. Eventually, the master took notice of this and singled her out amongst the others for private training.

The master was able to improve her abilities all around. They would spar with and without weapons, sometimes with one having an advantage. He worked with her on the magic of ninjutsu until she could perform all but one of his special techniques, everything from disappearing into the shadows to materializing behind a victim in the blink of an eye. The one she could not master was incredibly powerful and required intense focus. Despite this small caveat in her credentials, Tairene was well on her way to becoming a master in her own right.

Meanwhile, outside the life of training, the duties of these new warriors were very much as Tai had imagined them to be. Often terrible things were being done, but she was able to take some solace in that the people no longer had to see them. The king was able to expand his territory and the villages no longer had to be witness to slaughter. Though she had, in some sense, been able to accomplish her goal, she took no joy from it. She wanted to stop the endless killing, not just hide it from view.

The only thing she actually enjoyed about her position was the time she got to spend with her master. That all came to an end, however, as on one fateful day, warriors meant for stealth and intelligence were called to guard the king…


Remembering all she had learned, Tai realized there might be a chance to save herself. She couldn't guarantee it would work or that it would stop the monster she faced, but she had no other option besides laying there and waiting to die.

Pushing herself up to her knees, she began the process of building up the necessary energy. The creature was almost on her location and she needed results now. Focusing as best she could, the energy formed in her hands. But as quickly as the energy came, it dissipated. Mastery over the technique still eluded her and her concentration had been too difficult with the pain in her ribs. She had failed at the most critical of moments and could only sit there as the ultimate penalty edged closer.

Now the monster stopped just a few feet from her, laughing at the futility of her actions before raising his ax up and holding it vertically over his head, ready to finish the girl. With her only chance at saving herself gone, Tai closed her eyes and waited for the ax to fall.

Before she could receive her fate, however, the giant let out a painful cry and let the weight of his ax drag his arms to the side. Tairene opened her eyes to see the monster turning around, a large, 4-pointed shuriken sticking out of his back. After a few seconds the shuriken disappeared. In the distance, two warriors approached: one in green cloth wielding an eastern blade and the shuriken she'd just seen and the other clad in a suit of purple armor wielding a great sword. Tai saw no more than this as the exhaustion of her battle and injuries caught up with her and she passed out.

Meanwhile, the monster swung his ax around, trying to keep the newcomers at bay. But every motion was pained, as the nicks and cuts the girl had given him had done more damage than he'd let on. He wouldn't be able to take much from these new warriors.

The one in green was zooming around the creature and slicing where he could, much the same way as the girl had done, but with more range due to the length of his blade. The violet knight was doling out powerful strikes with his colossal sword, forcing the giant to use most of his energy defending against it.

The green-clad warrior found himself behind the red monster as it was distracted by his companion. Taking the shuriken from off his back where he kept it, he held it beside his sword. He ran forward and dove between the creature's legs, slashing at the sides of both. Roaring in pain, the monster fell to his back. The knight took his cue and stepped over his cohort and onto the giant's chest before driving his sword into the half-circle scar. A terrible cry erupted from its mouth and echoed across the plain.

As the giant finally faded into death and the blade was removed from his body, the victors allowed themselves to relax. This was short-lived, however, as the ground began to shift beneath their feet. A crack formed in the dirt and expanded throughout the battlefield, before settling on and encircling the ax-wielding corpse. Soon after, the earth began to take the monster into its depths. Whoever this master Ares was, it would seem that he was taking his servant back in his failure.

Once the shaking had stopped and the fallen creature had been completely swallowed by the earth, the two men went to check on the woman they had saved. They found her unconscious where the giant had left her. After carrying the woman and her lost weapons to the side of the road, the warriors started a fire and prepared for the soon approaching night.


After Thoughts: So what did ya think? Good, bad, anything? We have the name of one hero and we'll find out the other two when we check back. Between now and then, however, we're gonna get back to Razath and see his first major battle in the quest for Soul Edge. I'll try to get that chapter up by the end of New Year's Day, and you can probably hold me to that. Toodles for now.