Worse than children's screaming and pleas, much more finite than dying was this stranger's current position. She would have rather awoke to hell on her crown and fire by her feet. Anything but this torturous area of horrifying doom, which was all too willing to drain every last drop of her soul dry. Instead of waking in a forgiving place, like… perhaps a burning building in the middle of nowhere, She awoke to an alarm clock on a bright, sunny Monday morning.
And she was going to die, she just knew it.
"And it's a blue day too, whoop-de-doo." Half asleep and pretty willing to kill for five more minutes, a young girl by the name of Taylor Gastorf groggily rose up from her resting place. A pair of silver eyes opened and closed in an attempt to filter the morning light to no success. Now you see, by the previous explanation of this ritual, Taylor was not a happy camper. Nor a morning person. There were many a thing she would of rather done then get ready for her final day of High school. Example, play Orochi till she dropped dead. But alas, the world had other ideas.
She better get up and running, lest she be late.
But first things first, perhaps she should turn OFF her Alarm clock… No, that wasn't an alarm clock, that was a Eye patch… Taylor continued to grumble over her bad luck as she pulled the cloth over her left eye. She needed it for reasons unknown to anyone. Maybe she was just obsessed.
And THEN her hand reached over again to turn off the Alarm cloth…. no, clock. It shut off with a happy sounding "Ding!" which was unlike the rock music it was pouring out of it's gaping speakers. As all teens do, her arms pushed herself up and off the red bed to their own accord. Her legs allowed her to balance with no thought whatsoever. Everything to this point was automated. From stretching out her back to popping her neck with loud, disturbing sounds.
And she was ready to get ready.
How does she get ready, you ask? By stumbling around the room and throwing on anything she could find, of course. And the closest thing in reach, thank whoever, was a pair of black jeans. Follow that up with a gray dress shirt, and it gave Taylor the confidence she needed to continue on with shoes and the like. White combat boots and a silver ribbon perched atop her head completed the look. The ribbon just kind of fell down the side of her Goldenrod hair.
Aw, it looked like she cared!
Satisfied with the completion of said outfit, Taylor walked to the door and strolled past the room of her sleeping Father. Perhaps she could sneak by her other parental figure for today… OH, WAIT. no she couldn't. Even if she was the quietest person on earth, she wouldn't be able to escape the instinct of a mother.
"TAYLOR!" The older woman called. "DID YOU EAT BREAKFAST?"
A loud sigh. "I DON'T NEED ANY BREAKFAST!
"IT'S THE BEST MEAL OF THE DAY-"
"WELL I'LL STARVE THEN!"
"TAYYYYYYLOR-"
So on and so forth for the next fifteen minutes, they would yell things to each other. Right until her Mom noticed the time and shooed her into the car with a friendly "Goodbye!" Thus would start the day.
Oh, if only she knew what it had in store… the unsuspecting mortal threw a medium sized satchel over her shoulder and sauntered out the door.
Meanwhile, in another part of town in another house, a rather different morning was happening. A boy (or should he be called a man?) was making a near-failed effort to wake his dead-looking sister up from her sleep. "QUINN!" Was the phrase he spoke to start this process. "GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED! WE'RE BOTH GOING TO BE LATE IF YOU DON'T!" Now, before any of you say this shouting is unreasonable, let me tell you it's not. The younger sibling had already slept through her alarm clock, and her mom's annoying "wake-up singing." This left her brother, who went by the name of Connor, to use the last resort.
Quinn's simple response was simply to glance over at her brother, and groggily half-open her jade-green eyes. Her lightish brown hair was disheveled mess from forgetting to take it out of it's ponytail, before going to sleep after her late-night fanfiction writing. "But I don't want to get up Aniki…" She groaned using the honorific for an older brother as a term of affection.
"No 'buts' Imouto." He replied back using the little sister honorific. Both of them were rather big Japanese History geeks and often used words from the language with each other. "NOW COME ON!" He yelled in his poor unsuspecting sister's ear
Connor stormed out of the room, leaving his sister awake enough to to put on the clothes she had set out the morning before. A pale blue long in the back skirt, with a pink top that ha somewhat fancy and flowy long sleeves and thick white tights to keep the white flats that she put on her feet from hurting later in the day. To complete the outfit, she pinned a lavender colored shawl around her shoulders with a silver pin in the shape of Mori Ranmaru's family crest, and re-tied her hair back using a ribbon in the same color as the skirt. Sheesh… He's normally such a mild-tempered guy, but you make him more that two seconds late, and he turns into some kind of psycho drill sergeant!
After that she walked down the stairs and out the door in an unintentional zombie impression, "ready" to take on whatever she was to face that day.
.
You thought they were going to school, didn't you? A common mistake, but anything to do with a half day was an excuse for leaving the premises for a Coffee break, in Taylor's eyes. However she hated it when others were late, and would take great joy in counting down the SECONDS until their arrival. Just to annoy the others in the vicinity. In fact…
"235 Seconds late." Taylor clipped the tone of her 'T" with a harsh click of the tongue and continued to glare at the clock in Starbucks. She truly didn't care, but the agonized groans were all too worth it. She continued to hold the SCALDING liquid known as a Peppermint Mocha in her bare hand. The order had already been placed for her two friends, a Hot Chocolate for Quinn and a White Iced Mocha for Connor. WHITE iced, not dark. Ever since that fateful day they got his order mixed up, he would complain about the different colored beverages.
"240 Seconds late." She murmured once more and sipped her Mocha like a stereotypical white girl.
Soon a semi high-pitched squeel was heard from the door to the coffee shop. "KAMI! TAYLOR, I'M SORRY WE'RE LATE!" A certain light brown haired teenager scurried over to her friend, practically dragging her older brother behind her. What a change that was from before!
"Oh, you BETTER be sorry. I'm quite displeased with you, little Quinn!" A mocking laugh escaped the adult…. well, 17 was close enough. But Quinn knew she didn't mean it to be serious at all. Taylor took few things seriously, and the things she did take seriously were logical ideas that couldn't even be called Logical in the first place.
Before you ask, she calls herself a deity. Taylord. TAYLORD. That should concern you.
"So anyway, what should we do over at your house after this? Because if you don't have any ideas…" her words trailed off to an openly disturbing smirk. "I can think of a few to pass the time. Like summoning ghosts, oh that's fun. How's Hanbei, by the way?" Hanbei was the name of a ghost they had 'summoned' two years ago. It was from a favorite game of Quinn's. Taylor favored the game too, as well as Connor, but Quinn tended to research into the dead hours of night for more information on this game.. Kind of like a school project, except enjoyable. Taylor tended to use her research by staring at the starting screen until she decided to enter a battle.
Like the battle over a Meat Bun. Ah, good times….
"Oh, he's doing fine. Scared me half to death though when he knocked the laptop charger off the desk." Quinn replied this so casually as if this was a normal occurrence. Which, by the standards of non-Sengoku Era geeks with friends who could summon ghosts, this would be the complete opposite of that "normal" word.
"That's Hanbei for you. He loves to mess around with that sort of stuff. Wouldn't you say, Connor?" Having lost count of the time she had counted, Taylor leaned over to the man...boy… thing, awaiting his response. She expected him to say something along the lines of "Can we go now," but it didn't hurt to try.
Connor hadn't seen the thing happen though so he simply shrugged. "I wasn't paying attention and didn't see it. I still can't believe that you two summoned the ghost of a long-dead strategist…"
Quinn simply smiled. "Be thankful I didn't talk her into letting me summon the ghost of Zhuge Liang or Yueying. I was reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms that day, and we both know how badly Zhuge Liang in particular can mess with someone!"
"You don't need to remind me…" The older sibling replied. "What is the plan for today anyway?" Both of them turned to face Taylor at that point awaiting an answer.
"I dunno. I was thinking of summoning another ghost, though. You know, because Hanbei is all lonely and I'm sure he would LOVE a friend." This already seemed like a horrible idea on paper AND in the room. But Taylor didn't care if things sounded bad. She only cared for effects.
"Who did you plan on summoning?"
". . . Uh… Nobunaga, maybe?"
"I'm not entirely sure those two get along very well. Historically even!" Was the crazy young historian/strategist's reply. "Unless Nobunaga's ghost stays at your house, seeing as we already have a Kotaro who migrates back and forth!"
Connor paused from drinking his Iced Mocha. "...You have a what!?"
"NOT IMPORTANT!"
"Nothing at all! Shhh…" Taylor held her hands out in front of her. "You heard nothing, Connor. We didn't even tell you about Orochi yet… or satan. Anyway, maybe Nobunaga isn't the best choice… Kanbei, perhaps?" A wide grin sloooowly grew on her face. "Well, they're dead together now."
Quinn tried to hide a smile and remain serious. She failed pretty much epically in all senses of the word. "...Maaaaybe."
"And that only means that it's cano-"
Taylor was cut off by Connor's groan of torture, and she laughed at the misery in his voice. "Okay, Okay, we'll figure out who to summon once we actually get there. But for now, let's enjoy a long, long ride in my van…." She got a glare out of Quinn for mentioning her car device. And that could only mean one thing- exercise.
"But you do realize we still have to walk back, right Bakane Aniki?" Quinn asked her rhetorical question to her "imbecile big brother" in a sing-song tone.
Oh no. The HORRORS of walking.
"But...but my Jeep!" Taylor's whine fell on deaf ears. Quinn pushed her out of the door in the Cafe, followed by a sulking Connor..
There was a knock, a jump, and a stomp into Quinn's house. Taylor did the jumping into the house, of course, and soon that jump broke into a run into the living room and up the stairs into the bedroom that held the point of interest. "Come on, slowpokes, we gotta get moving~! She sang in a high falsetto whilst she dashed. And to think, just a seconds ago the woman was a whining mess.
Taylor was one to recover fast from her walking over despair, much to the dismay of her friends, who were catching up. They were still setting down their drinks and putting away their bags as she was halfway up the stairs. "Taylor! I swear if you get up there first and mess with the stuff on my desk again!" The smaller girl cried out in a voice as angry as she could manage.
Too late. The one with the short attention span was already tinkering with the objects found on the tabletop. A few clay pots, clay dragons…. a rather large book that she tried to lift with one hand. That only seemed to irritate her arm, and she finally released the thing after a full minute of struggling with the object. "Ow...what is with that thing? It weighs like…. five tons!"
"That. Would be the most detailed Sengoku Era history book that I could find. A last day of school gift from my mom." Quinn paused then resumed talking. "So, what's the plan?" Ah yes, the question that brought a look of fear to Connor's face. He was dragged into this after all.
"I'm in pain carrying this thing." A simple summoning ritual didn't have anything to it, really. Just a strong-willed mind and a belief in the supernatural, as well as an object to focus on. Well, at least, that's how Taylor thought of it. If you believe something is there, it'll come true eventually. One way or another. "Nothing much. We'll just need this…." She held up the book, with both hands this time. "...Some paper, and a symbol to draw. It could be a crest, if you REALLY want to…:"
Quinn quickly took the paper and began to sketch something in the center. The completed image was that of three wisterias in a tomoe swirl pattern. "Really Quinn. the Kuroda crest?"
Connor's sister simply smiled at him, and replied in a sing-song voice, "Taylor said I could!"
Taylor shrugged innocently. "I did, I did." She continued to place the paper on top of the history book, but not before taking a sip of her coffee. She somehow managed to carry the hot beverage up here without having it fall all over herself. Or something along those lines. "Now pray to whatever god you believe in that Kanbei's not going to kill us and stab us with his orbs of doom and destruction. Now that would be fun to clean out of the carpet."
Connor just gave her a what-the-heck-are you talking about look, while Quinn motioned for her to get on with it.
Taylor frowned.
But nevertheless, the teen laid her hands on the book, with a sly grin and the creepiest of giggles, and started to speak pure and utter gibberish. While this may sound weird, it was perfectly normal for the teen to utter these sort of weird phrases while she went about her day. So something so cultish in this situation did not bother the either of them.
She continued to talk like this for a few minutes, going silent and raising her voice at random intervals even asking a few questions, before dropping her hands from the book and looking up.
"Done."
"...Done?"
"Yep."
"No bang? No boom?"
"We're summoning a ghost, not holding a party." Taylor deadpanned and stood up, shrugging. "Oh well. I guess no Kanbei today?" It was weird, though. She was sure she felt SOMETHING during… whatever they did. But maybe that was just a figment of her imagination.
The three of them the chose to walk back downstairs to grab either their drawing supplies or a book, when something happened. Something rather out of the ordinary. The trio heard thumping behind them. But what could it be? They were the only three in the house at the time. Quinn, Taylor, and Connor all glanced at each other, and then back into the room. The BOOK was hopping like a fish when it flops around out of water. Both Taylor and Connor started at their sister/best friend. "Quinnnnnnn…"
"IT WASN'T ME!" She and Connor then stared at Taylor.
"Don't look at me, it wasn't me either!" They simply gave her a really look. "Okay, it probably was…"
"What did you do…?" Connor questioned groaning a little as he pressed his hand to his forehead.
The book kept boinging and sproinging throughout the entire conversation. At one point it bounced so high it touched the ceiling with all of it's springing. Taylor looked at the manual for a while, before sighing and raising her hands. "Well, I summoned a ghost. Duh. Maybe it's trapped in the book-"
That's as far as she got before the book stopped it's jiggety dance. It fell upon the ground and slowly, slowly it's pages opened to reveal ancient text. A picture of painted Samurai graced it's pages with the colors and kanji from long ago. Slowly, cautiously, Quinn rose to pick up the discarded text.
"You guys… This was in English when we first picked it up. Now it's in Kanji." Was Quinn's cautious reply.
Connor looked at Taylor who shrugged, which left the siblings to two thoughts. Did the do the ritual right? Did the summon the ghost and he changed the book? Was the book always like that and Quinn didn't realize it? The last one was highly unlikely since she had been reading it all day, but you know what? When you have a friend that works with black magic, anything seems possible. Eventually their thoughts were cut short, when the book turned to a certain page. One that Quinn could recognize the picture of and read the handwritten scrawl of Kanji. "Odawara Castle…" She murmured.
"What was that?" Taylor and Connor said in near unison.
But as Quinn opened her mouth to reply, a light sprang forth from the book. It's as if her words were like a spell that awakened the text. soon the light grew brighter and brighter, until the three of them had to shield their eyes at the risk of being blinded.
Your sacrifice will be at the price of humanity
And when all else falls
The man with the Ox-like preposition
Will be your downfall.
Only three would save you.
One from the dawn and the awakening.
One from the Shadow and the End of the world
One from the legend of claws.
Accept them or accept your defeat.