Anbu woke the next morning still in the earthen dome, but now it was starting thin out so that he could see the light outside and walk around. As he woke up and started to stir a stone came flying from outside of what the dome.
"Lie down and die you abomination!!" Shouted a near by voice as another stone was sent whizzing by Anbu's head.
There were two earth shamans guarding the mud hut that he had been placed in by the chief and the village champion. The two guards continued to throw stones and other earthen objects at the young boy. When out of a nowhere a voice boomed, "Stop that you two he is of no threat to this village, he is the son of the Fire Shaman Tribe's chief! Do you wish to start a war among the Shaman nations again?" Asked the chief as he walked to the hut and released the seal one-way seal on the door. I am Uchigami, Chief of the Earth shaman tribe, and I welcome you with open arms, Anbu. I wish to speak with you in private, will you walk with me through the mountains of Torment?" asked the old chief.
"Mountains of Torment?" asked Anbu, "How did they get that name?"
"The mountains are not that bad unless you are in training as a earth shaman warrior, come we will walk they are really rather beautiful."
"You know my name, so I'm going to guess that you know who and what I am…and yet you ask me to walk with you alone in the mountains?"
"Yes I know all about you. Your father and I fought in many wars together until we lost contact after he was attacked by a demon. He and I were …"
"Wait you knew my REAL father, and yet you told those guards that I was the son of the chief of my village, why?" asked Anbu very confused
"Because, your father was once chief of your village; and the current chief took you in as his own son did he not?"
"Yes that is true…" replied Anbu.
"Then you have two fathers you are extremely lucky, some people don't have even one. Now please Anbu, demon barer, please just walk with me, we'll be fine"
"…But I can't control my demon, I would hate to hurt you" admitted the young fire shaman.
"It's alright, how do you think the other tribes of shaman learned elemental seals. Earth Shamans are master sealers I will simply use a seal to wear him down and we will head back to town. So don't worry if anything happens," the chief replied warmly.
As Anbu and the chief walked out to the mountains they shared the folklore of the different tribes. As Anbu told the earth chief of the folklore that he had grown up with Anbu found that there was much more fact weaved in them than he had originally thought. Intrigued the young boy began to ask questions of the events that had happened with the training of the young shamans before the formation of the four tribes.
"Here we are young one, let's head up the highest mountain I wish to show you something."
As Anbu looked up at the highest mountain he saw the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen! The mountains were not a dull brown like they were at home. Here they were a magnificent blue with pure white caps with red spots on the white tops.
"WOW! THIS IS BEAUTIFUL" cried Anbu in astonishment.
"Yes they are the most beautiful in the land; I wish to show you something when we get to the top." Uchigami replied.
As they hiked up to the top Anbu noticed that there was a large golem sitting there resting or in mediation on the top of the mountain. As Uchigami and Anbu got closer to the top the golem became more and more clear. When they were about 100 yard from the ancient warrior, he got up from his resting position.
"Takeo, I have a mission for you." Said Uchigami to the stone giant.
The ancient golem rose bowed to one knee and sat there for a short time before replying. "Yes, Uchigami you know I am but a weak soldier in you forces."
"I wish for you to train with this young boy, he is looking for a sword that you will not tell him about." Said the chief.
"You want ME to fight HIM?!" asked Anbu very surprised.
The huge warrior stood to his tallest height; he was a towering golem, much larger than any golem Anbu had ever seen before. "Do you think me weak young shaman? Am I not enough of a challenge? Do you wish to fight my brother then?" Asked Takeo, more than a bit irritated.
"Uchigami, can I talk to you in private for a moment." Asked Anbu.
"Takeo, please don't take offense he is young," said the chief wisely
"Uchigami, how am I supposed to beat him? I have not even mastered my own element. I can't beat a giant earth golem!" Exclaimed Anbu
"Who said anything about beating him? He is the Earth Shamans' strongest and most unpredictable guardian. It was him who helped the ancestors into hiding. I'm not asking you to kill him I'm just asking you to fight him; you won't die of that much I'm sure. I think you will learn a valuable lesson from this battle." Replied Uchigami thoughtfully
"Fine, I'll fight him, I have no idea what you want me to fight him for, but I'll play along." Replied Anbu.
The two returned to where Takeo had been resting when they came up the mountain. Takeo had another golem standing there with him ready to make a sparring arena. The smaller and much quicker golem looked over and snickered at what seemed to be in the direction of Anbu. "I'll fight you then I guess, Golem." Said Anbu.
Takeo replied, "I do have a name you know…it's Takeo, remember it, you'll want to remember it later!"
Uchigami satisfied, created a large clear area with drawn earthen boundaries. The arena was made from the earth of the mountain. "Now Anbu, as you know this is Takeo, our strongest, oldest and least predictable guardian. And Takeo so that you know, the demon that you saved the earth shamans from all those centuries ago, ended up becoming sealed within this boy. I think you know what to do."
"I do Uchigami, and I will"
"Then begin, and try not to kill each other!"
Anbu summoned what power he had and made a large fireball. He launched it at Takeo, who was unable to dodge, but Takeo was able to keep from getting hit by it; je summoned a large mountainous wall of earth to dissipate the flames. The golem decided that it was the young boy was strong enough for him to use the ancient sealing technique that had been used on demon, by the fire tribe, although it was slightly altered, Takeo gathered up earth from his own leg, squeezed the water out onto the ground, then he blew on it, starting a mass of wet earth. Anbu saw his opening and took it he threw a series of fire spurts at the golem to get the giant to dodge, little to Anbu's knowledge; the fire was the last part that the giant needed to complete his ritual. Takeo looked up and grabbed some of the fire carefully with out extinguishing it and created a large seal with all four elements. The golem had only once chance to use it; otherwise he would have to wait for another fire attack. Takeo took up a large sum of earth and threw at the boy, Anbu dodged like any other fighter would by dodging in the air and counter attacking. Takeo then took the seal that he made and threw at the airborne shaman and bound it to him using earth. Anbu fell to the ground lifeless. Out of nowhere the boy sprang up and started to zealously attack the guardian.
"I thought it was a weaker seal, now what Uchigami?" asked the giant.
"We proceed as originally planned"
"Alright then, start the summoning ritual" replied Takeo
As the summoning of the other golems started, the demon showed his true strength. The demon jumped to Takeo's head and started hacking at it with massive amounts of energy as if trying to make him into a dirt pile. Takeo screamed out in pain, Uchigami; tell him to find the next part of his training on the shores of the Lakes of Tranquility. Also give him the Seal of Souls so that if he ever needs guidance... You will have to suppress that demon of his and teach him the sealing techniques in order to control that demon. Good luck; I'm sorry old friend…" Takeo lay down and died peacefully returning to the dust from which he was summoned.
Uchigami entered the arena that he had made out of earth. He walked over to where Takeo had fallen, picked up the Seal of Souls and placed it in his pocket. "Good bye, old friend, you will be sorely missed. I'm sorry that I got you involved in this, I should have never asked you to..." His farewell was interrupted by a vicious attack from a demon in a human body. "Have you no manners you cheap abomination, of spiritual energy? Drop the possession thing; you broke away from the chains of the underworld and came here in order to torment the human race, and now you are pissed off that you are trapped inside of a shaman and you don't have access to his power, isn't it?" asked Uchigami
"Now you die, you sorry ass shaman. I will control this child; he will obey me and there is nothing you can do about Lord Earth, or are you using another name for the younger shamans now." Said the demon in the harshest tone possible. "That pile of mud called you…what was it…oh yeah Uchgumi right? It doesn't matter now you die and I take control of your tribe!"
"Anbu, I know you are in there take control your demon. I wish to talk to you again!" Screamed Uchigami as loud as he could. The demon ran full speed toward the Earth shaman chief with what would be a devastating attack, as the demon closed in on Uchigami, he stopped and hesitated before attempting to kill the chief. "Whaaat, is happenin'…Stay out of site mortal, you are of no real use to anyone anyway, now do what you were meant to and sit there and be a vessel…NOT THIS TIME YOU ABOMINATION!!! I will not be used."
The chief began chanting a spell. The next thing that Uchigami knew Anbu was back to himself just quite a bit more tired. "What happened? I just blacked out. What happened to Takeo? He was supposed to fight with me, and I'm pretty sure I'd see something as large as Takeo."
"I'm sorry Anbu, Takeo and I were trying to help you control your demon by forcing the demon out and then getting you to suppress with your free will, but it backfired on us. The demon turned and killed Takeo. I'm sorry to trick you like this, but I thought it was necessary for you to learn. Takeo told me to give you this and tell you that your next training session will take place on the shores of the lakes of tranquility. Take this vile with you." Uchigami reached down and scooped up some dirt from the arena from the pile where Takeo had fallen. "When you use the Seal of Souls you can add this vile to it to talk to Takeo directly. Good luck young shaman, may your journey take you to a place where you can control that demon, or maybe you could even defeat that demon. I hate to see how it controls you when your seal breaks. Also take this with you on your journey; it will reinforce the seal whenever you need it. If you ever need any more just send a carrier golem and I will arrange to have it delivered directly to you. Tonight you stay in my hut you will eat well and in the morning you can leave out with a few guardians who will walk you to the border of the Earth Shaman territory. I will send a messenger golem to the water shaman tribe and have someone greet you when you get there."
"Thank you Uchigami I appreciate what you have done for me I really appreciate it. Thank you, I won't cause any more trouble." Replied Anbu.
Uchigami and Anbu walked back to the village. When they finally got there it was well after dark and the entire village was already asleep. "Tomorrow, we will pay our respects to our oldest guardian," said Uchigami mournfully. The two went to bed and slept restlessly. Anbu from the guilt of murdering the oldest Earth shaman's protector and Uchigami from losing his closest and oldest friend.