Authors Note: Yes, this marks the end of an 8 year hiatus and has been something nagging me in the back of my head for that entire time. Even though I still recall exactly where I wanted to go with this story (hence resuming it), I had to re-read almost every chapter to make certain I recalled enough of the small details about these characters to avoid continuity problems. If you're worried that I'm getting a bit muddled in my own mythology (given the revelations from Saffron) keep in mind that the original events take place long before most recorded legend (so everyone likes to say it was their ancestors who defeated the demon). Where did the shadow creature come from if Ah Rin killed them all? All these answers: and more... eventually.
Also: Dear god forgive my horrible spelling and punctuation in my youth... how did I let this happen?
Kiima awoke in a dark room with a dirt floor.
The windows were simply holes in the wall with bars.
The last thing she remembered was running in fear from this creature she could only describe as something from the nightmares of a child. It was twisted and writhed as it moved and yet somehow held the form of a man. But more terrifying was how it felt, like a hole in nature, pulling her in as to swallow her whole.
It groaned something as it followed her towards the amazon village. She wasn't quite able to place it at the time, but she would later recall when her thoughts became more rational that it may have been calling for Saffron.
She had bumped into the girl from her nightmares too. That woman who shared the face with her curse.
She was there with the amazon who was once under her thrall.
These faces were the the last things she saw before her world was swallowed in blackness.
She heard some commotion outside the door and the god killer walked in with a visibly angry aura.
"Why the HELL are you here. What the HELL did you do to Shampoo! and where is Akane!" he demanded.
Kiima looked upon the face of the man and fainted again.
Xian Pu woke in a grassy starlit field.
Somehow it seemed familiar, and yet she knew that she had never set her eyes upon this place before. Somehow the stars were wrong and the grass felt fake, but she couldn't quite place either feeling with any certainty.
Sitting under a tree a few meters away she saw a woman drinking a cup of tea. Beside that woman was her great-grandmother and they appeared to be having a discussion which seemed to involve her.
"Will we have enough time?" Ku Lon had asked
"Given your radical decision, you should have as much time as you may need, but you realize what you're asking don't you?"
Xian Pu had no idea what her ancestor was asking for but the graveness in her mothers? tone had made it sound very bad indeed.
Wait... why did that woman remind her of her mother?
There was some additional discourse which was missed while she was thinking but it seemed to her to be additional warnings or attempts to dissuade Ku Lon from whatever the other woman was going to help her with.
"Technically, I'm only bending the rules by allowing you here and I'm only I'm only allowing this as a personal favor to you" said the new woman "you cannot remain here without upsetting the balance of things"
"And I know the consequences, but it is a small price to pay for her life and the life of everyone else on earth"
"Which is why I've agreed to help you"
Upon seeing that the younger amazon was awake the elder had beckoned her to sit beside them under the tree.
"Xian Pu, I'd like you to meet the Grim Reaper..." she began.
Ranma gritted his teeth and spat.
Kiima had proved to be less than useless and merely fainted within moments of him trying to get some straight answers as to how and why she had shown up last night. The same night Akane had vanished and and Shampoo left in a state near death.
There were no answers to be found anywhere and Ranma felt the rage and depression coming to him again. If it would help, he'd make a Shi Shi Hokodan that could make Ryouga jealous but he steeled himself. The amazons had promised to search the valley and requested that he remained in the village. Despite the fact that he still drew a breath they were puzzled and felt it prudent to not assume that the danger was over.
He would have gone himself but one of the elders made him swear upon his honor that he would not leave. He was reminded of the horrible ways he had seen these things kill Happosai and Cologne, and that corrupted essence behind the face of Mousse. This enemy would not hesitate to kill if someone got in its way, and as he was the key it was looking for he had to remain on guard at all times.
So here he was, pacing furiously enough in the village square to wear a hole in the ground until he heard some news.
Somehow, he knew it wouldn't be good.
Ah Rin looked upon the walls of the cave where she lay soaking in the sensation of feeling again. It was dark and damp and glorious! She recalled the shadow that had served her back into her body, having separated it long ago when she noticed Saffron's conscience starting to assert itself.
She had been born to conquer and destroy. Eliminating all of the other old magics would ensure that no being could ever rival her and depose her rule. It was a shame that she had not finished with the Changelings and wondered what had become of them in the ages that have passed since her imprisonment. She imagined that they had continued to retreat into the hollows and recesses of nature, likely becoming lost and forgotten in their own right. They never had the stomach for battle.
A smirk crossed her face at that thought.
All that left were the humans and despite their desire to create and change the world, they were the weakest of all the old races. They were never a threat, but sometimes it was amusing to raise the occasional village to make certain they never forgot who their masters were.
She furrowed her brow with that thought. No, that isn't right, some of them had sided with the few changelings with spines.
"Perhaps I'll inflict them with a plague" she shouted, hearing the echo of her voice against the walls reveling in both the sound and the ability to make it again.
She was still weak however, the only power she had possessed lay in the servant she had sent out and much of that had been expended laying dormant until a suitable body could be found for her. What little it had after that was expended dealing with the startling amount of resistance it had encountered in getting that body here and completing the ritual.
Much like its own genesis, the shadow had formed several smaller copies of itself from its own essence. One to observe and act when the time was right and one to kill this hosts protector. She tried to recall them into herself to add to her energies but they would not come.
"Dead it would seem" she muttered.
It was a troublesome thought. Even a weak shadow should have been more than a match for a human so things must have changed dramatically since she last walked these lands. She would need to rest then and gather her strength.
"You may have betrayed me once Saffron, but I've found a new body which you cannot drain"
With that statement, the evil with the face of Akane Tendo fell into a deep and restful sleep.