Born of a Woman

The emperor of Kozakura sighed and rubbed his aching joints. People believed him to be a son of the Celestial Ones, of divine origin himself. The Emperor didn't know the truth of the matter. He didn't recall his birth, though his own children were born of a woman like any heimin child. It is more a matter of a divine mandate given to your bloodline, had his teacher said as he had wondered about it as a young man. Perhaps so. But at this moment he felt very human, very old and ill, and very vulnerable.

- "Be at ease, child," he said to the shukenja, who was kneeling and touching the floor with his forehead. The shukenja relaxed and sat on a pillow the emperor indicated for him.

- "It is... bad news, your excellency," the man said gravely. "I have been communing with the spirit world - and indeed we have been lulled into false safety. Kusatte Iru is awakened, and the spirit world is at the brink of war."

- "I was afraid of that," Giro said, observing with his beady eyes, missing nothing. "I have done my best to lead the efforts of our spellcasters, but it seems we have only managed to steer the beast further."

- "Indeed," the shukenja said. "It is ravaging the coast of Shou Lung now, and with the war-ridden country it is likely to create enough destruction to ignite the wrath of the First Oni, enough to shake his magical shackles - and then, then we are doomed."

- "Perhaps," Giro said, "it is the will of the Celestial Ones. Perhaps it is time for Kozakura to end and another empire blossom, as much as it saddens us."

- "Perhaps," the emperor nodded. "I am but an old, tired man. Death does not frighten me... but the Celestial Ones gave us mortals the duty to guard this empire and Ningen-do, and so we will fight for the existence of it with the last we have got."

- "There is Yogenii Wan, the Prophesied One... said to ride the celestial dragon to the temple of High Noon, if he only survives the evil forces out to prevent him," the shukenja said.

- "There is a lot of wisdom in the old prophecies, but their way is vague and ambiguous," the emperor replied. "We must do more than just wait for this gaijin of legend to come to save us. That would not be honorable, not fitting for the empire of noble warriors. We must put together a force of the bravest samurai and spellcasters, and do our best to stop the beast."

- "That will be the death of them," Giro pointed out.

- "Yes. But it is their duty," the emperor said.

He was about to set out to call the ambassadors of the clans to a council, when an agitated page entered the room and knelt. It was bold to rush in like that, but the emperor was not about to stick to protocol if it was something important.

- "Forgive the intrusion thousandfold, your Excellency, for this servant of the noblest of empires simply can not let time pass," the page said.

- "You are forgiven. Please say what you have to say, child."

- "There are... important visitors to see you. A gaijin. He arrived with a celestial dragon. He wants to help Kozakura, he says."

The emperor felt his old heart jolt in his chest.

- "Please admit him and his companions immediately."

The page disappeared and suddenly in barged a disorderly group of people the likes of whom the Emperor had never seen.

The radiant presence stealing everyone's attention was a giant of a man. He was wearing a full gaijin style plate mail but no helmet, his head bald, his shoulders broad, his eyes flashing gold and amber. They were the most soulful eyes the emperor had ever seen, and that alone confirmed to him that this was no ordinary bushi, nor an impostor. The man held a greatsword larger than an average Kozakuran man, and his footsteps were arrogant and sure, his posture that of a warrior seasoned at more than the battlefields of Ningen-do. In tow followed a woman wearing a bright red scale mail, also wielding a greatsword. Her dark red hair waved wild, and she looked like a beast. They were followed by three other gaijin: a smal, gaunt man of dark feline disposition, a blond woman in a monk garb, wearing some sort of religious symbol, and a pretty young girl with... pink?... hair. Lastly the emperor could see a young bamboo spirit woman he vaguely recalled - a court woman?- and a young boy wearing yakuza tattoos. The boy was carrying a gaijin child who had a shimmering magical layer protecting her.

- "It is him! The man of my nightmare!" The Yogenii Wan spoke, his voice deep like a thunderstorm, the frightening eyes blazing as he extended his sword towards Giro. The emperor, rattled by the sudden change of events, turned his look at Giro, who rapidly scanned his surroundings and seemed to be thinking. Then he uttered a few syllables, an otherworldly hate in his beady eyes.

- "Asshi bukkorosu kyuushi!" the wu jen hissed, a black beam oozing evil aimed at Sarevok. He then hastily conjured a portal and entered it, disappearing as the portal vanished.