Deiji

Disclaimer: I don't own Exalted, White Wolf does, so I'm obviously not making any money off of this.

Deiji looked out over the infinite blue of the sea. She wondered how far out into the threshold they were. She had been told that if she sailed far enough into the western-most horizon, the sea and the sky would seem to merge into one endless blue mass as she came closer to the elemental pole of water.

She wondered if they should fear attacks from the Fair Folk this far out to sea. Deiji smiled to herself. No, not fear, but rather, look forward to. She was hoping for a chance to test her skills. How would she fair, she wondered, against these creatures that were so much more then human?

She had fought Dragon-Blooded in the past. She had raided their ships and stolen their wealth. Their bones had shattered under her blows. Their lives had bled away. It seemed that there was no challenge worthy of her. And yet, she had found some strange satisfaction when she had fought the terrestrials. As if she was quenching some long forgotten anger.

What had she forgotten?

Memories came to her like shadows in her dreams. Things she shouldn't have been able to remember and things she had never seen.

She dreamed of a fortress, long forgotten. She dreamed of the guidance of the stars and of rivers of blood, of endless, glorious battle. But most of all, she dreamed of the sea, beautiful, and unforgiving.

Since her Exaltation she had dreamt so much, and it was her dreams that had driven her this far out into the threshold. She had to find that fortress. It was so important that it felt as if it consumed her soul

The crew hadn't been happy about this particular detour. After all, there weren't any ships to attack out in the threshold, and therefore, no jade to be made, but they had agreed to come.

*******

As a child Deiji had run through the docks of Nexus, watching merchant and warrior ships sailing in and out of the port. The docks had been her home, more so, at least then the reached hole her parents called their own.

Her father had been a massive towering monster, his hair and beard the deep blue only found out in the farthest western reaches. Her mother was paler, and brown haired, a native of Nexus, with a wiry build, and an eye for trouble. Deiji hated them both.

She had, through most of her childhood, sought to escape her father's terrifying and dangerous presence, and her mother's quiet manipulations. She had taken to the streets, learning to fight among the endless brawls in the fighting pits and back alleys of the largest city in the Scavenger Lands. She earned a decent amount of jade working as a pit fighter some days and a thief on others, enough to keep her parents satisfied. Satisfied, at least, on occasion.

She come home one morning, caring a small purse of winnings and placed it on the table in front of her mother. It was less then she usually brought home, times were tough and Deiji, being a clever girl, was carefully storing away part of her earnings.

Her mother's eyes narrowed as Deiji placed the small bag on the table. The corners of the woman's mouth turned upward in an unpleasant sneer.

"That's all?" she asked. When Deiji nodded, her mother snorted. "A pity, Deiji. A pity you aren't pretty enough to be a decent whore, we would make more jade if you were."

Deiji's eyes narrowed and she clenched her fists. She looked her mother in the eyes, "Unlike you, mother?" she asked.

Deiji saw the blow coming, but didn't dodge. Dodging, she had learned years ago, was a sure way to encourage a more brutal beating. Still the strength behind the blow shocked her, and sent her sprawling onto the floor. Deiji tasted blood in her mouth, and was reminded that when her mother was younger, she had been one of the better known pit fighters. She had been a champion, until one of her legs was damaged beyond repair in a fight. Suddenly she had found herself unable to make a living. Her choice had been simple; she had chosen a sailor, Deiji's father, who was a cold, brutal, monster of a man. Though he never spoke of it, Deiji knew that when he wasn't home, he was working as a pirate. Never the less, he treated his beautiful, if slightly crippled, new bride with surprising gentleness. The same treatment, however, was not also extended to his offspring.

Deiji was the youngest of three children. Her brother had died of injuries he had received at their father's hands, and her sister had run away years ago. Deiji didn't know what had become of her, and frankly, didn't much care. What mattered was survival.

Deiji staggered to her feet, and wiped the blood from her mouth, only to hit the ground a second time when her mother struck her once more.

"Stupid bitch!" her mother shrieked "Did you honestly think you could hide money from me?"

Deiji pulled herself into a crouching position and watched her mother warily. Her mother stepped forward, dragging her lame leg as she went. Deiji heard a door open behind her. Her father was home. She tried to move, but was too slow, and his fist slammed into the back of her head. She reeled from the blow and spots danced before her eyes. She felt him pick her up, and slam her into a wall. Deiji tried to focus on his face, but couldn't. Her parents were saying something to her, but she couldn't understand them. She felt one of them strike her again, and again. In the back of her mind she knew that she probably wouldn't survive this beating.

Then something happened. For the first time in recent memory she felt fear and anger, two emotions she had long repressed. She felt her mind fill with a strange power that seemed as if it was going to burn her up from the inside. Her ears were filled with a strange sound, like singing, and the light of the sun seemed to shine in her eyes. Something within her mind snapped, and she lashed out. She felt her fist strike flesh, and then bone. She felt blood wash over her arm, and her father released her.

She landed on the ground and then stood up and opened her eyes. The pain was gone. She looked at her parents, a sudden calm filling her. The area was filled with a golden light that seemed to be coming off of her skin. Her father lay on the ground clutching his side, blood seeping between his fingers. Her mother stood some distance away, leaning on her cane. Both of their faces were filled with a strange, almost animal, fear.

She killed them both, then ran from the city at inhuman speed, her body surrounded by a golden sea serpent. She ran through the streets, sending people flying as she pushed past them. Screams followed her as she ran. She leaped over walls with inhuman ease. At one point two armed men tried to block her flight, but turned to run as soon as they got a good look at her. She escaped the city walls; this was the farthest she had ever gone. On instinct she turned to run west, with the rising sun on her back.

She ran for weeks, following the river to the sea, and when she had looked out on to its crystalline beauty, and breathed the strangely familiar smell, her heart was at peace again. Deiji remained on the seashore for a time, catching fish for food and desperately trying to understand what she had become. Then the dreams came.

The fortress, she became certain, would lead her to the answers she sought. But how could a mere child possibly commandeer a vessel to take her there? The first step, she came to believe, would be to harness the power within her. So on a quite stretch of rocky shoreline, far from prying eyes, she began to practice with the strange new energy. It didn't take long for her to master the basics; she learned how to increase her strength, and the speed of her blows, to make her skin resistant to attack, and to jump impossibly high. She also carefully watched the results of her use of power. At first a symbol would appear on her forehead, a glowing stylized sun. Then as she used more power, a beautiful, glowing, golden nimbus would surround her eventually taking shape and becoming a sea serpent with smoldering red eyes.

This, she came to believe, was similar to what the Dragon-Blooded must be capable of. But though she had heard of Dragon-Blooded being born from commoners, she was certain that she was not one of their kind. As she had fled from the city cries of "Anathema" had followed her. So that was what she was.

She was Anathema, demon spawn, one of the monsters that the Dragon-Blooded claimed to protect humanity from. That almost amused her. She was not, to her knowledge any sort of demon, nor had she made any sort of deal with a demon. She had never even met a demon, unless one counted her mother. That thought brought a smile to her lips, the first since her Exaltation, for that must have been what it was. She was an Exalted, like the Dragon-Blooded, but not one of their number. Thoughts of the Dragon-Blooded wiped the smile away.

Dragon-Blooded hunted Anathema. Why hadn't they come after her? She could not possibly have escaped their attention, not with the commotion she caused during her escape from Nexus. Yet no one had come hunting her.

She decided then that she would have to get moving if she were to find the fortress from her dreams before the Dragon-Blooded came for her. She set out along the coastline, heading northwards. After days of traveling she came upon a port town, as much as that stinking mess of taverns and brothels could be called a town. There was a single ship at the docks and its occupants certainly didn't seem like merchants. Deiji listened to their speech as she hid among the cargo. These were pirates, she realized, and this town existed to support their kind. From that thought came the solution to her problem. When the ship was ready to set sail again, she hid onboard and waited until they were some distance out to sea. She had then climbed out of her hiding place and went to speak with them.

The crew hadn't been very fond of her at first. They hadn't understood what she was. All they could see was a girl, seemingly barely sixteen summers old, with her blue hair in two bunches, a faint dusting of freckles across her face, and her clothing badly tattered. She had stood on the deck as they laughed at her. She watched them, smiling calmly, and told them once more, she needed a ship, she needed a crew, and they would do perfectly. They laughed and jeered and taunted, and then she grew tired of it, and attacked.

Three of them died that day. That had been a pity, she hadn't meant to waste any of the valuable crew, but her strength was just too hard to control, and she shattered their bones so easily.

*******

Since that day her authority had been tested only once, and that man was also dead. She had broken all the bones in his arms before killing him. She hadn't delighted in hurting him, but the crew had needed just such an example. They had needed to see just what she was, and what she was capable of.

Now the crew respected her, or feared her, or maybe, even loved her. It was all the same thing, wasn't it? She had led them to more riches then they could have dreamt of. She had born the brunt of the combat herself, and, ironically, as result of her caution, she hadn't lost a single crewmember to an enemy attack. Every person that had died, had died by her hand. Disturbing perhaps, but the crew didn't seem to notice.

Years had passed, and she had amassed quite a fortune. They were amazingly successful. Every guild ship foolish enough to sail into their territory feared her banner. Even the Empire had taken notice, sending out ships with Dragon-Blooded onboard in order to stop her. Deiji had killed the fools with relative ease and took their Elemental Jade weapons as trophies. By her very existence she dared their attacks. They rose to the occasion and then she killed them.

She lived for the thrill of battle, but it was slowly becoming empty, and the dreams were returning in even greater strength. She needed answers, needed to know what she was once and for all. She needed to know if there were others of her kind to be found. Even here, surrounded by her crew, she was alone. They followed her orders, but kept their distance. Loneliness was beginning to eat away at her peace of mind.

At the last port, she had given them all a choice, to stay or to go. They had all chosen to stay, despite where this new trip would take them. When the dreams had grown so insistent that she could no longer ignore them, they had set out.

All that had brought her here, to the threshold. She stood in the crow's nest, holding on to the mainmast while watching over the sea for some sign that she had found the fortress from her dreams. She felt the wind stir her hair as she basked in the warm glow of the sun. She could hear her crew's shouts from far below, intermingled with the endless sound of the water.

She knew she was close. She wasn't certain how she knew, perhaps the same way she knew where to look.

Are you proud of me now father? I have become what you were, only so much greater.

In a moment something caught her eye, some kind of distortion on the water. As they drew closer she realized what it was. The top of a long submerged tower poked up from beneath the water.

Deiji had found her fortress, and it was lost beneath the waves.