Chapter Two
Chizuru Kagura had travelled as fast as she could to seek more information upon the strange ring which Saysiu had found. She was now sat at her home, looking through various manuscripts and books, hoping to find more news on anything akin to what she had seen at the Kusanagi residence.
She didn't know how many hours she had been going through the archive files and books until she had found something which caught her eye. It was an account written by an ancient fighter about the findings of an Orochi Ring of Power. She began to read the page aloud to herself.
" '.It has come to me. The Orochi Ring. It shall be an heirloom for my clan. All those who follow in my bloodline shall be boudn to its fate for I will risk no harm to this ring.'" Chizuru's eyes narrowed slightly as she continued to read. " 'It is precious to me. The markings upon the ring begin to fade. The writing, which at first was as clear as red flame, has all but disappeared. It is a secret now in which only fire can tell.'"
Chizuzu looked up from the page, her eyes wide. She had to get back to Shingo.
Somewhere else, on the outsirts of the village, a shrouded figure on horseback approached a startled passer-by, whispering only one word.
"Kusanagi."
The stranger, too fearful for his own life, quickly pointed in the direction of the Kusanagi household, high upon a hill in the distance.
With that, the dark rider rode off in that direction, leaving the stranger to flee home as fast as he could.
Back in the Kusanagi residence, Shingo had just finished seeing to it that all the mess from the party had been tidied up. He was making his way to the bedrooms when he thought he heard a noise coming from Saysiu's room. Frowning, he decided to investigate.
Shingo slowly entered the dark room to find the window open and a breeze blowing in, rustling the papers on the desk.
'Odd.' thought Shingo. 'I thought I had shut the window.'
As he went to close the window, something caught hold of him from out of the darkness.
Startled, Shingo fell spun around, tripped over his feet and fell onto the ground on his backside.
"Is it secret? Is it safe?" Chizuru demanded almost desperately as she looked down at Shingo, who quickly scrambled to his feet.
Immediately, Shingo ran into his room and searched through the bottom drawer in one of the bedside tables and pulled the sealed envelope from the bottom of it. Before he could do or say anything else, Chizuru had snatched the envelope from his hand, took it to the fireplace, and thrwe the whole thing into the fire.
"Hey! What are you doing?!?!" Shingo exclaimed as he watched the envelope burn. He watched as Chizuru used a poker to retrieve the ring from the fire and was even more surprised when she told him to hold out his hand.
"Don't worry, Shingo. The ring is quite cool," she assured him as she placed it onto his open palm. "Now tell me, can you see anything on it?"
"There's nothing there," Shingo aswered. "What's going on?"
Chizuru turned away, sighing heavily. It wasn't the ring she thought it was.
Just then, she heard Shingo exclaim "Wait, wait! There are markings on the ring!" she turned to watch him scrutinize the ring before he announced "I can't read the writing on it. It's in a weird language."
"It's the language of the Orochi," Chizuru told him solemnly. "I will not speak it here. Basically, it says 'One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them'."
"Cute poem," Shingo grinned at the ring before his smile faded. "Wait a moment. Did you say Orochi??"
"What you hold in your hand, is the ring forged by the Orochi with the help of the N.E.S.T.S. team thousands of years ago." Chizuru explained.
"Kusanagi-sensei found it."
"Yes, and evil is stiring upon the lands. The ring has awoken," she leant forwards towards Shingo. "It has heard its master's call."
"But he was defeated. Orochi was defeated." Shingo insisted, feeling the shivers run down his spine.
"Defeated, Shingo. Not killed."
Shingo sank into a nearby chair.
"The life force of the Orochi is bound to the ring. The ring survived. Orochi is returning." Chizuru paused for a while to let her words sink in. This had become a very serious matter. "Orochi's army would have multiplied. And we are only too familiar with N.E.S.T.S. Orochi now only needs the ring to plunge this world into a second darkness. He is already seeking the ring. And the ring yearns above all else to return to it's master. Orochi must never find it."
Shingo looked at the ring which he had now put on his desk. His mind was swirling with all this information that Chizuru had just given him. Orochi was coming. That name alone could knot his stomach.
Suddenly, he snatched the ring from his desk, looking desperately around his room. "Okay. Okay. We put the ring somewhere. We keep it hidden and never speak of it again. I mean, nobody knows it's here, do they?" Shingo stopped when he didn't get a reply straight away. He turned and looked at Chizuru, his eyes wide. "Do they?"
"There is one other who knew that Saysiu had the ring," Chizuru admitted. "I looked everywhere for Choi Bounge. But it seems as though N.E.S.T.S. have found him already. I don't know how long they had tortured him for, but all he told them was one word, which was sufficient enough for them: Kusanagi."
"But that will lead them here!!" Shingo wailed, putting his hands on his head in dismay before he thrust the ring towards Chizuru. "Take it, Chizuru! Take the ring!"
"No, Shingo. I cannot." Chizuru backed away, her eyes wide.
"You have to take it!"
"You cannot offer me this ring!"
"I'm not offering you, I'm giving it to you!"
"Don't tempt me, Shingo Yabuki!!" Chizuru practically screamed at him, effectively silencing him. And then, in a quieter voice, she added "I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Please, Shingo, understand me. I would use this ring for a desire to do good, but through me, it could weild a power too great and terrible to imagine."
"But it can't stay here!" Shingo whined, feeling as if his words were just not getting through to the Gate Keeper.
"It can't." Chizuru agreed.
"The what must I do?"
"You must leave. At once. Get out of here and make for the next village of Bree."
"What about you?" Shingo hastily grabbed a travel bag and began to shove some clothes into it.
"I'll be waiting there for you. At the local inn."
"Will the ring be safe there?"
"I cannot tell," Chizuru shook her head. "I must meet with an old acquaintance now. He is very powerful and informative. He should know what to do. But in the meantime, you will have to travel by first name only. Don't speak of the names Kusanagi or Yabuki. It is not safe anymore," she handed him more essentials to pack. "Travel by day only and stay off the roads."
"I knew cross-country at school was good for something." Shingo forced a smile.
Chizuru was touched by his bravery. She smiled at him and was just about to say something when they heard a noise from outside the window of Shingo's room.
"Get down." Chizuru whispered to Shingo in warning as she moved stealthily towards the window. Suddenly, she reached out of the window and dragged the intruder into the room, ready to beat them into a pulp, but stopping as she recognised the person.
"Damnit! Sie Kensou! Have you been spying on us?"
Kensou, another Hobbit and friend of Shingo's, covered his head with his arms in fear. Chizuru was furious, her eyes blazing like fire.
"I haven't, I swear!" Kensou whimpered. "I came back to speak to Shingo and I heard raised voices. I didn't mean any harm!"
"What did you hear? Tell me now!" Chizuru wasn't showing signs of her anger diminishing.
"I'm sure it wasn't anything important," Kensou gulped. "Just something about a ring and the Orochi and the possible end of the world.. Please don't kill me!"
To his surprise, Chizuz seemed to calm down. "As much as I would like to for you eavesdropping on us, but I can think of a better use for you." She looked at Shingo and they smiled knowingly at each other.
Dawn was approaching when they finally had everything sorted out and were leaving the Kusanagi household, Chizuru and Shingo walking together and Kensou struggling to catch up as he carried a heavy travel sack.
They stopped at the edge of the forest surrounding the walls of the huge palace as the sun began to rise from over the mountains.
"Be careful, both of you," Chizuru told Shingo and Kensou. "Our enemy has many spies in this world," she looked at Shingo. "Is it safe?"
Shingo nodded, patting his pocket.
She put her hands on his shoulders, looking him seriously in the eye. "Never put the ring on, okay? The agents of Orochi will be drawn to its power if you do. Just remember, Shingo, that the ring is trying to find its way back to its master. It wants to be found."
With that, Chizuru leapt upon her horse and rode off down the path as fast as she could, leaving Shingo and Kensou alone to face the wild forest and the rest of the lands in which they had hardly traveled through before.
"Smoke rises from the Mountain of Doom, where the Orochi once battled before. The hours grow late, and the great Sorceress, Chizuru Kagura has ridden here to Isengard to seek answers." A shrouded wizard stood at the foot of stairs leading into a great tower as Chizuru approached on horseback, dismounting in front of the figure. "For that is why you have come, is it not, my friend?"
"And for someone whom I have known for so long, I still do not yet know your name, my friend." Chizuru prompted at her strange aquaintance.
"Names matter not," the shrouded figure said as they began to walk. "Tell me, what troubles the Sorceress?"
"You are sure of this?" the cloaked wizard sounded surprised when Chizuru had finished explaining her predicament to him as they walked within the tall tower.
"Absolutely," Chizuru nodded. "Beyond any doubt."
"So.The Orochi Ring of Power has actually been found. And all these years, it has been in Saysiu Kusanagi's possession?"
Chizuru nodded. "It was in a place I visited so frequently."
"And yet you didn't have the wit to see it? Not even sense it?"
"But we still have time to counter Orochi's second coming if we act quick enough."
"Time?" The harshness of the shrouded figure's voice startled Chizuru for a split second. "What time do you think we have? Orochi will have regained much of his strength by now. He cannot yet take a physical form, but his spirit has lost none of its potency, and concealed within his fortress, he will see all. His gaze will peirce cloud, shadow, earth and flesh," the widard leant forwards towards Chizuru. "You know of what I speak of, Kagura. A great eye, lidless and wreathed in blue flames."
"The eye of Orochi." Chizuru's voice was barely above a whisper now.
"He is gathering all things evil to him," he continued. "Very soon, with the aid of N.E.S.T.S., he will have created an army great enough to launch an assault upon Middle-Earth."
"You know all of this?" Chizuru frowned. She wasn't liking any of what she was hearing. And, more importantly, she wanted to know how he knew all of this. "How?"
The reply was simple, as the wizard gestured at a covered object in the middle of the room. "I have seen it."
Chizuru suddenly realized what he was pointing to and her mouth fell open in surprise. "A palantir is a dangerous tool!"
"Why do you think that?" the tone of his voice was almost challenging as he uncovered the crystalline orb. "Why should great people like us fear to use such a thing?"
"Because not all of the lost seeing-stones are accounted for, that's why! We don't know who else may be watching." Chizuru grabbed the cloth and pulled it back over the orb, gasping as she felt a jolting presence and saw an eye wreathed in blue flames that seemed to momentarily pierce her mind. She looked at the shrouded figure.
"The hour is later than you think, my friend," he chuckled. "Orochi's forces are already on the move, and The Nine have left Minus Morgul."
"The Nine." breathed Chizuru. She could feel her heart thudding wildly in her chest.
"Yes. They crossed the River Isen on Midsummer's Eve, disgused as horseriders in black."
"They've reached the Kusanagi residence?"
"They will find the ring, Chizuru. And they will kill the one who carries it."
"Shingo." Chizuru whispered under her breath. Without further hesitation, she ran for the door, only to see it shut before she could reach it.
"Who are you?" Chizuru demanded. Things were now turning for the worse. She needed to get out of here and reach Shingo and Kensou as fast as she could. They were in grave danger.
"You didn't honestly think that two boys could contend with the combined forced of N.E.S.T.S. and the Orochi, did you?" Laughing, the figure ripped off the shrouds to reveal K9999 of the N.E.S.T.S. organization. "There are none who can!"
With a gasp, Chizuru stepped back in shock. This was all a trick. She had unknowingly leaked information to the N.E.S.T.S. organization. K9999 laughed madly. "Victory will be ours, Gate Keeper! You will join us or you shall die!!"
Chizuru didn't answer as she got into a fighting stance. She would never - not even consider - joining with N.E.S.T.S. or the Orochi. Her mind was already made up.
"You are a fool!" K9999 sneered as he attacked with his Get Lost move. Chizuru flipped out of the way, somersaulting in the air and landing a kick to K9999's face.
"Cursed witch! I will make sure your death is slow and painful." Suddenly, K9999's arm began to mutate and it coilled tightly around Chizuru. "I gave you the chance of joining us, but you have chosen the pathway of pain and death!" K9999 laughed insanely as Chizuru screamed.
Chizuru Kagura had travelled as fast as she could to seek more information upon the strange ring which Saysiu had found. She was now sat at her home, looking through various manuscripts and books, hoping to find more news on anything akin to what she had seen at the Kusanagi residence.
She didn't know how many hours she had been going through the archive files and books until she had found something which caught her eye. It was an account written by an ancient fighter about the findings of an Orochi Ring of Power. She began to read the page aloud to herself.
" '.It has come to me. The Orochi Ring. It shall be an heirloom for my clan. All those who follow in my bloodline shall be boudn to its fate for I will risk no harm to this ring.'" Chizuru's eyes narrowed slightly as she continued to read. " 'It is precious to me. The markings upon the ring begin to fade. The writing, which at first was as clear as red flame, has all but disappeared. It is a secret now in which only fire can tell.'"
Chizuzu looked up from the page, her eyes wide. She had to get back to Shingo.
Somewhere else, on the outsirts of the village, a shrouded figure on horseback approached a startled passer-by, whispering only one word.
"Kusanagi."
The stranger, too fearful for his own life, quickly pointed in the direction of the Kusanagi household, high upon a hill in the distance.
With that, the dark rider rode off in that direction, leaving the stranger to flee home as fast as he could.
Back in the Kusanagi residence, Shingo had just finished seeing to it that all the mess from the party had been tidied up. He was making his way to the bedrooms when he thought he heard a noise coming from Saysiu's room. Frowning, he decided to investigate.
Shingo slowly entered the dark room to find the window open and a breeze blowing in, rustling the papers on the desk.
'Odd.' thought Shingo. 'I thought I had shut the window.'
As he went to close the window, something caught hold of him from out of the darkness.
Startled, Shingo fell spun around, tripped over his feet and fell onto the ground on his backside.
"Is it secret? Is it safe?" Chizuru demanded almost desperately as she looked down at Shingo, who quickly scrambled to his feet.
Immediately, Shingo ran into his room and searched through the bottom drawer in one of the bedside tables and pulled the sealed envelope from the bottom of it. Before he could do or say anything else, Chizuru had snatched the envelope from his hand, took it to the fireplace, and thrwe the whole thing into the fire.
"Hey! What are you doing?!?!" Shingo exclaimed as he watched the envelope burn. He watched as Chizuru used a poker to retrieve the ring from the fire and was even more surprised when she told him to hold out his hand.
"Don't worry, Shingo. The ring is quite cool," she assured him as she placed it onto his open palm. "Now tell me, can you see anything on it?"
"There's nothing there," Shingo aswered. "What's going on?"
Chizuru turned away, sighing heavily. It wasn't the ring she thought it was.
Just then, she heard Shingo exclaim "Wait, wait! There are markings on the ring!" she turned to watch him scrutinize the ring before he announced "I can't read the writing on it. It's in a weird language."
"It's the language of the Orochi," Chizuru told him solemnly. "I will not speak it here. Basically, it says 'One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them'."
"Cute poem," Shingo grinned at the ring before his smile faded. "Wait a moment. Did you say Orochi??"
"What you hold in your hand, is the ring forged by the Orochi with the help of the N.E.S.T.S. team thousands of years ago." Chizuru explained.
"Kusanagi-sensei found it."
"Yes, and evil is stiring upon the lands. The ring has awoken," she leant forwards towards Shingo. "It has heard its master's call."
"But he was defeated. Orochi was defeated." Shingo insisted, feeling the shivers run down his spine.
"Defeated, Shingo. Not killed."
Shingo sank into a nearby chair.
"The life force of the Orochi is bound to the ring. The ring survived. Orochi is returning." Chizuru paused for a while to let her words sink in. This had become a very serious matter. "Orochi's army would have multiplied. And we are only too familiar with N.E.S.T.S. Orochi now only needs the ring to plunge this world into a second darkness. He is already seeking the ring. And the ring yearns above all else to return to it's master. Orochi must never find it."
Shingo looked at the ring which he had now put on his desk. His mind was swirling with all this information that Chizuru had just given him. Orochi was coming. That name alone could knot his stomach.
Suddenly, he snatched the ring from his desk, looking desperately around his room. "Okay. Okay. We put the ring somewhere. We keep it hidden and never speak of it again. I mean, nobody knows it's here, do they?" Shingo stopped when he didn't get a reply straight away. He turned and looked at Chizuru, his eyes wide. "Do they?"
"There is one other who knew that Saysiu had the ring," Chizuru admitted. "I looked everywhere for Choi Bounge. But it seems as though N.E.S.T.S. have found him already. I don't know how long they had tortured him for, but all he told them was one word, which was sufficient enough for them: Kusanagi."
"But that will lead them here!!" Shingo wailed, putting his hands on his head in dismay before he thrust the ring towards Chizuru. "Take it, Chizuru! Take the ring!"
"No, Shingo. I cannot." Chizuru backed away, her eyes wide.
"You have to take it!"
"You cannot offer me this ring!"
"I'm not offering you, I'm giving it to you!"
"Don't tempt me, Shingo Yabuki!!" Chizuru practically screamed at him, effectively silencing him. And then, in a quieter voice, she added "I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Please, Shingo, understand me. I would use this ring for a desire to do good, but through me, it could weild a power too great and terrible to imagine."
"But it can't stay here!" Shingo whined, feeling as if his words were just not getting through to the Gate Keeper.
"It can't." Chizuru agreed.
"The what must I do?"
"You must leave. At once. Get out of here and make for the next village of Bree."
"What about you?" Shingo hastily grabbed a travel bag and began to shove some clothes into it.
"I'll be waiting there for you. At the local inn."
"Will the ring be safe there?"
"I cannot tell," Chizuru shook her head. "I must meet with an old acquaintance now. He is very powerful and informative. He should know what to do. But in the meantime, you will have to travel by first name only. Don't speak of the names Kusanagi or Yabuki. It is not safe anymore," she handed him more essentials to pack. "Travel by day only and stay off the roads."
"I knew cross-country at school was good for something." Shingo forced a smile.
Chizuru was touched by his bravery. She smiled at him and was just about to say something when they heard a noise from outside the window of Shingo's room.
"Get down." Chizuru whispered to Shingo in warning as she moved stealthily towards the window. Suddenly, she reached out of the window and dragged the intruder into the room, ready to beat them into a pulp, but stopping as she recognised the person.
"Damnit! Sie Kensou! Have you been spying on us?"
Kensou, another Hobbit and friend of Shingo's, covered his head with his arms in fear. Chizuru was furious, her eyes blazing like fire.
"I haven't, I swear!" Kensou whimpered. "I came back to speak to Shingo and I heard raised voices. I didn't mean any harm!"
"What did you hear? Tell me now!" Chizuru wasn't showing signs of her anger diminishing.
"I'm sure it wasn't anything important," Kensou gulped. "Just something about a ring and the Orochi and the possible end of the world.. Please don't kill me!"
To his surprise, Chizuz seemed to calm down. "As much as I would like to for you eavesdropping on us, but I can think of a better use for you." She looked at Shingo and they smiled knowingly at each other.
Dawn was approaching when they finally had everything sorted out and were leaving the Kusanagi household, Chizuru and Shingo walking together and Kensou struggling to catch up as he carried a heavy travel sack.
They stopped at the edge of the forest surrounding the walls of the huge palace as the sun began to rise from over the mountains.
"Be careful, both of you," Chizuru told Shingo and Kensou. "Our enemy has many spies in this world," she looked at Shingo. "Is it safe?"
Shingo nodded, patting his pocket.
She put her hands on his shoulders, looking him seriously in the eye. "Never put the ring on, okay? The agents of Orochi will be drawn to its power if you do. Just remember, Shingo, that the ring is trying to find its way back to its master. It wants to be found."
With that, Chizuru leapt upon her horse and rode off down the path as fast as she could, leaving Shingo and Kensou alone to face the wild forest and the rest of the lands in which they had hardly traveled through before.
"Smoke rises from the Mountain of Doom, where the Orochi once battled before. The hours grow late, and the great Sorceress, Chizuru Kagura has ridden here to Isengard to seek answers." A shrouded wizard stood at the foot of stairs leading into a great tower as Chizuru approached on horseback, dismounting in front of the figure. "For that is why you have come, is it not, my friend?"
"And for someone whom I have known for so long, I still do not yet know your name, my friend." Chizuru prompted at her strange aquaintance.
"Names matter not," the shrouded figure said as they began to walk. "Tell me, what troubles the Sorceress?"
"You are sure of this?" the cloaked wizard sounded surprised when Chizuru had finished explaining her predicament to him as they walked within the tall tower.
"Absolutely," Chizuru nodded. "Beyond any doubt."
"So.The Orochi Ring of Power has actually been found. And all these years, it has been in Saysiu Kusanagi's possession?"
Chizuru nodded. "It was in a place I visited so frequently."
"And yet you didn't have the wit to see it? Not even sense it?"
"But we still have time to counter Orochi's second coming if we act quick enough."
"Time?" The harshness of the shrouded figure's voice startled Chizuru for a split second. "What time do you think we have? Orochi will have regained much of his strength by now. He cannot yet take a physical form, but his spirit has lost none of its potency, and concealed within his fortress, he will see all. His gaze will peirce cloud, shadow, earth and flesh," the widard leant forwards towards Chizuru. "You know of what I speak of, Kagura. A great eye, lidless and wreathed in blue flames."
"The eye of Orochi." Chizuru's voice was barely above a whisper now.
"He is gathering all things evil to him," he continued. "Very soon, with the aid of N.E.S.T.S., he will have created an army great enough to launch an assault upon Middle-Earth."
"You know all of this?" Chizuru frowned. She wasn't liking any of what she was hearing. And, more importantly, she wanted to know how he knew all of this. "How?"
The reply was simple, as the wizard gestured at a covered object in the middle of the room. "I have seen it."
Chizuru suddenly realized what he was pointing to and her mouth fell open in surprise. "A palantir is a dangerous tool!"
"Why do you think that?" the tone of his voice was almost challenging as he uncovered the crystalline orb. "Why should great people like us fear to use such a thing?"
"Because not all of the lost seeing-stones are accounted for, that's why! We don't know who else may be watching." Chizuru grabbed the cloth and pulled it back over the orb, gasping as she felt a jolting presence and saw an eye wreathed in blue flames that seemed to momentarily pierce her mind. She looked at the shrouded figure.
"The hour is later than you think, my friend," he chuckled. "Orochi's forces are already on the move, and The Nine have left Minus Morgul."
"The Nine." breathed Chizuru. She could feel her heart thudding wildly in her chest.
"Yes. They crossed the River Isen on Midsummer's Eve, disgused as horseriders in black."
"They've reached the Kusanagi residence?"
"They will find the ring, Chizuru. And they will kill the one who carries it."
"Shingo." Chizuru whispered under her breath. Without further hesitation, she ran for the door, only to see it shut before she could reach it.
"Who are you?" Chizuru demanded. Things were now turning for the worse. She needed to get out of here and reach Shingo and Kensou as fast as she could. They were in grave danger.
"You didn't honestly think that two boys could contend with the combined forced of N.E.S.T.S. and the Orochi, did you?" Laughing, the figure ripped off the shrouds to reveal K9999 of the N.E.S.T.S. organization. "There are none who can!"
With a gasp, Chizuru stepped back in shock. This was all a trick. She had unknowingly leaked information to the N.E.S.T.S. organization. K9999 laughed madly. "Victory will be ours, Gate Keeper! You will join us or you shall die!!"
Chizuru didn't answer as she got into a fighting stance. She would never - not even consider - joining with N.E.S.T.S. or the Orochi. Her mind was already made up.
"You are a fool!" K9999 sneered as he attacked with his Get Lost move. Chizuru flipped out of the way, somersaulting in the air and landing a kick to K9999's face.
"Cursed witch! I will make sure your death is slow and painful." Suddenly, K9999's arm began to mutate and it coilled tightly around Chizuru. "I gave you the chance of joining us, but you have chosen the pathway of pain and death!" K9999 laughed insanely as Chizuru screamed.