Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to anything in the Soul Calibur franchise. Characters in this fanfiction are owned by Namco, with the exception of my own creations.

Author's Note: Yun-Seong and Talim's Chapter! To be honest, I don't really like Talim or Yun-seong for that matter, but since Talim's such a popular character with the fans, I decided to pair her up with the sucky Yun-seong since their story intertwines with each other. Bleh, don't like the way this chapter came out. I'll probably revise it later.

Transcending history and the world,

a tale of souls and swords,

eternally retold..

Soul Calibur

Chronicles of the Soul

Chapter V

The Priestess of the Winds

&

The Blade of Youth

If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee. . .

"Ode to the West Wind," Percy Bysshe Shelley

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

Walter Bagehot

Talim

A long time has passed after I had left my home village to seek the mysterious aura that the winds carried with them around the world. A mysterious aura engulfed by darkness and pure evil. You see, I have the power to talk with the winds, for I am a priestess of the winds. I was one of the children in my village chosen to be the next heir to the priestesshood. They called me Talim, a southeast asian word that meant "sharp".

After receiving lessons from the priestesses of our village, I finally gained the title of apprentice priestess and was ready to set out on quests to hone my skills and ultimately become a true wind priestess. A ceremonial party was held for me by the village chief and along with that, he bestowed me two elbow blades that were used by the High Priestess herself before she passed onto the other life, guided by the winds through heaven.

Afterwards, I set out on my long quest to achieve my goal and one of the tasks I was to perform was to find the source of evil that were being carried along by the howling winds. I began to trace the aura and stumbled upon a steep ravine with an abandoned and ruined village hidden within it. Windmills rotated with the natural force of the winds and waterwheels turned with the force of the gushing water from a lengthy and most elegant river that flowed through the abandoned village.

The winds eventually guided me to a group of children hiding in a ruined watermill, bunched up together and cowering in fear. At first, they became very fearful of me for they haven't seen a stranger like me in probably a couple of months. These poor children suffered through a hard life in this village and all the happiness they spent in it were completely obliterated. After talking with the children in a calm and kind manner, they eventually gained my trust. I was informed that one of the children was deeply ill with some sort of incurable disease.

Without hesitation, I asked one of the children to show me the young child and was eventually guided towards a small, confined room. As I entered, I felt the same evil aura that the winds carried. The same evil aura that I was to vanquish in order to restore the balance of good and evil in the world. I slowly walked up to the boy who was sitting on the floor with his knees folded up, his fragile head leaning on one knee.

"Hey there," I said, "How are you feeling?"

The boy lifted his head away from his knees and looked up at me, his dull eyes staring straight at me. A faint smile slowly crept on his face but he didn't respond. That smile of despair and sadness struck me deeply and immediately felt sympathy for this young boy. I slowly lifted him up from the floor and caged him in a tight embrace.

"Don't worry," I reassured him with my words of gentle kindness, "I will find a way to remove the evil that plagues you."

Yun-Seong

Ah, being so far away from home has never felt so good. Adventuring and traversing through all these lands makes my blood rush and give me an exciting feeling inside. Of course, the blood that fuels me always brings me to problems and other sorts of unwanted attention but hey, that's just the way I am. One lucky thing I get to do that I'm really thankful for is to get away from that annoying old lady, Seong Mi-Na. She's always pestering me and talking to me like I'm a child. I remember telling her that she should leave Soul Edge and it's problematic matters to the youthful people of the world.

And of course, I received a beating.

Soul Edge. The legendary Sword of Salvation. The same one my rival was pursuing. I have to beat him. I have to be better than him. No longer will I look up to him as my hero and look at him as my sworn rival. Hwang, I will get Soul Edge and take the title as a hero of our mother nation of Korea!

Luckily, I was able to find clues to the whereabouts of the sword's location. I found myself following a couple of children towards a small, abandoned village where watermills and elegant rivers of old flow. From what I've heard, the village was destroyed during a small war for a fragment of Soul Edge. Now, it's just a desolate place filled with children who survived.

When I had arrived, the children greeted me with open arms and with a cheerful attitude. I felt welcome and safe in their home, until she came along. It seems I wasn't the only one in search of the whereabouts of Soul Edge. She was a rather short girl with a dark complexion. She wore a white outfit attire fit for something like a priestess or nun of some sort, red ribbons wrapped around her limbs. When I dared look at her face, I saw eyes of beauty and exquisiteness.

But that wasn't the case.

She quickly struck at me with her fists, holding what seems to be two blades attached to a handle, in which she held the blades facing towards her elbows. I stared at her face to see that she was serious about this. Impossible. Why would someone as good looking as I am be a target for such an innocent and gentle looking girl? Bah!

"What are you doing?" I questioned her, refusing to draw my blade, "I don't wish to fight you." the expression on her face was more frightening than the blades she wielded, "There's no way I would scar that pretty face of yours."

Talim

"What are you doing here?" I asked the lone stranger with red hair. He seemed innocent enough but looks can be deceiving, "Who led you to this place?" I questioned his motives. I motioned for the children to hide inside the house before things got out of hand.

"Those children pointed me here." He responded as he pointed towards the children peering outside through the window, "I came here in search for clues on the whereabouts of Soul Edge," the red haired boy smiled a bit and bowed apologetically, "I'm sorry if I come across as a frightening stranger to you but please, know that I'm really a loveable and quite handsome man!"

Nothing came out of my mouth. What an egotistical young man this was. I shook my head and dropped my guard, knowing that I can trust this man's words.

Yun-Seong

"Thank you for dropping your guard," I said while holding out my right hand, "The name's Yun-Seong. I'm from the country of Korea."

She was terribly too beautiful. I couldn't stand it.

"Talim," She spoke, "From a Priestess tribe in the southeastern islands." She began walking towards the entrance that led to a small house, its decrepit walls showing vividly as a sign of age and minimal destruction.

Sitting down with the rest of the children, Talim told me the story about these children and the boy infected by some sort of evil aura. I noticed the difference between the child infected with the evil aura and that of the children. The children seemed playful towards me but the boy avoided me at all costs. He even avoids playing with the other children. But he didn't avoid the kind priestess that aided him. She really is a kind-hearted person but she was grief stricken with the issue at hand.

I tried speaking to her and tried to alleviate her of the worries about the ill boy. With that, I saw bits of her smile awakening slowly.

Talim came up with an idea that would help treat the boy of his illness. However, it would be a big risk to her life as well. Talim told the boy about it but he refused to do anything at all.

"It hurts too much. My body aches of pain and it is becoming too unbearable now. I just want it all to end. I just want to die!" the boy yelled, tears of sadness flowed from his eyes and ran down his face, "I just want to..die."

I felt that it was my time to step in and do something. I asked for Talim and the other children to leave so that we could have a little talking, man to man. I sat down next to him, his tears never ceasing to stop. During this, he decided to tell me everything about his past. I learned that he was the son of the Lord that controlled this now empty city and that he had obtained a fragment of Soul Edge.

His father became power hungry and eventually became a mad man. He conducted experiments on countless of people, including his own son. Eventually, the neighboring coutnries around the city took notice of what was happening. This event made his father an angry mad man and committed mass genocide of the people living in his city. Ultimately, someone finally put an end to the Lord's life and now here we are, standing on what greed and power can do to corrupt the minds of humans.

"Those children that live here," he began, "I was glad to save them from being experimented on but I.." he hid his face and began crying a waterfall of tears once more.

I stood up from where I sat and lifted my blade up, the White Storm. I pointed the blade at the young boy and told him, "This sword is a treasure passed down through my teacher's family. It is said that the blade shows what lies in the depth of the heart of the one who holds it."

The boy looked at me with a strange look before looking at the reflection of his image from the blade, "What do you see? The figure of a demon filled with twisted power? Somehow, I don't think so. Don't give up before the end. You made the right decision."

The boy was silent for moments on end until words finally escaped his mouth. It was a small whisper of gratitude.

"Thank you."

Talim

After the long conversation between the both of them, the red haired youth came out of the room with a grin pasted on his face, "I gave the little troublemaker a little talkin to." he said with a smile on his face, "The rest is up to you."

I looked at his eyes and knew that he truly was a kind-hearted man. Although a bit egotistical, he was a gentle free spirit with a lot of heart, "Thank you, Yun-seong."

I stepped inside the room and embraced the boy. The evil aura around him seemed to have changed a bit. I could no longer feel the massive evil radiating from him but it was rather miniscule now. I spoke to him,

"No matter how bad I feel, I won't give up. So I don't want you to close off your future either. . ."

The ritual involved the connection of our two hearts and the heavenly winds as our guide. In a matter of moments, both of us were intertwined by the serene grace of the winds and felt the evil energy purify all the evil that was left within our bodies. The winds had finally granted us a miracle. A miracle that exorcised the evil lingering from the heart of the young boy.

An image flashed in my mind. An image of beauty and awe bathed in glorious light. In the distance, I could see an ethereal object. It was the sword.

It's beautiful.

I made sure that the boy was recovering and finally set out on a journey. I left the place the night after, telling the children my farewells and goodbyes. All except for Yun-seong, who was sleeping like a rock and snoring like a beast.

Something was waiting for me in the west and I shall find it, whether it be good or evil. I shall fulfill my duty as a Priestess of the Winds. . .

Yun-Seong

The morning after, I was told that Talim had left earlier during the dawning of the morning. Man, I had so many more questions to ask her! I decided to pack my things and head off to follow her. I said farewell to the children but before I left, the boy stopped me for a moment.

"I'll tell you everything I know about that evil sword. But I want you to promise me that you'll make sure with your own eyes that the sword is really what you think you seek I trust in you." He said to me and nodded at his words.

He told me of an azure knight ravaging the lands of the west, wielding the powerful Soul Edge. That's where I had to go. After that, I was set on my journey to the west, hopefully meeting up with Talim again. I know that this journey will test my strength and with this, this Blade of Youth shall strike down anyone in my way!