Chapter 2: Eyes of the Past
-From somewhere in the world, the eyes of old stare fear into any who dare to look-
Trees lined the path on either side as far as the eye could see, along a road, frequented by many people during the day, but at night, was a treacherous pathway, as thieves took advantage of the cover to strike at lone travelers at night. This made it the perfect place to hide, and score some easy money, Isamu thought as he and his cohorts waited anxiously for their first target of the night, they plan to ambush and leave the body in plain sight and when the next person happened along, they would do it again.
'As long as we do it right we stand to make a very good profit.'
Isamu thoughts soon silenced as his lookout came out of the woods in front of him "we got us one coming down the road, he's alone too" Hearing this Isamu gathers the others and waits along a narrow bend. As soon as the lone target walked into view, as he approached the bend, everyone jumped down in circle around the traveler, he was wearing old style armor, once worn by old shinobi, a rare artifact which could fetch a good price anywhere. "Drop the armor and anything you got on ya, we promise to take go easy on your face" The figure says nothing as, from his right, one of Isamu's men, started on him.
CRACK!
Isamu wasn't sure what happened, he thought he'd been seeing things; his man had barely touched the figure before being thrown into a tree with a sickening sound. The figure didn't appear to have moved at all, as another ran at him, knife in hand, and he too, was sent flying, one by one they charged and were taken down faster than anything he had ever seen. The figure seemed almost passive in the way he handled them all, Isamu couldn't process this no way this guy wasn't a ninja but never had he seen any ninja to that kind of skill. Isamu slowly began to retreat, before he moved at all, the figure cast his gaze in his direction and what Isamu saw was horror incarnate: A pair of piercing red eyes. Immediately, Isamu turned to run and stop in his tracks-
-he was no longer in a the forest, the dirt path suddenly came to a steep drop-off, there were no trees and the sky was a pale orange, wherever he was; he was sure of one thing that man had done this. Slowly Isamu turned around, not wanting to but something told him to do so, and behind awaited a nightmare, that same man in the same armor, in the same place as before, was there but now, encased in a strange green thing, it looked like a torso but much bigger. It had multiple arms and seemed that it was on fire, but its face, was something like monster. From within the figure merely raised a hand, his eyes still red with a strange shape, and he spoke, it sounded far away yet echoed "Awaken" and snapped his fingers.
Isamu found himself looking up at the sky, it was daylight, clouds swirled overhead, as a soft wind blew around him, he sat up slowly, he was lying in the middle of the dirt path bend, still in the forest same as before. No one around, his partners were gone no they were killed by that man where is he?! Feverishly, Isamu looked all around him but he alone in the woods. Quickly he stood up and ran down the road…
Xevhiroth looked on from the shadow high in a tree, as the young thief awoke from his slumber, looked around him, and ran off in the direction of the nearest village, he should have killed him but he decided to be merciful.
'Plus he'll spread the word about me.'
Xevhiroth wanted to quiet the words in his mind, but he knew that were not his own, he couldn't if he tried. He didn't like the infamy he had gained from countless encounters but something about the fear and pain he caused gave him a strange sense of satisfaction, which he hated. Though they were thieves, perhaps death was unavoidable for them as a punishment, but it had been decidedly quick, and buried them all together nearby. After the thief had clearly gone far enough away Xevhiroth leapt dome from the tree and traveled east through the thick woods. Xevhiroth had never been entirely sure as to why he was being constantly hunted everywhere he went some much so he stayed away from major villages and those under sovereign rule, there was a small town nearby he could probably get something there with the money he scavenged from those thieves. Jumping from tree to tree Xevhiroth continued on as his mind once delved back into his memories about how he had come to this place…
-Flashback-
From as far back as he could remember, Xevhiroth had only known darkness as his place, he often felt as if he suspended within something, as words drifted into his mind: Might is the way of peace, Hatred is the essence of our power. After a long time the voices faded and he was left alone, with only darkness and Hate to sustain him, slowly the hate began to fade away into the nothingness until.
CRASH!
A sound, the first in so long was a strange noise, breaking the silence that persisted for a long time; the darkness shattered by it. Then, a feeling, cold and wet, Xevhiroth for the first time moved his body, first his fingers, and felt a ice-cold surface across his bare body. Slowly, he opened his eyes and instead of just darkness he saw darkness…and a bit of light by a machine nearby but his eyes could only making weird shape of light; shaking, he slowly placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself and felt his sore and listless muscles collapse under his weight. Waiting, a bit longer he pushed again on the ground and this time rose from the floor, resting on his knees. Thoughts, no longer jumbled masses, began to form.
'Where am I? Why am I here? And who-who am I?'
For some reason, he couldn't recall his name, did he even have one? Spurred on by some need, he pushed off one leg and stood, almost collapsing back to the floor. His eyes could barely make out more than misshapen form of everything around him, a persistent ringing in his ears blocked out even his own heartbeat, all he sensed was nothing, his feet and most his body were numb and every time his tongue touched his lips, tasted a strange mix of bile and something else he couldn't make out; a byproduct of that strange liquid he was lying in. Wobbling heavily, he started for…something; everything was blurring together in a strange mess of shapes, which made determining objects impossible.
Reaching out he found a wall and followed to a door. Fumbling with numb hands he managed to open it, and a bleak hallway awaited him, clinging to the wall he proceeded down the right side.
Slowly, he could make out a light in the distance, a torch still burning brightly, at first it pierced his vision like needles, hurting almost but soon it helped his vision clear up. Follow the other torches with lit his way, he passed door after door, too weak to try them all, he attempted only those on his side of the wall, slowly his other senses soon followed: the ringing in his ears subsided, the small of ammonia and dust soon flooded his nostrils, the strange taste faded from his lips, and the balls of his feet began sending pain signals to his brain. The numbness in his body was almost gone by the time he came across an unlocked door, inside was a desk, chair, cabinet, and bed. The bed was covered in a thick layer of dust as was the chair and desk, searching the desk, he discovered a box of matches used to light the lamps which lined the rooms walls, door so filled the room in a flickering light of orange.
'Was this a room for someone? Who would have stayed in place like this?'
Unable to answer the question in his mind, he turned his attention to the last remaining object: The Closet. Opening it revealed full black attire; socks, shirt, shorts were all black.
Fully dressed, he looked back into the closet and saw a drawer, inside was a scroll. By instinct perhaps, he unrolled it on the floor, bit his finger, drew a line of blood across it and clapped his hands.
-Clap-
Almost as if in a trance, he wondered how he knew how do to that, but cast his eyes down to what he had summoned: A set of armor, red with a black underlay, and had the same symbol on the back and shoulders, he paused when he saw a symbol: A fan, with a white handle and red sail. Upon gazing at it he felt a sudden pain in his head causing him to drop the top, after a moment the pain subsided and soon a word drifted into his mind, which he uttered:
"Uchiha…"
Donning it he found it fit him perfectly like it had been made for him, now fully clothed, he searched for a way out.
Going back the way he came, he arrived back at the room he woke up in, and decided to see what he'd been in. The room was dark illuminated by machines which hummed with a creepy glow, all around a central tank the one he'd been inside of, and a single desk with a scroll on it. Grabbing it, he unrolled it partially inside was a detail of symbols and signs describing a technique of some kind, a Jutsu, created by someone whose name he couldn't make out, worn away by time.
'Wonder who this belonged? Maybe it will be useful down the road, think I'll hang on to it for now.'
Placing the scroll in a pouch on his hip, he left the room; a room he never wanted to see again and continued down the right hallway, again passing the same wall texture and locked doors for what seemed like eternity he finally reached an open area the roof had caved in and a sparse ray of moonlight shined on the floor illumining not just the room but also something directly underneath the opening.
'What is…that?'
Moving closer, he discovered it was a body, of a ninja from it clothing or what remained of it, but it looked like it had been there for a while, No flesh or rotting smell, just bones. Examining it, yielded some kunai and shurikin but little less until he saw something reflecting the moon light, it was a headband, around the skull that had moved from his movement of everything else; picking it up, he realized it was in better shape than it's now skeletal owner, brushing of the dust he looked at the symbol. Suddenly a strange new feeling overwhelmed him, a blinding seething feeling of Rage soon everything faded…
….When it all came back, he found himself standing in small clearing surrounded by five bodies; all dead. He stared at them all with a blank expression feeling absolutely nothing for them. He soon realized that the Headband from where that place was still in his grip. Unclenching his fist, the symbol was of the Hidden Leaf Village yet why did it make his blood boil? Unsure he looked at it from all angles, looking at the back side he found a name etched on the underside.
'Xevhiroth…nice name…my name…my name is Xevhiroth Uchiha…'
With an identity in hand, Xevhiroth, looking at the symbol, which filled him with anger by the second, slashed through it end to end, and tied it around his forehead, and walked into the darkness, wherever it would led him, he didn't care.
-End of Flashback-
'My past is mystery to me I must discover who I am'
Xevhiroth had tried to find that place again but never could; it was the only memory he could completely recall of his past, afterwards he drifted from place to place, searching for any place that could tell him anything of his past, to no avail. He was a wonderer, he searched endlessly for any of his past but his name Uchiha, was meet with more hostile reactions. eventually he stopped using it, especially after...
Uhh...it always gets fuzzy right there...after I woke up...
Closing his walk through his memories, the trees seemed to separate ahead of him, a road. Worn from years of use and constant travelers the road must have been a major avenue, which meant that several towns and villages, used it for trade and quickly moving throughout the country, Xevhiroth searched for any signs that might point towards civilization. Like the fates were reading his thoughts, a sign lay just a few meters ahead, weary from days of being on the move and low supplies, he opted for the more major of the choices on the signpost.
'None of the other towns may not have the supplies I need but going there presents a significant risk but I guess I have no choice I may have to borrow an outfit from a fellow traveler just to be safe'. With a few reservations, he started down the road.