Gahh! Sorry again for the long delay in updating! Hopefully the next chapter will come a lot quicker, but it'll depend on how long it takes me to write it. Anyway, enjoy!
It was an ordinary morning in the ancient village of Shifuta. The village was hidden deep in the mountains, where the inhabitants hoped they would never be found. Any outsiders who did find them were not allowed to leave, and many of them were killed on sight. The inhabitants of Shifuta had hidden themselves away for many years, afraid of the other people that inhabited the area. Unfortunately, their fear was what caused them to kill any outsiders, and this quickly gave rise to rumors in the other villages around the mountain. People mysteriously disappearing was no small thing, and the humans of the surrounding villages soon became restless. They merely waited for one more thing to stir them to action.
One day, a young man was walking through the forest, when he accidentally stumbled upon a tiny village. Remembering the rumors, he set his mind to figuring out what was going on. Cautiously, he crept into Shifuta, his heart racing. What he saw there froze him in fear.
"These aren't humans… They're… Monsters!" he thought, cowering behind a pile of crates and hoping that he wouldn't be seen by the creatures walking around. All of them seemed to be a conglomeration of many different parts, some human, but most animal, and a few that he couldn't recognize. At that moment, he saw another human, walking right into the village and staring at these creatures. He tensed as the other man was quickly noticed and surrounded by the creatures.
"Trespasser!" One of the creatures, a large snake with the horns of a deer, roared.
"What are you?!" the frightened man asked.
"What is your name, human?"
"O-Otoko. But, what are you?"
"We are the Shape Shifters." the creature snarled, changing forms in a flash to a humanoid creature and drawing a sword.
"What are you doing?"
"All trespassers must die!" the shifter snarled, attacking Otoko.
The other man quickly snuck out of the village, and ran down the mountain, hoping that he had not been seen. When he got back to his home village, he told everyone about the shape shifters, what he had seen and heard, everything. That night, all of the villages in the area held a meeting, and soon decided to eliminate these creatures once and for all. Leaving their wives and children hiding in their homes, the men of the villages swarmed up the mountain in full armor.
Once the humans reached the village, they began killing every shape shifter in sight. Rida, the wise old leader of the shifters, was unfortunately killed in the fight, but his two sons, Aijou and Kirai, escaped, taking with them a group of survivors.
Both of the young shifters who were now the leaders of their group remembered the human attack, but both reacted differently.
Aijou, the gentle older brother who preferred flitting about as a small bird through the day, soon forgave the humans, knowing that they had been mostly acting on fear. He had always been against the killing of humans who came to the village, and had even spoken to his father once about it, only to be told not to bring up the topic again.
Kirai, the rebellious younger brother who preferred the more deadly animals, such as snakes and wolves, was not so ready to forgive. He was constantly muttering threats to himself, vowing to destroy every last human even if it cost him his life.
One day, Aijou heard his younger brother muttering, and was shocked to hear his words. He pleaded with Kirai to reconsider, but the younger shifter merely snarled at his brother in anger and slithered off in the form of a cobra.
For the next few days, the two brothers kept separate from each other, provoking worry in their small band of followers. Eventually, the group split up, following a heated argument between Aijou and Kirai over whether or not to attack a small group of humans they had nearly run into the night before.
Aijou's group, in full human form, stormed through the human camp, warning them of the danger, so that by the time Kirai and his group arrived, there were no traces of their enemies. Over time, Aijou and his group continued to protect the humans, even siding with them a few times when Kirai attacked.
Over time, their attitudes towards the humans who had destroyed most of their kind drove the brothers apart. Aijou's group learned many different skills from the grateful humans they saved, skills which they passed on to their children; skills in sword fighting, archery, and many other cleaner forms of fighting, as well as dancing and artistic skills.
Kirai's group, on the other hand, grew darker and darker. They began hiding in caves during the daytime, attacking at night when they knew that both humans and shifters would normally be sleeping. Many of their more beautiful shifting forms were forgotten, as they cultivated the strength of only the deadly and evil ones.
Eventually, the animosity between the two groups of shifters led Kirai's group to take on a different name, as they no longer wanted to be associated with their more friendly brethren. Instead, they became known as Darklings, bringers of all evil and death. Kirai organized them into a strict order of command, drilled them, and drove out any former idea of anything that was light.
Eventually, once all humans that remembered them had died or gone away, Aijou's group fled to the mountains, where they found an old piece of Shifter technology that could create a portal back to their home planet.
The next time Kirai's group attacked, Aijou's group tricked them into going through the portal. Once every last Darkling had been forced back, Aijou bid farewell to the humans, and disappeared through the portal himself, back to the shifter's home planet, there to wage a long war against his now-evil brother.
Eventually, Aijou's group was able to lock away Kirai's in a deep system of caverns. The shifters breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that they would never have to face their enemies again. A few shifters returned to earth, intending to protect it, but unfortunately for them, the humans had forgotten altogether what a great help they had been in the past, and destroyed them all, except for one family.
"And that's it." Gingka finished with a sigh. "That's where the Darklings came from, and that's where it all started."
"Wow…" Zero and the others trailed off.
"So, they're still mad at us because some people a long time ago killed some of them?" Madoka spoke up.
Gingka nodded. "Yeah, the darklings are."
"Then why haven't we seen any other shifters, if they liked protecting us here?" Kyoya asked.
"I don't know." Gingka sighed, running a hand through his blazing red hair. "I think that the overall mentality of the shifters has changed. They don't want to interfere any more in human affairs. There are ways to kill the Darklings, but it could get rather violent, and we're probably the only people who know they're here."
"Then teach us." Kyoya said, getting up from the ground with a smirk.
"Teach you?" Gingka raised an eyebrow at his rival in surprise.
"Make us your army. At the very least, teach us to defend ourselves from these creatures. We'll help you stop them."
"You could get killed."
"And since when has that ever stopped you?"
Gingka grinned. "Alright then, let's get to work."
"Count us in!" Zero and his friends exclaimed, leaping to their feet.
"Then wait here, and i'll be right back." Gingka said, leaping into the air and slamming one fist into the opposing palm, creating a swirling shockwave of energy that opened up into a portal, which the redhead flew through and disappeared into.
"Whoa…" the group remaining behind said in awe as the portal disappeared.
A couple of hours later, the group was battling. Kyoya had already taken out the younger bladers several times, and was currently assaulting Shinobu's Salamander with a steady barrage of wind.
"Heads up!" Gingka's voice came from above them, as a large sack fell from the sky and into the stands with a loud clanking noise, Gingka himself soon landing close by.
"What's in there?" Zero asked as the redhead folded his wings and bent over the sack.
"Weapons and armor." Gingka replied, pulling out a sheathed sword and holding it up. "Hopefully i got the right sizes." tossing the sword to Kyoya, he pulled out another one and handed it to Shinobu. After a bit, everyone except for Madoka had a sword.
"I figured you wouldn't be able to handle a sword as easily, since it takes quite a bit of strength and you'd have to fight at close range." Gingka said, motioning Madoka over. "So, i brought a weapon that you'll probably prefer."
"A bow and arrows?" Madoka said in surprise as Gingka pulled said weapons out of the sack and handed them to her.
"Yup. This way, if you have to fight, you can do it from a distance and get the Darklings before they get to you."
Madoka took the gleaming weapons nervously.
"As to armor…" Gingka trailed off, pulling several different types and sizes of armor out of his sack and handing them out.
"How in the world do i put this on?" Zero asked, attempting to slide into the red leather.
"Well, first of all, you have to put your head through the neck hole rather than the arm hole." Gingka chuckled, slipping the armor off the young blader and putting it on the right way before buckling the straps down the side.
"There. Everyone got how to do that?"
Kyoya nodded, buckling the belt of his sword around his waist.
"I can't get these buckled." Madoka spoke up, trying to tighten the straps on her own armor.
"Try taking your jacket off first." Gingka suggested, coming over to help. "And you'll need these." the redhead held up a pair of arm braces and gloves.
"For what?" Madoka asked.
"To protect your fingers and arms from the bowstring. It can cause a pretty nasty rash on your arms and fingers if you don't protect them." Gingka said.
"Oh, of course." Madoka said nervously as the redhead helped her buckle the quiver onto her back and stepped back to look at her.
"You look good in shifter armor." Gingka commented, before turning away and buckling on his own armor.
"Thanks." Madoka replied, blushing slightly at the compliment.
"Alright." Gingka said once everyone had their armor on. "Let's begin!"