The Earth Mother continues the task she's been familiar with for eons, her gait exuding elegance in her blissful, dainty movements as she seems to float across the surface of her ethereal domain: trawling shards of all life on earth with actionable consciousness and it's memories, ranging from the tiny microscopic shards of an ant with the lifespan of 3 weeks to the massive shards of sea beasts long extinct. She elegantly tiptoes over the floor of her domain as her toga flows behind her, a vast expanse of galaxies swirling beneath her feet like liquid starlight.
Endless rows of shimmering bubbles containing fragments of forgotten timelines float around her like constellations, each one pulsing faintly with memories long buried by time.
At the center of it all sits Aku, reduced to his rat-like form, caged by cosmic restraints that hum faintly with ancient power. The bars of his prison are translucent yet unyielding, crackling with energy whenever he strains against them.
Rat-Aku shifts uncomfortably, his piercing green eyes narrowing as he watches Dheghom inspect nine shards suspended before her.
Each shard pulses faintly with its own color—black, blood red, yellow, orange, baby blue, magenta, sapphire blue and finally.. Pink and green.
They hover in midair, spinning slowly as if caught in an invisible current.
"What is this cretin doing…" Aku mutters under his breath, gripping the bars of his cage briefly before slumping back in frustration.
His gaze sharpens as Dheghom reaches for one specific shard—the green one—and un-bubbles it. Aku's curiosity spikes. Why had she chosen that particular shard? What significance did it hold? He leans forward, his claws scraping faintly against the restraints.
A devilish grin spreads across his face as possibilities swirl in his mind. "Hmm…" he muses aloud, gazing wistfully at the galaxies beyond. "I just might…"
Dheghom cradles the green shard gently in her palm, her radiant form tinged with both wonder and trepidation. She taps the shard lightly, and suddenly, memories, filled with the struggles, the hopes, and dreams of a timeline long since erased, flood her mind's eye.
The woman's name was Ashi.
The Earth Mother inferred that, from the wealth of memories inside this glowing green, triangular shard, that she and the rest of her sisters were born to the High Priestess, leader of an all-female cult that drunk in the delusions of Aku's supposed benevolence in the erased timeline, and raised as assassins to kill Samurai Jack—the one foe no warrior could defeat.
Christened the Daughters of Aku, they endured brutal training from childhood to adulthood, forged into lethal weapons. As a kid, Ashi peeked through a wall at the outside world, only to be scolded by the Priestess: Aku created it, and Jack threatened it. Punished and thrown back into training, she grew up hardened. By adulthood, the sisters finished their brutal regimen, donned masks and headgear, and set off to slay the samurai. 6 of them perished in battle against the venerable samurai, leaving only one to pick up the pieces and continue forging the lonely, twisted path to a potential redemption forward.
The echoes of the woman's words appear in her mind, like fragments of fleeting memories long since fated to oblivion, as a tidal wave of emotion washes across the Earth Mother's chest.
. "You worthless scum! I will kill you! You can never escape from Aku!"
"You tell me that everything I know is wrong! But refuse to prove any of it! You're afraid! Afraid that I will see you are a liar!"
"What do you know of me? Everything I have endured until this moment!? You know nothing, Samurai. You are just a lowly, soulless pig!"
Then… came the moments of realisation, introspection and finally change, that Ashi had been so capable of internally.
(Ashi is relieved when the blue alien children prove to be alright by regaining their consciousness and freed from mind control) "We did it! Samurai, we saved them!" (Ashi becomes concerned that Jack is nowhere to be seen)
"Samurai? Samurai?" (worried) "SAMURAI JAAAAAACK!" (surprised) "Hurt? I don't..." (and then speaks calmly) "Look, I'm not trying to hurt him. I'm trying to find him. I think he's in trouble." (conflicted with her feelings if she is Jack's friend)
"I...don't know." (After her nightly cleansing, and realizing she had no clothes afterward) "Uh-oh."
(A cloaked stranger asked if she was Jack's friend, hesitates, then truthfully admits softly) "Yes."
(she sees Jack and she's relieved) "Samurai!"(She becomes very worried and frightened when she notices a sword laying before him)
"Jack?"
(At the point in time when Aku corrupts her, her form blackening and elongating grotesquely, her human features having been all but replaced with white eyes, glowing with the resignation of the surrender of her soul to her demonic father, Aku)
"Jack… I can't stop this! I can't control myself!"
"Kill me, then destroy Aku! Do it now!"
And then the final, ill-fated line, her last words before everything went black.
"Without Aku… I would have never… existed."
In her mind's eye, she sees the Samurai's grief-stricken face, tears dripping onto his black haori and hakama, cradling his stricken bride, as Ashi's entire form de-manifests in front of him.
And then... nothing.
As the montage ends, Dheghom reflects on Ashi's transformation—from a loyal servant of Aku to someone who defied her fate, only to meet a tragic end.
The Earth Mother sighs deeply, her expression softening. "I shouldn't be interfering with fate," she murmurs, re-bubbling Ashi's shard. She pauses, lowering her head as if mourning the loss of potential. "This woman, in her incarnation in this specific timeline, had... a wealth of ambitions. Sadly… fate was not kind to her."
Aku watches intently from his cage, his curiosity piqued. His tail twitches impatiently, like a whip against the vacuum of the domain's atmosphere, as he contemplates what he has just witnessed.
Whatever these shards contained, they were clearly important—to Dheghom, perhaps even to him.
Meanwhile, in the restored past, Jack stands at the outskirts of his kingdom. Physically young but mentally weary, he gazes at the horizon, lost in thought.
He takes a long deep breath of the crisp, cool air of the afternoon, shifting his geta underneath the grass of the hill he stands upon, sheathing his cherished katana once again into its hilt, protecting it from the spoils of a war long since concluded.
The wind rustles through the tall grass, carrying whispers of a life he once knew—and a future he fought so hard to reclaim.
His solitude is interrupted when an envoy approaches over the rolling hills—an Egyptian delegation led by a tall man dressed in flowing robes. Behind him, several guardsmen carry spears adorned with golden scarabs. Their arrival feels surreal, almost out of place in this quiet moment.
"My condolences to you, about the loss of your bride, the ill-fated Princess Ashi.," the leader says, bowing deeply. He holds out a small trinket—a delicate scarab carved intricately into the shape of lapis lazuli.
Another guard adds softly, "I heard she was one to appreciate the beauty of nature." Jack takes the trinket hesitantly, turning it over in his hands. For a moment, he simply stares at it, his mind flooded with memories:
The Triseraquins, their cheerful chatter and soulful singing echoing through the underwater bustle of their cities.
The Scotsman, boisterous and stubborn, raising a toast to friendship.
Da Sa-moo-rai, boisterous yet well-meaning, his pensive willingness to learn the true techniques of a ronin warrior a stark contrast from his days as a haughty, arrogant womaniser.
The Woolies, innocent and hopeful, believing in a brighter future after making contact with Jack.
And finally, Ashi—her laughter, her determination, her final sacrifice.
"Yes," Jack says quietly, clutching the scarab tightly. "You are right. That was one of her many defining characteristics. Many thanks to you all. I will carry this wherever I go… to remind me of her."
"To remind me…" he repeats softly, his voice trailing off as more memories surface.
"…of everyone."
For a brief moment, Jack allows himself to feel the weight of everything he has lost—and everything he has gained, as the envoy of Egyptians trek onwards to the main quarters of the kingdom he and Ashi, had fought so hard to protect and defend.
But the peace is fleeting. Somewhere deep within him, he knows that this respite cannot last forever.
Back in Dheghom's domain, Aku grows restless. Watching the Earth Mother handle the memory shards had sparked something within him—a desperate need to reclaim what he has an inkling of suspicion are rightfully his to claim.
He rattles his cage violently, sparks flying as he strains against the cosmic restraints. "FOOLISH SAMURAI!" Aku snarls, his voice dripping with venom. "Do you think you've won? Do you think I am finished?"
Dheghom turns to face him, her serene demeanor masking her growing concern. "Still scheming, little rat?" she mocks lightly. "Your time has passed." "We'll see about that," Aku sneers, his glowing eyes fixed on the sea of bubbled memories surrounding them. His lips curl into a sinister grin. "I can tell that these shards… they hold power." He pauses, sniffing his essence and connection oozing from the 9 shards that the earth mother had just been analysing
"I can sense that inside them, there is… power that belongs to me . And soon enough, I will take it back."
Dheghom narrows her eyes, sensing the truth behind his words. Though weakened by centuries of neglect, she knows better than to underestimate Aku.
She glances down at the shards, her expression darkening slightly.
From his cage, Aku glares at her, venom dripping from every syllable. "You… keeping me here for eons. You. I'll make sure you, along with Odin, Ra, and Rama, get your reckoning."
Dheghom places the shimmering green shard back among the others, her movements deliberate and careful. Her expression darkens slightly as she gazes at the bubbles, each one holding fragments of lives long gone. She glances back at the central subarea of her gossamer domain, furrowing her eyebrows as she feels something, like a squall of unease brewing in the pit of her heart.
In the distance, Aku's cage begins to tremble faintly, as if responding to some unseen force. A grin etches itself onto his rat-like features.
"All I have to do.. Is to bide my time."
Somewhere far away, in the restored past, Jack tucks the scarab trinket into his robe and resumes his solitude, curling up underneath the sakura tree, the same one under which he'd let the ladybug fly away from his hands, the memory of him releasing the little insect a painful, yet worthwhile reminder of the woman he'd loved, and lost.
Unbeknownst to him, below the surface of the earth, fate had already decided that everyone's combined efforts would be undone.