Sachihiro
I step into a world where I’m clumsy and disoriented struggling to breath with the most debilitating nausea wrapping my knees in circles. I stumble forward trying to stay upright using my former experience from the surviving head wounds. My arms are flaying and punching instinctively. I don’t know where I am I don’t know how I got here I can’t see anything at all, I can’t even feel whether or not I have a weapon in hand so I’m stabbing and punching left and right as I stumble and manoeuvre myself to stay upright.
Then something stabilizes me and I’m jarred into focus by a ‘hand’ as big as the sky. The things I am sees as I regain focus don’t seem to make much sense though...
The world is cracked and like a split mirror different realities are before my eyes, each slightly twisted and out of alignment in a way that has my mind doing cartwheels trying to understand what I’m seeing. Somewhere at the back of my mind I’m aware that my nose is bleeding, that urine is freely flowing out of me and that the headache at the front of my forehead is so bad that its likely an actually tumour visibly protruding from the spot but I can’t stop looking at the views breaking my mind.
The pieces make no sense yet at the same time they make the most perfect sense in a way that would explain everything but likely leave me as mad as a rabid belfry bat if I were to believe them to be reality.
Is this the world as it truly is? I ask myself, a drooling idiot lost in this perspective of the world. At least part of me is the drooling idiot. Another part of me is beautiful, powerful, wise beyond imagining with insights dripping into me directly from the source. Not a blemish on me, no bleeding nose or urine or tumours-
What are you doing!
Then I’m back to myself taking a gasping breath my spirit energy smoulders in me like the bubbling fumes from incredible flames. It’s scorching, my veins and arteries are being filled with liquid fire that comes at me from all sides and I’m bloating again, burning, filling up in the most excruciating way I could never have imagined. A howl escapes my mouth as I give myself to the expression of the pain, my back arches, my hands and feet contort. Bones pop out of alignment from sockets reinforced with my 2nd tier physic like I’m a puppet doll under its masters direction.
Fool, you will soon realise the attention of beings like me can be both a blessing and a curse.’’ A ‘voice’ says with obvious anger and pity, I don’t like being pitied. I cannot afford to protect you, not this time, you are on your own.
The ‘voice’ disappears as the pain slowly melts away, the fire burning my insides cooling with the most pleasant feeling I have felt in a long time replacing it. I sigh as freshness and liquid honey fills my veins again, euphoria this is euphoria. My fingers and toes curl, my body contorts from a different type of stimulation and I moan as every fibre of my being sighs happily.
I’m trying to quickly analyse what’s happening; my physical body is no longer strained to breaking, the relief I feel is physical relief. Something or someone helped me adjust to my surroundings. What the fuck is going on with me? I try to exert control but I’m unfamiliar with everything here, even my body. Bodies?
Then everything happens disjointedly.
I fall and meet my summons in their spirit forms, I cut off the ugly thing on Katya’s leg but it gets away throwing curses at me. I try to kill the person Katya used to be before being taken over by the spirit she currently is, I discover in the distance that Fat Albert is still present here if not necessarily alive in any way I understand life. Then as was probably inevitable I gain the attention of a spirit, it snatches me away and I'm gone.
The world is on fire; everything is twisting and burning, nothing is stable and not everything that is on fire is being burnt up. A spirit that encampuses the sky snatched me from where I was to this strange place I’m in, it could’ve been a moment or many years I don’t know how long that journey was. Instinctively I know I’m far from where I was but distance means so little here.
Interesting...
The thing that is everything seems to convey before I’m flung into another direction completely perpendicular to the way my forward momentum was taking me.I blink my eyes and again time and distance distort themselves badly.
''Ahem hack hack!
Heaving hack hack.
Spit, clear sinuses spit, cough.’’
I cough out the dank water as I’m picking myself up from the floor; the water is cold smells mouldy and has gone down the wrong pipe. I cough, collecting the flam in a big inhale and spitting out wetly.
I take a full breath and breathe out an explosive exhale, I take another breath and I’ve gotten a handle on breathing again. My arms tremble slightly as I push myself upwards, trying to look around but my eyes register complete darkness. I’m sodden in the slimy water from the puddle I find myself in, my panting is getting slower now and my body seems to be waking up with pins and needles making themselves felt.
My breath is loud to my own ears at first but as that subsides I hear the dripping of water on stone, the tumbling flows of water over pebbles and the echoes created by my every movement. Okay, so I’m in a cave and its too dark to see, got it.
I open my palm and with a bright explosive puff of golden power Honour in Death is on the palm of my hand. I stare at the weapon for a while, the world silent and irrelevant around me as I eye this beautiful piece of work I haven’t seen in so long with my focused awareness.
My hands tremble slightly as I handle it delicately, perusing my hand over it with a smooth caress. The sheath, saya, is an obsidian black piece made from actual obsidian mixed with the dross from the smelting of the ores to make the blade. The tsuba is rounded made of complicated patterns that eventually circle around the blade in a disc to be the perfect hand guard. The handle, tsuka, is wrapped in red and black woven cloth. Tightly wrapped manuki to increase comfort in hand and prevent the blade slipping when wet with blood, an unnecessary precaution but these blades are made by the most obsessive of master swordsmiths.
I heft the whole weapon comfortably in my hands, the weight so familiar and right. With the sheath on the weapon is heavy enough to be used as a bludgeon and unsheathed still heavy enough to unseat armoured cavalry.
With my thumb I pop the top of the blade out of the sheath, it vibrates happily in several frequencies before quieting down. I grin; I could swear I just saw the little silver of the blade reflect a sparkle of light, which is impossible in this pitch blackness. Without hesitation I pull Honour in Death fully out of the sheath and immediately feel the power of my Rage bubbling up within me.
I sigh in relaxed relief tilting my head up with my eyes closed and just enjoy that pissed off survival instinct written deep within my blood.
‘’Ahhh...’’ I am closer to the Rage than I’ve been in years and I love. I didn’t even realise that I missed this feeling; my aura hasn’t been the same with the bloodlust provided by the Rage no longer there to make it heavier.
I am armed, ready to explode into action, I feel like a wound spring about to explode forward. It’s an intoxicating feeling, nothing can get in my way and live. All my previous muscle weakness is gone I am explosive potential, one with the sword, already in zanjutsu state. Everything I do is zanjutsu as I am the sword and the sword is me, such a simple thing to realise yet it makes all the difference to my swordsmanship.
Zanjutsu, swordsmanship, the way of the sword, the way of the soul-sword. A state in which Honour and I are one, a state in which I am a weapon forged for battle but also a man of flesh and blood. I smile fondly remembering the first time I fully gave myself to the sword, a spar against Master Masashi in which I transcended zanjutsu and achieved soul-presence. What I now realise isn’t even a combat state in and of itself though it has its uses in battle.
Soul-presence is about me being me, growing the resilience and potency of my very soul in a way I hope to one day understand. I take a slow, breath cataloguing the metaphysical realisations and abilities that I now have access to from this latest ordeal. Hanna is really gone isn’t she?
With my spirit energy now settled comfortably back within me easily I look through the many spiritual threads that bind me to others. There are some surprises as I parse through them spiritually whilst physically I move my blade about then tap it onto the stone floor. The vibrations don’t go far but tell me the stone is thick and I seem to be alone here. Besides the fact that I am spiritually connected to more people and things than is prudent I can’t find a connection to Hanna at all.
Is this how I knew she was gone before the crystal went dark? I look closer into one of my other threads and with a generous amount of energy I can feel that Saya’s spirit is intact, I can feel that Kira, Orochi, Serenity, Anya, Morpheus, Lysandra, Wind and Anadi are alive and spiritually connected to me. Good. There are other similar threads though; do I have more children than I know off? For now it doesn’t matter, my kids are alive and likely Dee is with them all with how strong her thread is.
Having settled I take a breath and take in all I can from my surroundings. Uneven rock, mostly seamless but a few small cracks that the puddles of water drain into. It’s chilly but there is no breeze, the stone itself is cold I assume, or I’m close to the surface and its winter. I can’t see my hands in front of my face when using my eyes but all my other senses are good.
The air is stale but doesn’t taste unpleasant, I’m getting nothing from the aura of the place and feel no threat from anywhere around. Ok, so I was somehow teleported here. I try to remember what happened but like a dream its fading from my mind. I have snippets, I think I was in the spirit realm but one unlike the dream in which I subdued Kier.
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I place a hand on my head as the remembrance of that headache drives a shiver down my spine, so my head isn’t exploding at least. Closing my eyes I concentrate then layer spirit energy over my awareness, everything gets a golden sheen of amplifications suddenly as spirit energy drains from me in a vacuum. I still remember how to synergise spirit energy into everything but it takes a lot more to fill my whole awareness now than it used to, still its less than 10% of my current spiritual energy reserves I think.
I look around focusing on specific objects with my awareness through the upgraded spirit sense I have layered on top of everything else. My awareness usually gives me a lot of information about my general surroundings in a sphere around me; from where things are, what shape or speed they are travelling at. I can speculate what they are made from the frequency of their vibrations in comparison to other things I’ve seen and with another layer of mana sense layered in my awareness I can tell there is nothing magical within my vicinity.
My zanpakutō has an affinity for vibrations, the art of my sword as most soul weapons have and through that I again perceive more. It has been thus since my 1st Awakening but now that I have Honour back it’s amplified as well. Even when my zanpakutō was away I’ve still enjoyed an intuitive awareness for frequencies and such, another hint that I am my soul-sword and my soul sword is me I never really paid attention to.
Honour in Death, how could I not have known that was her name? My name. I’ve known her as Honour so long, such a small part of what she truly is. Even as I berate myself I feel a sense of comfort and reassurance wash over me, I’ve missed you too deadly one. I think teasingly whilst listening and cataloguing all I can sense before the memory of my trip and transformation completely fades away.
Was that really a transformation though or what I actually look like when in the spirit place?
I feel closer to unlocking the vibrations of one of the rocks on the ground as I again tap Honour on the stone floor. The vibrations of my bound items are an open book now though. I feel/’see’ the micro and nano vibrations of the pieces that make up Razor or Kata, both sheathed around my waist. No light reaches my eyes but nothing within 10m of me goes unnoticed.
I stand there a while cataloguing my awareness and what I can do with it, hesitant to sheath Honour not because I feel threatened but because it’s so good to have her in my hands again. I take a stance and cut the air around me as I try to think through the situation I find myself in.
Form 36, form 16, form 8 transitioning into form 2. Smoothly I get into the kenjutsu sword forms I learnt all those years back. I keep up with practice of course so flawlessly I execute the forms. One handedly wielding the field sword with the heavy obsidian sheath moving in my left hand, also a bound item that is at home in my hands. My two feet are barely on the ground at the same time except when the form dictates so, my centre of gravity not just at my centre core. Kyokugei, a unique fighting style I learnt from the Madman coming naturally into my movements.
[Zzzweee]
[Zooo]
[Zwee]
I cut the air around me moving from form to form faster and faster, I pay attention to my footing, I pay attention to my speed. I do stabs twists and slashes, the enthusiasm either mine or my blades but genuine. I’m lost in a dark strange cave, my daughter is dead, I’m not sure whether my youngest made it home safe or not but I know they are alive. The rest of my family and friends are stranded on an isle with demi-human beings in their home territory and no easy way to get off the isle.
I summoned my spirit back but I got pulled through the spiritual realm somehow, it was uncomfortable but not always so. I think Sapientia helped me, I garnered the attention of another deity or spirit and ended up here. But why? I ask myself moving through form 8 improvised with a move I practised duel wielding with Nyye.
I land spinning in a reverse kick slashing with Honour twisting into another kick but this time I give into the urge to push mana into the puddle at my feet. The mana seeps in easily into the hungry water and as I stab, slash and kick through my shadowing fighting I manipulate thin whips of water that move around me. I changed in that dream place, something happened to me and I was me but more than just me and now I’m back to being just me.
Getting back my zanpakutō is already big, already I feel whole in a way that has me completely at peace with myself. But still there was another change in there wasn’t there? My skin changed colour, my eyes were glowing... I looked like a spirit. I move around keeping an eye on my footing as I land, step and hop and slash.
Using mana and my body and spirit energy all at the same time takes its toll on my mind and though physical stamina or spirit energy is not yet a concern I can’t afford to lower my mana too much. To have the mana infused water to react to my movements I’ve had to anchor mana around my legs and my blade. It was instinctual to try it so but it seems to bleed off mana at a relatively fast rate.
There is just so much to think about, so much that has happened in what seems like a short time. It’s necessary to test my new physical limits but this isn’t the time or place really, I’m procrastinating I realise with an self deprecating smile.
Slowly I seep some spirit energy into the mana I’ve attached to the water and it responds easily. There is no noticeable effect to having my mana and spirit mix but I’m sure that internally something is happening.
How do I get back to my family though? I still have the blood crystals on me and with those I can get everyone’s general direction. So the first priority will be getting to the surface if I’m really underground, I always have a hint of doubt about the conclusions I come to just in case. The world is strange and I may not be actually underground especially with how I got here. But I’m almost 100% sure I’m underground and not in a cave or some other strange place.
I slow down my shadow fighting then I stop altogether, breathing deeply. That was good, I feel good and I have a fair idea of what my body is capable off, with so many recent changes this was probably necessary. My blade spins cutting the air then with a click Honour is quietly back in her sheath, I nod at how familiar she is to have on me.
I take a sit and check inside my rings for what supplies I have and loosely planning out my next steps. There are 3 storage rings on my fingers, the first one I looted from a dead fae many years ago and uses mana to store and access the storage. The ring is a dull silver with a flowery pattern and an enchantment that makes it fit any finger.
In this ring I have several changes of clothes, boots, sandals, fire wards, rope, blankets, food, bandages and some medical supplies. Its on my smallest finger of my left hand and probably doesn’t look like its worth much.
The 2nd ring is a specialised item. Made specifically for my people before we had access to mana and thus uses spirit energy to access its space. It has the least space but because it is a bound item as long as I’m alive only I have access to the contents inside. Another advantage spirit energy has over other forms of organic energy, the ability to claim things. The rings are rare, an alloy with traces of celestial ore but the fact that we had celestial ore to work with made the fae even more eager to make us the rings for more access to the resource.
Inside are the mysterious ingots I got from my Master and the crystal she swiped from that mountain meeting. A volume on spirit summoning I haven’t gotten around to reading, a pouch of precious stones, several gold and silver Dariuns and a map I got as a gift from Asriel. This ring is simple but stands out from the rest, black and silver in colour but there is no hiding the rarity of bindable items.
The last ring has weapons, knives, throwing stars, throwing knives, several javelins, a utility axe, a saw, a well made steel sword, spears, armour pieces and a few round wooden shields. Everything inside is mundane in this normal mana using ring of storage I got from Master Zaraya. Quickly I look through everything çause i already knew what was inside, i'm still procrastinating.
There are other spiritual threads I feel that I’m itching to pull on but I wonder what would happen if I did. When I feel safer I’ll definitely experiment more especially with those more but right now I realise I’m stalling still; I don’t know what to do and thats the problem. I’ve never been lost before.
Sure I’m fairly well travelled compared to the average person. I’ve been to some strange and unique places, I’ve taken paths not knowing where they would eventually place me but through all that I always had a destination and I’ve always been able to turn around and go back the way I came if ever I got competely lost. But now I’m completely lost in complete darkness and I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit to finding this unsettling.
Carefully I remove the harness I use to secure Honour on my back from a ring, then taking my time I tie off the necessary parts then strap the whole thing onto my back by putting my arms into loops then clasping it around my abdomen so it doesn’t move. Testing it I reach over my shoulder and draw my zanpakutō smoothly in a single motion. Yea I still got it, I grin for a moment, a ray of metaphoric sunshine in the gloom that has become my life.
I keep my naked blade bare just in case things get rough, I’m done with not giving my first attack 100% killing power. I’m still uneasy about the darkness, though I’m confident I can get myself around here I’ve never been this blinded before. The fact that I also don’t know where I am just adds to the confusion that is this silent darkness. I don’t even know which direction to go to get out of here, fuck!
I move, no thinking about it anymore I pace forward into the direction I’m facing. The direction the crysals say my family is at. I already know the floor is stable from my little outburst, I can tell how shallow the puddles are long before I have to chose my next step so my footing is assertive. I’m leading with a naked zanpakutō in a fist grip and with this combination of factors I move at a fairly respectable pace. Confident. Feigning confidence.
My strides are sure and long but I’m not jogging; my centre of gravity is much too low for this to be considered jogging but its not exactly scurrying either. There are a lot of small loose rocks about so I’m guessing this is not a very stable underground cave system but the place is big, uneerily big.
I chose a direction and have been moving consistently in said direction but I’m yet to hit an insurmountable obstruction. There are dips on the path I’ve taken, some slides pits rocks and cold clammy puddles; but I am yet to reach a wall. I move forward though because hesitation is death in a place like this, even the time I spent checking myself out may have been too much time wasted.
[Krrrrrrrrrrrr]
An inexplicable screech drives an ice eel down my spine, the shiver startling me into a stop with its intensity as my eyes widen and my cock and balls disappear into my torso. I look around carefully, my heart is loudly rushing blood through my head, I take a breath changing stance facing the other way. My heart is pumping hard but slows audible as a peace comes over me.
I am ready, I have always been ready. The worst that could happen is death and that is an opponent I feel much more capable of facing than the things that man handled me in the spirit place. I wait for my assailant to move, as unfamiliar as I am with this type of terrain I know something is out there.
‘’Ah... you aren’t another sacrificial lamb after all,’’ a dread voice weasels its way into my ears. Another shiver goes through me but this one wholly voluntary used to shed the metaphysical thing sticking to me. Most of the effect of his voice fades away with the cleansing gesture, I haven’t received such a blatant spiritual attack in a long time.
Before another word leaves his mouth my spirit aura billows out of me in a burst. I catch a glimpse of him through my spirit aura permeating my surroundings and attack. He moves to avoid the attack and with that speed I won’t get him. Turning the launched slash into a flip I roll and launch towards his new direction with a forward dive blade face.
He moves further back still, far from my awareness and my aura is already clad around me again instead of filling the space. I stop, taking a stance having lost sight of my assailent, will I need to flair my aura again to figure out where my assailant is? Shifting stances I’m again facing the other direction, still on guard waiting for even the lightest sound.
‘’Servant of...’’ I hear him sniffing, ‘’Phosphorus ey...’’ the voice says forcing me to shift stance and face a new direction but it has no effects on me anymore. Not with my spirit-aura clad around me cleansing and amplifying my physic.
‘’Well, your patron sent you to die here little worm,’’ again I shift to face the voices new direction. ‘’None of the other deities champions have been able to go through me. 26 already I have bled and fed off their essence, you will be the 27th little worm. Hehehehe’’ The voice comes from all directions at the same time and doesn't echo like every other sound here does.
''Come then creature, face your death.'' I say ready to kill, ready to die if I must.