บท 937: 7
Chapter 7: Trial of PathsChapter Text
I woke up bright and early on the day of my Trial. I made sure to have a light meal and leave plenty of time for it to digest. After I began to stretch to make sure I was as ready as possible for whatever the village could throw at me. As always Mother was cagey about the nature of the trial, and as always, I knew not to push since she was likely threatened not to say anything. This part of the cycle was routine by now as I grounded my emotions preparing internally for whatever challenge I would face.
Instead of another battleground, fighting pit, or a forest like I had anticipated, I was brought to a small dilapidated hut on the outskirts of the village. The path there was well worn but thin as if very few people came here yet came often. Curious, I smelt the air. The only familiar scent I picked up was that of the Elder. The scent coming from the hut was musty and animalistic but not one I recognized.
Close combat with some sort of beast perhaps? I felt the reassuring weight of the odachi on my back, I could handle that. I start to draw on the ki of the world pulling it into me for the extra boost I may need later. The Elder looked down at me sensing this and smirked. Nose wrinkling in annoyance I ignored him.
I raise my guard more as the Elder opens the door and gestures for me to follow him inside. It takes a short time for my eyes to adjust as the hut is completely dark inside. Tensing I'm greeted by… a waiting room? Is that a desk?
I walk up to the desk wary of whatever trick may be coming but realize it's simply a desk with a quill and parchment on it. Reading it over I see that it's a list of occupations that one can pursue in the village. Are you kidding me?
I look over to the Elder in disbelief and he scoffs at me. "What did you think? You'd have to kill someone's current apprentice to choose that career path? We are not savage animals." I bare my teeth at him and receive a backhand for my efforts. Bastard.
Swallowing the blood in my mouth I look over the list again, actually reading this time; blacksmith, seamstress, carpenter, I ignore the crafting professions, hunter, warrior, tempting but no, finally I find the one I'm looking for. Circling it I pass the parchment to the Elder.
A dark look crosses his face as he reads it. "Sage? You think yourself capable of the Sage Arts because you can use Touki? Hmph, the arrogance." He abruptly gives me a smile that promises pain, "If that is truly what you want we shall see. Come."
He moves to a door at the back that I hadn't noticed. As I get close he grabs me and tosses me in the room. As I turn I watch as he closes the door and the room I'm in is covered in a glowing script before the door vanishes. Backing up to the wall I look into the middle of the room searching with my senses for a threat.
I find none yet a light appears in front of me. More follow lighting a path that I cannot see an end to. More mystical crap I assume. As I walk I wonder who would have made this. The Elder talks a big game but from what I've seen he can't use any sort of magic besides Senjutsu. Other than him I don't know any Oni in the village that can even do that, Mother is making progress from what I've taught her yet she isn't talented in Touki I fear. A remnant from a time when magic users were in the village?
As I follow the path I unsheathe my blade focusing my senses to their maximum and feel the ki in the environment. The scent from outside grows steadily stronger but my ki sense just feels this placid unfeeling mass of life. It feels lost/hurt/resigned/hungry/thirsty/scared and I shut my ki sense off as the feelings loop faster and faster.
Coming upon another room I walk in and see an ape man's emaciated form chained to a pole in the center. As I walk through the doorway it turns to me with blank unseeing eyes and the room morphs. Drool falls from its mouth and it spasms even as the room shows images I'd long forgotten, images from my past life. I watch as my life from before blurs before my eyes before turning black.
The blackness steadily becomes darker and darker and the ape man's seizures get worse as it sees something the living weren't meant to. Blood pours from its eyes and ears before the darkness brightens and I see my birth again. The ape-man wails in pain as it shows this life and wisps of smoke pour off its form the weight of grudges being too much for it to handle. As the ape starts to burn in the grey flames I see my mind as I wrote my choice. Confirming my path as a sage in my heart of hearts.
The chains melt off the ape-man and it becomes a glowing red skeleton, the gaps in its bones burning with the grudge flames. It hobbles toward me, eyes alight with a desire for revenge. I can't help but feel for the creature and I meet it in the middle. It raises its bony fingers and presses them to my temple. Instead of an all-consuming burn, I feel a gentle warmth and know.
"Thank you, Satori-san."
From my reactivated ki sense I feel acceptance, peace, and an agreement. "Don't worry Satori-san I'll carry your hatred too, I'll carry everyone's if I have to." The grey flames turn to gold and the bones unblemished white. His body turns to ash and floats off, the last to go are the gentle blue eyes, alight with pity yet filled with a knowing warmth. How could he not know, he experienced it all.
The room around me glows the script from earlier but it too burns away into blue motes, the same shade as Satori-san's eyes.
I walk through the door after it reappears greeted by The Elder who is fuming. "What have you done! You've destroyed the test left behind by Ibaraki-Sama!" He grips me by the back of the neck and throws me.
I wrap myself in Touki as I crash through the walls of the hut. Skipping like a stone I manage to touch the ground with my hand as I roll and push upward. I bleed momentum in mid-air as I spin. I slash my sword, coated with Touki, at the inbound ki signature. The Elder catches my blade in his hand and flicks me away. I collide with the ground in a harsh thud and cough blood on the impact.
I stand on shaky feet as the Elder's bloodlust expands again. Fuck this and fuck his games! My own bloodlust comes out and cuts through his with unerring precision right down the center, swift and deadly as an arrow. He snarls and his redoubles halting mine and becoming a dense fog.
"I did nothing! I took your Kami forsaken test and this is how you repay me?" I watch his eyes flash red in the dense fog and dash to the side as my instincts scream at me. A sharp wave of ki reaps the foliage behind where I was but I'm already on the move.
"You disrespect your heritage! You may have chosen your ancestor's name but you are weak compared to him. Compared to me!" Feeling a shift in his ki I duck as his fist moves through the space in which my head just was. I drag my claws along the inside of his thigh as I sweep his leg.
I watch in disbelief as my Touki enhanced claws skitter across his leg leaving unblemished skin and my leg rings in pain as I collide with his. He raises his leg and brings it down on my own. I howl as the bone snaps.
Grabbing my hand he raises me up to meet his eyes. "What. Did. You. Do." He grinds out, punctuating each word by squeezing my broken leg. I bite down hard on my lip to stop from screaming and stare defiantly.
"I met Satori and he saw what shouldn't be seen." Feeling his ki suffocating mine I draw more from the world.
"What did the ape see that caused it to die?" When I don't respond his ki twists and my mind clouds. "Tell me what it saw."
"A life before. My life before and the gap between." I drone out before I can counter. As I finish my sentence I explode my ki outwards, disrupting his technique. His rage quiets and he looks pensive.
"If it saw the life of the Honored Ancestor it would make sense that it died, few could handle that amount of rage and carnage." Nodding to himself he throws me away.
I groan as I land darkness swimming in my vision. "You have chosen your path. I will send scrolls to your house for you to study. This offense was not your fault but you will be punished for desecrating a relic left by Ibaraki-Sama." I flinch as he smiles cruelly. "I have just the punishment in mind."
That's the last thing I hear the world fades to black.
I woke up at home and filled with impotent rage. All my training over the years was useless in front of the Elder's life of growth. How was I supposed to take him down with only a decade to grow strong? It was arrogance to assume I was even a threat yet I couldn't hold myself back. Like a beaten dog I attacked my abuser at the first opportunity without thought.
I try to stand up but I stumble as my broken leg makes itself known with a wave of pain. An image comes to me of Danny Rand healing a Dakota North using his Chi, with a clarity I find shocking. As the image hits me I start to dredge up other memories. The memories of this life and the last flood forth all as clear as the last and I can't help but laugh.
Thank you Satori-san, I know I never knew you but you watched my entire life and for some reason left me this gift. I won't forget you, you've ensured that.
I painfully shift into a lotus position and begin to meditate. I draw the ki from the air around me and cleanse it of its malice; for anger, rage, hatred, they have no place in what I am about to do. The purified ki swirls into me and settles resting in my Hara. As the area fills with purified ki I close my eyes feeling it ebb and flow.
Once I've gathered enough I gently guide my ki towards my hands and into my palms. Slowly and smoothly I draw my hands over the break in my leg. Opening my eyes I see my palms glowing gold and smile. Wrapping the break in my ki I guide the bones together bringing any fragments back into place. From there my body does the rest, the healing accelerating by the exposure of purified ki and soon my leg is fully functioning once more.
My mother walks in concerned as she hears my laughter echoing through the house. I look up to see her smiling in the doorway and I remember a concept I had forgotten. Love.
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