章節 1: Mortal
'Now, isn't this interesting'… Asakura Hao, born Asaha Douji, the greatest shaman to have ever been born and proudly crowned shaman king, thought to himself. Not for the first time, after having opened his eyes roughly an hour ago, mind you. But when you went through literal hell, bargained with the devil himself and reincarnated two times in the last 1900 years, this one not counted amongst the reincarnations of himself, your perception of time and its urgency weighing on the human mind to do and be active naturally disappeared after some time.
Not that Hao couldn't understand why the human mind felt that pressure to begin with. After all, nature saw fit to equip mankind with the tools to perceive and understand the finite and with it, mankind's own mortality. Hence, the rush to do.
But, in Hao's case, the rush had lost quite a lot of meaning, if not to say, all of it. And yet, here he was, feeling said urge once again. A 1900 years later, in some random forest.
Besides feeling the shackles of his once again mortal mind, after his fusion with the great spirit, Hao also discovered that not only his mind was once again on the mortal plane but that it was contained in a human body, like one of those he had inhabited 900 years ago when he competed in the tournament that saw him be crowned the shaman king in the end.
Feeling the air fill his lungs once again after such a long time being one with the great spirit, the wind ruffling softly through his long, dark hair and the tickling of the grass below his body, struggling against his back to right itself back up, Hao couldn't help but smile softly to himself.
'What irony…All my life I chased after the great spirit, yearning to become the shaman king, wishing for nothing more than to purge mankind from the earth for daring to destroy the planet for their greed and yet, here I am. Enjoying once again the joys of being a mortal man. Truly, the little things in life, right Matamune?'
Gazing up at the light blue sky and the wandering clouds above, Hao's thoughts began to wander back to the days he had spent with his feline companion by his side. That strangely fearless and yet compassionate cat he had once saved from hunger and illness and earned its loyalty and friendship in return.
With fondness he thought back to those days, despite the fact that Matamune had, in the end, decided to side with his foe Asakura Yohken and slew Hao together with the man.
Still, Hao saw Matamune as the only real friend he'd ever had and over the years being a part of the great spirit had learned to understand and forgive him for what he had done back then. After all, the great spirit encompassed everything there was, is and will be in the universe and being the shaman king meant directing the great spirit and learning above all else to understand.
Naturally, through true understanding, emotions like hate, anger, greed and attachments lose all meaning until all that remains is serenity in the end.
While he was learning Hao began to understand, perhaps for the first time in his life that he had been a child in a man's body for most of his life and had carried on emotions and attachments from that time onwards until he became the shaman king in the end.
For all of his power, knowledge and techniques, Hao had come to understand that he had lacked the most important part to become a true shaman in all of his 1000 years as a mortal.
Wisdom. Wisdom to see, acknowledge and transcend his negative emotions which formed him into the man he had become over the years. He had been a fool indeed. It had taken Hao that long to truly comprehend his inadequacies and rise above them.
Naturally, his understanding of himself, or rather his non-self, as the man Hao had been seized to exist 900 years ago when he had merged with the great spirit, had altered what he had always wanted to do once he obtained the great spirit.
Along with his understanding of the universe, Hao began to comprehend that he, just like all the other shamans, had a flawed understanding of what the shaman king is and what the great spirit was meant to be.
He saw and felt in his very soul, his very essence that no matter what he did to safe the planet earth one day the planet itself would naturally wither away, long after humans had seized to exist anyway, just like everything else would end one day, even he and the great spirit.
'Everything ends, and from the remains something new shall be born. That is the natural way of all things.'
Now, within the confines of his mortal mind once again, Hao couldn't help but be amused at his naivety back then when he had 'made a bargain with the devil' and seen his interference into the cycle of reincarnation as nothing but a tool for his own gain, not understanding his meddling in the slightest. But now he did and he truly regretted.
With another exhale Hao sat up and let his regrets fade away with his breath, almost seeing them fade away and disappear behind the foliage surrounding him.
Brushing his long hair out of his face absentmindedly, Hao finally acknowledged the urging of his mind to stand up and act, soothing his instincts in the process, and began to take stock of his situation after coming to terms once again with the fact that he had been sent back into the mortal realm. Though, for what purpose, Hao knew not but one thing he knew. He would be a better man this time around and try to further his understanding of the universe along the way so that he would one day be worthy to join the great spirit again as the rightful king who actually deserved to be called shaman king.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票