</FONTFACE>
From the Legend of Kaji Okada, Book One
Chapter Eleven: The Eel's Spine
He was clinging to a jagged cave wall, conforming his shape against a sharp stone in the darkness. Kaji Okada was deep within the tunnels below Arcadia, where miles of hard stone and thin oxygen made existence a perilous thing for mankind. To make matters worse, he was within the belly of a Hydreel’s lair. Still a novice shinobi, Kaji was pinned and panicking as he hid at the bend of a tunnel which led back to the beast in both directions. His blood was pumping and heart rattling his chest. There was a new saber in his right hand, crafted from rare metals by the Swordsage of Arcadia and it gave off a subtle glow in the dark. He’d never feel more unworthy to wield the new blade than he did then, holding a questionable grip with his sweaty hand. If only his armor was as special: small clay plates overlapping from his shoulders to abdomen. The jagged maw of the Hydreel was large and powerful enough to impale Kaji’s pathetic armor with ease. The black suit underneath was the essential attire for a shinobi, and black boots with soles tough enough for climbing, yet thin to allow Kaji to feel subtle shifts in the stone.
He was needing his comrades. Heizo was their ninjutsu expert capable of closing tunnels and creating traps as they had planned, and Xinyue had the power to turn her greatsword swings into blows of force extending beyond the blade’s edge. Without his teammates to pin and slash the Hydreel, Kaji’s attempts at deceiving and distracting the monster seemed futile. Kaji had already seen one of the creature's six heads; it was a hideous thing with big, round, fish eyes on each side of its snout, all perfectly attuned to seeing in the darkness of those pitch-black caves. Kaji was practically feeling his way along the walls since fleeing into this theoretical dead end. Until now, he kept to the central corridors, which were wider and had chunks of arcadianite deposits which gave the beast’s lair a soft blue tint. He and his allies came with torches lit, but Kaji snuffed his flames the moment he began using stealth.
Kaji only had a few choice ninjutsu mastered in those early years. Not even proficient with single-handed seal weaving yet, Kaji had to sheath his sword for a moment before bringing his hands together. He then became one with the darkness, refracting light and vanishing— even to the keen eyes of the Hydreel. Once he took the masterwork blade in hand once again, he could feel it drinking from his chakra, synergizing with his jutsu and becoming invisible as well. He had yet to swing the sword, though he had no doubt in its power to cleanly carve through flesh. There was something else— something powerful to the saber smithed in the pit of Arcadia by a master smith. Kaji was somewhat mesmerized whenever he set eyes on the emerald gem embedded in its pommel, vividly green and radiant. Whispers were circulating through The Disciples entire division foretelling of magnificent feats capable by each of the Swordsage’s masterwork weapons, however, Kaji was not told anything about his saber’s supposed abilities when it was presented to him. Master Iwakura merely told him and Xinyue to wield their blades well and not to fear their power. So here was young Kaji in the worst possible scenario for test-driving a weapon with an unknown power worthy of being feared.
“If your power is to talk, now would be a great time to start” whispered Kaji to his saber as he stepped carefully down the dark tunnel. “It’s time to see what a masterwork blade can do.” As if on cue, the scarred snout of a hydreel head came into Kaji’s limited view. Kaji’s eyes were olive spheres staring wide-eyed into the darkness, using novice skill to make out the silhouette of his opposition. A change in the faint airflow came with a foul stench of rancid sea water.
The masterwork blade was raised to his front in a defensive stance, and he stared ahead into the brink of helplessness. The Hydreel’s charge was led with a ghoulish screech, and its jaw’s spread wide as it rushed forth. The strength of the Hydreel’s sense of smell was an equivalent to vision without sight, or so Kaji learned the hard way. The sea serpent's rush had Kaji darting backward on nimble feet as he avoids the first three snapping bites. The Hydreel’s fangs tore through the stone of the cave wall as it came on in a ruthless attack. Sharp hearing gave Kaji the edge he needed to foresee the attacks, and echoes through space aided him in avoid impacts while rushing through the dark space.
The dash led Kaji to a section of tunnel which narrowed enough for him to slide through with ease but challenge the long eel’s chase. The beast let out an enraged snarl as the head smashed into the gap. Kaji spun about with his sword in his leading hand, singing as it cut through the serpent. The slash was as if the Hydreel’s hard flesh were made from precious silk, and for the first of many times, Kaji could feel as his sword drank from the life force of the beast. Delivering the blow felt empowering, as if he grew in strength, so Kaji slung the saber a second time before the eel could back away. On that second swing, the darkness of that cave suddenly gave way to an emeraldine glow. Kaji released his veil of invisibility— as useless as it was— in time to witness the light of his blade, so magnificent and verdant. The second slash was more than a deep knick in the Hydreel’s leathery flesh: the second ripped through its jawbone and up through its snout, tearing open the creature’s mouth. Flaring chakra shined through the dark to illuminate the display. The eel’s head was quick into the retreat, letting Kaji win that tunnel but promising more fight ahead of him. There was a long trail of blood lining the floor though, indicating just how successful the masterwork blade was in Kaji’s capable hands. “A sword edge beyond the blade” Kaji mused, admiring the formidable jutsu he managed by wielding the saber, which extended his swings beyond the blade’s length by triple its length or more. Suddenly eager, Kaji stepped forward through the gap and chased the receding eel’s head, hoping to carve into sushi fillets.
By the time Kaji’s hunt returned him through the tunnels and back to the Hydreel’s lair, that emeraldine glow on his saber faded once more, and the power coursing through Kaji from the grip on its handle faded. At once, he understood there was a connection at play but he wasn’t entirely sure: was the sword gaining this power from the eel, or the bloodlust of cleaving it? When he wielded the saber he could feel the warmth and power; something which felt real, almost alive in his grasp. And once that light faded the saber felt entire changed, even empty as if it craved for more of the former power in order to be whole again. Walking through the darkness of the deep mines and pacing through a puddle of blood, Kaji felt the determination to find that menacing Hydreel and feed his blade once again. Oh, how the tables had turned.
Just a short time later there was an explosion of force near the face of the mine. In that same place where the cave-in separated Kaji from his allies, Xinyue made her return through the settling dust of rubble reduced to smithereens. Somehow, she caused the blockage of rubble to displace itself and scatter violently, lacking the control of a true ninjutsu. She came into the lair entrance limping on a twisted ankle and held her own new masterwork blade over her shoulder. There was a hint of red in her long blonde strands, tinting the tail of her long braid crimson. More blood stained her armor, though it didn’t seem to be her own. And it all matched her eyes, which squinted as she searched the large mine for signs of Kaji or the Hydreel. “I’m sorry Kaji” she whispered in an exaggerated tone, practicing for once she found her comrade. She forced her devilish grin into a frown and a cry, whining <I>“I did all I could for our brother, Heizo. He’s dead, Kaji… Heizo’s dead. Heizo’s dead.” And she repeated the phrase at varying inflections and tones until it became a chant. Her own sword may have been gripped tightly in one hand, but she was carrying a vibrant violet gemstone in the other, encased in a gold cage with a frail gold chain. The gem’s glow illuminated Xinyue just as Kaji’s blade glowed before, and she was staring at it, coveting it as if it were her own. “Good riddance to the useless mute— his dweomer will serve The Disciples well with me.” She was wandering through the lair, murmuring to the gem as if it were a safe space to do so. Xinyue kept wandering and staring into her palm until she stepped onto something squishy and looked underfoot.
“Oh my, you’ve been busy,” said Xinyue as she eyed the chunk of eel flesh. The sister then looked forward to discovering the entirety of their targeted Hydreel lying dead and cold, sliced into a filet from end to end. Xinyue’s sharp-toothed grin made a smile as she saw Kaji realizing a kind of lethality she had when she turned her blade on their fallen sibling. Kaji was standing there atop the beast’s back with spread legs to balance himself. He was holding out that enchanted blade with a one-handed grip, apparently admiring it as it shined radiantly— truly a powerful weapon. The darkness of the mine was lifted by the emeraldine glow, which burned hot and seared the air, creating a low hum.
As if he was following the will of the blade, Kaji held out his free hand with his palm flat. From the hydreel’s body came a culmination of its essence in a spherical shape, glowing deceptively and elegantly. It was bright blue and nearly rivaled that emerald shade before being cupped in Kaji’s grasp. It was if he knew just what to do with the manifested soul as he bounced it upwards and swatted the orb into nothingness with a swing of his sword. Once the contesting lights faded, Kaji looked down at the image of his wicked elder sibling with his olive eyes glowing, different and new. The emeraldine glow was his now, and so he observed her with that same vibrancy in his stare. Kaji was quiet and observing Xinyue, who suddenly emerged once he conveniently bested the Hydreel alone, and she had come with both her new greatsword and Heizo’s dweomer in hand… She was looking just as empowered as Kaji was with his saber, if not much more. “I am not the only one who’s been busy,” he said, offering a late delayed response to her previous jest. “What are you doing with that?” His attention obviously pointed to the violet gem.
“While you were carving the eel’s spine, I was crawling out of the rubble of Heizo’s explosion… He’s… gone Kaji…” Bangs as golden as the sun covered Xinyue’s eyes as she looked down at Heizo’s gem, and she squeezed the item in her grasp. “Our brother… Heizo is dead.”
-- wc2364
-- The Legend of Kaji Okada Book One Timeline: Here
-- Topic Entered and Left: One Shot.
<FONTFACE fontface="georgia">A Letter for my Daughter said:
From the Legend of Kaji Okada, Book One
Chapter Eleven: The Eel's Spine
He was clinging to a jagged cave wall, conforming his shape against a sharp stone in the darkness. Kaji Okada was deep within the tunnels below Arcadia, where miles of hard stone and thin oxygen made existence a perilous thing for mankind. To make matters worse, he was within the belly of a Hydreel’s lair. Still a novice shinobi, Kaji was pinned and panicking as he hid at the bend of a tunnel which led back to the beast in both directions. His blood was pumping and heart rattling his chest. There was a new saber in his right hand, crafted from rare metals by the Swordsage of Arcadia and it gave off a subtle glow in the dark. He’d never feel more unworthy to wield the new blade than he did then, holding a questionable grip with his sweaty hand. If only his armor was as special: small clay plates overlapping from his shoulders to abdomen. The jagged maw of the Hydreel was large and powerful enough to impale Kaji’s pathetic armor with ease. The black suit underneath was the essential attire for a shinobi, and black boots with soles tough enough for climbing, yet thin to allow Kaji to feel subtle shifts in the stone.
He was needing his comrades. Heizo was their ninjutsu expert capable of closing tunnels and creating traps as they had planned, and Xinyue had the power to turn her greatsword swings into blows of force extending beyond the blade’s edge. Without his teammates to pin and slash the Hydreel, Kaji’s attempts at deceiving and distracting the monster seemed futile. Kaji had already seen one of the creature's six heads; it was a hideous thing with big, round, fish eyes on each side of its snout, all perfectly attuned to seeing in the darkness of those pitch-black caves. Kaji was practically feeling his way along the walls since fleeing into this theoretical dead end. Until now, he kept to the central corridors, which were wider and had chunks of arcadianite deposits which gave the beast’s lair a soft blue tint. He and his allies came with torches lit, but Kaji snuffed his flames the moment he began using stealth.
Kaji only had a few choice ninjutsu mastered in those early years. Not even proficient with single-handed seal weaving yet, Kaji had to sheath his sword for a moment before bringing his hands together. He then became one with the darkness, refracting light and vanishing— even to the keen eyes of the Hydreel. Once he took the masterwork blade in hand once again, he could feel it drinking from his chakra, synergizing with his jutsu and becoming invisible as well. He had yet to swing the sword, though he had no doubt in its power to cleanly carve through flesh. There was something else— something powerful to the saber smithed in the pit of Arcadia by a master smith. Kaji was somewhat mesmerized whenever he set eyes on the emerald gem embedded in its pommel, vividly green and radiant. Whispers were circulating through The Disciples entire division foretelling of magnificent feats capable by each of the Swordsage’s masterwork weapons, however, Kaji was not told anything about his saber’s supposed abilities when it was presented to him. Master Iwakura merely told him and Xinyue to wield their blades well and not to fear their power. So here was young Kaji in the worst possible scenario for test-driving a weapon with an unknown power worthy of being feared.
“If your power is to talk, now would be a great time to start” whispered Kaji to his saber as he stepped carefully down the dark tunnel. “It’s time to see what a masterwork blade can do.” As if on cue, the scarred snout of a hydreel head came into Kaji’s limited view. Kaji’s eyes were olive spheres staring wide-eyed into the darkness, using novice skill to make out the silhouette of his opposition. A change in the faint airflow came with a foul stench of rancid sea water.
The masterwork blade was raised to his front in a defensive stance, and he stared ahead into the brink of helplessness. The Hydreel’s charge was led with a ghoulish screech, and its jaw’s spread wide as it rushed forth. The strength of the Hydreel’s sense of smell was an equivalent to vision without sight, or so Kaji learned the hard way. The sea serpent's rush had Kaji darting backward on nimble feet as he avoids the first three snapping bites. The Hydreel’s fangs tore through the stone of the cave wall as it came on in a ruthless attack. Sharp hearing gave Kaji the edge he needed to foresee the attacks, and echoes through space aided him in avoid impacts while rushing through the dark space.
The dash led Kaji to a section of tunnel which narrowed enough for him to slide through with ease but challenge the long eel’s chase. The beast let out an enraged snarl as the head smashed into the gap. Kaji spun about with his sword in his leading hand, singing as it cut through the serpent. The slash was as if the Hydreel’s hard flesh were made from precious silk, and for the first of many times, Kaji could feel as his sword drank from the life force of the beast. Delivering the blow felt empowering, as if he grew in strength, so Kaji slung the saber a second time before the eel could back away. On that second swing, the darkness of that cave suddenly gave way to an emeraldine glow. Kaji released his veil of invisibility— as useless as it was— in time to witness the light of his blade, so magnificent and verdant. The second slash was more than a deep knick in the Hydreel’s leathery flesh: the second ripped through its jawbone and up through its snout, tearing open the creature’s mouth. Flaring chakra shined through the dark to illuminate the display. The eel’s head was quick into the retreat, letting Kaji win that tunnel but promising more fight ahead of him. There was a long trail of blood lining the floor though, indicating just how successful the masterwork blade was in Kaji’s capable hands. “A sword edge beyond the blade” Kaji mused, admiring the formidable jutsu he managed by wielding the saber, which extended his swings beyond the blade’s length by triple its length or more. Suddenly eager, Kaji stepped forward through the gap and chased the receding eel’s head, hoping to carve into sushi fillets.
By the time Kaji’s hunt returned him through the tunnels and back to the Hydreel’s lair, that emeraldine glow on his saber faded once more, and the power coursing through Kaji from the grip on its handle faded. At once, he understood there was a connection at play but he wasn’t entirely sure: was the sword gaining this power from the eel, or the bloodlust of cleaving it? When he wielded the saber he could feel the warmth and power; something which felt real, almost alive in his grasp. And once that light faded the saber felt entire changed, even empty as if it craved for more of the former power in order to be whole again. Walking through the darkness of the deep mines and pacing through a puddle of blood, Kaji felt the determination to find that menacing Hydreel and feed his blade once again. Oh, how the tables had turned.
Just a short time later there was an explosion of force near the face of the mine. In that same place where the cave-in separated Kaji from his allies, Xinyue made her return through the settling dust of rubble reduced to smithereens. Somehow, she caused the blockage of rubble to displace itself and scatter violently, lacking the control of a true ninjutsu. She came into the lair entrance limping on a twisted ankle and held her own new masterwork blade over her shoulder. There was a hint of red in her long blonde strands, tinting the tail of her long braid crimson. More blood stained her armor, though it didn’t seem to be her own. And it all matched her eyes, which squinted as she searched the large mine for signs of Kaji or the Hydreel. “I’m sorry Kaji” she whispered in an exaggerated tone, practicing for once she found her comrade. She forced her devilish grin into a frown and a cry, whining <I>“I did all I could for our brother, Heizo. He’s dead, Kaji… Heizo’s dead. Heizo’s dead.” And she repeated the phrase at varying inflections and tones until it became a chant. Her own sword may have been gripped tightly in one hand, but she was carrying a vibrant violet gemstone in the other, encased in a gold cage with a frail gold chain. The gem’s glow illuminated Xinyue just as Kaji’s blade glowed before, and she was staring at it, coveting it as if it were her own. “Good riddance to the useless mute— his dweomer will serve The Disciples well with me.” She was wandering through the lair, murmuring to the gem as if it were a safe space to do so. Xinyue kept wandering and staring into her palm until she stepped onto something squishy and looked underfoot.
“Oh my, you’ve been busy,” said Xinyue as she eyed the chunk of eel flesh. The sister then looked forward to discovering the entirety of their targeted Hydreel lying dead and cold, sliced into a filet from end to end. Xinyue’s sharp-toothed grin made a smile as she saw Kaji realizing a kind of lethality she had when she turned her blade on their fallen sibling. Kaji was standing there atop the beast’s back with spread legs to balance himself. He was holding out that enchanted blade with a one-handed grip, apparently admiring it as it shined radiantly— truly a powerful weapon. The darkness of the mine was lifted by the emeraldine glow, which burned hot and seared the air, creating a low hum.
As if he was following the will of the blade, Kaji held out his free hand with his palm flat. From the hydreel’s body came a culmination of its essence in a spherical shape, glowing deceptively and elegantly. It was bright blue and nearly rivaled that emerald shade before being cupped in Kaji’s grasp. It was if he knew just what to do with the manifested soul as he bounced it upwards and swatted the orb into nothingness with a swing of his sword. Once the contesting lights faded, Kaji looked down at the image of his wicked elder sibling with his olive eyes glowing, different and new. The emeraldine glow was his now, and so he observed her with that same vibrancy in his stare. Kaji was quiet and observing Xinyue, who suddenly emerged once he conveniently bested the Hydreel alone, and she had come with both her new greatsword and Heizo’s dweomer in hand… She was looking just as empowered as Kaji was with his saber, if not much more. “I am not the only one who’s been busy,” he said, offering a late delayed response to her previous jest. “What are you doing with that?” His attention obviously pointed to the violet gem.
“While you were carving the eel’s spine, I was crawling out of the rubble of Heizo’s explosion… He’s… gone Kaji…” Bangs as golden as the sun covered Xinyue’s eyes as she looked down at Heizo’s gem, and she squeezed the item in her grasp. “Our brother… Heizo is dead.”
-- wc2364
-- The Legend of Kaji Okada Book One Timeline: Here
-- Topic Entered and Left: One Shot.