Tale of Storys.

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

Shackled to the wall Onijin continues to show me my past. With each event that he shows in the clouds he goes further and further into my past, going back to my childhood. I try my best to ignore everything, and just think of a solution to this....

Somehow he slipped, and gave it away how he can control me. Just before he put me on this wall I told him what he had to know. I told him what he wanted? But what could it be? Then it struck me. By saying his name to him, that feeds him power. A demon has no control over you, unless you acknowledge it's presence. Once you acknowledge it, then it has control over you. Every time I said his name, it gave him a burst of strength and he was able to over-power me. So if I paid him no mind, and pretended he didn't even exist, his grasp on my soul with weaken, then eventually, I can turn the tables, and release myself from his room. Only, I hope such a method is possible. It may just be too convenient that I found this out so quickly. Well, it is his error for telling me exactly what I needed to know.

So Onijin, who was ignorant to my plan, went on watching my past and making comments every now and then. I didn't care, I thought of better things. To take my mind off him, I went back and thought of my first meeting with Ichirin and Nozomi that one morning in Disan. How long has it been since that day? We traveled by foot for awhile, so it must have been at least a month ago. Perhaps longer. We've all been seperated for some time now. The moment I see Ichirin ago, he dies. How could he just die like that? Who or what was the black figure with the flaming sword that slayed him? Did he already kill Ichirin? What about Nozomi? Was she executed? Did she escape that cell? Oh how I wish I could free myself of this and return to the Physical World. But here, in the Realm of Souls, I could do nothing. Even if I was to escape this room, it will not bring me to life. It will just end my torture.

In the Physical World there is only one way to revive the dead. One must search for the White Elven Scrolls of Life. I don't think the scrolls are in Etrirea. I searched all over this land many times. I had wanted to use the scrolls to revive Shima. But I heard a rumor that the scrolls were shipped out of Etrirea long ago. If there were it makes sense, I looked in every ancient Elven temple on this land. If they are on Etrirea, then they are in the remaining Elves's possession somewhere. My mind snapped back to reality when Onijin was repeatedly calling out my name. But I showed no emotion, even I even smiled at him for his stupidity, he would strengthen, for smiling is acknowleding his presence, and he would have the advantage. All I did was close my eyes. He then started complaining that he was bored and that I was no fun.

Let him say, think, and do what he wanted. Soon he'll lose his edge, and all his powers will fade away........ Nozomi, Ichirin, Swiftant, and that girl Myzura. You all must survive this. Defeat Shakura and live happily, Nozomi, don't be sad when you find out that I'm gone. It'll only make things worse for you. When you bury me, I want you to keep Sora as a memorabilia.

My mind continued to wander. If I leave this room, will I be able to temporarily connect to the Physical World and tell them all my thoughts on this? Can I somehow give them all a morale boost from this other world? I hope my demon vanishes soon....

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

After some time of not doing what he says, Onijin is trully pissed now. He keeps on yelling at me and telling me to answer him. "I am your master you worthless piece of trash! Obey me now!" His words mean nothing to me. I will never respond to such a fool. Doesn't he understand? He should be smart enough to know what I am doing. Instead of yelling at me he should be trying to make me speak to him. I just keep on pretending that I'm sleeping, even though there is no need to sleep in this place.

Just a little bit longer. I tell myself. He is already starting to break under the stress. If he doesn't strike fear into me, then he'll lose his abilites as a demon and disappear. Not a moment to soon I open my eyes as Onijin starts to shout out in pain. I don't look at him, I don't want to take the chance that he'll get stronger. His smoke body begins to evaporate. "Nooo! I am the master! I am the guardian! This is my domain! Ahhahhhh! Curse you Tatsu! Burn here forever!" Onijin's body starts to heat up and bubble. Within seconds, he vanishes into a cloud and is gone. The darkness of the room goes away as well. All that is left is this four-walled room, I can see it clearly now.

Now the walls start to disappear as well. In minutes it all is gone. I fall to the earth. I am in a grassfield. But the grass is dead and brown.

So I managed to escape my torture. Onijin and his room are completely gone. I can finally be relieved. No, I can't rest, there will never be rest in Hell. For all I know, I might walk into the hands of another demon and go right back into one of those cells. I look up, there is a sky in this world. But it is blood red, and the clouds are black. There is even a wind, but it is ice cold, and it blows a chill right through me.. I stand up from the ground. Is there even anyone else here like me? I wonder. I begin to move around and not far from me is a willow tree. An old man in robes is sitting at the base of the trunk. Half his face and arm is covered in bandages. This tree or this man was not here a moment ago. When I escaped Onijin there was nothing out there. But strangely it is here now.....

(The old man that is before me is the same old man that Ichirin saw when he got his new powers. He is a guide, we all just see him a different way).

"Tatsu." Speaks the man in a raspy voice. "I didn't expect to see you here so soon. This is quite troublesome that you have already moved on." The man sighs and straches his head in disappointment. "How do you know me? I don't believe we have ever met." I move towards the man to try and see if he is a demon. But his eyes aren't like their's if he is one, then he is a good fake. In fact, his eyes were dead and light blue. He must have been blind when he died. The old man notices my gaze and smiles. "I can see you, you know. I may have been blind in my life, but in this world you get back everything that you lost. Like your eye and hand. You got those both back didn't you?" The old man laughs. "Surprised by me young one? Well don't be, I am here to help you. I am one of those tough spirits. I don't lose my powers when I die. In fact, I am immune to the demons, and I have become stronger then ever." The old man reaches out, and grabs his cane, he then lifts himself off of the ground. "I am Yogensha. I have the ability to travel through dimensions and give faith to the powerful...I have been watching over your group for some time now, and I must say, the lot of you impress me. Not many people in this day of ours are eager enough to protect the world....The dragons have lost sight of themselves. We used to live together in harmony, and help this land together. But time has made them arrogant, and they turned on us. I don't think they deserve to be eradicated. They just need to be taught a lesson so they remember what this world used to be like."

I don't say anything. I am not sure what to say. "It is good to see you taking this all in Tatsu." Yogensha smiles at me again. "Since your untimely demise, I am not able to fully help you. I was able to help your friend Ichirin. I gave him remarkable powers." So that is why Ichirin looked so different. He was even looking at me before that black figure pierced that sword through him. He was looking at me. His eyes were shining in the darkness, vision was healed by this man. "I am dead. I know that. There is no way to return, in this world I have no magic. How can you possibly help me?" I begin to grow sad again. I felt so hopeless.

"I said I was not able to fully help you. I am only allowed to give one gift to a person. My powers will not work on the same person twice. You are dead, but I can change that. If you were still alive, I could have made you more powerful then ever. I could have given you even greater magic. I could have made you an Archimagus!" Hearing this news from him pisses me off. But it can't be helped. Saving Ichirin was just in my nature. I couldn't let him die like that. There was just no way. I drop to one knee and place my hand on the ground. "Yogensha, I am honored to be aided by such a powerful being such as yourself. How did you attain such power?" Yogensha's face becomes sullen. "It is a sad story. My ability has just complicated my life. It killed me. Now I use it to aid young ones in different dimensions. If helping others save there world is how I will spend eternity, then it makes me happy....Now go Tatsu. Leave this world and return to the living. Your friends need you."

Yogensha puts out both his hands and smiles at me one more time. "You have great fire within" With that said, a great white light surrounds me. The red sky starts to fade, and the frozen earth starts to slip away.....I am returning, I feel immense pain as my soul rips through the dimensionial planes, I am going back to my body...Nozomi, wait for me.....

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

Once the white light disperses, and the immense agonizing sensation leaves me, my surroundings whirl about. There was a brief feeling of nausea. When my eyes focus properly, I am laying upon a soft bed of grass. The sky is gray. It looks as if there will be a rain shower at any moment.

As I tried to move about, my body was stiff, and it was hard to move. I was unsure of how long I was dead. After some struggle, I was able to sit up. I looked around and couldn't see anyone or anything. Was my body dumped here? Why didn't I come back inside of the prison? I look down to my right, and my arm is there, my eye as well. My clothes were different though. Instead of wearing my usual brown cape, with green tunic, and white shirt and pants, I am wearing a black vest, with a long sleeve loose fitting dark blue shirt. My pants are black and tight to my legs. There are brown boots on my feet, and guards around my wrists. A pouch is behind the back of my belt, and a dagger is fastened to my leg. My cape was not on me. This outfit is surprising. But I am more surprised that Yogensha was able to revive me with all of my limbs intact. It is trully amazing, being able to see out of both my eyes again.... There a gentle wind, it blows my hair lightly. The clouds slowly roll back. With some time, I am able to get to my feet. Suddenly, I remember Inferno, as my gaze shoots down to my left ring finger, Inferno is not present. Neither is Sora. Well, it makes sense, all my weapons were confiscated the moment I was taken a prisoner...... I walk south for a bit, the more I walk, I still don't recognize my environment. I have traveled all over the land. I never forget a place. How can I not now where I am? As I stand bewildered, a familiar voice laughs in my head. "Hmmmm....what is it Tatsu? Don't like where you are? I'm sorry, but it's the best I can do."

I know the voice. It's Yogensha's. "No sir, no need to apologize. Reviving me, was a miracle all in it's own. Although, I would like to know where I am." Yogensha laughs "Why of course. I brought you to the Northeastern tip of Etrirea, past the Dragon's lair. This is the closest I could drop you." I start to think, Drop me? What does this mean? "Sir, why couldn't you return my soul to my body? My body is inside of the Dragon's prison with my friends. They are in need of my help!" Yogensha is silent for a moment. "You are very anxious Tatsu. But do not worry, your friends will be fine. In the state a soul is in when it is reborn in unfit for combat. As you experienced, you were unable to move properly for some time. What could you do in that situation other then be a burden to your comrades? For the sake of your allies, and your for own well being, I dropped your soul back into this world, away from the battle. I put you in a vacant shell." A vacant shell? "What do you mean? Dropped me in a vacant shell? Is this not my body?" Yogensha is quiet again. "I am sorry Tatsu, but I had to. There was no other choice if you had wished to come back to life. The body you inhabit now is indeed not your own. The body you have is of a warrior that just passed not long ago by a dragon soldier. The man was similar in composition to you. Do not worry, with your soul in this body, the features have changed to look exactly like you. Now you are able to make use of both this man's arms. When everyone sees you, they will be shocked, they may think that you are a ghost, but they will recognize you. For the body looks exactly like yours."

At this moment, I don't know what to say. "So this isn't my body? I stole it? ..... How humiliating." Yogensha's voice is gone. I do not hear it anymore. Well, let's see if these legs are mine. If this is my body now, it should work the same exact way as my old one. With quickness I sprint through the grass, to the southwest, I must make haste to the Dragon Lair.

[Ichirin]

Wow, Kanji ... nice work, now i have to start reading to catch up with you guys.

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

***Long time no see, it's good to have you back Ichirin.Take your time in posting, I know I have, Tales isn't as big as it used to be, so I had decided to run the story by myself. But since you are back, maybe MUsashi will post again.

Have you read anything I posted yet?***

[SweetSuicide]

**Kanji, I love reading what you write. I really hope Cooly gets his butt in here soon to write! But until then I wait...**

[Ichirin]

Originally Posted by Kanji_The_Wanderer

Have you read anything I posted yet?***

Getting to it

[SweetSuicide]

I wish this story didn't die..
I miss it and I think we should try to get it started again. ^_0

[Excessum]

Originally Posted by SweetSuicide

**Kanji, I love reading what you write. I really hope Cooly gets his butt in here soon to write! But until then I wait...**

I second that... Just read some recent posts and Kanji, dude, you have some guts and talent!! Keep it up! ^^

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

Haha! Thanx guys, I haven't been on here in so long, but when I come on here regularly again, I will breath life into this thread once more....Believe that ^_~