A Legend Awakens
By Mike Mullins
Shalasha moved through Mori Isawa. Silence was all the Naga left in her wake. Moving swiftly through the underbrush, Shalasha followed the scent which had guided her across the entirety of Rokugan. The scent filled the air, tainted the air, and pulled Shalasha towards its source. An urgency to discover the origin of the scent made Shalasha move at a pace which was not entirely safe.
The Naga moved silently, but in her hurry, she occasionally
slipped out of the safety of the shadows. Engrossed in her mission,
Shalasha failed to notice that she was being watched. Shadows
obscured a lone human figure that watched the Naga advance scout
move through the forest towards Aojiroi Oku Shiro. The figure
observed the single-mindedness of the Naga and readily waited to see if
the solitary scout would notice her presence.
Briefly pausing in the shadow of a giant oak, Shalasha tasted the air, trying to determine the path she needed to follow to reach the origin of the foul air. Tasting the scents of the air, Shalasha’s body tensed as she realized the strength of the fetor could only mean that the source was nearby.
• • •
Hundreds of miles away within the boundaries of Shinomen Mori, a dozen Naga pause in their task, look eastward, and bear witness.
• • •
In Mori Isawa, the Shalasha, aware of the danger to herself but equally aware of her duties and responsibilities, contemplates fleeing the origin of the fetor for a moment, and then steels her nerves to move out
of the shadows of the giant oak. Her tongue laps at the air one last time
as she attempts to determine from which direction the scent comes.
Turning in the direction of the figure, Shalasha bursts from the shadows
with a suddenness that catches the figure off guard long enough for
Shalasha to glimpse the figure.
The figure’s hands glow with dark energies and moments later the Shalasha is dead. Before the scout’s death, however, the visage of the figure that caused the Shalasha’s death is forever etched in the minds of the Naga.
Moonlight reflected off the shores near Mura Sabishii Toshi and Shazaar swam through the calm waters. High tide had begun only an hour earlier, and the deep water would hide Shazaar for another hour. Only minutes earlier, Shazaar had been lucky enough to capture a glimpse of an oddly dressed human hiding under the darkness of night. Knowing Qamar would be able to use whatever information Shazaar learned about the humans, the scout decided to wait and observe the human’s movements.
The human crouched beneath a small tree and waited without sound. Shazaar watched as the shadows around the tree bent in unnatural patterns to obscure the human and noticed that even the common rhythm of breathing did not escape the human. The Naga scout could see the slight ripple of the human’s chest to know he still breathed, but the soft sounds of inhaling and exhaling were absent. Briefly, Shazaar wondered what had gifted this human with these abilities.
From across the human village, a pair of men, wearing kimonos and carrying the daisho of the human samurai, walk towards the coast. One man wears the mon of the Mantis on his sleeve while the other wears the mon of the Sparrow. They are approaching the position of the obscured human, and Shazaar considers alerting them of the hidden human. The scout quickly decides that knowledge the Naga could soon gain is far more important than the two humans.
When the humans are only a couple of steps from the tree which shelters the crouched human, Shazaar calls for Qamar to bear witness. Shazaar feels the wheel of fate turning and knows that Qamar will be able to best evaluate what is about to happen if he can direct Shazaar’s attention.
From across the hundreds of miles between Mura Sabishii Toshi and Shinomen Mori, Shazaar is aware that Qamar has focused his attention to what Shazaar is watching. The briefest thought from Qamar is focused towards Shazaar, I am here young one.
Shazaar refocuses his attention towards the three humans and watches. Slowly, the shadows around the crouched human shift to cover not only the human, but the path by which the two other humans will soon pass. As the shadows shift, Shazaar’s eyes captured the visage of the crouched human and saw that the human’s face was featureless. Instantly, Shazaar grieved at the cost of the human’s gifts, and just as quickly, the grief passed as Shazaar reminded himself that this was only a human.
As the shadows moved, so did the faceless human. He deftly moved into the branches of the tree. Shazaar watched as the tree buckled underneath the human’s weight and estimated that the tree would hold the human’s weight long enough for the pair of samurai to pass below. When the humans passed beneath the tree, the featureless human drew an aiguchi that captured the moonlight on its short blade.
From the branch, the faceless human leapt upon the samurai wearing the Sparrow mon. As the human fell upon his victim, the aiguchi shimmered with the light of the moon and tiny droplets of yellow liquid were visible on the blade. Shazaar tasted the air and recognized the taint of poison.
As the first samurai fell, the second spun away and the katana appeared in his right hand while the smaller wakisashi appeared in his left. As he took a defensive position, he screamed a single word, "Ninja!"
The faceless human disappeared into the darkness and the samurai stabbed by the aiguchi twitched and gasped before dying. The thoughts of Qamar were once again directed towards Shazaar, Return home little one and join our ranks.
The pool was pure. The task of purifying each and every drop of water in the pool had taken weeks of rituals performed by a Shashakar. The entire three weeks had passed without Malekish leaving the side of the small pool and the astrologer had fasted for that entire period. In order to fully read the portents captured in the Thousand Fortunes of the midnight sky, Malekish knew he needed to be as pure as the vessel he intended to use for viewing the heavens.
When the purification of body, soul, and vessel were complete, Malekish centered his focus on the pool and slowly closed off his reception of the other Naga’s thoughts. For the duration of his observation, Malekish would be alone. For the others, only a single, unnoticeable voice would be missing, but for Malekish the thousands of thoughts the constantly occupied his life would be absent. Even during the Great Sleep, Malekish had felt the presence of the other Naga.
The process of closing his mind from the rest of the Naga took Malekish two and a half days. With only hours to go before nightfall, the Naga ordered his thoughts and readied himself to read the fortunes caught in stars that were not visible under Amaterasu’s light.
At midnight, Malekish submerged his consciousness in the pool that captured the pattern of the Thousand Fortunes which showed the designs of the present and future. Each light showed a piece of knowledge for Malekish to absorb, but a thousand images of the world were too much for a single Naga to absorb.
With a undeviating determination, Malekish filtered through the portents provided to him by the stars and searched for those that would have import to the Naga. In his examinations of events, Malekish came across a human the stars named the Teacher. He was of great import and would alter the course of Rokugan in the near future.
Using an oddly shaped artifact, the Teacher could speak across great distances with other humans and he could share his thoughts with a few other humans in a manner not so dissimilar to the Naga’s knowledge of each others minds. This was unprecedented and Malekish quickly began to understand the abuses that the humans would cause with this ability. Their greed for money and power would cause them to abuse the gift of Amaterasu.
The Teacher was not alone, however. Another, known to the stars as the Daimyo commanded not only his agents hidden among the clans of Rokugan, but also an entire clan itself. Which clan was not told in the visions provided by the stars and Malekish spent the remainder of the night to gather any other pieces of information he could find among patterns of the star.
• • •
As dawn broke and the knowledge of the stars retreated from Malekish, the Naga reopened his thoughts to the rest of the Naga and rejoiced in the sharing of their thoughts within his mind. Less than a mile away, Malekish felt the worry that stirred within Dashmar as the Naga lord sifted through the images shared by Malekish.
Malekish simply thought back to his lord, At least we shall be prepared.
Upon the border of Shinomen Mori and Heiwa Na Kaze Heigen, Qarash guides his three bushi through the woodlands. On the edge of the Naga lands, the remains of slaughtered humans, left in more pieces than greedy bandits would take the time to create, had been found two days earlier by an Isha. Only an Oni would leave so dismembered a corpse.
Qarash had immediately traveled to the southern tip of Shinomen Mori with the single purpose of finding and eliminating the Oni. The Naga warrior carried a nagamaki, a bow, and a quiver containing a dozen crystal arrows, but did not wear the armor of the warlords and bushi. The three bushi each carried a well-honed naginata.
The bushi followed ten yards behind Qarash as the warrior had requested. Qarash had hatched with an imbedded understanding of the forest and its nuances, and he feared the bushi would disrupt the signs of the Oni’s passing. Broken twigs, prints in the moist soil, and scent markings were easily recognized by Qarash, and the path made by his quarry was easily distinguished from the other trails. As Qarash moved through the forest, his senses absorbing his surroundings, the warrior held his bow and a crystal arrow ready to fire.
The tracks had grown fresher during the two days that Qarash and the bushi had followed them. The signs of the Oni had grown more recent and Qarash felt confident that the four Naga would be able to end the hunt by nightfall.
• • •
When the cry of pain shattered the calmness of the forest, the Naga bushi reacted by moving to prevent the Oni from flanking them. Qarash moved forward with a crystal arrow nocked and the bushi maintained their positions relative to their leader. As the Naga prepared for the Oni’s assault, a roar of triumph reverberated through the forest followed by the sound of bones cracking.
Qarash moved his unit of Naga forward and came to a clearing where the Oni stood over a dead human. The Oni was swinging two clawed arms in random motions, carving the human’s body into small cubes. When the Naga entered the clearing, four of the Oni’s seven eye stalks turned in the direction of the Naga.
The crystal arrow plunged into the Oni’s chest. A howl of pain erupted from the Oni as he surged for one of the bushi. The bushi futilely attempted to deflect the Oni’s claws with his naginata, but soon fell to the ground with twelve streaks of blood flowing from the bushi’s armor.
The two remaining bushi sped to the attack of the Oni only to find themselves unable to pierce the Oni’s natural armor with their naginatas. The distraction allowed Qarash to puncture the Oni’s hide with two more crystal arrows. Ichor and blood oozed from the three wounds, but the Oni seemed unhindered by the arrows.
One by one, the Oni attacked and killed the two bushi as Qarash sent three more arrows into the Oni. By the time the Oni faced the third bushi, it was obviously beginning to falter in strength, but it pressed its attack until all three bushi lay dead.
Qarash dropped his bow drew his nagamaki. Grasping the nagamaki in both hands, Qarash moved to engage the Oni, and the Naga warrior was immediately put on the defensive. Moving backwards while deflecting the swings of the Oni’s claws, Qarash waiting for the opening he needed to attack.
As the Oni continued its press, Qarash saw how wounded the atrocity truly was. When a swipe from the Oni fell short, Qarash thrust forward, swinging its nagamaki in a sweep from the right side of the Oni’s head to below the Oni’s left arm. The Oni trembled and roared in agony before falling into a heap.
Using a piece of the human’s kimono, Qarash wiped the nagamaki clean of the Oni’s blood.
Three months later in the heart of Shinomen Mori, four Tausha, Qamar, and Dashmar sit in council debating the course of action to be taken by the Naga.
The last of us are awake, we must strike out at the atrocities that the humans have allowed to advance into Rokugan.
The thought, which originated with one of the Tausha, was shared among the six leaders of the Naga. Qamar felt the opinions of those gathered around him and made his decree.
We must remain united and we are not enough to deal with all of the problems the humans have allowed to grow within their borders. The greatest threat to us is the Shadowlands creatures who have begun to encroach on our borders. Each of the Tausha shall focus their attentions upon one of our enemies. As Tausha leads our armies and directs our actions against the Shadowlands the remaining Tausha will begin to develop strategies for our other enemies.
Each Tausha was aware of which enemy he would guide the Naga nation against.
The time for action had begun, and soon the humans of Rokugan would be aware of the Naga.
Lexicon:
aiguchi - a short, hiltless knife
Aojiroi Oku Shiro - Pale Oak Castle
daisho - a samurai's set of weapons (the katana and the wakisashi)
Heiwa Na Kaze Heigen - Quiet Wind Plain
Mori Isawa - Phoenix woodlands
Mura Sabishii Toshi - Lonely Shore city
nagamaki - a polearm similar to a naginata, only shorter
naginata - a sword-like polearm
Shinomen Mori - Shinomen Forest
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