Jwar Tales part 2

Akari, Master Monk of the Temple of Ro-Kan, held up a furry paw and chittered softly in the secret Tanuki tongue into the wind.  The whispered plea, buoyed by a thread of the master’s spirit energy -Ki, spread out among the ancient boughs of his forest sanctuary. Akari rested back into a meditation pose, cross legged on the gnarled tree stump that had been moulded to his diminutive frame. Moments later, a pair of tiny birds, their bright plumage flashing in the weak light of the glade, flitted over to his outstretched arm and came to rest. Solemnly, the ancient Master addressed his avian messengers.

“Little ones” he began, once again reinforcing his words with gentle whispers of his Ki, to settle the nervous nature of the wild creatures.

“Fear not, we face a challenge to the Balance and you must carry my words to the others in my stead. We have little time and I must determine the truest path for us to follow. Gather the younglings, bring them to me, the children of Ro-Kan and their companions will be our instrument, their innocence will counter the conniving political wrangling of the Prefecture and will restore the Balance.”

The birds, their feathery breasts puffed out with the importance of their mission, bowed their heads and spreading their wings darted off into the forests surrounding the Temple grounds.

Akari nodded his satisfaction and returned to his prayer pose. Opening his mind to the shining streams of Ki, he gently pushed his spirit out once more, hoping to determine the best course of action to prevent the pride of the Prefecture from pushing them closer to the darkness that threatened to overwhelm the Jwar Isles.

Following the tiny thread of probability that he had discovered, he attempted to unknot the twisted skein of possible events that led to the upsetting of the Balance.  Satisfied that he had found the right thread he tracked back toward the nexus point – the crucial moment that tipped the Balance. 

“There!” he muttered to himself

“that point there”.

In his mind, he saw a powerful samurai clad in full battle armour surrounded by a small band of Ryu retainers.  The samurai, clearly a member of the ruling house – Takashi, handed an important looking scroll, dripping with seals and ribbons, to a human female and bade her to guard it with her very life. 

The retainer bowed deeply to her lord, clearly pleased with the honour of bearing such a prestigious document.  Placing the scroll into a leather bag and slinging it across her shoulder, she adjusted the large katana at her waist. With that, the retinue moved off setting a fast pace, clearly at haste to deliver the message.

Akari, with a quick focus of Ki, moved along the thread a little further, tracking the party across the cultivated lands of the Ryu clan and into the foothills that marked the border with Ro-Kan.  Here in the southern reaches of Akari’s adopted homeland the samurai drew his party to a halt.  A gentle nudge of Ki and the timeline edged forward a few hours to the point where a small group of green clad humans approached the Takashi lordling. 

“Ito Clan” the Tanuki chittered

“what brings the Snake to parley with the Dragon?”

Whatever it was, it signified a shift in the Balance and that needed to be addressed.  Akari reached for his Ki and shifted the timeline back to the arrival of the samurai and his band. Drawing on his spirit energy he created a replica of himself and his companions and inserted the band of monks into the probability thread.  With that done, he drew back on his view until he could watch the events unfold.

Unbeknown to the ancient Tanuki, a small flash of red fur streaked across the unfolding conflict, ducking in between the twisted trunks of the woodlands and peered out from the thick undergrowth. 

Jwar Tales part 1

High in the jagged and heavily forested mountains, the monks of Ro-Kan tended the sprawling gardens of the temple.  Simply clad acolytes flitted here and there, running errands for the elders or sat in clusters, studying the lore of the Great Kami under the close tutelage of the Masters.

In among the deep shadows of the dark woods, a small gap in the trees opened to the thin mountain air, allowing weak sunlight to gently illuminate the secret glade.  Master Akari sat atop a small ancient tree stump, contoured from thousands of hours of meditation to perfectly accommodate the mysterious Tanuki’s unique physiology. With barely a twitch of his sensitive nose and swish of his lustrous bushy tail, the Master sat in a comfortable prayer pose and allowed his mind to drift down familiar conduits.  The Balance is all, the Balance is key, the Balance must be maintained at all costs.  Ying and Yang, night and day, all must be in perfect harmony or the Jwar Isles and their unique place in the world would be lost.

Further and further, Akari allowed his spirit to wander the ethereal realm of the Kami.  At times soaring among the cottony clouds with the carefree lesser Air Kami, then diving into the sparkling oceans of the playful lesser Water Kami. Carefully he ghosted through the fiery intensity of the blasted lands of the lesser Fire Kami and conversed with the serious golem like lesser Earth Kami.  All around him he felt a vague disharmony, a slight disjointing of what should have been perfectly balanced.  A putrid darkness gathered again at the edges of the real world and bled its poison into the unreal realm, threatening to destroy that which he held dear.

Casting his mind deeper than he had for many years, he probed the darkness, searching for the tiniest thread of probability to follow, a small series of incidents that would lead to the coming darkness gaining ground. Deliberate or not, all actions have consequences, all decisions determine a path that can change people, places or even the very fabric of reality/unreality.  There! The barest hint of shadow, twisting and winding like a coiling viper. Akari, concentrated his formidable mind, focusing his Ki on the darkness in an effort to gain some insight into the cause of the disruption. 

Slowly, very slowly the knotted skein of shadow unravelled until…

Withdrawing his mind, with a degree of effort, the Master snapped back into his body with a minor jolt and sighed. Drawing his plain, homespun robes around his diminutive frame, he picked up his gnarled Jo staff and rapped it loudly on the tree stump three times and sat back down to wait. 

Minutes later and with the barest whisper of rustling leaves, a large and powerfully built orangutan moved into the glade.  Clad in armour and dragging an enormous brass club, Kosuke a monk from the distant Empire moved with a grace that denied his size and heavy equipment. Settling into a crouch with a heavy snort from his simian nostrils, the giant ape grunted a question to the Master.

“Yes, my brother the Balance is in peril once more.”

Another huff, another question…

“Ah this time it starts with the children of the Dragon”

Darkness gathers - a prelude

With a thoughtful smile, Kenko ducked through the archway that led to The Master’s inner sanctum. He always loved being summoned to this particular part of the Temple, his joy at walking through the lush grasses that carpeted the floor of Master Akari’s wooded retreat reinvigorated the young monk after travelling so far and so fast over the last few days. Small woodland creatures rushed to greet him, chittering away before darting back through the gnarled boughs of the ancient trees surrounding the clearing, presumably to inform the Master of Kenko’s arrival.  The tranquility of the moment brought a much needed balm to his turbulent thoughts.

Kenko, the North Tree

Kenko reached a familiar patch of soft heather and kneeled down to wait, eyes closed he reached out with his Ki, tapping into the natural spirit energy that flowed so freely around the glade. The young monk, drew upon the strength of the earth to soothe his soul and calm his mind in order to provide the Master with a coherent and detailed report. The Ki flowed through and around him, giving him clarity and focus as well as a sense of inner peace and slowly but surely his physical body began to relax as well.  Only when Kenko had reached a state of inner calm was his meditation brought to an end, interrupted by the measured voice of the Master as he slowly made his way into the clearing.

“You have returned from your foray into the hills young Kenko, you have much to report no doubt.”  Master Akari padded across the glade, the diminutive Tanuki leaned heavily on his ancient staff despite his famed agility, the mantle of responsibility for the Temple initiates and young monks weighing on him in the absence of Ekusa. “Do you require refreshment or rest before you tell me of the woes that clearly mar your face?”

Master Akari, the Tanuki

Kenko smiled ruefully at the canny Master who had so easily pierced, what he had thought to be a calm, collected expression - nothing was hidden from Akari! “I’m fine Master, but I have seen terrible things in the lands of the Hill tribes, a darkness gathers and we must act fast if we are to maintain the balance of the Isles.” Kenko blurted the last in a rush of words as if he meant to jump up and race out to meet the darkness head on. Looking over at the venerable monk, seeing the wisdom and patience glittering in his dark ringed eyes, Kenko calmed some and continued. “The playthings of Yurei have been spotted, Master. They gather in the shadows before descending on the most  isolated villages and sweeping away the living, disrupting the flow of the sacred Ki and blighting the land.” Again Kenko could feel his voice rising in pitch, angry and frightened in equal measure of the wanton destruction of the balance. Once again he looked over at the Master and drew upon his strength, his calm and thoughtful gaze steadying the usually unflappable monk.

“What do the ancient ones do young one? Have the Tengu descended from their eyries to check the spread of the foul Cult, do they now protect the tribes who worship them and look on them as faithful allies?” The Tanuki glided across the clearing until he stood in front of the steadfast monk, gently cupping his chin and peering into his eyes as if to read his mind. “No, they do not!” He exclaimed,  “The birds cannot rouse themselves from their isolation, even for the sake of their allies, this is troubling, very troubling.”

Kenko swallowed hard, he was not surprised that the Master had deduced the majority of his report, stories of Akari’s intuition and power run rampant through the dorms of the younger initiates and he had grown up with the stories of the Master’s supposed mind reading, but there was more and Kenko knew that the implications were grave. However Akari wasn't finished yet as he carefully watched the minuscule movements in the monk's face, deducing the greater worry that seemed to be building up in the young man like a geyser ready to erupt. “Ah I see pupil, they are headed for conduits, are they not?” The Tanuki nodded his furry head slowly as the full horror of the report played out in his mind's eye. The conduits, three loci of power that channeled vast flows of spirit energy and maintained the balance. If the cultists were to alter the flow, they would gain tremendous power and at the same time reduce the ability of their enemies to respond to their attacks. By the blessed Kamis they needed to protect the conduits and return the darkness back to the shadows.

Kenko lifted his head to regard the pondering Akari and raised a question that was troubling him. “Who can we send to stop the abominations Master.  Riku, Yumi and Kira are accompanying Master Po on the diplomatic mission to Ryu and Master Ekusa has taken Seiji and most of the others to protect the fisher folk from the Jung raids on the coast. We two alone cannot face the Yurei worshippers and hope to win.”

Master Akari stared back at the young monk, his soft, intelligent Tanuki eyes glittering with mischief and power. “Kenko, my most promising student, you are young but were younger still when you first fought those that would disrupt the balance, were you not?” Kenko sat back on his heels at the question, the Master surely couldn’t be serious? They were just children, no more than initiates really. “Yes Kenko them, children yes but strong and more importantly pure and innocent. The filthy Yurei are evil and of the supernatural world, so must be opposed by the purity of the natural one.” Akari paced slowly forward and tapped sharply three times on a particularly vivid green patch of moss with his staff. “The children are accompanied by their animal companions, Aiko’s Guardian is most protective of his little charge” Kenko nodded as he pictured the 500lb silver backed mountain gorilla standing over the young girl it had chosen to bond so strongly with. “Koji’s macaques will be useful too” continued the Tanuki as he strolled passed Kenko, just as the earth beneath his feet began to rumble.

Kenko stumbled back as the moss patch began to pulse and then erupted in a flurry of raw earth and rocks, slowly forming into the rough simian like shape of a minor Earth Kami.  Kenko shook his head in wonder at the power and majesty of the blessed avatar, as he heard the chittering laughter of the Master “besides who said I don't have a trick or two myself, young student”

to be continued, with the first battle....

dGG