TheSeekerChronicles, branch 1:ReinaAizuru, book1: The Foundling, PROLOGUE

[TigressAyura]

So people!!!

this is an original story. takes place in feudal/medieval Japan

 

here's a quick summary:

 

Enter Reina Aizuru, a young girl struggling for survival, shunned by society. Why? People are afraid of others who are...different. After losing her parents and living long, hard, and lonely years as a fugitive, she is captured by a secret clan. Who are these people? But she will soon find that she has more in common with these strangers than she thinks, and will unlock a door to adventure, an otherworldly adventure.

 

here we go!

Prologue: The Tengu's Messenger

 

The tavern was full and rowdy as usual, and its musty air was full of voices, of hearty speeches, of gossip. Then the door of the small village bar opened, revealing a young man with sandy brown hair that fell over his face in wisps, fresh-faced but with a stoic expression that made him seem much older. He wore the armor of a regal warrior, with an ornate crest upon his chest that labeled him as the highest-ranking officer in the Imperial army. His reputation was legendary, and he was feared by many.

 

 At intervals the crowd grew silent, and all eyes were on the young man as he casually strode to the counter. Every step of his knightly armor was dominant over the silence, and it made him uneasy, even more so than he already was. When he had taken his seat, the crowd immediately resumed its previous clamor, but it was mixed in with an air of worry, suspicion, even awe. The young man could hear the older men around him whispering to each other.

 

“That’s General Tsukiyo!”

“The warrior that withstood a full legion of enemy soldiers himself!”

“What’s he doing here?!

“Is that really him?”

“No, it can’t be! He’s just a lad! A mere boy!”

“But it is. See the Imperial Emblem ‘round his neck.”

 

The young General ignored them, though all they said was true. He sighed in silent frustration and rested his head on one hand. Hiding behind the great deeds and within the coveted uniform, he knew, was a young man who had seen much in his short nineteen years. He had much more important things to think of. The Emperor had given the order. The one thing the prestigious General dreaded to do. And of all people to be called upon for this task, it had to be him. But there was nothing he could do about it.

 

“Uh…” came a hesitant voice in front of him.

 

The General looked up to who was addressing him. It was the bartender. He was short, fat, and stout; bald on top saving for the tufts of white hair on the sides; he looked like he was in his mid-sixties. He wore a dirty, once-white undershirt and patchwork shorts. The General managed a smile to hide his previous worried expression.

 

“W-what can I get you, uh…General?” the bartender stammered nervously.

“Something light, thank you,” Tsukiyo replied smoothly. “The lightest you’ve got.”

 

The stout man bobbed his head in an exaggerated nod and hurried away anxiously. Within fifteen seconds he had returned, holding a simple ceramic cup. Hands shaking slightly and beads of sweat forming on his forehead, he placed it in front of his superior, stuttering out,

 

“N-now don’t worry about the t-tab, General, it’s all on the house.”

 

“Really?” The General mused, reaching into his bag, grabbing something and flicking it at the bartender, who caught it clumsily. It was a golden Imperial coin. “Then consider that as a tip.” The other man looked at him dazedly, then thanked him and wandered to the back of the tavern.

 

“Tsukiyo!” a familiar voice cried. The General turned to see a cheery man in his mid-thirties, whose clothing labeled him as something between a wealthy merchant and a noble. He was of a medium build, if not a slightly chunky man, and a little on the short side. His somewhat scruffy-looking hair was a soft black that was forever unkempt, paired with a short goatee he continuously fidgeted with. He sat next to the General. “Good to see you, my friend.”

 

The General chuckled. “You too, Asajhi.” He tried to act as if nothing was wrong. “It really has been a while. What’ve you been doing lately?”

 

“Oh, the usual,” he replied easily. “Just doing my job. You know how the supply merchants work.”

 

“Regal supply merchant of the castle,” the general corrected with a low voice and a smile, knowing only Asajhi could hear.

 

“Bah!” Asajhi scoffed, waving off the statement “I don’t ever bother with the full title. But yes. Back and forth for the rest of my days. From the palace to the market, from market to harbor, and back to the palace.” He sighed. “It gets redundant, but I’m happy with it.” He paused to order a drink from the bartender, who was passing by. Then he frowned at the General’s cup.

“I thought you didn’t drink, Datori?”

 

General Datori Tsukiyo waved him off. “Don’t worry, this is light. And…” His expression turned gaunt. “The order has been given. I don’t know what to do.”

 

Asajhi lowered his voice. “Are you finally going to tell me what this is all about?” he asked. “You know I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on with you.”

 

Datori nodded, staring almost blankly straight ahead, then gaze falling. “What have I told you about myself…before I became General?”

 

His companion scratched his beard thoughtfully for a moment. “You ran away from home to start a new life. Your family went after you, and you went into hiding. Then the Emperor put out a promotion and reward for information about a certain fugitive, and you used that opportunity to get where you are now.”

 

The general nodded solemnly, with a somber look. “But there’s more to it than that. I had a friend…she helped me run…and hide.” He breathed in and out.

 

“‘She’?” Asajhi emphasized, raising an eyebrow.

 

Datori’s stoic expression no longer matched his voice, which had an air of longing in it. “Yeah. She was a runaway too, but for a much longer time. I met her in the forests behind my home, and I begged her to take me with her. But she never told me anything about herself until after we took off together.” He paused, considering his next words. “In a way, I’m where I am because of her, even though she was the best friend I’d ever had.”

 

“What do you mean, ‘even though’?” Asajhi questioned. “Didn’t she help you with the fugitive’s information?”

 

The General let out a humorless laugh, but then his face phased back into a graver one. “Yes…and no.” He stared at his cup, which he still had not drunk from. “Taking the reward was my choice.” His gaze shifted, and he made eye contact with his friend. “I beg of you to tell no one else, but she was the criminal, the fugitive that they were looking for.” He swallowed. “Throughout the years that had passed, I became sick of the life of a traveling fugitive. I was desperate to escape that way of life…even desperate enough to turn her in for it. So I did, and received my promotion to General. Deep in my heart I’m glad she escaped, but I know that she’ll hate me for the rest of my life for doing that to her.”

 

Asajhi tilted his head slightly. “But then what was the order?”

 

“To go after her. To kill her,” he replied simply, voice shaking. “But I can’t. She’s saved my life too many times for me to just take hers. I can’t do it, even with the Imperial Army at my fingertips. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. But then again, of I don’t, I’d be at the Emperor’s mercy.”

 

“The Emperor is a very selfish and inconsiderate man,” Asajhi agreed, musing, digesting what he had just heard. He watched thoughtfully as Datori finally took a small sip of his drink. “If I knew a way to help you, my friend, I would.” Then he remembered something. “Oh, Datori. Have you heard that both Kurikawa and Sugoroku have been raided in the past week alone? I thought it should come to your attention, as you are General.”

 

The General blinked. “Oh?” He was secretly relieved of the subject change.

 

Asajhi took a drink of his own. “Both towns have had either supplies or homes stolen from,” he continued. “Food, water, and weapons were the main things taken. A house was burned down. The people are frantic, claiming that it was all the work of the Tengu’s messenger.”

 

The General groaned. “The Tengu is nothing more than an urban legend made to scare children into behaving and into their chores and beds. What does that have to do with this?”

 

“That was who the thief claimed it was.”

 

Rolling his eyes and sighing in irritation, Datori crossed his arms, resting them onto the table, and leaned onto them. He was used to both kids and criminals attempting to come up with somewhat intimidating names for themselves. “It’s probably just a bunch of boys thieving about; it usually is. Rascals, is what they are. Really, there is nothing to worry about. It’s just a name to scare people.”

 

“Reports say that it was a lone girl, not a boy,” Asajhi tried to explain. “I know how strange this must sound to you, but…” he shrugged, unable to finish the thought.

 

Tsukiyo’s ears perked. A lone girl? Could it be? But he didn’t betray any change of emotion or demeanor even as he looked directly at his companion, placing a hand on his shoulder, and said, “Asajhi, you are my most trusted advisor, reporter, companion, and friend, but I can’t deny that this sounds pretty far-fetched.”

 

“And I would never lie to you,” Asajhi countered. “You are more of a friend or even a son of mine than I think I’ll ever have. But I’m no fraud. There’s something suspicious going on here with these raids, and I haven’t even gotten to the most important part yet.”

 

“Alright. Carry on.”

 

Asajhi reached into his tan leather satchel slung over his shoulder and pulled out a rolled-up, slightly crinkled map, and unfurled it in front of him. It was a map of the region, and some of the locations were highlighted with red dots, which were connected into a slight zigzag. “These are the raid locations, by date,” he lectured. “And I think that the raids are moving farther and farther south, and I think this person is moving—”

 

“Towards the palace!” Tsukiyo nearly blurted, realizing the danger.

 

“Hush!” Asajhi almost snapped at him. “Not so loud!”Then he lowered his voice once more.

“The tacticians have guessed that the thief’s next target is here, in Susukino. The thief could even be in the village as we spea—”

 

Asajhi nearly fell out of his chair as an explosion resounded close outside, making the whole tavern shudder. Its windows shattered, and tables and chairs alike were overturned, along with their respective drinks and occupants. Smoke blew in from outside, along with the sooty, dank smell of gunpowder. Coughing and waving away the smoke, The General made his way outside, the cool air a welcome change from the filthy smog that now dominated the partially blown-up pub. Other male villagers stumbled out after him, coughing and demanding to each other what was going on.

 

The General’s keen, swift eyes detected a shadow darting in and out and between houses, sheds, and other buildings. A mob was chasing after it, waving torches and throwing spears and pitch forks, but they might as well have been  trying to catch the wind, their target was moving much too fast. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a partly burned-out torch wood lying next to the remains of a gunpowder barrel, which had been fairly close to the tavern. He gritted his teeth, legs already moving, hands already grasping a spear that had been lying against the thatched wall of a home. He debated whether or not he should join the mob, but decided not to and waited behind the corner of an open courtyard. The crowd of villagers had gone the other way and he found himself alone, but somehow he knew that the figure would be back. He could feel it. He watched in anticipation, waiting, breathing quickly but softly.

 

He was right, finding his chance when the figure came running into the open area, jumping, somersaulting, and landing atop a supply wagon off to the side. He stepped out from his concealed spot, quickly aimed, and hurled the spear, unseen by the figure, which turned to leap into the dark forest, but recoiled as the General’s spear whooshed by, inches in front.

This delay gave the villagers a chance to surround the wagon, but they parted as the General himself came forth.

 

“You’re not going anywhere!” Tsukiyo cried. “Not until I permit you to!” State your name and intent!”

 

The figure threw back her head and laughed, her long, dark brown hair, silvery in the moonlight, billowing around her. Her face was covered in a black face mask so that only her eyes showed. Her skin was pale against her dark clothes, whose color could not be determined in the night sky, even under the moonlight. “Oh, General, General,” she mused teasingly. “The famous General Tsukiyo. You dare challenge me? I, the great Tengu’s messenger? Ha! I could destroy this village and its lives without even coming down from here! But no matter. Continue to pursue me, and your lives will cease by the Tengu’s hand.

 

As if in response, a tremor shook the grounds. Some of the villagers exclaimed in surprise as a ring of stone then rose up suddenly from the earthen ground, surrounding the girl and wagon and separating her from the General and the townspeople. The girl yanked down her facemask, but before Datori could register any detail about her face, she spun and his night vision was almost blinded as a steam of yellow-orange flames shot out of her mouth,  flames that greatly contrasted with the dark sky and alighted the inside of the stone ring. As the flames completed its circuit within the stone boundaries, the people began to cry out in anger. An inferno had been raised, with its flames higher than the forest trees beyond them, and radiating heat so strong that many of the villagers took several paces back, leaving only the General to withstand the full force of it.

 

Then, the girl’s voice rang out with an intimidating authority and clarity, with a warning: “The eagle’s cry marks the Tengu’s arrival! Be wary!” And with that the flames dissipated as quickly as they had come, leaving the wagon and the stone ring. The wagon, although made of wood, had only a single scorch mark but with no further damage, but all of the supplies it contained were gone, along with the girl. The stone ring stayed damp and cool, not like it had just been set on fire.

 

A wave of mutters swept the crowd. The General stood there in disbelief. The thief, the figure…it was her. His old friend. His former partner. He knew from the fire, from the flames that would’ve injured or even killed a normal person.   But not her. She’d escaped. Again. But no one else needed to know that…

 

Passing through the crowd, Asajhi made his way to where Datori stood.

 

“Now do you believe me?”

 

 

 

YO I HOPE YOU LIKED THE PROLOGUE! DON'T WORRY REINA'S COMING!!!

CHAPTER I WILL COME SOON!!

[bury the year]

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