(Part 2)
10 YEARS AGO, 10450, SPRING MONTH 1, DAY 1, YEAR 10450 SAMURAI COUNTRY NAGASUKE.
The more he walked this day, the more he found trees and greenery.
At the very least, promises of them, as Spring had not really kicked up yet.
He wasn’t too sure about some fruits, so he didn’t pick up everyone that he came across.
At some point, Skrylla Yokuta began passing by different small Gatherings of dwellings and without disturbance when he remembered that he had no money or game to trade.
He must have been too excited to see human beings as he had almost entered quite a few before remembering he had no ways of getting what he wanted; the first memory was still fresh.
“Can I have some food?”
“You have money?”
“No, but I am hungry.”
“Get lost!”
A slipper had bounced off his head.
And that was the friendliest one, for his other attempts had reminded him how good his reflexes were.
Maybe he was overconfident from his recent victory over the past months but he was far from ready to actually beg for anything.
Skrylla Yokuta walked until his feet hurt and stopped by the well of a cluster of houses built around it as if they were guarding it with their structural bodies.
If not for his curiosity of the building design of the houses – and weariness from the monotonous movement of his step and his thoughts – he wouldn’t have turned from his path at all.
He passed through the alley in between two houses and came into a space where children and adults were gathering at the center, all around a well that seemed to be a treasure box to his eyes and soul as his water supply had finished a day before.
The houses were at least separated in a diameter of 70 meters and the talk hushed until it was dead silent.
The boy looked like a beggar so he didn’t understand why there was such a reaction.
The boy just hoped they won’t chase him away, when one of the adults walked slowly towards him.
“Hello… child.”
“Hello.”
“Where are your parents?”
“I have no father and I currently am on a mission to provide for my mother and sister.”
“Wow, how courageous of you.” His smile was warm, and his face benign until-
“AAARGHH!!!” Skrylla Yokuta was pinned to the ground, arms and legs held.
“What is thi-AARGH” He was additionally punched on his head and it now swarm with stars.
“Do you know how many bandits live in these areas; you think us fools?”
“I’ve stolen noth-AARGH”
“You petty-”
“Village chief,” one of them holding him let go.
“His containers hold no valuables and only random trash, save the wooden, crudely sharpened swords.”
“Where are the rest of you?
Are you the bait to let us set us into a false sense of safety?”
“I am a traveling swordsman to be, I need to temper myself so I can provide for my family.
Please understand!”
Skrylla Yokuta was beaten again until all became black in his vision and this time he woke up in a bind of ropes, his arms to his back, having also been tied into a kneeling position.
“You need to provide for your family but you could not sell your CavityBracelet!”
“He thinks us fools.”
Away from the adults, stood before him a kid, two to three years of him, maybe, with purple paint on his cheeks and chin, bare-chested and bare footed, carrying a wooden staff with a spear tip tied to the top.
The chief left his field of vision and he heard the shifting of his equipment.
“Hey be nice to my buddy, he is all the family I have he-”
The blunt end of the staff whipped into his ribs and nearly knocked the wind out of his lungs.
Bruises were around his own body, and he had to be conscious for half an hour before he remembered there was even a boy before him.
The surroundings were circular, so he knew it was a hut and he didn’t see any light from outside or both square openings for windows beside him, so he assumed correctly that it was evening.
“Be nice to my buddy, please.”
The boy, while watching him a long while speculated he was crazy, then later came back with someone older than them both.
“I would hate to be wrong about your innocence but we can’t take any risks.”
“Just help me make sure my buddy’s taken care off.”
“See, I told you he was not alright.” The boy from before was pointing to him after nudging to the old man.
The elder sighed and nodded his head before new sets of ropes were held to Skrylla Yokuta’s forearms and another person cut the ones tying his wrists.
His arms were now held up by the new ropes once his hands were free, and he was forced to kneel up straight.
“Where are you from?”
“I am from west of here, I simply want to pro-”
THWACK!!!
“AAARGHHHH!!!”
“Even though this is a Small Scale Gathering, do not think us stupid.
Every lie would give you an extra whip.” He hadn’t noticed the man with a whip but he was in too much pain to dwell on what he had or hadn’t noticed.
“Where are you from?”
“West…of…here.” He couldn’t stop the tears now.
THWACH!!!
THWACK!!!
“STOOOP PLEEEAAASSEEEE PLEEEAASSEEE!!!”
“Put a cloth in his mouth.”
“BUT WHAT ABOUT MY BUDD-”
They whipped Skrylla Yokuta until morning and scars covered his back.
Holding dearly unto his breathing technique he saw himself a Samurai.
At times he came and cut down all their heads when he came back got strong enough, after a few years.
Other times, he realized some inner strength he never knew he had and beat hem all up…
His days were passed like this and his mornings was started with light pieces of meat that was given to him so that he stayed alive.
“My… buddy…”
“Shut up, crazy!”
Skrylla Yokuta did not even have time to notice that they did not have the heart to finally kill him, simply because of his age.
One week later, although he had no way of knowing, the pain had gone from excruciating to repeated and from unexpected to a never-ending cycle.
He was quieter now, his vocal cords where better than when he screamed every time and he had been painting scenes of revenge in his head until his head hurt from all the thinking.
However, every time Skrylla Yokuta’s lips were free, he did not stop asking about his Sword.
This time, he was supposed to be beaten and flogged but someone untied his ropes and he dropped on earth.
The sweat earth of Planet Hyol.
His almost vacant eyes glanced to look up at his redeemer and his blacked-out eye’s pain didn’t stop him.
The warrior carried him before presenting him outside and he breathed in fresh air until he was dropped beside the well.
“You say he came here on his own, with naught but bruises?” An elderly female.
“Yes, Mistress, he had a box and a bin on him.”
“Since he came, has anybody else shown up?”
“No, they probably thought that it was dangerous so they didn’t send anyone else since the scout didn’t return.”
“What was in the box?”
“A bunch of wooden shaped swords, a book, a pill, leaves, twigs, stones, empty cases for spices.”
She held her fore head then grabbed her hair until her hands shook
“Citizens of Oniga, kneel and apologize.”
“Sorry, Mistress I-”
PAH!!!
One slap sent him to the ground and Skrylla Yokuta was surprised to see a larger woman beating the villager she spoke to like he was a rabid animal who has set his sights on her for a meal.
Then, she grabbed the beaten man on the neck and turned to the others, “What are you waiting for?”
They all knelt and turned to him, doing as their commander told them and the sounds of body dropping resounded close to him.
He tried standing, but had done that too quickly and ended up staggering back down to the floor.
“He is just a poor boy looking to make some ends meet.”
Face torn in realization and grief, the man looked the young samurai to be in his eyes.
“Forgive us.”
The chief was on his knees and his man-handlers had followed suit, though some still harbored suspicions.
However, the Chief’s forehead was now on the ground, tears flowing down his face.
Skrylla Yokuta didn’t know how to react until he heard the feminine voice shout.
“Get a cauldron of water, boil it until it is hot and fill it with Aperture Opening Powder.
Get me a stash of bandages, a knife that is fire hot and you over there.
Yes, you, will be in charge of hosting a feast for the poor kid.”
“YES MADAM!”
“YES MADAM!”
“YES MADAM!”
“My child, forgive my blind husband and his kin on behalf of my Small Gathering, Oniga.” Her heart beat with rage, how would she make it up to the poor child?
“Come, everything is going to be okay.” She knelt and hugged him so deeply he was silent before he started crying.
Skrylla Yokuta didn’t know how long he went for but at some point, he passed out because these gushing tears where his last reservoir of expendable water in his body.
And when he woke up, he had a slight headache.
He was now on the floor, atop a wrapper cloth like how he slept at home.
No ropes.
Breathing in deeply, Skrylla Yokuta tried standing up and pain assaulted his senses like a flood from a broken dam but one stood out amongst all of the ramble of screaming nerves.
Where’s my buddy?
What would a samurai do?
Where’s my buddy?
Remembering how things turned out, he didn’t know if he should plan revenge or escape or just see how things go as he didn’t have anything to take back to his mother and sister.
Not yet, he reminded himself.
Stuck in his thoughts and visualizations, he didn’t notice a villager hand him a bowl of soup until the smell filled his body and he almost grabbed it out of instinct.
But when he noticed the fluid kindness, he realized it could be poisoned, and paused.
Skrylla Yokuta then jumped back and kept to the wall, pain, fear and wariness holding him there.
The villager didn’t say a word and left the food before walking away.
When five minutes passed, he saw the Mistress, Drisnyl Hashna Tsuyo-sa, walk in.
She seemed in her thirties but she was still youthful and vibrant, she carried two hook swords on the small of her back and walked around with naught but a skirt of leaves, a bra of bull hide, a cloth tied to a string that fell down her front and back and lastly a necklace of bones around her pretty neck.
Her breasts were large enough to call attention but not massive enough to be always distracting, her waist curvaceous and her legs long and firm.
“Forgive us – Citizens Of Oniga – we are a but a self-sufficient Small Scale Gathering.” She walked in, her presence covering the room like a heat wave.
“We tribesmen went away to replenish supplies and I came to see what they had done.” She shook her head “Can you im-” Her face squeezed up.
“We never waste food here child, if you do not know that and I have to choke down your pipes, then I will help you understand it.”
Skrylla Yokuta had been entranced till her mood changed so he began shaking as he set himself into a fighting stance.
Where’s my buddy?
What would a samurai do?
Where’s my buddy?
Sighing, the lady walked to the bowl and drank before handing some to him.
He then waited as he watched to know if anything would result of her action before he took it and deeply drank.
And as she continued speaking, everything seemed normal until his body started itching him.
“Oh, you haven’t started cultivation.” She laughed at him.
“We, The Small Scale Of Gathering of Oniga, might have a way of paying you back just yet.” She regarded him, “that just now should help you with at least 2 weeks of practice, meaning that you can continue the Breathing Technique after we are done for the night.
I saw your notes.”
She carried his writhing body and then held it over a cauldron until all the itching died down.
The great fire that had been started illuminated the entire village for a 100-meter radius and the play on shadows from the cluster of human beings in a semi-crowded Gathering was fascinating.
And he might have enjoyed the created atmosphere, if he was not feeling the aftereffects of what they had done to him.
He noticed his peculiar condition and was about to beg but after the previous week, he would rather hold it back.
She then dropped Skrylla Yokuta into the cauldron with boiling Aperture Opening Powder and it was… warm.
He jumped to the rim before realizing that he would not drown and after she placed a hand on his head, he met her wet eyes.
“Do not worry anymore.” Her hand had not left his head.
“The Aperture Opening Powder will get rid of any impurities, including things that might had entered from your beatings.”
It took him a while to close his eyes, even before sweat rivulets filled his skin and is skin started hurting as if things were trying to drill into them. This chapter is updated first at novelping(.)com.
He frowned his face until his body shook out of pain, anger and frustration.
Then his body vibrated until it made him look insane, as if he was bearing a thousand winter storms.
He glared at Drisnyl Hashna Tsuyo-sa and her impassive face.
“AWOO!!!
AWOOO!!!
AWOOO!!!
AWOOO!!!
AWOOO!!!”
And not even the chanting of the villagers could distract him from this pain.
“AWOO!!!
AWOOO!!!
AWOOO!!!
AWOOO!!!
AWOOO!!!”
But through it all, he held eye contact with the Clan Mistress until the color of the water changed.
“You looked at me as if you are asking for a death wish, kid” She turned away, “bring his things.” Snapping her fingers and another hand kept her hands on her waists, his box was brought out and unfolded.
Drisnyl Hashna Tsuyo-sa brought out the book and held it before her eyes to read them.
“Use your Breathing Technique, it will help you now.”
He was carried out by her instruction, a towel was found for him that was tied around his important parts and then a robe to cover it all before the towel was removed from underneath.
“Kneel and begin.”
Body still shaking from the previous experience, he eyed her in silent distrust before considering what she said.
“I want to get my Buddy and me on my way.”
“Allow me to pay you back for all the damage we caused.” If it was just her that knelt and asked he would not have budged but everyone dancing suddenly stopped.
On top of it all they kowtowed, not raising their heads.
The village fell into a silence broken only by the crackling flames.
Where’s my buddy?
What would a samurai do?
Where’s my buddy?
It was actually up to him at this point, so he decided to play along for now.
Where’s my Buddy?
Could they steal my breathing technique from me?
Where’s my buddy?
No, his mother had assured him that something would block their visions if the even tried to read it, that she had covered the book in her own technique.
So, if he did not hold or have contact with it, all within its pages would safe.
“I need my bu-” He was getting nowhere with this.
So, he changed his question, “my manual.
I need my manual.”
Skrylla Yokuta waited until it was delivered to him glanced at the drawing and tried the instruction.
When you have conditioned your physique enough, the next part is to find a weapon.
So, you begin with the practice to drawing External Chi about your body first.
Draw energy from your surroundings to the outer layer of your skin, do not attempt to draw it in for now.
This will help in tempering not just your mind and spirit and body, but also prepare you to use it on your weapon.
[1]
He tried, at first and felt nothing but she instructed him not to stop and so he did.
Before you begin, however, visualize a film of obstruction on the outline of your body so that the External Chi does not slip in.
This is very vital and can ruin the entire purpose of this Breathing Technique!
The visualization part was easy and he quickly began.
He could see his face down to his neck then his shoulders.
Then see his arms then his chest and waist.
Following, his thighs, legs and feet.
Next, he imagined an outline around everything, Skrylla Yokuta did this until he was familiar with it.
He properly went through the exercise until the wee hours of morning and when it was dawn, he finally slept.
Impressed by his perseverance at his age, Hashna Drisnyl Tsuoyo-ya led him to a hut for him to rest.
[1.]
Italics would be used to show areas of concentration, words in a book and other miscellaneous things.
Sometimes also for thoughts, battle techniques and many more.