A wanderer tale, pt1

[RivaOni]

Upon returning to PO Village, Ashitaka Riva-Oni Mishashi tries to fit straight back into where he was when he left, but many people begin to wonder where he has been for so long. After weeks of being asked about where he has been, and why he looks so much older and wearier than he did before his dissapearance, he caves in and gives his full story, and that is where we begin.

A couple of years ago, during his last quest alongside his friend UltraWolf, he started to feel alienated from the rest of the PO World. He felt something fresh calling to him, it was telling him he needed to mature a little and live a different life, then he will fully appreciate everything around him, the air, the light, the good that is in the hearts of every PO deep down. A goodness that he himself was beginning to feel fade from his own heart. He had grown bitter towards himself, and dis-trustful of his surroundings.

And it was with these feelings that the man they call RivaOni dissapeared into the mist that surrounds the safe haven of the Pocket Otaku Village.

Outside the world that he knew lay a new danger, not only in his surroundings, but also inside himself. For all his life, he had gone into battle alongside others, people he had up until just recently had called friends, but did not know anymore what they meant to him. This was a quest to find himself, discover what his friends meant to him and discover exactly why he was feeling the way he was.

For days he walked, he hadn't remembered to pack any food, infact he had packed nothing at all. All he had on him were the clothes he was wearing and his saber clipped to his belt. He knew basic survival techniques, things like how to light a fire and what creatures and vegetation were safe to eat. As he strolled along keeping a watch for something live to kill for food, he noticed a feint sound coming from the undergrowth to his left. He crept up, listened for a while, and decided what his next move would be. He picked up a small stone, and threw it in the opposite direction to what he was hoping the creature would go, quick as a flash he unclipped his saber, and waited to see what would come out of the bushes.
As luck would have it, it was a medium sized bird, chicken like in appearance. His saber buzzed and he brought it down, killing the bird in one quick movement. He picked up his prey and set off in search of shelter in which to set up camp for the night.

By the time he had found shelter the sun had long fallen and the night air was cold. He had found a small empty cave in an area that didn't look as if it was inhabited by anything dangerous. He layed down his catch and left the cave to collect some fire wood. While out he took note of his surroundings before returning back to the cave with firewood under his arm.

As the night wore on he found himself thinking about the people he had left behind. Would he see them again? Would he be able to bring himself to return to Otaku Village? Had he really turned from the good side, down the path to a darker world? Why was he beginning to stand behind the crowd rather than fitting in? Why is it so important for him to fit in than just be himself and let the others accept him for who he was? and did the other villagers really judge him?

For two whole months he followed this same routine, finding a different place to sleep every night. Some nights it would be in a cave, others it would be in a ditch under the shelter of a gathering of undergrowth, and on the odd occasion it would be under a tree staring up at the stars, wondering how important he really was in this world and how the people back home were doing. By now he must be hundreds of miles away from home, his feet felt like he had travelled around the world and back. How much further did he have to go to find the answers to his questions? Would they all be answered at once or would he have to travel for years amd years to find the answers? Surely by then his fellow villagers would have forgotten all about him. He vertainly didn't think that there'd be a welcoming party waiting for him, after all he left without saying goodbye.

The further he travelled the more agitated he became, he had gone so far yet he hadn't learnt anything about himself. In fact the only things he had learned so far is more advanced techniques for catching food. He also felt he was beginning to lose his skills in combat too. He hadn't had a single battle since leaving Otaku Village, save for the odd bear and catching food. But nothing challenging. Things were about to change though. Soon enough he would have to bring all his combat skills to the fore in order to survive his greatest challenge to date.

As he walked through a deep forest he caught the feint, harsh, choking smell and taste of smoke. Was somebody up ahead? He took things steadily, treading quietly. His numerous fights with bears had taught him to be weary of making any sudden movements or sounds. He spotted a clearing up ahead and looked up to the sky, sure enough that was where the smoke was coming from.

After being alone for almost six months, he was finally going to come into contact with somebody. Then as he got closer, questions began to race through his mind, would the be friendly or hostile? Would meeting somebody new help him answer some of the questions he had about himself or would it generate more? As he carefully crept forward, these thoughts raced through his mind over and over again. He was getting closer, the anticipation in his gut grew stronger and stronger. Cautiosly he unclipped his saber. Then "CRACK",
"What was that?"
He looked down
"Damn," he thought "bloody twigs"
He quietly glanced up to make sure no one was attacking and noticed a shape run off right into the trees by the clearing. He made his way forward quickly but carefully. Looking all around him for a possible attack, thumb on the switch to his saber.

He covered the last few feet ata asprint, eager to get his first battle unerway. As he entered the clearing, he quickly glanced left, sure enough there it was, the fire that had been billowing out the smoke he had caught wind of. The fire had only recently been hurriedly stamped out, proof that his eyes weren't deceiving him. He had seen somebody run from the clearing only 5 minutes before, after his unfortunate accident with a stick on the floor had startled them.

He quickly spun around to face the direction the perpatrator had run in. Glancing left and right to keep himself covered from a suprise attack. "Fzzzt" he switched on his saber ready. For several minutes he stood there. He was willing to stay like this all day if it kept him safe.

Then there was a rustle from the bushes to his left, he spun to face it. Another rustle came from the bushes behind him, the direction he had entered the clearing from himself. Had somebody been following him? Or had there been two people in the clearing and they'd run in opposite directions? making their way through the forest, tracking him, waiting to attack.

"Show yourself" he shouted aloud "I am one man against the two of you, are you such cowards that you won't take me on?"

A laser bolt shot over his shoulder from behind, RivaOni ducked to the ground. Grabbed a stone from the ground and taking a guess at where the shot came from, threw the stone into the woods. A laugh came from the other position he was carefully watching.
"No ston will harm that target" a female voice shouted "after all that is my drone, now who are you and what is your business?"

"My name is Ashitaka Riva-Oni Mishashi. I am travelling on a voyage of self discovery, before returning to my home in Otaku Village, and who may you be?"

A woman emerged from the trees, she wasn't very tall but her frame still seemed stretched. She had raven like hair that spiked down over her shoulders. She was carrying what looked like some sort of gun in her left hand, and in her right she held a short-bladed katana style sword.
"Interesting choice of weapon" she smiled "I thought those things only appeared in fantasy stories"
"Obviously not" RivaOni replied "now who are you? and why did you set your drone to attack me?"

[to be continued]

[RivaOni]

"My name is Akari Minstrol, and I did not set my droid to attack you, it is only a dummie to put you off guard and scare away would be attackers, you have run into me on my quest to find the ones who know the truth"

"What truth?" asked RivaOni

"Why, the truth as to why so many different species inhabit this planet and why there has been no war between them for so long"

"But surely the fact there has been no wars for a long time signals that there is peace in the land and if any danger emerges, they will fight together to stop it"

"How I wish that was true, but something tells me that our land wont be the way it is for long, you see, I have visions, but they only seem to happen when a great many people are in danger. I saw a great war, humans against demons, demons against creatures and even races fighting against their own"

"You sure that weren't just a dream? I mean how can you be sure that what you saw was a vision?"

"Well, I wasn't sure, up until I met you, you see, I saw our meeting too, I have been camped out here for months hoping that I wouldn't meet you, hoping that it was just a silly dream"

"What do you mean?"

And with this Akari looked away, she appeared to be keeping something from RivaOni, although he wasn't sure what. Would she tell him? or would he have to force it out of her?

"What are you hiding? why don't you answer my question?"

"I fear you are not ready for the information I hold. Come it is getting dark, we need to set up somewhere safe for the night. And tomorrow we must begin our journey to find the elders"

The next morning, RivaOni was woken up by the smell of something cooking, he looked around him, they were in a small hut, the smell seemed to be coming from outside.
"Well makes sense I suppose, best to cook outside than risk burning this place down" he thought.

He stood up and shook himself down, he'd been slept on a hard floor all night, most unlike the piles of leaves he had got used to over the previous months, but how he wished he was at home, back in the village, slipping into the Kilted Wench, ordering a double Tequilla from the friendly Aindriahhn behind the bar and tucking himself away into his favourite corner to watch the village folk come and go.

"Hey lazy bones! 'tis almost mid-day, you must of really tired yourself out during your journey prior to meeting me"

"Enough chit-chat, I want you to tell me what your hiding from me"

"Like I said, I don't feel you are ready yet, in 3 days time if speed keeps with us, we will be within a day of meeting the elders, if this does come true, then and only then I will tell you the secrets that lay ahead to test you. Now you need to eat, I have smoked some salmon for lunch, once you've eaten that we need to make haste to keep in with schedule. And no more lie-ins"

Akari handed RivaOni a small wooden bowl with 2 pieces of salmon in, this made a refreshing change to the boar and pheasent he had been eating over the past 6 months. He felt like he was in the luxury of his home again, eating nice food, after all, this woman really could cook! He wolfed down his meal, took his bowl to the small stream that was nearby and rinsed it out before handing it back to Akari.

He made his way into the hut and collected together his things, a note fell from where his belongings were gathered.

"You will face many dangers along this path, I can't tell you what just yet, not until I know you wont betray us. But once this is all over the world may be changed forever" it read.

This confused RivaOni, on one hand this woman was refusing to tell him anything, it really did feel like that he would never know what she was hiding, but this note, it suggested to him she didn't want this secret, that she wanted to pass it on, like it was a great burden to her.

He left the hut, Akari was already waiting, she must have got her stuff ready while he was asleep. They started heading off west, following the stream, this, Akari said would disguise their footsteps from anything tracking them, although RivaOni was worried about his footprints being left on the soft mud by the river so he walked along the harder dried out soil closer to the trees. They followed this route for a couple of days, strangely the scenery never changed, nor were they ever attacked. RivaOni was becoming sceptical about Akari's claims that he was in danger.

"OK, we're only half a day away from our target, I'm going to tell you what I promised to tell you upon meeting you, then I want you to sleep until I wake you up, I feel you are going to need all the energy you can muster starting tomorrow"

RivaOni sat down on the damp mossy ground, propped up against a tree. This, he thought, was going to be interesting.

"Are you ready? This may take some time, and I dont want you to interupt me, in fact I dont want to hear a single sound from you until I have finished speaking, and then I dont want any stupid questions, I want you to put some thought into what you ask me, only that way will you understand what is expected of you."

"As you already know, I have visions, and again as I have already told you, we are on our way to a group only known as the elders. Only selected people know where the elders are and they only find out through the elders contacting them through telekinesis, and they have their own quest to find the person they have to pass a message to. This is my role, and you are the person they requested me to find."

"You are the last remaining member of the Mishashu family, an ancient family who, it had seemed had vanished off of the face of this planet aeons ago, only the elders and i hold knew the secret of this family, and this is what I am about to tell you. You ancestors were among the great warriors that roamed these lands, although they were warriors they never harmed anyone unless it was for the good of the people, they were peacekeepers and much loved across the land. But during the year of the this planets first eclipse, evil was created, it hunted down the peacekeepers and destroyed them with its power. only a few remained, they ran to the hills in order to gain their strength so that one day, they would be able to defeat this evil. To avoid being found, they changed the surnames of their children to Mishashi and sent them to a different village to the ones they grew up in as orphens. Things stayed like this for centuries, the Mishashu in the hills managed to create a spell that would keep them alive until the one who is strong enough could defeat the evil that appears with the eclipse once and for all. They are still there to this day, and this is who you are to meet when the sun rises."

As night passed, RivaOni found himself struggling to sleep, all he could think about was what he would be facing tomorrow. After a while, he decided to go and sit by the stream as water has always helped him relax, he remembered seeing what looked like a fishing rod in Akari's bag when she set up camp for the night, he decided to go and root through her bag and do a spot of fishing because he just knew he wouldnt be able to sleep tonight. A couple of hours must of passed as everything was now silent, he knew he wouldnt get a bite now, but he didn't care, this was taking his mind off his worries, off his past and stopping him thinking about wether he was missed or not. After a while the sun began to rise, he heard the birds singing, he looked over his shoulder to see if Akari was still asleep, she was just stirring.

He stood up and shouted out to her.

"Akari, i hope you dont mind, I've been using your fishing gear, I couldnt sleep and doing this sort of thing helps me relax"

Akari smiled, and made her way over to him, she sat down beside him and just watched the stream flow, watching the float on the end of the line bob up and down in the current of the water.

"We have to get moving soon, The Elders dont take too lightly to late comers, and seeing as your their last hope, we better be there on time!"

RivaOni gathered his belongings, well his saber, and followed Akari into the woods, this time they seemed to be heading away from the stream and further and further into the foliage. The more they walked the closer together the trees got until they had to literally squeeze themselves into the gaps between each tree. This went on for what seemed like hours and Riva's shoulders were beginning to become sore from them rubbing against the trees. He looked back and thought he saw something move through the trees behind him, strangely though he felt safe as they were finding it difficult to proceed so that must mean anything following them must be struggling too.

[RivaOni]

The forest before them seemed to rise higher, blocking out the sun, the ground getting steeper, every step taking yet more energy from the two travellers. For along time, Riva had not taken on such a difficult and draining task as this, but now his intrigue had been prickled. He need to know more, just who was he? what was wanted of him? he had to find out. Along time seemed to pass, and the two became more and more worn, thirsty and hungry, yet due to the location there was no where to settle down for a short break, no where to gather fresh water and there was little sign of any wildlife. This to Riva was odd, the whole journey, since he left Otaku Village, the woods had been rife with birds, insects and mammals, there had also been signs of water, be it a stream, river or the noise of running water, yet here there was nothing, even the tree's that surrounded them seemed different, almost as if they weren't quite normal, there was just something about them that was unnerving. The deeper and higher they climbed, the more the forest behind them seemed to close.

On they went however, always moving forward, albeit with difficulty, but Riva kept an eye over his shoulder. He wasn't happy. He could of sworn everything behind him was moving, closing itself to not let anyone out. He looked forwards again, toward Akari up front, there was a light in front of her, was it some kind of clearing? It was only a small light at the moment, and the way to it looked like the most difficult yet, with tree roots that seemed to be higher than 6 feet. The light slowly got larger, until at last Riva could see it wasn't a clearing but an open doorway, there was nothing but tree's surrounding it, was this the end of the journey? Is this wehere he would discover himself?

"RivaOni, this is the dwelling of the elders, no weapons are allowed here, also, you are to make your way through the labyrinth within on your own."

"Labyrinth? they sure hid themselves well, and what if I get lost."

"You are believed to be the chosen one, this is your first test, if it is true, then you will not get lost."

"But what if I d... nevermind"

And with that Riva unclipped his saber from his belt and handed it over to Akari, he wasnt happy about leaving his weapon with somebody he'd only known for a few days, but if he was to discover what all this chosen one business was about, then he would have to make some sacrifices.