Blade of Burden: Chapter 1

Blood & Cherry Blossoms.

Time passed before the samurai stirred. A pair of eyes fluttered to the touch of air swirling through the darkness. The breeze carried with it a scent of cherry blossoms, almost too faint to detect. As it wafted over the samurai Kyoto’s skyline began to fill his vision, with a woman’s distant voice calling his name. “Ken… ”

Pain struck the samurai, pulling him out of his delirium. Surging waves, sharp and hot, radiated from his stomach and coursed up his spine causing him to wince reflexively. But he couldn’t move, his body was broken. Crimson. The color stained the rocks surrounding him. It pooled in dark congealing red where he lay. Blood, his blood he slowly realized, lined the cave’s floor. In his final moments alive the samurai watched in disbelief as his stomach was ripped open and his guts fell to the ground. Then things darkened. More intense pain cascaded through him. This time the flare in his right shoulder was almost unbearable, cutting through his mental haze like a serrated knife. “I need… time,” he thought, his teeth grinding against each other. His sword’s arcane magic would heal him, but the demon lurked somewhere close. It was always watching.

“I thought… we had a deal,” the samurai spoke to the shadows, his voice fractured and raw, like the rest of him. He struggled to form words with a dislocated jaw, clicking painfully with each syllable. “You… were supposed to… keep to your dark corner… and… I stay here. We promised to leave … each other alone.”

“Agreements mean nothing to me,” The cave responded with a low hiss, a disembodied voice creeping from the shadows. It came from nowhere, sounding like nails dragging across brittle bones. “I don’t make deals. Nor do I keep promises. Especially when it only benefits one of us.” The samurai tensed at the poisonous words encircling him. “Besides, YOU forced me into this wretched cave. Living here alone for so long… Do you think that doesn’t gnaw at my sanity? I won’t apologize.”

“You never do.” He managed to say before another wave of pain crashed over him. The samurai’s body was repairing itself in agonizing increments. Bones shifted, reconnecting to each other and he screamed out as muscles stitched themselves back together. But with it, a renewed vitality blossomed within him. It was an improvement but his body wasn’t ready to fight again. Not yet.

A guttural laugh rolled throughout the cave. Pebbles skittered across the floor, rattled loose by the vibrations. Shadows shifted unnaturally, twisting into something grotesque. A blend of horns, teeth, and fur materialized before the samurai. The demon that tore him to shreds now stood before him, filling the space with a stench of decaying meat. “It’s your fault.” The creature growled, its breath hot and rancid, pointing a gnarled finger at the samurai. Explosions rang out in the samurai’s body, but this time, they receded quickly. The magic was working faster now, dulling his agony. Soon jagged scars would be all that remained of their last encounter. The demon didn’t seem to notice or care. It loomed closer, its form towering over him, casting menacing shadows that danced along the cave walls. Eyes glinting with sadistic thoughts stared at the man on the ground, but their ferocity had waned. “You were weak, unlike our previous battles, not your usual self. You never felt so… easy to break.”

The demon stared into the samurai, allowing its words to take root in his mind. It was trying to catch any sign of emotion from the samurai, some kind of sign its torment was working. “I’ve decided to make you my plaything in this infernal pit. It brings me great pleasure watching you suffer as much as I do down here. Let me give you an example.” Its elongated index finger darted over the samurai’s body searching for a still open wound in his leg. The second it found its target it bored into flesh. Pain erupted in the samurai’s thigh as the gruesome finger tore into muscles and nerve endings, then after a few seconds, it pulled out. “You see, I enjoyed that immensely.” The demon said relishing the carnage it had caused.

“You are a mystery to me, samurai. You endure all this…pain. Despite each assault, you survive and rise back to your feet. Every time. I wonder why?” It mused to itself in the darkness.

“There is no inner pain. I keep you, demon, inside this cave because if you escape, people die. I cannot let that happen, so I stay. You can kill me all you want, but my oath is stronger. I will never allow you to leave.”

“Hmm, a bold statement, but I have heard it many times.” While it twisted logic for its own advantage the demon continued, “Do you know others have tried to control me, before you? Those arrogant fools didn’t last long after becoming my master.”

The samurai closed his eyes, drawing on the stillness of his training. In its solace, his breath steadied. “Focus on your training,” he muttered to himself. He would not give the demon the satisfaction of succumbing to its manipulation.

Something darted between the demon’s hooves provoking its attention. Yes, get distracted, the samurai thought as his strength returned, each muscle coiled with renewed life. “Take the proud Kenshiro, for instance. He boasted to the world, thinking he could wield my power. “This demon is nothing but an insect to me, ” he proclaimed. But Kenshiro was unwise.” The demon said, bounding off in pursuit of the scuttling mouse. “That was my window to betraying him, through his thirst for power, and I broke him in two,” The demon said, smiling to himself as he remembered. The samurai said nothing in response, but with effort rose to his feet. Now was the time to act. “It was easy enough. All I did was promise him anything he ever wanted.”

“Yes, keep talking,” the samurai whispered to himself. He felt the call of his sword from across the floor. His body had healed and hummed with strength.

The mouse darted between two stones, and with one fluid motion, the demon’s claw shot out, snatching the creature from the ground. “And I would say, “Yes, master,” and “You are right, master. Of course.” I betrayed him on the battlefield before the shogun’s castle, just when he needed me the most. It was exhilarating to watch him die on the ground because my chance for freedom had come. However, the world went dark to me, too, as he closed his eyes for the last time.”

With the demon’s fixation entirely on the mouse, now was the samurai’s chance. He moved, silently picking up his sword as he crawled across the floor.

“I know why you have lasted so long, samurai. It is because when you took on my power you were already broken. You started so low that, despite my best efforts, I am yet to destroy you. For some reason, your soul is already shattered. I have never been able to sink my claws deep enough into you. I sense somewhere you carry a pain far worse than anything I could ever deal to you.”

A few feet away from the foul hulk of malice, the samurai wrapped his fingers around the hilt of his sword. The metal was cold and familiar, the magic within pulsing in time with his heartbeat. He aimed and homed in on his adversary.

“That is why, I wonder if there are other things that keep us here.”

“Like what.” He moved like lightning. His sword raised to strike the creature. It only took a few more steps.

“Akimiko.”

The samurai’s eyes widened, and he froze but said nothing. The smell of cherry blossoms overloaded his nostrils. Its aroma cut through his defenses like a blade through flesh. He faltered. The name he hadn’t spoken in years and was now exposed, its weight crushing him.

“How… ?” The question was all he could say.

Time stopped for the samurai. One moment the demon’s back was to him, the next, it faced him. Its body morphed as it moved, transforming into a woman. Its skin became soft and glimmering, and untamed fur melted into luxurious black hair. Her eyes shimmered with innocence, but beneath the soft curves of lips, jagged teeth glinted, eager to tear him apart. “I see I’ve struck a nerve.” Her voice, velvet smooth, oozed from her mouth. A rush of elegant fingers followed. They sunk themselves deep into the samurai, cutting into flesh as easily as any sword could. A sickening crack erupted as she wrenched violently, breaking bones. It sent the samurai crashing against the floor, with blood pouring once more, thick and warm against the cold rock.

“Do you think I don’t know about her?” The female boasted as she stood over him. “Ah yes, you screamed that name as I tore your head from your body. I’ve heard all the things you want to keep hidden down here, they trickle out as you lay dying. Let me remind you, the longer we stay here the more this place becomes both our prisons. But you stay because you choose to. Did your lover do this to you? Is she the one who condemned the both of us?” She said as she lifted a claw-like hand, intent on delivering a killing blow.

“She… ” The samurai’s vision blurred. He fought to hold onto his strength, but it had failed him. All he could do was whisper an incoherent protest.

Silence descended upon the cave as the two occupants stared at each other. The entity, for the first time, caught a glimpse of a broken man, not a mighty warrior but someone haunted by the ghosts of his past. “You’re not worth killing.” She snarled, lowering her hand out of pity, before melting back into the shadows. “You are my prison, samurai, but I am yours, too. From now on, I will become your greatest fear.” The samurai let his sword slip from his grasp as his breathing grew heavier. It clattered against the rocks, forced down by the weight of the ominous threat.

“Please… forgive me,” he whispered, but it quickly dissolved into the cave. Was it Akimiko he sought to absolve, or the man he had become? The blood covering his hands told him he hadn’t changed.

The demon, watching from the shadows, smiled to herself. “Someday,” it spoke softly, “one of us will be free.”

---

To be continued.