8/18/14

Pharast 10th, 656 AR

It’s currently very late, probably just after midnight. Aiko decided to stay up with me on watch and play her new ocarina. I badly wish to believe it is helping, but...I can honestly say I do feel a little more like myself, like I was before I fell in the river, when she is playing it.
 
 
We found the witch’s (Hedekai’s) cabin near dusk. Not sure how much of it was simple luck or Aiko’s intuition and skill that lead us here, but I won’t question it for sure. The place is creepy, though. It looked to be built in an old stone ruins of some sort, leading to the base of the place being stone and including a partial stone tower to one side. The rest was wood, shaped like a log cabin built onto the existing structure. All around it, tiny fetishes and shrunken heads hung. Even more unsettling than those, though, was that the entire place was eerily silent and still. No animal calls or anything like that.
 
 
As we approached the entrance, the door was partly ajar. Two huge, black wolf-like creatures emerged, their lower jaws splitting uncannily like those inflicted with the nature of the Wrathspawn. The battle was relatively quick and without significant injury I’m happy to say. Keisuke informed us after he believed them to be transformed worgs.
 
 
After that, we began to search the place, turning up some useful alchemical reagents that Keisuke was able to identify fairly easily. We also found the door to the upper floor had been barricaded and held by some sort of magic. When I rapped on the door, we heard familiar growls and wet snarls coming from inside. No sign of the witch, though.
 
 
We elected to try break down the door and find out what had been trapped inside and put it down. We wouldn’t be safe to rest here with it growling and hitting the door all night. Weapon strikes to the door proved ineffective, but I managed to bash it down with one good push. Beyond it was another massive, monstrous beast, even larger than the other two we had seen previously. Behind it was a terrified looking woman. She pleaded for us to kill them and put them out of their misery, before we noticed their lower jaws splitting. They’d been infected as well.
 
 
I can’t say this battle went well. While I was able to close with the witch before the beast could react, between the two of them with spell and fang it proved difficult and nearly a deadly encounter. By the end of the fight, Sis and the Priest were both laying on the floor, left with almost mortal wounds. We were able to get them back up with some healing ale that Keisuke had found in the lab below. We found her journal which gave a few hints to what was going on, though the wording was...confusing at best. I’ll transcribe it tomorrow though, Sis is starting to fall asleep on my shoulder and my own fatigue is getting the better of me.

*This entry continues on the next page*

So her journal is fairly damaged, but these are the entries I was able to read and transcribe:  
  • “...even in the days of my youth, when the animals had yet to become accustomed to the presence of my Gong Tan, they never displayed such mannerisms… usually cautious, they would eye my cabin and flee at my approach to learn of this new intruder… now their behavior is reckless, almost desperate, to escape an even greater hunter that lurks in the forest… “ 
  • “...as though they were feasted upon! How such a thing is possible, I do not know… but I suspect that there may be a much more dangerous predator on the outskirts of my home… curses! I must find another way to reach the old priest and perhaps aid those superstitious fools in the town below…”
  • “...never imagined such a day… that Gouliang and his pack would retreat from the hills and seek a truce to the hostility that has existed between his kind and those of Saiya Zei! Though somehow I doubt that his treaty will be enough… now they are as much a prisoner as I… “
  • “...armored men standing unmolested amongst the wild ones! At first I thought the senses of Gouliang and his ilk had been deceived… but then I saw! Clanmen, they wore no banners though they were unmistakable! And in their midst… some strange man-spider of metal and sulphur… “
  • “... feast … feast … feast … feast … feast … feast …” <This continued for nearly a full page, I believe she was losing her mind to the Wrath at this point and the remainder was undecipherable>


The bodies of large wolf-like creatures and the witch were buried in the ‘garden’ she had behind her cabin. There was already numerous grave plots there already with some of the existing ones large enough to hold the massive beasts while further on were ones the size of regular men. We also found a strange totem of some sort watching over the graves. Keisuke seemed to believe it held some sort of necromantic magic, though I had a hard time shaking the feeling it was simply watching over the dead...perhaps as some sort of guardian. I can say it sent shivers down my spine though, whatever its purpose was.

 
 
We’re currently making our way back toward the tower. One of the items we discovered in the tower was a small figure of a swan-like boat that our more magically minded members have assured me will grow to a size to support us across the polluted waters at the tower. For all of our sake, I am truly hoping so.
 
 
*The next entry shows some spots that have turned slightly yellow, as if it got a bit wet*
Well, the swan-looking boat worked. It grew to a very large size indeed and was able to ferry everyone across without having to get anywhere near the wate. We’re currently sitting in front of the tower, checking supplies and ensuring we’re ready before we enter.
 
 
I really needed a moment to clear my head anyway. Something...odd happened.
 
 
The trip wasn’t very pleasant for me. There was...something in my mind, a compulsion of sorts to enter the sludge below again as insane as that is. More insane is the fact I swear I felt Grandfather’s hand on my shoulder, shaking me from the thoughts as I stared down at the passing waves. I felt like I was but a child again, the feeling of nostalgia was almost overwhelming.
 
 
I’ve kept it quiet from the others, even Sis. The last thing they need ts to worry about me hallucinating...you know, in addition to losing my mind. Anyway, looks like everyone is ready and we might as well hurry. Perhaps there will be something to help my condition in the tower after all!
 
 
*The next page once again shows signs of damage and the occasional splatter of blood*
 
 
So there is good news and bad news…
 
 
Good news: We found the priest and we’re all alive (barely).
Bad news: Everything else.
 
 
The former priest was completely insane (I’m now allowed to say that as it seems I might be well on my way there myself). Looks like he used to worship Daikitsu, though for how long he was in the state we found him...we have no idea. I will say he cut an imposing figure, his beard sorted and braided into nine, long ‘tails’ with brilliant crimson robes and orbs of blue fire circling his head.
 
 
He almost fooled Baoji even. Something just felt off to me though, so I held him back. Many of the statues and banners in the tower of Daikitsu were damaged...even desecrated. He revealed his true self soon enough, one also inflicted with the wrath affliction...though he appeared to have kept his mind coherent unlike the beasts we see before. I have no idea how and he offered us no answers on this before he attacked so it may be a mystery for a long time I fear.
 
 
The battle was a fierce one with him summoning bursts of necrosis that ate away at our very flesh. It did not affect me as badly, whether it was the ancestors protecting me or the new affliction running through my blood I know not. His deadly claws and ferocious bite were more than I could handle even so. Half the party fell during the fight, though we did manage to win at least. It’s a little sad I’m getting a bit more nonchalant about coming so close to death. I guess any fight you can eventually walk away from is a victory.
 
 
Even now Aiko is still bandaging my side and removing the blackened and dead flesh with her magic that he caused. Keisuke found a hidden passage leading into a dungeon below the tower we’re going to check out soon as everyone is capable and ready to go. I wonder what we’ll find below?
 
 
...a final note that needs to be said. During the battle I found myself letting the wrath drum through my veins, strengthen my muscles, give me power. I fought more viciously...more powerfully...than I ever have before I fell to the man. The cost though, I fear it may catch up with me soon, though. Even now it waits within, louder than it was before and waiting to pounce on any moment of weakness I may have. Shizuru, please help me.
 
 
*Parts of the writing on the next page are uneven with blobs of ink, seeming to indicate the hand that wrote it was most certainly trembling*
 
 
Another battle found us rather quickly once we descended the long steps. They curled and lead us deep, deep into the ground. When the chamber eventually opened there was around a dozen hobgoblins waiting for us. Negotiations broke down pretty swiftly...seeing as neither of us could understand each other and they apparently wanted us dead.
 
 
I...changed during the fight. Not the minor changes I had been experiencing until now. Seething bloodlust clouded my vision. My hands mutated, bones cracking, into long and sharp claws. My mouth erupted with needle-like fangs and I felt my lower jaw split into two. 
 
 
It was a slaughter.
 
 
With almost every swing of the katana I stole a life from one of them. As their hot blood coated my blade and hands I felt the wrath within urging me forward to maim and kill more and more...and I almost lost myself to it. The last thing I really recall is the hobgoblin leader, some sort of grey-skinned shaman brute, charging toward me. I threw his attack aside like it was that of a child and hacked him down like a lamb to the slaughter. It felt...good and I know it shouldn’t, that I have to fight it.
 
 
It was Aiko playing the ocarina that pulled me back from the brink and reversed many of the transformations that had come over me. It was...Grandfather’s song and it really felt like it sent me back to when he was lecturing me on how to be the best swordsman in the world, Aiko little more than a child sleeping all curled up. Better days…
 
 
As I shook my head, where a dozen hobgoblins had stood before, only one remained in front of me with an expression of pure terror and horror twisting its already ugly features. Not that I can blame it once I realized what had happened to me, how I looked and how easily I had tore through his companions. I killed the last one, though it was with precise breathing and a sense of harmony like just like Grandfather had instructed. I can’t afford to lose myself in bloodlust...I can’t...Aiko’s still depending on me.
 
 
I shudder when I remember their faces. I think they all realized how close I was to going over the edge. Baoji’s voice when he called out to me was a slap to the face. While there was concern in it...there was also dread and fear. Fear...that he would likely have to put me out of my misery I think.
 
 
As we walk Aiko continues to remind me of the past and of the times with Grandfather. She’s trying to quiet the rage within me and help me. I appreciate it a lot...but I fear each time a battle is joined I slip a little closer to being little more than a monster. I have to keep trying, but I’m beginning to dread each fight and wonder whether I’ll make it out with my mind intact.
 
 
In any case, everyone else is ready and recovered as they can be. Time to move on.
 
 
*The next entry’s page is in rough shape, with many scratched out sections and crumpled looking with writing that grows rougher and rougher as it continues*
 
 
Mostly calmed down after our last battle. Writing seems to help some, though not as much when thinking of the battles. Each transformation stains my gaze with crimson and is hazy in my memories...almost like they aren’t my own. It’s very unsettling. Anyway, after the hobgoblins we moved on...
 
 
The next section of hallway was filled with numerous traps. We stumbled blindly into the first and got hit with a shower of spinning razor blades that bit deeper than I’d like to admit. Mere seconds later, before we even had a chance to recover we heard the clicking of slots on the walls opening and arrows being shot in our direction. Luckily the aim on the arrows weren’t as sharp as the hobgoblins we saw prior else we might have been in some trouble. Baoji and myself were able to block the arrows with shield and sword while Aiko handled the pressure plates that dropped the spinning razor blades.
 
 
By the time we stumbled into the next chamber we were tired, but not in as bad of shape as we could have been. Which ended up lucky for us. A man was waiting for us, his face obscured in a smooth white mask. It was his sword though that drew the most attention, a truly massive blade with three claw-like protrusions on the end and two handles on the hilt which let him reverse its direction with shocking speed.
 
 
There was a minimal amount of discussion that took place with him, evidently he was here to guard the passage or something for his ‘Masters’, whoever they are...he didn’t give much detail on them at all. Just that they wished to see Seiya Zei and its leader taken down. He did introduce himself and show a modicum of honor I’ll add, a man known as Zhen Bohai.
 
 
What was less honorable was animating four suits of phantom mail to attack us while he prepared himself for combat. I can say very easily spells are not my strong suite, even less so when I’m focused in combat against four suits of animated armor, but even I was getting a bad feeling. As for the suits of armor, we dispatched them quite quickly and happily for me, without succumbing to rage within me. Though I can’t deny as each of them clattered to the floor in a pile of metal, I did feel the wrath pulsing with hunger and eagerness.
 
 
As I finished shattering the last suit of armor into pieces, Baoji bravely rushed forward to meet the Zhen at the bottom of the stairs he was on. The rest of us looked on in despair as the man with the massive blade picked up momentum running down the stairs and cleaved Baoji down in a single hit. With Keisuke unable to face him so close and there being no chance I’d let him touch Aiko I was next.
 
 
I found myself closing the distance even as Baoji’s body slammed to the floor and I used the momentum to thrust my katana through his armor and deep into his chest. One of his spells I could feel dulled the damage it did, but even then...I could tell it hurt him badly. I was in control of my breathing, focusing on the words Grandfather had said to me so many years ago. Words that Aiko had helped me remember with the song she played. Those of achieving balance, and making the weapon a part of you. Also that, ‘only when you no longer seek and try to be the best, can you truly become it’. I’m still puzzling over that last part, whether it holds more truth than I’m realizing or it is just the ramblings of an old man too deep in his sake...it really could go either way haha...
 
 
So it was that we faced each other, blade against blade, with Aiko using her magic to keep myself up and Baoji slipping in and out of consciousness throughout the fight while Keisuke unloaded shots into the man. His ability to cast spells and wield that blade were terrifying to say the least, sometimes closing wounds fast as we made them. With each thrust, parry, and riposte that landed, though, I felt the wrath awakening again...giving me a bit of its power at a time with dreadful subtlety. Before I even seemed to realize it, Grandfather’s teachings were out of mind once again and I was slamming my blade at him with unbridled fury, my twisted...horrid hand raking claws against his armor, and my twisted split mouth full of fangs looking for purchase on his neck.
 
 
To everyone's surprise, even my own, one of his incredibly powerful blows struck me completely on the shoulder...and I did not fall. One of the same caliber that brought down Baoji completely and I remained standing after, that terrible fury keeping my body going beyond its regular endurance. I got another light hit on him before that terrible weapon struck forth again, Aiko’s magic repairing a lot of the damage but not enough. He had blood streaming down his sides, scarcely in much better shape than I was….so close.
 
 
I wasn’t out for long, Aiko sent forth her magic again. The nearness of death sent the wrath within into overdrive. It didn’t want to die any more than I. As I rose once more in front of him, his terrible blade descended again. This time though, it felt almost in slow motion. It sounds...ludicrous but I simply reached out and pushed it to the side while it was in full descent. His eyes went wide, his form completely off and open and I skewered him with the katana. He was at death’s door and he knew it …
 
 
… and he surrendered. At the time I faltered, the wrath wanting nothing more than to end him. I came so close to giving in, even now my hands tremble at the memory, at how strong the compulsion was. I suppose I should add words don’t do this justice really, but I had to fight with every fiber of my being not to rip him apart. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. If I had given in...I can’t shake the feeling I would have been lost to the wrath at that moment.
 
 
The fact is I didn’t and I’m relieved of that. We got some information out of him but I have to say it was a bit hazy to me, I was still fighting the compulsion and continuing a battle within myself for control. I do recall he is helping someone named Lord Skaetus at the behest of his masters. Lord Skaetus is apparently very powerful and likely the one that is behind the whole thing. He...might have a way to fix me, though I honestly hold much fear there is none. Lord Skaetus is who we have to seek next it seems in any case as he is growing this army (turning the citizens of Seiya Zei into the monstrous sinspawn) to help the Lion Emperor, Kogash Renshu, overthrow Lady Pandora and the country itself. We have to do whatever we can to stop him, that much is fact. We did let Zhen Bohai go after all was said and done. We needed his knowledge, but I wonder if the cost of letting him live for it is one we will eventually come to regret. I did make him vow to never bring harm to Aiko, so that’s a small consolation if nothing else.
 
 
I don’t know how many more battles I can handle at this rate. Every combat fans the flames within me, pushing me a little closer to the brink and when I go over...I know there won’t be any coming back. Aiko’s stories and songs are helping for now, reversing a lot of the changes...but each time they are helping less and less.
 
 
We’ll be seeking rest soon, everyone is exhausted after that last fight. Sister did seem to see something though so we’re looking a little further down the chamber. Tonight I’ll be pulling Keisuke aside though and asking him to promise to end my life and protect Aiko if I become too far gone. The priest I believe will already do so, but I don’t know if he alone would be able to stop me and I strongly doubt Aiko would have the heart to do it. While I hope my willpower is enough to stave it off, I worry it will not be and I need to take actions to prevent the worst case scenario if I can. I’m sorry Aiko, but this might be the last thing I can do to protect you.
 
*The next page is covered in tiny orange and black spots, almost reminiscent of tiny spores*
 
We’ve finally stopped for some rest, camped out in a tiny side passage from the large chamber we found earlier. The floor here is covered in thick, spongy moss that is orange and black like the sludge we saw in the river earlier. More importantly this is definitely where the sin creatures rest during the day. They sleep, suspended in these long glass tubes in some sort of vile liquid. We saw when they left earlier, commanded by a voice in their minds that I heard too. There was a man’s voice, loud and commanding in my mind when the creatures left the chamber. Another sign I am slowly giving in and changing.
 
 
In any case, when the man’s voice began the tubes all lifted, the liquid within spilling out and be absorbed by the moss in the chamber. The creatures around us paid us no heed. Perhaps outside of the commands they were being given, they could or would not react to us? It is strange, but I have no better theory on it. I think it is more likely he didn’t give them permission to attack us so like the others staying in these chambers they just assume we are allies as well.
 
 
My turn to rest approaches and I definitely need it. I tried meditating a little earlier to calm my mind and slow the change, but I don’t feel like it had any effect on me. The priest also applied some leeches to me, hoping draining some of the blood would help like it did for Chiyo. Hopefully, a good nights rest will help as well.

No comments:

Post a Comment