Night Blade: Dawn of Discovery

The Banish Blade swings downward with a strong force, hitting the ground with its tip. A fiery rupture uproars from where the sword's tip met the ground and accelerates outward, splitting into three ruptures, all heading towards the boulder. Fire spews upwards from where the ground has separated due to the ruptures. Seconds later, the ruptures reach the oncoming boulder. The ruptures crawl up the boulder's face and cause it to glow red.

  Frightened about the oncoming "fireball", Niko stands his position, but closes his eyes, expecting to be pummeled. Why did I trust this rusty old piece of crap? I'm about to die any second now, and I never got to say goodbye to-

  A small series of cracking leads to a large "BRRRAAACKKK!", then silence.

  Wondering if he was dead or not, Niko cracks open one of his eyes. Suddenly, a pebble hits him on the head. What the...?

  More pebbles hit his head, and the sound of heavy rain is generated around him. He opens his eyes, surprised by what he saw. He was still alive, which is always a good thing. Aside from that, the boulder was gone. Various small rocks rolled by his feet and others were falling from the sky, more than the ones that were previously there based on his last attempt to stop the boulder.

  "I did it?" Unsure about the most recent event, Niko doubted his action.

  "As I said, as long as you put your trust in me, I will not fail you." The voice from the Banish Blade said inside Niko's mind.

  Throwing up both arms, Niko exclaims, "I DID IT!" as he jumps up and down. His over-excitement is cut short by the presence of Tora up the path, walking towards Niko.

  "You have done well, young one." Tora says, but this time without the echo.

  Feeling caught off guard, Niko stops jumping and stands at attention, then bows. "Lord Tora, I did not know you were arriving."

  Tora extends a hand towards Niko, raising it upward. "Stand, young one. Face me with joy, as you have learned your first skill with the legendary sword, the Banish Blade."

  As Niko straightens up, he seems confused by Tora's statement. 'Legendary'? I didn't know that.

  Tora continues. "This sword has many powerful techniques, and this little test was to teach you the first one. There were many false answers to this test, but you overcame them and found the one that was not obvious: placing your trust in your sword."

  Niko, still looking at Tora, tries to look downward at his sword, thinking about the series of events up to now.

  Far behind Tora, Seyogi enters the rocky area from a hidden staircase and runs to the two men. "Lord Tora! Master Niko!"

  Niko looks behind Tora as Tora turns around, looking at the squirrel rapidly approaching their location. "Yes, Seyogi?" Tora asks.

  Seyogi runs to Tora's side and catches his breath. "The stabilization process is complete, Mi'lord."

  "Excellent timing." Tora turns to Niko. "Shall we go see about our newest recruit?" he asks as he walks towards the staircase. Seyogi runs behind him.

  Niko relaxes his posture and holds his sword in front of him. "Thank you." He sheaths it, then runs after Tora, making sure to avoid the gaps that his Hellfire attack created in the ground.

  As Tora, Seyogi, and Niko approach the top of the staircase to enter into the quaint bedroom, the light blue oval that was surrounding Chisai slowly fades away.

  Tora looks down at the long weapon that rested across Chisai's chest. "Oh my. That is quite unexpected."

  Seyogi jumps on the bed, sitting next to Chisai's arm. "I agree, Mi'lord. It seems that the jewel in her glove has a special connection to her soul."

  "You mean that's never happened before?" Niko asks Tora.

  "As she is the first synthetic demon to successfully make it to this point, I would believe anything is possible." Tora responds.

  Slightly disgusted by the thought of other humans that have perished in his quake, Niko bursts out towards Tora. "'Successfully make it to this point'? How many times have you done this trick?"

  Ignoring Niko's outburst, Tora raises his hands in front of himself, acting like he is trying make Chisai float out of the bed. "Arise, my new student, and discover your new abilities!"

  Slowly blinking her way awake, Chisai fully opens her eyes. As her vision comes into focus, she looks around to find out where she ended up. Where am I? This isn't the classroom anymore, or that weird colored room I was in before. Seeing a stranger in gold robes and an odd person with silver hair – and cat ears? - standing over her, defensive instincts kick in.

  Fully grasping the pole-like weapon laying across her chest, she quickly rolls forward and stands up on the bed. As she tries to back into a corner, she rotates the weapon's metallic end towards Tora. "Who are you? What do you want? Where am I?" the questions poured out one after the other.

  Tora lowers his hands in a "calm down" motion. "Please calm down, young one. You are in my home." He places a hand on his chest. "I am Lord Tora, a diviner of sorts." He reaches out his other hand towards Chisai. "You are in safe hands. You had an accident about a year ago, and your new demonic abilities have awakened. You needed to be stabilized before you were hurt."

  With the pole-like weapon slightly shaking, Chisai tries to process the information she was just presented. "How do I know I can trust you?"

  Tora pulls his hand back. "You do not have a basis to trust me, and my credentials are beyond your understanding, but I was the one that helped stabilize your new abilities."

  "Look – you don't have to trust him," Niko throws a thumb in Tora's direction.

  Chisai quickly rotates her weapon towards Niko.

  He continues, "but you can trust me. You collapsed at your school, and I brought you here. I won't hurt you." A slight smile followed his speech.

  At the sight of his smile, Chisai becomes more relaxed. The metallic end of her weapon starts lowering to the ground as she gets a better look at Niko's hair, his eyes, and his overall figure. "You! You're the one I saw in that weird colored room, aren't you?"

  After a long period of training, Niko's short term memory wasn't accessing information quick enough know what she was talking about. Confused by the question, he blinks a few times and opens his mouth, but doesn't say anything.

  "It is you!" Chisai points her weapon downward and jumps off the bed in Niko's direction, making Seyogi lose his balance. "Somehow, in that weird room with all the colors, I saw you, and you did exactly what you just did." The jewel on her hand starts to glow, which causes her weapon to glow as well with a bright light. The long stream of light bends inwards towards the jewel and is absorbed, then the jewel's light dims.

  Shocked by the mysterious location that her weapon went, Chisai looks down at her gloved hand. "What just happened? Where'd the thing go?" She asks as she points to the jewel.

  "If I may provide some insight?" Seyogi says from the bed as he stands back up and dusts himself off.

  Chisai turns to face Seyogi, then turns back to Niko. Throwing a thumb over her shoulder, she asks generically, "Did that squirrel just talk, or was it my imagination?"

  Seyogi clears his throat. "Allow me to introduce myself."

  Chisai turns back to Seyogi. "I am the ancient guardian, Seyogi. I assist Master Niko in his training to become a full demon." he says as he offers up a paw for Chisai to take.

  Having never shaken a squirrel's paw before, she wasn't sure how to properly do it. She slowly extends her full palm towards Seyogi. He grabs the tip of her index finger and moves it up and down a few times.

  Feeling slightly awkward, Chisai moves her hand to behind Seyogi, then scoops him up towards her chest. Slightly squeezing him as if he was a teddy bear, she gets a little excited and rotates herself left and right, with her hair tossing to each side. "Now this is how you meet a squirrel!" She catches a glimpse of her hair coming around one side. "Whoa! Who dyed my hair?" She reaches around trying to grab more of her hair, pulls out the hairband holding her ponytail in place, and swings her head left and right, fluffing out her hair. "I have orange hair! That's kinda neat!"

  Small squeaks come from
between her arm and her chest, but nobody hears them.

  "Since we're doing introductions, I'm Niko Sakuna." Niko says as he bows towards Chisai.

  Chisai turns around to face him. Her loose hair flows behind her. "Nice to meet ya, Niko! I'm Chisai. Chisai Konami."

  "It's a pleasure to....meet you....now, please let me down!" a squeaky voice says from Chisai's arm. Trying to grasp for air, Seyogi flails trying to get free from her tight grasp.

  Chisai looks down at Seyogi. "Oh, I'm sorry little squirrel." She loosely grabs him and gently places him on the bed.

  Taking a big breath in, then exhaling, he says "Thank you, Lady Chisai. I appreciate your cooperation" as he adjusts his blue vest. Making himself proper, he continues, "Now, as I was saying: it appears your weapon is connected to your soul, and is stored in the jewel you posses on your hand."

  Chisai lifts up her hand and looks at the jewel on her glove.

  "The weapon appears to resemble a naginata, but with a unique shaping to it. Apparently, something in your soul is reflecting a naginata as it comes into reality."

  Chisai starts tapping on the jewel, hoping to make it glow again. "Whoa. So how do I make it come out?"

  "I do apologize, Mi'lady. That is something I do not know." Seyogi says sadly as he looks at the floor.

  "I'm sure you'll figure it out somehow." Niko says.

  "What about my orange hair? Who dyed it?" Chisai says as she runs her fingers through the ends of her hair.

  "That, my dear, is a result of your demonic transformation." Tora says, stepping closer to Chisai.

  Chisai jumps a bit away from Tora. Caught up on the commotion between Niko and Seyogi, Chisai forgot that he was also in the room with her.

  Tora extends a hand towards his far right, then closes it. A hand-held mirror floats from a table on the other side of the room towards his hand. Tora grabs the mirror's handle and rotates it to face Chisai. "As you can see, your demonic form makes various changes to your appearance, and your instincts."

  Chisai looks into the mirror and sees an edition of herself she did not expect. Her brown hair had turned bright orange, her emerald green eyes turned violet, dark scratch-like marks appeared on either side of her cheeks. Turing left and right to get a better view of herself, she excitedly says, "I look cool!" Noticing something different about her mouth's reflection, she reaches up to touch her teeth, which have become much longer and sharper. "Whoa!"

  Focusing on her new lengthy teeth, she uses her right hand to try and push some hair behind her ear. The hair falls right back in place. She tries again, but unsuccessfully completes her task. Frustrated at how a simple task can not work, she pulls her hair back on the right side of her head. "AHHH! WHAT THE...? WHERE'D MY EARS GO?" she exclaims.

  Niko walks up behind her and touches her left orange ear on top of her head. "They're right here." he says with a slight smile, trying to contain his laughter.

  Without hesitation, Chisai folds back her new cat ears, then looks at Niko with an angry expression.

  "Since you are part cat demon, you have cat ears now." Niko says, still trying to hold in his laughter, as he reaches up and grabs his silver cat ears.

  Chisai looks up and takes a closer look at his ears, then gets close to the mirror to examine hers.

  "Okay, that's a little weird."

  "Don't worry – you get used to them." Niko says.

  Chisai reaches behind her and grabs her lower back, moving her hands up and down. "Hey! If I'm a cat demon, where's my tail?"

  Niko let out a hearty laugh. "You're only a half demon. Tails don't come with the package."

  "Aw, I wanted a tail!" Chisai says, trying to beg as she throws her arms down at her sides in a fit. She then reaches up and catches her orange hair again, running her hands through it. "So....can I turn back into a human? Can I get my brown hair back?" She says as she reaches up to flick her cat ears.

  "The only way I know of is to sleep. Once your mind becomes unconscious, the demon abilities are suppressed until you call them out again." Niko says.

  Chisai faces Niko. "How do I do that? Do I call out 'demon abilities' or something like that?" she asks as she puts her arms above her, trying to act out a scene from a movie.

  Seyogi scurries up Tora's robe and sits on his shoulder. "You call the abilities subconsciously, hence the reason your human form can suppress the demon abilities once you are asleep. Do not worry – the time will come when you will be freely available to perform the action in question."

  "Yeah, what he said." Niko quickly adds to Seyogi's explanation.

  Tora moves the mirror away and extends his hand to his right again. The mirror floats away and lands on the far table where it came from. "Now that I have stabilized your abilities, Lady Chisai," he turns to Niko, "and given you the necessary tasks required for you to learn your first attack with your new sword, I request a trade of sorts."

  "Whoa. What's this about?" Niko asks as he is taken back.

  "I performed an act of divine power for each of you. In return, you must do something for me."

  "What's he talking about, Niko?" Chisai asks as she turns to Niko for support.

  "The task I ask is not large. All you must do is find an item and bring it to me. That is all."

  Niko and Chisai look at each other, unsure about whether to accept this task or not. Niko speaks up, "What if we don't do the task?"

  "I cannot force you to complete the task I require, however keep in mind that my power is older than time itself. I have the ability to make anything happen."

  Niko relaxes a bit thinking that Tora's statement is more of an empty threat than a demand.

  Tora steps closer and leans in, getting within inches of Niko's face, then quickly changes to an expression that could terrify the bravest of warriors. He reiterates in a deeper, raspy voice, "Anything." He reaches up and touches Niko's forehead with his index finger.

  The longer Tora's finger touches Niko's forehead, Niko's eyes widen more and more, portraying an expression of something terrifying.

  Tora removes his finger and moves backwards, giving space between him and Niko.

  Processing everything that he just experienced, Niko stutters, "O-o-o-o-okaaaayyyy. We'll get the thing you asked for."

  Putting her hair back into a ponytail, Chisai asks, "What's this 'item' we have to find?"

  "Lady Chisai, I am glad you asked." Tora says in his normal voice. He puts his hands in front of him, separating and lowering them, then bringing them back together to form a circle. A fine, white line appears on the path he just made. In the middle of the circle, a star burst appears and spreads outwards towards the white lines. An image appears extremely blurry.

  As the image quickly focuses, Tora continues, "This is the item I request." A large gold coin with ancient writing on it appears in the middle of the circle, then rotates around showing the gold chain it is attached to, and the red pearl-like jewel in the middle. "This is the 'Medallion of Tsukaneru'. This extremely powerful item was in my private collection until recently."

  Niko gets closer to inspect the glowing image.

  "A thief broke into my collection and stole this item. I require it back."

  Niko stands up. "A thief broke into your collection? I thought your power was basically limitless."

  Tora looks Niko straight in the eyes. "My power does have its limits. The thief who stole my medallion was using a unique magic that I cannot sense. I am unsure about the intentions of this thief, or the sources he uses for magic, but he must not posses the medallion."

  "So...we just have to find this necklace and get it back to you? Sounds easy enough." Chisai says as she fluffs her ponytail back.

  "I hope it is so, Lady Chisai." Tora says as he raises a hand, making the medallion image and white circle disappear. "As this task does require some special talent, we will begin your training in the morning."

  Niko looks down at his watch. "It's already 3am! Sunrise happens in the next few hours."

&n
bsp; "Yes, and your training will begin." Tora raises his left hand up in front of Niko and Chisai, acting like he is reaching out to touch them, then swings his hand inward.

  A bright, white light makes Niko and Chisai blink. When they open their eyes, they appear back at Tora's front door, facing Niko's car.

  "I will call upon you when the time is right. Until then, sleep tight, young ones." Tora's voice says from all around them.

  "That was....weird." Chisai says as she looks around, taking in the view of the moon's reflection against the lake and the gold-leaf coating on the house behind her.

  Walking towards his car, Niko responds. "In all of the years that I've known him, he always seems to be a bit cryptic, but never asking for something like this. He must have a really good reason to ask us to take on something this big." He reaches down and grabs the passenger door handle, opening the door for Chisai.

  Chisai walks towards the car. "Do we have another choice?" She asks as she sits in the passenger seat.

  "At this point, I don't think so. We're in this for the long run." He says as he closes the door and heads around the car. Cringing at all of the negative thoughts that Tora had placed in his mind earlier, Niko didn't want to think of another option.

  Opening the driver side door, he places his sword in the back seat and sits in the front. Moments after he presses the start button to revive his car, he turns the steering wheel and drives away from Tora's house.

  "Mi'lord, are you sure these two are up to the task?" Seyogi asks as he looks up at Tora. "Although Master Niko is very experienced in the demonic arts, Lady Chisai only just received her new abilities."

  Standing in front of the front door, watching Niko's car disappear in the distance, Tora responds. "As much as I can hope, they are the right ones for this particular task."

  Sighing, Seyogi adds, "I was afraid you would say that."

  Walking back into the house, Tora calls out. "Come, Seyogi. We must prepare for tomorrow. I have a feeling that our trespasser is ready to leave."

  "Yes, Mi'lord." Seyogi says as he quickly scurries behind Tora.

  Chapter 4