Wandering Sorrows

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Akira110
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#46 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 45

Yoshiro couldn't sleep, he climbed out of bed and saw Julius there still asleep and noticed Alpha leaning against the wall. He put on his pants and buckled his belt when Alpha stirred slightly. Yoshiro turned around and put a finger to his lips, "I'm going to go outside in the courtyard." Yoshiro grabbed the communicator from his helmet and walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind him. He quietly, yet swiftly walked through the hallways of the manor, so as not to wake anyone up. He reached the back door and as he went to open it, he felt a hand on his shoulder. This startled him and he jumped, turning around quickly and getting ready to punch the person in the face. However, when he saw who it was, he lowered his hand, "How'd you get here?" Lilah looked at him, "You really think I can't track you down?"

Yoshiro grumbled and opened the door, motioning towards the courtyard. Lilah nodded and walked out and Yoshiro did the same, closing the door behind him, "Why are you here?" Lilah looked away, "I was hired to be here." Yoshiro couldn't think of any contracts that she'd have. Lilah turned to look at him, slyly, "You forgot, haven't you. You hired me all of those centuries ago to be your bodyguard, then you up and just leave without telling me where you were going. Do you realize how hard it was to access your old spy network?" Yoshiro nodded, he knew exactly how easy it was for her to access his old spy network as she more or less was the head of it. Lilah folded her arms, "Why did you do it?" Yoshiro turned towards the city, "Simple, I sometimes need to find the answers I seek on my own, Lilah."

Lilah scoffed, "You really think that you can pull the wool over my eyes with that trick? I know for a fact that Julius and your grandparents are here with you, Yoshiro. You didn't travel the world on your own." Yoshiro looked to her, "I trusted you to keep the homefront stable. I knew that as long as you were there, no one would try anything stupid. You're here now and that leaves the question of who is protecting the orphanage." Lilah narrowed her eyes, "Six assassins and your father." Yoshiro nodded, "Good, my father is alone. I want to talk to him." Lilah nodded slightly, "You're not leaving here without me, you know." Yoshiro held up the communicator he normally had in his helmet, "Going to use this to talk to him." Lilah shook her head, "That's not what I mean." Yoshiro nodded and activated the communicator.

He cycled through the frequencies until he eventually found his father's frequency. He turned it on and placed the earpiece in his ear, moving the microphone close to his mouth. Akira's voice spoke up, "Hello?" Yoshiro closed his eyes, "Father." Akira's voice sounded somber, "You wouldn't use that tone of voice unless something was really bothering you. Is this about Galina?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Do you know anything about the Menschilche bioweapon project Tovenaar?" Akira's voice sounded somewhat confused, "I can't say that I know anything about any Tovenaar, where did you hear about that?" Yoshiro looked up at the moon, "The Manchot told me about it." Akira gasped on the other side, "Yoshiro, get out of Manchot territory now!" Yoshiro nodded, "A few days late to tell me that one, Father. I already left." Akira breathed a sigh of relief, "The Manchot are still loyal to the Menschilche."

Yoshiro nodded slightly, "So they know that I'm the son of a bioweapon." Akira lowered his tone, "That is not something that you should speak of so lightly, most people would assume that would make you a bioweapon when you're not. Do you realize that the Menschilche bioweapons are still hated throughout all of Verbana. Why do you think that I never tell anyone who I really am?" Yoshiro nodded slightly, "So that means that I'm going to have to be a bit more careful, especially since the Manchot could be tracking me d..." Yoshiro pointed to a shadow and Lilah slipped into the shadows. Yoshiro continued, "Scratch the could be. I'm going to let you go for right now." Yoshiro cut off the communicator, before Akira could respond. There was a muffled sound and Lilah dragged an unconscious body with her. Yoshiro looked down to see that it wasn't a Manchot, "Lilah, I think we got the wrong person."

Lilah checked the person, "Nothing that they'd use as a spy." Yoshiro shook his head and knelt down to the person, waking them up, "Sorry about that, jumped the gun a bit when I heard that I could have been followed from the south pole." The Elf shook his head, "So you thought about getting her to jump an Elf, rather than whatever lives down there." Yoshiro shrugged, "I apologize, all I saw was a shadow, I couldn't make out what it belong to." Yoshiro looked at Lilah, "Give me an emerald." Lilah looked at him, "What for, this was your call?" Yoshiro closed his eyes, "Lilah, I will pay you back, but right now, I have no Verbanan money." Lilah shook her head and gave an emerald directly to the man, "I apologize for the confusion, here's something for the trouble that we caused you."

The man nodded and stood up, "I'll let this go this time, but if it happens again, I will have to report such behavior to the authorities." Yoshiro nodded slightly, understand that it was the duty of a civilian to do so, "Alright then, you have a good night." As the man left, Yoshiro turned on his communicator and Akira spoke up, "Let me guess, you saw the shadow of an innocent person and attacked them, only to find out that they weren't a Manchot at all." Yoshiro blinked, "How do you know that?" Akira laughed on the other side, "It's exactly what I did when I was younger. The Manchot don't have a spy network, it's one of the many things I learned after the liberation of our world. They used the old Menschilche network, but that's now defunct."

Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Father, I don't know how long I'm going to be away, but, I'd like to talk to my wife now. I'm going to switch to her frequency." Akira's voice spoke up, "Alright, take care, my son. Remember that I love you." Yoshiro smiled softly, "I love you too, Father." Yoshiro switched the frequency on his communicator to that of his wife's. He waited for her to speak up, "Hello?" Yoshiro sat down on the grass, "Hello, Elbereth." Elbereth spoke up, somewhat shocked, "Yoshiro, you left without saying a word to me. If it weren't for Julius coming back and telling me what you were doing, I'd have been very worried about you." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "I do not have the best track record when making decisions when extremely emotional." Elbereth sounded slightly annoyed, "So where are you right now?" Yoshiro looked around, "Meeting an old friend of mine from the Raptors."

Elbereth's voice didn't change in tone, "Enaistiel, correct?" Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah, being broke, I figured she'd give me some place to sleep for the night." Elbereth's voice changed to shocked, "How are you broke?" Yoshiro chuckled nervously, "About that, I sort of had to build a body for that AI that I was working on." Elbereth sighed sadly on the other side, "You and your robotics, at least it keeps you busy during your expeditions." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Yeah, that and I believe that robots will be integral to the ability to explore worlds that people like you and me would never be able to step foot on without dying." Elbereth chuckled, "So this is your redemption?" Yoshiro shook his head, "I'm so steeped in blood that my reincarnation will have blood on their hands." Elbereth's voice had a hint of sadness, "Don't say that, Yoshiro. You are a good person at heart."

Yoshiro nodded, he couldn't argue that he was a good person at heart, but he knew that he found himself quick to violence and even quicker to ending a life. Yoshiro closed his eyes, "I'm going to go now, I love you, Elbereth." Elbereth spoke up, "I love you too, Yoshiro." Yoshiro turned off the communicator and laid down in the grass, Lilah sitting next to him. He found it to be a rather sad fact that at this point in his life, he had done so much fighting and killing that both of them were easier than breathing to him. He didn't like it, but he was finally starting to accept the fact that until he died, that wouldn't change. Even so, he knew that he could use the very thing he hated to protect people that couldn't protect themselves. He started to drift off as he kept in thought, "Good night, Lilah." Lilah nodded, "Good night, Yoshiro."
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#47 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 46

As the sun rose over the horizon, Yoshiro awoke from his slumber. He yawned slightly and looked at Lilah next to him, curled up in a ball. He smiled slightly at this and stood up quietly, looking at the horizon. He stretched as he turned towards the door and quietly walked towards it, not wanting to disturb her. However, he heard her speak up, "Yoshiro, do you honestly think that you can sneak away from me?" He turned around to look at her, "Yeah, Lilah, I didn't want to disturb you, I was just going to grab a cup of coffee." She stood up with a smirk, "Do you honestly expect me to believe that?" He chuckled, "Considering it's the truth and you'd track me down if I were to try to escape anyhow." She nodded slyly, "You should've known that by now." He laughed as he walked into the house and walked over to the kitchen.

He saw many servants whipping up a feast and he wondered how late he had slept. As a former soldier, he was capable of sleeping when and wherever, but he had never seen servants up this early. He weaved between them and grabbed a mug out of the cupboard when one slapped his hand with a ruler, "No, you do not grab things without permission." Yoshiro looked at the elderly Elf and rubbed his hand, "You honestly think that you can stop me from getting a cup of coffee?" The elderly female Elf looked at him with a smirk, "I've been around since before your grandmother was born, kid." Yoshiro shook his head, "I highly doubt that, you're about what? Four thousand years old?" The Elf nodded, "It is rude to ask a lady her age, but I'm over four thousand."

Yoshiro smirked, "My grandmother's a deity, my dear elder." The Elf blinked, "That woman in there is the Amaterasu!?" Yoshiro nodded, "In the flesh, no less." The woman looked at him, "That doesn't excuse your rude behavior." Yoshiro smirked slightly, "I prefer to call it brash." The woman glared at him, "You are a rude Kitsune who needs to be taught some manners." Yoshiro chuckled, "That's what my grandmother and wife have been telling me. But that's just who I am, you know." The Elf swung the ruler at his face and Yoshiro caught it in his hand, "Ma'am, with all due respect, I've been attacked by people who are faster and stronger than you are and most of them were carrying lethal weapons." The Elf smirked and kicked at Yoshiro's head. Yoshiro casually blocked her leg with his arm, "Your tells are obvious, ma'am. I'm just here for a cup of coffee, not a fight."

A younger servant spoke up, "Um, Yoshiro, your coffee is ready." Yoshiro turned his head to look at her, "Thank you." Yoshiro turned to see a fist headed his way, knowing that he didn't have enough time to block it, he instead chose to roll with the punch, lessening the impact of the punch. He let go of the ruler and grabbed the hand that hit him in the face, "Ma'am, I'd rather not break any bones in your body. However, if I must, I will not hesitate to do so." The Elf winced as Yoshiro twisted the hand as he removed it from his face, "Let go of me, you unruly child." Yoshiro laughed, "I'm middle aged, ma'am. I'm no child." Yoshiro let go of her and turned to his cup of coffee, it was still hot. Yoshiro picked up the cup, "I apologize for being brash, but like I said, all I wanted was some coffee."

Yoshiro took a sip of the coffee, he tasted sugar in it. He didn't quite like sugar in his coffee, so he placed it down, "Excuse me, ma'am." The servant girl that served him his coffee walked over to him, "How much sugar did you put into this?" The servant gulped slightly, "A spoonful, Count." Yoshiro was more displeased with being called a count than with the sugar, but the poor woman couldn't tell the difference. She recoiled slightly, "Please do not punish me!" Yoshiro could recognize the look in her eyes, "You're a former slave, aren't you?" The servant nodded slightly, "Y-yes, sir!" Yoshiro walked over to her and she withdrew, so Yoshiro went back to his coffee, "I would like you to follow me." The servant gulped and nodded, as she followed Yoshiro into another room, where they could be alone.

Yoshiro sipped at his coffee, "Please, have a seat." The servant girl sat down and Yoshiro remained standing. Yoshiro placed his coffee before her, "You brew some good coffee, but the only mistake you made is not asking the person if they like their coffee sweetened." The woman winced as Yoshiro withdrew his hand. Yoshiro however placed his hands at the small of his back, "Do not worry, I'm not going to hurt you." The woman looked up at him, "You're not?" Yoshiro shook his head, "The only reason why I reacted that way with that other servant is because she struck me first. I had no intentions of seriously hurting her, but I wouldn't hesitate if she continued to show aggression towards me." The servant girl looked down, "But you are a Count, nobles are inherently superior to servants like us." Yoshiro laughed at that sentiment.

The servant girl looked up at him, "Don't laugh, it's how society works here." Yoshiro moved his hands from behind his back and she recoiled. Yoshiro recognized this, "You've been abused in your past. You were rescued by Enaistiel from your previous master, is that correct." The servant girl nodded slightly and fearfully. Yoshiro smiled, "Perhaps if you learned my name, it would provide you with a little bit of comfort at the very least." The servant looked at him, "Ena Famys." Yoshiro bowed respectfully, "Yoshiro Miyamae." Ena's eyes went wide, "I heard about you! You hate being called a count, you hated being called Lord as well!" Yoshiro rose, "Yes, and I will not fault you for doing so when you didn't know." Ena bowed slightly, "I apologize, sir." Yoshiro placed his hand on her shoulder, "Relax, I'm no higher than you in class." Ena blinked, she didn't believe this.

Yoshiro smiled, "I have servants at my place and many of them are like you. Though I'm less merciful than Enaistiel is when it comes to dealing with their abusive masters. I hate slavers and slave owners, I always have. They abuse people and treat them as property to be destroyed when they so desire." Ena nodded slightly, but Yoshiro felt a sense of irony as his role in the military was to be a glorified assassin. He himself chose if and when someone died. Yoshiro sipped at his coffee, "Ena, I understand what it's like to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." Ena looked up at him, "Y-you do?" Yoshiro nodded, "I'm ex-military and ex-mercenary. I've seen so many things in my life. People died around me all the time, I've killed many others. Even to this day, that stays with me. I have nightmares sometimes."

Ena nodded slightly, "So you do understand." Yoshiro placed the cup on the table, "Enaistiel is one of the kindest people that I knew back in the Raptors. She was very supportive of everyone and whenever she came back from the base, she would always bring thousands of these little pastries from here. I couldn't get enough of them. She'll help you get over your traumatic past, believe me, I know she will. She helped Claire and myself get over our trauma." Ena smiled softly, "Thank you, Mister Miyamae." Yoshiro shook his head, "Yoshiro will do fine." Ena nodded, "Thank you, Yoshiro." Yoshiro's ears twitched as he heard sounds from upstairs, "Looks like the others are waking up, Ena. You go back to your duties, alright, don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Ena got up to leave, but Yoshiro spoke up again, "By the way, for reference, I like my coffee black."

Ena nodded and hurried back to the kitchen as Enaistiel walked down the stairs, looking groggy. Yoshiro laughed, "I haven't seen you like this since you first joined the Raptors. I was so unsure of you joining us at first, but you managed to prove yourself." Enaistiel chuckled slightly, "Still cracking jokes, remember that I am a duchess, Count Yoshiro." Yoshiro sarcastically bowed, "My apologies, Duchess Enaistiel." The two of them smiled at each other and started laughing and Enaistiel spoke, "Neither of us were befitting of the titles of nobility. We look and feel so out of place here." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "I know, it's so awkward for the both of us." Enaistiel walked all the way down the stairs and sat down at the table, "I told the help that I wanted a big breakfast for all of us. I figured a good meal for everyone would boost morale. Plus, we have guests." Yoshiro nodded, "Glad to see that you are still the same woman I knew all those years ago." Enaistiel nodded, "Yeah, you however, have changed for the better." Yoshiro smiled and nodded, it was true what she said, but he still had a ways to go towards redemption.
Been around this forum for over 8 years now. Everyone I've known has left, now it's my time to do the same.

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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#48 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 47

As everyone sat down for breakfast, Yoshiro noticed the length of the table that Enaistiel had for all of the servants, "You got that for them, so that they could eat with us?" Enaistiel nodded slightly, "Most nobles do not like eating with servants though, they say that it is unclean. But every one of these people have gone out of their way to help me." Amaterasu nodded slightly, "That is a good way of thinking, Enaistiel. By the way, Yoshiro." Yoshiro turned to face his grandmother, "Yes, Grandmother?" Amaterasu smiled at him, "Your Grandfather and I are going to be returning home after breakfast." Yoshiro reached for Magatama, but Amaterasu shook her head, "Keep it. It is for you to keep. Perhaps if I gave it to you instead of Kusanagi all of those centuries ago, you wouldn't have been consumed with revenge and none of this would be happening."

Yoshiro looked at Lilah and then Enaistiel and then at Amaterasu again, "Grandmother, while I am grateful that you think of me. Your decision back then, it really changed the lives of many. Who knows what Aiko would've tried if I hadn't formed the Raptors. Who knows how many more lives would've ended in a bid to stop her." Enaistiel nodded, "He's right, you know. None of us know what could've happened back then. We have to accept that things happened and try to either fix our mistakes or move on." Amaterasu nodded slightly, "That much I know, and have known since before you were born. It does not stop me from thinking about how things could've gone differently, however." Raiden looked over at Yoshiro, "That sword of yours, how is its edge faring." Yoshiro looked down at his sword, "I'll get it replaced when I return home. It's about time anyhow."

Raiden nodded, "You've always taken care of your weapons, but you never bothered taking care of yourself. You've always put it off, because you had work to do. You have seen the end result of where it will lead you, you're not a kid anymore. Take time off work, Yoshiro, relax, meditate, do whatever you have to do in order to become mentally recharged." Yoshiro nodded, "I will, Grandfather." Raiden smiled softly, "Good." Yoshiro looked towards Enaistiel, "So, hate to bother you over breakfast about the reason why I'm here, but do you know anything about that unopened Menschilche base?" Enaistiel shook her head, "It's not unopened, it was opened years ago." Yoshiro blinked, "What was found in there?" Enaistiel stood up from the table and motioned towards Yoshiro to follow her. Yoshiro stood up as well and she took him to a room off to the side.

She smiled as she motioned around the room, "This is my office. Feel free to have a seat while I get the many datapads." Yoshiro sat down at a table and Enaistiel walked over to her desk. She rummaged through the drawers and pulled out the datapads that she was looking for. She placed them on her desk one by one and she looked for the last one, "Where'd it go." Yoshiro looked around, "It looks like you've been busy for the past couple of centuries." Enaistiel kept looking, "Well a girl has to stay busy, you know. Otherwise I'd go stir crazy and no one wants to see that. I've been sad to have an extraordinarily horrific disposition when cabin fever sets in." Enaistiel found the datapad that she was looking for and put it on the stack with the others. She picked up the stack and brought them over to Yoshiro.

Yoshiro looked through the stack, "Which one of these has bioweapon data on it?" Enaistiel frowned, "All of them. The place here was a bioweapon development lab." Yoshiro turned one of the datapads on and went through the data in question, there was nothing about Tovenaar on this one. He gently placed it down and picked another off the pile, going through it. There was again, nothing about Tovenaar on that one either. He gently placed it on the stack he was making. He kept going through them and eventually in the fifth one in the stack, he found information about Kawal. He started reading and found that Kawal was designed from the ground up to be an Enforcer for the Menschilche. He was designed to be twice as strong, fast, and durable as a normal member of their species. They had chosen a specific Kitsune to give birth to Kawal because of the bloodline.

Yoshiro remembered who Kawal is, he instinctively looked at his hand and closed it as he wondered if this made him a bioweapon as well. He cleared his head of such thoughts and Enaistiel looked at him, "I know that your father is Kawal." Yoshiro looked up at her, "How'd you find out?" Enaistiel shrugged, "He revealed himself during that last battle you and I fought in. Most people thought he was using magic to increase his physical capabilities, but I knew better. Something was different. He's the entire reason I opened up the Menschilche base, so that I could find answers to what he really was. I am one of your father's victims... I lost my aunt and uncle to him. However, after having met him all those centuries ago, I can tell that he wants to redeem himself for his actions."

Yoshiro nodded, "Father is a rather good-natured person. He doesn't want to fight anymore, but will do so if forced." Enaistiel found a bit of irony in this, "You fail to see how you're like your father?" He looked at his hand once more, "If it wasn't for my father, then I would've died long before I ever met you. I inherited his durability and endurance. I also inherited his speed, but a mental block prevents me from using it. Not to mention at this point, if I were to lift the mental block, the results would be disastrous. I've lived my entire life being able to top out at the speed of a normal Kitsune. If I were to suddenly double that, I'd lose control and my reaction speed wouldn't be able to keep up." Enaistiel nodded, "So that's why you don't run as fast as you possibly can."

Yoshiro nodded as he continued down the datapad. Right under the information about Kawal was the exact information he was looking for, Tovenaar. Yoshiro started to read it intently and learned that Tovenaar is a magical counterpart to Kawal. Tovenaar are supposed to be of magically strong races, and he saw that the likely candidates for a Tovenaar consisted of Kitsune, Fenikkusu, Fairies, Elves, Mermaids, Neko, Mus, and surprisingly enough the Karhu. Yoshiro continued reading about how the prototype Tovenaar was supposed to be born naturally, as only being in the womb of a holy blood would allow Tovenaar to come to fruition. Yoshiro couldn't believe what he was seeing. However, the next thing he saw was information about the next place that he had to go. It was in a forest that wasn't too far from here. This is where they sent the proposal to and he knew that's where he'd find his answers.

Yoshiro placed the datapad down, "Enaistiel, I have to leave soon." Enaistiel nodded, "You found something that you're looking for?" Yoshiro nodded, not wanting to tell her about Tovenaar, "Tell me, is there anyone in the nearby forest." Enaistiel shook her head, "No, Yoshiro. That forest is considered sacred by us Elves." Yoshiro nodded, "What language did you find this information in." Enaistiel thought for a moment, "The common language we all use for trade, why?" Yoshiro nodded, "I'll be leaving Julius and Alpha here. Lilah and I are going to into that forest on our own." Enaistiel frowned, "You don't have permission to do that." Yoshiro smiled slightly, "I know. It's a sacred place to the Elves and I'm supposed to get permission from the King or Queen or High Priest or something. I wouldn't be skirting regulations if this wasn't important."

Enaistiel nodded slightly, "I understand. However, it will be up to the forest to allow you in or not. If it does, then you will be cleared of any wrongdoing on your part. However, if it doesn't, you will be executed. Are you sure that you want to try this?" Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Yes, but what do you mean if the forest lets me in?" Enaistiel frowned, "The forest there is alive." Yoshiro nodded slightly, he had heard rumors of forests that were alive, but he never quite put much stock into them. He began to wonder if the rumors of a mythical race on Verbana really did exist, but he shook his head, he didn't have time for such thoughts. He turned off the Datapad, "I'll be back by nightfall or tomorrow morning, depending on how long this takes." Enaistiel nodded, "Be careful out there, Yoshiro. Remember though, if the forest doesn't let you in, I cannot save you, nor can I save Lilah." Yoshiro smiled, "If the myths are true, I have nothing to worry about. A forest like that will only keep out people who seek to harm it. I mean it no harm and I only wish to find out the information in the base within it." Enaistiel nodded, "I hope that for your sake, you are right about that."
Been around this forum for over 8 years now. Everyone I've known has left, now it's my time to do the same.

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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#49 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 48

Yoshiro walked up to the gate of the forest with Lilah behind him. He watched as the forest moved on its own and the two Elvish guards near the gate move to the side. Lilah spoke up, "I feel a presence within my mind." Yoshiro could feel the same thing, except within his own chest. One of the Elvish guards looked at him, "You are very fortunate, outsider. The forest will allow you to enter." Yoshiro nodded, he walked into the forest, he couldn't explain it, but he felt drawn to the center of it. It was as if he was being summoned to it through his very soul. He and Lilah started the trek towards the center of the forest and Lilah spoke up, "The deeper we go, the thicker the magic." Yoshiro couldn't sense anything, but he also didn't have his mind opened to do so.

He opened his mind to sense the magic and immediately pain ripped through his skull and he fell to his knees screaming and howling in pain. Lilah rushed to his side, but the pain was unbearable, it felt like something was tearing his skull in half. He couldn't concentrate long enough to close his mind back up, either, so he was stuck like this. Lilah called out, "Please stop it, you're hurting him!" The presence in her head vanished and the pain in Yoshiro's head subsided, Yoshiro closed his mind and shook his head as he got back up, "That was the most painful thing I've ever endured and in my life I've been crushed, beaten, dismembered among other things." Lilah helped him on his feet, "So that's the effect of a psionic power being used on you." Yoshiro nodded slightly as the two of them continued through the forest.

Lilah felt the magic grow even thicker as they did so, until they reached a clearing. Lilah looked around, "It is heaviest around here." Yoshiro looked around and sniffed the air, "This place smells slightly different." Yoshiro heard something behind him and turned around to see an elvish looking woman, with brown skin emerge from the tree itself. Yoshiro looked around himself to see even more elvish women do the same, he instinctively moved his hand as if to reach for his sword, but something prevented him from completing the action. Lilah looked around at the women, "This defies physics." Yoshiro nodded, "As a scientist, I must concur, but our magic does as well." One of the women looked at him, "You are the one whose mind we cannot look into without causing great pain. You are a psionic void, are you not?" Yoshiro nodded slightly and the woman smiled slightly, "We do not see many Kitsune here."

Yoshiro looked around at all the different women, he noticed that every single one of them had dark green hair. He tried once again to move his hand towards his sword to give him something to defend himself with, but his hand for some reason wouldn't move. The woman that spoke before walked over to him, "I apologize for the measure that we have taken, but we are not a violent peoples. We are the..." Before she could finish the sentence, Yoshiro heard the unmistakable sound of a weapon being discharged. The blood on the woman didn't even show up yet before Yoshiro found himself being thrown into a frenzy. He tried using techniques that Erasmus had taught him, but none of them worked and only served to slow the tide. Yoshiro watched as Lilah ran past him and vanished into the shadows of the forest.

A second shot was heard, but this one hit a tree. Yoshiro could feel himself slipping deeper and deeper into the rage, then all of the sudden, nothing. It all stopped and one of the women spoke up, "Our sister's death has been avenged." Yoshiro dropped to his hands and knees, breathing heavily, he felt nauseous for the first time in a long time. He tore off his helmet and vomited onto the grass. He wondered exactly what had just happened when he noticed a larger than usual hand touch his shoulder, "Child, you have no experience with the Dryad link, do you?" Yoshiro wiped his mouth and got up on his knees, "No, ma'am. I do not." Yoshiro had believed the Dryads to be myth, he knew that they always respected them, but he had never seen one or any evidence of one in his entire life.

Yoshiro slowly stood up, "What's... the Dryad link?" Yoshiro turned around to see a tall, elderly woman standing there. She looked towards the woman that had originally been speaking to Yoshiro, "My child was killed. When we Dryads are killed, every Verbanan within a specific area goes into a rage akin to the Lupine or Karhu berserkers, except with the single minded objective to kill whatever killed us. I have never seen anyone fight against it though." Yoshiro looked into her green eyes, "The only reason I started to fight is because I assumed I was losing myself to... well, what I used to be." The elderly Dryad nodded, "I know who you and the Eekhoorn are. Her mind holds no secrets about you or her, Yoshiro Miyamae." Yoshiro closed his eyes and smiled slightly, "So you know my name and know that I'm the Grim Reaper." The Dryad nodded, "I also know that you have great respect for the forest."

Yoshiro opened his eyes and watched as Lilah returned, blood on one of her daggers, "Takeshi sent a hitman out here. That shot was intended for you." Yoshiro knelt before the Dryad that had been killed and closed her eyes, "I need a digging implement." The elderly Dryad looked at him, "What for?" Yoshiro turned towards her, "To return her to the planet. Her body will grow new life and perhaps a new tree that will bring forth a new Dryad." The Dryad smiled slightly, "You've never met us before and yet you know a lot about us." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "It pays to do research. I know that Dryads were more commonly sighted before the Menschilche came around, so there's a fair bit of documentation. I honestly thought it was a myth, but here I am..."

The elderly Dryad nodded and pointed towards Yoshiro's hands, "Kitsune are naturals at digging. I wouldn't normally permit an outsider to bury one of my children, but I can tell that you feel a sense of guilt at this." Yoshiro nodded, "I feel responsible for her death, even if I didn't pull the trigger." The elderly Dryad nodded slightly, "You have permission to dig a grave." Yoshiro nodded and started to dig into the ground. He tuned everything out as he did this with his gloved hands. Lilah watched him as did the other Dryads. No one spoke a word for the several hours that it took to dig the right sized hole. Once finished, Yoshiro grabbed the side of the hole and climbed out of it, his armor covered in dirt. He sighed slightly, "Glad Alpha's not here, he'd give me an earful about getting my armor dirty like this."

Lilah smiled slightly at that, but Yoshiro walked over and picked up the body of the slain Dryad. He walked over to the hole and jumped in, gently lowering her into it. Once she was on the ground inside the hole, he climbed back out and pushed the dirt back into the hole, burying her. Once this was done, he knelt on one knee, "We are gathered here to mourn the loss of a young Dryad. I didn't know much about her, but she seemed kind and gentle. I sort of wish that it had been me that had been shot, though. My armor would've been able to take it, but her body didn't stand a chance. May the planet allow her to grow new life, and be reborn as a new Dryad." Yoshiro stood up and the elderly Dryad smiled slightly, "You seem quite respectful, Yoshiro." Yoshiro nodded, "I generally am."

The elderly Dryad smirked, "Why don't you stay in the forest for a bit. It already is late afternoon, and you won't have enough time to do what you want to do and head back to the Elvish city before nightfall." Yoshiro nodded, "I would be honored to stay the night." Lilah looked at Yoshiro, "What if another hitman shows up?" Yoshiro smirked, "I don't think the Dryads would take too kindly to someone showing up with the intention of killing one of their guests." The elderly Dryad looked at Lilah, "He's right, you know. You two are our guests, we will prevent anyone that has any intention to harm either of you, because they have proven themselves willing to kill one of us to do so." Lilah narrowed her eyes at Yoshiro, "You did an awful lot of research on a subject you didn't think true." Yoshiro shrugged, "I'm a scientist, it's what I do." Lilah sighed and shook her head, "Somehow I don't think you did that because you're a scientist."
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#50 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 49

Yoshiro looked towards the Menschilche base within the forest clearing, "Excuse me, but I'm seeking to get into there." The elderly Dryad nodded, "None of us go in there for good reason, but when I checked your mind earlier, I saw that was your goal. You seek knowledge within these bases, trying to find a bioweapon that you are chasing. Do you ever think that when you finally find the answer that you're looking for, that you're not going to like the answer in question?" Yoshiro had thought about it quite frequently since he was told the possibility by his grandmother, "I have to accept that it may be an answer that I don't want, but I must see this through to the end, no matter what." The elderly Dryad nodded, "I expected nothing less from a man with your particular reputation, Yoshiro." Yoshiro shrugged, "It's bad form for a mercenary to leave a job unfinished."

The elderly Dryad pointed towards the door on the base, "Then enter, Yoshiro." Lilah looked at Yoshiro, "I'm going with you." Yoshiro turned his head, "If that is what you wish to do, Lilah, I will not stop you. However, you remember what happened the last time you entered one of these places." Lilah remembered what had happened, "That was a psion influencing me!" Yoshiro nodded, "Who is to say that one isn't in here?" The elderly Dryad looked at both of them, "There is no one within the base. It was abandoned when I was a young Dryad." Yoshiro nodded slightly, he had originally planned on entering the base itself on his own, but he didn't mind Lilah's company. He motioned towards Lilah and walked over to the doors of the base. He placed his hands in the cracks between the doors and pulled as hard as he could.

He stumbled backwards as the doors came off their tracks and fell down next to him on both sides. Lilah looked at the doors on the ground, "I had no idea that you had your armor boost your strength to such a degree." Yoshiro looked at the tracks that the doors were on, they had decayed horribly, "I didn't. Take a look at this." Lilah walked over, "Seems like rapid decay of the tracks that the doors were using." Yoshiro nodded, "The only thing keeping them on was friction, once I worked against that, the doors fell." Lilah nodded and Yoshiro stepped foot in the base, aside from the doors having decayed, the interior of the base itself was pristine. It was as if nature made no attempts to reclaim this place, Lilah followed him inside and the two of them walked down a corridor.

It was quiet, peaceful, as if no one had ever been here to begin with. Yoshiro began to feel a familiar feeling. This base wasn't abandoned because of the war. He walked up to a lift and pressed the call button. Nothing. Yoshiro closed his eyes, he was so close to his goal and yet, so far. He growled as he placed his fingers between both the doors and forced it open. As he held it open, he concentrated and infused the bottom part of the doors with his light magic. He quickly solidified it, causing the bottom part of each door to be annihilated. He let go of the doors, knowing that as they were broken, they wouldn't close anymore. He smiled slightly and looked at Lilah, "That one was me." Yoshiro looked down and saw the lift was still down a couple of floors, it would be easy for him to go down, but not Lilah.

Yoshiro didn't have time to find another path, "Lilah, you still have your communicator?" Lilah nodded, "Of course." Yoshiro nodded, "Keep it on, I'll relay what I see to you, alright." Lilah shook her head, "I'm coming down with you." Yoshiro pointed to the lift, "I can jump down there and climb back out, but I need someone here..." Lilah entered the shaft and started climbing down and Yoshiro shrugged, "Or you can just start climbing down." Yoshiro jumped into the shaft, landing on the top of the lift. He felt it lurch slightly as he landed. He quickly moved towards the hatch and opened it. When he did, the feeling he had gotten in his gut was proven correct, he saw skeletons in the lift and the entire thing was covered in a dark red substance. Lilah looked down, "Whatever got to these people ripped them apart."

Yoshiro climbed down into the lift itself and noticed that the doors were still open and not only that, they had been ripped apart. His motion tracker alerted him to motion and he noticed it was barreling towards him at high speed. Whatever had killed these Menschilche, by some miracle or curse of nature, it was still alive. Yoshiro drew his sword and noticed that as his motion tracker kept going off, he couldn't see what it was. All he could see was a distortion. He narrowed his eyes and thrust the sword at what he thought was a neck and ducked to the side as the creature's momentum carried it into the lift, causing it to slam into the back of it. Yoshiro heard a sound and quickly dove out of the lift, landing on safe ground as it plummeted.

Yoshiro turned to see Lilah hanging onto a cable, "A little help?" Yoshiro stood up and extended his hand. She grabbed his hand and he pulled her towards him, once her feet were on solid ground, she let go of the cable and looked at him, "I didn't see anything, what the hell was that!? How did you know where to strike it!?" Yoshiro looked down the shaft, he could hear the faint gurgling shrieks of whatever it is as the lift burst into flames, "I attacked a distortion in light that looked like a neck. It wasn't exactly the smartest plan that I have ever come up with, but it was my only plan." Lilah looked around, "Those bodies were left behind as bait." Yoshiro turned to look through the corridor, it was covered in dried blood, but there wasn't a corpse to be found, not even any remains of one.

Lilah looked genuinely unnerved for the first time in her life, "How many of these things do you think were made?" Yoshiro walked down the corridor, "Just one. Even the Menschilche aren't stupid enough to make more." Lilah looked around, following him, "So do you think we'll be able to find what we're looking for?" Yoshiro nodded, "Either we will be able to, or the computers will be destroyed. Either which way, it'll be a distinct possibility that we'll be able to find what we're looking for in Kitsune territory." Lilah silently stopped in front of a door and Yoshiro kept moving. She spoke up, "Yoshiro, you should take a look at this." Yoshiro turned around and walked over to the door, "This is the archive. This will show every project that his place has ever created or been a part of. Good eye, Lilah." Yoshiro pressed the button next to the door, but it didn't open.

Yoshiro grabbed the seam of the door and pulled it open, he heard the sound of grinding metal as he did so. What he saw inside the room was pure carnage. Pieces of skeletons were ripped apart, blood was everywhere, except for the computers. He realized that this was a deliberate tactic to draw people into a trap to be killed. Yoshiro walked over to one of the computers and accessed it, all of the information on the display was in the common trade language. He was surprised at this fact, but he started to look up information about Tovenaar. It immediately showed a readout of the bioweapon in question. It showed to him that the first Tovenaar was to be a Kitsune and thus the project would start in the base within the Kitsune kingdom. Yoshiro also took note that the Kitsune's DNA would have a snippet of Fenikkusu DNA in it.

Yoshiro knew that the Kitsune and Fenikkusu were at least partially compatible genetically, but hybrids were excessively rare as Amaterasu forbade the Fenikkusu from mating with Kitsune. He continued searching through the information and tried to bring up the DNA in question. However, the DNA information wasn't stored on this computer. He sighed then tried to search through the database to find something about the Bioweapon that had attacked them. Much to his surprise and annoyance, there was nothing in the database on the creature. Yoshiro decided to see if there was any data he could recover. There wasn't any, the data simply wasn't there and if it had been, it was completely wiped. Yoshiro left the computer as it was and turned to Lilah, "Let's head out, there's nothing more for us here." Lilah nodded, "So what did you find out about Tovenaar?" Yoshiro looked up, "It's at the base within my homeland. I never thought I'd go there, but now it seems like I must."
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#51 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 50

Yoshiro grabbed onto the cable that the lift was using and he started climbing back up, he looked down below him, "Lilah, is everything alright?" Lilah grabbed the cable and nodded, "Yeah." Yoshiro thanked the fact that as a male Kitsune, he was a natural at climbing objects. He climbed up higher than he needed to, in order to allow Lilah to exit the shaft first. When she was at the correct height, he looked down, "Hold on tight, I'm going to swing this thing." Yoshiro started shifting his weight back and forth to start swinging the cable. Though it wasn't much at first, it soon built up enough momentum to allow Lilah to propel herself into the corridor. Yoshiro slid down a bit and swung enough to where he planted his feet on the other side of the shaft. He pushed off of it, swinging the cable into the corridor itself and letting go.

He landed on the floor and picked himself back up, "Well, kind of feels a bit weird not having a sword and all." Lilah nodded, "A Kensei is never without their sword." Yoshiro looked down the shaft, "I think it might still be down there, but whatever the hell that thing was, I don't want to go near it in case it miraculously survived what just happened." Lilah nodded, "Agreed, but wouldn't your motion detector alert you to it?" Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah, but there's also the matter of my sword might be in more than one piece and if that cable snaps, I don't really have another way out. I'll get a new sword when we get back into my homeland." Lilah nodded slightly as she followed Yoshiro out of the base itself, "That was a harrowing sight back there... did you get any information on the creature?"

Yoshiro shook his head as they left the base, "No, I did not, Lilah. Every single bit of information on it was wiped completely. Though it doesn't seem like the creature itself did it." Lilah was confused, "Who would want to..." Yoshiro placed his hands in his pockets, "Simple, the Menschilche don't want their bioweapon projects getting out." Lilah knew that it was against Galactic Law to create bioweapons, but she knew that they didn't care about Galactic Law. Akira's mere existence proved that fact. Yoshiro looked at her, "Your mind is wandering." Lilah looked at him, "How'd you know?" Yoshiro smirked, "Simple, you didn't respond." Lilah glared at him and suddenly the elderly Dryad from before appeared, "Did you find what you're looking for?" Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah and more." The Dryad nodded slightly, "Night is falling, I would suggest that you stay here with us."

Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Lilah, you should get some sleep." Lilah looked at him, her brow furrowed, "You honestly think that I'm going to let you get away from me?" Yoshiro motioned towards the Dryads, "They will protect you while you sleep, I must make a call before I get to bed." Lilah nodded as two of the Dryads made a bed for Lilah to sleep in out of vines. Yoshiro walked deeper into the forest and turned on his communicator, he wanted to speak to someone specific. He switched the frequency and waited for a second. Nothing. There wasn't any answer on the other side. Yoshiro closed his eyes, "Dammit, Master." Yoshiro changed frequencies, "Maybe Freja... no wait... dammit." Yoshiro sat down and leaned back against a tree with a sigh, "No one that I know is available, and being in Dryad territory, I don't want to open my mind."

Yoshiro closed his eyes and kept cycling through frequencies, eventually he finally got ahold of someone. He heard the voice on the other end speak, "Hello, this Killian Jaeger speaking." Yoshiro was excited to hear his brother's voice, but a hint of sadness hit him as it reminded him of their late brother, Walthari. He opened his eyes, "Hey, Killian." Killian spoke up, "You don't sound so good, Yoshiro, Galina's death affecting you that badly?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Not just hers." Yoshiro could hear Killian put his tools down, "Elbereth told me that you left without a word to her. You wouldn't do that unless something was seriously bothering you." Yoshiro didn't answer that, prompting Killian to speak more sternly, "Yoshiro, what is bothering you?" Yoshiro closed his eyes, "The weight of every atrocity I've witnessed, every death I've been there for, everything is just crashing down on me."

Killian sighed, "Yoshiro, Galina and Walthari didn't die because of you. Walthari even died to save your life and the lives of millions. I know that you can't help but take on some responsibility for yourself, but you know that somewhere, it isn't your fault." Yoshiro nodded, he knew that, of course. He couldn't help but feel at least partially responsible though, "Killian, I need a new sword." Killian became annoyed, "Do not change the damn subject, Yoshiro!" Yoshiro looked up at the sky, "Killian, I'm sorry, but there's a saying. You can take the man out of a war, but you can't take the war out of a man." Killian muttered something under his breath and Yoshiro cleared his throat. Killian spoke up, "Yoshiro, you are letting all of this get to you, you've been holding everything back to make people not worry. This is what happens, tell me... why didn't you call Erasmus?"

Yoshiro looked at his gloved hand, "I tried, Killian. Believe me, I tried, he's not answering." Yoshiro heard Killian groan, "He's probably training more students with Bruno. Yoshiro, I need to get back to work. You said you need a new sword, right?" Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah." Yoshiro heard Killian pull out one of his tools, "What happened to your current one?" Yoshiro chuckled a little nervously and he knew on the other side, Killian narrowed his eyes at that. Killian spoke a little more coldly, "Yoshiro. What happened... to the sword?" Yoshiro spoke nervously, "I sort of plunged it into the neck of a creature and it slammed into a lift which fell down the shaft and exploded, killing the creature." Killian was pissed and didn't bother hiding it in his voice, "You did what!?" Yoshiro repeated what he had said to him previously.

Killian's voice sounded full of seething rage, "Let me get this straight. You were attacked by a creature you couldn't see. So you plunged an expensive sword into its goddamn throat... not to mention you may have been imagining the whole damn thing, but for argument's sake, let's say that it was real. The creature then slammed into the lift behind you as you ducked out of the way and then the cable snapped, sending it and your sword to the bottom of the shaft... where it promptly exploded." Yoshiro calmly spoke into the microphone, "Yep." Killian was obviously furious as he started yelling into the communicator, "Do you realize exactly how hard it is to get my hands on ilma metalli!? Not to mention how much mana that [censored] requires to actually be able to make ingots out of! The ore has a tendency to burn rather than melt!"

Yoshiro pulled his helmet off and he could still hear Killian screaming clearly, "Yoshiro! Do you know what the [censored] use is burnt ilma metalli!? Nothing, it can't be used for anything! At least with magic, we can melt down the sword itself into the material I needed to make you a new one and reforge the damn thing, but noooooo, you had to go and drop the goddamn sword into a lift shaft with a creature you didn't even know was real." Yoshiro interrupted it by cutting off his communicator, he'd deal with that particular problem when he got back home. He leaned his head against the tree that he was sitting up against and sighed, "Hopefully, Lilah will be there to calm Killian down." Yoshiro looked up at the moon through the trees, it was beautiful, but he also felt himself grow a bit tired. He placed his helmet back on and stood up.

He walked back over to where Lilah was and smiled softly as he laid on the ground. He could feel plants move around him and he shook his head, "Laying on the ground will do for me, thank you though." The plants stopped moving and Yoshiro closed his eyes. He knew that when he got back home, he'd have to deal with Killian, but he had no idea how he was going to break the news to the others that he'd be going into the Menschilche base there. He and Masaru still weren't on the best of terms, so he knew that going to him was out of the question. He began to wonder if he should tell his father, as out of everyone he knew, his father would have the most intimate knowledge of the base itself. As he started to drift off to sleep, he wondered what he would find in that particular base, if he would honestly find anything pertaining to Tovenaar at all. He knew he wasn't going to find the answers tonight and that it'd have to wait til tomorrow, as he finally drifted off to sleep.
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#52 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 51

Yoshiro found himself in front of a door, he had no idea how he got here or why, but he tried to open the door to no avail. He did everything he could to open it, but nothing opened it. He turned around and sat against the door, breathing heavily as he looked onward. Everything was dark and he couldn't see very far, but he could make out that he was in some sort of base. He picked himself up when he heard a voice speak, "I wouldn't attempt to break into the door again." Yoshiro looked at the source of the voice and saw a Kitsune Kit looking into his eyes. Yoshiro couldn't recognize the kit, "You shouldn't be here, kid. You're too young for this kind of thing." The kit looked him in the eye, "You're one to talk. What are you doing here anyhow?" Yoshiro shook his head, "I don't know."

The kit looked away from him, "I'll tell you what, let's play a game." Yoshiro didn't have time for games, but he showed this with obvious displeasure, "I have to get into that door." The kit looked at him, "You're not going to be able to open it." Yoshiro grabbed the kit by the head, "Tell me who you are." The scenery around him suddenly changed to a place that Yoshiro hadn't seen in hundreds of years, "Where is this?" Yoshiro let go of the kit and watched as he ran to a familiar female Kitsune. The female Kitsune looked at him, "Who are you?" Yoshiro was confused, how could his own mother not recognize him, "Mom... I'm your son." Minako looked at him, "You're my son, huh? You don't look like Takeshi or Hiroshi, and you're too old to be Yoshiro or Tatsuya."

Yoshiro pointed to the kit, "Who is that?" Minako looked down at her child, "Yoshiro Miyamae." Yoshiro finally recognized this place, it was his old house. He couldn't understand why he was being shown this, but this confirmed to him that he was in a dream, "Mother, why am I here?" Minako looked at him, "Mother? What is your name?" Yoshiro looked at his right hand and was shocked to see it was the bionic replacement he had been given shortly after Walthari's death, "How did... how did this happen? What's going on?" Yoshiro watched as Minako growled at him, "Who are you!?" Yoshiro closed his bionic hand, "I am Yoshiro Miyamae." Minako walked over to him, "You claim to be Yoshiro, but you are covered in blood, my son wouldn't harm anything, not even a fly." Yoshiro was saddened by this, it was true that he had long since lost his innocence, but he was still the same person.

Yoshiro looked down at the kit and reached out, with his right arm, it was back to the flesh and blood arm and his hand passed straight through the kit. Yoshiro closed his eyes as he heard his own voice speak behind him, "Most things you can get back, but your innocence is not one of them. You know this better than anyone else." Yoshiro turned to see himself standing there, it was him as the King of the Sea Elves. He hadn't worn that outfit in centuries, but, he still recognized it. His younger self looked at him, "To think that I would wind up growing into you." Yoshiro shook his head, "We made some poor decisions with our life." The younger version of him smiled, "Good to see you taking responsibility for the right things, do you still blame yourself..."

Yoshiro interrupted him, "I've led thousands if not millions of soldiers in my long life, they were my friends and family as far as I was concerned. To watch them die while I continued to live was..." Another version of him spoke up, "Torturous." Yoshiro turned to see himself wearing the uniform of a Mercenary General, "I can't believe I ever wore that before in my life." General Miyamae laughed, "Well, it's not like we had a choice in the matter, now did we?" Yoshiro rolled his eyes, "Well General, if you want to get technical, we were the leader of a mercenary group. We could choose our own uniform, but for some reason that I can't fathom anymore, we chose that one. It is just..." General Miyamae removed his cape, "The cape was a bit much, I will admit, but it gave an air of authority." Yoshiro facepalmed, "No, it didn't."

General Miyamae laughed and Yoshiro looked around as different versions of himself arrived to surround him. He had no idea what was going on, but the sea parted as the kit from before walked over to him, "You take on the responsibility for everyone else's deaths upon yourself. It is perfectly normal regret the fact that they have died, but you assume that all the blame lies upon you. Yoshiro, we both know that you are not responsible for their deaths, yet you insist on tormenting us." Yoshiro sat down, "I don't know why, young one." Yoshiro watched as the other versions of him disappeared and suddenly the images of everyone who had died under his command, all of his friends and family who had died as well appear around him. He looked around, he couldn't recognize all of their faces, but one by one they all were converted into a ball of energy.

Yoshiro felt them start pouring into him and he winced at first, expecting a raging heat, but instead it was a gentle warmth. As they kept pouring in, Yoshiro felt himself rise up into the air as the rest of them entered. The power was incredible, he could almost feel a thousand hearts beating at once inside of his chest, but they beat in sync with his own heart. He placed his hand on his chest, "You're forgiving me for failing all of you?" Yoshiro heard a voice speak up, "You never failed us, sir." Yoshiro closed his eyes, "I guess I've been the fool. I've always thought that I had failed you in some way by letting you all die, yet not of you could convey that I didn't in any way, shape, or form. Will I be able to access this power in the waking world?"

The same voice spoke up, "No, you will not. This is just our way of conveying to you that you have not failed any of us, and that it is time for you to let go finally. You have chosen a new path, one of redemption and keeping us in the forefront of your mind will make it impossible for you to achieve your goal, sir." Yoshiro nodded, he understood what he had to do, and he ejected them out of his body. As he watched the orbs of energy escape his body, the area around him lit up with a gentle light, he was happy with that, but he felt a twinge of sadness that he was letting the people he considered his friends and family go. Soon, he was left all alone in the dream world, him and just a black void.

Yoshiro was awoken by Lilah, "You were whimpering somewhat in your sleep, Yoshiro." Yoshiro reached up to his face and rubbed his eyes, "I had an interesting dream, Lilah. I'll tell you about it later, what time is it right now?" Lilah handed him his helmet, "Sunrise, if you wish to get to the Kitsune kingdom before noon, we'll need to get a move on." Yoshiro nodded slightly and placed the helmet on his head. The elderly Dryad appeared, "It is a shame that the two of you cannot stay for much longer. There is more that we could learn from each other." Yoshiro respectfully bowed, "When I find the answers that I am looking for, I will try to return here with my wife. I'm sure she'll enjoy the lush forests that can be found over here." The elderly Dryad nodded and handed him a small package, "A little bit of food for each of you, it isn't much, but you know... tree spirits and all."

Yoshiro smiled, "Thank you, it will be more than enough." Yoshiro and Lilah started to make the trek back to the Elvish city. Lilah looked at Yoshiro, "So we only have one more place to go." Yoshiro turned to look at her, "Father, Julius, and I only have one more place to go. I need you to stay with Elbereth." Lilah was upset, "Why don't I get to go?" Yoshiro smiled slightly, "Because, Lilah. If there's no one I trust guarding the orphanage more than you. It's why I left you there in the first place." Lilah nodded slightly and Yoshiro chuckled a little, "I promise that I will tell you in great detail what the three of us find there." Lilah looked up to the sky, "I'm going to hold you to that promise." Yoshiro laughed, "I wouldn't expect it any other way, Lilah."
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#53 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 52

Yoshiro and Lilah arrived back in the Elvish city, Yoshiro took a look at one of the guards, who pointed a weapon at him. The guard was obviously angry, "One of the Dryads died! How dare you?" Yoshiro knew better than to draw his gun, as that would only give said guard reason to arrest him or kill him, "I know one of them died, I was affected by the same thing you were." Lilah spoke up, "It's true, if he had killed a Dryad, do you think that he'd still be here right now?" The guard lowered his weapon, "So you were affected by the pheromone of the Dryads. Who killed her?" Yoshiro shrugged, "Don't know his name, didn't get to see his face, but he was intending to kill me. Not that it would've worked anyway. The reason I wear this armor is to protect myself from heavier Menschilche weaponry. The hitman's gun would've barely made a dent."

The guard looked at him and noticed the blood on his armor, "Then tell me how you got this?" Yoshiro placed his hand on the dried blood, "Simple. Blood from an exit wound sprays outward before oozing. Blood from an entry wound oozes out, notice the pattern of the blood?" The guard noticed that it indeed splattered, "You could've cleaned it up to look like that!" Yoshiro laughed, "Kid, I've been shedding blood since before you were born. You cannot simply just clean up blood to look like it had splattered out of a corpse. I know that you are eager to make some sort of an arrest, but if you want to find the perp who did it, their corpse is still within the forest itself." The guard looked at him and then looked at Lilah, "Only one Dryad died and both of you are covered in blood."

Yoshiro nodded, "You going to let us go?" The guard nodded slightly, "I'll go in and investigate, the two of you don't go anywhere." Yoshiro looked at Lilah, knowing that they didn't have time for this. As soon as the guard disappeared into the forest, Yoshiro looked at the other guard, "Care if we leave?" The guard laughed, "Go ahead, but know that if you're lying, you will be hunted down." Yoshiro shrugged, "Alright then." Yoshiro and Lilah left the gate and walked back to Enaistiel's manor, where Julius was laying in the courtyard, getting some sunlight. Julius raised his head and looked at him, "Did you find what you were looking for?" Yoshiro nodded, "Tovenaar is in my homeland." Julius nodded solemnly, "Then we must make haste back to the Kitsune Kingdom." Yoshiro nodded, "I have to go collect Alpha and then say my farewell to Enaistiel."

Lilah climbed onto the back of Julius as Yoshiro walked into the Manor, "Hey Alpha!" Alpha walked out of a side room, "Hello, Father." Yoshiro pointed out the door, "We're leaving to go back home." Alpha nodded, "They will be surprised to see me like this, Father, I look forward to seeing it." Alpha walked out and Yoshiro walked deeper into the manor, "Enaistiel, where are you?" Enaistiel poked her head out of her room, "Yoshiro, what is all the noise about?" Yoshiro walked over to her, "I'm leaving to go back home." Enaistiel nodded, "Well, if you could stay for a few minutes, we have a guest over." Yoshiro shook his head and was about to turn around when he heard Claire's voice speak up, "It has been quite a while, General." Yoshiro looked at Claire, he was surprised at how much she had aged since he last saw her.

Yoshiro took off his helmet, "Thank you for the transport back when I was on the southernmost continent, Claire." Claire nodded, "Well it was the right thing for me to do, after all, if it wasn't for you..." Yoshiro chuckled, "Don't need to bring up the past all the time, Claire. You forged your own destiny, I'm proud of the route that the Raptors have taken under your leadership. You used them to protect the lives of innocents from the Menschilche factions out there that seek to expand their empire. I however was just a man that was consumed with a desire for revenge and nothing else." Claire smiled slightly, "You've changed though, you became one of the great explorers of our time." Yoshiro laughed nervously, "I wouldn't call myself great, I'd honestly just say that I'm just another explorer is all."

Claire shook her head, "You've discovered many different things and have been witness to many wonders out there in the cosmos." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Of course, so have all the other explorers that are actually doing their job and exploring and documenting the cosmos. It doesn't make any of us great, it just makes us explorers who do our jobs." Yoshiro placed his helmet back on, "I'm going to have to get going if I want to be able to get back home today." Claire nodded and Enaistiel handed him a package, "Here you go. Take this with you, that way if either of you get hungry on the way back, you'll have something to eat." Yoshiro nodded slightly and took the package, "Thank you, Enaistiel. When this is all over, I'll come and visit. I'll bring my wife with me as well." Enaistiel nodded, "That'll be nice, Yoshiro."

Yoshiro walked back out of the manor and climbed onto the back of Julius, "Alright, let's go back home. We've got a long journey ahead of us and my grandparents have probably already arrived." Julius took off and started to fly towards the continent that they had originally came from. Alpha looked around, "It will be rather interesting to see my original homeland with my own eyes." Yoshiro closed his eyes, "Yeah, it's a great place. I don't get to spend as much time as I'd like there, but it is truly a wonderful place to be. I'm sure you'll like it, Alpha. Trust me, I'll make sure that they don't keep you locked up in a laboratory, I'm not that kind of scientist." Alpha nodded slightly as Lilah spoke up, "That continent seems to be important to all of us." Yoshiro shrugged, "Yeah, it's where a lot of events in our lives happened."

Julius spoke up, "Coi ui svaklar yth shio ehtaha kiq lyrik ihk wer irral tairais." Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah, We've known each other longer than we've known anyone else on your back, Julius." Julius smiled slightly, "Dampra ierikci tepoha confn vur gethrisja li hak." Yoshiro laughed, "Here's hoping to more centuries that we know each other, Julius." Julius laughed, "I hope that even in your next life, you and I will be together." Yoshiro nodded, "Then promise me that when I pass away, you will be by Yoshiko's side until my reincarnation is found." Julius closed his eyes, "I promise to do so, Yoshiro. I hope that when you are reincarnated, that we will become friends once more, if we do not become family. You are truly the closest non-dragon friend a dragon could ever ask for." Yoshiro placed his hand on Julius' back, "You are my brother, never forget that."

Yoshiro wasn't going to forget that fact, "Julius, thank you for everything you've done, I only have a single request of you at this point." Julius' eyes rolled back to look at Yoshiro, "What is it, brother?" Yoshiro smiled slightly, "I wish for you to join my father and I in the Menschilche base in my homeland." Julius nodded slightly, "I will be happy to join the two of you, but what makes you so sure that Akira will be on board with the plan." Yoshiro looked up at the sky, "We both know that he is Project Kawal, we also both know that he was created at that specific base. If there are any secrets that still lie within it, he will want to know those secrets." Julius nodded slightly, "You sound certain of yourself, but you might be right about that." Yoshiro shrugged, he was gambling on the fact that his father would want to join them.

Alpha looked at them, "What about me?" Yoshiro looked at Alpha, "You and Lilah are going home, I'd rather have the two of you there to protect the homefront than anyone else. It's just in case Takeshi tries something stupid." Alpha nodded, "I will protect the family at all costs." Yoshiro nodded with a smile, "You'll protect our family at all costs." Alpha nodded, "I apologize for forgetting that I am part of the family, Father." Yoshiro smiled, "Don't worry about it." Alpha smiled back, "What's Mom like?" Yoshiro closed his eyes, "Beautiful, gentle, yet strong-willed. I couldn't imagine life without Elbereth, to be honest. She cares about everyone, but she won't let anyone walk all over her. For someone that was born a princess, she's quite independent, though that's less rebelliousness and more a desire to be able to do things on her own. It's what I love about her. You'll meet her when we get home, I promise." Alpha nodded, "I can't wait." Yoshiro turned to look forward, "Neither can I."
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#54 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 53

Julius landed in the front yard of the mansion that Yoshiro and Elbereth had set up their orphanage in. Yoshiro took off his helmet and noticed that the sun was starting to rise. Yoshiro turned around and looked at the other two and placed his finger to his lips. He quietly slid off Julius and discarded his armor. Swiftly and quietly moving, he entered the mansion without anyone noticing. He quietly walked up the stairs, knowing that the night staff would be working in the kitchen, allowing him to move unnoticed through the house. He walked over to his bedroom door and quietly opened it to see the sight of his beautiful wife still sleeping in the bed. He quietly walked inside and closed the door. He swiftly and quietly walked over to the side of the bed and sat down on it. He heard his wife stir, "Hunh?"

Yoshiro removed his shirt, "I'm back, my love." Elbereth bolted awake, "Yoshiro!?" Yoshiro turned around and smirked as much as his muzzle would allow him, "In the flesh, Elbereth." Elbereth hugged him from behind, "I haven't seen you in so long, how have you been? When you left here, Julius said that you were very depressed and when I last heard from you you were staying with Enaistiel!" Yoshiro smiled slightly and shape shifted his face back into the usual Elvish face that he had and kissed her on the lips, "I've missed you so much, Elbereth." Elbereth grabbed Yoshiro by the head and drew him into a deep kiss, pulling him down to the bed with her. Yoshiro gently broke the kiss, "I wish I could say that I'm staying, but I'm leaving after breakfast." Elbereth frowned, "Well, I suppose that's your job, I wish I could see you more often."

Yoshiro sat up, "Elbereth, I'm not going to be going far this time around, I'm just going to go to the Menschilche base that's been abandoned since the liberation war." Elbereth nodded slightly, "Are you sure that it isn't dangerous?" Yoshiro shrugged, "No one really goes there, but..." Yoshiro heard a timid voice speak up, "Excuse me, I hope I'm not interrupting anyone." Yoshiro recognized that voice, "Reiko, what are you doing here?" Reiko closed her eyes, "I'm sorry!" Yoshiro turned around to face his little sister, "Hey now, there's no need to be sorry." Reiko frowned as Yoshiro stood up, "Well, Killian is here as well." Yoshiro nodded, "Killian must be waiting for me, but he can wait for a moment." Yoshiro hugged his little sister with a smile, "I don't get to see you all that often, sis. How have you been lately?" Reiko hugged back silently.

Yoshiro frowned, "That bad, huh?" Reiko nodded and Yoshiro felt tears run down his shoulder, "You're not one to cry in front of anyone." Yoshiro felt Reiko's grip on his fur tighten and he placed his hand on the back of her head, stroking it gently, "There there, tell big brother what's wrong." Reiko pulled away, "I'm just glad that you're alright. When Yoshiko told us that you were heading to harpy territory, I feared the worst." Yoshiro blinked, he expected his father to tell the others. He broke the embrace and raised his voice, "Dad!" Akira didn't respond, so Yoshiro looked at Reiko, "Excuse me for a moment, I have to give our father a piece of my mind." Reiko moved out of the way and Yoshiro walked out of the room and down the hallway to the guest room. He came to the door that had Akira's scent on it and barged in.

Akira bolted awake and looked at him, "So you're back." Yoshiro folded his arms, "My little sister just cried, being relieved that I'm alright, why didn't you tell her that I am alive? You had an entire day to call them!" Akira looked somewhat annoyed, "I was busy with helping out around here, Yoshiro. I'm sorry that I didn't drop what I was doing and call up the family. That was your job." Yoshiro shrugged, "Fine, whatever. The point is, Father, I want you to accompany me." Akira got out of bed, "Where are you going, this time?" Yoshiro closed the door behind him and locked it, "Where you originally came from, Father." Akira didn't quite like that answer, but he understood that Yoshiro had his own reasons, "There's something there that you seek, isn't there?" Yoshiro nodded, "Project Tovenaar is there." Akira shook his head, "Impossible."

Yoshiro thumbed at the door, "You and I both know that the Menschilche could've added to the base as recently as a few hundred years ago." Akira knew that to be true, "So, who all is going to come with us into the base?" Yoshiro smiled, "Julius is going to be the only one accompanying us. I feel that it is fitting." Akira nodded, "Acceptable. When do you want to go?" Yoshiro shrugged, "As soon as I possibly can, Father." Akira nodded, "I'll be ready, will you be eating breakfast first?" Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Of course, Dad." Yoshiro turned around and opened the door to leave when Akira spoke up, "Yoshiro, you do know that sometimes, the answers you seek are not ones that you necessarily will want to find." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "I know, Father. Grandmother has been drilling that into my head for the past few days."

Akira nodded slightly and Yoshiro left the room to bump into Killian, "Oof!" Killian stumbled backwards and he nearly dropped a wrapped package. Yoshiro chuckled nervously, "Sorry about that, little brother." Killian grumbled, "I got you a new sword, it's not made of the material that you're used to, but..." Yoshiro grabbed the sword and knew by the weight that it was made of steel, "This will do for now." Killian nodded as Yoshiro pulled the sword from its scabbard and admired the craftsmanship. Yoshiro smiled slightly, "Your craftsmanship is as good as ever, my brother." Killian nodded, looking proud of his work, "I can forge just about any metal into a working weapon." Yoshiro looked at his brother, "Gold." Killian looked at him with a look of annoyance, "Gold can't create a proper weapon, big brother. You know that better than anyone." Yoshiro laughed, "Of course I do."

Killian sighed and folded his arms as Yoshiro attached the scabbard to his belt, "So where are you going next?" Yoshiro shrugged, "Father, Julius, and I are going to go to the old Menschilche base that no one's gone in for the past several centuries." Killian nodded, "There's something that you're looking for there, isn't there?" Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Everything that I have seen points to it, but I don't know if it really is there. Killian, can you do me a favor?" Killian nodded, "Of course, Yoshiro." Yoshiro looked away, "Can you stick around here with Lilah and Alpha while I'm at the base?" Killian nodded slightly, "Alright then. But what about him?" Yoshiro turned to see who Killian pointed at, Balthoron was standing there, looking groggy. Yoshiro was slightly surprised to see his son there. Balthoron yawned and walked past them, "Hello Uncle Killian, hello Father."

Killian nodded, "Hello, Balthoron." Balthoron walked down the hallway and stopped. He turned around and looked at them, "Father, you're back!" Yoshiro folded his arms, "Why are you here and not at the university, Balthoron?" Balthoron frowned, "It's winter break, Father. It's really good to see you again, are you going to be staying for very long?" Yoshiro shook his head, "I'm going to go to the abandoned Menschilche base, then after that I'm going to come back here and file for shore leave. I'm tired of being away from my home and my family, surely I can be given at least a year of leave to spend with you guys." Balthoron nodded, "Can I come with you to the Menschilche base?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Not this time. Maybe when I know there aren't any defenses that are still active. Right now, it's too dangerous for you, which is why I'm taking your grandfather and Julius with me."

Balthoron was disappointed, he wanted to spend some time with his father, but Yoshiro placed his hand on Balthoron's shoulder, "When I get back, we'll go to the park, alright? Just the two of us." Balthoron nodded slightly, "Dad, it is good to see you again." Yoshiro hugged Balthoron, "Well, I'll be here until after breakfast, so you'll get to see me up until then. Then after that you'll be able to see me when I get back home. If you don't feel like I'm going to return, though." Yoshiro removed the pendant from around his neck and handed it to him, "Take this, believe me, as long as you are in possession of this, I will do everything that I can in my power to return, so that I will be able to reclaim it." Balthoron looked down at the pendant, "Thank you, Dad." Yoshiro smiled, "It's not a problem, my son."
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#55 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 54

Yoshiro sat in the living room of the mansion, he was waiting for breakfast to be finished, but also knew that the help he and Elbereth had hired were working extra hard as they had guests as well. Yoshiro closed his eyes to start to meditate when he heard the voice of a little girl speak up, "Mister Yoshiro, is that really you?" Yoshiro opened his eyes to see a young Mus girl standing there holding a stuffed toy, "Sure is, Karita." Karita tried to climb onto the couch, but she was still too short. Yoshiro smiled and picked her up, placing her in his lap. She hugged him as best she could, "I'm glad that you are alright, Mister Yoshiro." Yoshiro nodded, "I guess neither Elbereth nor Father told anyone that I'm alright." Karita let go of Yoshiro and climbed down to sit next to him, "Will you be staying?"

Yoshiro shook his head, "I have to go take care of some grown up business with my father and Julius, but after that, I'll be here for a good long while." Karita nodded slightly, "My stuffed toy broke, I was wondering if you could fix it." Yoshiro took the toy from her as she handed it to him and he looked to see that there was indeed a rip on the back. Yoshiro looked at her, "I sure can." Yoshiro stood up and walked over to a cupboard, he opened it and grabbed a needle and a color of thread to match the color of the toy. He placed the toy down on the shelf of the cupboard and time slowed down from his perspective. This was a deliberate choice on his part as he always found threading a needle to be extremely frustrating. Thanks to his slowed perception of time though, he was able to thread it successfully.

He immediately stopped the time dilation and swiftly got to work on patching up the stuffed toy. It didn't take him long and when he was done, he cut the thread and placed the thread and the needle back in the box where he got it. He closed the cupboard and walked back over to her with her stuffed toy and she grabbed it from him with a smile, "Thank you, Mister Yoshiro!" Yoshiro laughed a little as he sat back down and ruffled her hair, "When you have a résumé like mine, you generally pick up quite a few skills, most of them necessary for survival in a survival situation." Karita smiled, "I wanna be just like you when I grow up!" Yoshiro shook his head, "Be yourself, don't be me." Karita nodded slightly, "But what if I want to be an explorer like you?"

Yoshiro smiled, "Well, it is a dreadfully boring job." Karita looked down, "Mister Yoshiro, what does... res-u-may mean?" Yoshiro smiled, "A résumé is a document detailing a summary of one's work experience. My work experience is varied and I have quite the background, which makes me desirable by employers. Well it would, if I wasn't running my own business in addition to exploring the galaxy." Karita looked at him, "Why do you do that?" Yoshiro laughed, "Nothing that you guys eat is free, nothing in here is free. While we do receive royal funding because we're a public orphanage, it makes life easier if I work a couple of jobs in order to provide you guys with a good living. Though I don't really work at the cafe, I mostly just do the paperwork required to keep it in business. Boring stuff, but necessary."

Karita nodded slightly, "What was Mom like?" Yoshiro closed his eyes, he brought forth the memories of Kari, "Kari Fretheim was... she was an amazing woman. She was brave and caring. Her squadron came first and foremost. Your father was a courageous man as well and I wish that he lived to see you be born." Karita frowned, but Yoshiro continued, "Your mother always cared about her allies and her last words were to me. She wanted me to take care of you and raise you. My experience as a father and a leader was what had her mind be set. It was... painful watching her die giving birth to you, but her final wish was granted." Karita frowned, "Mommy died giving birth to me? So it's my fault that she..." Yoshiro shook his head, "Going into labor merely expedited the process. She was going to pass away regardless."

Karita frowned, "What does expedited mean?" Yoshiro opened his eyes, "The process was made faster, much faster. Your mother was badly injured to start with and we weren't going to be able to get her the proper medical attention in time. But she was willing to take that risk, even while pregnant with you, to save the lives of everyone on the ship. If it weren't for her actions, possibly neither you nor I would be here right now. I owe her my life, and what better way to repay that debt than to raise her only child." Karita nodded slightly, "You really liked my mother, didn't you?" Yoshiro laughed, "As I said, your mother was an amazing person and I regret not being able to save her life. Though if you ask me, it should've been me and not her." Karita frowned, "Don't talk like that, Mister Yoshiro!"

Yoshiro placed his hand on her cheek to wipe away the tear that fell from her eye, "A good commanding officer regrets the loss of the people who work for him. They will always naturally wish that it was them in the place of any of the men or women who have fallen in the line of duty while working for them. It doesn't change how I feel about you or your mother. Your mother was a great friend of mine and it is truly an honor to be the surrogate father of her only child." Karita sniffled and Yoshiro drew her into a hug, "Let it all out, little one. It's okay to cry." Karita's tears stained Yoshiro's shoulder fur and he stroked the back of her head, "If you ever want to call me your father, I will not mind. I'm sure Elbereth wouldn't mind adopting you into our family."

Karita sniffled, "You're so kind to all of us orphans." Yoshiro nodded, "Yep, and any one of them that has the chance to go to a new and loving home will get that chance. That's how an orphanage works, but you, you're special. I've been raising you since the day you were born. You'll grow up to make your biological parents proud, little one. I promise you that." Karita looked into Yoshiro's eyes, "Do you really mean that, Mister Yoshiro?" Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Of course, little one." Karita wiped her tears, "What if I don't?" Yoshiro smirked, "The only way you could do that is if you were to follow in her footsteps. She wanted you to know what it's like to live as a civilian, she wanted you to live a peaceful life." Karita nodded, "Then I want to grow up to be a teacher!" Yoshiro smiled, "You'll have to go to school for that."

Karita frowned, "Aww, but I don't like school. The kids pick on me for being a Mus." Yoshiro laughed slightly as he remembered his old days back in school, "Bigger kids used to pick on me all the time. Walthari got suspended a lot as he would fight my battles for me. It was difficult, but I didn't want to fight. I was just like my little sister, I hated violence. The kids would pick on me more and more because of that. Eventually... I got fed up with it. I wanted to run away, but Mom wouldn't let me." Karita frowned, "What happened to your bullies?" Yoshiro thought for a moment, "Most of them went on to get some well paying jobs. A few of them are struggling to this day. One of them is the owner of a business and the last one's dead."

Karita nodded, "What happened to that one." Yoshiro didn't want to tell her that he shot him in the head because he was a mercenary on the enemy's side during a war, "He died in battle." Karita nodded slightly, "Death happens a lot in war, doesn't it?" Yoshiro nodded, "People who fight in war both witness it and cause it. It is one of the biggest tragedies that someone can go through and it is why your biological mother wants you to stay as far away from it as you can." Karita nodded and one of the servants called, "Breakfast is ready!" Karita hopped down, "Yay! Breakfast!" Yoshiro stood up and followed her into the dining room. As Karita sat in her seat, Yoshiro sat in his. Within moments, the entire dining room was filled with people and the help brought food in. Everyone started eating their meal, but Yoshiro and Akira ate more so that they would have some extra energy for their journey into the Menschilche base.
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#56 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 55

Yoshiro, Akira, and Julius stood in front of the entrance to the Menschilche base that lie within the Kitsune Kingdom. Akira didn't look too comfortable being here and Yoshiro noticed this, "You can stay here if you want, Father. I'm fairly sure that Julius and myself will be able to handle whatever goes on in that base." Akira shook his head, "Just some horrible memories is all." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Would you like to talk about them." Akira shook his head, "Not particularly, no." Yoshiro pointed into the base itself, "Like I said, if you need to stay out here, Julius and I can take care of this." Akira sat down on the remains of a low wall, "Yoshiro, how do you know that you're not going to waste your time here?" Yoshiro turned to look his father in the eyes, "Simple. We either find Tovenaar or we don't. I go home either way."

Akira laughed as he realized that he was beaten, "Well then, I see that you're not going to give up on this search. Alright then, let me tell you why there isn't any secret sub-base here." Yoshiro rolled his eyes, "You were created at this base, Father." Akira shook his head, "Not entirely. I was conceived and born just like anyone else on the planet. The difference is, what my mother thought was a routine checkup by the Menschilche was to genetically alter me into a bioweapon. I was changed into Project Kawal, I wasn't conceived as it." Akira looked at his hand and closed it, slamming it into the wall with enough force to break the wall, "My strength, my durability, my speed, and my endurance. Even the sped up healing and reactions come from their alterations. I was supposed to just be a Kitsune Warblood."

Julius nodded to confirm, "I remember hearing about that from my great-grandfather." Akira smirked, "I never encountered Bahamut until after I started a family with Minako. We were once enemies, but I fortunately never had a run in with him at that particular time of my life. I am the reason though that Bruno became the Lupine king." Yoshiro was mildly curious about this, "What did you do to cause him to become the king?" Akira looked away from him, "I fought him. Over and over again, the two of us clashed. I had no idea why I couldn't bring myself to just shoot him even if it was just to end the fighting between an unruly Verbanan and myself. Perhaps I was so elated that finally, a single Verbanan gave me a challenge, that I couldn't kill what I considered to be a worthy opponent. He is one of the few people I went all out on and couldn't kill."

Yoshiro couldn't believe it, Bruno and his father used to fight, just how old was Bruno if that was the case. Akira smiled slightly, "Did you know that Bruno used to have a sister?" Yoshiro looked at him, "You didn't... did you?" Akira shook his head, though he wore a smile, Yoshiro could tell by his voice, he was somewhat distraught, "A group of Menschilche decided to execute Bruno's sister. By the time Bruno got onto the scene, he saw me tearing apart the Menschilche who did it. I silently walked past Bruno, knowing he was my out in that situation, but he grabbed me and angrily told me to tell him what happened to his sister. I told him to check the wounds on his sister to find out her real killer. I didn't have a gun on me."

Akira frowned and his voice became solemn, "Bruno swore vengeance on the Menschilche. I had never seen him go all out before, it took everything I had just to stay alive, Yoshiro. Sure, I broke the wall that I'm sitting on, but this wall has been neglected for over seven hundred years. Erosion and nature have been weakening the structural integrity of the wall itself. The attack that I dodged from Bruno put a hole through the wall I was near. Yoshiro, you may have trained with him, but I was on the wrong side of his strength." Julius folded his arms, "That doesn't explain how you were behind him becoming a king." Akira looked over at Julius, "I was getting to that part." Akira turned back to Yoshiro, "After barely winning that fight, I told Bruno that the only way he'd make a difference is with an army."

Yoshiro closed his eyes and nodded slightly, "That would make sense as to why Bruno desired the throne. However, he didn't ascend to the throne until the Liberation War was over." Akira stood up, "Yes, that is true. Which is why he developed a more peaceful outlook for his kingdom." Yoshiro opened his eyes, "So are we going to enter the base or not?" Akira nodded, "After you, Yoshiro." Yoshiro looked over to Julius who just shrugged at him. Yoshiro turned towards the Menschilche base and finally took his first step. Something didn't quite feel entirely right about being here, something that he couldn't quite explain. Akira placed his hand on Yoshiro's shoulder, "You got Julius and myself for backup. Trust me, my son. Neither of us are going to let anything happen to you." Yoshiro turned his head and nodded slightly as he continued to walk into the base itself.

The emergency lighting was on, which painted the entire base in an eerie shade of red. Yoshiro found the remains of bodies on the floor and could tell that there were splatters of blood on the walls. This place, like most of the other Menschilche bases that he had entered had become a graveyard. Everyone here had died, but not only the people who staffed and defended the base. Yoshiro recognized some Verbanan remains as well. He walked through the hallway, making his way towards a lift, which he hoped still worked. Naturally, with the base being on emergency power, it didn't work. Yoshiro looked at his father and Akira nodded. He tore the door open and the three of them looked down the shaft. There wasn't any way for them to climb down safely. Yoshiro looked at Akira, "Well Julius can fly the two of us down, but aside from that..."

Akira nodded and looked at Julius, "Would you be willing to?" Julius nodded and hugged Yoshiro from behind. The two of them walked into the shaft and Julius flapped his wings to slow their descent. When they reached the bottom of the shaft, Julius let Yoshiro go and Yoshiro grabbed the doors to the lift shaft as Julius flew back up. Yoshiro pulled them open and immediately noticed that this level of the base wasn't on emergency lighting. In fact, it looked damn near brand new. Yoshiro heard Julius bring Akira down and he held the doors open for them as the two of them ducked under his arms to get into the hallway. Yoshiro moved into the hallway and let go of the doors, allowing them to close behind him. Akira looked around, "This wasn't here when I was living at this base... at least if it was, I don't remember."

Julius nodded, "This place looks like it was constructed a little bit before the Liberation War." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Everything is so pristine and untouched, as if this place was designed to be..." Yoshiro trailed off as he turned to see a genetics laboratory to his right, "That." Akira looked at it and he shook his head, "I do not think that we would find our answers in there. Call it a hunch, but..." Yoshiro didn't listen, he walked over to the genetics lab and punched the glass that made the window. His hand slammed into the glass and all that happened was he hurt his hand. Yoshiro shook his hand as he pulled it back, "Yeah, guess we're not going to go into that entrance." Yoshiro walked over to the door and forced it open. It closed and locked behind him as soon as he walked in and he held his breath fearing gas.

The gas didn't come. This confused Yoshiro, who heard a loud metallic crunching sound as the door was broken off. Julius tossed the door behind him, "What?" Yoshiro blinked and Julius shook his head, "Conservation of mass. I'm as strong as I am in my dragon form, while I am in this alternate Kitsune form. You of all people should know that." Yoshiro blinked, "But even so..." Akira cleared his throat, "I was the one that broke the door, Julius just removed it for me." Yoshiro nodded as that made more sense. Yoshiro walked to the back of the genetics research laboratory. He knew that this is where they were planning on making more bioweapons, but he couldn't tell which ones. At the end of the lab, he came to a door and a scanner opened up. Yoshiro watched as it scanned him and he became defensive, remembering the last time he was in one of these labs.

Suddenly a hologram of a Menschilche that he didn't recognize appeared before him, "Hello. If you are hearing this message, you have been seeking Tovenaar. Before we go on, I will answer the question that you have been asking. No, you will not find Tovenaar within this base." Yoshiro was confused, but as he turned around, feeling like he wasted his time, the voice spoke up again, "Figured it out yet, Son of Kawal. The reason you won't find Tovenaar here is because you brought him here." Yoshiro was confused and turned around to look at the hologram itself, but he wasn't prepared for the next words to be spoken by the hologram, "Yes, Son of Kawal. You did indeed bring Tovenaar here. You've always been traveling with him." Yoshiro thought the hologram was referring to Julius, but then his eyes widened as the hologram finished, "You are Tovenaar."
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#57 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 56

None of the three could believe what they heard, but the hologram turned to Akira, "Hello Kawal." The hologram faced Julius, "And I see that you brought a dragon here. I assume that he is your prisoner." Yoshiro looked at Julius and Julius nodded, though he didn't seem to be happy about the whole thing. Yoshiro turned to look at the hologram, "The Menschilche-Dragon wars have been over for a very long time, the Menschilche have lost. Do you detect any life in the facility besides the three of us?" The hologram flickered slightly and then responded, "When I was last active, this facility was teeming with life now there is only one other life form, and the signal is weak." Akira spoke up, "You're the hologram of the Menschilche scientist who created me, aren't you?" The Hologram nodded, "I am the simulated intelligence based off of your creator and the creator of Kawal."

Akira looked at Yoshiro, "Careful, she's a crafty one." Yoshiro was confused, "What is Tovenaar, exactly?" The door opened, "Come in and find out." Yoshiro walked into the room, before Akira or Julius could walk in, the door slammed shut and locked. The hologram appeared in the middle of the room, "Come, do not worry, there isn't any nerve gas here." Yoshiro walked to the hologram and suddenly he felt an unnatural rush of magic trying to enter his body. The Magatama that he was wearing was glowing and his body felt like it was on fire. He fell to his hands and knees as he felt his face shapeshift involuntarily. The pain was absolutely unbearable as he watched his fur color change from its usual winter white to a golden color. Soon, he felt tail after tail start growing from his lower back and then he passed out.

When he came to again he picked himself back up and looked at his body, "What... what happened." The hologram frowned, "It is a shame, you are a failed prototype. Scans indicate your magical prowess has been increased greatly, but you do not have control over all of the different elements of magic." Yoshiro looked at the hologram, "How do I turn back?" The hologram waved its hand and he immediately felt the magic leave his body as he had intended. His body shapeshifted back to its normal self and he shook his head to try to clear it of the pain, "What do you mean that I'm a failed prototype." The hologram shook its head, "Your Fenikkusu DNA doesn't allow you to access all of the elements, meaning you would be inefficient in your role of killing Dragons." Yoshiro glared at the hologram, "I refuse that role."

The hologram shrugged, "The person I am based off of conceived the project that led to your creation for the express purpose of killing Dragons. Are you going to go against your purpose as a weapon?" Yoshiro stood up straight, "Even if it means my death, I will not harm a Dragon." The hologram closed its eyes, "I see. So then you leave me without any choice." Yoshiro braced himself to be attacked by something or someone, but then a new hologram appeared, it was of Seth, "Hello Yoshiro. If you're talking to this simulated intelligence, then I'm already dead. You seem to have two guests with you, allow me to open the door for them." Yoshiro turned and watched as the door opened, Akira and Julius walked into the room and he expected the door to close, but it didn't. Seth's hologram spoke up, "You might be wondering why I'm here."

Yoshiro turned around, "That'd be a great place to start, yes." The hologram smiled slightly, "Simple, during my creator's visits to Verbana, he figured out what you were. He was originally a spy, but he deliberately destroyed the information regarding you being Tovenaar. He wanted you to lead a normal life, but his younger brother got involved." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "So, I've been spied on by the Menschilche my entire life?" The hologram shook its head, "Only Seth was a spy. Noah was simply looking to avenge his brother's death. According to the records that Noah installed into my databanks, he trusted you above all else to raise his grandchildren. I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask about yourself." Julius stepped forth, "All Menschilche bioweapon projects are designed to kill Dragons, correct." The hologram nodded and Julius turned to Yoshiro. Yoshiro didn't show nor feel a hint of fear.

Julius smiled slightly, "Glad to know that you bucked your entire purpose as a weapon." Yoshiro shrugged, "As my father has demonstrated, we are only weapons when we allow ourselves to be used as such." Akira turned his head to look at him, "You are taking this being a bioweapon rather well, don't you think?" Yoshiro shrugged, "I got shapeshifted against my will, I honestly don't have any doubts about the validity of the claims of me being Tovenaar." Akira turned completely, "Do you have any problems with this at all?" Yoshiro looked at Julius, "Do you?" Julius shook his head, "You have proven time and time again that you are an ally of the Dragons. We have even gone so far as to accept you into our number as part of our family." Yoshiro turned back to Akira, "He doesn't have a problem, why should I?"

Akira was annoyed at this, "The Menschilche have literally tried to dictate your own destiny since before you were born." The Seth hologram looked to Akira, "Kawal, you were the one that gave him the genetic material required to be Tovenaar, you are just as guilty as the people who started the project." Akira looked at his hand, "Wait, what does that mean?" Seth's hologram shook its head, "Simple, really. You are part Fenikkusu, but since your holy blood were to remain active, you were chosen to be a vector to see if you could father children of a different bioweapon project. In your case, it was to see if you could father a Tovenaar and it seems like the project was successful. Though the Menschilche will never find out the true success of the project." Akira nodded slightly, "Doesn't explain why you're still so calm about this, Yoshiro."

Yoshiro shrugged, "I've been fighting and killing ever since the Kitsune Civil War. You know this better than anyone else, Father." Akira frowned, "Are you even worried that one of your own children may have inherited your genetic traits?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Even if they did inherit the minuscule amount of Fenikkusu DNA within me. They wouldn't have awoken as Tovenaar, they are limited in their capability to shapeshift, only able to do the same involuntary shapeshifting that their mother is capable of." Julius nodded slightly, "Akira, you are being overly paranoid, is something wrong?" Akira nodded, "Of course there is something wrong. I used to live in this very base, I used to be abused in this very base. I was treated as nothing more than a weapon and I thought myself as a tool until Minako proved to me otherwise. Seeing my own son accept this is just..."

Yoshiro interrupted Akira, "I am not a weapon, nor am I a tool. I chose to fight in combat. It was thanks to the efforts of you and many others that despite being a bioweapon, I got a choice in life. This doesn't change anything, I'm still the same Yoshiro Miyamae that I always was." Akira looked away, "I suppose you're right about that." Akira turned to the hologram, "Where is the cryo storage facility in this place." Seth's hologram waved his hand and opened a door. Yoshiro looked inside and saw a single pod in the middle of the room. Akira closed his eyes, "Bring it to me." The pod was picked up by a robotic claw and brought into the room before the three of them. Akira deactivated the stasis field on the pod and opened the door, "As I thought, it is you... Faddei."

Faddei opened his eyes, the Elderly Menschilche laughed, "Kawal, you have finally..." Faddei didn't get a chance to finish as Akira violently tore him from the pod and slammed onto the ground, strangling the Menschilche with his bare hands. Yoshiro grabbed Akira's shoulder, "Father, that's enough!" Akira kept at it and Yoshiro slugged his own father. Akira let go and looked at Yoshiro, "You dare interrupt me?" Yoshiro looked at Faddei and picked him up, the elderly Menschilche coughed and Yoshiro looked into his eyes, "You... who are you?" Faddei weakly spoke, "I am the commander of this base." Yoshiro looked at Julius and then back, "The war is over. If you choose to continue fighting, I will allow my father to do what he was planning on doing. If you choose to stop, I will let you return to your crumbled empire." Faddei coughed and spat in Yoshiro's face, "Alright then."

Yoshiro tossed Faddei to Akira, who promptly broke Faddei's neck and then strangled the remaining life out of him. Yoshiro didn't turn away and neither did Julius. The Seth hologram spoke up, "Yoshiro, you have probably already figured it out, but you lack access to five of the magical elements when you are in your awakened form." Yoshiro nodded, "Dark, water, and anything that mixes with either of them, I know." The Seth hologram nodded, "I have served my purpose. I will now shut down." The hologram shut off and Yoshiro looked at the others, "Come on, let's go back home." The three of them walked out of the room and through the lab. As they reached the lift shaft, Julius grabbed Yoshiro, but Yoshiro shook his head, "Take my father up there first. The sooner he's out of here, the better off he'll be." Julius nodded and grabbed Akira, the two of them flying up the shaft. Before Yoshiro could even breathe a sigh of relief, he felt the barrel of a gun be pressed up against his head, "Hello, Father."
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#58 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 57

Yoshiro went to turn his head to face his son, but the voice spoke up, "Don't move. Hands in the air!" Yoshiro lifted his hands into the air, he knew that he didn't have control over the situation, and any attempts at struggle or disobedience would result in patricide. The voice spoke up, "Good, get on your knees." Yoshiro did as the voice commanded. The voice hissed at him as the source of it walked to the front of him, "I've been searching for Tovenaar for years now and I never would've guessed that it was the man who adopted me. Grandfather was very knowledgeable about you, he must have known." Yoshiro remained in the same position and didn't respond. The voice spoke up, "Are you going to say anything in your defense?" Yoshiro had a single thought in his head and spoke it, "Isn't it a little ironic that a bioweapon is trying to kill another bioweapon, Sven."

Sven pistol whipped him against the side of his head, but Yoshiro's head merely returned to the same position it was in, "I can tell that you're crying, Sven. I know that you don't really want to go through with this." Sven cried out, "Shut up!" Yoshiro nodded towards the lift shaft, "At any moment, Julius is going to come down and see you holding me hostage, what do you think he's going to do to you when he sees this, Sven. Are you willing to throw your own life away in order to fulfill some mission given to you by a race that discarded your people?" Sven did a half turn and looked at the list while keeping his gun's barrel pressed against Yoshiro's head, "Now I'll be able to..." Yoshiro interrupted him, "Do you think Julius would let you live to report my death, Sven?"

Sven hissed at him, "Shut up! You don't know what's going on?" Yoshiro called out, "How much did they pay you, son!?" Sven wasn't too happy with being asked that, but he still knew that he was in control of the situation. Unfortunately for him, Julius showed up at that moment, with Akira. Akira looked at Sven, "Little ironic that..." Yoshiro interrupted him, "I already did that bit." Akira shrugged, "Oh well. Sven, put the damn gun down." Sven pressed the gun harder against Yoshiro's head, "I'm the one in control of the situation here." Julius folded his arms, "The only way you walk out of this situation alive is if you drop the gun." Yoshiro noticed that Sven was distracted, so he opened his mind and concentrated as hard as he could, forcing his mana to flow into the gun itself.

Sven looked at Julius and Akira, "Uncle Julius, Grandfather, you're both going to let this bioweapon live?" Akira shrugged, "I'm one myself, and Julius here has known him longer than you have been alive. Yoshiro isn't the..." In the middle of Akira's sentence, Yoshiro solidified the Mana, annihilating the gun as Akira continued, "...kind of person to just find out that he's a bioweapon and accept that as his destiny." Sven noticed his gun was lighter and turned to see Yoshiro standing up. He pulled the trigger, but nothing came out, so he dropped the gun and grabbed at Yoshiro. Yoshiro grabbed back and unfortunately for Sven, was not only stronger than him, but faster as well. Yoshiro quickly twisted Sven's arm behind his back and whispered into his son's ear, "The only reason you're not dead right now is because of me. Julius wants to kill you and Father has no qualms."

Sven struggled, "Let me go." Yoshiro looked down at his son, "I don't want to kill you, nor do I want to get you killed. Do you understand what I mean by that?" Sven hissed, "Let go of me!" Yoshiro muttered, "If I let go of you, you will die, is that clear." Sven noticed a change in his father's tone of voice, "Who is going to kill me?" Yoshiro spoke coldly, "I have never given thought to killing one of my own children, however, if you want to test how far my tolerance for you trying to kill me or anyone else in this room will go, Sven." Yoshiro didn't finish and he felt Sven continue his struggle, "I have to stop the bioweapons on Verbana!" Yoshiro recognized that particular line, "You work for Takeshi now, don't you?" Sven's eyes widened, "How do you know?" Yoshiro closed his eyes, "I'm sorry, my son."

Yoshiro wrapped his arm around Sven's neck and started squeezing tightly, Sven struggled as hard as he could at first, but Yoshiro kept a firm grip on him. Yoshiro didn't like doing this anymore than Sven liked going through it. Sven's struggling slowed down and eventually stopped. Yoshiro felt Sven's heartbeat through his arm and could feel it slow down from its increased rate. Sven's body suddenly went limp and Yoshiro let go, allowing the body of his son to fall to the ground, "For what you have attempted here, you will spent the rest of your life in a rehabilitation facility, or until you stop trying to kill others in cold blood." Yoshiro picked up his son's body and looked at Julius, "Can you take him up there... without mauling him to death or anything?" Julius nodded, "Won't like it, but I'll do it."

Yoshiro handed Sven's body to Julius who entered the shaft and flew back up. Akira looked at Yoshiro, "You seemed awfully calm about strangling your own son." Yoshiro nodded, "Because I knew I wasn't going to kill him. Kitsune martial arts focuses heavily on kicks and grappling maneuvers, remember, Father?" Akira nodded, "I remember, but you never seemed to be one for kicks." Yoshiro shrugged, "Never really liked em." Akira nodded slightly, "Did you know that he was here?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Somehow, I didn't pick up anything, not even his scent." Julius came back down and Yoshiro looked at Akira, "Go up with Julius." Akira looked at Yoshiro, "What about you?" Yoshiro closed his mind and turned away from the shaft, "I'll stay here, but this time, I'm going to see if anyone fool enough is around here to try to take me hostage again." Akira nodded and let Julius fly him up to the entrance floor.

Yoshiro looked down the pristine looking hallways, he didn't quite like what had been going on, but he had accepted the fact that he was indeed Tovenaar. He looked at his hand, he was supposed to be a weapon, a tool to be used against the Dragons and discarded. Thanks to the efforts of the people who fought the liberation war, he went his entire life not knowing what he was and lived his life according to his own choosing. He smirked slightly, having the satisfaction that he got the last laugh on the Menschilche, yet another one of their bioweapons that didn't serve them, but then he realized something. Yoshiko would be a Tovenaar as well, she was a female clone of him. He heard a noise behind him and saw Julius standing there, "Julius, can we speak for a moment?"

Julius nodded, "Sure thing, what's on your mind?" Yoshiro looked at the ceiling, "I was just thinking about Yoshiko, do you think that she's like me, that she's a Tovenaar?" Julius nodded solemnly, "Yes, but the two of you have lived your lives away from Menschilche influence. The two of you have spent most of your lives here, and you have spent all of your life here. The difference between you and her though is that you were raised by a bioweapon that didn't want you to be a slave to the Menschilche. Though none of us knew what you really were, you seemed to follow the same path he took, even if you didn't follow in his footsteps. Your father didn't want you to live the life he lived, even if fighting and killing are what you are best at." Yoshiro nodded, "I understand, Julius, thank you."

Julius walked over and hugged Yoshiro, "Ready to go to the surface?" Yoshiro nodded, "As much as I like pristine, clean bases, I just want to get out of here." Julius nodded and both of them entered the shaft. Julius flew the two of them up to surface level and Yoshiro saw his father standing there with his son, who had been placed in handcuffs. Sven looked at him, "You'll never get away with this!" Julius let go of Sven, "Father, please take him to the Rehabilitation center near here, I'll file for his transfer to the moon." Sven's eyes widened and Yoshiro merely walked past him, "You are my son and I still love you, but you have committed several crimes today, I'm sorry, Sven." Akira nodded and lifted Sven over his shoulder, walking out of the base. Yoshiro looked at Julius, "Let's go home, I need to talk to Yoshiko and invite her over to our place."
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#59 Post by Akira110 »

Chapter 58

Yoshiro sat within the living room of his house, he had called up Yoshiko a couple of days ago and she was supposed to be here today. He looked at his cup of coffee and picked it up, sniffing the coffee. The aroma was rich and told him that it was just as he liked it, black and heavily concentrated. He took a sip of his coffee and enjoyed how strong it was. He heard the door open and his head turned to see a Lupine enter, "Hello, Bruno. Make yourself at home." Bruno nodded slightly, "Actually, Master Erasmus and I have come to talk to you for a bit." Yoshiro raised his cup of coffee and motioned towards the couch he was on, "We can talk here, in the living room." Bruno walked over to him, with Erasmus right behind him. Erasmus sat down in a chair, leaning so that he wouldn't be pressing his wings against the back of the chair.

Bruno sat down in a different chair, "We heard about everything that you have done, Yoshiro." Yoshiro chuckled slightly, the Magatama still hanging around his neck, "Whatever do you mean?" Erasmus narrowed his eyes slightly, "Do not play coy with us, Yoshiro. You have been going around the world, opening the Menschilche bases that have been left undisturbed for hundreds of years. Do you have a reason for doing this?" Yoshiro nodded, "Of course I have a reason for this." Erasmus looked at him with a frown, "What was your reason." Yoshiro placed his coffee down and turned his head to look at him, "Master, my entire reasoning was originally to find answers about my father, you and Bruno remember my father, don't you?" Bruno nodded, he remembered Kawal very well, "Yes, I do. I remember fighting him when we were both younger."

Erasmus nodded, "I too encountered your father when we were younger, I told him to get off of my mountain or I'd throw him off, but he sought out my guidance. I refused to teach him, so he left. I had no idea that I would later teach his son." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Later on, I found out about another Menschilche bioweapon..." Erasmus nodded, "I've known, all along, Yoshiro." Yoshiro couldn't believe what he heard, "How did you find out?" Erasmus shrugged, "I can sense magic, your flow is more powerful than most and your alternate form is the Fenikkusu, it wasn't too hard to put two and two together. I didn't tell you because you seemed better off not knowing the truth about what you are, Yoshiro. Seeing you as you are now, though, I feel like I could've told you and it wouldn't have made much of a difference."

Yoshiro nodded as Bruno spoke up, "Tell me, Yoshiro. Since you now have this knowledge, what do you plan on doing with it?" Yoshiro looked over to Bruno, "Simple, I'm going to have a talk with my clone. I'm a failed prototype, but if she's my clone, then perhaps her DNA was altered just enough to make her a successful prototype. It's not like the Menschilche to just repeat the same thing all over again." Yoshiro heard a knock at the door and spoke up, "Come in." The door opened and Yoshiko spoke up, "Oh. I didn't know that Bruno and Erasmus were here. Hello to the both of you." Erasmus looked at her, "Hello, Yoshiko. Do not mind us, we're just talking with my student is all." Yoshiko nodded and walked over to the living room, sitting in a chair and putting her bag on the floor, "Alright then, Yoshiro, you said you wanted to talk."

Yoshiro nodded as he looked at Yoshiko, "You were created and raised by the Menschilche, correct?" Yoshiko nodded, "Yes, I was created from your DNA, with minor alterations to make me female." Yoshiro nodded, "Alright then. I asked Grandmother if I could borrow these for an experiment." Yoshiro pulled out Yata no Kagami, removed Yasakani no Magatama from his neck and handed them to her before he reached for Kusanagi, "Are you ready for this, Yoshiko?" Yoshiko looked a little nervous, "I've never gotten to hold a single one of these artifacts, but now I'm holding two of them." Yoshiro nodded, "I just have one more to hand you. This is merely a hunch, but... it's up to you, I want to know if you'll be willing to go through with it." Yoshiko looked at little nervous, but she nodded, "I trust you."

Yoshiro handed Kusanagi to Yoshiko and almost immediately, her fur turned golden as her eyes changed to amber. Yoshiro noticed that she didn't grow any extra tails and her body remained mostly the same. Erasmus spoke up, "They did alter her DNA more than any of us thought. The reason you grow extra tails, Yoshiro is because your DNA isn't compatible with the change they sought. But Yoshiko here... it's merely a hunch, but I think they replaced the Fenikkusu DNA with Fairy DNA." Yoshiko looked at her hand, "What... happened?" Yoshiro looked into her eyes, "Do not be alarmed, but you and I were supposed to be bioweapons. I had the pleasure of being far removed from the Menschilche, while you were raised by someone who wanted you to live your own life and choose your own path." Yoshiko was visibly upset, "Bioweapons?"

Yoshiro nodded, "It is not all bad, Yoshiko. All that means is that we were genetically engineered... well I was genetically engineered to serve as a weapon for the Menschilche military. You just happen to be a clone of mine whose mother was adopted by my grandmother and thus legally are my cousin. However, the minor alteration in your DNA suggests that your father was a scientist and wanted to see if the Tovenaar project would succeed. If you ask me, Cornelis wanted you to have this in order to be able to defend yourself if the Menschilche tried to hunt you down." Bruno nodded slightly, "Yoshiro, your hypothesis does have some merit, but..." Yoshiro looked at Bruno, "I've spoken to Cornelis before he left this planet. He defected from his own faction because he couldn't agree with their methods or their purpose." Bruno shrugged, "If you say so."

Erasmus closed his eyes and felt out Yoshiko's mana, "Her mana is Null." Yoshiro and Yoshiko were confused, but Yoshiro was the one that spoke, "You mean that she has no mana?" Erasmus shook his head, "Her mana has no element, it's pure mana. Meaning she can give it any element that she wishes and shape it how she wants. It's the most powerful, but rare element in the world. Only fairies and deities of magic show this element, but somehow they managed to give her the ability to have it." Yoshiko looked at them, "So what does this mean for me?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Nothing, it just means that you're biologically engineered to be a Tovenaar. You're still free to choose your own path in life, to follow the path you want to take." Yoshiko nodded slightly, "I don't really like the feeling of this, can I go back to normal?"

Yoshiro nodded and took Magatama from her, Yoshiko returned to normal and she looked around, "So I guess none of this will leave this room?" Yoshiro nodded, "Like I said, Yoshiko, your life is yours to follow. Your path is yours to choose, same with me." Yoshiko nodded at that, she was quite relieved that she would still have control over her own destiny, "When you spoke to Cornelis, did he say anything about me?" Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah, that he loved you and he wanted you to live your life here and be happy amongst the Kitsune people. I thought we've already gone over this, Yoshiko." Yoshiko nodded, "Yeah, but I thought he might have said something else." Yoshiro shook his head, "Well, sorry to disappoint you, cousin." Yoshiko nodded with a slight smile, "That's alright, Yoshiro. Thank you for being honest with me, I'm going to head out now."

As Yoshiko got up, Bruno stood up as well, "I'm going to head out as well, Master Erasmus, will you be staying here?" Erasmus nodded, "For a moment, then I will head out." As the two of them headed out, Erasmus looked towards Yoshiro, "What is your plan for right now?" Yoshiro shrugged slightly, "I'm going to enjoy my vacation, I got a full year of shore leave." Erasmus nodded slightly, "Remember, my student. If you allow power to go to your head, it will begin to control you." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "This much I know, Master." Erasmus smiled, "That is good, though you accept the fact that you are this bioweapon, you seem to want no part of the destiny that the Menschilche tried to thrust upon you." Yoshiro laughed, "I lived my entire life in the company of dragons. You, Julius, Bahamut and the others are and always will be my friends and family." Erasmus nodded and stood up, placing a hand on Yoshiro's shoulder as he walked by, "I wish you the best of luck, my student." Yoshiro nodded as Erasmus left, "As I do with you, Master." Yoshiro looked to the holographic projector and turned it on, getting ready for his full year of shore leave.
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Re: Wandering Sorrows

#60 Post by Akira110 »

Epilogue

An elderly Kitsune walked through the hallways of the mansion, three hundred and twenty years have passed since Yoshiro had traveled all over Verbana and found out what he really was. It was quiet as no one was really awake at the moment. He didn't mind being woken up this early, but this time it was special, he had been summoned to the Temple of Death to speak with his great-grandmother. He looked back as he walked out the front door, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to have breakfast without me this morning." The Kitsune walked out of the mansion and quietly closed the door, he walked over to a Dragon and placed his hand on the Dragon's nose, "I'm sorry to wake you up this early, brother. But Great-grandmother has summoned me to her temple." The Dragon woke up and looked at Yoshiro, "It's raining and dark, you know that visibility is poor, correct?"

The Kitsune nodded, "Yes, I do, Julius." Julius stood up and shook himself off, "I'll take you there, then." The Kitsune climbed onto Julius' back. Julius took off and started flying over Honoo, the Kitsune looked down, the area around here had changed in the last few hundred years. He looked down at Julius, "Julius, I want you to know that no matter what happens, I want to thank you for always being there by my side." Julius nodded as the Kitsune took off his hood to allow the rain to hit him in the face and get into his hair. Julius merely spoke, "Yoshiro, do you think that something bad is going to happen?" Yoshiro nodded, "Great-grandmother doesn't really summon people to her temple to say hello, brother. I have this feeling that whatever she wants to talk about, it has to do with me or someone I care about."

Julius nodded slightly at this, he didn't like the answer that Yoshiro had given him, even if he knew it was true. As they left the city limits of Honoo, thunder started rumbling and Yoshiro saw flashes of lightning in the distance. Yoshiro suddenly felt strong winds hit them and he called out, "Julius, it's too dangerous for us to continue as we are. I'll go the rest of the way on foot." Julius nodded and landed, knowing that at their altitude, they would likely be struck by lightning. Yoshiro slid off Julius' back and placed his hand on Julius' leg, "If I'm not back by tomorrow, come looking for me, alright?" Julius nodded slightly as Yoshiro removed his hand from his leg and walked off into the forest. The wind was blowing quite strongly, but it was nothing that Yoshiro couldn't handle.

He knew that no one would be fool enough to try something in this weather, so he continued to walk in the direction of his great-grandmother's temple. He raised the hood of his cloak so that he wouldn't be soaked so badly when a bright flash of lightning streaked across the sky and a loud thunderclap sounded. Yoshiro knew that the storm was going to get worse, but knew that both he and Julius were grounded at this point. He also knew that being out here in the middle of the forest wasn't the brightest idea either, but he also knew that as long as he kept on the move, his chances of being hit by a tree were low. He continued the trek as the rain started pouring down harder, his night vision began to fail him and he opened his mind, concentrating a little bit and he made his hand glow with light magic.

He placed his hand in front of him and though it didn't greatly increase visibility, it did help him somewhat as he wasn't walking totally blind. He didn't like this ordeal and wished that his great-grandmother had picked a different time than this. Suddenly a bolt of lightning hit a tree, and Yoshiro watched as it fell to the ground in front of him, the rain started putting the fire out. Yoshiro placed his hands near the fire to warm up slightly and dry himself off just a little, even though with the sheer volume of rain pouring down, it was undone almost immediately. He climbed over a portion of the log that wasn't on fire and continued his journey to the temple. The wind started to blow even harder and Yoshiro realized that he was in a bad storm as lighting flashed again and a thunderclap that sounded like a gun being fired in his ear sounded in the sky.

Yoshiro soon came to a clearing in the forest and he knew what that clearing meant. He noticed a path and started to walk it, his boots sinking slightly into the mud with each step, making it difficult for him to walk forward. He soon reached the front of the temple and kicked his boots off at the front entrance, it was the first time he had gone barefoot in order not to track mud into the building. He pounded on the door and suddenly it opened, a woman stood there, "Yes, who are you and what business do you have here?" Yoshiro raised his voice to be heard over the weather, "I'm Yoshiro Miyamae and I ah... ah..." Yoshiro felt a sneeze coming on and he tried to hold it back to no avail. He sneezed, but the woman upon hearing his name knew why he had come.

The woman pulled him inside and hurried him to a chamber where a fire had been lit, "Sit here and warm up." The woman removed his wet cloak and Yoshiro stretched out in front of the fire, enjoying the warmth. He closed his eyes and imagined that he was back home and still in his bed, nice and warm. Then his thoughts turned towards Julius and he became worried as fear crept its way into his heart. Suddenly, his great-grandmother's voice sounded, "Yoshiro, thank you for answering my summons, though had I known that this was going to happen, I'd have you come on another day." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "I understand, Great-grandmother, but I must ask, is Julius alright?" Emiko nodded, "Of course he is, Yoshiro. Julius will survive the night, as will you and those you care about."

Yoshiro was relieved, he didn't want to lose the Dragon that he had been around for almost a thousand years. Yoshiro sat up and shivered slightly as Emiko wrapped a warm blanket around him and handed him a hot cup of coffee, "Here you go, this will warm you up." Yoshiro nodded slightly, "Thank you, Great-grandmother." Emiko smiled, "I will let you warm up before I tell you why I brought you here." Yoshiro nodded as he drank the coffee, it was even to his specific liking, he was absolutely surprised at this. Emiko chuckled slightly and gave him a sly look, "Do you not think that I know how my great-grandson likes his coffee?" Yoshiro looked at her, "Thank you for the coffee." Emiko hugged him, something that surprised him quite a bit as from what he knew of Emiko, she was caring, yes, but wasn't quite this affectionate.

Yoshiro finished his coffee and Emiko let go of him, "Alright, Yoshiro. I have brought you here to tell you something that I really shouldn't be telling you. But since I cannot show you, I have no choice. Yoshiro, your time is almost up. I cannot tell you the specific time, but you will die when two unknown races land on Verbana." Yoshiro was saddened by the news, "The day of?" Emiko shook her head, "No, the day after. Yoshiro, the only reason why I'm telling you this, is because I know you. You will face your death with dignity." Yoshiro nodded, "What will happen if I refuse?" Emiko shook her head, "I hunt you down, kill you, and your soul doesn't go to the wheel of reincarnation for a thousand years. That's the punishment for trying to avoid actual death, Yoshiro." Yoshiro nodded, "That's an answer, but not the one that I'm looking for."

Emiko sighed slightly, "Very well, Yoshiro. The future is bleak no matter what path you take. I do not know the specifics, but I do know that a lot of people are going to die. If you refuse to give up your life when the time comes, you will rewrite the entire book of death. Many more people will die because of your selfish actions." Yoshiro nodded, "Well then, the choice is clear." Emiko nodded slightly, "You'll..." Yoshiro stretched his arms, "I'm going to face my death with dignity. I don't know what the future holds for me, but you seem to be testing me for a reason." Emiko looked at him, "This isn't a test, but if you do go through with this, I will pull some strings and get you reincarnated during the next peaceful era, alright?" Yoshiro nodded, "I have but one request." Emiko nodded, "What is it?" Yoshiro looked away from her, "I want to be reborn into the same family." Emiko solemnly nodded, "I will try, I can't promise anything other than that I will try." Yoshiro smiled slightly, "That's good enough for me."
Been around this forum for over 8 years now. Everyone I've known has left, now it's my time to do the same.

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