The Origin of Ciena VI [Closed, Flashback]

A few weeks pass after the death and rebirth of Ciena. Due to the actions which occurred, she had been allotted greater and unrestricted freedom about the village. Since Kyrojin no longer regarded her as a slave, that would be the new reality of the village. Because he trusted her by this point and didn’t think that she would leave even if given the chance, Kyrojin wouldn’t have eye on her at all times nor care where she went. As such, she would be allowed to move about the village and watch the warriors train, among other things.

As such, the time came for a party of men to journey to the low land in order to fill up on supplies that could not be found in the mountains. Kyrojin was not going to be going with the party, but Toshiue was, as well as Dae and a handful of the village men. Because he would be going on this expedition, Toshiue requested if Ciena could come. Not caring, Dae would advise if it were okay with the lord, thus from there Toshiue would head to his father’s house to seek out Ciena so that they could request permission for her to join the party. Arriving at the house, Toshiue would hop in through the bedroom window, the normal method he used in order to get into the house. In the bedroom at that moment, Kyrojin would be in the process of trying to undress Ciena in order to do other things that were on his mind.

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The male would feel the failed release on the throw and instead of throwing her to hurt her, he created distance between them. That much was fine, she he didn’t want her too close to him while he came up with options for the fight. He loses sight of her in the grasses and catches onto what she must be trying to do by purposely blocking off his vision of her. Since he couldn’t see her, he knew he would have to rely on his other senses. He pays extra attention to sound as he listens for sounds of her movement. He is able to pick up on the sound of the stone being tossed through the grasses. Since she had throw it through the grasses rather than over the grasses to make a sound elsewhere, it seemed more like she was moving in that direction. With that, the man would set his stance with his guard up and looking in the direction where the sound had stopped after the stone had come to a stop.

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The man would keep his guard up and back away slowly alarmed at the fact that he still could not see her. When the second rock is tossed, he knew that something was up and that she was messing with him. The sound of the animal seemed to assist in confirming this. He would call out, “get up coward and face m…” His words mask Ciena’s attack as she launches from behind. The feeling of the blade penetrating his back causes searing pain in the man and his vertebrae is hit. After his body arches in pain, he discovers that he is no longer able to feel his legs, so they give way from beneath him and he falls forwards onto his knees and probably forwards with the clinging Ciena in tow if she did not release him. His body twitches as a line of sweat drips from his brow. “St… sto…” he attempts to speak, but finds the act difficult.

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The man is unable to respond to her in a coherent fashion. Sweat covers his brow as pain continues to assault his body. Her taunts go unanswered as he makes noises akin to grunt, heavy breathing, and partial words. The blade causes him to emit a sickening groan as his body tightens, his hands and legs shake, but he is unable to move his body in any way. All he can do is stay there and endure the pain that his body was being racked with. If he could talk, he would tell her to kill him, but he couldn’t even do that properly.

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Finding camp wouldn’t be an easy task since the men had taken their time to walk outside of vocal range of the camp site. They didn’t need her yelling out and someone hearing it, thus they distanced themselves pretty far from the campsite while she had been unconscious. In actuality, they had actually walked about a half mile away from the camp site. There was no clear indication on which way the camp site was, the fire wouldn’t be readily visible as the smoke coming from it would be hard to see at night and the terrain’s tall grass and distance would keep the tents from being in sight until camp was in visible range. The men’s tracks would be hard for someone untrained in tracking to attempt to locate at night and would be mixed in with natural changes in the terrain around her. She was lucky in the fact that she were still more or less at the base of the large mountain to her south which they had descended; she would be left primarily between the options of whether she would have to travel east or west.

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The smell of blood would permeate the area. Ciena had done well to end the lives of these two, but the fun was not yet over. As she runs, there is a change in the atmosphere. In the near distance there would the sound of howling. It wouldn’t just come from one animal, but several as the sound seemed to come from all around. The animals would not only be drawn to the area of a struggle, but in the scent of blood, they could tell that a fresh kill was up to be scavenged. Behind her, there would be the sound of hungry land beasts arriving to the remains of the two headless men. With her distance, she may not hear the sound of gnashing as the bodies are torn from their clothing, but there would be a sound of something chasing after her.

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As Ciena continued to run, it didn’t seem as if whatever was chasing from behind her was slowing up at all. She gets into an area where the grass isn’t as high as in the area where she killed the two men and the creatures following her would be visible. There would be two canine creatures that looked like a cross between wolves and pit bulls sporting two bull like horns on each temple facing forwards. These dread hounds would have their focus on Ciena and moving at a strong rate of speed. Since she was currently not transformed, they would be slowly gaining on her. She would be able to hear the sound of their panting and see the glistening reflection off their drool leaking jowls.

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The strike would hit the first beast and knock its face downwards. Unfortunately, it would seem that the creature’s hide was tough enough to live after being struck like that. Blood would fling up from its face and right eye socket as the left shone with carnal evil. He would not be down for the count, so if Ciena were to turn her back on it, I would most likely clamp down on her shoulder and drive her to the ground. On the other hand, the other beast which was running just slightly behind the first, would already be in the air, leaping towards Ciena as she made her move on the first beast. Words would echo in the air at Ciena moment of peril:

“Spatial bindings, Hitoshi Void Style.” (SB, MLT1, BND3)

Both creatures would freeze in their actions of attack. There would be a passing wind and Dae would appear behind the beasts, and either in front of or behind Ciena, depending on if she turned around or not. His blade would be partially out of its sheath on his side, but he would slide it in causing a small clicking noise (Passing Slash, MLT1, MOB3). The bind would cancel and the beast’s bodies would gain red lines in their middles and then fall in two with the top halves sliding to the left and the bottom halves sliding to the right. Blood would be shed at that moment, but it would pass as there would be still and quiet in the night. Two other men would approach from the west and stop just short of Dae and Ciena. Dae would inquire, “Ciena… what are you doing this far away from camp?”

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Dae would be partially relieved it was that and not the fact that she had tried to run away. He would look over her; she looked like a mess. He would sigh and look at the heads of the men and speak, “those two… I would not have suspected them do something so foolish.” Dae looks back to her from the heads that were there. He inquires, “so… you did this?” The men were no push over, he hadn’t suspected that Ciena would be strong enough to take them both on at the same time. The other two men who had arrived murmur amongst themselves as Dae speaks with Ciena.

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Seeing an unsettling aura in her, Dae would know that the lord’s taint had rubbed off on the girl. After all, she was his and had been around him all this time after being taken from home. He would have a good idea of what was going on. “I see,” he would say as he found how she was able to break free. It was curious the sudden power she received, and for a moment Dae wondered if Kyrojin had done something to her to make her stronger or if it were simply her ability to survive, something probably developed in that house where she had been locked in for a month with the madman. After her final words of the fun of killing, Dae would nod and say, “well, you won’t be needing those where we’re heading, so you can leave then here” referring to the severed heads. They weren’t something that he wished to pack for the trip. He adds, “and we should probably look into getting you cleaned up… Come the camp is this way…” If all was well, he would begin to lead the way towards the west following the base of the mountain.

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Glad that she allowed the heads to go with no issues, Dae would simply continue on to the next thing. The change in her mood is noted and Dae continues to lead the way west as if nothing where the matter. He frowns slightly to hear that Toshiue had been drugged, but knew that they wouldn’t bring harm to the young prince. He understood it was simply something to keep Toshiue from interfering and possibly getting hurt. The gentlemen knew that the men probably thought of Toshiue as a little brother and Ciena as an outsider despite their words. Clan loyalty was strong, but it seemed that the temptation to take from the forbidden tree had been too much for the fallen Hitoshi. As she speaks about getting in trouble, Dae would look at her over his shoulder and then continue forwards as he shakes his head and informs in a calm and sincere tone, “if you had lived, they would have died any way. You will not be held accountable for protecting yourself.” As they walked, the camp site came into view and it would only take a few moments to be in it, at which point, Ciena would be left to her own devices. Thinking about the situation, Dae would speak, “we only have water stored in bottles and jugs for you to wash with, but I can give you a cloth as well; unfortunately there are no bodies of water near where we currently are.”

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Dae would nod and understand what she needed. He wouldn’t have any women’s clothing available, and when they started out, he neglected to mention that they would be going over night. The men did have a change of clothes, those who would use it probably on the way back. Dae had a change of clothing as well, which he would allow her to use for the time being. It would be simple to just get clothes while they were in the process of trading for goods; Dae would just have to be a bit more silver tongued than usual with the merchants.

They make it into the camp with the fire casting amber and orange flickers of light here and there. Once there, Dae would have the men gather two jugs of water as he went to the tent where he was staying and get a clean shirt and haori for Ciena. It would be a bit large on her, but would have to do for now. Since the blood was dried Dae suggests that she could clean up and change in his tent for privacy and he would wait outside. Other than that, she would be left to her own devices.

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While she were doing that, Dae would turn to look at the opening of the tent wondering if she had bathed up quickly, but soon discovers that the opening was to toss water out. With that realization, he diverts his eyes from the tent and walks away from it just to give her a bit more room. He comes to stand by the fire and eventually sits as he looks up and gazes as the heavenly bodies above, unexplained mysteries and hints of the past in the sky. His gaze would shift to Ciena and he would stand as she came to the fire and tossed the tainted clothing into them. With a soft smile, he would assure, “no need to thank me.” At that point in time, he could tell her to go to sleep, but deciding that it would be best to speak to her for a while after a potentially traumatic experience he would inquire, “are you really okay? First kills can be tough on the soul.”

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Listening to her words, Dae becomes a bit concerned on how everything went down. He understood that she had gone from a girl pampered in Mare Maris to the hostage of his lord into murderer. Generally she wouldn’t be a big deal, but the fact that the lord hadn’t discarded her by now suggested that she was special and may be around for time to come. The initial notion would be to not become attached to any of the lord’s pets and simply view them as such… pets to Kyrojin that required less attention than actual humans. In her transition from that role, it was making it harder to mentally push her away. Dae would say in a voice holding woeful undertones, “that’s not good… I hate to see someone like you tainted by the darkness…”

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“Hmm…” would emit from Dae as he listens to her concerns. He speaks, “you are wise to be weary of the darkness that lurks within you. It’s not something that’s only in you, it’s something that’s in all of us that we must suppress. When it got the best of the men who came after you, it led them to their current actions. Their darkness seeped into your skin and amplified your own causing you to wise for their deaths. If they somehow lived, or had something or someone connected to them, then the darkness from you would further empower ill towards your being. It’s something that grows and is cyclic. Power can be derived from it, but it is tainted power that can consume you. It takes a strong soul to be able to harness and control it, but even when controlling the darkness, it’s hard to tell whether you are truly in control, or just a pawn of the darkness.”

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“Ah,” Dae speaks, “so you’ve come to care for him despite what he’s done for you?” It would be something similar to stock-holms syndrome in his eyes and it did appear that she was being earnest. It did seem like Kyrojin had been confident enough in his control over her to allow her to leave the village without thinking she would run away… well it was either that or he had already grown bored of her to some degree. With a nod, Dae would speak, “he’s an unpredictable one, so gaining your own strength is a good idea. As for your affections… for some reason or another, many women have fallen for the lord, perhaps due to his power. True feelings cannot be called wrong, but I fear for your heart. You should know he probably still sleeps with other women. A committed relationship would be a foreign ideal to the lord. Even after having Toshiue, he did not commit himself to that boy’s mother.”

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Dae’s gaze is soft at her as if watching his teenage daughter sort out her feelings. He felt bad for having to tell her these things, but he wanted to her be as emotionally prepared as possible. With this, she could be ready for what may be the inevitable and from there be ready to take whatever actions are needed to be taken to move on with her life. She had already done enough to secure she probably wouldn’t die when she lived up her usefulness, but she would need to be able to support herself which is something that Dae believed that she seemed to be planning well for. He assures her, “I know you’ll only get stronger. I’d be honored to have you among my ranks when you get stronger.” Now that they had a little talk, Dae wouldn’t readily speak. He would allow her to make the decision on whether she wanted to continue to speak with him or head to sleep.

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Dae places his hand on her head as she speaks with her hand on his chest. He pets her in an affectionate manner, but his hand moves away as she heads back to the tent. With a nod, he would bid her a good night and watch her until she disappeared into the tent. Afterwards, Dae would turn and move back towards his own tent. The sentry guards were in place to watch for the remainder of the night. They had lost two men out of their group, but the mission to retrieve supplies would continue as normal come morning.

The night passes without further incident. Still dark outside before dawn, the night sentries would be relieved to sleep for two hours before it was time to head out while the rest of the men would begin preparations to leave and morning exercises. Morning would have come quickly with the sun would be pulling itself over the horizon to coax Toshiue and Ciena to wake up. The camp would already be busy by the time they awoke.

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