автордың кітабын онлайн тегін оқу  In The Darkness

Damantha Makarova

Contents

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In the Darkness

Part I In the Shadows

1

* * *

Have you ever feared the shadows that surround you wherever you go? Well, in some cases — this fear is more than necessary.

This world was ruined. It collapsed under many different things, among which stood the arrogance and vanity of those, who called themselves scientists. They dabbled in things they should have left untouched. And because they made a huge mistake — the world fell and many people died.

No one knew why the experiments went awry, but the result was devastating. Portals started opening almost in each and every shadow there was — portals to different planes and times, and chaos began spreading as people started disappearing and various creatures began appearing from elsewhere.

Hard as it was, those who survived the initial attacks began organising survival camps and trying to sort things out. And while the remaining researchers and scientists were doing their best to close the portals — others were staying alive.

When the first shock subsided and people started understanding the new order, there was a lot to take in. First, and foremost, there was no longer a way to tell if the person you have met on the road belonged to the same world that you have. And so began the paranoia and the hatred that drove people apart.

Humans could no longer trust each other, and all the scattered groups of survivors began succumbing to violence.

People killed people for the simple fact that they seemed weird or not themselves.

Kara loved the new world for a number of reasons. She was never a big part of the society — rather, the outcast in any group, so staying alive all by herself was something she was used to. She was tough and before the Shadow Rifts appeared — she was always engaged in learning something that could help her be the master of her life.

Over the years she heard a lot of discouraging things from her family and the few so-called friends she had, but she always pushed through. As long as she felt happy and excited — nothing really mattered to her.

And when everything crumbled, and she was separated from her family — she just accepted how things were and found herself a little place hidden deep under the city. There she made her private bunker, where she kept the provisions and weapons she managed to find.

Everything seemed perfect — Kara found her little safe haven, where she could practice and relax, not bothering to think about anyone else.

However, it didn’t matter how well-lit any building or home could be. And the generators could also break and extinguish all the light sources, opening a way for the Shadow Rifts to open any time.

And so was the case with Kara’s hideout.

The generator died on her when night was creeping up, so the rooms of her bunker immediately went dark, forcing her to retreat upstairs, to the still vaguely lit rooms of the building, under which she found her new home.

There she lit all the lamps and candles she could find, but suddenly heard movement in the shadows that surrounded her.

Turning to the source, she noticed a few peculiar figures that seemed very much out of place — or, rather, out of time.

It was a small group of samurai — Japanese men, equipped like ancient warriors and armed with beautiful weapons Kara had seen only in museums.

Feeling her spine tense and her fists tighten, the young woman readied herself for a fight. Cursing at herself for not grabbing any weapons to defend herself with, she could only trust in her skills in hand-to-hand combat and her extensive training.

When the first man attacked, she managed to step aside and trip him over her foot, while jumping forward to another one. She noticed an empty champagne bottle on the floor and swiftly picked it up to hit the attacker with it right in his face.

This gave her time to jump over a table and grab the only things that could pass for weapons — two drumsticks which lay there after she was having fun with the drum set that stood in the far corner of this room.

Angry at the men, who dared to invade her home, she taunted them, drumming out a short, but war-proclaiming tune on the table, before readying for the fight again.

It was then that Kara noticed an exceptionally looking older man, who walked up to the table, looking straight at the young woman.

He said something to his men, and they stepped back.

«Alright. You must be what… their warlord, or something?» Kara growled under her breath, trying to keep everyone in her sight. «Leave. And don’t come back.»

The man smirked and tilted his head a bit to the side.

To Kara’s surprise, there was someone she didn’t notice before. But she heard him taking a step right behind her. She ducked just in time to avoid two strong arms that tried grabbing her from behind. After that she suddenly found herself swirling around the man, avoiding his hits and at one moment she was fortunate enough to reach him with one of the drumsticks.

The tip hit him in the eye, crushing the back of the eye-socket with a grim crunch, and the man stumbled back, then froze for a moment and fell to the floor.

Before she could turn to the others, someone hit her on the back of her neck, and she fell to her knees.

«You assholes!» she mumbled angrily, trying to stay conscious, but another hit sent her flying into the darkness.

When she awakened, she found herself lying on a hard wooden floor of some tented cart, surrounded by boxes of what she realized was her stuff. She saw provisions and herbs she had back at home, the notebooks and books, clothes and some of the other things she had as a memory of the world before it fell.

Feeling dizzy and a bit irritated, she looked at the back of the cart and noticed a samurai sitting there. He must have fallen asleep or was weary from the road, because he didn’t hear her wake up. Kara found a knife she used to have in her kitchen and took it, finding these samurai men quite stupid for not binding her hands.

Her attack was quick and the man fell to the road with a knife sticking out of his neck. Kara fell out as well, but quickly jumped to her feet and darted off into the thicket — moments before she heard horses riding after her.

Within a minute she was surrounded by the samurai again, and forced to stop.

The men were talking among themselves, but she couldn’t understand anything, so she took this time to think of a way to escape.

She never liked hurting animals, but there was no other way than to jump to one of the horses and hit it in the nose to startle the beast and try running by, while the rider was trying to calm his horse.

But as she was running to the trees to get some cover from the riders, someone kicked her in the back and she fell, rolling on the leaves and ground — already too hurt to get up. Before falling prey to the dark, she saw the lord commander jumping down from his horse right next to her and shouting something to his men.

The second time she came to her senses, her hands were tightly bound by a piece of rope. After looking around and finding herself not guarded, she used her teeth to untie the rope and set herself free. She kept the rope, as she didn’t find any more weapons around.

This time she decided not to act so impulsively and tried thinking of a plan to get away.

Fortunately for her, one of the samurai climbed inside the cart and was caught off-guard when she jumped to him, wrapping the rope around his neck and chocking him before he could make a single sound.

She pulled the rope so hard that she heard something crack before the man stopped moving. Kara set him down as gently as she could and took his katana. When she looked out of the flaps that covered the cart’s backside, she noticed two samurai walking beside the cart, and another two — riding horses a little bit further.

Something told her that she won’t have much time left on the road to escape. She needed to get away, even though she didn’t even know where she was — these men obviously dragged her through the rift.

She found a bottle of absinthe in one of the boxes nearby and took it. Her head was hurting, and she definitely needed some food, but that was not as essential as running away from her captors. She gulped down some alcohol and thought that it could serve as a great distraction.

Kara steadied her nerves before jumping out of the cart and hitting one of the men with her foot. The bottle flew out of her hand into one of the riders and as he unleashed his sword, it shattered the glass into pieces, making the horses jump to the sides of the road. Not wasting her time, Kara hit the last man with the sword, meeting his own, and kicked him back. Before he could dart forward to her — she was already running away into the forest.

This time she was running far longer, before one of the riders managed to catch up to her and hit her from behind. She found herself in the dark again even before she fell to the ground.

As she opened her eyes once more, she felt very weak. She tried getting up and noticed her hands chained. The heavy shackles rattled and she heard a man laughing in the far corner of the cart. She looked at him and saw one of the samurai men sitting there with his katana ready to be unsheathed at any time.

The young woman sat up on her knees and sighed. Chains were obviously a serious complication — as was the guard that was watching her. But she had to do something — she couldn’t just give up and let them take her hostage!

She looked around and noticed the little cans of food and spices.

Kara knew that she was hungry, and didn’t mind the guard, so she took the box down to the floor and started going through the cans.

Her guard shouted something, but she ignored him and kept looking for anything to eat and drink and — maybe — for a way to escape his watchful eyes.

She found a pack of dried meat and opened it, biting down on one of the pieces. When the guard shouted something again, she simply threw the pack to his feet, offering him to take one and shut up. But he didn’t even look at it, standing up to approach her.

Before he could even touch her to push her away from the box, she found what she was looking for — a small tin can with powdered chili pepper. Kara opened it and threw the contents into his face, blinding him.

He screamed from pain and anger, but it was too late for him — she hit him with the chain and threw it over his neck, pulling him down and choking the man.

When the flaps flew apart and the others looked inside the cart — Kara shouted at them, feeling the guard under her lie motionless.

The samurai threatened her with their weapons, but didn’t approach. Instead, they stood there, at the back of the cart that was stopped.

Finally, Kara saw their leader step up. He looked at yet another dead man and smirked, then started clapping to the young woman.

«Very… Impressive!» he said with a harsh accent.

He gestured her to get out of the cart, and Kara decided not to test his patience — something in those black eyes seemed far more dangerous than the promise of violence she had ever seen in any man’s eyes.

She slowly stood up and walked to the man. And as he stepped away, she jumped down onto the road and looked at him without any fear.

But as soon as she did that — a katana appeared at her throat.

«I have been… patient and kind.» The commander said. «And I lost four men. Now, since you will not stay calm… you will walk.»

Kara growled, and the samurai men quickly shackled her to the back of the cart, cutting off any possibility for her escape.

«Stop killing my men.» The commander smirked again and went back to his horse.

Kara was left to walk behind the cart under the watchful eyes of several samurai men, who were now more composed and alert because she had killed so many of their comrades.

Fortunately, the road wasn’t long, and by the time evening started creeping in, Kara noticed a castle ahead. It was big and very beautiful, and looked like it was meant for someone very rich and powerful. In terms of the samurai — it was fit for a Shogun.

When they arrived — the gates opened immediately and the samurai entered the castle grounds. Kara managed to notice that they, in fact, had a few carts, filled with different goods they stole. At least two of those were filled with her own things, including a number of weapons she salvaged — from a collection of knives and daggers to a few swords and spears she found.

One of the men freed her chains from the cart and started dragging her inside the castle, following his commander.

Feeling surrounded and helpless among the hundreds of armed men and women that were inside the castle, Kara felt a pinch of hopelessness in her heart. She knew nothing of their reasons and couldn’t understand why she was still alive — even though she killed four men in the raiding party that captivated her.

The samurai took her through endless corridors and stairs, finally bringing her to a large underground storage hall, which had a couple of cages standing near the far wall. They threw her in, and locked the door before she could get to her feet.

«Sleep well.» The commander smiled to the young woman through the bars and left.

Growling under her breath, Kara looked around, but found no way to escape — especially, since they left her shackled. Furious at this fact, she started kicking and hitting the bars of her cage, but none of her captors could hear her — they already left.

Soon enough, she was so tired, humbled and hurting, that she fell to her knees, gasping for air and trying not to let tears fall from her eyes.

2

* * *

Kara’s awakening was brutal — someone kicked the cage door and this made the young woman jump up, ready to fight. The shackles, however, made it hard to take a proper fighting stance.

As soon as she saw the three samurai behind the cage door, she growled — she was not about to give up without a fight. Two of those men were armed with long poles, and were ready to strike as soon as the third man opened the cage door.

Knowing that she won’t be able to fight off three men at once, Kara growled again.

«Hands!» the first man commanded.

Kara leaped to him in an attempt to knock him down, but the other two were quicker than she thought they would be — in a matter of seconds they caught her by the neck and pressed her to the bars on the opposite wall of the cage, leaving her no opportunity to move at all.

«Enough!» a woman’s voice sounded behind the men and they relaxed, but only a little.

Holding Kara captive between the poles and bars, they moved aside and Kara noticed a beautiful young woman in a fine white and red kimono. Unlike the kimono Kara knew to be worn in ancient Japan in her world — this one was made differently and looked more like that a samurai would wear, making it more similar to a men’s haorihakama.

«Let her go.» The woman ordered, and the samurai stepped back.

Having no more force pushing her into the bars, Kara fell to her knees, feeling that the men were about to choke her if it weren’t for the mysterious woman that came to her rescue.

«Get those shackles off her!» the woman ordered, and the men complied.

As soon as her hands were free, Kara jumped to her feet and landed a blow on one of the men, sending him to the floor.

Before anyone could do anything, the woman in the kimono stepped up and placed a blade against Kara’s throat.

«I said enough!» she said firmly. «You are not being punished and we do not intend to hurt you. Calm down and follow me.»

«What do you want from me?» Kara flashed her eyes with fury.

«That is for Master Ryuu to decide. My job is to get you acquainted with the castle.» The woman took the blade away and in a split second she looked unarmed again. «I was told to inform you that you are our guest, and not a prisoner. Now come on, I will take you to a bath, and we will get some food for you. You must be starving.»

She stepped away and gestured towards the stairs that were leading up to the first floor of the building.

Kara glanced to the three guards, who froze under this woman’s command, and stepped out of the cage.

«My name is Ayame.» The woman said, leading Kara out of this cellar. «I serve master Ryuu and you are now under my care. You will not be able to leave the castle grounds. However, you are free to roam about the castle, except for the gardens.»

«So I am your prisoner.» Kara replied with a grimace.

«You are Master Ryuu’s guest. And in due time he will tell everything you need to know. But in the meantime — I will try to answer all your questions to the extent that I am able to.»

«Why am I here?»

«Master Ryuu will be able to answer that. But, as I heard, you showed quite the fighting spirit in the Land of the Broken. I suppose, this could be the reason you were taken to our realm.»

Kara watched all the corridors and people that she saw, and very soon found herself lost in the maze that the castle was.

«Even though you are free to roam about the castle, be aware that you will not be alone. A number of special guards will be following you always and making sure you don’t bring harm to anyone in the castle. They will also be watching over you so that you will not be hurt by anyone.» Ayame said.

«I don’t need protection.» Kara growled.

«Yes, I saw. You are quite a fighter. But they are there to make sure you don’t try to leave as well.» Ayame opened a sliding door and Kara saw a room with stacks of sheets and towels.

Hesitating for just a moment, Kara stepped in. Ayame followed her and closed the door behind them.

«You can leave your filthy clothes here.» Ayame walked across the room and opened another door. Behind it was a comfortable bathroom with a hot tub ready for Kara to take a bath and clean herself from all the turmoil she lived through on the previous day.

«And you are going to watch?» Kara smirked.

«I can leave, if you want. But believe me — you will not be able to escape.» Ayame bowed and left the room.

Kara stood among this beautiful pristine room and thought for a little while, before entering the bathroom and taking a look around. She noticed a door on the opposite side of the bathroom and stepped up to it. But before she could reach out and try to open it, the door slid to the side and the woman saw a tall man in dark shinobi clothing — he was one of those that many people in her world mistakenly called ninjas.

He shook his head and stood there, staring at her coldly. Behind him she saw a beautiful garden with multiple cherry trees and many different flowers planted.

«So I am a prisoner…» Kara sighed and turned her back to him.

Knowing that he will be there to watch over, she decided to agree to the warm bath that these people provided her. She started to undress, but as soon as she began taking off her blouse, the shinobi behind her slid the door to close it, though Kara didn’t hear the actual hit of the wooden frame against the door itself.

Not minding his presence, she threw her clothes off, baring her bruised body. She looked at her scratches and bruises, and, finally, got into the tub. Only then she noticed the door silently slide shut.

As she bathed, washing away all the dirt and sweat from her skin, she looked over all her multiple tattoos, reminding herself why she made them in the first place. Feeling cornered, she caressed the dark phoenix on her left arm and pulled her knees to her chin.

She wanted to break down and cry — she was away from her home, she was all alone, among those, who could kill her at any moment. And there was not a single person she could really trust.

Kara dived under the water — just to let it wash away any tears that were starting to break through, and when she sat up again, the door was slightly open — enough to be unnoticeable to most — but not to her. The shinobi was watching her — making sure she won’t commit suicide, no doubt.

Just to taunt the man a little, she stood up — naked and shameless, and walked out of the tub. She took one of the towels to dry herself and noticed that the man was there, still watching. But when she finished drying her hair — the door was shut again.

Kara wanted to get dressed, but found her clothes gone. Who could have taken them — and when — was a mystery. Instead of her old clothes she found a haorihakama — similar to the one Ayame was wearing, but deep green in colour. It took some time for her to dress up, but as soon as she did — she found the clothes quite comfortable and very fine in quality.

It was unsettling — everything was strange and felt surreal, as if she was dreaming.

Many years ago she could only dream of something like this, but now — there she was, in a castle, among samurai and shinobi… and without a single clue why she was there.

As she walked out of the bathroom, she noticed Ayame sitting next to the door.

«Ah, that looks much better on you than I anticipated.» Ayame smiled. «Green complements your eyes.»

«Thank you?» Kara never knew how to react to compliments, especially those coming from a woman.

«You still haven’t told me your name, but I need some way to call you…»

Kara took a few moments to think, and decided to tell Ayame a name that fit the circumstances. She had used this name many times before.

«Mariko. Call me Mariko.» Kara replied.

«Very well, Mariko. Follow me. We have a meal prepared for you.»

Ayame led Kara through the maze again and showed her the vast kitchens of the castle. She said that Kara can come any time and even cook her own meals if she wishes — only, to the extent of not having any knives.

«If you need anything cut, ask one of the cooks or servants.» Ayame added and when Kara looked at the people working in the kitchen, they bowed to her.

Kara nodded and Ayame offered her a bowl of rice, topped with some meat and vegetables.

As she ate, Ayame kept talking — she told about all the possible ceremonial habits of the people inhabiting the castle and asked of Kara to uphold these traditions. Finding everything very similar to what Kara knew about ancient Japan, she agreed to try her best.

Her initial concern was to keep everyone thinking she is compliant to at least some extent. Perhaps, when they will feel less threatened by her — she will be able to escape.

After the meal, Ayame showed Kara some parts of the castle, except for the parts Kara was interested in. She was denied access to the training halls, as well as rooms where guards were staying between their shifts.

Seeing the amount of people and guards in the castle, Kara knew that escaping it unnoticed will be close to impossible. Though, it didn’t mean that she will not try.

But first — she needed to learn about where the guards are and where the doors that were leading outside were located. Every detail could help her find a way to run.

Very soon she understood that with all the guards following her at all times — including the hidden shinobi she barely noticed at all — running was turning to something out of her reach.

With each passing day Kara felt more and more depressed. Her captors were strict, numerous and the shinobi were almost always very well hidden.

There were, however, times that she found herself at ease, but only for a little while. For instance, the castle had an amazing library with loads of scrolls and books from all over. She found books from her home world and started reading them at first. Then she turned to books from other realms — fortunately, the librarians kept the books well-organized. But there were books she couldn’t read — for instance, there was a closed off part of the library, where librarians wouldn’t let her go.

One of them even told her that even if she did — she wouldn’t be able to read those texts, as they were written in a language she could not know as it was native to the Dark Realm.

The other thing that kept Kara a little bit sane — was cooking her own meals. Though not allowed a knife, she utilized her hands for the purpose. Instead of cutting tomatoes — she tore them apart making them mashed. Instead of dicing onions and garlic — she broke them into pieces. And when she was in need of meat — she asked for a slice from the cooks. But she never allowed them to cut it up for her. Instead, she softened the meat by beating it with her fists before frying it in the pan.

This unusual way of preparing a meal was very strange to the cooks — as well as for the shinobi that followed Kara everywhere. Most of the time — when she was cooking something, everyone would look closely at the way she did everything and sometimes she would catch curious looks and even some kind of respect.

One day after preparing a meal, Kara took the bowl and walked to one of the few windows that she was allowed to look through. It led to an inner court where various people waited to be received by the shogun.

Kara stood there, slowly eating her food, when suddenly someone grabbed her hand and jerked it outside together with the bowl of food in it.

Hitting the window frame with her shoulder, the young woman grunted from the sheer force she was pulled by someone.

«Ah, my fair lady! We are starving!» she heard and a man in tattered clothes appeared. He was holding her hand very tightly, not allowing her to pull it back. The second man was greedily eating from the bowl.

«Let me go!» Kara hissed at them, hanging on with her free hand on the frame.

Before the men could say anything else, Kara noticed a black shadow run up and a katana fly through the window to one of the men’s throats.

Kara felt the bowl snatched from her fingers, and her hand being released at once. She pulled her hurting arm inside and ran off, feeling the overwhelming pain in her shoulder. She knew exactly what kind of pain it was — the shoulder was dislocated.

«Shit!» she hissed to herself, cradling the arm.

This meant only one thing — she needed to fix it as soon as possible. She felt her shinobi protector touch her back, but threw his hand off.

«Don’t touch me!» she screamed in both — pain and anger.

She stepped up to a pillar and pushed the joint back into the socket, feeling the pain wash over her in waves that made her eyes see darkness.

When she finished, she stepped away, still cradling her arm not to stress the shoulder more. The shinobi tried approaching again, but Kara was so hurt and irritated that she screamed at him again:

«Leave me alone!»

And then she ran off to where she usually stayed only at night — in the cellar, behind the bars of her cage. All she wanted at that moment — was to be left alone. She stayed in the corner for hours — unbothered by anyone, until she finally dozed off into sleep.

But her sleep didn’t last long.

She awakened to a brutal kick in her stomach. When she looked up, trying to catch her breath — she noticed one of the samurai she saw in her first few days. Incapacitated, she was unable to fight off the other two men, who caught her arms and quickly tied them to one of the bars of the cage.

They were talking — but she didn’t understand a word they said. She did understand, however, what was about to happen. Her shoulder was very painful and she was tied, but she still had her legs free, so she started kicking and hitting her attackers. Angry and growling, she tried as best as she could to throw off the men who started tearing apart her haori.

She couldn’t care less if they wanted to rape her just for the sake of it or to get revenge on her for killing their friends and comrades. All she cared about is not letting them do it at all.

But it was an extremely difficult task, since she was hurt and tied. And with each hit she took from her attackers, she was feeling less and less capable of fighting. Feeling her strength leaving her, Kara screamed in anger.

And that’s when the man who was on top of her flew back and crashed into a pile of boxes near the cage.

Kara pulled her legs to her face, covering her body as much as she could. Through the pain and blurry vision she saw how the shinobi beat her attackers with what she could only call true cruelty. One of the men ended up with a broken wrist — he will probably never recover and be able to use that hand again to wield a katana. The other one was beaten senseless by such a long and strong series of punches that he could have died, if the shinobi wouldn’t have stopped at some point. And the last one, who finally got free from the boxes he was thrown into, received a few hits, but was knocked unconscious.

Before letting her consciousness slip away, Kara saw the shinobi walk up and untie her hands.

When she came to her senses again, she was covered by a blanket, her injuries were treated and her shoulder bandaged tightly.

Feeling ashamed and a little broken, she didn’t even want to get up. But she noticed that Ayame was sitting by the cage door.

«I am sorry for what happened last night.» She said to Kara. «This will not happen again.»

Kara remained silent. She would have rolled over to face the wall, but couldn’t because of the sore shoulder. Instead, she simply pulled the blanket over her head and remained in her bed.

To Kara’s surprise, everyone respected her wish not to talk to anyone or be disturbed. Food was brought to her, but she refused to accept it. She took only the herbal teas Ayame provided every day — those made her injuries feel less painful.

But after five days passed her shinobi protector walked into the cage and offered her his hand. She refused to get out of bed, but he shook his head and picked her up instead.

Kara didn’t fight — she finally gave in to the life she was thrown into. She didn’t care anymore — these people could do anything they wanted with her.

The shinobi carried her through the castle and into one of the smaller gardens. Kara couldn’t believe that she was outside and the breath of fresh air gave her some strength back. The man gently set her down on the wooden floor of a tiny teahouse, and a servant brought them a tea set.

Kara kept silent all the way while the shinobi prepared her the fragrant tea. He didn’t say a word, and Kara was grateful that he didn’t. It gave her the possibility to listen to the wind and the birds that surrounded the teahouse.

When the shinobi passed her the cup, she smiled faintly and he bowed.

The tea he made was delicious and warming, but the feeling of the sun on her skin warmed her even more. Whatever she felt for the past few days now seemed far away.

«Thank you.» Kara said to the shinobi.

He bowed again, acknowledging her words.

«Thank you for saving me that night.» Kara said, sipping her tea. «And for today. I needed it.»

The man bowed once more — collected and self-disciplined, as always.

They stayed in the garden for at least a couple of hours before Kara felt her strength returning. When she stood up to take a short walk around the garden, her shinobi stood up as well and followed her — a silent and vigilant guard.

Kara was charmed by the beautiful composition of this garden — it had everything to soothe a troubled mind and help recover from anything that stressed her out. She sat by the small pond filled with koi fish, then breathed in the fantastic scents of various flowers planted all over the garden, and, finally, admired the statues that stood above a tiny rock garden in one of the corners.

«Mariko…» She heard Ayame’s voice and noticed the woman standing by one of the doors. «Master Ryuu wanted to speak to you.»

Kara felt shame that she had to leave such a beautiful and tranquil place, but she knew that if she refused to see the lord commander of this castle — the consequences might be dire. So she nodded and followed Ayame inside.

Ayame took her to one of the halls Kara had never been to before — it was a large, well-lit hall that had various paintings on the walls. On the far side of this hall Kara noticed a luxurious cushion — one of those that were usually used by the shogun in ancient Japan.

On it sat her captor — the lord commander of the castle.

Once he saw her come in, he nodded and offered her to walk up.

Ayame and the shinobi stayed at the doors, while Kara walked up — close enough to hear what the commander had to say, but not too close so that she wouldn’t offend him. She bowed to him, even though it was still hard to do because of her injured shoulder.

The lord commander looked to the side and nodded, and immediately a servant ran out from behind a screen and lay down a small cushion on the floor beneath Kara’s feet. She sat down in the manner people here were used to — on her knees, with her feet under her.

Some why she felt the need to bow again to the lord — only this time — very low, almost touching the floor with her forehead. Usually this meant leaning on both hands, but she had only one — her left arm was wrapped tightly to her torso, so that the dislocated shoulder could heal.

The man in front of her smirked.

«You know our etiquette well, Mariko.» He said.

«I learn quickly.» She replied looking at him.

«Good.» He nodded again. «Now, I have called you here for a number of reasons. First of all, accept my deepest apologies for the attack that happened to you a few days ago. Such behaviour is below a samurai and the men responsible will be punished.»

«Thank you.»

The lord shouted something and the screen doors on one side of this chamber slid open. Kara looked outside and saw a small courtyard, where her three attackers stood kneeling and strapped up by their arms to bamboo poles.

The lord commander stood up and walked up to the doors, gesturing Kara to come too. The woman had some trouble standing up, but when she managed it and approached the lord, he looked at her with a strange expression on his face.

«Inei wanted to execute them at once, but I decided that you should be able to see them being punished for the horrible crime they have committed against you.» The lord said.

Kara looked back and noticed the shinobi nod to her.

«You are here to see the execution and, if you wish, carry it out yourself.» The commander said and Kara looked at him with surprise.

She took a moment to recollect herself.

«I beg your forgiveness, my lord, but I am in no shape to carry out an execution.» She replied.

«Perhaps, you would like to name someone in your stead?»

Kara looked at the shinobi again and noticed his eyes flash with a dark will to do it if it pleased her.

«Inei!» the lord commander shouted and the shinobi ran up to them and knelt.

For a few moments he was looking down, but then looked at Kara and she suddenly noticed something she wasn’t able to see all this time — the shinobi had deep blue eyes.

«Would you be willing to be my hands today?» Kara asked him, and the shinobi nodded and stood up, unsheathing his katana.

Silent as always, he walked out into the courtyard and approached the first prisoner.

Inei stopped for a second, turned to face Kara and his commander, and with a swift move ended the man’s life, chopping his head off. He stepped to the next one and once again raised his sword and swiftly decapitated the man. The third man started begging, but Inei walked up and ended his pleading with one move of his katana.

When the execution was done, Inei bowed to Kara and his commander and walked inside again.

As he was walking past Kara, she caught his arm and he froze mid-step.

«Thank you, Inei.» She said and the man gently freed his arm, turned to her and bowed before walking away to the doors.

«Now that this is done…» the lord commander smiled. «Would you like to join me for dinner tonight? I will be able to answer any questions you have.»

«It would be my honour.» Kara replied, bowing to him.

«Ayame! Please be so kind and find Mariko an appropriate haorihakama for tonight.»

«Yes, Lord Ryuu.» Ayame bowed.

As the lord of the castle left, Kara followed Ayame again. Inei walked behind her and she felt grateful for him being there. He did not only protect her that night, but went even further to help her understand that what those men wanted to do was not tolerated among the samurai living in Lord Ryuu’s employ.

It was a lot to take in, and she now felt a little safer having the shinobi by her side.

«Do you have any preferences to your clothing? Colours, ornaments?» Ayame asked, making Kara dive back to reality from her thoughts.

«Black, red, dark green.» Kara replied, naming her favourite colours. «As for the ornaments… I don’t know. Something without flowers. I don’t do well with flowers on my clothes.»

Ayame glanced at her for a second and smiled mysteriously.

«I think I have a perfect haori for you.» She said.

Kara was taken to the bath again, but this time there was a servant girl who helped Kara undress and bathe, since her shoulder was still injured. And when Kara got out, Ayame was already waiting with her new haorihakama.

At first glance Kara understood that this one was far more exquisite than the one she wore before. It was made from fine silk — plain black hakama and silk black haori with a beautiful tiger on one of the sleeves — with its head on the right shoulder.

Ayame helped Kara to get dressed, and the servant girl tied Kara’s long red hair into a beautiful braid.

Even though Kara had never been dressed, she knew — without help she would have taken forever to get into the clothes, since she still had her arm tied to her torso to let the shoulder heal.

«I found this in your old clothes…» Ayame showed Kara a plain leather string with a sword hanging on it. «I think you should have it back.»

She put it on Kara’s neck and smiled.

«Thank you.» Kara whispered, feeling very relieved that she got this little trinket back.

«Now you are ready, Mariko. Follow me.»

Kara didn’t object and very soon Ayame entered a small hall, where Lord Ryuu was already having a conversation with one of his men. He looked at the women and nodded, then sent the man he was speaking to away and gestured to the table.

«Please…» he said with a faint smile.

Kara watched as Ayame left, closing the door behind her. Feeling a little insecure, the young woman took her place on the opposite side of the table from Lord Ryuu.

«I know that we have started on a…» Lord Ryuu stopped for a moment, trying to find the correct words. «Bad page… is that how you say it? But I want you to know that we took you here not because we needed a captive.»

«Then why?»

«Well…» Lord Ryuu gestured to someone and a couple of servants began serving the table. A few minutes later, as they exited, Lord Ryuu continued, while having a bite of meat. «You see, your realm is lost. It’s broken. It is dying. And we were scouting. But we found you.»

Kara frowned a bit, not understanding his reasons still.

«Usually we kill anyone who attacks us. You, however, are different matter entirely.» Lord Ryuu explained. «You have… potential.»

«So you took me prisoner because I have… potential?!» Kara twitched her eyebrow.

«We took you, yes. Prisoner? No.» the man smiled. «For the moment you are my guest.»

«Who sleeps in a cage, yes.»

For a second she thought that some servant or guard would jump out and strike her down for talking so rude to the lord of the castle. But no one came — and Lord Ryuu started laughing.

«Only because you managed to kill four of my men.» He finally replied. «As I said before — potential. I could not let it go to waste in that graveyard of a world.»

«I still don’t understand why…»

«I am looking for people like you, Mariko. If you get to know my people better, you will find a lot of those who don’t come from this realm. They were stranded, and they were taken — just like you, and they have prospered here. Just like you can. You have skills that can blossom into something great. We can help each other.»

«But how do you travel between worlds?»

Lord Ryuu immediately became collected and serious.

«We do not travel on purpose.» He said. «The gates open once in a while and always lead to different realms. Sometimes we walk through the gates to scout if it is connected to the Dark Realm. On that day the gate took us to your world.»

«And you can’t open them again?»

«People do not open them.»

«Then who does?»

His black eyes pierced Kara to her heart with a cold and long stare before he answered:

«Oni.»

Kara froze — oni were demons in the vilest way they could ever be described. Destroyers and murderers that left nothing but blood and bones. She knew that — because she had seen them. Oni came through her world and kept coming in groups through some of the Shadow Rifts that were left after the dreaded experiment gone wrong.

«How long have you battled the oni?» she asked.

«Generations. Our gates started appearing a long time ago.» Lord Ryuu replied, concentrated on his food. «But we manage as best we can. And we find fighters like you and bring them here from their dying worlds.»

«Inei?» Kara whispered more to herself, but the lord heard her and chuckled.

«Yes, he too was a lost soul a long time ago. But he is now one of the most powerful men in the castle.» The man twitched his eyebrow and gestured towards the food. «Are you not hungry?»

Even though she was too lost in her thoughts, Kara took a little bit of meat and vegetables, but her appetite was very faint. She took a few bites not to insult her host and it gave her a little time to decide on what to ask him next.

«Has anyone tried closing the gates?» she asked.

«Yes. We have a number of capable… mystics who do this for us. But closing the gates is easier than battling the hordes of oni that can come out.» Lord Ryuu looked Kara straight in the eyes again. «You don’t seem to be at all shocked hearing of oni.»

«Yes, I… I have seen them.» Kara said quietly. «And killed a few. Small ones, but still.»

«And you did this all by yourself?»

«Yes. Why?»

A strange expression of acknowledgement and respect appeared on the lord’s face:

«You are much stronger than you appear, Mariko. Others might miss it, but I have an eye for potential and talent. You have both.» He said. «And you understand some things that others might find… barbaric and unacceptable.»

«Like executing three men…»

«Exactly! With all my searching I have come across various people. Most of them are not worthy of saving at all. They are weak, flawed, and either enjoy killing too much, or do not kill at all, even when it is absolutely necessary.» Lord Ryuu fell silent for a couple of moments, studying Kara’s face. «But you do not enjoy violence. You do not kill for the sake of killing. And you fight with honour.»

«I spent too much time surviving on my own. I kill only when threatened. That is why I killed your men — you kidnapped me and I was defending myself.»

«We had no time to persuade you. So I took the risk. And I am sorry to have snatched you from your home.» Lord Ryuu suddenly bowed. «But I could not let you die in that place.»

Kara looked down into her bowl. She knew that even if she could come back — there was nothing to go back to. Her world was dying and Lord Ryuu was right. Perhaps, he did what no one else could do for her — actually saved her from the lonely existence and constant survival that was slowly driving her insane.

«Inei said that you enjoyed my garden?» Lord Ryuu woke Kara from her thoughts, returning her to reality.

«Yes. Thank you. It was very beautiful.»

«I told Inei that he can take you out into all of the gardens within the castle walls. You will be able to see how we live and, perhaps, understand us better?»

«Thank you, Lord Ryuu.»

«I hope I have answered your questions?»

«Yes, quite.»

«Then, perhaps, you can tell me a little bit about yourself — where did you learn to fight like that and what you did back in your home world?»

Kara smirked and took a few bites of food before starting her story. She had nothing to hide and didn’t see any need in doing so. She told him everything he wanted to know.

3

* * *

Lord Ryuu was right about taking strolls in his gardens. Kara learned about the people and their traditions more by looking at how everyone lived — including the simple people, like the gardeners and servants who tended to the needs of people living within the castle walls.

She loved spending time in the gardens, and she didn’t mind her silent guard — the shinobi Inei, who followed her everywhere and never said a single word. She knew that he was watching her and studying her just like she was studying everyone else.

Her shoulder healed and she returned to her training every morning and evening, but she also found that having a little time to meditate in the garden was a pure bliss.

One day, as she was walking on a path she had never taken before, she came across a small pagoda with a drum inside. Intrigued, she walked in and found a monk sitting behind the drum and meditating.

Kara took her time looking at the beautiful carvings and paintings on the massive columns that held up an intricate roof of the pagoda, before the monk stood up and walked up to her, offering her two big drumsticks.

«You are welcome to pray, if you wish.» The monk said with a gentle smile.

Even though he was a young man, he spoke with such confidence and tranquillity that Kara felt a little lost. She glanced back at her shadow — Inei stood at the entrance and slightly nodded at her silent question.

She hesitantly took the drumsticks and stepped up to the drum.

«I’ve never prayed like this…» she said quietly.

«All you have to do is let your soul out and follow it through the beating of the drum.» The monk replied and stepped back, leaving Kara by herself.

She looked at the drumsticks and at the massive drum in front of her, then closed her eyes and sighed. For the weeks that she already spent in the castle there was enough in her soul that needed some way to escape. She raised her arms and two beats sounded, as she gently hit the drum.

Then something inside her opened up, and she began beating a melody that sounded somewhat soothing and familiar. It was as if a giant horse was trotting in the midday sun on a road to somewhere. Then the trotting turned into a gallop and the melody changed into a more powerful, vibrating sound of strength and a sense of purpose.

Kara dissolved in these sounds, creating something insane and magical — something that made her soul sing and cry at the same time. She kept beating and beating, until a scream rose from deep inside and escaped with the last hit she made before falling to her knees — emptied of all the anger, hate and hurt that were living inside her for so long. She felt tired, but free.

When she looked at the monk, she noticed that he was looking outside — at the sudden storm that was rumbling and roaring with thunder above the gardens. Heavy rain was falling from the skies, and Kara stood up and walked out of the pagoda into the rain, soaking in the feeling of its cool embrace and the thousands of fingers that caressed her face.

She had forgotten how it felt — to be free, soaking wet and happy just to be alive. And she started laughing, swirling under the cold rain in a simple and yet captivating dance.

Kara didn’t know how long she was enjoying herself, when suddenly she bumped into Inei — the man caught her mid-step and embraced her gently. She looked into his eyes and smiled — something in his gaze was different. Softer, more intrigued than ever.

He nodded his head in the direction of the castle and she understood that he was asking her to go inside. Maybe, he was worried that she would catch a cold?

Bursting into laughter, Kara nodded. Inei took her hand and they ran off towards the castle, where it was dry and warm.

«I’m sorry.» Kara smiled to her shinobi. «I don’t remember when I felt so… good.»

Even though she couldn’t see his face — she noticed that he was smiling under his mask. And for some reason this made her feel warm inside.

It wasn’t until the evening when the storm started to weaken and Kara found out that it was a very much needed rain — the land was suffering from draught all the time she was there. She even overheard some people talking about someone praying at the pagoda right before the storm broke out. She understood that it was her they spoke about, but she couldn’t understand how her beating the drum would cause for the weather to change so quickly. All she did was dissolve in the music she tried getting out of her heart.

Whatever the case was — she now felt much better and found it in herself to really dive into the life she was now given.

And, most of all, she was grateful to Lord Ryuu for letting her go out into the gardens. She loved this little routine — walking in the morning and evening to set her mind at ease. Sometimes she would even train in the far corners — watched by the shinobi, but never distracted. She began looking at him as her own shadow.

One evening, as she was returning to the castle from her usual walk, she noticed movement on the castle roof and froze mid-step. Looking into the thickening shadows of the creeping night, she saw multiple figures among the rooftops — hiding in the smallest crevices and behind the statues that decorated the rooftops.

She felt the shinobi touch her shoulder and slowly raised her hand to point him in the direction she was looking so intently.

«There’s someone on the roof.» She said, and at that very moment she noticed a detail that made her heart stop for a moment. It was a tail! «Oni!»

She darted forward, feeling a cold wave running down her spine. She needed to warn others about the demons — they could rain down onto the people any moment!

Fortunately — she ran into the courtyard at the same time as someone finally noticed the figures hiding in the dark.

«ONI!!!» someone screamed at the top of his lungs, and the evening switched from a calm and tranquil one into a fierce battle in a split second.

«Get everyone inside!» Kara nudged a couple of servants that froze in panic towards the doors, and the people scattered, hurrying everyone, who wasn’t armed inside to the safety of the castle walls.

The figures started jumping from the rooftops, raining down into the courtyard and immediately engaging with the samurai. Screams and clashing sounded in the evening air, creating a cacophony of different tones.

«I need a weapon!» Kara darted towards a young mother, who was trying to pick up her tripped child to his feet. Kara grabbed the boy up and shoved him into his mother’s arms, pushing them towards the doors. «Go! NOW!»

She turned to face the fight, and noticed that the oni kept coming, and the men were fighting frenzy. Kara glanced at her shinobi, finding him only a few steps away, already on two strange creatures that towered over him with their bodies large and muscular. They roared, trying to surround him, but he was quick and managed to evade every attack they made with their sharp claws.

Desperate to find a weapon — any kind of weapon — Kara noticed a broom nearby. She grabbed it and broke off the end, making it into a makeshift spear. The next moment she jumped into the fight, diving under one of the oni’s arms and shoving the spear into his throat and up — into his skull.

When the demon fell, Inei slashed his other opponent across the back and immediately cut his throat, ending the demon’s life.

«I need a weapon!!!» Kara screamed at the shinobi, but he shook his head and stepped away to take the fight with another oni that was approaching.

Kara growled at this, but noticed a samurai a few steps away — he was knocked down and battling some winged creature that tried reaching for his throat. Having no other weapon, Kara freed her makeshift spear from the demon she killed and ran to help the samurai. She used the force from her movement and pierced the flying oni through its side, throwing it off the samurai.

The spear broke — after all, it was only a broomstick and not fit for heavy fighting. But the samurai was safe. The man accepted her helping hand and got up, running off into the fight again.

It was insanity around her, and she felt so helpless and powerless, but she still wanted to help. She turned to find Inei and saw that he was fighting, and a small flying oni was creeping up from his back. Kara decided to help, even though she was unarmed — she could at least leap onto the creature and save the shinobi from its claws.

Kara ran to them and leaped just in time, catching the flying oni mid-air in its jump and knocking it to the ground. They tumbled into a ball of claws, fists and blows. Kara hit the creature as hard as she could — again and again and again, feeling the bones breaking under her fist, until the creature twitched and fell to the ground without movement.

«Someone give me a fucking weapon!!!» Kara roared angrily into the deafening sound of battle, and jumped up to her feet, ready to fight again. She saw some fallen samurai near and ran to them in hopes of picking up something that she could use against the vile demons.

She slid next to one of the wounded, avoiding the claws of one of the flying oni, and picked up a katana. Feeling more capable to help, she jumped up and sliced the oni’s head off as it was returning to attack her. Noticing another katana by her feet, Kara picked it up and jumped into the fight with all her will.

The battle turned into bloodshed — more and more demons came, but the castle had enough of capable warriors to defend it. Kara was fighting fierce, not even bothering to realise the danger of such a battle. She simply sliced, hit and jumped from one encounter to another, until the courtyard was filled with dead bodies — more of demons than men.

Suddenly she heard a deafening roar behind her and turned just in time to see a giant black-skinned creature jump from the roof. It was at least two times taller than the young woman, but instead of making Kara fall to fear — it only made her angrier.

«Come on!» Kara screamed at the top of her lungs to the creature and ran towards it, as it too jumped to her.

Kara used her small size to avoid the giant’s attacks — for her it was slow, clumsy and not very coordinated at all. She jumped from one hooved leg, slicing into its hide, to another, cutting the tendon.

As the demon tripped and fell to one knee, Kara cut into its other leg, then slashed his back and, finally, under his arm.

Black thick blood covered her already, but she continued her frenzy dance around the demon. She jumped to its arm and sliced the muscle along the inner biceps, rendering his arm useless, and turned to the belly. The beast was still very much dangerous and roared from pain and anger, but Kara ignored, making it her target to just stay alive and take this thing down.

As she was cutting it from the front she finally noticed the samurai gathering around the oni and trying to help as best they could. They gave her the few opportunities to wound the beast even deeper, before it fell to its more-or-less healthy arm and close enough for Kara to jump up and hit its throat with both swords.

The creature twitched and tried grasping at the throat, Kara took a couple of steps back — still ready to hit it, but already very tired and trying to catch her breath. Her muscles felt tense, her whole body was hard as a rock and capable to do everything that she will ask of it.

But the oni fell to its side, then twitched for the last time with a long and deep rumbling groan, and stopped moving.

Still trying to catch her breath, Kara looked around and found herself surrounded by samurai and a couple of shinobi. She noticed Lord Ryuu — bloodied and armed, looking at her with a strange expression.

The woman sighed, lowering the weapons and understood what they all wanted from her. She stuck the swords into the ground and stepped back from them, feeling her head becoming a little dizzy from all the fighting she went through.

Showing everyone that she is unarmed, she continued to step back, before turning her back to them and walking towards the castle.

«Stop!» Kara heard Lord Ryuu’s voice and froze.

Feeling threatened and very vulnerable, she turned to the shogun.

«You have fought well! And you deserve a worthy name! I name you Nakano! Thank you for helping us protect our home!» Lord Ryuu said loudly.

Feeling a little shaken, Kara collected herself and slowly bowed to Lord Ryuu. The samurai all around raised their weapons and shouted her new name.

«Nakano! NAKANO!»

Kara nodded, acknowledging this honour, but knew, that she needed to sit down and rest a little — the battle was really tiring for her.

She turned her back on the warriors, leaving them to take care of the wounded and dead, and walked off to the castle. She didn’t see, but rather felt that Inei followed her — silent as always.

Half way to the cellar she now called her home Kara suddenly felt a wave of dizziness wash over her and tripped. Fortunately, she was walking next to the wall and managed to catch herself upright, by grasping at it. But even though she stayed on her feet for a second, her legs bent under her weight and she fell to the floor, realising that something was terribly wrong.

She saw Inei by her side, frantically checking her body for injuries, and felt something warm flowing down her side.

Kara couldn’t hear anymore — her ears were ringing, but she thought that it was because of the adrenaline rush she had experienced during the battle. Now she knew — it was because one of the creatures actually got to her. She slowly realised that one of the claws reached her and cut through the back and side, leaving her wounded, while she was ignoring this injury during the fight.

As she slipped into the warm embrace of the dark, she thought that it might be for the better.

* * *

Kara woke up to a scent of some herbs and a feeling of overwhelming pain clutching her body. She lay in a fine bed — on the floor in a big room. There was a small table next to her bed and someone was sitting in the corner. Through the mist in her eyes, she tried to get up, but the person jumped up and ran up to her, gently forcing her down.

It was hard to concentrate her eyes, but when her sight became clearer, she saw that it was Inei. Her own shadow was watching over her.

«Hello, Inei.» Kara whispered, not expecting him to answer.

Instead, she heard him sigh with ease.

She stopped trying to get up — she felt too weak to do that anyways, and the man reached to a small cup on the table. Very gently he raised her head a little and offered her the drink. She didn’t refuse — her mouth felt dry and harsh, as if she hadn’t drank anything for days.

«Thank you.» Kara whispered to the shinobi.

She felt him press on her chest a little.

«You’re right. I’ll stay in bed.» She smiled, feeling sleep creeping over her.

For the next few days she was staying in bed all the time — in and out of sleep. Inei was always there by her side, tending to her how he could — gentle and careful. He helped her drink and fed her soup, while she was too weak to hold a bowl.

But, bit by bit, she recovered, and by day five she forced herself to her feet — not without Inei’s help.

The wound still hurt and it was very painful to walk, but Inei helped her to walk to the doors of the room and opened them. Behind them Kara saw a beautiful private garden — a very small one, but just enough to have some time to herself while having some fresh air.

Inei aided her down onto the tiny patio, and as she sat down, she leaned against one of the poles that held up the roof.

«Can I ask you to bring me some tea?» Kara sighed, feeling the chilly morning air entering her lungs