Measure of a Monster Slayer

Life, Milestone

The Night-gaunt made no sound as its rubbery black skin split under her blade. Soundlessly, it fell away in two clean halves. Kojirō tried not to look too closely at the monster's remains, splattered now across the ground. There wasn’t anything in there she wanted to see. As her gaze lingered to the right, however, it came across what looked to be a cave burrowing deep into the mountain’s surface.

Had they been in Japan, she would have paid this curiosity little mind. There wasn’t often much to find within caves save some foxes, a sleeping bear, or, if you were lucky, a feral oni. Here in the Dreamlands, though, nothing was taken for granted. Unthinkably dangerous creatures lurked around every corner and in every crevice. Thinking about it made her palm itch for the sensation of her sword meeting flesh.   Kojirō paused to kick some dirt over the Night-gaunt’s mangled body. That was about as much of a burial as she was willing to give a monster like this. They were fast, cunning, and apparently dragged maidens away from Baharna to the mountain, never to be seen again. That alone was reason enough to kill them, but she also found that they were good practice. Something fast and flying like that was perfect for improving her accuracy. It was like a sparrow that could fight back.   Stepping around a rocky ledge, Kojirō stooped to enter the cavern she’d spotted before. She sheathed Monohoshizao as she went. With a blade of that length, it took some time. Moving that much steel with the precision she did was her greatest strength. But it wasn’t enough. The nape of her neck ached at the thought and she saw her rival’s face leering from the shadows. Kojirō needed to find another edge. If she hunted enough of these monsters, maybe some sort of inspiration would strike. It was certainly better than the mundane training Japan had to offer.   It was not long before the light behind her vanished entirely, leaving Kojirō in utter darkness. She could feel the ground sloping up, then down sharply ahead. There was a lantern in her pack, common gear when out on Mount Ngranek in the unpredictable solar rhythms of the Dreamlands. But Kojirō did not retrieve it. Instead, she set one step forward, took a deep breath, and tried to envision the tunnel in front of her.   Every living thing gave off energy, something they called ki, and a warrior could train herself to detect it in a way not unlike regular vision. That was useless here, though. The walls were bare and lifeless. Perhaps if she focused on her own aura, though, and how it warped ever-so-slightly against the boundaries around her... A rare smile graced Kojirō’s thin lips. It was very little, hardly enough to proceed safely on, but that was the point. She’d never defeat Musashi if she didn’t challenge herself at every opportunity.   Kojirō took one step. Then another. The darkness gave way before her and she could feel the tunnel stretching deeper beyond. Another smile danced nervously across her lips, bewildered to be in unfamiliar territory twice in such a short time. She was doing it. If she could learn to move without her senses, there was no limit to—   Her foot fell forward.   With only a muttered curse, Kojirō plummeted into nothing. The air whipped around her and her eyes, now wide open, met only endless darkness. This was it, then? Death was hardly the end in most cases, if one knew the right people. But who would find her here? There were so many things still undone, though one of course loomed larger in her mind than all the others. The face of her rival.   Still, she seemed to have plenty of time to make peace with her fate. Kojirō had been falling for some time now, with no change in velocity. With an effort of will she clamped down on her gut and her beating heart. Both were twisting, screaming that she was about to die, but that sort of reaction only got in the way. A true Kensei faced death in every battle.   Instead, she reached out to the left and the right with her arms. Nothing. Her hand moved to her pack and produced her lamp, then lit it. The feeble light seemed to penetrate only a few feet into the endless darkness around her, and only for a few seconds before the rushing wind snuffed it out. That was enough. She’d seen what she needed to.   In one practiced motion, Kojirō unsheathed Monohoshizao and stabbed it forward. The blade smashed into an unseen rock wall a good body’s length away from her. Without the sword’s absurd size, she’d never have been able to reach it. Stone yielded before steel and, in a hail of furious sparks, Kojirō’s descent slowed and finally stopped. Her arms burned with exertion. Holding herself up was one thing, but that had felt like it was going to pull her shoulders straight out of their sockets.   So, she had stopped her fall. But now what? She was alone, on a sheer cliff face, inside a mountain, and hadn’t told anyone where she was going. Bokuden had always said that the whole “Lone Wolf” thing would come back to bite her someday. Ignoring the burn of her biceps, Kojirō hauled herself up and, carefully, stood on the hilt of Monohoshizao. Darkness and silence stretched in every direction.   This was progress. She just needed to figure out the next step. Think: what kind of place is this, an endless emptiness inside a mountain and how could she turn it to her advantage? It took a few moments of meditation, but the answer came to her. This was exactly the kind of place where she’d expect Night-gaunts to live. From there, it was only a matter of opening herself up to the auras around her.   Indeed, at least two of the things hovered nearby. Their wings were soundless in the stagnant air and their rubbery skin invisible in the perpetual dark. They were perfectly adapted to this environment, but they’d never met anything like Kojirō before. Without thinking, before she could hesitate, Kojirō pulled Monohoshizao from the wall and launched herself forward with a kick at the same moment. The nearest 'gaunt tried to dodge but the move was too quick, too unexpected. Kojirō collided with it in the air, grappled with the too-flexible arms, and finally came around on its back. Her sword swung around with her, coming to rest with its blade right at the base of the 'gaunt’s neck.   She didn’t know how intelligent these things were, or if she could give it orders from here. Still, they had to land sometime, right? And this was better than being stranded on the rock wall. It was another step forward. Fortunately, the gaunt seemed smart enough to understand. With her steel at its throat, it ceased struggling and righted itself in the air. The thing’s massive cloak of wing showed no trouble keeping both it and Kojirō aloft in the dark. Slowly, it began to descend into the abyss below.   It seemed as though they traveled for a long distance, but in truth it was impossible to tell in this eternal dark. The 'gaunt could have traveled leagues or mere miles before finally coming to rest on some manner of surface. Kojirō tentatively reached one foot down and prodded the floor. It felt solid enough. She looked down again. Pure blackness. Was it simply a lack of light? No, she lit her lantern and could see both her hand and the Night-gaunt’s quivering flesh beneath it.   With a redoubling of will, she jumped off. ...And fell not even two feet before coming to rest on the invisible landing. The newly-freed gaunt twisted as her sword came away from its throat and Kojirō tensed herself for an incoming attack, but none came. Instead, the creature flapped its huge wings and took off into the black once again. Her lamp went out in the buffeting winds and Kojirō stifled a curse as she relit it.   The scene around her when the flame sprung back to life, though, was not what she had seen just moments before. All around her, just at the edge of shadow, monstrous shapes lurched and keened. Suddenly, from silence, a menagerie of sounds filled the air. With a warrior’s resolve, Kojirō prepared to face the host, but there proved no need. Each creature, its form indistinct in the endless night, was in fact held fast behind bars of the same tangible dark. She was in some kind of horrific, monstrous zoo.   Something whirled out of the darkness at her and Kojirō was only just fast enough to bring Monohoshizao to bear. The projectile, a thin white sword with a black hilt, spun back from where it’d came. Then, before she should muster a response, its wielder followed. The huge, ivory-skinned man crashed out of the shadows and pressed down upon her. Sparks shone in the air as she parried, illuminating pale hair that framed a pair of eyes somehow even blacker then the darkness around them. Then, Kojirō’s lantern went out again.   She really needed to see someone, maybe S.P.I.R.A.L., about getting something more reliable.   The next attack didn’t come immediately, so Kojirō took up a stance and opened her senses. A medley of auras joined the chaos of sound around her. Amongst it, one powerful presence overwhelmed all the others. So black that it somehow bled back into white, the ivory-skinned man’s aura was a monstrous thing. She’d seen this kind of presence only a few times before. Kojirō was in the presence of a god.   Perhaps another fighter might have demanded an explanation. Another might have turned and fled. Kojirō did neither. Kensei did not refuse a challenge, and this could be nothing but. With her eyes still closed, she sensed the massive monochrome aura moving through the darkness around her. Ironically, the thing was hard to track precisely because it was so big. It covered and bled into the medley of auras around her. The creatures’ signatures, and the braying noises from their cages, mixed into an extrasensory soup that threatened to overwhelm even Kojirō’s steely focus.   The god was moving, there was no doubt about that. He had circled around in the dark, jumped in the air, and...   Thwrack!   Pain flared in her ribs as her foe’s pale sword lashed out of the darkness to her right and slammed into her ribs. They weren’t broken, probably, and she stifled even a grunt. But that wasn’t where she’d sensed him just a moment ago. Was he that fast, or was he tricking her with his aura somehow? Even more insulting...that had been the flat of his blade. He could have killed her right there.   The divine monochrome aura still seemed to be lurking behind her, but Kojirō forced herself open to the fullness of the experience around her. There, in the chaos, was the tiniest disruption. Like the wing of a sparrow cutting through the air. It would have been imperceptible had she not been looking for it.   Now prepared, Kojirō gathered her ki into the sword. When her foe’s attack came, lashing out of the blackness, she returned in kind. Monohoshizao sliced through the dark with a sound like tearing velvet. Three strikes glowed as they burst forth, trapping the incoming strike within a prison of cuts that could fell even a sparrow in flight. Tsubamegaeshi.   The only sound was that of metal on metal. No grunt of pain or surprise reached Kojirō’s ears. In the briefest flash of light afforded by the sparks of their clash, she saw why. The pale sword had been darting through the air toward her with no wielder behind it. Now it shattered into three distinct pieces which clattered to the floor before dissolving into something distressingly organic in shape and signature.   Ah.   The god himself had never moved. He was still behind her, and must know that she could sense him. It felt like a trap, but that kind of attack could not go unanswered. With all her considerable strength, Kojirō thrust Monohoshizao into the midnight floor and turned, throwing up a shower of sparks that illuminated her foe moments before the blade slammed into him. The ivory-skinned god raised a single hand and caught the attack with his palm. Kojirō stopped short. It was not like striking a wall. Rather, the momentum of her swing had been sapped completely. Strain as she might, her sword would not move.   Even so, as the sparks winked out and the faint light faded, she saw something incredible. The pure white of the god’s palm now bore a black mar, an ever-so-shallow cut that leaked midnight ichor onto her sword. She’d been quick enough to almost cut through whatever manner of defense this was, and that meant that he wasn’t invincible. As these thoughts raced through her mind, Kojirō latched on to something else from the memory: the god’s face. He’d been smiling.   “I’m through playing your games,” she growled. But her words were swallowed into the empty dark around her with no response. Monohoshizao fell with a thud to the ground and the god’s aura vanished. At the same moment, the menagerie of auras around her started to move, to prowl, to intermingle. That could only mean one thing. The cages were gone too.   Something like a skeletal human with an exposed brain whirred and shrieked as it lashed out with wicked claws. Kojirō parried and twisted in time to avoid a pseudopod rocketing through where the small of her back had been just a moment before. Night-gaunts beat their wings in the air and worse things, incomprehensible in the shape of their auras, lurked beyond. Damn it all.   For the first time in years, Kojirō let her rage overwhelm her. All the frustration that she'd kept bottled up for years, all the ignominy at being defeated and humiliated by Musashi...all of it burst forth in a torrent of ki that lit her sword a bright flaming red. Monohoshizao drank deep.   Moments, or perhaps minutes, perhaps even hours later, Kojirō teetered on her feet. Her sword was as black as the night around her now, shrouded by the blood and entrails of a hundred monsters. But she had nothing left to give. The kensei fell to her knees, then collapsed, another body into the innumerable corpses around her.   Her eyes snapped open. Darkness. Endless darkness without a single spark of light to give it any sort of form. Yet she was lying on something soft. Her stomach turned for a moment to think of what that might be, but it didn’t feel like the opened belly of some monstrous creature. It felt quite a lot like a bed, actually.   A flame sprung to life in the darkness near her and illuminated the ivory-skinned god. He stood with an expression of detached curiosity by the bedside, holding Kojirō’s own lamp in one of his hands. And it was a bed. In the dancing firelight, she could just make out the curves and valleys of satin darkness surrounding her. She struggled to free herself from their alluringly warm grasp, but the god held up a gentle hand. Kojirō met the voids of his eyes and sensed no killing intent. She slowed in her struggle, but still managed to pull the sheets off of her body. Linger too long in their embrace and she might lose the will to get up again.   Something flashed through her mind and her eyes darted around to what little she could see. But Monohoshizao was there, lying only feet away by the end of the bed. Kojirō relaxed. At least, as much as she ever relaxed.   “I am Nodens,” the man said. His voice was deep and sonorous, but lacked a certain booming, earth-shaking quality that Kojirō would have expected from a god. “And who are you, who has been slaying my Night-gaunts?”   Kojirō blinked. “Your Night-gaunts?”   They stared at each other for a long moment. Nodens did not seem about to elaborate.   “They kidnap people. From Baharna. What do you do with them?”   The void-eyed face continued to gaze back at her impassively. Kojirō sighed.   “Sasaki Kojirō, Kensei.”   “From Japan. You serve the Champion of Omoikane.” Nodens voiced it as a statement, rather than a question, but there was a hint of accusation underlying his voice.   “I serve myself. Not the Daimyō, if that’s who you’re talking about.”   “Then tell me why you have come to the Abyss.”   The capital letter thudded into place with a terrible sense of finality. Kojirō frowned. “So that’s what this place is. I was hunting Night-gaunts and looking for stronger prey.”   “Stronger prey... You seek strength. You have found it.”   “There’s someone I have to become stronger for. Not much else matters.” Fully aware of Nodens’ eyes on her, Kojirō floundered for something else to say. Conversation had never been her strong suit. “What happens now?”   “Now,” Nodens intoned, “you will change your clothing. Then we will eat and discuss your penance for slaying my servants.”   “Change...?” Kojirō became suddenly aware of her fine swordsman’s clothing, now clinging to her with a mixture of sweat and caked monster fluid. “Why didn’t you undress me before putting me in that bed?!”   “That would have been...inappropriate.” Not a shimmer of an expression passed across Nodens’ face.   “Alright, alright. I have some training clothes in my pack.” It was lying there, she saw, halfway under the bed as if dropped carelessly next to her sword.   “You will meet me in the dining hall when you are ready.”   Ten minutes later, now dressed in a simple linen shirt and slacks, Kojirō was lost. There were hallways here, she knew, and rooms like a manor might have. But all of it was pitch black against pitch black. Even with her finely-trained senses, there was little way to tell where she was in relation to anything else. Once or twice she bumped into unseen furniture. Eventually, she settled for placing her right hand on the wall and simply following it until she arrived somewhere worth being.   That turned out to be a dining room of sorts. At least, that’s what she could guess from seeing Nodens sitting in a nearly-invisible high-backed chair at the head of a similarly black table. Collecting herself, Kojirō sat down at his left and attempted to surreptitiously feel her way around the placement before her. There was cutlery of a sort she wasn’t familiar with, and a plate with something warm on it. Her stomach grumbled even as her mind rebelled at the thought of eating the inky mystery food.   “Eat. It will not harm you.”   Kojirō centered herself and popped one of the unseen morsels into her mouth. Her instincts told her that it was important not to show any hesitation. As she bit down, it burst with a flood of juice that tasted faintly like blackberries. Some kind of fruit, then. She relaxed a little—that was far from the worst thing it could have been.   “Now. Your penance.”   Kojirō swallowed, then wiped her mouth with a pitch-black napkin. “I don’t owe you anything.”   “I have saved your life, and you have slain my servants. I could punish you without these formalities, if you wish.”   “You also tried to kill me on sight and unleashed an army of monsters on me.”   “I did.”   The two stared at each other in the darkness; Kojirō’s steely gaze meeting the expressionless void of Nodens’. This time, she broke the silence once again.   “Why do you kidnap them?”   “Kidnap?” Nodens tilted his head slightly, seeming genuinely puzzled.   “The people of Baharna. They complain that your Night-gaunts take them from their streets and into the mountain. Never to come back.”   “Ah.” Nodens paused. After a moment of thought, he spoke again. “There are many dangerous things in the Dreamlands. I am one of the few forces who holds them back. When a mortal, even a Baharnan, delves too deep into that which they should not know, I bring them to the Abyss.”   “What happens then?”   “They do not return. I am not the only being which dwells in this darkness. Nor am I the most terrible.”   “And who makes the decision on what ‘delving too deep’ is?”   “I do.”   Kojirō almost rolled her eyes. Typical divine arrogance. Still, Nodens seemed to be in the mood to answer questions, so she struck while the opportunity was open.   “Why didn’t you kill me, then?”   “I believed there was potential in you. Now that you have survived my menagerie, I am certain.”   “Potential for what?” Kojirō felt her shoulders tense up again. She didn’t want much in this world, but someone always seemed to want something from her. Frankly, she was getting a bit tired of it.   “To put an end to the things which dwell in the night. Which threaten mortals and the feeble reality which they call life.”   Kojirō remained silent this time. She glared at Nodens, chewing on another piece of the black fruit, until he spoke again.   “I am powerful in the realm of dreams, but my reach in the mortal world is limited.” Nodens sighed and leaned forward. Placing both hands on the table in front of him, his white hair fell over his stony features and he spoke as though admitting a great weakness. “I require an agent.”   “And you want me to do that. To kill monsters in Japan.”   “And beyond.”   Kojirō didn’t answer immediately. This was an opportunity the likes of which she hadn’t ever considered. To ally with a god, and not one of the Amatsukami but an entirely unknown and powerful god, would be a powerful advantage. It might even trivialize a battle with Musashi. That, then, was the problem.   “No.”   “No?” Nodens’ expression hardly changed, but the slightest narrowing of his eyes belied a shift beneath.   “There’s something I need to do by my own power.” Kojirō grabbed another fruit. She was still hungry, and her instincts were telling her that this interview was almost at an end.   Nodens seemed to consider that. “After you have accomplished this ‘thing,’ then.”   “I’ll think about it.”   The god’s broad, pale shoulders rose and fell in a sigh. “I cannot force you. It would be much simpler if I could, but there are rules immutable even to gods.” He paused, gazing at her in the dark with an unreadable expression. “And stop killing my Night-gaunts.”   Nodens snapped his fingers.   The room around Kojirō, such as she could see, vanished.   There was a sensation of...travel. Kojirō could tell she was moving, but this darkness was somehow even more stifling than before. It wrapped around her like a shroud, covering her eyes, ears, and mouth in a thick velvet through which nothing could penetrate. It would have been maddening had she not felt something just beneath her. This ridged surface, alien though it was, served as an anchor to reality.   She felt around with her hands, which proved to be unfettered. Dry. Porous. Waved and pitted. It felt almost like an enormous seashell. That hardly made sense, but she was within the Dreamlands. Perhaps all of this had been a protracted nightmare. It had proved a valuable experience, perhaps, but far from enjoyable.   Unceremoniously, Kojirō felt herself jostled from her seat and dumped onto warm sand. Whatever midnight fabric shrouded her face was torn away and she could see and hear once more. She gasped, drinking deep of the salty air. The sun was setting. She was alone. Silhouetted against the red clouds surrounding it, a city of round domes sulked low to the coastline. That had to be Baharna.   She pulled herself up, although her muscles ached with the effort. Just how long had that trip taken? It had not felt so lengthy, but her body was stiff as though curled up in the same position for many hours. And her training clothes, she noted distastefully, were filled with sand and marred by some strange white dust. There was nothing for it, though. Her pack was gone, lost in that Abyssal manor. At least Nodens had been generous enough leave her Monohoshizao.   With one last, long breath, Kojirō staggered toward Baharna.   It was night by the time she returned to Queen's Landing. That librarian from Baharna had been kind enough to give her food, a bath, and something to wear. Although...it hadn’t been entirely free. Kojirō’s tale of a trip to Noden’s domain served as payment. Indeed, as she thought of it now, it didn’t seem quite a fair exchange. Had she been taken for a fool?   Fool or not, she’d been desperate. Her new clothing, foreign of cut though it may be, was at least clean and allowed for easy movement. And the food and bath had restored her energy. Kojirō felt ready to face the challenges of training once again. Indeed, her mind kept twitching reflexively back to the incomprehensible battle she’d faced against that menagerie of monsters in the Abyss. The raw anger, Monohoshizao burning red… Perhaps it was high time to return to Japan.   Few of the settlers were up at this hour, but two figures lingered on the beach as Kojirō approached. Both wore masks, although in entirely different ways. Still, there was no mistaking the duo. Hashinara Yoshiyuki, the Daimyō herself, and the one they called the Black Blade: Ooawagaeri. They were surprised to see her, and didn’t even seem to recognize her at first. That wasn’t surprising. She’d been gone for days, lost in some alien place, and stripped of her traditional garb.   Or, perhaps not lost for so long. According to the Daimyō, not even a full day had passed since they’d last met. That was reality’s problem, though, not hers. Ooawagaeri had opted to return through the portal, after some business with a plague that just finished, so she chose to join him. There was much to think about, and perhaps some things to try, if she could find a sparring partner up to the challenge.