The setting sun bathed the grassy field below a dark red and golden light, where a small shrine stood amongst a tranquil garden. There, Shingon Akihiro, known to nearly all on Kamigawa as greatest and most powerful of the shugenja, stood quietly before the shrine to pay his respects.
The wind subtly shifted as some small leaves blew past Shingon Akihiro. A small, subtle half-smile formed, knowing who had joined him.
“Higore Mamoru,” announced Shingon Akihiro, catching a glint of the ninja in the corner of his eye. “Deadliest of the ninja and undisputed Ninjutsu master on Kamigawa…”
“I am not as you claim, Shingon Akihiro,” Higore Mamoru corrected. “I am only second best.”
“Oh, and who might the best be, then?” Shingon Akihiro said.
“I have not met that one yet,” Higore Mamoru replied before providing his ancestral offering gift and paying his respects at the shrine. “Kiyomi often spoke of how wonderful it was having you as a brother.”
“Shingon Kiyomi spoke even more of how beloved you were to her as her best friend, Mamoru,” Shingon Akihiro responded. “She spoke even more of her dream to spend the rest of natural life with you someday.”
“I shared that dream as well,” he admitted. “But the winds of fate proved fickle, taking her away from us at the age of ten, have they not?”
“They have,” Shingon Akihiro admitted when an awkward pause hovered over them.
“It has taken quite some time, but I now know who is responsible for Kiyomi’s death,” he stated. Higore Mamoru turned, his eyes hardened.
“A planeswalker known as Geyadrone Dihada,” Shingon Akihiro stated. “She is a disciple to one known as Tevesh Szat.”
“The doom of fools,” Higore Mamoru said in an angry whisper. “Where is she now? Is she on Kamigawa?”
“No, she crosses the great planes to evade capture, but such magic is so powerful that it leaves a residual trail can last for several years,” Shingon Akihiro said, showing him a silver compass and an array of other artifacts before rolling them up in a cloth carrying case to hand it to him.
“These are gifts from me and the Myojin to you to dispense justice.”
“Any message from you to Geyadrone Dihada?” Higore Mamoru said.
“You are my message.”
* * *
The plane: Gaea
“Are you ready, my lady?” asked Sir Tobias while in human form dressed in the formal, ceremonial garb of a knight while wearing the small magical medallion given to him by Avram Carthalion.
“Just about,” said Lady Leondra Coeur d’Acier, adorned in a formal, ceremonial dress of her own. The tall, slender, and athletic Leondra had her braided neatly behind her back and wore an ornate ceremonial circlet on her forehead reflecting her rank and status as one of Charlemagne’s paladins. To Sir Tobias, who had typically seen Leondra only in armor or a knight’s tunic with her hair bundled up in a messy ponytail, he was quite surprised to see how feminine she really was.
“You look…radiant, my lady,” Tobias said, taking a formal bow.
“You’re cute,” Leondra teased, feeling awkward to receive such as compliment. The two walked together down the hall to the main concourse, joining the wedding reception of their friends and fellow comrades, Sir Tiras and Genevieve. Every few steps however, Tobias was scratching his back, followed by his stomach, and then his legs.
“Tobias, are you all right?” Leondra asked.
“Yes, my lady,” replied Tobias awkwardly. “It’s just that this clothing that humans wear is not something I’m used to.”
“It will take time,” Leondra admitted, pausing to look behind her.
“My lady?” asked Tobias.
“Nothing,” answered Leondra. “I thought I heard something but it must have been the wind blowing through the window.”
Leondra and Tobias joined arms formally and entered the grand hall, where the Master of Ceremonies announced them. From there, they joined wedding party to partake in the celebration.
Meanwhile, Higure Mamoru slipped back into the shadows; Geyadrone Dihada was on this plane known as Gaea once before, but how long ago wasn’t clear. Regardless, Higure Mamoru would use the magical compass to search elsewhere.
The plane: Oranos
“ADURO MEI INIMI!!!” shouted Kyna Dawnbringer, releasing a barrage of fire darts to strike her foe. After many months of training under her mentor Master Garron, Kyna Dawnbringer’s skills and powers as a cleric became increasingly sophisticated. Her opponent was visibly caught off-guard by her initial attack, staggering backwards before raising a magical defense of her own followed by a counter-attack.
“LUCIDUS MICO!” Kyna exclaimed, generating a shield of white light that protected her. Kyna then drew out her small mace from her belt as her eyes began to glow.
“VOCARTE GLORIFICUS!!!” intoned Kyna, bashing her foe’s in the face with her magically-infused weapon. Kyna’s opponent shrieked in pain followed by anger, delivering a vicious backhand out of instinct that knocked the much smaller Kyna Dawnbringer back. Just as Kyna was about to strike again, her adversary unleashed her fury.
“ENOUGH!” angrily shouted Geyadrone Dihada, spitting out one of her teeth before blasting Kyna against the wall with a wave of green energy, making her drop her weapon on impact followed by shooting out a stream of sticky black webs that pinned Kyna against the wall. Entangled, Kyna tried to invoke another spell until Geyadrone Dihada released another stream of black webs over Kyna’s face, covering her nose and mouth to smother her. Kyna’s blue eyes widened in panic while desperately fighting for air and struggling to break free.
“GET THE ^%$#@* AWAY FROM MY SISTER!!!” roared Aden Dawnbringer, viciously embedding his battle axe into Geyadrone Dihada’s spine. She shrieked in pain, staggering backwards.
“Perhaps I underestimated this world,” she muttered bitterly before leaping out of the window, disappearing into the fog bank below.
Master Garron entered next, seeing Aden free his sister. Kyna coughed heavily and took in deep breaths when Aden removed the webbing from her face as he helped her stand.
“What happened?” Aden asked.
“I was researching one of the old magic tomes,” said Kyna. “And then, from the other end of library, this strange woman appeared from the shadows, sifting through the tomes. She discarded some and was attempting to steal others. When I got closer, she hissed at me and all of a sudden fangs sprouted from her mouth.”
“I see that you knocked one of them out,” commented Aden, picking it up from the floor.
“Let me see it,” asked Master Garron. Aden handed it to him.
“Hmm…perhaps it’s best I do my own research about this sort of creature,” Master Garron said before leaving the chamber.
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” offered Aden. A weary Kyna nodded ‘yes’.
Just then Master Garron arrived on the scene with six guards behind him.
“I heard the commotion,” Master Garron said. “Are you all right?”
“Master Garron?” Kyna with a confused look. “Weren’t you just here?”
“No, I was in the outer courtyard when I saw this strange looking woman leap from the window before mysteriously disappearing,” Master Garron answered.
“Master Garron, don’t you remember me giving you the fanged tooth?” Aden asked.
“Tooth? What tooth?” responded Master Garron. “I’ve just arrived.”
Kyna and Aden Dawnbringer looked at one another in disbelief.
Elsewhere, Higore Mamoru shed his magical guise off. Geyadrone Dihada was here indeed, and the magical trail left behind was as radiant as the sun.
The plane: Ulgrotha
At her citadel located on the periphery of land ruled by Baron Sengir, Geyadrone Dihada muttered nothing but obscenities as her imp servants removed the axe embedded in her back followed by applying a special healing ointment to seal the visibly gaping wound. Despite the pain, she still had enough magical power remaining to escape, and not empty-handed. Geyadrone Dihada smiled over her stolen prize: a small collection of magical tomes.
Geyadrone Dihada unexpectedly felt a sharp pin prick at the base of her neck. When she turned around to curse at her imp servant for being so clumsy, she saw that he was already dead, along with the other three.
“Where are you?” angrily hissed Geyadrone Dihada, attempting to summon forth her magic. Yet, nothing happened. Geyadrone Dihada’s eyes turned to rage, as her attempt to tap the dark mana in Ulgrotha failed again and again. Before she could vent her frustration any further, a sudden feeling of cold coursed through her veins until Geyadrone Dihada collapsed to the floor with vacant eyes. Geyadrone Dihada had lived since the early days of Dominaria but now lay dead after mere seconds.
A shadowy figure emerged from the recesses of the chamber, where he removed the pithing needle that he stealthily inserted in the base of her neck to render her powerless. Cut off from the mana that fueled her strength and defenses, Geyadrone Dihada proved easy prey for the numerous poison darts Higore Mamoru silently inserted into her body. Unsheathing his katana blade, Higore Mamoru finished what he had set out to do before disappearing back into the shadows.
From the safety of his fortress Castle Sengir, Baron Sengir watched what transpired with his seeing crystal, catching only flashes of movement and then…. the headless body of Geyadrone Dihada lying lifeless on the floor.
Baron Sengir sat back in his throne and stroked his chin. Clearly, whoever this person was, he was of Kamigawa; that much he was sure of. But how did he get here? Where did he go? Why assassinate Geyadrone Dihada beyond the obvious fact that she had a lot of enemies? More and more questions circulated through his mind when the following facts emerged: one, that whoever this was had the skill to evade her guards, magical defenses, and had some type of artifact capable of rendering even planeswalkers impotent; two, that this one possessed no type of honor whatsoever.
“If only I had such men under me…” he briefly thought.
The plane: Kamigawa
At a tavern in a humble fishing village, Hideki returned from his long day gathering fish and decided to treat himself for some drinks following a sizeable catch that earned him a little extra money. When he entered, Hideki ordered a couple hot pork buns along with some rice wine.
When he looked up, he saw a bizarre, hideously-looking woman’s head being kept in a jar of brine mounted on top of a shelf. Whatever it was, Hideki, thought, was only marginally human.
“What is THAT for?” Hideki asked.
“It’s a guide to know when you drank too much,” the tavern owner said. “When you think she’s beautiful, then it’s time for you to go home.”
Hideki laughed, taking his first drink and looked up.
“Still ugly.” He said.
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The setting sun bathed the grassy field below a dark red and golden light, where a small shrine stood amongst a tranquil garden. There, Shingon Akihiro, known to nearly all on Kamigawa as greatest and most powerful of the shugenja, stood quietly before the shrine to pay his respects.
The wind subtly shifted as some small leaves blew past Shingon Akihiro. A small, subtle half-smile formed, knowing who had joined him.
“Higore Mamoru,” announced Shingon Akihiro, catching a glint of the ninja in the corner of his eye. “Deadliest of the ninja and undisputed Ninjutsu master on Kamigawa…”
“I am not as you claim, Shingon Akihiro,” Higore Mamoru corrected. “I am only second best.”
“Oh, and who might the best be, then?” Shingon Akihiro said.
“I have not met that one yet,” Higore Mamoru replied before providing his ancestral offering gift and paying his respects at the shrine. “Kiyomi often spoke of how wonderful it was having you as a brother.”
“Shingon Kiyomi spoke even more of how beloved you were to her as her best friend, Mamoru,” Shingon Akihiro responded. “She spoke even more of her dream to spend the rest of natural life with you someday.”
“I shared that dream as well,” he admitted. “But the winds of fate proved fickle, taking her away from us at the age of ten, have they not?”
“They have,” Shingon Akihiro admitted when an awkward pause hovered over them.
“It has taken quite some time, but I now know who is responsible for Kiyomi’s death,” he stated. Higore Mamoru turned, his eyes hardened.
“A planeswalker known as Geyadrone Dihada,” Shingon Akihiro stated. “She is a disciple to one known as Tevesh Szat.”
“The doom of fools,” Higore Mamoru said in an angry whisper. “Where is she now? Is she on Kamigawa?”
“No, she crosses the great planes to evade capture, but such magic is so powerful that it leaves a residual trail can last for several years,” Shingon Akihiro said, showing him a silver compass and an array of other artifacts before rolling them up in a cloth carrying case to hand it to him.
“These are gifts from me and the Myojin to you to dispense justice.”
“Any message from you to Geyadrone Dihada?” Higore Mamoru said.
“You are my message.”
* * *
The plane: Gaea
“Are you ready, my lady?” asked Sir Tobias while in human form dressed in the formal, ceremonial garb of a knight while wearing the small magical medallion given to him by Avram Carthalion.
“Just about,” said Lady Leondra Coeur d’Acier, adorned in a formal, ceremonial dress of her own. The tall, slender, and athletic Leondra had her braided neatly behind her back and wore an ornate ceremonial circlet on her forehead reflecting her rank and status as one of Charlemagne’s paladins. To Sir Tobias, who had typically seen Leondra only in armor or a knight’s tunic with her hair bundled up in a messy ponytail, he was quite surprised to see how feminine she really was.
“You look…radiant, my lady,” Tobias said, taking a formal bow.
“You’re cute,” Leondra teased, feeling awkward to receive such as compliment. The two walked together down the hall to the main concourse, joining the wedding reception of their friends and fellow comrades, Sir Tiras and Genevieve. Every few steps however, Tobias was scratching his back, followed by his stomach, and then his legs.
“Tobias, are you all right?” Leondra asked.
“Yes, my lady,” replied Tobias awkwardly. “It’s just that this clothing that humans wear is not something I’m used to.”
“It will take time,” Leondra admitted, pausing to look behind her.
“My lady?” asked Tobias.
“Nothing,” answered Leondra. “I thought I heard something but it must have been the wind blowing through the window.”
Leondra and Tobias joined arms formally and entered the grand hall, where the Master of Ceremonies announced them. From there, they joined wedding party to partake in the celebration.
Meanwhile, Higure Mamoru slipped back into the shadows; Geyadrone Dihada was on this plane known as Gaea once before, but how long ago wasn’t clear. Regardless, Higure Mamoru would use the magical compass to search elsewhere.
The plane: Oranos
“ADURO MEI INIMI!!!” shouted Kyna Dawnbringer, releasing a barrage of fire darts to strike her foe. After many months of training under her mentor Master Garron, Kyna Dawnbringer’s skills and powers as a cleric became increasingly sophisticated. Her opponent was visibly caught off-guard by her initial attack, staggering backwards before raising a magical defense of her own followed by a counter-attack.
“LUCIDUS MICO!” Kyna exclaimed, generating a shield of white light that protected her. Kyna then drew out her small mace from her belt as her eyes began to glow.
“VOCARTE GLORIFICUS!!!” intoned Kyna, bashing her foe’s in the face with her magically-infused weapon. Kyna’s opponent shrieked in pain followed by anger, delivering a vicious backhand out of instinct that knocked the much smaller Kyna Dawnbringer back. Just as Kyna was about to strike again, her adversary unleashed her fury.
“ENOUGH!” angrily shouted Geyadrone Dihada, spitting out one of her teeth before blasting Kyna against the wall with a wave of green energy, making her drop her weapon on impact followed by shooting out a stream of sticky black webs that pinned Kyna against the wall. Entangled, Kyna tried to invoke another spell until Geyadrone Dihada released another stream of black webs over Kyna’s face, covering her nose and mouth to smother her. Kyna’s blue eyes widened in panic while desperately fighting for air and struggling to break free.
“GET THE ^%$#@* AWAY FROM MY SISTER!!!” roared Aden Dawnbringer, viciously embedding his battle axe into Geyadrone Dihada’s spine. She shrieked in pain, staggering backwards.
“Perhaps I underestimated this world,” she muttered bitterly before leaping out of the window, disappearing into the fog bank below.
Master Garron entered next, seeing Aden free his sister. Kyna coughed heavily and took in deep breaths when Aden removed the webbing from her face as he helped her stand.
“What happened?” Aden asked.
“I was researching one of the old magic tomes,” said Kyna. “And then, from the other end of library, this strange woman appeared from the shadows, sifting through the tomes. She discarded some and was attempting to steal others. When I got closer, she hissed at me and all of a sudden fangs sprouted from her mouth.”
“I see that you knocked one of them out,” commented Aden, picking it up from the floor.
“Let me see it,” asked Master Garron. Aden handed it to him.
“Hmm…perhaps it’s best I do my own research about this sort of creature,” Master Garron said before leaving the chamber.
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” offered Aden. A weary Kyna nodded ‘yes’.
Just then Master Garron arrived on the scene with six guards behind him.
“I heard the commotion,” Master Garron said. “Are you all right?”
“Master Garron?” Kyna with a confused look. “Weren’t you just here?”
“No, I was in the outer courtyard when I saw this strange looking woman leap from the window before mysteriously disappearing,” Master Garron answered.
“Master Garron, don’t you remember me giving you the fanged tooth?” Aden asked.
“Tooth? What tooth?” responded Master Garron. “I’ve just arrived.”
Kyna and Aden Dawnbringer looked at one another in disbelief.
Elsewhere, Higore Mamoru shed his magical guise off. Geyadrone Dihada was here indeed, and the magical trail left behind was as radiant as the sun.
The plane: Ulgrotha
At her citadel located on the periphery of land ruled by Baron Sengir, Geyadrone Dihada muttered nothing but obscenities as her imp servants removed the axe embedded in her back followed by applying a special healing ointment to seal the visibly gaping wound. Despite the pain, she still had enough magical power remaining to escape, and not empty-handed. Geyadrone Dihada smiled over her stolen prize: a small collection of magical tomes.
Geyadrone Dihada unexpectedly felt a sharp pin prick at the base of her neck. When she turned around to curse at her imp servant for being so clumsy, she saw that he was already dead, along with the other three.
“Where are you?” angrily hissed Geyadrone Dihada, attempting to summon forth her magic. Yet, nothing happened. Geyadrone Dihada’s eyes turned to rage, as her attempt to tap the dark mana in Ulgrotha failed again and again. Before she could vent her frustration any further, a sudden feeling of cold coursed through her veins until Geyadrone Dihada collapsed to the floor with vacant eyes. Geyadrone Dihada had lived since the early days of Dominaria but now lay dead after mere seconds.
A shadowy figure emerged from the recesses of the chamber, where he removed the pithing needle that he stealthily inserted in the base of her neck to render her powerless. Cut off from the mana that fueled her strength and defenses, Geyadrone Dihada proved easy prey for the numerous poison darts Higore Mamoru silently inserted into her body. Unsheathing his katana blade, Higore Mamoru finished what he had set out to do before disappearing back into the shadows.
From the safety of his fortress Castle Sengir, Baron Sengir watched what transpired with his seeing crystal, catching only flashes of movement and then…. the headless body of Geyadrone Dihada lying lifeless on the floor.
Baron Sengir sat back in his throne and stroked his chin. Clearly, whoever this person was, he was of Kamigawa; that much he was sure of. But how did he get here? Where did he go? Why assassinate Geyadrone Dihada beyond the obvious fact that she had a lot of enemies? More and more questions circulated through his mind when the following facts emerged: one, that whoever this was had the skill to evade her guards, magical defenses, and had some type of artifact capable of rendering even planeswalkers impotent; two, that this one possessed no type of honor whatsoever.
“If only I had such men under me…” he briefly thought.
The plane: Kamigawa
At a tavern in a humble fishing village, Hideki returned from his long day gathering fish and decided to treat himself for some drinks following a sizeable catch that earned him a little extra money. When he entered, Hideki ordered a couple hot pork buns along with some rice wine.
When he looked up, he saw a bizarre, hideously-looking woman’s head being kept in a jar of brine mounted on top of a shelf. Whatever it was, Hideki, thought, was only marginally human.
“What is THAT for?” Hideki asked.
“It’s a guide to know when you drank too much,” the tavern owner said. “When you think she’s beautiful, then it’s time for you to go home.”
Hideki laughed, taking his first drink and looked up.
“Still ugly.” He said.