When he could, Mitsuaki often tried to refrain from leaving his home in Tokuseki - this was for very obvious reasons. The most important to him; leisure time. It had actually been quite a while since any case had appeared upon the mountain so, the extended period of peace had made him a bit more of a homebody. Despite being a little less adventurous, he could still recognize when a village had suddenly become a faded memory, a relic of what it once was. On his travel here, he came across tons of yurei; not the most positive sight when searching for a village he was hoping might still have some wondering kin inhabiting.
A good handful of them were aggressive, attacking Mitsuaki on sight. Easily he was able to crush the wispy spirits with his magic. The ones who weren't sort of just floated on and on, wondering off into the woods or returning to the ruins of the village or fading off somewhere else that Mitsuaki couldn't physically see. Regardless, he managed to be able to capture one and restrain it with his magic. Keeping his distance but just close enough to see it, the yurei was translucent, dressed in tattered old robes - clothing unfamiliar to Mitsuaki. Though, he could make out that it was masculine due to its strong jaw and broad shoulders. Everything else with its physical appearance had become malnourished and the inheritor was able to make out blots in his figure, perhaps it was dirt?
"Yurei. Tell me, how long have you lived in this village?"
"The.... Village..? My... Home... It's been such a long.... Time..." The spirit spoke in a feeble and wispy tone, what one would make out to be its eyes, pale and empty, gazed far off into nothingness. Into perhaps, times it once recognized.
Mitsuaki was a very impatient person, yet he couldn't resist the pang of sympathy towards the yurei. Though, he was on short time, if he didn't get answers quick and make better progress, his own brother would possibly become something like this being before him. With a swivel of his finger, the sweet smell of wood emitted through the air and a jet black arrow manifested from his sleeve, coiled down to his wrist and then shot out towards the yurei.
It wrapped itself tightly around the yurei, constricting it - binding it.
"Matsusachi village! Apparently it was a place near the home to a Dragonlord?"
The spirit's head bobbed left and right, like it was too heavy for it too hold up. It nearly looked like a lollipop, its head swollen from the tightness. Yet, it still spoke in that faint, fading away tone, no hint of restrained breathing or gasping for air.
"D..Dragonlord...? Ah... Yes... My wife and I.... Before the Slumber.... We served him... Not here though... Never here.. In the village... Lived somewhere closer..."
"Where then? Do you remember the Dragonlord's name?"
Its eyes squinted, eyebrows knitted. It was trying so hard to recall.
"I... Faint thoughts... First, colors... Everywhere, opalescent... We found them... Beautiful... My wife and kids... Where are they? We finished... The journey... We were still... by the manor... Where are they..?"
He was going off on a tangent, Mitsuaki balled his free fist up tightly. He genuinely didn't have much time to waste on reminiscence.
"The name! I need you to tell me the name of the Dragonlord, spirit! Where is the manor?!"
"Titles... Only known... The Grand Creator... Our Lord... Ah... We would fast before and during our travel..... Yes... The Slumber... My wife and kids... Where are the-"
Mitsuaki with his summoned hand, swirled in it. The arrow tightened around it like a boa constrictor, tighter, tighter, tighter. The spirit's body looked inflated, spilling out in parts here and there between the tight gaps from the arrow, its ghostly eyes rolled behind its head. Then, the spirit exploded.
Fading into mist.
The inheritor shook his head, shaking his hand loose as well, recalling the arrow back it shot upwards into his sleeve within the blink of an eye.
'The only vital thing I took away from that is something about a slumbering and some very, very grandiose title. Not the best information to work with.'
He turned his brown, slitted eyes towards the desolate village entrance. Wood rotted and broken, falling apart and forced to hold each other up by whatever nature's resolution.
'But its better than nothing.'
Without a second to waste, he entered.
The outside part you could consider modest, for the rest, everything had become grey, fallen apart. A grotesque, moldy smell emitted from every angle, mixed in with a wretched stench of mire. The woods that surrounded it had become overbearing, its gnarled, dilapidated limbs reaching and coiling and dangling across the sky. A bizarre mist spilled onto the grounds, and it felt just so much darker here. Colder, too. Looking at the ground, Mitsuaki could tell they were once paved but now they were covered in mud and soot, maybe something in the village was set on fire?
As his eyes continued to scan around, he could see tattered clothing that resisted the power of age but were beyond filthy. The smell was abhorrent the further and further he walked in, like corpses were everywhere and never fully returned to the earth in a proper manner.
He held his sleeve to his nose, it was a sorry attempt to block out the foul scents, but it was the best he could do in such a place.
'Just what exactly happened here? Is this the effects of the Slumbering that yurei kept going on and on about?' he thought.
Everything was just.. ravaged then left to rot. Because there was no one to care anymore.
Using his free hand, he summoned his magic once more, the odor was so powerful it was still able to cover up the scent of his spell. His arrow manifested, sliding and coiling down to his wrist, almost like a trusty serpent of a servant. Closing his eyes, his hand raised - pointing out forward, he spoke his spell:
[Unbridled Journey - Direction]
Hearing its order, the arrow shot out, stretching out for multiple feet before splitting itself into two, then four.
'I'm going to find some form of direction to this 'Creator'. Then, I'll learn about the Slumbering later.'
The arrows sharply turned around corners, one only a few feet away from him. It led to a shack of what he could assume was an affluent family's wooded home. The sliding door had collapsed, the paper thin that once held designs of storks and a mountain were tattered and dirtied now. Left now on the floor to become rubble like the rest of the trash surrounding it.
'I think I'll be keeping my shoes on for this.'
He could feel the closer arrow he trailed behind throb and heat up as he approached closer to it. It was leading to something buried deep beneath even more rubble. Piles of books, pictures, cracked bowls, more mud and soot. Mitsuaki dig through it all.
'Finally!'
His eyes lit up and he could now feel his arrow literally vibrating, pointing directly at a piece of what looked like either scripture or just an old newspaper. He snatched it up, blew whatever collected dirt and soot on it off, then held it properly in front of him to read.
[The Grand Festival for the Opalescent One! The Final Trek of the Great Fasting! It will be occurring on Hakucho 16!]
Underneath he was able to make out more text, the description.
[It will be a 14 mile trek to share your request with His Greatness and engage in a bountiful meal with the Dragonlord of Matsusachi village! Children--- water to be---- no ----]
"Hakucho 16... That was a bit before I was born. When father was around still. But, I didn't know Dragonlords were worshiped and even had designated villages to them."
Mitsuaki attempted to scan further down, hunger to know more, but that was it. Everything else became torn off or just entirely eligible. The words they were writing in was familiar yet alien at the same time.
"Did they speak a different language here in this village or back then? I'll give it to the Old Man, maybe he'll be able to translate?"
Carefully folding it and placing it into his back pouch, Mitsuaki exited the home carefully and continued on.
Following his next two arrows, one led him to what he speculated to be a smelters home. There, he found beautiful marbled sculptures of what Mitsuaki theorized to be the Dragonlord of Matsusachi village, other pieces were sword hilts with unfamiliar insignia's. Mitsuaki figured that maybe they represented the seal of the family, much like how the maple leaf was his family's seal. The hilts he wasn't too intrigued by, but he still placed them into an another, slightly larger satchel on his hip. Then, he focused on statues.
They were very well made, for the time perhaps. One of them depicted this luminous being, a silk cloth casting a halo from his back and guarding a giant cauldron in front of him. Another was just a simple form standing, that silk, back halo once again, but this one had given it hair that was spike at the front then went long - little past their shoulder and their eyes were shut in an peaceful manner. Their arms were spread out wide, as if it was sharing that peace with everyone who was near it. The others he managed to find were all broken, clunky, or just straight up incomplete. Dried flowers and the remnants of a traveling bag laid about them.
Mitsuaki went ahead and quickly pocketed the well made ones and began making his way to the next destination.
The next place, he wasn't as lucky but weird noises had begun to pick up in the distance. His arrow had led him to a shop, maybe a jewellers, who knows. Behind the shop stand, inside of the now broken and disarray drawer, he was able to find a long scroll. He went ahead and pulled it down gently, doing his best to not destroy such precious evidence.
"Ah, brother! There's a scavenger in the village stealing valuables!"
Mitsuaki immediately pocketed the scroll and swiveled his head over his shoulder, body tight and ready for a fight.
He was met by three figures, each approaching him from a safe distance but easily visible. With how well clean and put together they were, they stuck out as much of a sore thumb as he did here.
They each wore the near same thing, black and white, tight pin stripped pants, crisp brown shoes, and fitted, long sleeved, cuffed folded end shirts tucked into the pants. Each of their hairs were the same color, pearl white that faded into a deep ashen blue, and they all shared the same ruby red slit eyes. The only thing that differentiated one from the other was how they styled themselves.
The one on the left who stood with the bit of a lazy slouch, had his matching striped jacket draped around the innards of his elbows and wore a beautiful, red tie with gold ends encrusted around it. His pearl white hair was shoulder length and straight, the right side of his hair was pushed behind his ear and pinned neatly. His left side bangs somewhat covering his red eyes.
The middle had his coat neatly pinned to his shoulders, allowing it to drape from his thin shoulders, he had a verdant green tie that shared the same gold edges as the other to his left. Unlike the other, he had a widow's peak and brushed a few strands of his hair behind his sharp, knife pointed ears. Revealing that all three were possibly dragonkin. His scarlet eyes were brighter, and he had a giddy smile on his face, a bit too excited to come across Mitsuaki. That one kind of gave him the creeps.
And finally.
The one on the right, who stood rigid and proper. He wore his coat in the manner it was supposed to be in, buttoned, straightened, and fitted. You could barely make out the icy blue tie encrusted in gold from his frigid disposition. His left side was brushed properly behind his sharp ear and then braided down neatly. His free bangs on the right he cared to make sure it never properly got in his vision but was still fashionably enough.
"Excuse me?" Mitsuaki said. He was slightly shocked from there being other living beings here, but he kept up his cold facade.
Especially if they were accusing him of thievery, they may be in for a fight.
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Thank you guys for sticking around for so long and getting this far! I hope the story is going good for you all! We finally are introduced to new characters! Below I will be posting the next thesaurus!
Yurei: It directly translates to faint spirit or just literally ghost! They act like normal ghosts who are trapped in the physical realm and haven't passed on until a certain soul goal of theirs are completed.
Hakucho: The word comes from the animal swan, its basically how I will be naming something equivalent to months/eras in my story.
I believe those are all of the foreign words that some may not understand in this chapter. If I missed any just feel free to google them! Have great day you all!