The Ryos Flame

T

Tetsuri Tokai

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The Story

There is a legend of a monster that can ravage a land with a single roar. It killed, destroyed homes and left barely anything behind. Not even a tiny bug survived when it came through. But, as time progressed, the dragon began to stop making appearances. People in local villages finally relaxed, due to the monster not showing up. Many years passed and people slowly began to forget about the monster.

Fuedal Era

Far out into the badlands, bandits read about monster with a power called the Ryos Flame, located in the Cave of Rellion . Anyone who killed the monster could aquire this power and use it for their own purposes. Whether it be to save or destroy. The bandits quickly grabbed their horses and made their way to the cave. Apon entering the cave, they stop in shock at what they saw.

A huge dragon, one in the likes of which they had never seen before, slept in the. The men, in fear, yelled out and were frozen with fear. The dragon awoke in anger, then looked down at the men. Smoke escaped the sides of its mouth as it stood up, roaring. The roar hit the men like a shockwave, sending them flying to the wall, pinned against it.

The dragon slowly walked to them and stopped, glaring down apon them. In their final moments, the men cried out and begged for mercy as they were burned to a crisp.
Their greed had been the death of them. The monster had been awakened and it began to destroy once again.

2 years after the incident
A man and a woman have began tracking down the legend of the monster in hopes of putting an end to it. The two of them will be put through trials that will test them constantly and test their skills. What will become of them?

Journey with these two young spirits in the story of

~!The Ryos Flame!~
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Kehario Teirs/ Age: 22

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Miyako Hamasaki, Age: 20

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It never would have occurred to the young woman that she would be on this trail three years before. She hefted her pack up onto her shoulder again as she moved through the destroyed village. Everything had been more or less taken off the ground--she couldn't even see a piece of rice anywhere in the surrounding area that had at one point not too long ago been a village of at least two hundred souls.

Miyako turned darkening eyes around her to where she knew houses should be. Three years ago this village would have flourished with no worries about evil demons or other destructive measures. But then someone had gone and awoken a creature that was destroying everything it wanted to without a second thought. Grounding her teeth at the creatures lack of a consciences, she pushed herself to walk through the clearing-village until she sat next to a giant hole int he ground where a well had at one time been.

Letting her pack slide down her arm, the young woman placed her bow down next to it before looking down inside the hole. Little if any water remained in there--not that she would trust to drink it anyway. Groaning she sat back and looked a round. The chances of meeting anyone with a good supply of water was minimal. Though she wouldn't trust anyone that showed up in such a place anyway.

((OOC: Wasn't quiet sure how you wanted to start it, but this is what I came up with. ^^))
 
(ooc Thats just fine ^^ also sorry i forgot to start it XD)
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The young man never would have thought that he would see his old village in ruins like this. Homes were turned to ashes, burned bodies laid scattered amongst one another and the smell of burning ash lingered. He coughed slightly and a few tears fell from his eyes. He placed his right forearm over his nose to keep from breathing in the fumes, walking slowly.

The village flourished with life and nested a beautiful, crystal blue lake that was the heart and soul of the city. Now, it was only dried out and filled with ashes. A wind blew in slowly and carried off the smoke allowing him to open his eyes.

Now that the smoke was cleared, he could get a better view of the village. It was saddening to him. All those lives lost. Whatever did this to his village was here not to very long.

Kehario sat down for a moment as he sighed.
 
Rising from her seat, the young woman picked up her packs and bow. There was little reason to stay in this village except to remember the lives that had been lost. There were more recent destruction that could give her a better clue of where this creature had gone. Rolling her shoulders slowly she started off, stepping around the well and heading towards the west in hopes of finding something of more use in tracking this for lack of a better term just yet, demon down.

If her memory of her map served her right there was supposed to be a lake only a twenty minutes brisk walk from this old site of destruction with it's own village. That would give her a source of water she determined and started to jog, making sure her bags straps were tight around her shoulders. She was glad that she had worn a pair of her older brother's trousers when she had left on his mission of hers. With them on under the kimono she wore, the girl was able to jog without having to worry about showing an indecent amount of skin.

It was the smell of burning flesh that warned her of the doom she was about to face. She slowed to a walk and slipped as soundlessly as she could onto the road that would lead to the village. She had seen the old sites before--but never a new one. Smoke rose from the charred remains. Miyako swallowed back a swell of sickness and strung her bow. Ready with an arrow notched, she walked forward, ready to shoot anything that moved.

The young woman moved through the remains and towards the center of the town. Deciding that if any demons were there that she would have run into them she lowered her bow an inch. She felt a deadly silence ring out around her and she liked it even less. When the smell of the area became too strong, she let out a loud cough as she let the arrow she held fall to the floor, pressing the edge of her sleeve to her nose and mouth. Miyako waited, sure that if something had heard her it would have appeared already, but not wanting to lose her life for being stupid either.

~~~~~

((Don't worry about it. It happens to everyone. ^^))
 
Kehario looked around the village for a little while longer. He began to have flashbacks as he looked in each spot that was burned down. It pained him to see this ,but there was nothing he could do. After soaking in the sight for a few moments, he said a quiet prayer. Afterwards, he stood up and strapped his sword to his back. As he readied to leave the village, he spotted someone making their way slowly towards it.

He un-sheated his sword and glared. Whoever this person was, looked like a robber. Kehario waited a few more minutes. Finally, a woman had appeared holding her bow and moving cautiously as if she was preparing to be attacked. He didn't want the guilt of killing an innocent woman on his hands so instead, he decided to question the woman in a stern voice

" Why have you traveled here to this village, woman? If your looking to steal something, then you've come to the wrong place!"

He held his sword firmly in his hand. Just in case she retaliated against him.
 
Miyako was glad of the training she had gotten as a young child. Never jerk around when there is an unseen adversary. One of her favorite lessons had been her uncle teaching her that by yelling at her and if she jerked she got tackled by her cousins. She of course would fight back but they'd always ended with her on the ground with her cousin in the 'kill' position.

Her hand itched to go down and grab the arrow; to spin around and shoot. After all, who would be sulking around ruins but a thief? she decidedly put that out of her mind since it also applied to her. She lowered her bow to the ground and rose, her hands held in the 'surrender' position next to her head on both sides.

"I only just arrived stranger. I came in search of clean water for there used to be a lake here and a village that I could get some information from. Accusing someone of stealing is a high accusation during these times. Should I not accuse you of the same thing since I'm not the only one sulking around here? For all I know you are part of the group or in league with the demon that did this." She said. She didn't whimper and cower like most women for it wouldn't be good for her reputation, but she didn't scream like a she-demon. If she wanted to survive she would not find that in doing either of those. At least not with a decent reputation for a warrior afterwards.
 
When he saw the woman raise her hands in surrender, he closed his eyes and turned away. He listened to her lecture as he swiped his sword to the side and sheated it. He looked ahead as his eyes lowered and his bangs fell over his eyes "If you must know, this is my old village. As you can see, it was attacked and destroyed by something. Many other villages have suffered the same faith"

He turned around and looked at the woman, eyes still lowered, glaring "You are the intruder and as for being in league with that demon, your dead wrong." He scolded, before speaking again "That thing, whatever it is, killed my family and closest friends. I am on a mission to destroy it so that it doesn't kill anymore innocent people"

Kehario walked over to a ragged doll and kneeled down, picking it up in his hand. It was as big as his palm as he wrapped his fingers around it. He looked down at it sadly as he called out a little girl's name to himself "Rena..."
 
Miyako turned and looked for the man when she heard the sound of a sword being put away. She knelt and picked up her bow and arrow. As she watched him bend to pick up the doll, she put away the arrow and unstrung her bow. "My apologies and condolences to you then," she said, gripping the bow hard as she strained to listen around her for anything that might be trying to get around them. "I do not know the pain you must be suffering for my village was alive last I visited a month back, but I do know that a lot of people are being thrown out of their homes by whatever is doing this. I hope you find a new one and get some peace somehow. Before I leave though do you know if the lake is still there or if it was burned away by the Demon that did this? I really do need to get some new water soon and the well from the village I was just in was not int he best of conditions."

She was just guessing that this was the work of the same thing that had cleared out the village she was in earlier. it would definitely explain a few things, though how a creature could do this much damage was beyond the understanding of the young woman standing there. While she had not personally been affected by the calamities that seemed to be happening, she knew plenty of people that had been. Many new villagers had gathered at her village and had related their stories so much that she had felt the need to hunt this creature down. Most of them were in the same boat the young man holding the doll was--their lives had been taken from them, they (unlike him) had lost everything and had nothing to fight back with. They had just been lucky, or misfortune depending on who one spoke with, to be out of the villages at the time.
 
Kehario listened to what the woman spoke as he held the doll. He looked back at the woman with a glare. "Keep your pity woman! I don't need any from a stranger who comes barging into my town. Also, the well is dried up. So, if you want water your fresh out of luck" He strapped his sword tighter to his back and began making his way passed the woman and out the village.

He stopped with his back facing her and looked out the corner of his eye "Maybe you should return home. Traveling unprepared can be hazardous to a fighter. You should know that. I find it rather pathetic to be honest" Keharion had no time to be sympathetic with anyone. He had lost his entire family and closes friends to this monster.

Worst of all, he couldn't find his little sister. She had disappeared in the last raid and no trace of her could be found. He looked back at the woman "Leave this place at once, or i won't hesitate to kill you" With that being said, he made his way down the path, holding the doll close to him.
 
Miyako turned to stare after the man. He had as much slapped her in the face. Anger started boil inside the young woman and she really wished that she had not unstrung her bow. She'd be able to shoot him in some body part simply to take her anger out on the one that was angering her. He knew nothing about her and was yet saying she should go home simply because she wanted to replenish her water supplies?

"And what about yourself? You are just going to go walking off with a sword and a doll? Not very prepared yourself,” She called out, her eyes flashing dangerously. Instead of following him though, she turned and started to openly search the area. He was just going to leave the burned bodies here?

Her stomach rolled at the sight of the burned skin. With a deep sigh, Miyako decided that her work her had just started. She was not a heartless woman, nor a squeamish one. She went behind a tree and drew off her kimono and put on a simple tunic that she wasn’t afraid of getting dirty.

Sure, she needed to find the demon to kill it. But these corpses did not deserve to be left out in the open for anyone to snack upon. She started at one edge of the town and started to drag the bodies over to a clear part. Miyako wished that man saw her doing this for a village he claimed as his own; though she doubted he would have stuck around with the way that he had been acting.

It was as she was pulling a young child, something that curled her stomach, out of a chicken coop that had been burned down that she found something of interest. The only clean thing in the mess was a small circular item that was like a shell. Miyako placed the child out in the open and pulled the object out and felt the smooth sides. It shown in the sunlight. Not sure what it was, she stuffed it inside her shirt and went back to work.
 
Kehario stopped and looked back at the woman. She had begun to bury the bodies and he looked away in shame. He had been so wrapped up in his emotions that he neglected putting his loved ones to rest. Kehario lowered his head in shame, before putting the doll in his pocket and making his way over to the woman. As he got close enough, he kneeled down next to a burned body across from the woman.

"And what about yourself? You are just going to go walking off with a sword and a doll? Not very prepared yourself,” The woman's voice echoed in his head as he began digging. As much as he hated it, she was right. Also was very rude to her and she was only in need of help. His eyes slanted as his bangs fell over his eyes. He didn't much like seeing anyone sad or even upset, especially a woman. But, in this time of his loses, his mind was clouded.

He looked up to the woman, slightly. She was very beautiful. It was very strange, that a woman of her beauty would even be chasing the beast (or demon as some call it), let alone trying to kill it. Even more so, she was burying his dead loved ones. Something he should have done before getting ready to leave.

After the body was buried, Kehario made his way to the next. Eventually, the bodies were being buried faster with the both of them working together. Kehario made his way to the final body. But, as he readied to bury the body, he noticed the woman digging through rubble. The woman had placed a child's body to the side and picked up something and held it in the air. The item shined under the sun and the woman seemed dazzled by it. Afterwards, she put it away inside her shirt and began to work again.

He wasn't sure what it was himself, but at any rate, he only ignored what he saw and buried the last body.
 
Miyako was silent the whole time she worked on getting the bodies to their proper resting places. She ignored the pain as she got splinters or slipped and bruised herself. She watched the other man carefully when she was near him, ready to defend herself if he got angry or violent again. When she had found the last body, she went to her packs and pulled out two medium sized flasks. Looking around she located the young man and walked over, holding out one flask, though she didn't look at him while she did it. She had to admit that he would have been something to look at--if he hadn't been so rude, or covered with the grim, or if they weren't surrounded by the remains of what had been a lively place.

"It's just water. It wouldn't be right for me to drink and not offer you some, so here, if you are thirsty that is," she said before coughing lightly and taking a drink of the flask she held in her left hand. The water tasted better than she thought it would. After breathing in scent of burned or decaying bodies, the water tasted pure and blessing delicious.

In truth, Miyako hadn't thought he would turn around to help. He had been so engrossed with his loss that it wasn't a surprise that he'd only been thinking of revenge--as any idiot male would be--rather than putting a village to rest. Closing her eyes as she drank she thought about how she would have reacted had her own village turned out to be like this. Could she say that she would not act the same way that he had? No, but she wouldn't admit that she would act like he had either.
 
Kehario looked up at the woman as she handed him a flask. She didn't look at him , but she didn't look at him. He knew full well it was because he was rude earlier. He started to speak only to stop himself, and take the flask. He couldn't understand why she was still being nice. Right after he was cold towards her. She walked away after handing him the flask letting out a cough.

It seemed that the ashes were getting into her system slowly. Kehario looked down at the flask, hesitant to drink. Somewhat fearful she had poisoned it. But, the air was so dry to the point that his mouth felt like cotton now. He looked down at the flask momentarily before drinking. It tasted good, very good. Seems it wasn't poisoned after all.

He placed the flask gently on the ground beside him and resumed burying the final body before standing up. Picking up the flask. He walked over to the woman and held it outward towards her, looking away

"Thank you"
 
Miyako turned to look at the young man and take the flask, weighing it. Taking a drink from her own, she held it back out to him, her jaw set. He was going to be traveling as well wasn't he? She wasn't a completely heartless woman.

"Keep it. You'll need it if you are going to be traveling," she explained before turning and going back to her pack where she pulled her kimono out and paused. Her hands were filthy. Half of her nails had broken during the work. Her white tunic was completely covered in dirt and ash. Sighing she stuffed the kimono back away and pulled out a long sleeved shirt that went down to her knees. Going behind the tree again, she pulled the white shirt off and pulled other shirt on before stuffing the other back into her shoulder pack. When she came back out from hiding, she stood in a blue and grey dress-like shirt with a small cord around the middle to keep it from billowing around her with each breeze.

As she had changed she had pulled the shiny object out again and had started to examine it when she'd left her hiding place. When she looked up, her black eyes sought the young man. She would hate to be called a raider or thief for simply finding something and keeping it so she was considering asking him if it belonged to his village. Miyako knew that it was risky. She could lose a good object that she could use or sell for money at a later point.
 
Kehario was quite suprised when the woman had told him to keep the flask. He caught glimpse of her face, now that he was closer. Although, her face was dirty from working, he could still see how beautiful she was. He looked away from the woman not wanting her to see his face or even make eye contact with her. He then felt his heart race and he place his left hand over it . -Why is this- He said momentarily to himsself before he looked back at the woman.


 
Miyako saw his hand go to his heart and frowned. Was he hurt? She walked over to him, placing a relatively gentle hand on his shoulder. Her hand barely touched him, barely put pressure on the shoulder. "Are you all right?" she inquired her grip on her discovery tightening. She didn't have enough medicine with her if he became sick in the chest or heart. She only had medicine for minor cuts and bruises. Up close she was surprised at how he looked. He wasn't what she would call large but at the same time he looked big and strong, perfectly capable of taking care of himself. A flutter in her stomach made her drop her hand from his shoulder quickly as if she had doe something completely wrong, but at the same time she wanted to put her hand back and show him that she could be kind if the situation called for it.
 
Kehario looked over at the woman as she placed her hand slightly on his shoulder. He placed the doll back inside his pocket as the woman had asked if he was alright. He couldn't help but give her a small smile as she removed her hand from his shoulder. "I am fine, no need to worry. I am neither sick or hurt in anyway" Kehario looked down at the ground then back up at the woman again before speaking gently "I am also very sorry for my actions earlier. I had mistaken you for a bandit"

He was hoping that if he apologized then maybe, just maybe the woman would forgive him for his mistake.
 
Miyako stared at him. Then she blinked a few times. And then she broke out into a weak smile. "Me? A bandit? I'd make a very poor bandit I'm afraid. A bow and arrow and all that is in my pack is all that I have with me. And don't most bandits hang around with others of their filthy kind?" She shrugged a little and looked away until her gaze landed on the freshly dug graves. "Thank you for apologizing though, sir." She turned then and went to where she had changed. When she returned a few short minutes later she was carrying an armful of flowers.

She walked over to each of the grave and placed one flower on each of them ceremoniously. When she was done, she looked around for the young man, "I do hope you don't mind. My mother would have smacked me silly if I hadn't done this. She's very religious about putting flowers on the graves. She used to say that one would need the flower in order to get where they were going."
 
Kehario was very releaved that the woman was so forgiving. He watched her as she walked to a spot where she seemed to have put something, then return and mark each grave with a flower. She was truely something else, this woman. Even though these people weren't her family, she still respected them and put them at rest. He admired that. He looked over at her as she spoke to him.

"Well, your mother has raised you well" He said kindly, extending his hand to shake the woman's hand as he stood next to her.

"My name is Kehario Teirs"
 
Miyako stared at the hand extended to her and then up at the young man. Finally she smiled and took his hand and gave it a firm shake. "I'm Miyako Hamasaki," she said before pulling her hand back and hiding it behind her body. No one had ever shaken her hand before. Of course, no one had ever yelled and called her a bandit either so that day was the day of many firsts it seemed.

Quickly she pulled out the mysterious shiny thing that she had found earlier and held it up as if inspecting it again, "Did this belong to your village?" She asked distractedly as she tilted it one way and another, noting new colors as the sun reflected off it. "I found it in a chicken coop so I wasn't sure."