HOME | DD

Description
Path to Immortality Plotline

Prologue

Chapter 0: The Grudge Arc Part 1-Dream

Brief description: This chapter depicts a dream that Kaede experiences…

In the midst of the night, Saouri finds a clearing after wandering through an unknown forest. She can feel the cold breeze against her face. Dark grim clouds submerge the brilliant glow of the moon, Saouri is clearly aware of an approaching storm due to the signs. However, for a foot traveller, she seems inadequately equipped for such conditions. In the clearing, is a sturdy road leading to what appears to be a village in the horizon. As time is not on her side, she decides to venture towards the village in hopes of finding shelter. It so happens that the little supplies she has are running low. As she continues on the road, she quickens her pace to race the threatening storm, she pulls her short blade that she keeps sheathed by her hip. A magnificent blade adorned with a glass pearl at the base of its blade. It displays great craftsmanship with its subtle imprints close to the base as well as on the end of the hilt. This particular blade was craftily made to disguise a communication device. With a firm press of the glass pearl, it opens up to unveil its true nature. Luminescent blue rays cover the gap between the now separated sides of the blade.

One could easily wonder what a young travelling lady like Saouri would require such a device for. However, Saouri is no ordinary traveller. In such times of abundant violence, country authorities openly recruit individuals like Saouri who bear warrior blood. Those who are willing to leave the safety of their homes in pursuit of dangerous individuals or groups in order to help bring justice. Such people are widely identified by the general citizens as bounty hunters. Saouri had once again left the comfort of her home in pursuit of a notorious bandit leader, however she seems to be having a stream of bad luck tracking him down as most of the leads keep reaching seemingly dead ends. The last lead has brought her to her current situation, low on resources and supplies. Perhaps it may have been some form of deterrent to discourage her from continuing with her pursuit. Travelling alone outside the great urban cities isn’t a simple task, more so if the individual is a young and fairly attractive woman. There is bound to be a lot of run-ins with bandits, thieves and there are even folk legends of strange happenings, as well as a lot of records of people simply going missing never to be found. However, Saouri as a bounty hunter has been well known for preferring her missions in solitude rather than teaming up with others, she is experienced and has managed to handle her selected missions rather well to others’ astonishment. Often disarming the targets and returning them alive although sometimes killing became a more plausible option. Especially when dealing with the more notorious of the villains.

Strangely enough, for such an experienced bounty hunter, things are not going quite as planned. She maintains her placidity, even when she is surprised that her communicator is failing to pinpoint her exact location. It cannot seem to find such a forest on any of Saouri’s digital maps nor does it seem to be able to locate and identify the village she is approaching. All this clouds her mind with worry, however she does not seem to have many other options working out for her as there appears to be no other nearby settlements as far as she can see. As she approaches the village it appears once again luck has very much not been on her side. It seems she has yet again reached another dead village, probably as a result of bandit raids among other things. As she gets closer, her heart gets heavier as hopes of at least scavenging the village for any supplies are crushed. It becomes apparent that the village had not been occupied for years. It however has a peculiar familiarity to it she can’t quite figure out. It also seems that some of the buildings are in habitable condition, her discomfort however, urges her to press on rather than seek shelter. She decides to go as far as she can through the village then only seek shelter when the storm becomes fully fledged. Saouri’s senses are sharpened as she walks down the desolate street. Her dark eyes rigorously scan her surroundings looking for any little things that may appear out of the ordinary. Bandits are well known to sometimes seek refuge in such areas thus it has become apparent to her that she may well be walking into a possible ambush. As she reaches the center of the village, there appears to truly be no signs of life. Saouri is drawn to an overgrown open area that may have been a park when the village was in its prime. One particular tree grabs her attention due to its monstrous size, twisted and entangled branches and roots. It stands out from the rest of the vegetation in the area, its thick, dark trunk in the darkness makes it have a ghastly appearance. As she approaches it, its incredible size becomes apparent, as it menacingly towers over her, to the point its branches disappear into the clouds.

Saouri, realizes how unsettling its presence makes her feel. She stops when still quite a distance away from its monstrous roots that appear like dried carcasses of giant serpents entangled and twisted around each other. As she turns around to leave the park, Saouri thinks for a moment she can hear a ghastly groan from behind her. The world seemingly starts rotating about her, she feels dizzy and loses her balance dropping to the ground before she is even aware of what had just happened. Is her mind playing tricks on her, could her fatigue be finally catching up with her? She cannot tell, she tries to calm herself by closing her eyes and taking a few breaths before opening them again. To her surprise, what was supposed to have merely been a small village park now appears much larger than before. She can barely see the entrance which she had used. Startled and confused, questions start flooding her mind. “What is going on here? Is my mind playing tricks on me?” She is surrounded by trees and tall grass, regardless of how unsettled Saouri is by this location, she maintains her composure. Saouri has been lost in strange places many times before, however this feels entirely new to her. She feels like all of a sudden nature is working against her, an unexpected breeze blindingly blows directly towards her, forcing Saouri to shield her eyes with her hands as she wades through the grass. The breeze becomes strong enough to blow away her large straw hat which had been useful to her as a means of shelter from the rain as well as intense sun rays in times she lacked the motivation to pull out her umbrella. Saouri begins to feel obstacles on the ground obstructing her feet and some even seemingly hooking around her ankles as if to make her stumble. The night has become really dense and her eyes take a while to adjust to the darkness as she blindly continues towards the gate.

A feeling of relief soothes her uneasiness as she begins to notice a clearing ahead. “Whatever all that was, I’m almost there! Just a little further!” She encourages herself. As she separates the last grass reeds to reach the opening where the front gate of the park is. Her face freezes in shock and dismay to what she sees... As right there before her stands the gigantic tree she had been trying to get away from. “How is this possible?”, Saouri asks herself still frozen in shock, there is no way she could have in fact circled around and gone towards the tree. She turns around to look behind her only to see the gate she was seeking for an even greater distance away. For the first time, her fears completely overcome her. She does not understand where these fears originate from, yet she is no longer able to keep calm. She realizes just how much wading through the grass had taken out of her. She is out of breath and drops to her knees cursing herself. She cannot explain what is happening, could it be she recklessly circled her way back to the tree? However that cannot be possible as she was certain the tree was alway behind her. She tries to calm herself down. Then she notices something strange, the ground she is touching feels really soaked and sticky although it had not rained. This puzzles her and it takes her a moment to realize the cause of this.

“Blood!?” She exclaims in shock as she looks at her hands. Saouri forces herself back onto her feet and as she looks at her bloodied hands in shock, her vision broadens. It appears to be a site of a massacre, gruesome corpses are littered all around her… she had witnessed death countless times, but nothing as disturbing as what she sees now. The site is too much for her to handle. She can even feel the blood soaking into her shoes, and even her ankles, as it still feels warm. The stench of the whole area suddenly hits her, at first she feels sick, but tries to hold it in while also covering her nose with her bloodied hands. She immediately pulls out her communication device in hopes of finding something that may help her identify her location. However, it only shows static. She anxiously tries all she can to get it to work to no avail. Saouri then closes it and without further thought as she tries to calm herself down. She is unsure what to do, however nearby movement catches her attention. She sees a dark moving figure… Its movement seems somewhat unnatural, or at least not human. It gracefully glides above the uneven terrain of the corpses. It merely appears as a silhouette as the area is rather steamy however, she gradually realizes that the figure is approaching her.

Saouri’s legs are frozen, if she tries to turn around and retreat, she fears she would be making herself vulnerable to her assailant. Yet at the same time she strongly does not want to confront what she sees. She begins walking backwards, but then stumbles backwards and as she gets up to run she feels something cold touching her neck. Saouri swiftly turns around to slash whatever it could be only to hit nothing. Yet at that exact moment, she now fully faces her attacker. To her surprise she sees herself holding her blade defensively with an expression of terror on her face … this makes her jump back. “What is going on here?” She slowly lowers her blade and so does her split image. Saouri is really puzzled at this, at that moment, her split image seems to flicker. Then all of a sudden the image starts smiling to Saouri’s surprise. The smile becomes more and more haunting, Saouri is horrified by what she sees. The face keeps straining as the smile extends beyond the face's natural bounds and then cracks begin appearing from the forehead and begin to spread out. The mouth unveils darkened teeth soaked in blood as some also starts oozing out as she opens her mouth.

Saouri, feels her chest tighten as she starts feeling her heart beating increasingly fast and her panicked breath. The figure in front of her gradually lifts its hand up and holds it out to her. “Kaede! Come to me.” An ominously distorted voice speaks. At that instant, Saouri begins to sense a lot of movement around her. “The corpses!” Saouri thinks to herself and gasps, “They are moving..!” Saouri feels her ankle getting grabbed, She instinctively starts fighting what appears to be a horde of corpses after her. However there are too many of them and she is shortly overpowered. She can feel a piercing pain in her back. A burning sensation spreads from this point all the way across her back. The pain is intense and is worsened as the corpses grab her wrists and ankles causing her to feel the same sensation eating up her hands. She can see markings spreading up her arms towards her shoulders and though she screams in agony, she cannot hear her own voice. At last she sees another hand approaching her face. She feels completely helpless and regards this as the end...As a searing pain from the fingertips blinds her eyes and spreads throughout, she abruptly wakes up from what appears to have been a nightmare.

She’s sweating and breathing heavily as her body helplessly shivers from all the shock. As she tries calm herself down she gradually realizes she’s in the exact location from her dream. Saouri slowly begins to orientate herself and realizes she has no clue of the events that put her in that situation. She had been lying on the grass next to an imposing presence of a large tall tree that ghastly resembles the tree in her dream although is nowhere near its scale in the dream. She can also clearly see the gate to the park a distance away. The night sky is clear and a brilliant moonlight illuminates the surroundings. Saouri notices her clothes are a bit torn and bloodied as she struggles to get up she feels stitches in her side. She seems to be missing a lot of her equipment, however she hears a familiar beeping sound almost like an alarm. Saouri eagerly looks around for a bit and finally spots a dagger with a blinking red light on the base of its blade. She immediately recognizes her communicator and hurries to pick it up. Strangely enough, it appears to be bloodied and damaged as if it had been extensively used in a severe battle. When she presses the large glass pearl button it opens up and forms a glowing hologram, although it also sets a few sparks and uncontrollably flickers. She gasps in disbelief at what the communicator is showing. As the latest message reads:

“Wanted!!! Dead or alive!!! Saouri. Target is a bounty hunter who has gone rogue. Target is extremely dangerous and preferably should be eliminated.”

An image of her is pinned next to the notice. There are even listed locations of where she had been seen all leading to where she stands now.

"Dark wood village…"

All of a sudden something incredibly fast pierces through her right shoulder with enough impact to knock her off her feet. She drops her communicator as she falls and a burst of pain shoots through her nerves as she lays there helplessly in agony.

Saouri slowly starts fading, she cannot move any of her limbs and she hears a loud thud and a smash from something heavy landing on her communicator not so far from where she lies. As she struggles to stay awake as she sees two silhouettes towering over her, looking down on her. They start conversing with each other, but she cannot hear what they are saying. Everything turns black.

Description
Path to Immortality Plotline

Prologue

Chapter 0: The Grudge Arc Part 1-Dream

Brief description: This chapter depicts a dream that Kaede experiences…

In the midst of the night, Saouri finds a clearing after wandering through an unknown forest. She can feel the cold breeze against her face. Dark grim clouds submerge the brilliant glow of the moon, Saouri is clearly aware of an approaching storm due to the signs. However, for a foot traveller, she seems inadequately equipped for such conditions. In the clearing, is a sturdy road leading to what appears to be a village in the horizon. As time is not on her side, she decides to venture towards the village in hopes of finding shelter. It so happens that the little supplies she has are running low. As she continues on the road, she quickens her pace to race the threatening storm, she pulls her short blade that she keeps sheathed by her hip. A magnificent blade adorned with a glass pearl at the base of its blade. It displays great craftsmanship with its subtle imprints close to the base as well as on the end of the hilt. This particular blade was craftily made to disguise a communication device. With a firm press of the glass pearl, it opens up to unveil its true nature. Luminescent blue rays cover the gap between the now separated sides of the blade.

One could easily wonder what a young travelling lady like Saouri would require such a device for. However, Saouri is no ordinary traveller. In such times of abundant violence, country authorities openly recruit individuals like Saouri who bear warrior blood. Those who are willing to leave the safety of their homes in pursuit of dangerous individuals or groups in order to help bring justice. Such people are widely identified by the general citizens as bounty hunters. Saouri had once again left the comfort of her home in pursuit of a notorious bandit leader, however she seems to be having a stream of bad luck tracking him down as most of the leads keep reaching seemingly dead ends. The last lead has brought her to her current situation, low on resources and supplies. Perhaps it may have been some form of deterrent to discourage her from continuing with her pursuit. Travelling alone outside the great urban cities isn’t a simple task, more so if the individual is a young and fairly attractive woman. There is bound to be a lot of run-ins with bandits, thieves and there are even folk legends of strange happenings, as well as a lot of records of people simply going missing never to be found. However, Saouri as a bounty hunter has been well known for preferring her missions in solitude rather than teaming up with others, she is experienced and has managed to handle her selected missions rather well to others’ astonishment. Often disarming the targets and returning them alive although sometimes killing became a more plausible option. Especially when dealing with the more notorious of the villains.

Strangely enough, for such an experienced bounty hunter, things are not going quite as planned. She maintains her placidity, even when she is surprised that her communicator is failing to pinpoint her exact location. It cannot seem to find such a forest on any of Saouri’s digital maps nor does it seem to be able to locate and identify the village she is approaching. All this clouds her mind with worry, however she does not seem to have many other options working out for her as there appears to be no other nearby settlements as far as she can see. As she approaches the village it appears once again luck has very much not been on her side. It seems she has yet again reached another dead village, probably as a result of bandit raids among other things. As she gets closer, her heart gets heavier as hopes of at least scavenging the village for any supplies are crushed. It becomes apparent that the village had not been occupied for years. It however has a peculiar familiarity to it she can’t quite figure out. It also seems that some of the buildings are in habitable condition, her discomfort however, urges her to press on rather than seek shelter. She decides to go as far as she can through the village then only seek shelter when the storm becomes fully fledged. Saouri’s senses are sharpened as she walks down the desolate street. Her dark eyes rigorously scan her surroundings looking for any little things that may appear out of the ordinary. Bandits are well known to sometimes seek refuge in such areas thus it has become apparent to her that she may well be walking into a possible ambush. As she reaches the center of the village, there appears to truly be no signs of life. Saouri is drawn to an overgrown open area that may have been a park when the village was in its prime. One particular tree grabs her attention due to its monstrous size, twisted and entangled branches and roots. It stands out from the rest of the vegetation in the area, its thick, dark trunk in the darkness makes it have a ghastly appearance. As she approaches it, its incredible size becomes apparent, as it menacingly towers over her, to the point its branches disappear into the clouds.

Saouri, realizes how unsettling its presence makes her feel. She stops when still quite a distance away from its monstrous roots that appear like dried carcasses of giant serpents entangled and twisted around each other. As she turns around to leave the park, Saouri thinks for a moment she can hear a ghastly groan from behind her. The world seemingly starts rotating about her, she feels dizzy and loses her balance dropping to the ground before she is even aware of what had just happened. Is her mind playing tricks on her, could her fatigue be finally catching up with her? She cannot tell, she tries to calm herself by closing her eyes and taking a few breaths before opening them again. To her surprise, what was supposed to have merely been a small village park now appears much larger than before. She can barely see the entrance which she had used. Startled and confused, questions start flooding her mind. “What is going on here? Is my mind playing tricks on me?” She is surrounded by trees and tall grass, regardless of how unsettled Saouri is by this location, she maintains her composure. Saouri has been lost in strange places many times before, however this feels entirely new to her. She feels like all of a sudden nature is working against her, an unexpected breeze blindingly blows directly towards her, forcing Saouri to shield her eyes with her hands as she wades through the grass. The breeze becomes strong enough to blow away her large straw hat which had been useful to her as a means of shelter from the rain as well as intense sun rays in times she lacked the motivation to pull out her umbrella. Saouri begins to feel obstacles on the ground obstructing her feet and some even seemingly hooking around her ankles as if to make her stumble. The night has become really dense and her eyes take a while to adjust to the darkness as she blindly continues towards the gate.

A feeling of relief soothes her uneasiness as she begins to notice a clearing ahead. “Whatever all that was, I’m almost there! Just a little further!” She encourages herself. As she separates the last grass reeds to reach the opening where the front gate of the park is. Her face freezes in shock and dismay to what she sees... As right there before her stands the gigantic tree she had been trying to get away from. “How is this possible?”, Saouri asks herself still frozen in shock, there is no way she could have in fact circled around and gone towards the tree. She turns around to look behind her only to see the gate she was seeking for an even greater distance away. For the first time, her fears completely overcome her. She does not understand where these fears originate from, yet she is no longer able to keep calm. She realizes just how much wading through the grass had taken out of her. She is out of breath and drops to her knees cursing herself. She cannot explain what is happening, could it be she recklessly circled her way back to the tree? However that cannot be possible as she was certain the tree was alway behind her. She tries to calm herself down. Then she notices something strange, the ground she is touching feels really soaked and sticky although it had not rained. This puzzles her and it takes her a moment to realize the cause of this.

“Blood!?” She exclaims in shock as she looks at her hands. Saouri forces herself back onto her feet and as she looks at her bloodied hands in shock, her vision broadens. It appears to be a site of a massacre, gruesome corpses are littered all around her… she had witnessed death countless times, but nothing as disturbing as what she sees now. The site is too much for her to handle. She can even feel the blood soaking into her shoes, and even her ankles, as it still feels warm. The stench of the whole area suddenly hits her, at first she feels sick, but tries to hold it in while also covering her nose with her bloodied hands. She immediately pulls out her communication device in hopes of finding something that may help her identify her location. However, it only shows static. She anxiously tries all she can to get it to work to no avail. Saouri then closes it and without further thought as she tries to calm herself down. She is unsure what to do, however nearby movement catches her attention. She sees a dark moving figure… Its movement seems somewhat unnatural, or at least not human. It gracefully glides above the uneven terrain of the corpses. It merely appears as a silhouette as the area is rather steamy however, she gradually realizes that the figure is approaching her.

Saouri’s legs are frozen, if she tries to turn around and retreat, she fears she would be making herself vulnerable to her assailant. Yet at the same time she strongly does not want to confront what she sees. She begins walking backwards, but then stumbles backwards and as she gets up to run she feels something cold touching her neck. Saouri swiftly turns around to slash whatever it could be only to hit nothing. Yet at that exact moment, she now fully faces her attacker. To her surprise she sees herself holding her blade defensively with an expression of terror on her face … this makes her jump back. “What is going on here?” She slowly lowers her blade and so does her split image. Saouri is really puzzled at this, at that moment, her split image seems to flicker. Then all of a sudden the image starts smiling to Saouri’s surprise. The smile becomes more and more haunting, Saouri is horrified by what she sees. The face keeps straining as the smile extends beyond the face's natural bounds and then cracks begin appearing from the forehead and begin to spread out. The mouth unveils darkened teeth soaked in blood as some also starts oozing out as she opens her mouth.

Saouri, feels her chest tighten as she starts feeling her heart beating increasingly fast and her panicked breath. The figure in front of her gradually lifts its hand up and holds it out to her. “Kaede! Come to me.” An ominously distorted voice speaks. At that instant, Saouri begins to sense a lot of movement around her. “The corpses!” Saouri thinks to herself and gasps, “They are moving..!” Saouri feels her ankle getting grabbed, She instinctively starts fighting what appears to be a horde of corpses after her. However there are too many of them and she is shortly overpowered. She can feel a piercing pain in her back. A burning sensation spreads from this point all the way across her back. The pain is intense and is worsened as the corpses grab her wrists and ankles causing her to feel the same sensation eating up her hands. She can see markings spreading up her arms towards her shoulders and though she screams in agony, she cannot hear her own voice. At last she sees another hand approaching her face. She feels completely helpless and regards this as the end...As a searing pain from the fingertips blinds her eyes and spreads throughout, she abruptly wakes up from what appears to have been a nightmare.

She’s sweating and breathing heavily as her body helplessly shivers from all the shock. As she tries calm herself down she gradually realizes she’s in the exact location from her dream. Saouri slowly begins to orientate herself and realizes she has no clue of the events that put her in that situation. She had been lying on the grass next to an imposing presence of a large tall tree that ghastly resembles the tree in her dream although is nowhere near its scale in the dream. She can also clearly see the gate to the park a distance away. The night sky is clear and a brilliant moonlight illuminates the surroundings. Saouri notices her clothes are a bit torn and bloodied as she struggles to get up she feels stitches in her side. She seems to be missing a lot of her equipment, however she hears a familiar beeping sound almost like an alarm. Saouri eagerly looks around for a bit and finally spots a dagger with a blinking red light on the base of its blade. She immediately recognizes her communicator and hurries to pick it up. Strangely enough, it appears to be bloodied and damaged as if it had been extensively used in a severe battle. When she presses the large glass pearl button it opens up and forms a glowing hologram, although it also sets a few sparks and uncontrollably flickers. She gasps in disbelief at what the communicator is showing. As the latest message reads:

“Wanted!!! Dead or alive!!! Saouri. Target is a bounty hunter who has gone rogue. Target is extremely dangerous and preferably should be eliminated.”

An image of her is pinned next to the notice. There are even listed locations of where she had been seen all leading to where she stands now.

"Dark wood village…"

All of a sudden something incredibly fast pierces through her right shoulder with enough impact to knock her off her feet. She drops her communicator as she falls and a burst of pain shoots through her nerves as she lays there helplessly in agony.

Saouri slowly starts fading, she cannot move any of her limbs and she hears a loud thud and a smash from something heavy landing on her communicator not so far from where she lies. As she struggles to stay awake as she sees two silhouettes towering over her, looking down on her. They start conversing with each other, but she cannot hear what they are saying. Everything turns black.