The Warrior And The Pacifist

Sleepy Little Village

Tamura felt like he was in a daze. Where was he exactly? Looking around he could tell he was in a forest. Or at least what had once been a forest. Around him the trunks of trees stood, the tops burned off and the bark itself black. The ground covered in ash and the smell of burned wood seem to hang in the air. He noticed something else in that moment. The sky was black but...something about it wasn't right. It wasn't a darkness like could be seen at night...no twinkling star light could be seen. It was like an...unnatural darkness that made him uncomfortable.

His first thought was, where had Sister Leki and her bison gone? Were they safe? He may not be the best company to be around but he knew she wouldn't have just dumped him in the middle of nowhere like that.

His blasted ear was ringing louder that it had in years, the damned bell sounding like it was in his very brain, vibrating his skull with such an intensity that it hurt. "Ah." Tamura winched as he covered the ear, but it did little to ease this phantom pain.

"Goddess...please make it stop." He prayed. Once upon at time he had been one of Amaterasu's most devoted followers. He had followed her book so closely that he knew every scripture by heart. He had followed the Warriors religion the exact same way his father and brother did...or at least he used to. But now he did what many people did...believe in a higher power only when he needed something.

"There you are." He heard a voice he hadn't heard in many years speak. And like that the ringing had stopped completely. The air still with not so much as a gentle breeze as Tamura slowly turned. With a torch in hand stood...

"Matsushima..." Tamura said. This couldn't be right, Matsushima was dead, Tamura had been right there when he had taken his final breath, he had died in Tamura's arms.

Matsushima fixed him with that goofy smile. "Who else were you expecting?" He asked with a chuckle. "I've been looking all over for you. Glad I found you before the Yodō came through."

Tamura narrowed his eyes. Looking around at the burned remains of an area that at one time had held so much life. "The Yodō?" He asked.

"You don't remember?" He heard Matsushima ask, the concern clear in his voice. "Yodō led us into a trap, set the whole damned place ablaze."

The realization hit him then. Awhile back  Fire Lord Himari's spy network had gotten a less than reliable tip that Lord Junya was going to be moving through Kiju forest on the eastern most coast of the Island of Iwari. The tip had come from a Sake brewer who seem less interested in the direction of the war and more concerned with filling his pockets with coin.

Himari's Generals had tried to sway him, but his mind had been made up and he sent a force of well over ten thousand to ambush Junya and put a swift end to the war...but the intelligence report had been a set up. Almost to the second those ten thousand warriors went into the forest...Fire broke out all around them and panic set in.

Tamura could remember he and a few other officers had tried to rally who they could and attempt to outrun the fire that surrounded them...in that Chaos, Tamura had gotten separated from the others and his choices were either to stay put or run...he could still hear the screams of men and women as the fire consumed them. The very thought setting his hair on end.

That had been years ago though...Or at least he thought it had been years ago. Could he have Just imaged the events that preceded this. Imaged he was the Avatar? He had heard the mind did strange things when it was in danger so perhaps his subconscious had constructed a fantasy world to protect him from the events that had happened in this forest.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned  Matsushima sharing a look of concern. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Tamura cleared his throat. "I'm...fine. Have you been able to find anyone else?"