scene one, a peaceful introduction

Soft leaves from bonsai trees floated with the breeze like doves of peace, twirling and dancing in the air before they inevitably come to rest on the ground, settling gently and occasionally stirring from the breeze. All throughout the lands, bonsai leaves had fallen to the ground--no longer the lush green color they once were. They were faded and old, dry and miscolored... they were effected by the fall.

Autumn was a time of many changes for the trees... and for the land as well.

Shadows fell across the ground as clouds hovered over head, blocking rays of sun from touching the earth as they flew. The clouds loomed in the sky like towering giants, looking at their prey below as though at any moment they would snatch them from the ground.

The samurai had come to appreciate the clouds, for they themselves had the power to block the sun from their perch, and cast shadows to the land. The so-called 'all-mighty' sun could not peirce the exterior of these gentle giants in the sky, and for this the samurai gave their respects.

This is what we, as historians, would call the shadow age. A time where, while light was appreciated, comfort came in the shadows themselves. Many a samurai would train only on a cloudy day, where they might seek refuge beneath the clouds to remain cool during their rigorous training. Rightfully so--as from what we can pull up from past records, their training was quite intense.

There was one samurai, however, who seemed to break this common tradition. He was a wandering samurai, one who traveled not only through the shadows... but the light as well. Over highs and lows, through desert wind and desert night... this samurai traveled much of the continent in search of not a challenge, not the riches of the world... but of dreams he'd held as a child.

Thus he was called by all across the land as 'The Wandering Samurai', and by others as the 'Rising Star of the Continent'. The reasoning for the second nickname is simply due to the time in which the samurai traveled. Often times he would show up in a village at sunrise, his shadow pressed against the warm orange glow of the sun. They called him the rising star of the continent because everywhere he went, when he would arrive in town... the sun would always rise behind him.

It was a strange, yet accepted, fact of his life.

Much of what we know of the Wandering Samurai is uncertain, however there have been legends told of his travels and journeys to discover his dreams... yet there never was a written ending. No matter how much we know, we still are not certain whether his journey had finished or not, for our story ends as he climbs the steps of a temple that would lead him to where we suspect his dreams lie.

The question has remained for centuries...what were his dreams? Peace? Prosperity? Love?

For a samurai so gentle, so kind as he...could surely not have greed nor lust in his heart for dreams, correct?

In our efforts to find out more about this man's story, we have put together the legends and tales that had followed him throughout life. Perhaps in due time we ourselves can determine where his ending lies, and then write it out to finish the tale.

For a warrior as brave as the Wandering Samurai deserves an ending... his determination was what brought so much of his homeland back together again.

Let us begin.