 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
scene one, the beginning of another beginning
There was a time towards the end of the Shadow Age where samurai began following the principles laid own by the Wandering Samurai. Not all of them, of course... but there were a few. Men who felt that they'd spent too long in the shadows of the clouds and of the night, and chose to work beside the Wandering Samurai... even under the scorching temperatures of summer.
Deng Tuo was not one of those samurai... he looked to advancing his age forward into the shadows. Believing that harmony would come only in the shade, he shunned the Wandering Samurai's sunlight training. Because of this, it was rare that samurai who followed Deng would accept the Wandering Samurai training beside them in the shade.
And so, even after his great victory to earn his right to fight in the temple... the Wandering Samurai was an outcast. Many samurai looked on at him with envy, others with anger... and one with an intense hatred, shared only by the Wandering Samurai himself.
When he won the tournament, the Wandering Samurai and Deng Tuo were instantly known as rivals. However, it was Deng Tuo who stepped it up while the Wandering Samurai was training by accosting him. From there, legend says that both samurai would constantly berate each other, drawing near to battle with every passing encounter.
The days went on, the travels grew longer, and the stories were more vivid. As unbelievable as some of the tales told were, none were as mind-boggling as the diary entries by Mai Xin kun... supposedly the Wandering Samurai's mistress. The two traveled together all throughout the lands, but she never began telling of the sights they'd seen until after he'd won the tournament.
No-one quite understands why she would wait so long, for legend says that many of the lost tales of the Wandering Samurai before she began her entries were as close to fantasy as reality could bend. As a matter of fact, in some cases, those who know some of the story state that it broke the fabric of reality itself.
Nevertheless, if those tales did such things... the tales of Mai Xin kun went above and beyond. Her tales covered the very events of what brought the Shadow Age to an end...
... and sparked the beginning of the age of wanderers.