It was as if a giant horse was trotting in the midday sun on a road to somewhere. Then the trotting turned into a gallop and the melody changed into a more powerful, vibrating sound of strength and a sense of purpose.
Kara dissolved in these sounds, creating something insane and magical – something that made her soul sing and cry at the same time. She kept beating and beating, until a scream rose from deep inside and escaped with the last hit she made before falling to her knees – emptied of all the anger, hate and hurt that were living inside her for so long. She felt tired, but free.
When she looked at the monk, she noticed that he was looking outside – at the sudden storm that was rumbling and roaring with thunder above the gardens. Heavy rain was falling from the skies, and Kara stood up and walked out of the pagoda into the rain, soaking in the feeling of its cool embrace and the thousands of fingers that caressed her face.
She had forgotten how it felt – to be free, soaking wet and happy just to be alive. And she started laughing, swirling under the cold rain in a simple and yet captivating dance.
Kara didn’t know how long she was enjoying herself, when suddenly she bumped into Inei – the man caught her mid-step and embraced her gently. She looked into his eyes and smiled – something in his gaze was different. Softer, more intrigued than ever.
He nodded his head in the direction of the castle and she understood that he was asking her to go inside. Maybe, he was worried that she would catch a cold?
Bursting into laughter, Kara nodded. Inei took her hand and they ran off towards the castle, where it was dry and warm.
«I’m sorry.» Kara smiled to her shinobi. «I don’t remember when I felt so… good.»
Even though she couldn’t see his face – she noticed that he was smiling under his mask. And for some reason this made her feel warm inside.
It wasn’t until the evening when the storm started to weaken and Kara found out that it was a very much needed rain – the land was suffering from draught all the time she was there. She even overheard some people talking about someone praying at the pagoda right before the storm broke out. She understood that it was her they spoke about, but she couldn’t understand how her beating the drum would cause for the weather to change so quickly. All she did was dissolve in the music she tried getting out of her heart.
Whatever the case was – she now felt much better and found it in herself to really dive into the life she was now given.
And, most of all, she was grateful to Lord Ryuu for letting her go out into the gardens. She loved this little routine – walking in the morning and evening to set her mind at ease. Sometimes she would even train in the far corners – watched by the shinobi, but never distracted. She began looking at him as her own shadow.
One evening, as she was returning to the castle from her usual walk, she noticed movement on the castle roof and froze mid-step. Looking into the thickening shadows of the creeping night, she saw multiple figures among the rooftops – hiding in the smallest crevices and behind the statues that decorated the rooftops.
She felt the shinobi touch her shoulder and slowly raised her hand to point him in the direction she was looking so intently.
«There’s someone on the roof.» She said, and at that very moment she noticed a detail that made her heart stop for a moment. It was a tail! «Oni!»
She darted forward, feeling a cold wave running down her spine. She needed to warn others about the demons – they could rain down onto the people any moment!
Fortunately – she ran into the courtyard at the same time as someone finally noticed the figures hiding in the dark.
«ONI!!!» someone screamed at the top of his lungs, and the evening switched from a calm and tranquil one into a fierce battle in a split second.
«Get everyone inside!» Kara nudged a couple of servants that froze in panic towards the doors, and the people scattered, hurrying everyone, who wasn’t armed inside to the safety of the castle walls.
The figures started jumping from the rooftops, raining down into the courtyard and immediately engaging with the samurai. Screams and clashing sounded in the evening air, creating a cacophony of different tones.
«I need a weapon!» Kara darted towards a young mother, who was trying to pick up her tripped child to his feet. Kara grabbed the boy up and shoved him into his mother’s arms, pushing them towards the doors. «Go! NOW!»
She turned to face the fight, and noticed that the oni kept coming, and the men were fighting frenzy. Kara glanced at her shinobi, finding him only a few steps away, already on two strange creatures that towered over him with their bodies large and muscular. They roared, trying to surround him, but he was quick and managed to evade every attack they made with their sharp claws.
Desperate to find a weapon – any kind of weapon – Kara noticed a broom nearby. She grabbed it and broke off the end, making it into a makeshift spear. The next moment she jumped into the fight, diving under one of the oni’s arms and shoving the spear into his throat and up – into his skull.
When the demon fell, Inei slashed his other opponent across the back and immediately cut his throat, ending the demon’s life.
«I need a weapon!!!» Kara screamed at the shinobi, but he shook his head and stepped away to take the fight with another oni that was approaching.
Kara growled at this, but noticed a samurai a few steps away – he was knocked down and battling some winged creature that tried reaching for his throat. Having no other weapon, Kara freed her makeshift spear from the demon she killed and ran to help the samurai. She used the force from her movement and pierced the flying oni through its side, throwing it off the samurai.
The spear broke – after all, it was only a broomstick and not fit for heavy fighting. But the samurai was safe. The man accepted her helping hand and got up, running off into the fight again.
It was insanity around her, and she felt so helpless and powerless, but she still wanted to help. She turned to find Inei and saw that he was fighting, and a small flying oni was creeping up from his back. Kara decided to help, even though she was unarmed – she could at least leap onto the creature and save the shinobi from its claws.
Kara ran to them and leaped just in time, catching the flying oni mid-air in its jump and knocking it to the ground. They tumbled into a ball of claws, fists and blows. Kara hit the creature as hard as she could – again and again and again, feeling the bones breaking under her fist, until the creature twitched and fell to the ground without movement.
«Someone give me a fucking weapon!!!» Kara roared angrily into the deafening sound of battle, and jumped up to her feet, ready to fight again. She saw some fallen samurai near and ran to them in hopes of picking up something that she could use against the vile demons.
She slid next to one of the wounded, avoiding the claws of one of the flying oni, and picked up a katana. Feeling more capable to help, she jumped up and sliced the oni’s head off as it was returning to attack her. Noticing another katana by her feet, Kara picked it up and jumped into the fight with all her will.
The battle turned into bloodshed – more and more demons came, but the castle had enough of capable warriors to defend it. Kara was fighting fierce, not even bothering to realise the danger of such a battle. She simply sliced, hit and jumped from one encounter to another, until the courtyard was filled with dead bodies – more of demons than men.
Suddenly she heard a deafening roar behind her and turned just in time to see a giant black-skinned creature jump from the roof. It was at least two times taller than the young woman, but instead of making Kara fall to fear – it only made her angrier.
«Come on!» Kara screamed at the top of her lungs to the creature and ran towards it, as it too jumped to her.
Kara used her small size to avoid the giant’s attacks –