The Tigers of Chi-Ha-Tan ReRise Volume 0: The Veil Before Glory

My Path and My Nightmares

Sengoku Period 1583

A pleasantly warm night lay over the land, and the clouds cover the stars, leaving darkness to enshroud everything. With the need for a torch to guide oneself in this pitch black night, though someone was traversing this darkness along a dirt road without a torch, dragging himself over the earth in painful breaths.

"I have t...t...," a voice said, hanging onto life as best he could, crawling with all his might along the dirt road.

The man himself wore the black and grey armor of the Nishizumi clan his Do chest armor, Kabuto helmet, Kote sleeves, Yaguke gloves, and Haidate thigh guards. All these were the hallmarks of samurai armor, meant to give its wearer the utmost protection. Though for this poor soul, crawling away on the road, it had done little to protect him or his comrades.

As he was riddled by arrows, in his back and his front. Their steel tips embedded into his flesh, making each pull across the earth more painful than the last. Yet the man would press on, forgetting his pain and torment, for he had a duty to warn his lord of what had transpired. Of what threat now was going to challenge their clan, looking to destroy them for good.

He had to warn Lord Masahiko Nishizumi, of the coming storm.

"I hav...t...t...to...wa..," the Nishizumi warrior said once more, blood escaping his lips, every fiber of his being asked him to stop, to forgo the struggle, and let death embrace him.

Yet he was a loyal retainer to his lord, no pain would keep him from his duty. His very life was meant to serve the Nishizumi clan with all he can offer, and this man would offer his very life if only to warn his lord. His hand reach out, gripping the soft earth, then pull himself forward, like he had been doing for some time.

"I hav...to...to...," the Nishizumi warrior said once more, repeating the words that would push him on.

Suddenly a low chuckle danced across the wind, as the illuminating light of torches began to push the darkness back around the Nishizumi warrior, as footsteps told him someone was coming for him. Knowing what was drawing close he stop his crawl, and while slightly turning over to look back at the men who had attacked his patrol, murder his sword brothers, and now were coming for him.

Four men, wearing similar samurai armor and headgear, but the torches that shine off theirs were a different color. Being brown and white in design, in contrast to the black and grey color of the Nishizumi samurai. These were the colors of the Kawahara, a large and powerful clan that border along the north of the Nishizumi clan's land. They had been enemies when Tora Nishizumi came to power fighting on and off again. Yet both cease their hostilities to join Oda's forces in the pursuit of Japan's unification, becoming brothers of the sword, forgetting old transgressions.

The dying Nishizumi samurai had been part of that campaign, which had ended for his clan after the death of Masahiko's son in the battle of Tedorigawa, with their lord leaving in grief over his lost son. The Kawahara had fought on, but left after Nobunaga's death in 1582, in the Honnō-ji incident. Though the Kawahara's could still be considered loyal to the unification war but had so far taken an isolationist policy as of late, joining no sides, like the Nishizumi's.

One of the Kawahara men came close to the dying man, using his torch to get a better look at him. After seeming to confirm the man was alive the Kawahara samurai turn back to the party with a nod to another, prompting another warrior to come to the forefront, to look down on the Nishizumi samurai who was dying.

"Wh...wh...why...," the Nishizumi samurai said, trying to find reason in the ambush of him and his men.

"Why?...yes a reason for this little skirmish must have a why....," the Kawahara warrior said, seeming to take enjoyment of the dying foe's question.