The Reunion

1 - Reunited

The rain fell hard and heavy, the drops like daggers against Morro's exposed skin. He tightly wrapped his arms around himself, trying to fight the chill settling down to his bones. Morro's clothing was soaked from being pulled into the water by the Preeminent and kept wet by the pouring rain. Morro curled in tighter on himself and pressed closer to the ruined house he leaned against. He had tried to will the cold wind away, but it seemed that fate called for the storm.

Morro felt the storm was fitting, given the events that had just passed. The village of Stiix was mostly in ruin, having been destroyed by the Preeminent and the ghosts in their confrontation with the Ninja and it had all been for nothing. In the end, it was all meaningless. He still hadn't found Ronin which was his whole reason for trying to help the Preeminent in the first place. That and getting revenge on his father for lying to him in his youth. He'd make that damn fool sorry someday... someday.

Morro had been given a team of spirits to work with because of the deal he made..

He didn't argue with the Preeminent about the team he was assigned. They were certainly skilled and interesting enough. Though he didn't fully understand why the Soul Archer wanted to find Ronin as much as him.

'Tch. "Master" promised me that the Archer would help me find Ronin if I helped execute their plan.'

Morro grumbled softly to himself as the wind chilled him down to his bones. Morro was shivering now, and he could tell that was something off about the way the wind blew. It wasn't sticking to one set direction like it usually did. The wind whipped around without reason or direction.

How fitting; it's like I'm being mocked at the moment. Thanks for nothing, Grandpa. Morro thought to himself. Morro felt he had no direction like the wind. He had always been in tune with his element, though it seemed the wind element had no guide. He was aimlessly adrift like the wind that pushed and pulled him. No direction, no order, and no reason.

The experience felt eerily familiar to Morro. It took him a little while to think about why the feeling was so familiar. When he did, Morro let out a sigh, realizing the wind had done this before. When he was a younger man, when he set out to defy destiny and make his own path. It seemed like the wind was his guide, perhaps he hadn't escaped destiny afterall.

Morro had just left the monastery back then. He ran off to prove to his sensei, his father, that he was the fated Green Ninja. Even if the golden weapons hadn't reacted, Morro was determined to try and to prove to his father that it was his fate, his destiny, that the weapons were wrong. Oh, how stupid he was then to believe he had control over his destiny.

That night was different or Morro thought it had been. When Morro wandered the streets, the wind randomly blew in ever-changing directions. The wind felt like it had no aim, but truthfully the wind had been trying to guide him.

Morro had decided to listen and followed the wind. It had led him to something good that day. No, not something, but someone who changed his life for the better. That someone was Ronin, who saved him from an uncertain fate and even his life.

Maybe it'll guide me back to him again. It's a long shot, but the winds have never steered me wrong in the past. It's better that I listen, be it to salvation or my inevitable demise. I will follow the wind's guidance because I am the wind's incarnate.

Morro felt the pull from his element strengthen when he reached his decision. It was as if the wind was trying to urge him forward. With a deep breath to ground himself, Morro picked himself up off the ground and followed the direction of the wind. Attentive of each push and change in direction as it led him into uncertainty just like it always had.