The Cursed Iris

Sprout 28: Meeting With the Empress

Ayame and Kikyo thought they were in the presence of a true goddess while with Aimi. They've never felt this way about being around anyone before.

They both stared at Aimi with an awestruck expression, "Oh my what amazing expressions you're both wearing," Aimi giggled.

They didn't know what to say to her, she gave off an atmosphere of a regal, powerful, and compassionate leader, "Snap out of it you two," Shizuko said.

They both blinked, "You are one beautiful woman," Ayame noted.

"Why thank you," Aimi replied with a smug tone. "I've been wanting to speak to you for a while now."

Ayame's eyes lit up from how they were earlier. "I've been wanting to do the same. I have so many questions. Like one how did you reunite Japan, two how is it that you are the empress? It's so different from the timeline I knew."

Aimi giggled. "Interesting. I'm intrigued to know how the timeline you knew was."

Ayame nodded, which caused Kikyo to sigh, "One moment Empress Aimi," she said. Her expression was different than before. Almost like she didn't trust her.

"Yes dear?"

"Well, I've been wondering about this world for a while. How does it work exactly? The units of time is different, the culture seems different, everything about this place is different. Such as the currency you all use here, back where I'm from it was called Mon up until the Meiji period, but now you all use something called Sanzu. This whole timeline is just interesting."

Aimi stared at her with a glimmer in her eyes, "I like you," she smiled. Her comment caught Kikyo off guard. "Very well, I can explain everything to you all you have to do is ask."

"I just want to know the history of this country so far."

Ayame nodded in agreement. "I've been wondering too. I mean Usagi mentioned Tokugawa, Nobunaga, and Hideyoshi, they were kind of the same, but it was slightly different. Almost makes me wonder what happened to cause the change."

"Interesting that you know those names, especially the one of my husband. So, the history of this Japan is more of a woman's rise to power. It all started with my ancestor Gakuen Tomoe; she was the one who started the Tomoe Empire in the western part of the old Japan in 1185. She was a very powerful warrior who was feared and loved all throughout her land. A respected wizard as well who practiced sword saint magic."

Ayame knew the name of her ancestor. "In my version your ancestor was a samurai during the Kamakura Shogunate, if I remember correctly."

"Keep going please," Kikyo interrupted.

"The empire thrived pretty well into the latter part of two centuries, then the war happened. The war that changed the course of the eastern world. The war against Insholu ruled China led to invasions of the land to the east and the north. So my homeland was asked to ally with Japan to help defend them."

"Interesting, so I have a question now. You said that your ancestor was a wizard, so how long have wizards been around here? In the other countries as well."

Aimi smiled. "Shangri-La and China both have the oldest evidence about the humans with special abilities. They happened around the same time, about four thousand years ago. Now back on track with the war with Insholu was a deadly battle that caused Japan many casualties, but not the Tomoe Empire who had zero. Then the princess of Tomoe my great grandmother Tohka Tomoe wanted to do something to reduce the casualties from them, so that's when she proposed the idea of enlisting wizards in the battles. Just as the Empire had done."

"I assume the other side had the Chi users with them huh?" they both asked.

She nodded. "They also had some people with them called Shamans who use charms and curses to do their fighting. Spirit energy users do have some resistance to their attacks, but once a person who possesses chi blocks an aura point they are vulnerable. The rest of Japan knew this, but my ancestor Gakuen found a way around this issue," she explained.