the last king of storm

prologe

                      The soft sound of the birds singling in the trees, and the sound of zucatas filled my ears. the day was rather beautiful, relaxing. i moved along the trail heading up into the moutains. The ar was clean and fresh. there was a hint of rain in the cool air that caused a smile to come to my lips. The day was simply beautiful. for a moment I paused just to admire the sceanary around me. I watched as birds flew over head in a vibrant dance in the air as they circled one another. there song was beautiful. This was the land I loved. This was the place i loved to visit. I often found myself coming up here just to get away from any trouble i was having back at home. I just loved to come here and relax, enjoy the peace that filled me with being so close to the forest and nature.

                     I had just turned twenty one when I got the desire to come up for a hike, normally I went during the weekend to enjoy my time a bit better, but this desire in me to come was just so strong I couldn't help but come. it was Tuesday, unusual for me to be out here on the weekdays, even my mother commented when i let her know that I was coming out here. shaking off the strange feeling I got, I decided to keep moving forward. I walked along the dirt and stone trail heading for the place I loved the most in the world. When a gust of strong wind playfully tugged at me, I was glad for the jacket I wore today to keep warm. I watched the trees sway as I kept going. I watched as the tree line came into view, and opened up to reveal the mountain side that only held long green grass that swayed like ocean waves in the strong wind. When I glanced up the mountain at the top of the cliff, I noticed strong black clouds that swirled with a almost menacing look. I briefly wondered if I should head back home, but a tiny voice in me pushed me to keep going. to get to the top of the cliff. I wasn't sure why, but I followed that little urge in me.

                  I pushed forward watching my step for any loose rocks that I could slip on, or trip over. the further I went, the more I noticed that the air around me seemed to grow colder. I wondered if this might not be such a good idea, if lightning struck, well, lets just say id be a fried pickle if that happened. I stopped for a moment. "ugh, I must be hungry or something." I muttered to myself as I continued on once more after shaking the thoughts of food from my mind. After all, I could eat when I got home. I glanced down the mountain, passed the miles and miles of trees and forest that I had hiked through to my home town. It wasn't too big, buildings rose from the ground displaying what they were selling, and even buildings that were simple homes. My mothers house in the distance made me smile. it was a beautiful Japanese home that I had fond memories of. Turning away from that I kept moving forward to get up the rest of this mountain.

As I stepped forward a strong gust of wind nearly knocked me off my feet, thankfully I was skilled and was able to catch myself from falling face first into the rocks and dirt. carefully I made sure I was balanced, before I continued to climb. soon I came up to the lip of the top of the cliff, and hurriedly climbed up onto it, what I saw when I looked up startled me. A man stood about twenty feet away, wearing a simple white men's yutakata with a black obi, his hair was long and black, loose around him, blowing rapidly in the wind around us. He looked just as surprised as I did to see him, and a look like he might recognize me filled his eyes. But other then that he didn't show much expression, he was hard to read. I flinched slightly as lightning struck in the sky, the wind picked up, harshly pushing at us as an invisible force.

                the clouds darkened incredibly fast, with the storm so close I felt a little panicked. But the man looked un alarmed and in fact seemed very relaxed for some reason. "you are the one whom has been chosen by the kings," I jumped when i heard his voice, I shouldn't have been able to hear it so clearly with the wind and thunder around us. His voice had been so clear, I had thought he had spoken directly into my mind, but that was impossible. An uneasy feeling filled me as I took a hesitant step back to get away from this strange man, whom wore cloths not from my time. He looked like he had come right out of some sort of anime. Lightning struck five feet from me, knocking me back in its rough strike, causing the hair all over my body to stand up. The ground began to shake wildly, I cried out scared when the ground cracked open not far from me, the crack widened heading strait for me into the earth. Before I could get out of the way, the man was beside me.

                   I stiffened when his arm wrapped around my waist, he looked strait ahead, ignoring the fissure that was heading strait for us, and spoke. "Open te gates!" he held his hand up facing the fissure, and for a moment I wondered if he was crazy. The air shifted, and distorted like someone dropped a pebble into a pond, blue light blasted out of this portal of some sort, the fissure was coming fast, only being about ten feet away from the two of us now. The strange man pulled me to my feet, and strait into the portal while I struggled to try and get out of his impossibly strong arms. we tumbled down into a black void that had greeted us as soon as we had passed through this portal, the sensation of falling filled me with a strong fear. I wanted to scream but nothing came out of my throat. it was like my vocal cords were frozen. the black void seemed to darken the further we fell, the man had me by the wrist as he watched me. we were both falling head first, and I wondered why he didn't seem to be afraid when I was terrified.

                 Something in his expression changed as he pulled on my wrist bringing me to his arms where he pulled me up against him. I grew stiff feeling him grab hold of me. It was like he was trying to comfort me, "do not worry, you will be safe, I will make sure of it." his voice echoed in my mind as we continued to fall down this dark world, something shifted in me, as my vision darkened, and my world fell to black.