The Blog of Justice

Recently, a choice was set before me. Iit wasn’t until then that I came to realize what a unique and wholly bizarre journey I was destined to undergo. Yet, to truly understand my decision to stay in a strange land instead of returning to my home world we need to take a journey of our own; a journey of the mind and spirit, a journey back to where everything began a journey back to my childhood home on the Kaiu Wall. For those of you unfamiliar with the lay of Rokugan, the Kaiu Wall is what separates the Rokugan mainland from the horrors the dwell within the Shadowlands. The Shadowlands are haunted with creatures like the Bakemono, Tsuno, Mamono, and the feared Oni. The Crab Clan are the royal guardians of the Wall and protectors of the Rokugani mainlands, an honored position to be assured.

Since born a member of the Hida Family, the family that tends to the wall, I was expected to serve my time protecting my lands. Yet, being the brash youth I was at the time I decided to stop sitting idle and fending for what we already have and journey to the pit at the center of the Shadowlands and rid my realm of the horrors once and for all. I and twelve other Clans men, most of the Hida Family and also members of the Kuni Family journeyed into the dangerous territory without fear; for even if we were to die, we would receive a death more honorable then most men could even dream of.

After fighting past waves of Bakemono and Jiki-Ketsu-Gaki we finally crossed paths with something of a challenge. In a horseshoe pattern in front of us lay a sea of corrupt waters and from those foul seas emerged an old woman. We knew immediately that something as horrific looking as her must be dangerous in a land as besieged by evil as this. Then as we readied ourselves for a confrontation it happened, the foul old woman changed into a giant gray spider creature, covered in armored plates and dripping of corrupt ooze. A creature we call a Dokufu.

Three of the Kuni drew their katanas and charged the creature, but the rest of us knew better. With in seconds the three men lie dead, one with a Dokufu spiked foot impaled in his chest pinning him to the ground as the Dokufu dealt with the other two. One knocked into the corrupt waters but a powerful sweep of the Dokufu’s arm, the waters ate his flesh like acid and spit his bones to the surfaces. The third man sprayed with Dokufu acidic webbing, coating him from head to heel and eroding his skin away until all that was left was a pile of smoldering ashes. Then after the other two were defeated, the Dokufu looked down upon the man it had impaled upon its arm and swiftly took a bite out of the Samurai’s head. The man’s body twitched for a moment, but then the Dokufu lifted him up and swallowed what was left of him.

The last ten of us readied our weapons at the Dokufu. A tense moment that seemed like an eternity passed, us staring down at the bloody-mouthed Dokufu and the Dokufu staring down at the trespassers in its domain. Then I knew, I was not meant to die here. I was destined for greater things. I raised my katana into an upper attack stance, and charged the creature. My men, being loyal, followed suit and charged along with me. The heat of battle took many thoughts, but I clearly remember piercing the creature in its eye. With my katana embedded firmly in the Dokufu’s skull, the creature reared back in agony, throwing men into the waters surrounding us. The Dokufu scuttled back a ways, and we regrouped. There were only four of us now, I command two to draw bows and aim for the eyes and underbelly while myself and another Samurai charged again. Loyal, the two drew their bows and began to pluck shots at the exposed Dokufu belly.

The Dokufu dropped to his feet quickly, once a few arrows pieced its belly. I charged towards the creature, jumping once within distance, onto its head. I grabbed my katana and ripped the blade upwards into the beast’s skull. The Dokufu dropped onto its right side, and the fight was almost over. The three other Samurai continued battling, but I stared the Dokufu squarely in its one good eye. I saw fear, hatred, anger, rage, and my future. Then, the mammoth beast’s left arm rose into the sky and came down upon me with a fury unseen in neither man nor demon. I tried to roll away, but the Dokufu caught me and knocked me into the churning black water of corruption. I was lucky, as I tumbled only my legs splashed into the inky waters and my men quickly charged over and withdrew me from the waters.

The Dokufu lay dead and slowly shifted back into an old woman. We took her head and placed it in a crystal case to bring back to the Wall for proof the others died honorably. The four of us decided to push further, for our quest was to reach the Festering Pit and challenged the lord of the Shadowlands. My legs were badly burnt, and my allies knew I was tainted. I drew a finger of jade from my belt and fashioned it into a crude necklace, enough to hold off further corruption I hoped. We traveled on, and like before fought legions of petty Shadowland creatures. We moved deeper and deeper, crossed hill and plain, until we reached a demonic mountain range.

Caves lined the outskirts, and appeared to be the only way past the mountain. As we approached a cave entrance, we were confronted again. This time, by a creature ten times our size. It was covered in glistening red scales and its head was that of a hawk. The body looked like that of a spider, with eight legs, but it came up into a mannish torso with four arms. The creature screeched at us before it lunged thought the air and landed on the front two men. The men were pined to the ground by the beast’s razor-sharp leg claws, and then we saw the abdomen of the great creature open. Spilling out came hundreds, perhaps thousands, of baby Oni that engulfed our fallen brothers. The men seethed in agony as I readied my weapon.

I lunged at the creature and the other Samurai shook in fear, then Demon swiftly shot its beak past me and bit into the last man’s head. I was still in midair as the creature did this, and seeing an opportunity, I plunged my katana into the back of the beast’s head. Black blood sprayed out of the wound, covering me from head to toe. The creature collapsed, dead, and in the fall crushed its own offspring that were feasting on my fallen comrades below it. I plummeted to the ground with the creature and landed hard on my head. I was knocked out cold for the longest time.

When I awoke I was on a circular stone table surrounded by four men in stained black robes, Maho-Casters. One of them looked at me, seeing I was awake.

“Your ferocity in the battle field was unmatched. Go home young Crab. Spread the Taint of the Shadowlands.” The robed figure spoke.

Then a blinding flash of white and I found myself laying at the foot of the Great wall. At my side were two crystal boxes, one with the head of the Dokufu and the other the Oni’s head. I climbed to my feet and picked a box up in each hand. I marched to a main door and banged my fists against it as hard as I could. The gates lurched open after a while and shocked men brought me inside. They then locked me away, fearing I would spread my taint uncontrollably. Luckily, due to my trophies I was granted permission to visit the greatest Kuni Witch Hunter in the lands.

After a week, I was escorted to a remote village that the Witch Hunter lived in. My guards led me to the house and stood outside as I entered. The man was old, with long gray hairs that looked like they held the wisdom of the Kami. He instructed me to lie down in his spare bed, and for sixteen hours he preformed a ritual to cleanse me of my Taint. After the performance came to an end, I stood up feeling as strong as a team of oxen, but the old man did not look happy.

I was transported to the capital city and was given audience with the Emperor’s advisers. I stayed in a cell for two weeks time before my council met. Again, I was escorted to my location, but this time it was an elegant meeting hall. Like last time, the guards stayed outside as I went in. Seated before me where four men, and between the four of them as an extra chair. I bowed down and out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the four men bow back and then the sound of a gong and robes shuffling.

“Rise up and allow me to see the face of the man who slew an Oni.”

I stood up and stood face to face with the Emperor himself. He looked into my eyes and I could feel him passing judgment on me. I stood as bravely as I could, confronted with a man more powerful then all the Oni in the Shadowlands. Another excruciatingly long moment passed before the Emperor spoke again.

“You will be condemned to the Shadowlands. All records of your return will be burned. Your family’s name shall carry on untainted. You will receive a most honorable death fighting the enemies of Rokugan.”

Then the Emperor turned around and left the room. The four advisors called for the guards and informed them of my fate. The guards escorted me back to the carriage and brought me back to the Kaiu Wall. I was given gear, food, and supplies before I was led out of the gates and the doors closed behind me, never to open for me again. I honorably strode out into the wastes yet again.

I loved Samantha so much, probably too much since it was her death the eventually lead me to mine. You see, she was perfect in every way, her short cut black hair, a tiny little body, 20 body piercings (ranging from her ears to her unmentionables), two beautiful tattoos, and the most wonderful eyes. I remember starring into those big brown eyes and being filled with pure bliss. I should have know that a beauty as pure as hers would not last in a world so ugly for very long. For it was a bleak autumn night when she was attacked, raped, beaten, and killed. The police decided it was gang related and closed the case at that, but I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted revenge. They took the purest love I’ve ever had from me and they had to pay for that.

I took one of her rings she always wore; she had one for each finger, it was a ring with a woven band and a gray stone attached to it. It was the only one of her rings that fit me, and it was a thumb ring to her but a pinky ring to me. I slid the ring on my finger and set off to get all my money and buy every gun I possibly could, I knew I was going to die that night one way or another, for life without her was unbearable, but I didn’t think I’d die the way I did.

It was October 13th, ironically her birthday, and it was raining pretty heavily out. I remember thinking how ironic it was and how over dramatic it seemed to me at the time. I was so in love, so enraged, so vengeful, all the emotions clouded my vision and I never saw that hitchhiker until the last minute. I swerved to avoid killing the poor man and ran head on into a semi-truck coming the opposite way. More irony now that I think about it, because a semi-truck suddenly isn’t very semi when you ram you car into it.

I was “dead on arrival” and “killed on impact” but all I remember a swirling blackness filled with my thoughts and emotions. After what felt like a decade, a pinhole of light appeared in the blanket of pure emotion that shrouded me. I reached out and tore at the hole, widening it so I could escape this wretched place I was trapped in. While I tore the light wider and wider, suddenly I believed in heaven and the holy light you are suppose to see after you die. Yet just as quickly as I was reborn with faith in God, I lost it all again when I peered out of the light into the new world that surrounded me.

I was in a mangled car wreck; the thought of survival crossed my mind until I saw my own face in my rear-view mirror. Caked blood and deep gashes covered my face, I was mauled beyond recognition. No one could survive looking like this. I looked around and saw the accident that I had caused, and saw two greenish glowing orbs, one in the Semi and another in the road at about the place I remembered the hitchhiker standing. I attempted to pull my twisted form from the car, but instead slid my whole body through the roof and onto the road. I must be dead now; I just pushed through a solid object.

I walked over to the green orb in the road, it almost looked like a cocoon and as I drew closer I could make out a vague shadow floating about inside. I touched the edge and produced a small dent in the egg, moving on pure instinct I thrust my fist into the jello like substance. I made short work of this shell and out of it stepped a man, a dead looking man. He looked at me briefly before he faded away before my eyes.
I began moving toward the second orb when I saw a thick black smog growing on the horizon, I was captivated by it and stared until I could make out more details. I saw faces, with sharp fangs, and clawed hands reaching forward. I was gripped with fear and stood staring at what I knew was going to be my certain doom. I stared until my mind believed what it was seeing was real and my body forced itself to run away from the smog. I managed two quick steps before a hole opened up in the ground and a man with aviators goggles peered through at me.
“Run! In here! Hurry!” He yelled to me.

I dove into the hole and he clutched onto my arm. We were in a strange sea of chaos. Rains of broken glass, noxious gases, eruptions of boiling pitch and worse, fragments of realities and memories surrounded us as we pushed through this strange ocean. Suddenly I saw a flash, the graystone ring of Sam’s that I took that night, and then it was gone. Another flash, ammunition and weapons all behind store cases and counters, then it too was gone. Flash, Samantha, gone. I closed my eyes and let this strangers hand guide me into the darkness, for it was better the seeing the horrors of this place.

Then we stopped moving and I opened my eyes. A rugged old face peered into mine trough aviator glasses. I glanced around; we were in an old airport hanger. Everything was grayer, decaying, dead, but there was an old biplane in the middle of the hanger that seemed somewhat brighter than the rest of the landscape. Soon I noticed other items that stood out to me, paintings, banners, other various decorative objects. I looked back at the old man who surly saved my life; he smiled a half-smile and began to speak.

“Welcome to the Shadowlands my friend. My name is Alexander Joseph Von Fredrickson, aviator in the Great War, and one of the few surviving Wraiths left in the Underworld. Now, what’s your name Sonny?” He said everything in a think British accent with very formal tones.

I told him my name was Rob, and he then began to explain everything to me. I was dead, and this is the world now. Like a stillborn twin to the world I once knew, they overlap each other and I can see back into that world but they can not see into mine. I am a ghost now, or as they prefer to be called, Wraith. He explained a lot to me that night, and most of it you don’t need to understand for the purpose of my story. What’s key right now is that all Wraiths have a hidden voice, a dark twin mind, that drives them to do self-destructive things and overall strives against their goals, this voice has been duped the Shadow. Wraiths also have special powers that allow them to do things like effect the living, or as Wraiths call them, the Quick. Some powers also allow a ghost, or Wraith, to change themselves and other Wraiths.

Alexander also told me that the Wraith world was recently destroyed and that the Wraith capital Stygia was destroyed along with the vast majority of Wraiths. And in this destruction those souls fed an unstoppable force called Oblivion which that smog cloud was a manifestation from. The few Wraiths left in the world now simply struggle to survive, or to rise again. There is a legend among Wraiths, a legend that tells of Wraiths who were able to force their way back into their mortal bodies and, in a way, live again. The Risen were a legend that Alexander was researching, but was a state he was never able to achieve himself. He in turn thought me the tools to do it, but the last key factor was to convince one’s shadow to allow him to return.

The art of Puppetry, or riding a mortal, was key to becoming Risen. Puppetry allowed me to jump into a mortal’s body and ride around with them, and eventually after honing the power I could temporarily take control of the body. He also taught me how to possess inanimate objects in much the same way, a power they called Inhabit. And to top it all off, how to show my true self to the mortal world, to push through the barrier between our worlds, a power named Embody. After learning all these powers all I had left to do was to strike a deal with my own personal enemy in my head, my Shadow.

I didn’t know at the time why it was so quick to agree to rising with me, but it did, and I didn’t care. Soon I found my body and together my Shadow and I forced our way back into my mortal shell. I clawed my way out of my earthen grave and took in a lung full of sweet human air, only to begin coughing because my lungs were rotting. I collapsed on the ground and started at my hands, flesh dripping off of them. I couldn’t believe this is what it was going to be like to live again. Suddenly, my muscles re-knitted themselves and my skin grew back; until eventually I looked human again.

I then felt an overwhelming urge. I had to move, so I stood up and ran. I ran all night and into the day, down country roads and into city streets. I ran until I should have been tired and couldn’t run anymore, then I ran more. I ran until I reached a building, a sign the read ‘Ed’s Quick Cash and Pawn’ glowed with an eerie light and I knew this is where I needed to be. I kicked down the door and on instinct moved to the backroom. I opened a drawer and pulled out a box filled with rings and plunged my hand into the mess of rings. I pulled my hand out and looked down, the graystone ring was on my pinky, and the urge to be there was suddenly gone.

I left Ed’s and wondered the city for days. I never grew hungry, I never grew tired, and I never got injured. At one point I was hit by a car, I didn’t feel a thing and luckily the driver sped off, I don’t know how I could have explained to him that I wasn’t hurt. Days passed and I slowly realized that I was Eric Draven, but this time I wasn’t going to paint my face and look like a gothic mime. I soon found out why my Shadow was so eager to help me out, he inhabited my ring and could freely talk to me at any moments notice. If I tried to remove the ring, I was drawn to it so strongly that I couldn’t think without it on my finger. I guess it was together forever, which reminded me of Sam.

As the days past, I grew more and more angry. Vengeance filled my mind, fueled by my Shadow’s badgering. His agenda became rather clear, he wanted me to kill people and he didn’t care who. He wanted me to inflict all the pain I’ve felt on others, but his wishes only filled me with one desire. His hatred was unfocused, but I wanted to find the ones who killed my Sam, and make them feel the pain I’ve felt.

Minute 5: Jenna cried in the corner. She could hear the muffled moans on the other side of the bathroom door. The rhythmic yet random sound of hands scraping against the cheap wood door. She held the gun in her trembling hands. The last bullet loaded into the chamber. She cried more.

Minute 4: Jenna remembered watching her boyfriend, Todd, being ripped apart by creatures. She cried harder. She remembered Todd shooting himself in the face so he wouldn’t become one of them. The clawing outside grew louder. So did Jenna’s sobbing.

Minute 3: Jenna shoved the gun in her mouth. Her time for fighting was over. Any minute now those creatures were going to burst into the bathroom. Trying to eat her flesh. The thought of killing herself frightened her so much. She couldn’t pull the trigger, not yet. She cried.

Minute 2: BANG! A decaying hand breaks through the plywood door. The hand claws wildly at the air. Jenna screams in terror. Clutching the gun in her mouth. She can’t kill herself until she KNOWS. Until she is sure there is no way to escape. The hand continues to wave for an eternity.  The door cracks open wider. A bloody torso pushes into the room.

Minute 1: The first corpse pushes into the room. The face is torn apart, beyond recognition. The chest is ripped open, organs dragging across the floor. More guts fall with each movement it makes. Jenna cries harder. She can recognize the clothing. The nearly fatal gunshot wound. It didn’t kill him. Jenna doesnt’ want to make the same mistake. She pushes the barrel into her mouth.

Minute 0: The horror is over.