Suoh Tekina: The Wandering Ghost
A young-looking man was sitting on a tatami mat inside a small house, sitting on the back of his legs as he faced the low wooden table in front of him. A single cup of green tea was steaming in front of him, though it wasn't unnoticed. The man's eyes were closed in prayer, his posture relaxed but also showing dignity. His jet-black hair was tied up in a high ponytail, but it flowed all the way down to the floor, just barely having the ends touch the ground. When the prayer was finished though, the man's eyes opened, revealing unusually yellow eyes. They had a somewhat familiar gleam to them, but you couldn't put your finger on it.
Reaching over slowly and taking the cup, the man placed the rim against his lips and took a sip, inhaling the aroma of the tea very gently. He placed the cup back down gently on the table, exhaling very slowly to relax himself as his eyes flickered just a bit with the reflection of the cup in front of him. A long moment of silence had passed as the man merely stared at the cup, but when he started to shift in place, that silence was ruined by his black kimono's rustling. Standing up now, the man reached over and grabbed his samurai sword by one of the sliding shoji doors, tying it gracefully with a red ribbon against his side. He slid open the door at that, the rattling of the paper in the window making a crackling noise that disturbed the peace that was once present. The man's brow furrowed a bit as he exited, sliding the door close behind him and his footsteps fading away as he traveled down a dirt path. The tea remained in place, still steaming...
As the man traveled down the path and down a small alleyway that housed many traditional Japanese structures, he merely kept his gaze straight ahead, avoiding the eyes of the citizens around him. As he walked, tall and with a very collected aura, the villagers all watched him as if he were a type of spirit. The gracefulness in his step was almost as if he floated across the ground, and even his style of kimono allowed him to give off that ethereal vision to the villagers. All sorts of eyes were directed at him, but the man only kept his gaze ahead towards Mt. Fuji in the distance. Its snow-capped peak shimmered brightly in the autumn sun, reflecting its natural beauty to all of Japan. And even if the autumn season took off the once colorful leaves of the past seasons, the skeletal remains of the bushes had their own beauty to them. The man appreciated how the seasons changed so drastically every year, and for a reason, he never wanted them to stop in one season. Everything had a balance to itself, and that balance was what made the man truly appreciate the life he lived. For while he was alive and breathing, there would always be someone born or dying to maintain that balance.
Then again, it wasn't always nice to witness the death of one person in order for another to live.
Ever since this man had been alive, he knew he was given a dreadful curse. Every time he would sense that a person was going to die, his own motor skills wouldn't allow him to refuse. He would always be dragged by that curse to witness the person's death, willingly or not. Because of this curse though, he was always given a set aura; an aura that was viewed by the villagers as either maleficent or of good fortune. Unfortunately, unlike his twin brother, who was traveling the seas now, this man wasn't as revered. In some ways, the man was jealous... envious... of the fact that he wasn't the one to help the world or the people. All he could do was watch as they died, but all because of the curse he was born with. It wasn't his fault that he was given this, but then again, it was his fate. For an eternity, this man would be burdened with seeing the living turn to the dead, and there would be nothing he could do about it. He was only an observer, a witness to their death. In some way that could be viewed as a positive, where the dead could be justified in the afterlife, but it could also be a sort of legacy that was passed down. They would never be forgotten, so long as this man would witness their passing. They would be legitimized by this man; this man who would forever live with the guilt of doing nothing. A misunderstanding, in a way. While one party would be grateful for being able to see a living person in their last moments, the other party would be forever dreadful and guilt-ridden. But... even if this man wasn't revered in the living, he was most certainly a God to those in the afterlife.
It was a reality that this man would never discover, until he too... passed on.
A many hours later, when the sun was beginning to set over Mt. Fuji, the man was starting to walk towards a large shrine, its ominous red coloration glowing in the orange sunlight. Its curved points and massive height were intimidating even to the man as he walked up the steps to the main building. On the way up, he passed by a few Japanese lion-dog statues, their large stone figures tilted just a bit so that they were directly watching the man as he moved towards the entrance. Their paws were slightly lifted up, a metal ball held underneath as if being protected.
However, as the man finally entered the shrine, a dark sort of aura started to surround him and trail behind as well, sinking deeply into the statues. The lingering stench of guilt and dread started to fill the air, all of it emanating from the man. For a moment though, it looked like the statues had moved their heads just a bit, the grinding of stone only subtly being heard.
When the man stopped in front of a large Buddha statue, he bowed deeply, before raising himself back up and walking towards a table on the left side. Taking a stick of incense, he lit it against a small flame nearby, before bowing again and putting the stick into a small jar filled with other burnt scents and the ashes of previous incense. Lowering his head again, he started to move back and stop just a few feet away from the larger statue, sitting down on his knees and then bowing until his forehead touched the ground.
"Watashi wa Tekina Suoh, to watashi wa shidō o onegai shitaidesu." (I am Suoh Tekina, and I wish to ask for guidance.) He spoke softly, keeping his eyes focused on the ground.
At that, Suoh started to pray to Buddha, expressing the sadness and guilt that he felt for having witnessed a death earlier in the day. He was unaware of the dark aura coming off of him though, also not noticing that things were starting to become blurry and dark. He spilled out his words anyways, not caring and only wishing that his faith could bring him closer to escaping this curse somehow.
However, as he finished and raised his head up, a figure stood in the entrance way, its silhouette somewhat outlined by the appearing moonlight in the sky.
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNohWN…)
"I can free you from that dread." A voice suddenly called out to him in a foreign tongue, causing Suoh to blink in surprise and quickly stand up to turn around. He currently didn't have his sword with him, considering he couldn't bring it into the shrine.
"Dare ga soko ni ikimasu!" (Who goes there!?) Suoh exclaimed, shooting a sharp glare at the silhouette as it started to approach. A hand was raised slightly by the silhouette as if doing a shrug, before it spoke again, its voice deep and ominous.
"You need not fear me. I am merely your Creator."
Suoh's brow furrowed deeply at that. Even though this figure was speaking in a foreign language, for some reason, Suoh could understand all of it. It confused him greatly, but what confused him further was when Suoh himself spoke in that foreign tongue, an accent present though.
"What do you mean, Creator??" He asked, face starting to contort out of anger and irritation.
"Exactly what it is. I made you. Made you what you are today." The figure said, a smile creasing over its lips and showing a bit of the whiteness in his teeth.
Suoh growled lowly, fists clenching tightly as the dark aura around him started to grow and spread. "You... made me this way? Made me into a monster? A wandering spirit that will never find peace? A spirit that is cursed to watch the living die every day?!"
The figure's smile did not cease, nor did his footsteps. He approached like a shark circling its prey... ever... so... slowly... The figure knew that Suoh was bleeding out. It was driving the figure insane. A darkness started to emanate off of the figure though, causing Suoh's eyes to widen just a bit upon seeing the vision. Before he knew it though, that figure was directly in front of Suoh, piercing olive-green eyes staring into his and instantly freezing the samurai warrior in place.
"I made you into a perfect being. Well... perfect before. I merely came to awaken something else. Something that's been hiding in you for oh... so... long. Stay still, would you?"
But Suoh was already frozen in place. He didn't even feel the prick of a sharp needle go into his neck because he was so shocked with fear. It was as if it was a part of his blood now, that fear; Coursing through his veins and overriding his senses with the desire to flee. Not only that, but with the guilt being played into the fear, it churned the warrior's stomach. With a quick heave of his body towards the ground, Suoh emptied the acid from his stomach, creating gut-wrenching noises that the figure smirked to as it stepped away. The tip of the needle glimmered in the moonlight, and before Suoh knew it, the man's laugh was the only thing that was heard as it dissolved into the darkness.
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=rraNRy…)
Suoh panted heavily and started to sweat furiously from the tension that the strange figure caused, but with a loud beat of his heart and a loud exclamation, Suoh gripped onto his chest tightly, a burning aching pain starting to rip his heart in two. His breaths became faster and shorter, and as his head flicked upwards to look towards the entrance way of the temple, everything started to spin... to blur. The moonlight provided only minimal lighting in the darkness as it started to swallow his vision, but before he passed out, his eyes snapped open and he let out a loud gasp. His pupils started to flicker violently in place, and his golden irises started to spin. His eyes started to sink into their sockets a bit as well, creating a darkness that surrounded his lids.
Releasing a loud roar that quickly distorted to that of a strange creature's, Suoh fell backwards and writhed violently on the ground, holding his face tightly as his nails dug deeper into his skin and his mouth gaped open in a continuous cry. His teeth started to sharpen, and his skin started to darken and harden, his body elongating a bit and his arms starting to grow membranous flaps from his wrists to the side of his ribs. Another voice started to resonate in his mind, and for a very long moment, it sounded like he was talking to himself. The whispers were incomprehensible since they were all talking at once, but just the idea of his own mind starting to panic in itself made Suoh start to lose it. With another exclaiming roar, when Suoh stood back up, a large, black tail suddenly crashed into the Buddha statue, completely destroying it and sending it all flying into the air. Dust started to fly up as well from the new form that Suoh took, covering him a bit even as he towered towards the ceiling of the current floor he stood on.
However, as the dust subsided, there Suoh stood, two massive claws scraping against the stone floor below, and a long, black tail swaying behind him. Along the spine of the creature was a series of strange, mangled black spikes, and two massive black wings were folded in close, dark brown membranes creased. A long, S-shaped neck connected to the dark body, and the head that was at the end of that neck was reptilian, almost saurian in nature. A black frill was folded back against the side of his head, and unique, yellow slits were what took over his eyes. A snarl was placed onto the creature's lips, revealing a row of large, sharpened teeth. However, while his general head structure did have its reptilian parts, his muzzle did have a bit of a mammalian look to it.
All of that aside, once Suoh was revealed by the dust and the moonlight shining through the entrance at him, he released a massive roar, spreading his wings out and destroying the pillars that held up the shrine. Upon hearing the rumbling of the structure, Suoh didn't take a second glance before smashing his way through the entrance, releasing another roar as he started to flap his arms, sending him high towards the moonlit sky. All of that dread that he had once felt was now buried by the remains of the shrine as it came crashing down. Of course, while it was only temporary, the feeling of finally being free for this moment was what made Suoh fly higher and higher into the sky, the gaze of the lion-dog statues fixating on him as his figure faded towards the moon.
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3gkYT…)
As legend states it, sometimes a yokai (Japanese ghost) of a samurai can be seen wandering the village that Suoh once lived in. They have similar forms, but it is never a truly physical form like what Suoh had possessed. At night too, there are also legends that a large, black wyvern can be seen flying over Mt. Fuji, just in front of the large moon so its body can be illuminated.
No one knows its origin though, but they have indeed come up with the idea that it was born under the moonlight from Buddha, destroying the temple since it acted as it's "egg" all these years. While some say it is Buddha himself in another form, others claim it is merely an ancient samurai warrior that is still trying to seek redemption and recognition somehow by flying in view of the moon.
Either way, no one will ever know....