The Day of Thunder

Norikage laid down near the hearth and Yoshie and Daisuke's. He would defeat whatever horror he felt the night before and sleep until he felt rested. There was no other choice.

He had an idea, and placed a certain item under the pillow he was given, closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind.

He was terrible at it as usual.

Willpower 13

He found himself standing on a wood floor. It was so freshly cleaned and polished that he could see himself in it when he looked down. Definitely not Yoshie and Daisuke's house, despite the old man and woman sleeping not too far away.

Sleeping? No. Sleep isn't that still. People asleep don't float.

Looking up, it seemed like the whole village was here. Enrou, the girl the Crab woman had danced with, vendors from the party, farmers, craftspeople. Everyone floating silently at different heights in space.

On the ground, more were dead, but these more identifiable, and infinitely bloodier. One of the Ki-rin, a short woman, lay on the ground near a disemboweled horse, her head brutally caved in. She stared up at the sky with unseeing eyes as blood and murky fluid flowed from her head, matting her long hair. One he recognized - Yukara, her arm missing and a gaping hole in her chest. Her heart lay three feet away from her. A Hiruma lay with no major injuries, but despite that, his face was a grotesque blue-purple, as though he had asphyxiated. Nanzi Ai lay cleaved from clavicle to abdomen, split open by something that looked like it had cleaved through her armor like butter, and her skin, muscles, and organs hadn't had any chance at all.

There were more, each death more grisly than the last. Togashi Satsuki. A man wearing the Akodo mon. Matsu. Hantei's son, Genji.

He felt something at the center turn its attention to him. His brain had instinctively skipped over it to protect itself, but now he couldn't help but look. There was something there that lanced pain through his head as his brain tried to comprehend it. It existed in too many places at once, but the same place. It was too many shapes, yet only one shape. It was paradox incarnate, a thing that shouldn't be able to exist.

The sound of its voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. Every floorboard, every piece of viscera, the thunder above, the air itself vibrated with its voice. It was nauseating and incomprehensible. Yet he understood.

Hmm... This is very interesting. A little Scorpion tries to see that which he hasn't the capability to understand. Who are you who tries to know the unknowable?

Death, gore, even a stench. Was it really a dream? This shifting thing, the unknowable horror, monster without a name. He found himself turning to face it, if there was even a direction to look.

His stance widened, hand straying toward his hip to grasp his sword.

Where was that the princess? He hadn't seen her yet, he thought.

"Me?" he said, and despite the courage he mustered, his voice was still a raw tremble of it's usual self. "I'm the idiot who cares what happens here, who are you?"

Willpower: 20

He feels the world itself turn and shift in the impression of a smile. It sends Norikage off-balance. This being feels like all of the world itself, coalesced into one maddening space, and yet spread out in its places at the same time.

Thunder rumbled, and the moon seemed to split in half for a moment to open a great eye that stared down at Norikage. The thunder felt like a laugh. He himself felt like the the lightning that caused it had shot down his spine.

You could say that I am also "an idiot who cares what happens here".

The floor below the... thing... rippled like water, and Han-Hei rises out of it. She's alive, breathing slowly and evenly, without her mask.

You seek this one.

It wasn't a question.

Dream or no, he could not stay calm at the sight. Even the sudden realization that he was likely going to feel like crap again all day tomorrow didn't make his lip turn up in dark amusement.

"That's not a secret", he said. Scorpion playing their Scorpion games, he knew. This thing had him, it likely knew everything he'd never say about it. How could he turn the tables? There had to be a way.

"And so you do as well? Or are you just trying to piss me off?"

It was, sadly, the best he had right then.

WIllpower: 17

Things shift around, a hundred realities shifting and folding over themselves in a mind-bending expression of confusion.

You wished for her presence, and thus she is here.

The world seemed to resolve in a nauseating sudden stop that seemed to express realization.

I do not come as an enemy, little scorpion. You invited me, and I am thus here.

Though I am learning that it is customary in your culture to give a gift to one's host. This one which you do not wish to lose is so easily lost that she can hardly find herself. Perhaps a way to find her is an appropriate gift.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked. "You're trying to be polite?". He gestured around at the horror scene. "Interesting way to start "

They did not have to fight. They came to me and demanded it.

It seemed almost sad as all of reality and none of it spoke, filling his head with static. The scene began changing, flipping like papers in the wind. Different scenes in different times. Different people on the ground. The background was a wooden wall, then a stone one, then one of a material he couldn't identify with lines of light running down the walls, then a clear substance looking out into water, over and over, more and more scenes, all captured in perfect detail.

I do wish to be polite.

"Well, I couldn't possibly just accept the gift right off", the scorpion waved a hand eductationally. "That in itself would just be rude. If you're trying to be polite, offer again to show your sincerity, fellow idiot."

This was not precisely turning the tables, but as long as they played the game he figured dream Kumori was safe....?

You do not have to play the game of stalling. She is safe.

As a demonstration of that, or a gesture of good will - does something like this even comprehend the idea of good will, or does its conception match his? - Han-Hei floats over to him.

I will bind you through the dream so that one may always find the other when they are in danger.

"Well, how kind...but, this is a dream...are you saying it will work when I'm awake? And why would you do this?"

He cocked his head to the side.

"You have to admit, you're a bit terrifying."

It will work when you are awake. You will carry a bit of the dream with you. As to why...

Reality folds in on itself once more as it smiles.

I wish to see humans at their best. Will you be, fighting for what you care for? I wish to see.

"Well, thank you, I suppose." He stood there in the puddles made by the dead and bowed slightly.

His stance relaxed and he stepped over dream gore. It was unsettling, certainly, the visages of the dead were always an unwelcome sight, he approached bend in the dream, perhaps the source of the reality he experienced that night. "So, you want to see humans at their best? You know, straining them to the edge of their sanity, and often beyond, isn't exactly the move there."

He shook his head, he stood firm. This beast sounded like his father, and he endured it as a child, but he was grown now.

"You misunderstand humans then, just like they misunderstand you." He gestured around at the carnage.

"Peace is where humans excel. Some of us are born for conflict, sure, but almost all of us are at our best when we aren't being hounded by horrible things or are afraid to fall asleep", he explained. "You want humans to be their best? Leave them be and watch, let them grow."

He gave it a hard gaze then. He was sure it wasn't impressed, or it didn't matter, but he was making a point.

He shook his head, not knowing what exactly the reference about leaving the world in ships meant. Was he walking the bloody infinite corridor? Was Saint Germain going to pop out and make rude comments!?

"I'd say the raiding is over, but I won't lie, it isn't", he replied. "Yet you see the people changing, don't you? The order of heaven has fallen upon this land, humans will continue to grow, to gain more civility and cooperation. You want to drive us before a challenge that doesn't need to be issued. Not here, not so soon. We're at the point where we'll grow more and more, no longer just raiders and farmers scared of the dark, but a real civilization, and you're what, tearing it down making us go mad? What test is that? It sounds like arrogance, it sounds like sabotage, it sounds like jealousy."