The Day of Thunder

[Makime]

The void...darkness...but not empty...ruins...

Makime's eyes shot open and with a gasp she sat up. The room was familiar. Shiro Makime. Her Chambers.

Trembling she stood, a great fear gripped her heart as she moved forward through the halls. Empty, so very empty. Her guards. Her councilors. Her friends.

The Lioness leaned against the the wall, her heart pounded. Pushing off she mad her way through the silence of her home. At last she arrived at the doors, unbared and open. The sight she saw beyond made the woman clench her teeth until her jaw hurt. Makime stumbled forward into the wasteland.

The city she had long wished to see. The pristine streets, the ordered rows of buildings, stalls of goods. All ruined. The noise and bustle of life. Gone. Empty collapsing buildings lay before her in all directions. The future she was making for her people, her children, just ash and bone.

Slowly she went to a knee and scooped up the dust, it slid through her fingers. Gone. Gone. Gone. GONE. GONE. GONE. GONE. GONE! GONE! GONE!

Her hand dropped to her side.

"No. This...this isn't real." Makime's voice came almost of it's on volition, "I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT. SHOW YOURSELVES MONSTERS."

The world warped and turned, laughter and mockery. Assurances this was real. This was her future.

"No." The Lioness closed her eyes, not in fear this time. This was the world of dreams. And she would remake it in her image. If Jigoku wished a war, then a war she would give them.

Makime knew that the grand secret to her skill had always lay in her studies. She turned to that now, pulling every minor battle that Makime had read, fought, or heard tale of. Building a stable world of the mind. When Makime opened her eyes it was not the ruined city she stood in.

A wide plan stretched before her, two great armies at either end. Her own arrayed in the colors of the Lion and across an army of shadow.

A figure looked up and spoke, "Lady Makime?"

She nodded, eyes never leaving the army arrayed against her. "Let us begin."

The battle raged dark and terrible. Makime was no stranger to the nature of her chosen art and Jigoku used that against her. Every soldier's death she could see a brief flash of those she knew. Blow upon blow laid on her very soul as Makime was forced to live the experience of her followers deaths.

Time meant little in this place. Perhaps this battle lasted a day. A year. A thousand. It didn't really matter, even if it took an eternity.

Every ploy, every plan, every maneuver, every skillful turning of a flank was met by the forces of Jigoku. For all her brilliance, Makime could see that Jigoku was winning. She felt the maliciousness of its joy. It was so close to crushing her. To proving her weakness. To killing everything she loved, rendering every struggle in her life pointless. And oh how Jigoku salivated at that, to see one of the godlings' most loved followers rendered to nothing. Maybe Makime would beg for the power to win. Maybe she would give herself to darkness.

For one brief second Makime felt true despair. She felt true despair and smiled.

Arrogant, cruel, greedy, with endless desire, and insatiable hunger Jigoku had relished its victory. It had only to reach out an claim it. And yet this was Makime's dream. She didn't wish to merely win. No Makime, first daimyo of the Makime, first to win the favor of Akodo, perhaps the greatest living strategist born to the realm of mortals, had wanted to crush Jigoku.

She had let it cheat it's way through the battle. Had seen how forces appeared from seemingly nowhere or shifted with impossible speed. And the Lioness had allowed it. And now on the cusp of victory, Makime ripped the feast from Jigoku's salivating mouth.

It was not her own despair Makime had felt, only for a second barely beyond notice Jigoku had known the cruelty it inflicted so callously on others. Even if it was on such a tiny insignificant scale.

Despair gave way to anger as Jigoku raged, a heat hotter then any forge man or godling could make washed over her. Makime closed her eyes and laughed.



With a start, the Lioness's eyes flew open. This time only the rugged cloth of her tent was there to greet her.

"Choke on it you fucks." She smiled again.

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WILL(3)/Battle(7). VP Spent (Refreshed by Satsuki LA). +4 from Tawagoto's army. | 10k4+4 ⇒ 33 (TN: 25) Passed

INT(3)/Lore History(1) for Lucid Dream 2. VP Spent (Refreshed by Satsuki in LA). +4 Tawagoto's Army | 5k4+4 ⇒ 26 (TN: 25) Passed

PER(4)/Battle (Mass Battle)(7). VP for +1k1 (Last VP of the Day, saved for this). 11k4=>12k5=>10k6. +4 From Tawagoto's Army. FR from Second step of Event to reduce TN by 5 | 10k6+4 ⇒ 68 (TN: 35) Passed