The Day of Thunder

[Shiba Kumori]

She saw herself in the future.

The sun was shining through the trees, and she was walking along the coast. It felt like summer, with a warm breeze and the scent of salt and brine.

She wore no particular mon, but no mask either, and she was bantering lightly back and forth with Norikage, who also wore no particular mon.

Suddenly, an orochi breached out of the water with a roar, threatening people down below near the coast. They rushed down...

The battle was epic, and in the end, the two of them stood victorious over the creature, and the villagers invited them in, happy and wanting to reward them for a job well down. They remembered stories of them from the many tales floating around the Empire of Kumori's heroism, defeating the Champion, and now as their hero on the ground.

Then they moved on. No chains, no expectations, no people who wouldn't listen.

Just her as a hero, wandering the Empire, saving it one village at a time.

It felt so close, so real. Like a future rather than a dream. She wasn't there yet, though... she needed something more. Something to be a thunder in the first place, to lead the charge.

The dream felt so comfortable and nice…

The warm faces of the villagers. The warmth of Norikage’s touch. The warmth of the world’s praise for her.

She was loved. She was respected. She was free…

Being a Thunder was there for her to take…

…

She was missing something…

A hole remained… Something pulled at her from beyond a veil.

She turned and put her hand through the veil and parted it…

There on the other end… Her twin.

Tae looked to her…

“You are already loved…”

Behind her sister materialized her parents… Behind them her sisters… Behind them Sora… Behind them her uncles and aunts and cousins…

Then finally her mother…

Jiyo looked at her daughter with… love in her eyes…

Kumori turned back to the warm world of her own heroism…

“How could I ever forsake my family and the name they have given me? I am not just Han-Hei… I am a Shiba.”

The scene changes.

There's only a brief flash of vision. Looking out at people. Something warm curled up at her feet. Her clothes feel heavy. Somehow, she knew the Norikage was still there, near her. Then she heard his voice, quiet and near her ear. "Hell of a view, Princess."

The dream ends.