BIRTH
Once the courtyard was filled with bodies of samurai, some bodies burned, some were still steaming, flesh bubbling; the smell was unbareable. Burnt flesh and hair, mixed with the stench of dried blood, which was fresh not so long ago, and sweat. Some of the corpses had been thrown around by wind from the blue dragon. The fortress had been a death trap for everyone, when it was only supposed to be the death of Yi and Hanga. The city would now have to do another clean up, and the last was only days earlier.
Togo walked over to the yellow statue and picked it up. "It is over... isn't it?" The three looked at each other, not sure of what they should do next, and they were still in shock. Adrenilin flowing madly through their veins, Yi stared to quiver with excitement.
The book started to hover and then float. It drifted over to Tomoe, who was still tired with fighting the dragons. She took hold of the book and took it under her arm. Tomoe walked over to Honda.
"Honda san," extending her hand to help pull him to his feet, seeing him clenching his rib cage; his ribs obviously broken, "are you alright?"
Honda grunted, but otherwise hid his pain, in pure Musashi style. He got to his feet with her aid. "I've never felt better. If you want to make me feel even better, how about getting a geisha sent to my quarters?"
They walked, shoulder to shoulder, over to the the three with the statues. The mud slurped under their feet. Honda tried to forget the fact that it wasn't rain that had made the mud, it was blood and sweat. Tomoe went over and hugged Hanga. Then she stood back in awe.
"Hanga san, your necklace is glowing! Togo san, Yi san, your necklaces... they glow so brightly."
Not only were the necklaces glowing, the eyes of the statues had still not stopped glowing. The tamamayu book flew out of Tomoe's arm and opened to a page with pictures of the statues, with the necklaces around their necks. Yi took off his necklace and placed it over the red statue. And the whole statue glowed, then as if from some kind of dream, the wood turned to flesh, and the statue started to breathe. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, but was actually just seconds, the creature opened its eyes. Hanga took off her necklace and placed it around the blue statue, and it began to come to life too. Togo picked the yellow statue up inot his arms and put the necklace over its head. When the wood became flesh, the creature looked up at him, and Togo couldn't help but smile. What were these creatures, and what purpose did they serve? These questions would have to wait
Honda forgot his pain and ran back to the main courtyard to find Musashi's body and give him a proper burial, they way Musashi would have wanted it to be, a quiet grave, somewhere secluded in the forest. He had died for his shogun, and deserved to have his wish fulfilled. When Honda got to the place where Musashi's body should have been, it was gone. Another mystery, in what now seemed to be just the beginning of this adventure.

END