Empyrean: The Epic of Raiden

Raiden stepped cautiously inside. It was dark except for the light from two half melted candles, which sat on stools on each side of a wooden chest. Raiden walked over to the chest and bent over. He wiped the dust off of the top of the chest; curiosity rising. He sat on the floor and scooted towards the chest. He took hold of it with reverence and opened it. Dust swirled in the silence. I would have expected some light coming out of it, but this is ok...I guess. Raiden thought to himself as he leaned in to look into the chest. Lying at the bottom of the chest was an old black leather notebook. Raiden pulled it out and opened the notebook turning the pages at random; some pages were in better condition than others.

"A story? About what?" Raiden said to himself.

He flipped to the first page in the folder.

"A title," Raiden said as he began to read.

"The Epic of Raiden...What? A story about...me? If I read this, will I find out who I really am?" Raiden said hesitantly to himself. "I suppose no harm ever came from reading a book right?" Raiden said reassuring himself. He crossed his legs and put the folder in his lap. He adjusted the candles on the chest to give himself more light to read.

"Ok," Raiden said continuing. "The battle raged on. It hovered there at the top of the hill a few hundred meters away from the fight. It watched the soldiers slaughtering each other. One massive blow after another, the cacophony of clashing metal, screams of pain and victory. The sound of futility. Inevitably, they would all die. Bodies hitting the hard cold ground over the battlefield quenched the thirst of the earth with their life force; pools of blood stretched out like slimy ponds. It could hear the pathetic pleas of the soldier's minds begging not to be next and then watching them as they were mercilessly cut down. Secretly, it grinned. Who died and when...it didn't care. All of these lives where in its hands. It had the power to either take their lives in the blink of an eye, or grant it; though the thought of mercy would never cross its mind. It was the reason for the war; the reason for the destruction. The reason for death. It was and still is...Shinokozuki. "Death" is what the townspeople called it. Its arrivals were known to bring the troubles of the darkness to all those who encountered it; hopelessness and fear surrounded his presence. The rumors spread so wide that people would typically hide indoors when they saw dark clouds and lightning more because of the fear that it might be near than that they might get caught in a rainstorm. It symbolized the coming the beast. It stood a good four feet above the average soldier...if it had legs. The ghostly Shinokozuki hovered its way around; a giant black figure with shredded, jet black clothes and curiously, one of the four the legendary weapons. Despite the exaggerations of the people, no smell followed it. Instead there was a perpetual gust of wind that blew around it making his clothes flutter. People from various towns knew very little about it, but heard many rumors; which ones to believe, they couldn't know. There was only one person besides itself, or should have been, who truly knew where it had come from...who it was...what it was. This is the story of the one who knows and who is the embodiment of the love of death. The boy who became the demon. Raiden Simuriani." The final sentence hit Raiden's heart like a punch to the chest. He stopped reading, mouth agape, and stared at the page.

"That doesn't describe me..." Raiden closing the notebook and putting it on the floor. His heart began thumping in his chest. He stood quickly.

"Maybe I'll come back later."

Raiden stepped towards the door. He sensed a strange force behind him that began pulling him back towards the chest. Raiden dashed forward but to his surprise moved nowhere. He was lifted in the air and turned towards the notebook, which was now open on the ground. He fought against the air which had a tight intangible grip on his center of gravity. A dark vortex formed and spun eerily within the pages of the notebook causing wind to rip through the room like a tornado The sound of flying papers and whistling wood deafened Raiden who continued to fight for his life as the force slowly pulled him towards the vortex. The fire was snuffed out of the candles and the door slammed behind Raiden leaving him in the loud darkness only silenced by the frantic beating of his heart. He felt something stretching his very being as his consciousness quickly faded.

543 A.D.

The sun was coming up; dawn had come. Silently, Tenchi Shomuyo stepped into the room. His sandals lightly scraped the floor as he walked. His forest green robe brushed the swept wood floors. His hair, white as snow complimented his equally powdered majestic beard and mustache. He had distinctly Asian facial features with a light tanned complexion and skin that would rival a young woman in her prime. If it weren't for his hair, he could easily pass for a man in his late twenties. Tenchi walked through the room stepping over dirty clothes, neglected toys, and scattered parchment. He stopped at the bed at the left end of the room.

"Cleric, it's time for training. Raiden, you too," Tenchi called across the room to the bed in the right corner.

He watched as the boys stood out of their beds. Cleric Shomuyo was a young boy of fifteen years. He had a much lighter complexion than his grandfather Tenchi. He had vibrant emerald colored eyes that more often than not seemed to glow and dark brown hair that reached aimlessly down to his shoulders. He stood about five feet six inches tall; a little shorter than Tenchi, but the same height as Raiden. The two boys were lean and unkempt. Raiden Simuriani sat on his bed stretching and rubbed his left knee.

"How is it today, Raiden?" Tenchi asked.

"Fine. I don't really feel anything anymore," Raiden said looking up at Tenchi.

Raiden was fifteen years old, like Cleric. He had a brown complexion. Untypically, Raiden was born with red eyes, only four shades brighter than blood with the same eerie glow as Cleric's eyes. He had short black curly hair and a matching outfit; a black robe and shoes. The robe covered his full body except for his head. Cleric had and identical robe save for his was white instead of black like Raiden's. Raiden wasn't a relative of Tenchi or Cleric in any way. Tragically, when he was just seven years old while he was walking in the forest with his parents, his family was attacked by a group of strange men.

535 A.D.

The trees swayed gently in the cool breeze. It was the forest after all. The three of them walked down the path. Where they were going, Raiden had no clue. Raiden looked up at his father who walked next to him. He admired him very much. Raiden turned and looked up at his mother. She looked down at him and smiled. Raiden smiled back. They continued walking ahead, when suddenly two men jumped out of a tree in front of them. The men landed on the ground with barely a sound. One man's right hand was on the floor and his left behind his back and the second had the opposite pose. Five more men then dropped from the sky landing in front of them. They all wore what looked like black uniforms and their faces were covered except for their eyes, though their gaze revealed their intent.

"Stand back, Honey," Raiden's father said keeping his eyes on the men.

"Be careful," she responded putting her hands on Raiden's shoulders and pulling him close while stepping backwards.

Raiden's dad then lowered his empty hands towards the ground. He opened his palms towards the men as if to show he held nothing. The four of the five men who dropped in looked towards the man on the right hand side of their cluster. Without looking towards them, he nodded. With that, the five of the men jumped over the leader who then stood and casually stepped back keeping his eyes fixed on Raiden's father. Two of the men pulled swords from their backs and ran directly at Raiden's dad. He quickly swung his left arm up and thrust his right arm forward. Raiden watched in amazement. In his father's hands were his swords, the Atsus. Raiden had heard that the Atsus where a weapon his father created. They were equal in size, weight, texture, and sharpness; identical blades. They were thick swords about four inches wide and had an orange design from the collar, to the tip. Though he rarely needed them, he always carried them with him. Raiden was amazed because he did not see when his father drew the swords and even more, he didn't even realize that they had been on him. Raiden's father then pulled his right sword back. He had stuck the in front of him right through the chest. He quickly opened his arms wide for the next man who ran towards him and, with a snap, slammed his swords together catching the man's neck between them. The man's body dropped to the floor and his head was propelled to the side. The next three men attacked. With a frightening calm, Raiden's father maneuvered between their attacks cutting down two of the attackers and striking the last with the hilt of his sword making him stumble backward. He stared down the last remaining goon who stood anxiously waiting for an attack. Raiden's father sprinted at the man, raised his hands above his head and sliced down. The man held up his sword to block the attack...half of the sword fell to the ground. The man stood with a blank stare in his eyes, and then he too fell to the ground in two halves. Raiden's father then stood up straight and stared face to face with the two remaining men. Neither of them spoke a word. They had the same look of confidence and determination in their eyes as Raiden's father. The man on the right reached behind his back and pulled out a large stone hammer. He raised it high above his head and swung down. Raiden's father swung effortlessly with his sword deflecting the blow and sending sparks flying. The other man quickly sprinted around Raiden's father too attack him from behind while the other man attacked from the front. Raiden's father then took a step back thrusting his sword at the man behind him who in turn moved to the side barely avoiding being impaled as the other man raised the massive hammer in both hands above his head. Raiden's father then, with a violently unnatural spin, slashed at both men slashing the throat of the man in front of him and coming to a rest with his swords inserted cleanly into the chests of both men. All was silent. Raiden smiled, proud of his father's ability, but the silence and stillness lasted a second too long. His joy quickly faded to sudden fear. Something had gone wrong. Raiden's eyes fearfully analyzed the final attack. And then he spotted it. A third attack landed. A thin sword extended from the hand of the man behind Raiden's father, and continued though his back and out of his chest. His father pulled the sword out of the chest of the man behind him and watched as the body fell to the ground. He soon followed toppling over. Raiden ran to his father's side. He coughed and groaned lightly. As Raiden stared into his eyes he smiled, he appeared about to speak, but then he suddenly stopped breathing. Raiden's mother ran towards Raiden to pull him away and tripped landing behind Raiden. The man left standing bleeding from his neck finally lost balance and fell. His hammer slid from his hand and landed on Raiden's leg with a sickening crunch. Raiden screamed in pain and reeled back catching a glimpse of the man as his body fell onto his mother. The man's heavy body landed with a thud on Raiden's mother. The unfortunate placement of an unsheathed sword fastened to the side of his belt caught his mother's neck forcing her to suffer the same fate. In that fateful incident, nine people died. Raiden, severely injured, was the only survivor. He whimpered, eyes blurred and weary from the pain. He vaguely remembered the shape of a man in a white robe walking over to him. He wanted to tell the man what had happened, but he was in too much pain to say anything. He couldn't speak...he could barely breathe. The last thing he could remember was the blurred face of an old man and when he woke, he saw a ceiling fan spinning above his head. It took him a while to process that his location had changed. His mind was eerily silent, barely able to consider the event that passed. He looked over the bed at the walls of the room and tried to sit up. Pain flushed his body and he screamed out in pain.

"You shouldn't try to move. You're very injured," a voice spoke.

"Who are you? Where's my parents? Why am I here?" Raiden said looking around to find where the voice of the man originated from.

"Hmm...amnesia?" The voice spoke again. Raiden spotted him. He was on the other side of the bed sitting in a chair.

"What?" Raiden said confused.

The old man explained what had happened. The details of the memory flooded back into him like a sudden awareness.

"I...I remember now, but why? Who? Who would do this!?" Raiden began sobbing. "Mom...father...are..."

"Think not of it this way child." The man said putting a hand onto Raiden's chest. "Your parents are simply watching over you now. Their bodies have returned to the earth from whence they came, but their spirits are immortal. They live on in you just as you are in them. Someday, you will be reunited, but until then you'll have much to endure. Life is a strange and emotional adventure, but in the end I'm sure you, like your parents will be satisfied with the live you lived."

"No! no! no! no! no! I will get revenge! Who did this!?"

"I cannot tell you because I don't know." The man said sitting back. "I believe this belongs to you," He said picking up a long cloth from the ground and placing it next to Raiden on the bed. Raiden picked up the cloth wincing and gasping as his leg attempted to make another involuntary movement. He unfolded the cloth and rubbed his hands across his father's swords.

"My father's swords," Raiden said staring into the metal as the memories took control of his vision again to replay the fight that led to his parent's deaths.

"They are yours now." The man said. Raiden looked up at him suddenly recognizing his burden. "I can teach you how to use them if you like. I can also teach you an ancient martial art called Luignai. It releases the body and mind from the laws of the earth, but I can only teach it to you if you promise to only use it for good."

"I promise," Raiden answered.

"Look under the cloth."

Raiden picked up the cloth and looked at it. There was a peculiar symbol on the back of the cloth.

"What is this?"

"That is the symbol of the ninja clan that attacked your family." He stared at Raiden for a moment watching the realization settle in him. "Very well then, this is where you will be staying. My abilities can do much in the way of healing you, but with that level of damage, it will still take many years before your leg fully heals." The man aid standing. "This will give you time to get to know your partner."

"Partner?" Raiden said looking up from the symbol.

"Yes, my grandson, Cleric. He's about your age. On the subject of names, what is your name, boy?"

"Raiden."

"That's it? No family name?"

"Simuriani, Raiden Simuriani; and yours?"

"Tenchi Shomuyo. You'll just be calling me Master Shomuyo, though. Do you find that agreeable?"

"Yes."

"Good, get some rest, Raiden," Tenchi said as he turned and walked out of the room.

8 YEARS LATER

"Raiden, how is your spirit this morning?" Master Shomuyo asked.

"Agreeable."

"Good, good. And you, Cleric?"

"Fine, Grandpa."

"Your training has begun, Cleric. If I am your grandfather, then I am not your trainer. Understand?"

"Yes, Master Shomuyo."

"Good. Now boys, your first session begins now."

Raiden and Cleric exchanged confused looks as if the other would know what he was talking about; then glared at Master Shomuyo who was smiling at them.

"What are we supposed to do?" Cleric asked.

"As your first session...you must...clean your room," Tenchi said with a small chuckle.

"What?" Cleric asked uneasily.

"That's not fair!" Raiden snapped. "But we've been waiting so long to learn-"

"Enough, Raiden," Master Shomuyo interrupted. Master Shomuyo looked down, and then back up at them. "There once were two brave soldiers; both strong and intelligent men. One was disciplined, and the other was undisciplined." Raiden and Cleric signed and sat down. They were familiar with Tenchi's parabolic method of teaching lessons and they expected this was one of those moments. Tenchi continued. "They were in the middle of a big battle and were losing. The disciplined soldier decided to pull back, regroup, and devise a plan to turn the tide of the battle. Everyone agreed with the soldier's decision except for the undisciplined soldier. He didn't like not being in control, so he waited until all of the soldiers were asleep. In the night, he snuck out of camp to try and prove that he was better than the disciplined soldier. He went to the enemy's encampment. With a keen eye, he was able to determine where the enemy leader's tent was and snuck in unnoticed. Little did he know that the tent was heavily guarded, so he was captured the moment he entered and immediately killed. The enemy leader then figured that if this one soldier had come, then there must be more. Then the leader tightened the security around the perimeter of the camp and set up extra guards and doubled his forces. The next day, the disciplined soldier came with the army and his plan, but no matter how good the plan was, the tactic of the enemy had drastically changed and his plan failed horribly because the enemy was expecting their arrival. Every last one of them were captured and killed all because of the arrogance and the ignorance of the undisciplined soldier...My point is that you two live here and share this room. You live together, and together you must learn to work together to accomplish different and eventually more difficult tasks. When you can accomplish this, the simplest of tasks, then and only then will I teach you the sacred secret art of Luignai, which revolves solely around patience. I will not teach an ancient art to the undisciplined soldiers."

"Yes, Master Shomuyo," Cleric and Raiden answered in unison.

"Very well then, get to work," Master Shomuyo said turning and putting his hands behind his back. "I will return in a little while to see how you've progressed."

As soon as he walked out of the room and turned the corner Cleric turned to Raiden.

"Come on, Raiden, we should get started."

"Don't you get tired of those ridiculous stories, Cleric? He does this to us all the time! Why should we believe that he's actually going to take us this time!? I don't care about discipline, I just want to learn how to fight and use magic. That's it. This Luignai thing probably doesn't even exist!"

"Maybe Master Shomuyo wants to teach us about tolerance first?"

"Yeah, sure, and there's a secret kingdom of great importance in the sky, too. He just likes stringing me along because he knows how much I want to do this."

Cleric looked intently at Raiden.

"For good or evil?"

Raiden looked up into Cleric's green eyes. Cleric stared back into the redness of Raiden's eyes as if searching them for an answer.

"A very stupid question, of course for good. I intend to avenge my parents for what those ninjas did to them. You see those swords on the wall?" Raiden said pointing to his father's swords. "The Atsus...one day...I'll be able to use them better than my father ever imagined. That is a promise I am making to myself right now."

"Neither of us will ever get any better at anything if Master Shomuyo comes back and finds us talking rather than cleaning."

"I suppose so," Raiden said under his breath.

Cleric looked at Raiden's leg.

"Raiden?"

"Yeah."

"You never told me the full story of how you got hurt. Do you remember?"

Raiden and Cleric began cleaning as Raiden told Cleric the story of how he and his parents were walking somewhere to meet some friends and were attacked, and how Master Shomuyo showed up to save them but was too late. Cleric looked down for a short moment.

"So then it's out of hatred that you want to learn Luignai."

"Only part I guess. Don't worry, Cleric, I won't let hatred consume me. Let's just keep cleaning."

"Alright, let's get to work."

Raiden began separating the clothes on the floor and picked up his other black robe. As he held it, he remembered watching his father fight. He stared at the robe as the traumatizing battle once again played in his memory. He began to feel the pain and anger building up inside his body. Slowly as he stared into the darkness of the robe he tightened his grip.

"Raiden, what are you doing?" Cleric asked as he sorted the parchments on the floor.

"Nothing," Raiden said loosening his grip. He folded the robe and put it on his bed. "Hey, Cleric. Do you want to put the beds together?"

"Like how?"

"We can pick one up and put it on top of the other."

"That's fine, but I call the bottom."

"Ok, I like the top better anyway."

The two of them picked up Raiden's bed and moved it across the room to Cleric's and stacked it on top and then they went back to cleaning the room. Once they had finished cleaning the room, Cleric walked to his bed and lay on his back. Raiden grabbed his bed and stood on Cleric's and then pulled himself up to his own bed. He sat down against the wall and looked down at his covers. They waited for Master Shomuyo to come, but they didn't have to wait long. Just when they had become relaxed, Master Shomuyo walked into the room.