The Agony

[Katsumaru]

Let me tell you a tale of a desert lioness. Single-minded and courageous she was soon to face a challenge that shall frighten even the bravest of men. But what can truly be so wretched, so bone chillingly, damning that even the most battle hardened veteran pisses his pants? That was a tomb deep in the deserts of Kaze no Kuni..

But what awaits in this tomb? Legends say that the tomb is haunted. Something had awoken. Something truly horrifying. It is said to be a child of scourge spat forth from the womb of the Devil himself. Little did they know that the believers were fools. There were no such things as demons. No, but there is worse. Myth say a mighty guardian lurks within these tombs, stitched together from the flesh and limbs of sannin of times long gone. The legend was true.

But what does this abomination want? And what is within this tomb? That, for now, shall remain a secret.

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Brooding, festering dread loomed over a small camp of nomads. Fire cast a gleam out into the night, but the light was dim, for the nomads feared that what lurked in the dark. The stiched abomination was known as The Agony, and its bone chilling cries rung out in the night. It did not only cry. When the nomads slept, the Agony set out and unleashed its rage.

Each morning, the nomads were greeted by three corpses, a man, a woman, and a male child, each with inscriptions carved into their brow. The inscriptions were nothing but mad babbling, words best left unsaid. It was not this slaughter which was so horrid, but the apathy that surrounded it. The nomands knew what occurred during the night, but they chose to avert their gaze.

But one man wanted to change this. A blacksmith by the name of Tharun. He was an elderly man, right arm bulky, and soul burning with a passion and the will for change. For this, he wished to carve a blade capable of even hurting the Agony. But this blade must be imdued with the spirit of the warrior whom seeks to slay the abomination. And for this, one must forge the blade themselves.

Truthfully, Tharun’s motivations were somewhat selfish, for he wished something that sat within this tomb. What did the smithy want? He did not say.

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