Touching the Heart of Creation, Roka’s entire world shatters around him in an instant!
He feels his physical body disintegrate into its atomic structure – becoming acutely aware of every particle of his being – their motions, order, and function when joined together to form the whole. They swirl around his consciousness as he seems to flow morpheus through the very strings of time and space.
As Roka drifts, he finds himself envisioning his entire existence – his mind filled not just with that of his mortal life – but of each life he has ever lived from his very first incarnation at the dawn of mankind. In a flash, he experiences every birth, every life, and every death of each generation of himself from the creation of man until the moment he had placed his hand on the Heart of Creation.
Then, as suddenly as the knowledge comes, it quickly fades – leaving him with only a few lasting impressions.
First, was that he had always lived honorably (for the most part) in each of his previous incarnations and was a choice spirit among the Ancestors. They had chosen him for some important purpose and were even now, doing what they could to help him along the way.
Second was that he had indeed been to that Naga Shrine in the Spirit World before (as he had felt upon first seeing it with the Samurai of Sendai) in at least two of his past lives.
In both cases, he was born and lived to the coming of age, before the Naga had come and secretly slain him. As he had seen with Sakura and Kaitaro’s death in his current life, his bodies had reformed in the Shrine, where they lived to the age of man and then died in suspended animation over the well. Then, only after that, he was once again received into the Celestial Palace of the Ancestors to await birth into a new mortal life.
And the final thing Roka was left with, was a sense that this life was different than all the rest. That he was now on the verge of eternal destruction – and not only his, but of all Creation.
For something drifted along with Roka – something not ordered or counted among what was his – yet a part of him like some cancerous ulcer. It was dark and sinister and as cold as the depths of hell. And it regarded Roka contemptuously, hating him with a palpable loathing.
And at this realization that Roka was not alone, Roka saw a future of himself towering over the entire world. He was filled with an intoxicating sense of omnipotence and reveled in his limitless cruelty as he reached down and wounded the earth – tearing open the land and releasing all manner of terrible Oni from the depths below.
But not satisfied there, he turned his attention to the Sun and Moon, and seeing how small and insignificant they were in comparison to his own might, he crushed them in each of his hands – plunging the dying world into an eternity of darkness.
The shock of seeing this snapped Roka out of wherever he was, and he wearily came to, lying on paving stones somewhere. He was whole again, but felt weird, his mind buzzing with chaos and unable to cope with all that he had seen and experienced.
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Taking a moment to compose himself, Roka stood up and looked around. He was in Sendai again, standing outside the Chief Magistrate’s house – as a commotion inside caught his attention.
Someone yelled “poison!” and to one side of the house, the outer wall abruptly broke open.
Roka then saw himself inside the house for a moment – before that version of himself suddenly vanished – and then General Meji shoved Chief Magistrate Yama-Uno out the hole as a yellow gas began to seep out behind him.
Roka must have come back in time a few minutes, right as Jenna had teleported away with him after he had smashed open the wall.
“The Chief Magistrate! The General!” Roka hears behind him – and becomes aware of General Meji’s men still surrounding the house. He also remembers that Yuki’s mother, her student, his own daughter, and the Army Lieutenant are all still inside.
Then, atop the house, Roka sees a dark flash of movement springing silently onto the adjacent rooftops and away into the darkness of night…
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Topic: Hunting Lee (Roka) (Read 89796 times)