Apologies and explainations.

[Shang Li]

Thank you all for your assistance. I am sorry to have brought such troubles as Hideoshi and my own "guest" to such a place where there are already so many problems. I meant to come to offer my knowledge and skills to aid you all in your endeavors.

There are untruths that I have spread about myself here and I apologize. I am a bit older than I claim (hard to explain). My serene, peaceful demeanor is not voluntary. When I am moved to anger the being that I have imprisoned grows stronger, while my ability to reinforce its chains weakens (actually this happens any time there is more than a 3-4 hour period without re-enforcing said cage. I will try to explain.

When I was a young man, the temple in which I was raised noticed a dramatic drop in travelers from another temple that was a mere 5 days travel away. We contacted the local lord, and informed him of what was noticed. He sent out a small force of his best warriors. All that was ever recovered of them was shattered armor and broken, weapons. At this point the prefect came to us for assistance, letting us know that evidence pointed to something other than bandits (no blood on the weapons, no blood at the battle site, no blood on the shattered armor). Master Ashikaga (Hideoshi's grandfather I think) hand selected a group of us, some armed, some not depending on our preference. We were so happy to be chosen, so sure of our abilities, so eager to test ourselves against the unknown assailant, so very....foolish.

When we arrived the first thing we did was gather up the arms and armor scattered across the mountain pass. Then we began to perform a ceremony to set the spirits of the fallen at rest. As the sun began to set we heard harsh, grating laughter. A great serpent, whiskered and clawed, was delicately picking its way down the slope toward us. "Ahhh, excellent, none of you are clothed in such a way that your bodies will be destroyed." It hissed at us. Brother Kuno approached the beast (he was the best of us at causing others to see things the way he does) "Welcome to our camp." he stated calmly. In response the beast swept out with a talon that glowed bright as the sun (much like its teeth). The talon swept across Kuno's chest - making no wound, but causing him to collapse an empty shell. The beast then began to force its tail down the corpse's mouth. Seeing such a desecration of our brother's corpse, the rest of us began to attack. Brother Tanaka went for the thing's eyes with a yari, Brother Mitsagi went for the back of the head with a sweep from his naginata, while Brother Ichiro and I both began to focus our Chi to strengthen ourselves. Tanaka and Mitsagi were both swept from the air, Tanaka by a talon, Mitsagi by the beast's tail. Ichiro always able to focus faster than me launched himself at the beast with a mighty blow that had no effect.

"NONE of you can stop ME. None of you has the will, or the knowledge to destroy me. Know that as soon as you have all died the last of you shall be my shell, a fresh body for my use." the beast said as it casually swatted Ichiro into a boulder. At that point I decided I could die fighting this thing, or I could try to outwit it. Knowing that only one spirit can control a body at a time I feigned shock and fell over in the deepest of trances, stopping my breathing, and my heart. I was dimly aware of tightness in my throat, then my chest, then my stomach, followed by a searing pain that snapped me from my trance. At that moment I felt a great force trying to tear my spirit and mind from my body. I collapsed then, incapacitated by a pain unlike anything I had even thought possible. When I came to my whole body ached and tingled. I began to meditate to replenish my energy. As I stilled my mind I noticed that things were....changed. I was no longer able to wander with my mind’s eye during meditation; I was bound to my body, by the same chains as my “guest”. I found myself able to store both yin and yang energies. (This turned out later to be a great boon, vastly increasing my understanding of the nature of balance). I also found that if I allowed anger or hate to remain; they quickly became uncontrolled, fed by a wrath unlike anything I had even known. It was at that time I first tried to retreat from the troubles of the world (what a disaster that was). After a few tragedies, I began to understand that it could not make me feel anything I didn’t already have within (thereby beginning to truly understand myself) and focused for a while on finding a way to take action as needed without anger or hate.

As for what the beast is – I am not certain. Myth holds it to be the bastard offspring of the Goddess Amaterasu. Whatever it is in reality, I am satisfied to know I hold its chains, and it will never again be free to harm any others.



Oh and thank you to whomever sent me the computer that takes dictation.

[Ron Caliburn]

Given your recent . . . return, what of this situation has changed?

[Shang Li]

My former inhabitant lies with my bones at Yonaguni, hopefully to never again threaten the sons of Amaterasu.