The Shadowdancer and the Curruptor

[Atheryn]

All seemed still in Marketvale, the rain keeping most of the inhabitants inside and the creatures and long sought shelter, yet on this dark cloudy night if one looked closely at Atheryn Meryl's factory, one could see 6 shadows dancing along the rooftop.

But how can there be shadow when there is no light? Most would dismiss it as a trick of the rain, or the fear of the minions of Abraxious,

Upon closer inspection, one would see 6 figures dancing gracefully among the rain drops that were falling upon the roof, closer still and you would only see one person.

The young Ninja known as Melody in these lands, Born Mikagami Keikai  in her homeland of Tokuno, she had given up her last name when she devoted her life to her training, and her clan. Her mother had always liked to sing and dance, it was one of the few things they had in common, so when came the time to pick a name for her first daughter, Keikai was the natural choice. Amongst it's many meanings was "Melody".

But Abraxius had taken all that away now, his assault on Tokuno had been brutal and now most of what was left was death, and the living dead. Her clan, The Blue Wolves, once one of the most respected and feared was the first to be laid to waste. been wounded early, her training having only begun a few years ago and all she could do now was fake her own death and watch in horror as her brethren fell one after the other.

Melody had been found days later by a wandering elven merchant who frequently came to make deliveries to the clan, most of the older students and Teachers looked at her with a high level of respect and rumors spoke of this woman having trained under some of the elders at some point in the past. Unlike most elven she did not seem haughty and did no look down upon the Wolven. Once her wound had healed, Melody pledged her allegiance to the woman named Atheryn and her only request was to receive training to further her skills, Atheryn begant to show Melody other types of skills as well, things she might never have learned had she stayed in the clan.

Melody had been a very promissing student in the clans training compound; her cold, gracefull and flawless execution of even the most complicated of techniques had already earned her a title.

Yakushin no Keikai

The title had two meanings, the first was Dancing Melody

She had come a long way since she earned that title, and further still since she had lost her brethren, and tonight she continued to hone her skills, using shadows to create copies of herself, forcing herself into a life or death battle, but to the untrained eye it looked like an elegant dance amongst the rain.

Her mind was not on her training this night however and one of the shadows was able to place a blow where she should have easily dodged her mind kept returning to the past, to the man that wounded her killed her brothers and sisters, her blood boiled whenever she saw him her desire to kill him growing stronger by the day... But Atheryn would not allow her, and she could not disobey her mistress...

Right now his taint filled the night wind and brought with it dreams, whispers and false promisses; she had seen and heard them days before the attack on Tokuno and even thought they were not meant for her she could see and hear them clearly; promisses of safety, peace, prosperity, power hidden deep within a veil of a familiar setting or a pleasing one. Melody did not know why she was able to see those dreams, perhaps the mans taint had rubbed off on her in the battle, or perhaps she was meant to stop it from swaying their intended victims.

She had already seen the nightmare hidden behind that veil... Thousands of bodies lying lifeless on the ground, slowly returning as mindless beasts, skulls, blood and the withering of all life as the stench of death fills the air.

The whisper spoke to it's target when they were at their weakest, she wondered briefly if her mistress would be spoken to as well...

Melody laughed briefly, her mistress was too shrewd and strong willed to be manipulated by such simple lies. No, definitely not... while  Atheryn acted the fool and showed a weak, playfull and dedicated face to the world, Melody knew that behind all the fluff there was a cold, calculating machine... One that would not even hesitate to remove a friend from existence should it prove beneficial... the proof was in her designs and the way she used every asset to get what she wanted.




Melody let the shadows fade and meditated to calm her rage... this taint... these dreams... that man...  she would tell her mistress of the dreams in the morning and let her decide what to do about them. She figured Atheryn would chose to move her pieces in shadow as usual, but deep inside she prayed that her mistress would give her permission. Until that time, she too would play cheeky, bubbly youth, even in the face of the demon lords themselves.

But with a simple word from her mistress she would stalk the shadows and show Abraxius and that man what her title truly meant.

She would show Najaal why she was called Yakushin no Keikai|The Melodious Onslaught