BrokenHelix : Prelude

Young Masaru ran across the yard, "Master! Master!" As he bolted up the steps to the house his little fox tail was standing up behind him ..
    
Kenji noticed. *Now what has him so full of excitement?*
     
Masaru started again, "Mast..."
     
"Now, now, little one! Stop! Deep breath! Regain your composure," guided Kenji. "Now what is it small one?"
     
Masaru did as he was told. Calming, his ears flattened somewhat. Well, for a second anyway. "Master! A samurai approaches through ...
     
the garden!" It was no wonder the young one was so excited. Kenji had not seen a samurai in theses hills in over five years.
     
Kenji straightened his kimono and started trodding towards the door, little Masaru whipping back and forth around him.
     
Even with all his wisdom and all the years of learning patience, his 'god-son' and successor drove him insane at times.
     
"Grasshopper," Kenji spoke as he saw the samurai now entering his bonsai garden.
     
Masaru perked up and steadied himself beside Kenji, "Yes, master?"
     
"Why don't you go down to the stream and fetch us some fresh water for tea?"
     
Masaru was already coming up from his bow and sprinting towards the backdoor as he replied, "Yes, master. Right away!"
     
Kenji smiled as peace replaced the chaos that often surrounded the small boy. *He's going to be the death of me for sure,* thought Kenji.
     
Kenji was not the quickest of his tortise heritage as he crossed the yard. No doubt the samurai had noticed, Kenji himself had.
     
*I am almost 200 years old now. I am allowed to take my time,* the thought bringing a smile to his wrinkled face.
     
He watched as the samurai approached at the steady confident gait that seemed to be ingrained in them during their years of training.
     
This particular samurai striked Kenji as odd though. Not many of the sheep family became samurai.
     
But than again, he did not recall too many tortoises that become Kung Fu masters either.
     
"Hello, old man. I am called Takeshi, and am currently under the service of my master, Yuudai. It is under his guidance that I come ...
     
seeking the scribe Kenji," the samurai introduced himself.
     
"Ah, Yuudai! I have not seen that poor fellow in ages! How is he, samurai?"
     
The samurai, somewhat taken aback as the ancient turtle spoke so casually about his master, "He is well and prosperous, old one. ...
     
And who might you be?"
     
Kenji let out a long yet subtle laugh, "I am the one your master has sent you to see, young samurai. Forgive me, ...
     
I am Kenji, the great old wise scribe of the Land of New Hope." Kenji closed his eyes and bowed as much as he could with his cane.
     
"Forgive me, wise one," Takeshi exclaimed, bowing till his torso was on the same plane as the ground beneath him. "Forgive me for my ..."
     
Kenji interrupted him, placing a hand upon his shoulder, "Do not worry on it, lad. It is not the first nor will it be the last time ...
     
that I am not recognized. Heros are recognized by their faces, suits and swords. Scribes are only recognized by the words they write."

 
“Well, I assume that you have not traveled all this way just for Masaru’s tea. Let me see, you are here to understand our past, so that ...

you can understand our future,” mused Kenji.
 
Takeshi was taken mesmerized, not by Kenji’s words, but as he watched young Masaru work calmly through the ancient tea ...
 
ceremony. In the short two hours that he had ben here, he had not seen the young one stop moving for even a second.
 
And now he methodically, calmly worked through the ceremony as if it was a born talent for the lad.
 
“Both your pupil’s skills and your foresight are amaxing, master Kenji. Yes, I have come to study the past, in order to better ...
 
understand the future of our people and lands. My master insisted I come to see you when I showed interest,” admitted Takeshi.
 
Kenji stirred only slightly, “Yes. It is very important for us to understand what has happened to Akatsuki before our time.”
 
Masaru’s ceremony was now complete. All three stared at the table at the display he had created for them. Kenji bowed to the lad.
 
“Thank you, master. And if I may, I would like to tell the story of Akatsuki and her rebirth,” announced Masaru.
 
“By all means, my pupil. This would be an excellent opportunity for your first presentation,” Kenji raised his tea in toast.
 
Takeshi and Masaru raised their cups as well, “Indeed.”
 
The small fox sat up straight and adjusted his kimono, and began to recite the ages old tale ...
 
“Not much is known for sure about the times before man. Man had spent thousands of years on what was then called Earth ...
 
enslaving and hunting down our ancestors. They had also spent this time perfecting ways not only to kill us, but themselves as well ...
 
They mastered mystical, evil ways to kill one another, some ways capable of wiping out all life on that *earth*.
 
Their very way of life was poisoning and strangling the planet and all living things dependent upon it. Nature’s gifts were running in ...
 
in shorter and shorter supply, and they used those gifts wastefully as they continued to over-populate the planet. These humans showed ...
 
little to no respect to nature, life, or themselves. It had been a very dark and decadent reign, but not one without end. God created man ..
 
man created science destroying this god, they used this science to play god. And that, in the end, was humankind’s downfall.
 
As they experimented on our ancestors, running tests upon them and infecting them with vile diseases that could not be cured.
 
These men sought to heal themselves by torturing animals. They had already enslaved animals for their own uses, after which they ...
 
kept us from learning and growing into the forms we now hold.
 
But while testing these diseases and viruses upon us, they unwittingly created a new virus. One that man could not protect himself from. ...
 
And one that caused us, the animals of the planet, to grow into what we are now at an accelerated speed.
 
It was only a short time before all of man was destroyed,” Masaru paused to sip his own tea.
 
Kenji sat and wondered if he had placed the pause perfectly, for dramatic effect. *Small fox is learning well,* Kenji mused to himself.
 
Masaru continued, “40 seasons after the last human fell, our kind was walking the earth. It was around that time when the first ones ...
 
began translating the artifacts that we had found. These artifacts, dug up among the rubble of the wastlands, showed of a great ...
 
and powerful warrior. A samurai rabbit, who walked in a world mush like ours today. His name was Usagi Yojimbo, and the books written in ...
 
his name showed his wonderful deeds amongst his people. Once difference between his time and ours, is that his was also riddled with war.”
 
Again, pausing, Masaru filled everyone’s cups, “In his day battlefields, in a territory called Japan, were filled with samurai like you.
 
It was from these books, along with the history that we know of the humans, that all our beliefs and values are based. This is why we ...
 
destroyed any technology we found, and banned research into them, other than to avoid them. It is our simple life that will allow us to ...
 
avoid the pitfalls and sins that man fell to. And will help us to outlive them,” Masaru finished.
 
“Very good my young student, very well indeed,” commended Kenji. “You have learned well.”