When I look around at those around me, I cannot help but laugh.  These ones
around me, my compatriots of the moment, are lost.  Lost to worry, to
concern.  Lost to fear.  Like so many mortals, they fear for their lives,
all too short in the grand scheme of things.  I do not fear Death.  

I *am* Death.

I sat upon the shoulder of the son of Ulster, laughing as he laughed and
slew foe and friend alike in the same blow.  I was there in the Scottish
lowlands when the Romans were beaten back, fleeing in terror at the
ferocity and brutal efficiency of those they expected to be simple savages.
And at Motomiya Castle, where Masamune routed an army five times as large 
as his own?  Yes, I was there as well, reveling in the bloodshed.  I do 
regret terribly that I missed the great wars of this century.  They must 
have been fantastic.

I do not really know how my path ended up crossing with theirs.  I have 
lived long enough to know that destiny is the child of caprice; those 
supposedly bound by Fate are no less free than any other, that they are no 
less capable of determining their futures.  Paradoxically enough, I have
known too much to discount the threads of destiny.  Fate hates to be 
ignored.

Whether one is to die at a certain time to further a certain event, or to
be instrument of that death, it is all caught up in the tangled skeins of
fate and free will; one can never be sure of the forces at play.  

In any case, my involvement in this tale begins, I suppose, when Judou
tried to kill me for the first time.

- = -

Wings of Fate
Chapter 9.2:  Wake
by Raviprasad Duvvuri
created by John Evans and Ardweden

- = -

Of course I am being overly melodramatic.  At the time, it was an anonymous 
act; neither of us knew the other.  Likewise, when our paths crossed again,
neither of us remembered the other immediately.  It was later, when we had
time to speak at length that we learned the other's side of the story, and 
that bit of information came out.

It is said that it is the elephant who never forgets.  Bear it in mind that
it is the crow who will never forgive.  

The image of that wild-eyed youth rushing toward me, piercing my side with
his spear... that is something I will never let go of.  Few have ever
managed to breach my defenses.  Fewer yet have been allowed to survive.  It
was only because I never saw his face clearly that I did not hunt him down
when my injury healed.  I believe it is the case that he died that day, but 
I would have made it permanent.

Oh yes, my cousins here are of a lesser breed than I.  There are ways to
break the cycles of rebirth, to free the spirit of the tengu.  I will never
have to know it, but Judou and his family *can* die the final death.  I see
the look in your eyes.  I am not about to reveal that information to you,
though I would appreciate it if you could relax these wards.

But I digress.

I made my first appearance on the stage of this drama at this point in the
narration, even though I did not become directly involved with the others
until later.  They were responsible for my reawakening, and admittedly,
they did spare me no small amount of personal discomfort.  But I do not
like being manipulated by Destiny's hand, and resisted all attempts to be
brought into this little circle.

I had slept in that forest for over one hundred years.  I had been drawn
there by the tides of war, by the smell of blood coating the forest walls.
I relished it, which was enough to bring me again from my island to this 
forsaken one.

Though your servant might have believed he was there to kill Shuukou, I am
convinced his true target was that damned fox, Kama.  The old eight-tailed
kitsune was responsible for me returning to Japan, for tempting me enough
to overcome my dislike of this land.  The two of us battled for a week,
face to face, as well as minion against minion.  In the end, his
familiarity with the land and entrenched position won out.  I had to flee
into the depths of the forest to find a place to hide and lick my wounds.
His victory was only marginal, however, as his injuries forced him into 
slumber shortly afterward.  

And so I slept, for nine decades and nine years.  It was a dreamless sleep 
that I rested through, unaware of the passage of time.  I was leaning
against a tree, trying to catch my breath at one moment.  And the next, my
eyes were snapping open as a strangely-dressed long-haired woman tripped 
over my leg.  In her panic, she mistook my leg for a tree root and kept 
running onward, not even registering my presense.  

At first impression, the woods had not changed.  But that woman's
appearance told me that time had passed.  And then I became aware of the
atmosphere, the screams wafting delicately in the gentle breeze.  

I ventured further into the woods.  The stupid creatures were panicking.
The lesser birds were fleeing.  The trees were bleeding.  And I loved it.  

I came to a clearing, where I found the scorched body of a man.  At first I
thought he might be dead, but his pain called out to me.  

I stooped by his side.  I felt something else, a feeling of necessity, from
within myself.  There was something binding this man to me, and though I
wanted nothing more to return home... I saw glimpses of what was to come, 
small flashes of what had been.  I knew that our futures were intertwined, 
and that I would eventually be drawn into this Soshi's affairs.

He was at the brink of dying, so I eased him back in the other direction.
The man had been wronged terribly, savagely robbed of his eyes and his
health, and so I took his pain from him.  I gave him the instrument of 
revenge, and then I left him and wandered the forest a while longer.

It was but ten minutes later that I heard a scream in my head.  Not the 
audible scream of someone in pain, but the death cries of my ancient foe
from somewhere in the woods.  I was pleased by his passing.  

I decided to quit the forest then, to learn more about what had happened in
my absence from the conscious world.  As I passed through the the edge of 
the woods, I found myself at a strangely paved pathway.  A large fiery 
chariot roared part me, propelled by some unseen power.  I heard shouting
from off to my side.  Three people were coming from the woods -- the woman
who had woken me up and the man I had healed, along with one other.  I was
filled with a sudden compulsion, and I ran to the side of the one I had
chosen as my warrior.

I spoke to him of visions I had seen, warning him of the shadows that were
draped around him, and then I took to flight.  There was something in that
chariot that set me at unease, and I wanted time to reacquaint myself with
the world before I got involved.

I suddenly realized what I had done, and was filled with shame at the act.
Then I looked up to see the other man staring at me.  Realization hit, and
I saw the tengu for what he was.  I narrowed my eyes at the sight of him,
before I spun on my heel.  I ran for a hundred yards before I was out of
sight.  I leapt into the air, shifted form, and took to flight.

From high above, I followed these people.  The land below was strange and
unfamiliar to me, even more than it had been.  There were new buildings,
the old wood and paper replaced by stone, metal, and glistening shiny
glass.  More than once I had to dodge a giant airborne chariot as it roared
past me. 

These new times were strange indeed, and it intrigued me.  I wanted to know
more.  But that could come later, as I wished to learn more about the
people who had just destroyed my enemy, and who they had been attacking.

The two vehicles weaved in and out of the corridors of the immense city.
They came to stop in from of a small building, where they carried Soshi
into the house, the residence of the European man.  I fluttered down for a
closer inspection.

As I settled down upon the windowsill, I peered in, careful to make sure no
one within saw me.  I watched as they came and went and came again, 
learning names and faces, trying to make sense of the situation.  And as
Soshi strangled the life out of the disguised creature, a scrap of song
lodged itself in my mind, a snippet of prophecy that I had heard from a 
seer as I was preparing my troops to march on Kama's holdings.

The old woman had spoken of a gathering, under a tree.  I had not paid it
much attention at the time, so I struggled to remember the whole verse, the
only thing firm in my memory being the six characters representing the
gathering.  I counted the people within; four in this room, and a fifth in
the other, if you did not count the dead man one the floor.

It annoyed me that I was unable to relish his death.  I was, however, 
pleased by the look on Soshi's face.

Na-Mu-A-Mi-Da-Butsu.  I hated the sound of it, but as I studied the people
inside, I felt it begin to make some twisted sense.

NA  

Greenery, the earth given form.  The forest given a voice.  Shuukou.
She had turned her back on the race that had caused her nothing but pain
anger, and taken solace in something true.

I felt something for her, as she was in tune with primality.  

On the other hand, she was stark raving mad.  I had been there before, so I
knew to keep my distance.

MU

The dreamer of dreams, the seer of visions.  This was Judou, and he was
like me.  Not exactly like me, but we could be considered family.  I
wondered what bound him to these people, how he was gotten involved with
them in the first place.

I did not trust him.  When I learned who he was, I only mistrusted him more.

A

The crow.  The raven.  

I.  Myself.  Me.

You may know me as Macha.  I have another name, but I do not wish you to 
use it.  The people of this land have twisted it, perverted it.  They have 
taken my name and given it to some large-breasted bimbo, reserved for the 
self-gratification of sexually frustrated businessmen, as they are wont to
do, in their vaunted sense of ethic superiority.  All 'outside' legends and
myths are subject to their twisting, anything in the name of profit.

But let us not dwell on such things.  I can find many things wrong with
this nation and its people, and I do not think you wish me to get started.

MI

This is where my unfamiliarity with the language became apparent, and I
wished the haruspex had written out her prophecy.  This had to be Akari,
but what was she?  Light?  Beauty?  Purity of soul?

Or was she the priestess?   All of them held, all were true.  At once I did
not like Akari, she who roughly resembled me.  She was too nice, too good,
and she sickened my core convictions.

DA

Gracefulness?  Or was it deception?   Kenchi was the master of flowing 
through the crowds, of manipulating people.  Through honest understanding 
or insincerity, he knew how to go about getting what he wanted from others 
and knew he could do it.  

I liked him, despite myself.  I try to tell myself that it was his magic of
charisma, but I do not think that held true.  

BUTSU

Obscurity and darkness.  A comet in the night sky?  This was Soshi.  He was 
dark and mysterious, by his own devising.  He danced with the shadows,
buffered by the seclusion they offered, but also in danger of the
temptations they held.

He was crippled now, but I knew he was still dangerous, to himself, his
friends, and their enemies.  This one intrigued me.

Was the propecy about these people before me?  Was I necessarily tied into
their future?  It could have been mere coincidence that they had awakened
me, but something told me that was wishful thinking.

This bore further thought, and I did not have the background that I needed.
There was much more going on than I could pick up from the surface.  I had
to learn more, needed to look into some things.  Shrugging my wings, I
turned from the glass, hopped off the ledge, and took to wing again, up
into the darkening sky.

FIN (chapter 9.2)

- = - 

AUTHOR'S NOTES
[or, In Which Ravi Explains a Decision]

I don't like having to be overly explicit in my writing... I like hinting
at things.  But, this *is* Impro, which means if it isn't stated outright,
it shouldn't be expected to hold.  So, this chapter is considerably more
heavy-handed than I would prefer.  Deal.  :P 

The narrator of this chapter should be known to you, if you are familiar
with Celtic mythology.  She is the Morrigan.  The real Morrigan, not the
videogame character.  I've been accused of bringing too many Western
influences into the story, but I don't see that this is the case.  We shall
see, ne?

Anyway, thanks to John Evans and Ardweden, for ideas and support,
especially for a title.  I suck at those.  Special thanks to Ard, for 
letting me piggyback this on her chapter, when I got skipped for taking 
too long. ^_^;

Until next time!

Email all comments and criticisms to duvvuri@uiuc.edu

Ravi Duvvuri