Japan(part 1)
Early Spring, 1070 A.D., Japan
Isaac put on a long green kimono that perfectly matched the color of his eyes. A small smile played on his lips as he sat on a cushion in front of the old man. He grabbed another brush and held it steadily over a silk-made scroll, supporting his right hand with his left.
Lowering his hands slightly so the brush barely touched the face of the scroll, Isaac's hands started moving at a steady pace. With only slight changes in the pressure applied on the silk, he expertly painted the shadow of a beautiful bonsai tree standing on the edge of a cliff under the shine of the full moon.
Meanwhile, the old man had already put down his own brush. While looking at the skillful actions, he took the tea pot and poured Isaac a cup of tea. The steam wafted into the slightly cold morning air as the old man watched Isaac's movements with admiration.
"Isaac-sama, your skills are as good as always..." The old man looked at the painting with admiration, taking a sip from his small clay tea cup. He turned to look through the open sliding door at a few birds chirping at the top of the sakura trees.
"If you were like me, Sato-san, you would have probably reached my level by now... Don't worry about it too much." Isaac put the brush down, took the clay tea cup in both hands, and gulped it down in one go, letting the herbal infusion burn his throat.
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When he first arrived in Japan, Isaac spent the first few years in the house of the healer in the small fishing village. It took him some time, but he learned the language of the natives soon enough. Although people initially feared his foreign appearance, he was eventually taken in by the village as one of their own.
Acting as one of the fishermen of the small town, he often made requests to an old healer, who had lived in the village for years, to take him in as an apprentice. It took him a few months, but the old man was finally convinced by his determination and taught him everything he knew.
From knowledge about the local plants, like the local version of vervain and aconite, to his 'secret art'... a swordsmanship technique designed to fight demons — Isaac learned it all.
Isaac has yet to have seen any demons, at least of the kind the old man described, but the teachings of the old man were useful nonetheless. Over the following five years, Isaac spent his time being taught the old man's skills and honing them to perfection. The only problem he experienced during that time was his unquenchable thirst.
He didn't like being forced to kill, but the more he did it, the easier it became. Unlike in the previous continent, he couldn't just leave a trail of bodies and was forced to dispose of them by burying them at sea.
He would take a few women every third month from the largest city in the vicinity and feed on them one by one, once a week, hiding the bodies at the bottom of the ocean.He felt guilt, but only for his first few kills during his time in the other continent, although it already wasn't quite as strong.
Since he came to japan, he did his best to only take those who acted in a way he found repulsive, like beating their children or having their enemies assassinated for nothing.
Though unfortunately, his hunting was limited to women only. Just the thought of drinking the blood of a man made his stomach turn for some reason, though he really wasn't sure why. He didn't see himself as homophobic.
His best friend in his past life, Jamie, was actually gay since they met, and he was totally cool with it. But the facts remained as they were, and so, a new legend was created in southern Japan — of a demon who takes women who misbehave.
Meanwhile, the problem of the wolf seemed to have just disappeared since he started learning the special meditation for the sword art. It only threatened to come out whenever Isaac's emotions were in turmoil — like the night the old man died.
It was about five years after the day he came to the village. Isaac had just finished draining the blood of a woman who sold civilians she managed to fool into a lifetime of slavery. He had just gone on a short trip to the sea, dumping the body with a few stones tied to it so it would stay down. Afterward, he made his way up the hill into his teacher's house.
He found the man laying on the floor, lifeless, with no discernable cause of death. Probably just being caused by his advanced age or a heart attack. The moment Isaac saw him, what he saw weren't the facts, but that he was all alone again.
It might have only been for a short period, but the old man gave him a home and cared for him like a son. That day, as he cried, the wolf took over for the first time in years.
Between his tears, he suddenly felt his blood pumping as all bones of his fingers got reformed into large claws. One of them being pressured by the ring that was about half a forth of its diameter, as it actually cut into the claw, revealing the flesh, and disappeared into the wound, covered under the skin.
Isaac tried to stop the transformation, but it was already too late. The rest of the once human hands had already turned into the front legs of a wolf. The rest of the body followed rapidly, and only seconds later, in Isaac's place, stood a 1.7-meter-high, black wolf. Looking at the body of the old man, it let out a long, sad howl, which caused all the residents of the fishing village to squint in fear.
Only that night, no one was killed as the wolf just stayed next to the body, whimpering silently for the rest of the night, until morning came, and in its place, was once again the naked Isaac, who slept soundly for the next whole day. That day, Isaac left the village along with the ancient scrolls left by the old man.
He made his way up north until he reached a large city named Heian-kyō, which one day will become modern-day Kyoto.
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"You know, it freaks me out how you drink that..." Sato gave Isaac a side glance as he took another short sip from his own cup, his face turning slightly red.
"Yue is here..." Chuckling at Sato, Isaac stood up and went to look at the gate. A young woman, with black hair and perfect white skin, walked through it. She was wearing a kimono, its color the same as that of the sakura's bloom.
"Good morning, Isaac-sama. How was your night?" She asked, with a wide smile, in her hands was a small basket filled with herbs, which she placed down on the elevated wooden floor at the entrance of the temple.
"Thank you, Yue-chan, your sister is in the room upstairs..." He nodded at her and took the basket, carrying it inside the temple and placing it on a drawer in the far corner of the room.
Yue looked at him for a moment, her pupils turned feral, shining bright yellow, before she moved past him, heading up the wooden stairs at the back of the hall. Not before calling at him as she left, "Tomorrow is the full moon. Don't forget, it's my turn."
Taking the tea pot that was placed on the table, Isaac poured himself another portion of the green-yellow liquid. This 'infusion' they were having was actually a combination of 90% blue vervain and 10% aconite.
Ever since he got his hand on the necessary plants, Isaac had been having a certain amount every day, which grew every week until now, where he drank a whole pot of each every day like it was nothing. The taste was awful though...
The only reason for the diluted levels of aconite in the infusion was actually Sato, who couldn't handle more than just a few drops. Sato was actually a werewolf, though to Isaac's surprise, he was very different from the ones he knew in this life.
Although he was forced to turn on the nights of the full moon, when he turned, he didn't lose control nor was he forced to turn fully. On those nights, he would only gain some wolf-like features, and become a lot more aware of his cravings and feelings. It was like it took away all his inhibitions, forcing him to act on pure emotion.
On regular days though, he could turn at will, even partially and when it came to control, he was actually quite a bit better than Isaac... It's a shame that he was already old and would soon be dying, but Isaac had made his peace with it. He had already seen how the world works more than once. He would be sad for his friend for a while and eventually move on. That's just how life is.
He had met Sato around 50 years ago. At the time, he was living in a small town on the eastern beach of Japan, near a Buddhist temple. He arrived there while searching for a way to fully control his wolf, something he was getting closer to by the day, though he wasn't quite there yet.
For the last ten years or so, he had been working at a small blacksmith shop, learning from a local family the arts of metalcraft and blacksmithing. The family was quite famous in all the nearby cities, for crafting the best samurai swords ever made in history.
He reached the family, when word got out that they were searching for a healer for their son who fell ill. Isaac took the opportunity and offered them to heal him in return for all their knowledge. After many healers tried and failed, they finally agreed, and Isaac, though not knowledgeable enough to find a scientific cure, used his blood and healed the boy.
And since that day, he started his routine, Sword training along with an infusion of wolfsbane and vervain in the morning. Blacksmithing until from than until sundown. Reading in the evening along with another pot of the infusion, and finally meditation at night. In between, he would often go hunting, traveling to see the views of nature, just to looking at some random people, and eventually hunting once every two full moons.
By now, he had actually grown fond of his hunts, they were amongst the only inconstant things in his life, never knowing what he might catch... And they also made him feel like he was making a deference, even if only a small one. lately, the he would find them more rarely, but every one of them was fully deserving of death, only to just act like they were some sorts of saints, ignoring others pain, continuing with their lives unpunished.
It was the height of winter, the full moon shined upon the white street, Isaac, as par his usual routine, he hanged around the area highest on crime at a close big city to the town he was staying in, though for most it probably wouldn't have been considered so close, as the distance he traveled in around two hours, could take others more than a week. He was just walking silently across the rooftops, when the sudden smell of blood assaulted his nostrils.
He didn't even need to think for a second before he vanished, appearing a few streets away looking from above at a group of seven masked people cornering two, a young man and woman who looked like they hadn't slept in days. They young man hid the woman, who was on the floor behind him, preparing to shield her with his own body.
Deciding to help, he didn't even need to dirty his hands as he killed all seven in mere seconds, breaking their necks with one movement per person, before he passed the young man, kneeling in front of the woman, whose hand was cut, bleeding over the stone paved street, coloring the once white snow, in blood red.
She shivered slightly, as she looked into his eyes, not knowing what to feel. The unknown man, moving at an inhuman speed, suddenly appeared out of nowhere, killing the men that were chasing her and her brother for more than ten days. before he kneeled in front of her, looking at her hurt hand and knee.
"You should really banda-" Isaac spoke, only for his words to be cut mid sentence, as he felt a sharp pain, going through his back, and straight through his chest, as the metal head of the arrow passed straight through him, stopping only mere centimeters before the young woman's face.
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VOTE and and give me some POWER STONES if you like the story so far...A REVIEW will be much appreciated as well.
As I wrote in the synopsis, and the last chapters, this is just the result of a writing blockage regarding other stories, but at least for now, it will become one of the main one I try to update regularly.
I still don't have a synopsis, and to tell you the truth, it doesn't bother me that much, but if you want to, you can share an idea for one, and if I like it I might choose to use it...
Anyway, leave a COMMENT if you don't understand something, or have any idea, I promise I read every comment related to my story, won't address toxic people though...(there was a rant here at the beginning, though I changed it as it only concerns one individual...)
Also If you want you can give a try to my other fanfics:
HP: Lost Legacies of Magic (Adventure,...)
HIMYM :Barney Stinson... But with a vampire system?! (Harem ,Fantasy, Comedy)