Chapter 99 Conflict of Identity and Purpose

Shizu slumped on the couch in the living room of Azi's house. It was a piece of furniture they had picked out due to how soft and comfy the black colored couch was. Filled with Horonon feather, the couch felt somewhat firm but pliable like a stiff bean bag. Its outer cover was made of fur from an animal that was not local to Kujyuri which made buying it quite pricey, but the two of them chose to splurge a bit on their shopping date.

It had been 3 days since the festival disaster and since then, Shizu and Yashimu were at work as they took turns throughout the day to take command of the relief efforts. One would take command of the village guard while the other would rest. It was currently Shizu's turn to sleep but she had to attend an unscheduled meeting with Jerome who demanded to see Azi.

Shizu told him that he was injured during the disaster and that he would not be able to see anyone at the moment. This caused Jerome to protest that he said he had the right to see a measly peasant but was summarily smack in the face which left him stunned silent.

Shizu had held back and threatened him that, if he acted out again, she and Yashimu would petition him to be demoted from his ordained knight position to a common citizen. She was disgusted by Jerome's lack of compassion for the common people and his obviously selfish desires.

Their relationship was already strained as she had tracked down where her 4th failed fiance got his aphrodisiacs from and the trail led back to Jerome. He argued that he didn't know that the 4th fiance would use it on Shizu but she was unconvinced as she knew of Jerome's conflict with Ozen as King and the royal family.

In the end, nothing was done to Jerome in that incident which infuriated Shizu at the time to the point that she went on a sparring spree for an entire day which left some of the Kujyuri guard battered and beaten.

The memory made Shizu feel uncomfortable as she remembered the scolding and punishment she received from her father. Not only was she banned from training for a week, she was also forced to part with her collection of weapons until the one week ban was finished.

This was a blow to her as she had a hobby of collecting rare katanas and she had planned to do some maintenance on her collection to give them a new shine, but was denied this chance.

Wanting to get her mind off her past, she started to review what she needed to do next before getting to bed. It was already late as the chill of the outside air had begun to make the temperature inside of the house colder. She had already eaten dinner so she decided to take a bath which helped to relax her tense body.

After changing into some sleeping clothes, she went up the stairs and stood at the side of a large futon bed. With the light of the moon shining through the large window across from the futon, Shizu looked down upon a peacefully sleeping Azi.

After sighing she said in a worried and sad tone. "Just how long are you going to sleep? I could really use your help right now…" sighing again she knelt down and felt the top of Azi's forehead with the back of her hand.

To her relief, Azi's temperature was normal but this was of no concern in the first place as Azi was never sick to begin with. Her gesture was just an attempt to comfort herself as not being able to have a conversation with the first man who she actually took an interest in made her feel slightly hollow.

Shizu recalled that it has been 3 days that Azi has been asleep. After Rulu came to get Shizu, Elder Sung gave everyone a run down of Azi's condition before she left. Elder Sung stated that he was exhausted due to the overuse of magic energy which caused him to tire himself out both mentally and physically.

Elder Sung estimated that Azi would need a couple days of rest but had a hard time saying the next part of her assessment. With a bit of pushing from Shizu and Rulu, Elder Sung explained begrudgingly.

"I believe Azi's body healed itself through the resonance he has with Shizu but what befuddled me is the restoration of his magic energy." Said Elder Sung.

"Didn't you just say that he overused his magic energy. How could he have recovered so quickly? And if his magic energy is restored then he should be conscious." Commented Saki.

Elder Sung sighed and stated plainly in exasperation. "I have no clue why he is still unconscious but I have a theory and I need you to be calm when I tell you this."

After verifying that everyone was calm and their attention was on her, Elder Sung told them.

"He may have had his memories somewhat restored. This in turn caused Azi to have a mental overload of information. I can't confirm it but I know from when he was crying out during the medical operation that he called out for his mother, father, and grandpa. He also mentioned a home?"

Everyone's reactions were somewhat mild and Rulu felt that it was good that Azi's memories were returning as she knew that Azi's past was something that bothered him. On the other hand, Shizu somewhat tensed at Elder Sung's theory and she gave her opinion on the matter with a straight face.

Shizu was masking away the worry in her heart as she had witnessed what Azi was like when Elder Sung was operating on him and when he was fighting the enormous monster. One was like a child who cried for his family and to go home, while the other seemed more like a bloodthirsty warrior who fought as he disregarded his own well being.

Shizu had no idea which instance of Azi was a result of his memories but felt worried with both options. If he was the former she feared that Azi would leave Kujyuri and subsequently leave her, to find his original home. If it was the latter, she was fearful of letting him anywhere near her family as she had seen eyes like his during her campaigns of war during her childhood.

Her worries were only further compounded as war was soon approaching with the nation of Uzuru. If Azi was either of the two instances with some of his past memories restored, she felt that he should not participate in the upcoming war. If he was too soft he would break under the

weight and price of war while if it was the latter, Azi would likely turn into a berserker who would die on the battlefield.

Gripping her hands into fists as she looked down at the peaceful visage of a sleeping Azi, she quietly sighed to release the tension in her body.

She had no idea of what she should do in this situation, but she knew that Azi needed to stay alive and he needed to know how to defend himself. She knew of Azi's aversion to the sight of human corpses and hoped to have him get over it in the future.

As she got in bed, she turned on her side to put Azi in her sights and contemplated on what she could do to help prepare him for the future.

Was she doing this for the sake of Kujyuri, for the sake of his future, or for the sake of her own desire to be with him? Shizu didn't know since these thoughts had kept swirling in her mind ever since she had Azi become her apprentice.

Shizu began to hug Azi's side and felt the warmth of his body creep into her own. The sensation aided her to sleep as her eyes began to close, Shizu attempted to continue to think on what she could do but it was fruitless as exhaustion soon overtook her.

******

"Where Am I?" Said Azi, his sight now filled with visage of the black space he once found himself in.

The space still had the cracking lines of blue that seemed to indicate the boundary of the space, but the space was somewhat different as the blue cracks had a brighter color of blue from before.

But Azi had no time to think about the change in the black space as he heard a voice around him, the tone was condescending and full of prideful spite.

"OH HO HO HO. It seems you are getting stronger. I hope it's all that you wished for. Oh wait you, forgot your own wishes too?" Laughter then rang out around Azi and soon he saw an unknown figure in front of him.

Shadow and black mist covered the figure's visage but Azi could make out the stature of a man.

"What do you want?!" Probed Azi as he brought his fists up in preparation to launch a punch at a moment's notice.

"MY how violent you have become. I wonder? Were you always like this?"

"What do you mean, I'm…" Azi's stance faltered as images forced themselves into his mind. He saw them form into a coherent memory which had a younger version of him playing with other children his age.

The scene then changed to the younger version of Azi now standing in front of a group of children younger than him as he confronted other children that looked much older than the children behind him.

This group of older children then began to beat on the younger Azi. The older Azi looked on in pride at how resilient his younger self was at first but was soon confused as he thought the younger Azi would eventually fight back. Instead the younger Azi was beaten black and blue until he laid unconscious on the ground. The scene ended and Azi thought to himself.

'Why didn't I fight back? I could have at least thrown a punch, so why?' The answer soon came to him as a scene of a wrinkled old man laying on what looked like a hospital bed filled his vision. The old man, with his somewhat raspy voice told the younger Azi, who had a bruise on his face which was likely from a previous fight.

"You are a kind boy Azi, but you shouldn't get into fights. You need to defend yourself but never lose control." The younger Azi pouted and argued that it wasn't his fault, but was summarily scolded by the old man.

"You can fight, but you don't have to use violence, there are..."

The scene cut short before the old man could finish his words, the scene playing in his mind then changed to a third person perspective of his last confrontation with the giant gengiri.

Azi was stunned by what he saw, the figure of himself with lifeless eyes and an enraged grin on his face as he beat away at the monster's brain. It horrified Azi and he felt and smelt all the sensation he had not initially picked up on. He felt like was going to throw up from all the purple blood and gore that filled his mind and sense of smell, but as he gagged nothing came out.

Azi shivered as a chill ran down his spine at the thought that that was him and as if reading his mind the unknown figure affirmed.

"That was you. To think you would use force again." The unknown figure then revealed his face and it was in the visage of the old man, he then taunted with a mimicked voice. "I am so disappointed in you AZI."

"SHUT UP!" Yelled Azi as he threw a punch at the unknown figure's face, but before his fist made contact, his arm turned to dust. Surprised, Azi jumped away and glared at the unknown figure.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You shouldn't hit an old man Azi, what would your…. Oh interesting!"

Noticing the figure's attention was drawn to his side, Azi turned to his right and saw that the previous stub of an arm was regrowing new flesh that formed a new hand. The flesh bubbled and steam arose from the popping of the flesh bubbles.

Azi's face turned to fear as he yelled in concern.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING? WHAT IS THIS? IS THIS…"

"Not me young AZI, It seems you are coming along quite nicely. I know what you are and you are a….."

Azi did not hear the last words of the unknown figure as he was suddenly overcome with a headache as the words of the unknown figure blurred and Azi fell to his knees and then onto his side.

The unknown figure thought to himself that he should take advantage of the situation and attempted to approach the now knocked out Azi.

After the first two steps, the figure found that an orange red barrier appeared in front of him and blocked his way. The unknown figure clicked its tongue in annoyance and turned away before dissipating into black and purple particles.

The same then happened to Azi as his body dissipated into blueish white particles.