Images etched into his mind, images of that day – the
day they came into the woods, they day they killed his family and took him, and
his sister, away. His mother’s screams still echoed in his mind some nights,
his father’s viscera spilt over the ground burned in his eyes.
Himo (or Saru as he became to be known) never found
out who ‘they’ were, presumably rogues selling Elven young folk as slaves, to
be taken to foreign lands far, far away. As far as he remembered he wasn’t even
on the same boat as Hima (his younger sister) – the journey took months, or at
least seemed to, months of slopping the decks, being made to do unmentionable
deeds.
Eventually reaching the destination Himo couldn’t hear
Elvish or Common being spoken, the air smelled different, long tough grass grew
in clumps, used as building material, it was everywhere. An elderly couple
bought him, they were not cruel – but neither were they kind. He was always a
tall outsider working in flooded fields picking grass and separating the grain
which was dried and then cooked by boiling, it was the staple of the country.
Life was harsh but he had no way to escape… But, then one-day salvation came,
an orange robed figure walked up to the simple bamboo and rice paper house,
Himo (who had been given the nick-name Saru by the local young folk – although
he knew not what it meant) saw the figure talking to the couple. After a while
he handed over a scroll, bid them farewell and turned away. Sliding the door
closed the couple disappeared, yet, the figure turned and looked at Saru and
then beckoned him over, Saru tried to resist but could not…
That was the day he entered the life of a follower of
the ‘Way’ –living with other followers in the village at the foot of the nearby
smoking volcano. Saru was taught the ‘Way’ – the way that all objects had its own
‘ki’ (energy or spirit) the way this ki was interwoven with life and the
divine, the only true path, the only true way.
However, not everyone believed in the ‘Way’ – the
world it seemed was full of unenlightened people. Sometimes these people tried
to destroy those of the ‘Way’ – they didn’t succeed. Masters of jujutsu,
disguise and charm the followers of the ‘Way’ could be very persuasive.
Disbelievers who were vocally against the true path tended to disappear,
disappear in some quite inventive ways, or come to realise their misguided
folly. Saru was instrumental in this conversion work… But, the day had eventually
come when the Soke of the ‘Way’ told him it was his time. Saru was to return to
his long forgotten world to spread the word of the ‘Way’ (nicely condensed in
scroll or parchment form called the ‘See-tower’). It was a heavy heart that
accompanied him on his long sea journey back. But he was determined to spread
the ‘Way’, he would not let his family down and perhaps, just maybe, he could
find information about his young sibling and, obviously, show her the ‘Way’.
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