Inner Discovery
Jul 20, 2006 17:37:34 GMT
Post by Musashi on Jul 20, 2006 17:37:34 GMT
Musashi lay still, reclining on the cold stone of the otherworld. He'd come here after the events surrounding the tournament to clear his head and to work his body back into shape. Despite his best efforts, however, only one of those goals seemed to be making any progress. He'd spent days training and his body was beginning to feel good again. Combat was draining in its own way but it could not compare to the feeling of being thoroughly worn out from day of hard work.
Unfortunately the warriors meditations had not been so refreshing. He tried his hardest to reach that elusive state of inner calm that had always been so natural, but now he found the calm unreachable. Something within him was unsettled, stirring his mind to activity when it should be quieted by discipline and training. He knew he was not improving at all, for each failed attempt to reach the perfect zen only increased his frustrations.
Musashi remained stalwart, trying “night” after “night” to sink down to that perfect, emotionless center he remembered but to no avail. He could almost feel the tendrils of fear that snaked through the dark corners of his mind, the uncertainty about his chosen path. Before his death, life had seemed so simple, fight, run, fight and hope to find some happiness somewhere in between. Now, with his greatest opponents destroyed all the things he had ignored weighed heavy on his mind.
“I took an oath to serve,” Musashi said to himself, “Because of that oath, I was raised from death and returned to Eden.” He fingered the cold handle of his blade. Everything in the otherworld was cold... “Yet now,” he continued, “I almost wish I had not taken this bargain. I am alive, yet I partake of none of the pleasures of a living being. I have no family, no home of my own. I have no friends who were not earned in blood and the respect of battle.”
His downward slide continued as again he lost any hope of finding a meditative calm. “Yet I am not even successful at what I am sworn to do. I allowed my apprentice to be injured while I pursued my duties.”
He mulled this over in his head. What could he have done differently to save the day. “Perhaps,” he thought, “I am too tentative with my power. I have been holding back for fear of what the utter limits of my abilities could do to Eden.”
He stood up and braced himself and then spoke allowed, voice ringing out with frustration and determination, “But here there is nothing to damage. I can feel the death in me, and I laugh at it. Either I will find what is at the end of my powers, or I will allow this little death to consume me!”
With a burst of flame and a shockwave of power Musashi let the full extend of his ki pour through his body. He let it all go, and ki raced up and down his frame, nearly knocking him off his feet. The otherworldly stone cracked beneath him, a splinter at first that spread into a fissure radiating out from the circle that compressed beneath him. His natural power was peaking, and ki was streaming out from him in a radiation like glow of whiteness.
Musashi floated up off the surface, not flying but being lifted by the waves of power his body was expelling. He grimaced and reached down again. He needed no screaming to activate it, but with barely a change in his face the kaio-ken attack sprang around him, making his aura go from gentle, rounded flames into splintering. The air literally hummed with his energy as the raging fire burned around him eating away at his body in an effort to elevate his strength to the next level.
“This is the critical moment,” Musashi thought to himself. He had already carried himself beyond what he had ever achieved on the surface of Eden. Here was, however, the critical junction.
Time seemed to pause as Musashi thought back to his training with the Kaios. He remembered the pain and mental stress of their “purification” of his mind. His powers had been reduced to virtually nothing then, as he could hardly remember how to access them after the battle. He had fought without emotion then, as he relearned techniques that would allow him to fight as the Knight of the Kaios. He had only reached this next level once, and the Kaios had warned him sternly about overuse of the technique.
“As you undoubtedly know by now,” he heard in his head, “ The Supersaiyan ability is one directly linked to your emotional state. It brings you closer to your more naturalistic saiyan roots. Before your death, you had mastered the control of the transformation to the point where you barely felt these effects, so well trained was your mental focus. But Musashi, beware , for after being purified these things could destabilize your mental state.”
Flashing back to the future, Musashi decided he'd waited long enough. The threats were growing even more powerful, and soon his natural abilities would not be enough. He felt the resentment bubble up in him, and he unleashed the last thing holding himself together.
As Musashi released his emotional control, all the anger and frustration he had been holding within him burst to the surface. His face twisted into a snarl of pain as his energy began to form a feedback loop within his body, breaking it down and using his natural healing factors to rebuild it. His power began to exponentiate and his aura exploded, forming a nearly opaque wall of white fire that surrounded him.
Musashi yelled out with the pain of it, as the shockwaves tore from his body and shook the surface of the otherworld. His consciousness sank away as the form of Super saiyan took over his entire being, erasing all that was Musashi and making him into a pure saiyan.
For a moment he stood terrible and triumphant energy greater than any he had ever experienced.
Then, like someone pulling a plug the white bubble that surrounded him died, like someone pulling a plug. Musashi fell towards the ground, unpowered from a sickening height. He fell faster and faster and faster as the white light that surrounded him died away.
Darkness radiated from his face like an inky goo it encapsulated him. Nearly at the ground, the aura suddenly burst back, but blacker than the night and even more powerful than before. Musashi was gone, his white robed covered by black elastic, his bright eyes covered with red glow. Black energy spun around him in a tornado of awful power.
The blackness had nearly swallowed everything of Musashi, but there at the edges of the kaios symbol it paused. White light surged forward and the blackness receded. For a moment the light and darkness surged back and forth across his form, the interplay of shadows and bright light. Then both faded and Musashi lay still, wrapped in a blanket of unconsciousness
Unfortunately the warriors meditations had not been so refreshing. He tried his hardest to reach that elusive state of inner calm that had always been so natural, but now he found the calm unreachable. Something within him was unsettled, stirring his mind to activity when it should be quieted by discipline and training. He knew he was not improving at all, for each failed attempt to reach the perfect zen only increased his frustrations.
Musashi remained stalwart, trying “night” after “night” to sink down to that perfect, emotionless center he remembered but to no avail. He could almost feel the tendrils of fear that snaked through the dark corners of his mind, the uncertainty about his chosen path. Before his death, life had seemed so simple, fight, run, fight and hope to find some happiness somewhere in between. Now, with his greatest opponents destroyed all the things he had ignored weighed heavy on his mind.
“I took an oath to serve,” Musashi said to himself, “Because of that oath, I was raised from death and returned to Eden.” He fingered the cold handle of his blade. Everything in the otherworld was cold... “Yet now,” he continued, “I almost wish I had not taken this bargain. I am alive, yet I partake of none of the pleasures of a living being. I have no family, no home of my own. I have no friends who were not earned in blood and the respect of battle.”
His downward slide continued as again he lost any hope of finding a meditative calm. “Yet I am not even successful at what I am sworn to do. I allowed my apprentice to be injured while I pursued my duties.”
He mulled this over in his head. What could he have done differently to save the day. “Perhaps,” he thought, “I am too tentative with my power. I have been holding back for fear of what the utter limits of my abilities could do to Eden.”
He stood up and braced himself and then spoke allowed, voice ringing out with frustration and determination, “But here there is nothing to damage. I can feel the death in me, and I laugh at it. Either I will find what is at the end of my powers, or I will allow this little death to consume me!”
With a burst of flame and a shockwave of power Musashi let the full extend of his ki pour through his body. He let it all go, and ki raced up and down his frame, nearly knocking him off his feet. The otherworldly stone cracked beneath him, a splinter at first that spread into a fissure radiating out from the circle that compressed beneath him. His natural power was peaking, and ki was streaming out from him in a radiation like glow of whiteness.
Musashi floated up off the surface, not flying but being lifted by the waves of power his body was expelling. He grimaced and reached down again. He needed no screaming to activate it, but with barely a change in his face the kaio-ken attack sprang around him, making his aura go from gentle, rounded flames into splintering. The air literally hummed with his energy as the raging fire burned around him eating away at his body in an effort to elevate his strength to the next level.
“This is the critical moment,” Musashi thought to himself. He had already carried himself beyond what he had ever achieved on the surface of Eden. Here was, however, the critical junction.
Time seemed to pause as Musashi thought back to his training with the Kaios. He remembered the pain and mental stress of their “purification” of his mind. His powers had been reduced to virtually nothing then, as he could hardly remember how to access them after the battle. He had fought without emotion then, as he relearned techniques that would allow him to fight as the Knight of the Kaios. He had only reached this next level once, and the Kaios had warned him sternly about overuse of the technique.
“As you undoubtedly know by now,” he heard in his head, “ The Supersaiyan ability is one directly linked to your emotional state. It brings you closer to your more naturalistic saiyan roots. Before your death, you had mastered the control of the transformation to the point where you barely felt these effects, so well trained was your mental focus. But Musashi, beware , for after being purified these things could destabilize your mental state.”
Flashing back to the future, Musashi decided he'd waited long enough. The threats were growing even more powerful, and soon his natural abilities would not be enough. He felt the resentment bubble up in him, and he unleashed the last thing holding himself together.
As Musashi released his emotional control, all the anger and frustration he had been holding within him burst to the surface. His face twisted into a snarl of pain as his energy began to form a feedback loop within his body, breaking it down and using his natural healing factors to rebuild it. His power began to exponentiate and his aura exploded, forming a nearly opaque wall of white fire that surrounded him.
Musashi yelled out with the pain of it, as the shockwaves tore from his body and shook the surface of the otherworld. His consciousness sank away as the form of Super saiyan took over his entire being, erasing all that was Musashi and making him into a pure saiyan.
For a moment he stood terrible and triumphant energy greater than any he had ever experienced.
Then, like someone pulling a plug the white bubble that surrounded him died, like someone pulling a plug. Musashi fell towards the ground, unpowered from a sickening height. He fell faster and faster and faster as the white light that surrounded him died away.
Darkness radiated from his face like an inky goo it encapsulated him. Nearly at the ground, the aura suddenly burst back, but blacker than the night and even more powerful than before. Musashi was gone, his white robed covered by black elastic, his bright eyes covered with red glow. Black energy spun around him in a tornado of awful power.
The blackness had nearly swallowed everything of Musashi, but there at the edges of the kaios symbol it paused. White light surged forward and the blackness receded. For a moment the light and darkness surged back and forth across his form, the interplay of shadows and bright light. Then both faded and Musashi lay still, wrapped in a blanket of unconsciousness