Kurushimeru

Art By Me!


Art by Illusatory!

"My name is Kei!"

Blood.

Blood, like the red of his wings, his eyes. Blood, like the red of the sky, the blighted earth beneath his nest. Blood, that of royalty, his father's strength and prestige, his legacy. Blood, a blessing, a boon, a burden, a Curse.



When he was first hatched, his mother dotingly named him Kei. For he was a blessing, a male born with the regal Sanguine and Obsidian scales that marked the mighty Ōzoku family. He was destined to lead the clan to even more greatness, to continue their conquest over the Plaguelands. Even the Uranaishi, who was know for her indirect and complicated foretellings, said he was to be a mighty, all but unstoppable warrior.

Little did his father know, that while her prophecy spoke true, it was not because Kei would lead the Ōzoku Clan. Instead he would become something else, something feared and despised by the Father and Mother who once held him above everything else in their lives.

This is the story of how Kei became
Kurushimeru
The Bloodsong Samurai


It was a day like any other in the Ōzoku Clan, the haze of the plaguelands was hot and dense, and the newest hatchlings, barely a week of age, were sparring and playing together under their mother's watchful eyes. One mother in particular held her head much higher than the rest, gazing down at her son as he bested each hatching one after another.

"You must be proud, Aisuru, your son has yet to be pinned by even the larger young, he is truly a warrior!" A nocturne female crooned, though her eyes betrayed her jealousy at the fact that her own young hadn't stood a chance.

Aisuru raised her chin higher still, grinning with what was near condescension.

"But of course, he is Hokori's son, after all, he is just like his father!" She declared, chuckling as the mothers around her rustled about in their envy.

Below, one of the other hatchlings, a green-scaled guardian, overheard the dragons speaking, and his haunches began to rise in anger. Kei had already beaten him, twice, despite their difference in size.

Netami decided he would teach the little royal brat a lesson, using his sharp young talons.

While Kei was distracted, sparring a different hatchling one-on-one, Netami drew closer, circling the makeshift arena the young had made. Seeing an opening while Kei's back was turned, he lunged, drawing his claws down Kei's flank, ripping past scales and into flesh without mercy.

Kei shouted in pain. Aisuru roared, and lunged down at the little guardian hatchling, knocking him several feet away, where his own mother gathered him close, fear in her eyes for the fate of her son for this crime.

And then Kei's blood began to spill onto the earth beneath him.

In the chaos, his mother did not notice at first, her blazing red gazed fixed on the dragon who'd dared to hurt her son. It wasn't until the nocturne mother from earlier began to screech that anyone else noticed what was happening to the young prince.

"Akuma! A demon! There is a demon coming out of him!" she shrilled, and more mother's began to panic, dragging their hatchings as far away from the scene as quickly as they could.

Aisuru turned to look down at her son, her blessing, the heir to her mate's legacy. And surely enough, something was emerging from the wound in his side. A dark, swirling mass of smoke, with two glowing red eyes, staring right at Netami with clear malice. It was the shape of a dragon- no, it looked just like her mate, but it was not of this world.

Kei writhed in agony, as the demon grew in size at the same rate of his little pool of blood. Aisuru, frozen in fear and disgust, was deaf to her son's cries as he begged her to help him.

Mother, mother it hurts! I dont know what'shappening to me, please help!" he cried, trying to stop the bleeding with his paws.

Finally, his father appeared, having been summoned by one of the panicked mothers. His eyes widened in horror at his son, and at the Thing that was coming out of him. Thinking quickly despite this, he noticed the creature was emerging from the wound, and so he heated one of his claws with his fire until it glowed like hot metal, and decended upon his son, pressing his claw to the wound and ignoring the demon that had gripped his leg with its teeth.

All at once, the chaos became silence, save for the quiet sobbing of Kei.

And within moments, that silence was broken yet again by fearful, enraged, and disgusted declarations from the crowd that had gathered.

"He is cursed!" "He is blighted!" "He is possessed by a demon!" "You must kill him, before he dooms us all!"

Hokori looked down at his pitiful, sobbing son, once his blessing, once his legacy. He could not have known that the being within his son was in fact his own pride, so strong and fixated upon his son's greatness that it had manifested into a spirit within his very blood. To him, and to the entire clan, the boy was simply cursed, blighted, afflicted by some dark force that was strong enough even in his youth to break through Hokori's scales with ease.

"Hokori, my love, what do we do?" Aisuru whispered, coming to stand next to her mate. Her gaze was fearfully fixated on her son, but behind that fear was grief, for she knew that his fate was not to be what she'd planned for him. Would her mate kill their only son?

Hokori remained silent for several moments longer, his eyes dark and guarded, free from emotion. His son, or his clan? They'd leave if he did not do something. He was strong, but without a clan, what would his legacy come to?

Finally, he spoke.

"He will be banished from the clan, and taken far from here into the wastes. His fate will be what the dieties decide, but I will not kill my son." he growled with finality, glaring around at the clan members, daring them to challenge his decision.

He turned his gaze once more to Kei, who tearfully looked back up at him, trembling.

"Father, father please don't send me away, it's me, it's Kei! I'm your son!" He begged, turning to Aisuru when he was met with cold silence. "Mother, please help me, I won't let it out again, I promise! I'll find a way to get rid of it, please!"

More silence. Cold, definitive. They would not hear his cries, even as he continued to beg.

Hokori turned to walk away, speaking as he went.

"From this day onward, you will not carry the name Kei Ōzoku. You carry a curse in your blood, one that I will not claim for my lineage. You shall be known as Kurushimeru, Cursed One. Do not return, or I shall rid the world of this affliction you carry."

His mother turned her back next, and two guards came to grip Kei- Kurushimeru by his shoulders to stop him from chasing after his parents.

"No! Please, my name is Kei! My name is Kei!"

And then, he was carried away, into the wilderness, and left there. His only company was the wind, and the dust, and his pain.



After that day, not much is known about what happened to Kurushimeru. That is, until rumors began to spread of a mighty black-and-red Samurai, who seemed to come from the legends themselves, wearing a vial of blood round his neck. They say he is accompanied by a demon- a dragon shaped spectre with glowing red eyes that protects the warrior from any who might manage to get close. Some say the dragon tried to suppress the beast, wearing armor and keeping his distance during fights to avoid spilling his own blood. Those days are long past however, even if that was the case, as now his blood is forever freed- and with it, the Curse.

But as his new clan, clan Sky Keeper, has learned, the legends and stories leave out the motives behind this great and terrible warrior; that he fights for honor, that he protects the innocent. That he stands for justice, even for those who were born different.

After all, in the land of Sornieth, there is much that is not as it seems.