These Scaling Tensions [Dungeon Beast Plot/Tadamoto]

Thematic Music:

The vast plains were white with snow. Yes, there was a thick blanket of white, covering the green underneath. Jiryu and his Tewe had been traversing this snowy landscape for several days and, their bodies weary from travel, wanted someplace they might rest their feet. The snow was thick and the ground frozen, however, giving nowhere they might make camp.

    But Jiryu was not discouraged. Chanting some spell, heat magic would wash over a small area before him. It melted down the snow and hollowed out the ground, whilst the left-over waters began pooling within this basin. Chanting another spell, water magic would condense the vapour in the surrounding air. It mixed with the remaining heat magic, producing a warming mist over the basin. Jiryu smiled warmly, and his Tewe would bray, as he looked upon this newly-made hot spring.

    But that had not been his sole purpose here; he had a greater purpose, of fate and virtue. The white rukh gathering around, Jiryu began his recitation, “Shahada, my Testament! Oh, great Fate, call out to the champions who would resist the will of the Contractor, and that darkness which threatens this world!"


    The white rukh transformed into gleaming letters, hanging still upon the wintry air. With a flick of his wrist, they began spinning until two letters suddenly stopped. A pair of shimmering wings burst forth, the letters turned into twin butterflies, before they flew out of the forest towards their destination.

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Even within the snowy landscape, the young Tadamoto could spot the butterflies. As they neared her, they would transform into glowing letters. She could not understand them, but the message was clear. They wanted her to simply follow. If she had doubts about their nature, the warmth which washed over body would alleviate them. There was something comforting about them, like a father’s embrace - even a father who had never embraced her.

    After a short journey, the butterflies led Tadamoto into a small clearing. Within there, she would find a sight she could not believe: nestled between the snowy hills, there was a full-on hot spring. Steam rose from the gentle waters, and folded towels were left upon the rocks surrounding it. But it was the long-eared man with his feet dipped into the pool which she would find most unbelievable.

    “It seems the Shahada has chosen well.” He sipped upon a home-made brew of green tea, sighing contently. “What might your name be, miss? Ah, forgive me, I should introduce myself. I could not ask your name without giving mine first!” He smiled warmly at the young Tadamoto, saying,

    “I am Jiryu, a man known as a Magi. Would you care for some tea?”

For Tadamoto a walk through nature was not that odd of an occurrence, and in fact, she had often found herself traversing through nature on her way from job to job. However, this time things were a bit different from the usual as she hadn't found herself here for work, instead, she had been lamenting in the changes in her life. Her employer and charge as a bodyguard had gone missing, and her family had become reclusive after the Kou war leaving her alone in Kou to make money the only way she had known how. With her body different from others and her entire life purpose geared towards perfecting herself, she wondered how she was going to make connections from her on. However, her mind was soon drawn away from her own thoughts as she saw glowing birds that had soon transformed to spirit her away from her thoughtful stroll in the cold.

As she followed it through the snowy tail she would soon find herself in an odd spot, between the hidden snowy hills she had found a hot spring, and a man enjoying the spot like it was his own. As she was taking it in she found herself questioned by the man, who quickly remembered his manners and introduced himself. She wasn't quite sure what a magi was but she responded nevertheless.

"Well, I suppose it's my pleasure to meet you, my name is Tadamoto." She seemed a bit confused by the odd scene and what had brought her here. "However, I have to ask what is the purpose of those golden butterflies and why have I been led here, strange bathing man?"

Though her words might've seemed like she was being scared off she was more of having fun, it was all intriguing to her and she was curious about his words. He had mentioned something about something choosing her and she wanted to learn what and why.

Jiryu began pouring more warmed tea, feeling the cold nip at his body. “I see that you do not know what we Magi are, do you? Well, we are magicians whose powers dwarf all others. Hmm, perhaps this will illustrate better:” He took out a spare cup from his Tewe’s baggage, and placed it upon the basin’s rim. ”This cup represents a normal magician. The tea within represents their magoi, or the energy which lets them use magic. The cup’s size then determines how much magoi one has, varying between magicians.”

    ”Unlike a normal magician, a Magi is not limited to the tea within the cup.” He poured a steady stream of tea into this cup, showing Tadamoto clearly. “He can use a kettle, or the rukh outside his body, to replenish his magoi whenever he wishes. He has then an unlimited amount of magoi for use in his magic.” He began sipping at this second cup, eager not to waste any tea. “That is a Magi. That is what I am.”

    Content though he was, his face flashed with surprise as he realised something important, “Ah, pardon me! That does not explain my purpose here, does it?” He tapped his simple-looking wand before he continued, "Well, my purpose is fairly simple: I wish to give you power. These butterflies are part of a greater spell, which determines individuals who deserve to receive power. Should you accept my offer, I will actualise the hidden potential within your body.”

    He gazed calmly at the young Tadamoto, boring into her very soul, “I can transform you into something powerful, but you must choose whether you truly want that power.”

When he suddenly went into a further explanation about what magi were Tada stopped to listen and seemingly was absorbing all the information that he was laying upon her. She seemed to grasp the concept quickly as she gave a simple nod and made a soft gasp to her self.

However, when Jiryu had decided to start talking to her about offering her power her attention suddenly shifted back to him. Almost as if she knew him her goals of being the strongest physically and mentally were struck upon as he talked about the hidden potential within her body. She started to get a bit concerned for a moment, did he know about the experiments her mother performed on her, was he aware of how she had been altered?

With her face the same soft happiness it was before she was caught in a moment of rapid critical thinking as she decided her answer within a moment of seconds. "Well as Mother and Father taught me, to strive towards the peak of one's self is the duty of the living."

Clutching her bag she remembered she carried some weird crystal thing she had found within, she had heard of people praying upon these things and smashing them for good luck. As she worried about what Jiryu might offer her and how it might interact with her body she thought about it, though she wasn't much for superstition she was iffy about this situation she was ever eager to refine herself she was cautious and thought about how to ensure success as many ways there were as plausible.

"If you are as powerful as you say then bring out my power, show me what I never knew I could do." Her words were a bit of a taunt as well as an answer as she stood there holding her arms out waiting for him to say or do something.

Jiryu sipped his tea slowly, “I cannot speak to what your life has been, nor should I want that.” He looked at her form with kindness, “You are your own person, miss. Do not take this power because your parents would have you take it. Take this power because you want to take it. It is your choice, not theirs.”

    If Tadamoto accepted, Jiryu would take out his slender wand. “Would you please hold out your palm?” As he began muttering under his breath, white rukh would gather around his body. Seeing her clutch the bag she held, Jiryu would smile slightly. He could tell that she would find the power she wanted.

    “Oh great Fate, unbind the fetters which enclose the ancient Magic! Release and open!”

    Her body would become enveloped with white rukh, like some life-bringing cocoon. As they swarmed together, she could not see anything, not even herself; there was nothing but endless white. But she could feel herself changing, her very structure transforming into something different and new. But did this feel enough, or did she want more power?

As Tada listened to Jiryu's words she didn't react much, she was a bit more internal with that sort of thing, but as he offered the power to her she would show her true heart for a moment as she gave him his response. "My mother and father have used me for their own goals, but one must not forget that I'd chosen to stay, not out of ignorance, out of a desire to use their resources and to use their wishes for me against them so that I may achieve my own."

For Tada there was a motivational factor for her, it might've seemed like an obsession, but for her, it was what drove her to accept her fate, as her entire core was built around self-improvement. As a child, she was forcefully confronted with her own weakness in a way that pushed her towards escaping that. Whether it be mentally or physically she knew that while she started on a lower playing field than everyone else that she had a relentless drive to work on herself day and night. As a woman developing her own Martial Lifestyle and an assassin who has spent her life training she has begun thinking of herself like a blade, her life, her experiences, and the people around her were the flames and hammers that shaped her over and over until she would be the best version of herself.

As the world around her seemed to fade into white she felt herself losing herself in the feeling as her inner thoughts spoke out loudly. It feels as if I'm being opened up, but if this truly is ancient magic then maybe it can do more. Her hand had slipped around her shard within her bag as she felt like the bag was no longer there for a moment and it was just her holding the shard. In her hand, she felt its roughness, but without care, she squeezed down on it with all her might as if she was compressing all her hope and desire into it. Her hand split open the same as the shard as it was crushed and cut into her hand she had squeezed too hard as she felt her blood mixing with the dust of it as it dripped down and her words escaped her lips as she embraced what came next

"For myself, and no one else as If I were a Bodhisattva let me awaken what is deep within me for the world around me, for fate"

Post details: Cracking shard of solomon for a trait to go along with my new db form

Inside her cocoon, Tadamoto could not see or hear the shard crack, senses dulled as her form changed. She could feel that something more had happened, however, which could only be the shard’s doing. Her body had started changing, but her actions had caused the process to quicken. More and more butterflies began gathering around her cocoon, some fluttering about but more joining their friends inside the white void itself. It would soon feel like she was being weighed down, her arms feeling heavy as she transformed into something new and uncertain. As she sank under these chains, a voice would raise her above those weights, “Remember who you chose this for, miss!”

    His voice echoing, the cocoon would begin condensing itself into Tadamoto’s new form. As she settled into this body, she would slowly regain her senses. As such, she might hear a faint voice on the cold wind, “But never forget who you were before...” If she opened her eyes, there would be nobody around, neither Jiryu nor his Tewe. Instead, Tadamoto was left alone in the hills amidst the plains white with snow.

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