The weight was more than he would have thought, considering it was just a wooden box with a dead man inside of it. A dead man that was, before this, the beating heart of the Isaki clan. Something in that village changed Hoshikata, took him from the aloof leader to someone who cared enough about something to die for it. And now he was dead weight within the coffin that Osore was hauling through the new Isaki manor in the village of Moon, into the vaults under the manor.
His father knew, of course. Shokia was the one to meet him at the door and try to take the casket from him. After the meeting in this building not long before his father told him that when he found Hoshikata, he should bring his body back to Shokia. And if it weren't a body, he should make it one so Shokia could bolster the clan against 'that weakling brother of your's that Hoshikata proved his insanity by making the new leader'. Osore had never hit his dad before tonight, and he was sure that the open handed slap that sent the older Isaki to the floor would not be forgotten, soon or ever.
And then he was in the basement. Tenken made sure a room was prepared, so Osore merely carried the box into it and dropped to a knee to lower it respectfully to the floor. His brother was already here, finishing intricate seals along the floor, walls and ceiling of the room. He noticed the dark circles under his sibling's eyes and the hagard manner of movement, guessing that Tenken was not sleeping well due to the troubles of leading this clan. At a word from him, Osore opens the coffin to reveal the man inside.
Hoshikata was of average height, and his eyes were closed to the world to hide their golden color. But somehow his skin and hair had darkened immensely during a trip to Mist a year ago, and so he looked quite different. But the chakra marks under his wrist were impeccably unmarred, and that was not something that could be faked anymore, not with Mist having fallen. There were fresh stiches on the body, very fresh since Osore had actually performed his own autopsy on the man on the way over here.
His findings were not good. Puncture wounds were all over him, and the nicks in his bones showed just how powerful those blows had been. The curving shape, and occasional twist in the passages, as well as the flecks of metal left behind, told him what kind of weapon caused those wounds. The acid damage was a shoddy cover up, something done by some amateur to try and hide what truly happened. The truly despicable thing was that the wounds were all from behind. Hoshikata was betrayed by someone he trusted enough to turn his back on.
Something terrible had happened to his cousin to make him trust anyone that much. Something that Osore never wanted to happen to him. As Tenken makes an order, Osore lifts the body from the casket and lays it upon the table in the middle of the seals, arranging it in a dignified stance. Then he steps out of the circle to let his brother get to work. This was Tenken's show.
- - - - - -
Tenken was tired. His rest these past weeks was growing less and less, to the point that he wasn't sure if he even went to bed last night or not. The majority of his trouble was coming from his father, trying to usurp the clan from him and lead it on a crusade or something. Tenken trusted the man not at all, for he was a villain and a devil. He knew what Shokia would do with this clan and he would die before something like that ever came to pass. But his father was the better man at this game of intrigue and subtlety, so Tenken knew he would need the upper hand somehow.
He turns to look at the corpse on the table and frowns at the sight. Hoshikata was always so sure of himself, the man who could stand against the world and dare it to stop him. It had, with gusto according to the paper Osore handed him earlier. The spy had been double crossed. An interesting twist but not a good thing for this clan. If it was to have any hope of not only surviving but making something better of itself it would need Hoshikata's mind back. But it would need his mind to also be leashed, to be controlled. Tenken did not approve of enslaving the will of others, but he knew the danger of unleashing something like this on the world without some controls in place. Well, enough lamentation of the past and present and future, it was time to act.
The seals were all in place, taken straight from the book of the lost god of the Isaki clan. The Deep One. Hoshikata gained his power from this thing somehow, and so Tenken would use it to bring his spirit back across the veil and reimplant it into his body. He walks over to the book and reads through a few more pages, yawning as he does so. This was not a thing to do in his condition but it was now or never considering Shokia was likely rallying the other Isaki against things even as he read.
Tenken walks back to the body and clasps his hands together, praying as it were to this ancient being that his clan worshipped so long ago. The words were not something you often heard, and so his pronunciation went quite badly but he tried his level best on it.
”Ngai gn`ga g'tegoh harne ugtha glaki! Tep`Vug'r mugg latho!” He drops to one knee and touches the seal, a blue glow filling the room as he pours chakra into the symbol on the floor. Where it connects to each wall those also light up, followed by the one above. Chakra radiated around him, the space inside this cube filling with the excess. It should be happening now. He was confident he could control the spirit, but why wasn't it appearing?
Then he heard it, a sound behind him. Tenken turns just in time to see his brother keel over, and the lights all go out. He stares, wondering what just happened. ”Osore what did you do...?”
- - - -
”Nghaii ghn'gua g'tegoth harne ugthaa glaaki. Tep'vug'r mugg latho.” Osore knew these words, Hoshikata often said them. And while Tenken was butchering them, the guttural sounds were perfect for his ruined throat. But there was more, was there not. What was it...?
”Tekeli'li tegoth ngngr'rrrthnaa tegoth. B'nugh mugg'latho.”
”To begin what is to come you humans must see beyond the realm of flesh. Mankind believes in the death of the gods. Work, humans and sacrifice humans. Judge the gods and be destroyed.”
The room was gone now, an empty black around him. He could hear Tenken, as if far away, but before him was quite a sight. Black hair, dark skin. And golden eyes that seemed to know all. Before him was his mentor, his guide. Tenken would be pleased to know that somehow his plan worked. But why did he sound so far off?
”It means that if you want to become a god, you must seek to kill a god. But humans can only kill other humans. To judge a god worthy of death is to die yourself. This is, of course, not true since I lived for quite some time afterwards, but everything, even gods, have a shelf life you know. Osore, I am posed with quite a situation here. Tenken was meant to bring me over, and he has, but it was you who spoke the words to do so and he merely unlocked his own talent over the darker arts to supply the power.”
“This means that he is not here, and you are. And the problem I am faced with is, do I dare wait for another chance knowing that the ghosts of my past seek me out in this land of the dead, or do I take you instead?”
The words made no sense to him. Hoshikata wanted to take him? No, he wanted to take Tenken. But he made Tenken leader. And take how? Osore rises, and realizes for the first time that he was without his armor. His eyes widen as a gasp escapes suddenly clear vocal cords. And then Hoshikata was at his side and gripping his heart.
”Sleep cousin. And know that you do your clan the greatest favor by giving me your form. That I may walk again.”
No. Osore swats at the hand, wondering how Hoshikata was this strong in death. He would not give his form up. His cousin was supposed to be a god, but he was not evil. Why would he do this? With a strength born of desperation he bear hugs the other, howling as they crush together. And then all once more goes black. This time it stays that way for some time.
- - - - -
Bright light was the first thing he noticed. Daylight, coming in from an open window. The second was the pain. Not as much as he was used to, which meant he was on a high dosage of something. Osore opens his eyes, deciding to go ahead and deal with the agony of their sensetivity for a moment rather than go blind for the minutes it would take to slowly let them adjust. He felt different, which was not good.
Lighter, that was it. His armor wasn't on. Osore looks down at his limbs, the scarred and ruined arms and legs. They looked less so. With some alarm he rips the covers off, knocking over some monitoring equipment in the process and sending loud beeps sounding around the room as he stares at his legs. They were still damaged, but also to nowhere near the extent they were before. He couldn't be healing, it was impossible. His brother was the best healer he'd ever met and not even Tenken could fix him.
As the nurses come in, followed by Tenken, Osore looks over and tries to get out of bed. It takes six of them to restrain his arms, four more for the legs. And then two to strap him down and slam some sedatives into him. ”No! Stop!” The words were clear, and only hurt a bit. What was going on?
- - - - - -
Tenken watches as Osore is once more put to sleep, his hands resting on the staff that he was carrying. It, and it alone, was keeping Shokia and his ilk from trying something. It was made of wrought ironwood, with patters running up the shaft. A clear globe sat atop it, colors inside of it that were a moment ago a cyclone of beauty were now merely flowing smoothly through the crystal. On the bottom was a pointed cap of blue crystal that Tenken knew from seeing it before could be extended into a foot long blade. The Staff of Verin returned to them.
He looks back at his brother, frowning. Osore lost most of his skin and all of his hair above the waist in the fire. But that was healing now also. Whatever happened in that room under their house, it was not good. It was pretending to be so, but he knew better than to trust the forced he'd been playing with to believe something nice would come about. Somehow the spirit came to Osore instead of him, and while his brother was physically powerful, he had no idea if his mind and spirit could stand against what he called into their lives. The reaction just now was a good sign, it was indicative that it was still Osore. But how much?
And why was he growing long white hair?
Tenken turns and walks out of the room, deciding he would wait a bit longer before letting them wake his brother and trying this again. It was the third time in the three days since their journey into the other realm that he had awoken, and the third time in three days that he reacted like this upon finding his body healing itself.
But why was he growing white hair? Osore had blue hair before, much like Tenken himself.
This was not going to turn out well, he knew.