Katsumi was sitting alone in her room. She was meditating. She needed to reflect on what had happened in the beginning. From time to time, she could not believe where she was and what she was doing. Yet now it was different. It was too much. This should not be possible. She understood what she was told, but still understanding and accepting are two different things. She needed to regain her tranquillity. The flow was muddy, uneven as it would lose its guide. There could be only two reasons for it. She recalled the beginning, reliving the events of her awakening. She stepped through the gate and felt water falling onto her body. By looking up, she realised it was pouring. She was soaking wet. As she looked behind, the gate was gone. A thunder lit the surrounding area. She was standing in a bamboo forest. She heard now the rumbling of lightning. It was close. Why was it always raining? She hated the rain. It was always so depressing.
She heard a voice in her head, “Close your eyes. Hear the rain with your ear and do not see it with your sight. Feel the rain with your mind and not your body. Embrace it with your soul. Walk now between the drops!”
The rain was constant. The sound was uniform. With each blow, the rainfall adjusted uniformly. The voice said, “Should we blindly follow or create our path?”
She listened to how uniform the rain was falling. No hesitation. No choice, just physics. Can humans be the same? Do they just blindly follow? She realised that there was more than what she was told. Katsumi thought that accepting your true self should be more important.
The voice said, “Yes, but what if there are no rules?”
Katsumi thought and said out loud, “There would be chaos.”
The voice said, “Is Chaos not already here?”
She replied, “Chaos and Order are always there.”
Katsumi heard, “Are we then Chaos or Order?”
She did not know what to say. Was she Chaos or Order now? Till yesterday she would say Order, yet now… She fell down on her knees and looked at the sky. The rain was order. Falling uniformly down. Yet what was she herself? There was another thunder. She saw the uniform rain falling in her direction and, at the same time as it would stop, hanging in the air. When the sound reached her, the rain stopped.
The voice said, “We are all and none.
We are what the world needs.
We are one and all.
We are Order and Chaos.
We are all what the world gets and not what it deserves.”
Katsumi repeated. The moment she finished, the rain fell again. She felt cleansed. A new era was about to begin for her and the world. She knew she could never give up, as there was hope. She stood up and walked. The rain drops adjusted to her aura. She walked through the rain as it would not be raining. The raindrops just adjusted to her and fell down on the ground beside her. This was the beginning for her. The awakening? Or maybe the beginning, because a true awakening was not that easy. The world was never what it seemed, yet everybody would live within it, accepting what he was told. The ones questioning it would understand. She opened her eyes. Yet her mind was still there. You could see the universe within those dark eyes.
The door opened. Katsumi saw Shiro enter and say, “He is calling. Now more than ever! Will you join him? Or maybe fight against?”
Katsumi knew there was only one way to save the world. Most people did not even know about the Real World. She knew and swore to always protect it. She paid already the price for it. Normal people would say that she should get something for it, yet they never understood that she already did, and this is the reason she was the guardian for all eternity.
She fell on her knees in her room now. This was the time or reckoning. She remembered as she entered the Tent. He was there to explain what would happen. He explained the price and gain for this sacrifice. Some already sacrificed everything and were just waiting to pay the price. This was already years after they met for the first time. The Blacksmith. He was different. He was everywhere, yet nowhere. His appearance surprised everybody, yet everybody knew that this was not his time and that he was just passing through it, cause this was again a time of proving. One of many till now. The Clan leader, Black, entered the tent. In the same moment, the Blacksmith disappeared as if he would not like to be seen by the Supreme Grand Master.
Black Ignotus was the Supreme Grand Master of the Black Dragon Clan. He looked at them and said, “As all of you know and believe! We are the last bastion of humanity. Without us, the world we know will end. This is the moment of truth for everybody. Are you ready to die for what you believe in?”
Katsumi felt shivers down her spine as she recalled the moment. She knew now that it was just a question of time, yet previously it was just a means to get by. Day by day. To forget. She thought it would be easier. Yet now this was the purpose of fuelling the resolve to keep her promise.
She stood up and looked at Shiro, saying, “I live to protect.”
