Soulbound: The Last Koru Shinzo
Volume I: The Warriors of Soulbinding
According to local history, ancient artifacts and our own studies of lore in the region, the last Koru Shinzo existed in Sylmara over 300 years ago.
The role, highly revered on the world, served to defend the people from other-worldly attacks, (though the use of the phrase “other-worldly” here does not necessarily pertain to celestial bodies, rather we believe different realms that were somehow able to breach into Sylmara itself.) The value of that purpose is most notably evidenced by the scarring of the region still present today.
Put simply, the destruction of that region was unlike anything that had occurred in the millennia prior to, or the centuries following, the appointment of that final Koru Shinzo. Her role in the ruination of her own land cannot be understated.
Though this might sound that we blame her for the devastation of Sylmara’s Southern province, we have reason to believe it was not her ascension that led to the final sundering, but that of another.
I get ahead of myself, however.
The Koru Shinzo, or Warrior of Soulbinding, was a station of significant import, tasked with maintaining a seal on the world that would, allegedly, prevent that aforementioned destruction.
The title was successive, with a select few candidates being groomed for the duty from birth. They’d then, over the course of many years of training, complete a rigorous selection process involving immense physical and mental priming, before the most dutiful and skilled protégés would be presented to local spirits for consideration.
A chosen Koru Shinzo would then hold the title for the remainder of their life, passing it over to the next Koru Shinzo upon their death or shortly before, allowing the cycle to start again.
This practice was sacred to the people of the province, and they took it very seriously indeed.
Perhaps however, given the present state of the region, the lifelessness and prevailing desolation of once fertile forests and fields, not seriously enough.
Volume II: The Shadow of a Perfect Rose
The final Koru Shinzo was, by all accounts, extraordinary.
There is evidence to show that her talents and natural affinity for the role far outshone her predecessors, marking her somewhat of a prodigy to the position. Training schedules recovered from the remains of the dojos she frequented documented her tuition as faultless.
I say again. Not impressive, not exceptional, faultless.
Perhaps there is a degree of aggrandising of these records, but I do believe them to be mostly accurate, describing her skills as a swordswoman peerless and her dedication and discipline near artificial in their exactingness.
Yurei was, by all accounts, a perfect Koru Shinzo.
Her time in study was not without its challenges however, as you might have anticipated given that these records had to be recovered from ruins rather than from ongoing traditions.
The evidence suggests that she had a sister, one who shared her path but did not share her skills or, indeed, her discipline.
The two were said to be close as infants, as one would expect from youths taken from their families and made to train together for a duty they were too young to understand.
The eldest, Yurei, was a perfect student, as previously discussed. Naturally therefore, the younger fell short; seen by many as a weed, beautiful in her own right, yet overshadowed by her magnificent rose of a sister.
Flowers don’t grow well in the shade, and this sister was no different. She grew crooked, reaching for light that never came.
Volume III: A Journey of Destinations
The process of becoming a Koru Shinzo was arduous, with routine sparring against fellow candidates encouraged to compare strength.
Yurei excelled in such scenarios, elapsing precious few losses to fellow students and even overcoming her tutors on occasions.
Her sister however struggled, earning the animosity of her peers and tutors for her poor form, lesser skills and, perhaps most incriminatingly, her quipping tongue.
It was indeed her sharp mind that drew the ire of all around her. She coped with the consequences of her shortcomings with increasingly dry wit, callous humour and a budding charm that perhaps would have won her many a favour if she’d employed it in a less serious setting.
Yurei loved her sister dearly, perhaps oblivious to the divide growing between the younger girl and those around her. In turn we can likely speculate that during this time Yurei’s sister grew to resent her, evidenced and compounded by later events.
There is much debate about the significance of the days prior to Yurei’s ascension to final Koru Shinzo. Much of history chooses to focus solely on that date itself as well as the years that followed, with an understandable emphasis on the Day of Sundering itself. It could be supposed that legends are more memorable when one focuses on the flashy, more exciting portions rather than a seemingly ordinary day in a child’s life.
It is my duty however as an Echo Seeker to challenge that narrative and explore the full sequence of events, however mundane, that caused what we now consider history.
And from my studies it would seem that the complete annihilation of the Southern Province was indeed set into motion on that ordinary day, when a crying child, humiliated by a peer and frustrated at her sister, first laid eyes on his wooden cane.
Volume IV: Redemption, Resentment and Riftmagic
I would very much like to study the artifact if ever such an opportunity presented itself, though I know not how I would mitigate the downsides of wielding that particular terrible item.
The item in question, the simple cane found by Yurei’s sister those hundreds of years ago, was like any other; an ornate obsidian handle attached to a polished length of wood initially presented with a smooth hardwood knot near the pommel.
There’s no accounts, written or oral, of what happened when the young girl, distraught from a particularly unfortunate sparring incident, clutched the inexplicably discarded cane for the first time, but it’s reasonable to assume it was a significant moment given the immense power it began to bestow upon her.
When the child returned to the dojo she was changed, no longer as weak as she was before and with newfound vigour and a determination that seemed to rival even Yurei’s. Sources vary wildly as to the scope of her newfound power, though at this early stage her abilities were still subtle with little to no visual, or at the very least immediately noticeable, cues to those around her.
Yurei, soon-to-be-final-Koru-Shinzo sparred against her changed sister that day. There was a tournament at the dojo for those training as Koru Shinzo and predictably she won the event, quite handily if not for the final fight.
Her opponent in that last match turned out to be her sister, who’d similarly breezed through her matches thanks to her newfound strength and resilience. The cane she’d found continued to grow her abilities for as long as she wielded it, fuelling her with energy and confidence.
Yurei’s victory was rather a formality than a reality, as we now know she fell before her sister who, in a moment of empowered desperation, reportedly unleashed a volley of withering spectral blasts, described as screaming faces, that knocked Yurei from the ring. The blast of energy that billowed around them revealed a strange ocular tattoo between the younger sister’s shoulder blades that was not there before. A mark of things to come, it would seem.
This day, notably, also marks the first time in millennia that Riftmagic had been seen on Sylmara, and, as one would expect, had dire consequences for everyone on that world.
It’s hard to say whether what followed could have been avoided or if fate (for those who believe in it) had been preordained by preceding events. The wedge between Yurei and her sister only widened from then on, as the former continued her training alone thanks to the latter being disqualified from the tournament and all but locked up by her elders for using forbidden magic.
Before we move on to the consequences of this day it is curious to consider that the younger sister’s earlier opponent (previously undistinguished in the record) defeated her so easily that day. Had she not suffered such a comprehensive loss she may never have found that cursed cane.
Regardless of personal speculation however this portion of their shared history is foundational for understanding the full ramifications of the Day of Ascension as well as the Day of Sundering.
I will continue my studies and documentation into the histories of the last Koru Shinzo and her sister.
Recounted by Echo Seeker Vulpine
