Sown Dreams

The castle lorded over the lake. Speckless white walls and azure roof tiles, decorated with majestic golden edges, regaled the castle's steadfast victory against age and grime. Jealously, the lake mirrored the castle from nearly shore to shore as the calm, crystalline radiance of the water tried to hide behind the inescapable majesty of the ancient structure above it. With a dozen floors, the invincible castle stood with golden stripped ivory tiger statues dotting the corners of the highest roof, proudly sitting with with attentive guard over the area.

I, Makoto, followed my band of merry men and women past the three meter steel wall around the castle and into the courtyard of that daunting building. Welcoming us to the castle were a number of Faol soldiers wearing modern armor and weapons crafted to resemble traditional Faorian military equipment. Their karuta armor were expertly crafted so that not even their fur could slip past the tightly laced steel plates. Every soldier carried a rifle on their back, a spear in their hand, and several rectangular canisters of attuned magidust, commonly called dust. Two soldiers saluted the group, tenting their hands in a triangle in front of their breast, before leading them further inside.

As we walked through the large oak doors, we were greeted by a majestic ivory room. The floors were made of tatami, many tiles of bound rice straw, while the room and hallways leading out were lit by dust powered lamps covered by paper lamp shades with various pictures painted on them. The walls of the entry room were painted with large, colorful imagery of Faol fables before breaking into pristine white walls.

"This has to be the brightest place we've been too. They should have given us sunglasses!" I said as my wolfy snout wiggled.

"The lord certainly shows off his wealth and power... I hope he is not an abusive, frivolous lord like my father." Yoshitaka replied to me. Yoshitaka was our newest recruit. As third-in-command of our mercenary group, the Bronze Lion, it was my duty to watch over the newbies. Yoshitaka was larger than most Faorians at nearly 230 centimeters tall and a wide, muscular body. I always appreciated how well groomed he kept his dark, brown fur and his claws. That dedication to organization must stem from his noble upbringing. Yoshitaka's shokushin plant, a very special, symbiotic plant to our people, was also well groomed. Yoshitaka still had little skill with the mystical side but his plant still bloomed healthy, red flowers neatly around his ears and had a faint glow. He kept his pistol on his right hip's holster with three dust canisters and his family's heirloom sword on his left. His sword was a long, curved, single-edged blade with an intricately designed sheath with a beautiful red ant. The handle was wrapped in high quality cloth with the pommel replaced with a modern magidust device.

"His people seem to love him! Everyone I talked to in town said only good things about him. He must be a good person!" Misaki butted in. Misaki is the only non-Faorian in the group, a reptillian known as Quetzal that came from the mainland. Misaki was a named given to her about our captain. One reason was because Quetzal names are so difficult for us but the main reason was to hide her identity and presence. Misaki rarely talked about her past except that she was a well-known researcher of the mystics. Quetzals are closer in height to humans, with Misaki standing about 150 centimeters tall. Standing next to us, she practically disappears which is convenient for her sometimes. She has leafy green scales all over her body except her abdomen and chest which had softer, looser brown scales. Misaki had leathery wings along her arms and down her sides, ending at her hips but drooped further down to the top of her heels. Her wings were covered in a array of colorful feathers. Misaki had to order custom tailored clothing to open the sides of her shirt and chainmail so that her wings would be unobstructed. When she crossed her arms, as Quetzal love to do, her wings gave an appearance of a beautiful, rainbow robe. Several red and blue feathers stuck out from above her eyes and back across her head. Misaki only carried her collapsible, long barreled rifle that she kept hidden underneath the brown cloak draped across her neck and back.

"Captain Takato thinks highly of Lord Hidetatsu, so he must be a good person." I replied. I was an average Faorian at 225 centimeters with black fur and shorter pointed ears. My fur was slightly longer than many others which hid my sleekier but muscular build. I had a long, bushy tail that betrayed me. Not once have I won a game of poker! Misaki tells me that she likes my tail though, so I can't be too mad. I usually wore kimonos over my chainmail and today I wore my blue kimono with cloud iconography. My trusty halberd was swung over my shoulder and my trustier pistol in the vest holster underneath my kimono. I always keep at least two canisters of dust inside of my kimono and one on my belt for my shield. I spent many months connecting with my shokushin plant and have developed a small connection to it and the other side. Thanks to that connection, my plant now faintly glows a pale blue that is barely visible from between where the kimono overlaps. That glow shone around my black eyes and in the single teal flower on the center of my forehead. My shokushin partner had grown vines; one vine slipped between my chainmail and neck and draped over my right shoulder while two wrapped around my waist and down my tail.

Captain Takato, a massive 240 centimeter, white, grizzly furred Faorian with black diamond stripes, snow-white flowers around the top of his white glowing eyes, and an even larger two-handed axe, glanced back at the trio before letting loose a muted but deep laugh. "Lord Hidetatsu is the most popular samurai lord across the islands. Even the emperor himself relies upon Lord Hidetatsu's council and strength. However, one would be wise to not blindly trust in the words of whispers."

"We should not be gossiping about Lord Hidetatsu inside of his own castle, lest the ears and spirits choose to turn on us." Shoji, the second-in-command, pushed back. Shoji was a very large and organized brown furred Faorian who wore simple glasses upon his face. His shokushin plant shone with a pale black light, dotting smaller black flowers across the bottom of his neck.

The group was brought through hallways and stairs until we reached the second highest floor in the castle. Atop of the stairs laid large wooden doors, twice the size of Takato. A soldier leading our group opened the doors, revealing a spacious room with large white pillars on either side of a white and blue rug that led from the doors across the room to a white, ornate oak chair decorated with carvings of tigers on top of the back rest.

Sitting in the chair was a Faorian man as large if not larger than Takato with pristine white fur and three blue stripes of fur across his arms and cheeks and going towards his back. The man had piercing black eyes that glowed stronger than I have ever seen outside of master monks. His ears motionlessly faced forward, attentive but unstrained. He wore a white silk kimono with a single black tiger image stitched across the whole robe. A black flower sat on the back of both of his large hands and at his neck like a bowtie.

To the right of Hidetatsu was a human woman, just slightly taller than Misaki and dressed in a simple white robe. A hood draped over her face, hiding most of her features as she kept her head lowered. Her hands were clasped together in front of her in a triangle, revealing white painted nails.

"Welcome, Bronze Lion! I am pleased to finally meet the illustrious mercenary band famous for their might and charity!" 

Our group stepped towards Hidetatsu before kneeling down on our knees and hands, our faces inches from the soft rug that had a faint, metallic smell of magidust.

Captain Takato was the only one who only kneeled on his knees but kept his back straight and eyes locked onto Hidetatsu. "You honor us with your hospitality, my lord. We wish to leave as early as next morning to rid your land of this monster. If you would be generous enough to grant us as much knowledge as you can, we will seek to save as many of your people as we can."

Hidetatsu laughed, "I see the rumors from the other nobles were not misplaced. Rest and eat tonight; my advisor shall prepare a document with all we know about this demon and direct you to where it was last seen."

"Thank you, my lord." Captain Takato stood up and bowed deeply. Hidetatsu gave a slight bow of his head before waving to his soldiers to show us to our rooms. That night, we would feast on delicious curries, fruit, and sake before leaving early in the morning to the north.