Toki (ex_curing526) wrote in antecedents, @ 2010-04-09 00:08:00 |
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For nearly five months now, Toki had been imprisoned in Cassandra, within a solitary cell he was never removed from. Despite the length of his time there, it didn't appear as though his soul had been broken in the slightest-- something which angered the guards who worked there, who got their kicks out of seeing other's misfortune. Because Toki wouldn't beg like they sometimes demanded he do for a meal, or even acknowledge their presence most of the time, they asked Uyghur for permission that he be one of those who should be brought out for some physical discipline. But, after the man's display of power when he had first arrived, able to halt the prison warden with a single finger even when bound in chains, the warden denied that request with some excuse relating to the fact he was the King of Fist's brother. All of the other prisoners were definitely under his jurisdiction, but with no order from Raoh, it was probably wisest in the long run to leave Toki where he was.
Toki did see other faces than those of the guards, though. Reina had managed to come two other times after her first visit, while he saw Sakuya nearly twice a month, who brought with her not only news about Raoh, but about Kenshiro. It was in knowing that his youngest brother was still enduring through so many difficulties, that Toki felt it was no issue for him to do the same, to wait here as long as it took and be assured he would come.
Even Raoh himself visited once, very recently. It was to ask him about a certain martial art, an inquiry he had little response for. But it gave Toki some understanding of why it was primarily martial artists who were showing up in Cassandra's prisons as of late: Raoh was learning and stripping them of their skills, and then throwing the practitioners away. Toki had no doubt his brother was not only becoming stronger by the day, but was also actively disconnecting himself with his own humanity, in his quest to become the person he believed this time needed. Toki wished he could be at that man's side, whether to offer him words of guidance or simply to be someone he could lean on when things became difficult. But unfortunately, they were long past the time that would be possible, and when he did see him again, it would be for them to engage in that inevitable confrontation.
At the very least, in the times that Cassandra's halls grew coldly silent, it allowed Toki ample opportunity to meditate. Chained as he was, he had been unable to keep up with his physical practice; in doing what he was now, however, he was still able to maintain his chi at full force, an ability which required a lot more dedication to maintain and keep sharp than physical muscle did, and could also be just as powerful as. When he was in that state, he was able to no longer feel the empty ache in his stomach, or the dryness of his mouth, or even the one in his chest that had been there long before his time at Cassandra. The hard, stone ground, and the scent of blood and death in the air disappeared. There was only calmness, nothingness. It was in being able to maintain that state without growing anxious, without allowing any other thoughts to penetrate the quiet, that allowed one to truly achieve a strong focus.
When Toki was a young child, he could only do this for a couple minutes at a time before he would lose his concentration. Especially at that age, it was difficult to teach a child, even a well behaved one such as himself, that there was something to gain from silently sitting still. However, he would look over at Raoh then, who never faltered before him. When Toki vowed to surpass his brother, one might think that it was fueled either by a desire for power, or by jealously. Yet that was neither of his reasons-- only that he was deeply inspired by Raoh, and wanted to become someone he was proud of. Whenever his elder brother was able to climb higher, punch harder, run faster, or in this case, concentrate longer, that had only made Toki dedicate himself that much more.
These days, he could remain in this state for hours at a time with relative ease; even if he were surrounded by loud distractions-- in the very middle of a battlefield-- he could achieve the same. He never forgot he owed those capabilities to the brother who now treated him no differently from the common prisoner, who had nothing to say him when he didn't tell him the words he wanted to hear. That was the way things were now, but just as they had changed before this, they would change again.
Like this, it would be easy for a passerby to mistake the man for being asleep. However, it was the opposite that was true; Toki's awareness was at it's peak now. Therefore, when something otherworldly seized him, he was granted the ability to feel it in a way none who had experienced the same thus far had. He felt the shift around him occur, acutely tuned into what was changing around him. This had been no slip into a dream state, it was the physical world around him that was altering. No, it wasn't the world that was changing: it was him, that was moving from one place to another.
Slowly opening his eyes to discover what it was that had occurred, Toki grimaced when it seemed as though a blinding light were being shone in his face, stinging his eyes. He waited a moment, before trying once more. Doing so very slowly, he was granted the image of foggy shapes, distorted to his vision after being in such dark conditions for so long. He could make out blurs of green, blue, and white. All colours which he hadn't seen in his months in Cassandra, so where...?
When his surroundings came into focus, a quiet sound of awe escaped from the man. Above him was the clear blue sky, with scattered, fluffy white clouds drifting through it. Beside him were tall stalks of grass; healthy, fresh green grass. In justifiable shock, Toki reached out and gently, experimentally, touched one by the tip. He could feel it's life force flowing between his fingertips; the ground it grew in must of been healthy soil. Unlike whatever plants managed to grow in today's world, this was not one which had struggled to emerge from the earth.
Sitting up slowly, what surprise Toki already felt only grew ten fold when he could really see where he was. Somehow, he had awoken from his meditation at Cassandra's dingy prison on a grassy field which stretched on for some miles. Further in the distance were greater mountains, also completely covered in green, with tall pine trees growing on them that reached up toward the afternoon sky. A river--not a dried up bed, but full of clear blue water-- wound through those hills, disappearing far off in the horizon. At the base of the small hill he sat on were what looked to be hundreds of yellow and purple flowers, swaying softly in the warm springtime wind.
Naturally, anyone's thought coming from the world they lived in would be: Have I died? Sights which had once been easily attainable with a day trip to a scenic landscape, simply didn't exist anymore. What he was seeing right then, it simply wasn't possible this was anywhere in the world he knew.
Rising to his feet, Toki took another minute to even begin to try to digest what he was seeing. Extending his hands before him, he let the intangible wind sweep past them. It was not harsh or stale, but carried the freshness of mountain air. Taking a deep breath of it into his lungs, it was sweet and clean, and there was a moment where he was almost certain he had passed onto the next life.
But at the end of that breath, his throat seized, causing him to cough several times. Having spent so long at Cassandra hadn't done him any favors. Covering his mouth with his palm, he pulled it away slowly after he'd suppressed it, finding a few small red dots splattered across it. He smiled softly to himself at the sight, genuinely glad to see that signs of his sickness still existed. That meant he was still alive -- that meant he had not passed on before he had done the things he'd promised to himself that he would for his brothers.
If that was in fact the case, then how did that explain the scene before him? Everything else about it was most certainly real; he was trained well enough to see through nearly any illusion. As for how to account for how he had been in Cassandra one moment, and this unknown place another, he had no explanation. The only thing there was to do now was to look for those answers, and so after another minute or two of surveying the lush land before him, Toki began to walk towards the base of the hill.