Soul Rebellion #01: Astral Court
A large city laid in the middle of a large valley, surrounded by the beautiful crystal clear sea connected to an equally beautiful and titanic waterfall located a few miles behind the city.
The only entrance to the city was through a large gate, red coated with golden trims and two big golden lion heads at the centre of the double-door gate.
Beyond the gate was an equally large bridge, wide enough to allow ten carriages to move freely, connecting with the outskirts of the city, leading further to the main land.
The buildings of the city were built with Asian designs in mind, giving it the feudal era atmosphere to it.
At the far end of the city, sitting above a large hill with countless steps of stairs leading to the top, was a large castle, belonging to the shogun, literally towering over the other buildings of the city.
But, in the direction of the waterfall, on-top of the valley many, many miles away from the city, was a modern sized house with the same design as the city's own.
A couple were sitting in the living room, a small tiny-legged circular table, laid in the middle with a small gourd filled with water, a small kettle of tea laid beside it with two tea filled cups sat facing each of the couple.
The female, a middle aged human with long black smooth hair, looked slightly worried.
It didn't go unnoticed by her husband, a wolf who looked older than he really is with a slightly long goat-like beard.
"Don't worry dear, he'll be back in a few minutes" he tried to reassure his distressed wife.
She looked up at him, giving him a soft smile, "I know Kabuto, but he has been gone since early in the morning, now it's close to the afternoon", she looked at a third, almost cold, teacup sitting on the side.
Kabuto, the husband's eyes suddenly filled with pride and joy, because that's was his- their son was to him.
"Awww, quit being a worry-wart, he's an Orochi, and all members of the Orochi family are strong warriors" he stated very proudly, "I mean, look at me".
He straightened his back, lifting his thick muscled arms, he flexed making them slightly thicker and looking more powerful, both of them were wearing yukatas, with his open slightly giving everyone who was looking a clear view of his firm pecs.
He flexed flexed them too, just for the fun of seeing the admiration clearly showing on his wife's face.
"I know, my love", she repeated to Kabuto, with her eyes roaming on his flexing body with a light blush showing on her face, "but I'm a mother, I can't help worrying about our son Shinobu".
"And you are an amazing mother and wife Yuki" Kabuto reassured his wife- Yukiko- taking her hands in his, their fingers interlocking together, "but like I always say: he is an Orochi-"..... "and all members of the Orochi house are strong capable warriors" Yukiko cut him off, finishing his sentence for him.
The wolf hated getting interrupted, but if it was his wife, he could gladly let her get away with anything.
"Good, you're getting it" he exclaimed sarcastically, almost petting her head, only to remember she truly hated it, even from her loving husband. "Now how about some breakfast here, I'm starving".
Yukiko lightly giggled at her husband's whining, "I'll get to it right now dear, just got to let Shin know that breakfast will be up".
She got up, walking towards small wooden pole holding a small bird-cage.
It held a small four legged bird with blue feathers, with black streaks running from it's eyes to the tip of it's tail, also a long thin muscle extending from the base of its tail feathers resembling a lizard's tail, with a single small feather at the tip.
Yukiko opened the cage while holding out her hand, the bird-like creature, immediately recognizing her, jumped lightly on her hand chirping happily at his mistress.
"Go and bring Shin back home please" she told it politely.
The bird spread it's wings, flying out of the closest window towards the lush forest behind the house, chirping happily all the way.
A few miles along a wide clear river, stood what looked like a slightly smaller version of the city's waterfall, it seemed that this one was sending water to the city's own through a wide river.
A shirtless figure wearing only a pair of sweat-pants sat on a big boulder beneath the heavy hitting giant waterfall, a young man sat cross legged with his hands held together, his fingers crossing each other in a weird gesture.
He looked to be 17 or 18 years old, he had black smooth hair resembling Yukiko's, only his was shorter reaching only to the base of his neck.
His body was not as built as Kabuto's, but he still had a decent amount of muscle, the result of vigorous and hard training.
He sat there meditating, oblivious to a giant silhouette resembling a giant turtle, slowly appearing behind the waterfall.
The creature lifted a huge thick leg slowly.
The young man remained still.
The huge leg fell hard and fast, smashing the boulder to small pieces with ease.
He suddenly landed a few feet away.
The creature angry that it's prey escaped, growled and started walking forward make it's presence more clear.
The creature was a giant turtle, only it had an extending serpent like neck with a white mane extending from the top of it's head to the base of it's long neck.
It had sky blue leather-like skin, golden eyes looking like a pair of topazes, it's shell was green on color obviously heavy and thick, the other thing with it, is it was spiked with sharp points, making it look like strong sharp pillars protruding from it.
The young man wasn't fazed by it's appearance, no emotion showed through his deep purple eyes.
As the creature was advancing, it noticed something and stopped.
The young man was standing calmly at the water's surface, the water was not fazed by his weight or presence, like a leaf floating on the river.
The creature, although angry and feral, was not stupid, it immediately realized that this human was not ordinary.
It reared it's head and neck slowly, pulling the base slightly inside the shell.
The young man noticed, one of his legs sled lightly in a back-step, the water surface rippling slightly.
The turtles head lunged at him at full force and speed, cutting through the wind around them.
He jumped high, his right foot barely grazing the top of the creatures head.
He did a summersault in the air pulling back his fist, with a growl of his own, landing it heavily on the creatures extended neck.
The creature released a loud growl of pain, spinning it's head roughly towards him, attempting another strike.
The man, obviously a skilled warrior, jumped to the side dodging the monster's heavy sharp teeth and jaws.
He landed on the side of the river running away from the creature.
It chased after him.
He reached a small camp, his own, erected on the riverside, he reached out his arm grabbing a long sword, with a handle covered with leather and a golden snake swirling around it resting it's head at the top of it. The sheath was made from a hard material that looked like some sort of wood, with what seemed like the golden snake's underbelly sliding along the bottom of it.
He spun around skidding to a stop a few feet away from the camp, only to watch it get destroyed by the creature heavy foot.
He growled loudly charging at the creature.
Big mistake.
He was far away enough for the creature to real it's head back again using the same quick strike as before.
The man couldn't stop in time to dodge, so he just blocked with his sheathed sword instead.
The attack was quick due to the turtle not having time to reel back fully, but it was still powerful enough to send him flying a few feet away, slamming him hard into a nearby tree.
He groaned with the pain of having the wind knocked out of him, but he managed to stand and stabilize himself.
He locked eyes with the monster's bright golden orbs, trying to predict it's next move, his hand slowly reaching for the sword.
Pulling back his hand at the last moment.
He charged at the creature, it struck.
This time, he managed to side-step, swinging his still sheathed sword, connecting heavily with the turtle's long neck.
He jumped high.
Coming down he struck as hard as he can at the creatures head.
It let out a deafening roar of pain, before falling to the ground unconscious.
Now the man let out a sigh of relief, before smiling triumphantly at his victory.
Looking at his ruined camp, his shoulders slouched with defeat, "maaaaan, now I need to get more camping equipment.
He walked towards the destroyed camp trying to see what was crushed or missing.
His ears picked up a pleasant chirping, smiling as he recognized that musical sound.
His mother's blue bird landed on his shoulder chirping happily and pecking his ear playfully.
"Hey Sprite, stop it, that tickles" he said laughing lightly at Sprite's ticklish pecking, "mom sent you didn't she?"
The light blue bird chirped as of confirming his question.
Shinobu groaned loudly, "when will she realize that I'm not a little child anymore?".
"Probably when you stop acting and whining like one" a deep voice answered him.
Shin turned slowly to see the giant turtle regained it consciousness, but still lying calmly on the ground.
"Mind your own business you old oversized lizard", Shin replied, quite irritated.
Although it's mouth didn't open, he could hear the creature clearly, "every mother has the right to worry about their children, regardless of how annoying or embarrassing it would be".
"I know Ling Fo" Shinobu replied, he did know that, and couldn't bring himself to tell his mother to leave him alone.
"You were a little slow today Shin", Ling Fo stated suddenly, "you barely dodged my first strike, and I almost got you with one if you didn't block at the last moment".
Shinobu was getting irritated, all members of the Orochi family had supernatural powers, one of the common abilities is communicating with feral creatures and spirits.
He just didn't like to be looked down upon by Fo.
"But I got you good with that last hit" he stated smirking proudly at his success.
"And will be having an almost fatal headache for the rest of the day, if not the rest of the week, thanks to it", Fo stated followed by a pained groan.
If his legs were longer, he would be rubbing his head from the pain.
"You should head back before your mother starts to really worry" Ling Fo advised him, almost sounding like an order.
"You're right" he agreed putting on a black sleeveless shirt with orange trims, with one side covering most of the other before clipping it's buttons in place.
He grabbed his long sword, waving goodbye to Ling Fo before going his hike back home.
Ling Fo knew the family from an early age, ever since Shinobu was a small child.
The couple and a young Shinobu were walking along the river, he went to look at his reflection in the river, before slipping and falling in head first.
His parents tried reaching him, but with no success.
As he was reaching the end of the river and falling off the waterfall, a huge turtle, Ling Fo, lunged his neck from behind the waterfall, grabbing him before Shinobu fell completely over.
The trio and the big turtle creature became the closest of friends, sending Ling Fo some fruits from time to time, Shinobu clearly become closely attached to the big amphibian, going over to the waterfall and playing with him every chance he got.
Shinobu smiled at the memory, as he reached his house, with Sprite on his shoulder, he jumped over a wall built behind the house's garden.
The garden had a big tree casting a soothing shadow over the house, and a small hand built pond with some fish swimming peacefully inside.
He opened the sliding doors, revealing the figures of his loving parents: Kabuto and Yukiko.
"Finally, thought the food would get cold before you arrived", Kabuto said innocently, although his words were muffled due to his mouth being occupied by a chicken leg.
"Sorry for the wait", he replied sarcastically, amused that his father was acting so innocently while stuffing his face.
His mother just smiled at him.
Shinobu sat down and they proceeded to eat.
After eating, which was pleasant, due to his father looking ridiculous stuffing his face with as much food and scraps as he can.
The trio sat calmly sipping tea, he turned his head to admire the family crest that was proudly embedded on the wall beside them.
It was of four snakes swirling in a circle before connecting with a smaller circle holding a four pointed star inside, the star was turned to resemble a cross.
His family was one of the four leading families in the Astral Empire, with the Orochi house being relatively the strongest, due to the members having supernatural powers.
The four families answered directly to the emperor himself, that is what made them the most powerful four and above all.
He was an Orochi, and proud of it.
His father looked at him, "didn't you say you had some business in the city?"
"Yeah, I'll grab some essentials before going, since I'll probably stay there for a while", Shinobu answered his father.
"Well you better be going, don't want to be late for anything now", his father advised him.
Shinobu went to his room, and started packing, he pulled out a shoulder bag which was wide enough to put many things in, he went first for a silver and gold medallion before packing everything else, he also grabbed what appeared to be a folded metal rod.
And a saddle!?
After bidding his parents farewell giving his mother a light kiss on the cheek before departing.
After walking a good distance from the house he stopped, looking around slightly before whistling loudly.
Seconds later, heavy beats of flapping wings sounded from above, a shadow cast on him.
The shadow and wings belonged to a feral creature, a black dragon.
The dragon was a 2 feet bigger than Shinobu, him being 5' 9, it's scales were black all over, it had two horns protruding forward from it's head, forming a semi-zigzag shape, it also had bright purple streaks going from over it's eyes to the middle of it's neck.
The problem was: it didn't have any eyes, the creature was totally blind.
But instead of normal sight, the dragon could see the spiritual aura of living creatures, it recognized Shinobu's aura immediately, landing right in front of him.
As soon as it landed, it began to nuzzle into him, like a puppy who found his long lost master.
Shinobu's problem was that he was very ticklish, "haha, stop it Gore, haha, stop", he was trying to push Gore off him but, with little success.
After the dragon- Gore- stopped his cute assault on the poor man, Shinobu brought out the saddle he was carrying, he fastened it on Gore's back, then came the metal rod, he unfolded it to reveal that it was a pair of handles, folded together and fastened by a piece of leather.
He fastened the candles on the dragon's head, just behind the horns, he then proceeded to get on the saddle.
Once he got in a comfortable position, "let's go Gore"
The dragon started with normal jog like steps, slowly gaining speed.
When Gore reached top speed, the scenery around the two appeared as blurs, swooping and zooming around them.
They reached the cliff before Gore jumped spreading his front legs, to reveal a pair of large bat-like wings, both connected to the dragon's arms and extending further through his 'thumb' claw.
The duo glided through the air, soaring high above the ground.
A few minutes later, Shinobu could see the city with the ocean beyond it, the ship harbor was literally half the size of the whole city, making the city one of the biggest trading posts in the whole empire.
They flew for a few more minutes reaching the gates of the city, since the only, legal, way was through the gates or through sea, legally of course.
People screamed and ran as they saw the black dragon coming towards them, running in all directions.
Gore landed safely without hitting anyone.
Shinobu dismounted from the saddle, he started unfastening the it and the handles before folding them and packing them in the bag, and the saddle was fastened on top of it, like a cover.
He tapped his mount twice, like telling the dragon that he was free to go.
As Gore flew away, with his sword in hand, his baggage over his shoulder, the medallion resting firmly on his waist, Shinobu made his way to the gates.
Two guards were standing at the gate checking on the people entering and leaving, when they saw him however, they started walking his way.
"Can I help you officers?" He asked as they stood in-front of him.
A rhino and a bull, both wearing crimson red armor with golden trims, a sword on their hips and large spears in their hands.
"ID please sir" the rhino said looking gruff and mean, while the bull stayed silent wearing the same expression as his partner.
Even though the city resembled that of ancient times, technology was very advanced here, with different sources ranging from magic, technology, to alchemy, it was evident with the rods and intercoms that both guards carried, the rods being devices used to identify people.
Shinobu took the medallion he carried with him to show it, it was what people here used for identification instead of printed paper, it carried the data of the person inside a small orb embedded in the middle.
Shinobu's was of his family's crest, with the star in the middle delicately painted over the black stone in the middle, replacing the circle surrounded by the four snakes.
The other side was of two swords crossing between a beast's fangs, making the medallion look like a two faced coin.
When the guards saw it however, both their expressions turned to ones of absolute fear.
They were about to take a step back when Shinobu lightly cleared his throat to stop them from making a scene, as well as utter fools of themselves.
The bull took the medallion in his currently shaking hands, "wow, does my family really have that kind of power?" Shinobu asked himself impressed with his families influence, and even more proud.
The guard, after checking the medallion with the rod in hand, gave it back to the young man with his still shaking hands.
"E-enjoy y-y-your stay in the city s-sir" the guy was stuttering too much for comfort.
As he was putting away his medallion the rhino guard made a mad dash towards the city, Shinobu was tempted to ask why he was running away like a scared kitten, but convinced himself otherwise and made his own way inside the city himself.
First course of action: find an inn, since he'll be in the city he should find a nice place to stay.
He made his way through the market bazaar which was full of all kinds of people from a wide variety of different species.
Avians, lupines, canines, felines, rodents, amphibians, dracken, even some anthropomorphic insects and walking fish people, with water carrying devices resembling a diver's breathing equipment,fastened on their necks, more precisely their gills.
All laughing, singing, playing and simply doing anything they could think of to enjoy the nice day out.
He couldn't help but smile himself at the innocent and happy atmosphere.
At the same time in a big building, looking like a smaller version of the large castle.
A short avian, a duck, with even shorter legs, which gave him an almost feral look, ran as fast as he could through the hallways of the big building.
"Master Tsu Wong, master!!!!" his screams were almost echoing throughout the whole place.
He arrived at his destination, slamming the doors open, "master Tsu Wong".
Sitting on a small mountain of pillows with all kinds of food and smaller delicacies laid in front of him, was a human, or something resembling a human.
The guy was so fat, his skin looked like slaps of meet were piled on top of one another, and moulded together to create a horrible excuse of a human-being.
His face was mashed onto itself, with heavy black bags under his eyes, his hair was short with the bold spot surrounding the top part of his head.
He was wearing a white and blue yukata that was hugging his rounded frame slightly.
Several women with see-through clothing were dancing seductively in front of him, him clearly enjoying the view too much.
"What is it!?" was his gruff answer when he finally noticed the poor, panting man at the door.
When the duck man caught his breath, "He's here sir, one of the serpent assassins is here in the city"
The serpent assassins was a slogan common among people when referring to a member of the Orochi family.
"WHAT!?" the older human almost chocked on his food at the mention of a member of the four leading families, "when did he arrive?"
"A few minutes ago, sir" was his answer.
The man snapped his fingers twice signaling for the harem of young women to gather the food and leave the two men alone.
"So.... a serpent finally slithered into the city?" he asked with a sadistic, evil grin on his face.
"What should we do, master?" the short duck man asked, clearly scared out of his feathers.
"Send some scouts, we will watch him for now", was his reply before his servant stood up, bowing quick to the man before leaving, at the doors he bowed again before closing them, the wind created by the action, blowing out the candles around the room, throwing it in darkness.
Shinobu knew where his taste of companions lied, and the place he found was exactly what he wanted, it was close to sunset when he found a good looking place.
The inn's sign said 'Blossom Eclipse' in purple painting, with the picture of two heart shaped keys crossed on another.
It was a Kagema house, an inn with only males as staff, in other words, a gay brothel house/inn.
He went inside with a wide, almost creepy smile on his face.
The reception area looked decent, with fresh green plants on both sides of the entrance, smooth wooden floor, and white and green walls, with a reception booth placed a few steps away from the entrance.
The entrance being a mere curtain, didn't make any sound to announce a customer's arrival, so he had to call out, "hello!!"
"Right here, sir", a middle-age, or what he thought was a middle-aged six-armed spider male with dark brown and sandy skin wearing a white and green noragi going slightly below his waist, appeared from behind the reception area, smiling as much as the pincer like appendages on either side of his mouth allowed, "how can I be of service?"
Shinobu studied the young man closely, he noticed that although the guy was wearing that slightly baggy robe, he could make out that he was in decent shape, not too chubby and not too thin either, and he was built, not like his father, but he had a decent size to himself.
Shinobu resisted the urge to lick his lips, or worse, pounce at the guy, tear his clothes off and rape him right there.
"Room for one please, extended stay", his voice was slightly shaking, but the spider guy didn't seem to notice.
"Your ID please sir", that really irritated him, he hated being seen as a young boy, and sometimes treated like one, the guards were just doing their job, but this guy asking for ID? Did he really look that young.
Shinobu reluctantly pulled out the medallion hanging on his waist, and gave it to the receptionist.
The guy saw the crest, his eyes widened, not with fear like Shinobu expected, but with..... admiration??
The spider guy took it in one of his hands, and swiped it in-front of a mirror looking device that seemed to be made using alchemy, since Shinobu could sense some magic emitting from the device as it worked, it seemed to have the same function as the rods the guards were carrying.
"Right this way please" The receptionist replied after confirming his identity and giving the medallion back to Shinobu, grabbing a heart shaped key like the ones drawn on the inn's sign outside, he made his way out of the wide booth.
Shinobu's jaws almost hit the floor, his eyes became the size of dinner plates, and almost all the blood from his body instantly to his cock, leaving him slightly light-headed.
The guy was not wearing any pants!!!!
"If you would follow me this way please", the man was too polite for his own good, is what came to Shinobu's mind.
He followed him towards a flight of stairs leading to the floors above.
Shinobu couldn't stop himself from looking up at the guy.
He was hit with a severe wave of nose-bleed.
The guy, as he found out, wore nothing beneath the noragi, giving Shinobu a full unhindered view of his ass, his swinging low-hanging balls, and his flopping uncut cock.
Apperantly, he didn't notice before because the noragi the man wore covered a decent amount of his waist.
*hurk*, was all came out of Shinobu at that time, with his nose pouring out what blood left in his system out of over-stimulation, his raging hard-on probably hogging the rest.
The receptionist turn around to witness this, "SIR, are you okay?", nothing but genuine concern showed on both his face and voice.
"I'll be fine, just a little more tired than I thought", Shinobu's voice was a little muffled with him covering his mouth and nose trying, miserably to stop his bleeding nose.
Both hurried to Shinobu's room for the time of his stay.
It was a decent size, not too big or too small, with the same white and green walls as the reception area, a small ground-level table sitting in-front of the left wall, a futon laying in the middle of the room, a small window facing the door over-looking some buildings due to them being on a high floor, with the ocean and harbour both visible in a distance, a closet sitting beside it, and a small bathroom with a toilet, shower, and a sink with a smaller closet right above it.
It definitely had an atmosphere of luxury to it.
The receptionist had Shinobu sit on the futon, before going to the bathroom, coming back seconds later with a wet cloth.
He began patting the bloodied areas on Shinobu's face and his nostrils cleaning him, it seemed to help since the bleeding stopped and his cock started deflating, giving back the blood it harvested from his system.
"Thank you, I can take it from here", he reassured the guy while holding his slightly hairy hand in his, "you didn't have to go that far by the way"
"I had to sir, you're our precious customer, every costumer staying with us is", the spider replied trying to cover a torn area on his left sleeve.
"Thank you for caring", Shinobu smiled with appreciation at this employee's kind, quick and thoughtful actions.
"Is there anything else sir?" He asked a little too eagerly in Shinobu's standards. "No, I just need to sleep this dizziness, probably from losing all that blood", he said giggling lightly.
"Okay sir, I'll leave you to sleep now, my name is Naoto by the way", he stated his name since he hated being formal with his customers.
"Thank you Noato, I'm Shinobu", they shook hands and Naoto stood up to leave, at the door, "there is a small rope by the table connected to a bell downstairs, pull on it if you need anything", Shinobu looked and truly, there was a rope right above the table.
Naoto was closing the door, "oh, and sir? Pants and undergarments are optional to the staff here", he stated with a knowing smile.
Shinobu could not help but blush a deep red.
Naoto blew out a candle sitting on a pole beside the door before leaving his customer to his rest and return to his duties.
All the while with a smile on his face.
"I have a feeling he is going to be one interesting customer".