The Past
Jack is walking along a mountain path when a small goat approaches him. Jack asks it if there is a time portal atop the mountain, but gets no answer. The samurai continues up the path, two more goats following him. When Jack reaches the top, he finds pillars of stones with goat heads on them. One goat leads him to a portal and Jack jumps in. However, Aku reaches in and pulls Jack out, laughing.
Jack runs past him and Aku destroys the portal, and says that it was the last time portal in existence. When Jack screams in fury, Aku taunts him and Jack leaps at Aku, swinging his mystic sword. Aku refuses to fight and transforms the goats into monstrous creatures. They charge forward and Jack kills one. Another knocks him back and Jack kills it as well. The final goat rams into Jack, who leaps clear and kills it. It transforms back into a small goat, and Jack realizes that he has killed three innocent creatures. He drops the sword and a pillar falls over, knocking the sword into the pit where the portal was.
Now
As they ride on a winged bird, Jack tells Ashi the story of how he lost the sword. They fly to the mountain and descend into the seemingly bottomless pit. Finally they reach the bottom and search for the sword. There are skeletons of goats, but no sign of the sword. Jack believes that the sword left him, and they fly back to the top. The bird flies away and Jack tells Ashi that he must go off on his own. He goes to the edge and meditates, and Ashi waits... and she sees a vast army approaching.
Jack finds himself in a grassy field. He walks on until he comes to a raft on a river. he steps aboard and takes it across the water and sky, and soon comes to a house. A monk is waiting and asks Jack if he's lost. When Jack says that he is, the monk invites him in for tea.
The army marches up the mountain path, and Ashi confronts them. The leader says that they're there to kill Jack, and Ashi tells him that she'll stop them. The soldiers laugh and then charge forward, and Ashi fights them, knocking them off the path to fall on the swords of their comrades. She leaps down and attacks the rest, killing them by the hundreds.
Jack performs the tea ceremony.
Ashi continue fighting the soldiers but they keeping coming by the thousands.
Jack makes and pours the tea, then offers it to the monk. The monk sips it.
Ashi stands among the bodies of her enemies, covered in blood. She whistles to the bird, which lifts her to the mountain top. One archer shoots at Jack, and Ashi leaps down and catches the missile just in time. Hundreds more arrows drop down, and Ashi uses a stone slab to block them. The High Priestess steps out and says that she knew Ashi would fail them. She tells Ashi that she can still honor Aku, gives Ashi a dagger, and tells her to destroy Jack. Ashi says that Jack showed her the truth, and the Priestess attacks her. The Priestess casts off her robe, and Ashi fights to keep her away from Jack.
The Priestess wonders how Ashi can leave Jack alive after he killed the other Daughters, and insists that Jack must die at any cost. She drops a slab on Ashi and leaps at Jack, and Ashi throws an arrow into her. The Priestess goes over the edge and Ashi collapses from her wounds.
The monk tells Jack that the tea is terrible. It has all of the necessary ingredients, but it lacks balance. He sees why Jack's path to the sword remains clouded. Jack demands that the monk show him the way, and the monk says that it is not his destiny to show Jack his path. The demonic Jack appears, telling Jack that the monk knows where the sword is. Jack asks the monk for the information, and the monk says that Jack must earn it. The demon tells Jack that after all they have been through, the monk has no right to deny them what is theirs. Jack stops him and says that they lost the sword because of his demonic self, and that the demon has consumed him for far too long.
The demon knocks Jack away, but Jack says that its anger and frustration has blinded them. He opens his eyes and blasts the demon away. The monk says that Jack is balanced, and Jack finds himself in the void, facing the gods. They tell Jack that he is worthy and blast him, and Jack is reclad as the Samurai. His sword appears and Jack takes it.
Jack opens his eyes and finds himself back on the mountaintop. He sheathes the sword and turns to see Ashi on the ground. Jack runs to pick her up, and she opens her eyes. She realizes that he got his sword back, along with a shave and a haircut. Jack thanks her and says that Aku is next.
Written by Gadfly on Apr 30, 2017