Miko

My name is Fumiko Senhoshi.

I am anything but a regular girl. Anything but average.

I love what I am. I love what I can do.

Daylight arrived like an explosion. There was bright light, and three distinct bursts of sound like thunder rippled through the morning sky. It was the alarm in this place. The wake-up chime in the plane built by her parents.

They had long since pulled back the veil of the aether and walked through, but their daughter was eons too young to follow. Instead, they left her here in the care of wild arcana, and golden shores.

There were no other humanoids here. Well, at least no other permanent residents. Days like this, Miko was all alone.

Well, there was Jormung. He was a giant amber snake that could talk.

"Morning milady," he whispered to her. His vocal chords weren't well developed and despite his size his whisper only carried at a volume slightly below that of a raised speaking voice for a person. His form raised above the balcony of Senhoshi Temple where Miko slept. She sat up and stretched, yawning and turning to face him.

The girl appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old. Beneath the red cheongsam dress, it was also evident that she had developed incredibly well both in aesthetic quality and physical fitness. Her long hair was a mess, partially in her mouth when she stared up into the red eyes of the serpent.

"Morning Jor." Miko scratched the back of her head and yawned again. There was a second set of thunderclaps in the sky. "Yeah yeah." Blue eyes closed and she pulled the dark strand of hair out of her mouth. It actually had a quite clear violet tone to it as well, shades of it appearing in the sudden light.

"

Hakutoshi Senrai awaits you below. He has been calling out to you for days. Will you go meet with him this time?

"

"I suppose," she said standing and stretching. Behind her, the inside of the Temple was remarkably bare. It was all in pristine condition, sparking floors despite being made of wood, ornate walls, but very little furniture. She hadn't even been sleeping on a bed, just the wooden floor of the balcony.

"Shall I carry you?"

"Nah, I've been getting lazy. I'll fly." That's what she called it anyway. Miko absolutely could not fly. Two steps forward and she leaped over the railing and shifted to nosedive. Below her there were clouds, above, a bright sun shining. She sailed past Jor's long amber body, as thick as the temple itself. A hand reached out to gently pet his scales while she descended. Into the clouds she went, hair and dress billowing behind her as she neared terminal velocity fearlessly. Ice began to form on her eyelashes and the smalls hairs on her face. Squinting a little, she continued her dive.

Jor's body moved, his massive head leaning down to follow her easily, "He has practiced another fifty years in the Gravity Plane. It seems he's gotten quite strong."

Miko smiled, "Oh goodie. Those Asura sure are hard up for battle."

"There is a little of their lineage in you bloodline, Milady. Perhaps that explains your equivalent desire to test yourself."

"Maybe," she replied in a sing-song voice. Soon she was through the clouds and could see the world below. Trees, large and towering over the landscape, thick trunks with the hardness of iron. There was a clearing in them, and atop one of the massive stumps was a white-haired man. He didn't look very old, but Miko knew he'd been around for centuries.

He wore a sword on his back and one on each of his sides. He had medals on his chest, and scars on his arms. The blades were large, and likely too much for an average person to wield in one hand, let alone two of them. As she descended, Miko watched him stand and turn to face her. His eyes were red, and a smirk appeared. She smiled as well.

"I have arrived!" Miko shouted just before she landed. Her descent ended with not a sound made. No rumble of the earth, no deafening crash. She arrived on a single toe, and then it bent and straightened to hurl her forward toward the man.

He struck.

The large blade swift like lightning, snapping from overhead to aim down the y-axis of her body. Miko caught it in both hands grinning up at the taller man, "Morning Senrai."

He scoffed, sharp teeth appearing when he fully smiled. He was only swinging with one hand, "You've gotten soft!" Senrai already had the second sword in hand, using the free one to heave a mighty swing toward Miko's side. She shifted her back foot in a quarter circle turn behind her and dragged the blade she'd caught into the path of the oncoming swing.

Clang!

The moment she blocked the shot, her left leg snapped into Senrai's knee causing him to turn slightly. The instant he did her foot sailed into his ribs knocking him back. She kept the caught blade. "You sure about that?"

Flipping it around she drove it into the tree trunk they stood on all the way to the hilt, and planted her foot on the bottom of it. Her arms rest on her knee and she grinned at him, "I don't think you've changed at all."

Senrai chuckled and suddenly slammed his hand into his chest, pulling out what appeared to be a katana with a long bloody blade, "In that case," he flashed it through the air, several trees in the distance suddenly beginning to fall, "let me show you the difference." The blood was now gone from it.

"Please, go right ahead."

Senrai made two swipes with his blades. They sliced the air so finely that the cutting energy did not dissipate, and instead traveled across the tree stump straight into Miko's body. She put up her arms to block but the energy knocked her off of her perch. A fine spray of blood exploded from a shallow cut, "Oh wow," said Miko, "eep!" There was Senrai again. Before she could touch the ground he'd closed the distance and swept her airborne foot out of place. Now he was swinging downward with that two-handed blade in his left hand, a wicked grin on his face.

Miko put one hand to the ground and pushed away from the slash letting it hit the tree trunk they were fighting on and split it in half. The cut carried on from all the way beyond the tree, out about fifty feet across the ground. Senrai lifted the blade and made a cross swing aiming at her midriff with his katana.

She used her still planted hand to push herself away, the shockwave sailing over her navel as she corrected her back, straightening in mid air so that it missed her. Her feet touched and she spun to right herself. Behind her several more trees were cut in half. "How was that, Little Miko?"

"It was fine," she said extending her hand. There was a drop of her blood resting on the tip of her finger and suddenly, she flicked it.

Senrai's head snapped back, feet sliding away from her, then suddenly his left shoulder, right shoulder, and finally he planted his feet and snapped his blade through the air twice to cut the remaining droplets fired at him. Miko sidestepped one shockwave and ducked the other still smiling.

There was blood on Senrai's forehead, and both shoulders, but it wasn't his. "You and your damned water techniques. How fast was that moving?"

"The blood droplets? Not sure. I know they can break rocks though. How's your face?"
..........................................................................
"Another excellent display, Milady," said Jor as he followed her with his head. "Perhaps you could stay a little longer?"

"I don't think so, Jor," she said, "I think I'm ready to go. I can't be here forever. The days are just getting longer and longer."

"You know your strength will take a long time to adjust to the Prime Plane, Milady. It could be very dangerous there for you."

"I know, Jor. That's not so bad, actually." She stared forward at The Gate. Far behind her the Great Forest was once again haggard by a swath of fallen trees. Senrai was embedded in one of them with a frown on his face.

"D-damn it! Not again. Why is she...?"

"If Milady desires it, then it shall be. Know that this place will be here for you when you are ready to return." Jor lay his head next to her and she moved over to hug the side of his face. It was leagues beyond to big for her to get her arms around.

"I know, Jor. Don't tell Senrai I left, okay? He'll figure it out."

"As you wish."

She stepped back and looked at her home again. There were great beasts soaring above in the sky, the Great Forest sprawled out, and behind The Gate even there was the vast Golden Ocean. Behind the forest, standing in the foreground of the Enlightened Peaks was the Senhoshi Temple standing like a massive pillar between heaven and earth, it's top high above the clouds. "Later!"

With that, she turned and made her way through The Gate. It was time she saw the birthplace of her mother, the Prime Plane.