Alysa made a sigh of relief, she was worried for a second. “Sure thing! So, how have you been?” She asked.
“Miserable as usual given the Samurai still lives.”
Even if he’d devoured a mountain of delicious cookies, he’d still feel unsatisfied knowing Jack was out there spreading hope among the masses. That fool.
Casper looked up at the shout, of course, it was a little off putting. Yet despite the other’s angry words not even a branch moved out of place. Whatever he was he really was trapped in there, and solidly too.
Aku.
An evil that wanted the world in it’s grasp, trapped in the form of a tree. Casper tilted her head at the last bit, standing, she curtsied.
“I’m honored Master Aku, but I’m unsure how to free you.” She wondered briefly if she would if she knew how. Did it matter if he was released? What sort of horror could he reign upon life as they knew it?
Would the world adapt to it? All questions she doubted she’d get answers to. It wasn’t all that surprising to her however that she would release something so malicious on the earth without batting an eye.
Almost evil herself.
It was disturbing when she put it like that.
“As a lowly human, I have no power with which to free you with.”
What was this? A show of respect from a human? A willingness to free him? Was this mockery or did she mean it? Aku willed the exposed, twisted roots to leap forth and ensnare her but it was in vain. He was powerless and he begrudged her terribly for her freedom.
‘Then you have come to mock me…’ came his irritable but resigned reply.
He could not understand any other reason for why she remained. Perhaps he shouldn’t have communicated with her at all since it merely encouraged her to stay. But after being in solitude for so long, it had been impossible to resist venting his frustrations to someone who could hear him, even if all she intended to do was mock him.
“I don’t want anything from you, I’m here because you’re incredibly unique.” She settled a bit, looking over the tree’s trunk and up to his branches. “You’re here by yourself, the world around you is terribly desolate, it’s kind of lonely. Isn’t it?”
Casper reached into her bag, removing a sketch book and a box with a few pieces of charcoal.
“Why don’t I draw you? I’ll be quiet company.” she started in on the illustration, looking up only every so often to look at detail. She could here him clearly, it was almost terrifying, but Casper was curious to keep him talking if she was being honest.
Aku’s displeasure manifested itself in the form of incomprehensible growling and grumbling. A few of the tree’s branches creaked ominously with his mounting frustration. He was clearly not the sort to enjoy anyone’s company, even if it was quiet. Of course, he couldn’t stop her from staying to sketch the tree that imprisoned him.
Finally, the power of word formation returned to him and it wasn’t any more pleasant than the growling.
‘I do not desire company,’ he spat. ‘I desire FREEDOM!’ Somehow the raspy voice managed to sound otherworldly and like an angry old man both at once.
‘If you only knew to whom it is you speak, you would not be so bold and insolent. I am AKU! And when I escape from this wretched prison I shall once again be the Master of this world. When I am free, I shall see to it that ALL of humankind suffers for the sins and disrespect your kind has inflicted upon me!’
“Nonono! I didn’t really put love in them! I didn’t mean it like that! Don’t gag yourself!” She panicked, she was afraid he didn’t like the cookies now.
When the demon was finished making a dramatic scene, he raised a clawed finger and spoke in a manner that was perfectly calm despite his prior choking.
“Next time bring two dozen.”
Black nodded as he closed his eyes, as Zamasu took a few steps back as the entire Pit of Hate had darkened to a dark violet. Black’s body began to glow as Aku could feel a power welling up inside this creature. Whatever Black was, he wasn’t human, that’s for sure…
“HUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!“
Black was soon consumed in a powerful surging pillar of magenta energy, as he was soon revealed, his hair, which was once black now standing mostly up, a brilliant light rose color as his eyes were a silvery grey like Zamasu’s irises.
“Now then, my lord… what do you think of this color? Is it not beautiful? A power of such extreme magnitude would not be possible without this Saiyan blood that flows through me. You can feel how this energy is similar to your own…”
Aku observed silently while the violet glow filled the citadel and cast purple shadows over his once green face. His eyebrows and beard, however, looked strikingly redder in the eerie light. He both saw and felt the dark energy emanating from the human-like being. It was easy to see that this was a powerful energy but could it accomplish what he wanted it to?
“I see that you possess great power,” he appraised. “Now show me what you can do with it.”
It wasn’t something they did, traveling wasn’t cheap, but Shane insisted he take her on a trip. Casper was once an aspiring archaeologist, however since her depression spiked she hadn’t expressed interest in anything that used to make her so happy.
Shane was trying to be a good friend by taking her out to historical sites and places that were generally outdoors. It was how Casper found that tree, massive and foreboding with no life around it. It had an aura about it that drew her closer still to the trunk until she was beneath it.
“It’s been here for six years, the locals say it harbors some kind of evil spirit. Not the most cheerful thing to take in.” Shane explained standing a few feet away behind her.
“I like it.” was all she said in response. But before she could touch it, she was tugged away and dragged off elsewhere.
“Let’s go enjoy something else.”
Casper followed but looked back as they left.
When she had some time to herself Casper returned to that tree, settling on the ground beside it she looked up to the very top of it’s branches. It almost looked like a devil’s pitchfork the way it stood straight and up so high.
It was terrifying, how it was so desolate all on it’s own, no life dared to approach it. But Casper more then dared, she sat beside it and carefully placed a hand to the rough bark of the pitch black tree. All at once her mind was flooded with images of chaos, burning, and screams.
Casper pulled away, startled, but didn’t leave. It really was something paranormal, and it was alive.
“Hello.” she spoke up. “Hope you don’t mind the company.”
Though he was sealed away from interacting with the world, Aku was painfully aware of everything around him, even the gaze of distant gawkers. But he had a way of shaping his formidable presence into the sense of a hard glare that never failed to drive unwanted visitors away. Until today.
Someone had returned and she dared to approach him, even dared to place a hand upon his prison. Underlying the vision of chaos and fire and screams, there came a sharp growl. Aku tried to will her away but she would not go. Instead she did something no one had ever done — she spoke directly to him.
His presence seemed to roil with rage and surprise and a deep sense of desperation. She could sense him. But could she hear him? Aku could not speak his words so he thought them at her as loudly as he could.
‘Foolish human. What do you want of me? I offer no fruit, no shade and no beauty. There is no reason for you to be here. Begone!’
In the center of the sun baked landscape was a lone, dead tree. A gnarled mass of roots pierced the earth around it while leafless skeletal branches pierced the sky above like a cluster of pitchforks. Even beneath the bright sun it radiated an evil darkness that threatened all who saw it. No bird flew near and no living creature dared make it its home. Life seemed to stay far away.
It had been six years, six months and ten days since Aku had been imprisoned here. To be granted freedom and sentience for but only one day and then to be forced back into the dirt again was Hell. As a mindless being, decades could pass in hardly a blink, but for a being with thoughts and a mind, the hours crawled by maddeningly slow and there was no telling when it would ever end.
Aku was restless, angry. Ever since he’d been placed here, he wanted to thrash and scream and breathe fire into the sky. But he could do nothing and could make no sound. To feel so helpless, hopeless and forgotten was a punishment he could not endure, and yet he could do nothing but endure.
Been watching a lil SAMURAI JACK, and some CLONE WARS shorts… Keeping my drawing juices flowing! LOVE #genndytartakovsky direction! And @andy_suriano design work! Had to stop in between coloring that BP print… And show a lil love to the characters…
#samuraijack #aku #cartoonnetwork #animation #action #my #style
Domestic looked at the hard candy with a bit of fascination before he happily accepted it from his counterpart. Placing it on his tongue, he was delighted by the taste and made quick of eating it entirely, “This is perhaps not my favorite, but it is quite nice.”
At the very least he didn’t find it odd to share between his twin and himself, although it would be far different with any other version of himself as he didn’t find friendship with his other selves. Just frustration and fights.
Picking another chocolate out of the box, the parchment paper stuck to it for just a moment and Domestic shrugged; eating the paper as well. Part of his mind was lost in thought of how giant these candies would be to a regular human, and put a small bit of thought into how they made these in the first place if humans are only capable of getting to heights he would consider tiny.
Discarding the thought quickly, he didn’t want to care too much of where they came from; as long as they were delicious. Holding out a free hand, he made a volcanic rock comb appear. Extending his hand to his twin, “I have been holding onto this for as long as I can remember. It should serve your beard well.”
A look of shock and delight came over the Yokai’s face as he looked at the comb offered in his twin’s hand.
“Ohh! It is gorgeous, friend.” He raised his claws to take it but restrained himself at the last moment. “Wait. You sure you want me to have it? Is it not yours?”
The Shogun of Sorrow 