She wasn’t sure how long she had been laying here, but after what she assumed was a few moments, a twig snapped. Her eyes popped open, and she frantically looked around her. Another snap, and she whipped her head around; she could’ve sworn her heart had stopped. A familiar pair of yellow eyes peered out at her. “Ah!” Mustering her strength, Ashi managed to scoot away from the creature, her back hitting a tree. Slowly, a scaled foot stepped out of the darkness, followed by a long yellow maw. The little girl found herself frozen. As the creature grew closer, her mind began to work once more. She attempted to recall her training, but didn’t know anything that would be of use against a monster like this. She had no weapon, and she was sure the creature would tear a limb off if she attempted to punch or kick it.
Suddenly, the creature was lunging at her. Somehow, she managed to move, and rolled out of the way. Looking back, she could see the creature’s jaws were stuck on the bark of the tree. Without a second thought, she sprinted away. After a few meters though, her legs once again grew numb. No! No matter how hard she pumped them, they simply gave out under her. She fell once more, her chin hitting the dirt. Ashi could hear the creature moving about, searching for her. What was she going to do?
The monster thrashed wildly until it had wrenched itself free. Then it turned from the tree, tongue lashing into the air as it searched once again for its prey. The beast was easily the size of a truck, not including its long tail. Its jaws were filled with teeth like those of a crocodile and dripped with venomous saliva. Despite its size, it moved with considerable speed and stealth, quickly zeroing in on where its victim had gone. Creeping closer to the fallen human, it parted its jaws and prepared to lunge forward with a snap of its teeth, but the sound of great beating wings overhead made it freeze in its tracks.
Aku, in the form of an enormous black wyvern, dove out of the sky with a roar that shook the forest. His clawed feet and talon-tipped wings struck the earth around Ashi as he landed directly above her, enshrouding her with his thick leathery wings. His sudden appearance struck fear into the beast and sent it scuttling away to a safer distance. However, it didn’t seem ready to leave just yet. Hissing, it turned and was poised to lunge with a toxic bite.
But Aku was having none of that. He opened his jaws and spat forth a great torrent of flames. The beast, finding itself engulfed in the inferno, finally turned and fled into the forest. Victorious (and still enraged), Aku bellowed thunderously after it, “STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!”
“Ah!” Her foot catching a branch, Ashi tripped and fell to the forest floor. She didn’t bother to get up. How long had she been running? Her muscles felt like liquid, and she almost felt as if she were going to throw up. Why did she have to wander away again? Why did she get so distracted? Tears bubbled in her eyes, and she didn’t bother to wipe them away. Her mother’s harsh voice hissed in the back of her head, condemning her for her weakness.
The lure of the forest had just been too much for Ashi, and she had wandered in without another thought (and away from the escorts her father had given her). She must have walked for over twenty minutes before she saw big, yellow eyes peering at her from the darkness. Immediately, she had taken off in a sprint. She didn’t even stop when she realized she was lost. Now, she was tired, hungry, thirsty, and in the middle of nowhere. Her complacency with just staying on the ground scared her a bit; was she going to die here? You deserve it her mother seemed to say. Ashi didn’t protest.
Aku’s schedule was packed with his various obligations as galactic overlord, such as accepting tributes from his subjects, hearing the pathetic pleas from those seeking his aid, spying, punishing resistance leaders, conferencing with his useless team of scientists, etc. He’d thought it would be perfectly fine to allow his daughters outside with a few escorts after their training. Surely, his guards could babysit some little girls for a few hours without messing up, right?
All seemed to be going well until Aku received a phone call.
“Yes, this is Aku speaking,” he answered begrudgingly. The voice on the other line trembled, ‘Boss, we uh… we lost one of your daughters. We don’t know what happened. She just disappeared!’
The demon overlord was suddenly very awake.
“YOU WHAT?” he screamed. Then, slamming the phone down with a growl, he turned to his spy screen on the wall and began searching. There was no doubt in his mind which daughter it had been to wander away. He knew from the day he found her that Ashi had a knack for getting herself lost. It wouldn’t be so bad if her powers were awakened, but as it was, she was merely a defenseless child and Aku found himself searching rather frantically through the scenes of his spy screen.
Finally, as Aku panned over a forest, it dawned on him where it was she had gone. The child had a strange fascination with nature and beauty so it made perfect sense that she would have been drawn to it like a moth to flame. But Aku also knew that the forest was home to a wide assortment of beasts, both natural and unnatural.
Unbeknownst to him, one such beast had caught Ashi’s scent with a flick of its lizard tongue. The creature, with its large yellow eyes, was presently making its way through the forest, stalking quietly after its human prey.
The Shogun of Sorrow 