Tsuneaki

Every morning, Tsuneaki carefully unfolds the Panda fan they carry, tracing the bamboo struts as if committing them to memory for the first time. They were told they survived a terrible accident in The Crystal Highlands of Armaria, and that their benefactor, a quiet scientist, asks only for loyalty in return for saving their life. The truth is a secret kept even from Tsuneaki. They did not survive an accident; they failed a mission. They were not saved; they were rebuilt. The magic used was a variant of the grim sorcery that resurrected the vengeful spirit Genkei, but with a different aim: not vengeance, but obedience. The ninja mask hides the vacant, starry gaze that is a permanent side effect, a sign that the soul did not return entirely whole. They guard the scientist's fortress, a gentle, loyal shadow who remembers nothing of the warrior they once were.