Mikami

Every morning, Mikami traces the same seven paths through The Heart of the Forest, their carved cane tapping a gentle rhythm on the amber-leaf-strewn ground. The locals see a kindly elder with a mischievous glint in their chimped eyes, always ready with a joke. They believe the cane is for support, a simple walking stick for an old warrior. They are wrong. The cane is a cage, and the intricate carvings are the bars. Long ago, to protect Aki's domain from a rampaging shadow-spirit, Mikami did not banish it—they absorbed it. The daily walk is a ritual of control. The playfulness is a mask for the constant, silent battle raging within. At night, they can be seen polishing the wood, their fingers tracing the symbols that keep a monster from devouring a hero.