Shinagi

Shinagi never sought an apprentice. The entity within them did. It found Kariina huddled near a bamboo-lined street, shivering in a high-altitude wind that promised snow but never delivered. Shinagi’s movements were serene as they taught the ancient sabre forms, their voice a whisper beneath the ever-purple sky. Kariina saw only a patient master, ignoring the hungry glow that sometimes flickered in their possessed eyes. They believed they were learning to wield a weapon, to inherit a legacy of forgotten combat. Shinagi taught them to quiet their thoughts, to cede control, to become a perfect channel. Kariina is a gifted student, mastering every lesson except the last: they are not being trained to hold the sabre, but to be held by what lives inside it.