LORE: The Song of the Ronin & the Beast (Part 3/3)

Part 3

Quidy wasn’t the same after the assault on the wild island. It was a battle that didn’t even have a name, because the island didn’t have a name and the people didn’t have a name. For Quidy it was like his time on the island had never existed and he was thrown back into court life. He was assigned as Lady Oyster’s bodyguard, like he’d originally requested, but things were different now. Lady Oyster tried to reconnect with Quidy, but he was distant, only putting any care into his duties as her protector. She eventually gave up and the years passed like this, with the two of them, once as close as pirates could be, now distant.

Quidy had always known the Admiral Shogun to be cruel, but after witnessing the assault on the wild island, he now saw that cruelty wherever he looked. He knew the Tokugunnel Archipelago was clutched in his iron fist, but there was nothing Quidy could do, since it was his sworn duty to protect and serve the shogun. But others saw the pain the Admiral Shogun was inflicting on the archipelago and sought to stop him.

It was late one winter night, with cold breezes that reminded Quidy of the winter he had spent on the wild island. He heard whispers from outside his room, surprised that the Lady Oyster would be having visitors so late at night. Before he had a chance to investigate, the Lady Oyster herself appeared at his door. She had a weary look in her eye. She explained that there were those in the court who would stand up to the Admiral Shogun, put his reign of terror to an end. She asked if Quidy would help them. He was torn. He wanted to be rid of the Admiral Shogun and the nightmares he endured, but if he did... then he would have no honor.

The Lady Oyster saw the pain this choice was causing him and pressed him no further. Which was a good thing, since the Admiral Shogun knew about the treachery and it was only through Quidy's protection that the Lady Oyster wasn't captured along with the other traitors. Quidy wouldn't have been able to manage much more time in court life, now seeing that the only person he cared about had given up as well. Luckily, everything changed when a stranger arrived at the castle the following spring.

Years had passed and all opposition to the Admiral Shogun had long been quashed. Which is why it was so surprising when a lone swordsman, his face hidden in a hood, arrived at the castle, demanding single combat with the shogun. He was immediately refused, but managed to defeat all of the guards that were thrown at him. Soon the Admiral Shogun’s own guards stepped in, then the samurai too. No one could land a blow on this mysterious swordsman.

Quidy’s honor compelled him to intervene, but quickly found that this swordsman was faster and stronger than Quidy had ever been. But Quidy had been trained by the greatest swordsmen of the archipelago and tried to use his wits to outsmart the swordsman.

But it was all for naught. In their final glancing blow, Quidy was able to knock the swordsman’s hood off, revealing the twisted face of a beast underneath. He was a monstrous creature with tusks, a snout and thick fur. And yet there was something familiar about this beast. Something that Quidy couldn’t quite place. The bright orange sunglasses reminded Quidy of something he hadn’t thought about in years…

Every time he was bested, Quidy stood up again to stand between the beast and the Admiral Shogun, but no matter how many times the beast won, he wouldn’t finish off Quidy. For some reason he would never deliver the fatal blow.

Eventually Quidy collapsed, not able to lift a limb to stop the beast from fighting the Admiral Shogun. It was like a twisted nightmare for Quidy as he slipped in and out of consciousness… with the beast besting the shogun and ending his life.

The palace was ransacked after that with feuding lords trying to take control for themselves. The beast didn’t care about any of that and vanished. Lady Oyster managed to summon those loyal to her and fled back to her homelands in the north, taking an unconscious Quidy with her.

Once Quidy woke up Lady Oyster insisted that he continue with her back to her home, for them to finally be together. But Quidy refused. He had dishonored his name by not being able to protect his lord. But even worse, he had dishonored himself by ever serving such an evil man as the Admiral Shogun. Quidy stripped himself of his name, taking the moniker of Reef Ronin instead, vowing that he would only ever return to his own name once he’d brought honor to himself once again. Not serving a lord, but serving the people and doing what he knew to be right.

And since then Reef Ronin has done a lot in the hopes of bringing honor to his name… but those are stories for another time.