Descending Shadow (Story based RP)

[Shosuro Honzo]

(OOC-This thread will center on Shosuro Honzo's descent into madness. After the death of his twin Honsou at the City of Lies and the symbiotic connection between the two men severed, Honzo suffered not only mental anguish, but the physical wound from where the Oni's blade impaled Honsou also affected Honzo. After suffering two trips through the Shadowlands and being a captive of one of the Oni Lords that rule over the Festering Pit of Fu Leng, the Master of Shadows was infected with the Taint. For the longest time he has kept the vile corruption at bay, drinking Jade Petal Tea and using his strong will to contain it. However, after Honsou's death at the hands of the maho-tsukai Shoju, a man who once was a fellow Scorpion who betrayed his clan to become the Snake Clan champion and eventually became a ronin in the pursuit of his own nefarious goals of revenge against the Scorpion and its Champion, Bayushi Senshi, Honzo finds his sanity slipping. It is this moment that we find him in his inner sanctum, shortly after releasing the Unicorn battlemaiden Utaku Mai from his custody...)

[Shosuro Honzo]

Honzo sat in the lotus position on a stuffed silk cushion. Hidden away in his reclusiam, the Master of Shadows tried to take his mind off the recent events that caused him so much strife. Hands resting upon his knees, palms up with forefinger and thumb connected in circles, Honzo pushed his conscious mind deep within himself. Meditation would help him clear his thoughts, give him peace. Or so he deeply hoped.

Delving through the first few layers of subconsciousness was easy, as breathing or walking. Taking a deep, controlled breath and exhaling it, he pushed through the veil that would lead him further into his own mind. He dreaded going there, for he knew it would be waiting for him.

Just as he suspected, as soon as he crossed the threshold, he heard the sibilant whispers begin. He tried to ignore them as always, but the whispers were insistent this time. Normally, he was able to get past them, down further than they could reach, but he found his way barred.

Honzzooooooo....

No. Go away. I will not listen

Honzzoooooooo...come back to usssssss

The Master of Shadows felt the familiar, insidious tug within his gut. He tried to recoil, but the thing found purchase; his mind distracted, it grabbed him firmly.

NO! Release me! Honzo screamed into the darkness.

Hoooonnnzzooooooo...You are mine, Honzoooo. Cooooommeee baaack to usssss

The tug began to squirm within him. He clenched his teeth hard, tried to keep it still. It felt hesitation, then its hunger grew. It thrashed against his will. He fought against it with all he had. It was not enough.

The thing inside him swelled. Something burst, and he felt it grow. Thick tendrils of corruption sprouted, squirming from his core to spread into his limbs. His chest was on fire. His heart hammered, pounding in his ears but he could still hear the whispers. Now they were screams, and they reflected his own. But instead of fighting it, the darkness within exulted in it. Finally free, the thing inside him quickly took control. Honzo threw up as many barriers as he could, fought and fought with all he had. Finally, he slipped the grip of the thing and fled.

Honzo soared back through the layers of his subconscious. When he emerged to full wakefullness, his inhalation made his lungs ache. A coughing fit wracked him and he tore his mask off, flinging it against one of the walls, where it shattered. Dark blood spattered on the floor as Honzo expelled some of the Taint that was released from his loss of control.

The Master of Shadows had barely escaped, but at a great cost. All of his hard work to contain the corruption inside him was for naught. For the longest time he had kept it hidden, contained. Now, with this slip, that work was lost and he felt the Taint had spread. He looked at his hands but found they were still normal. He tore his robes off, casting them aside to examine his naked form. He moved to one wall, sliding open a hidden panel to reveal the gaijin reflecting glass that he hid there. Honzo often used the device to gaze upon his own reflection to remind himself who he truly was. Using a multitude of 'faces' in his duties, it helped to ground himself in his personal identity so that he could always return to his origins.

His eyes were closed. He feared what he would see there. Already there had been vast changes. He had kept his face hidden, even from Honsou after the Oni Lord infected him. He could still feel her claws raking the skin of his face, feel the blood dripping from his eyes. It was when he recalled her shoving her claws through his eyeballs that he truly shuddered. His screams as the wet, popping sound turned his world to fire and agony only served to haunt him each night. Then, when she breathed onto his face and licked the sockets clean of the gore, did he realize he could see again. But everything that his gaze fell upon turned to ashes.

People aged and withered and died. Objects cracked, crumbled and turned to dust. The world decayed and decomposed, only to revert and do so again. It was his curse. It was his nightmare, over and over.

He looked into the reflecting glass now with those haunted, empty sockets. Fell green flame kindled within his sightless sockets. That was how it always was since the Oni Lord had cursed him. But to see the flesh of his face now was something that he knew would give him fresh nightmares.

Where once soft, silky skin had been, now chitinous plates had formed. Where his mouth had been, now an insectiod maw with razor sharp teeth and pincers had sprouted. Honzo saw his new, horrific countenance and realized what he was becoming.

"I am the Scorpion," he said in a voice he no longer recognized.