Ryuzen finally awakens and he is shocked to see Isabell laying her head on his chest. It seems she was watching over him through the night and must have fell asleep at some point in the night. The morning light makes her already shiny blond hair shine like an angel's glowing light from heaven Ryuzen thinks to himself. He feels a stinging pain on his forehead which causes him to move slightly, and Isabell stirs at his movement, she lifts her face and moves herself back to a kneeling position beside him. She smiles at him and says, "Good morning I am glad you are awake" Ryuzen smiles back and says, "We have much to discuss, first of all who are you really?" "You deserve the full truth now, the elders have told me what has happened to you, First of all I am from a long line of ancient seers connected to the three weavers of fates, my family is originally from ancient Greece, and we were at one point called the Oracles of Delphi and we had been the advisers to many great kings and leaders seeking are guidance. It was a gift from the fates, and we were gifted fragments of dreams or visions of that leader or country fate to help advise them. Gods and kings alike could not change their fate, but we could help at least to guide them in way to help them cast there shadow longer in life but not alter their fate. For over a millennium we guided the people and gods alike. Then one day a young god came to see us asking about how to change his mother's fate. He wished to prevent her from dying of an illness she was afflicted with and was not expected to live much longer. This god's name was Melanios and he came to my ancestor the oracle of Delphi and ask of how he might change her fate. The oracle consulted the fates, and it was stated that she was fated to pass away and to accept her passing. This answer of course angered Melanios and vowed he would find a way to alter his fate. He left and returned to the underworld and visited his mother Persephone and his father Hades to let them know of the fates answer. His mother told him that she was ready to pass on and that he should take comfort in knowing she will no longer be in pain and at peace. Hades accepted his wife request but Melanios in his heart would not accept fates tyranny over himself and unfortunately with the death of his mother it drove him ever deeper into despair and anger" Ryuzen face was completely at attention to her story and Isablell noticed and was pleased and she continued, "Melanios did not begin with the power to change fate but he forced fate to answer him. He searched the underworld and finally a forbidden text was found in a cave deeper than Tartarus with a long-forgotten knowledge on how to break fate and it stated Fate cannot be rewritten by strength, prayer, or blood alone. It can only be interrupted."

  She continued to explain the ritual "To do this, three conditions must be met for The Ritual of the Severed Thread to be met, First the innocent must be unchosen, A victim must be someone whose fate has not yet been "measured" by Lachesis. A child, A monk who has taken no vows yet, or a farmer's daughter on the morning of her wedding. Someone who still stands at a branching point. This matters because fate has not fully hardened around them. Second the death must be meaningless the sacrifice cannot serve a cause, a god or a belief, no war, no ritual offering, no justice or revenge as the text stated. The death must be pointless. This will offend Atropos, because her cut is meant to end a story, not erase one. Finally, the blood must fall where time is thin, Melanios must choose a place where the worlds overlap which could be a battlefield where no victor was recorded, a shrine abandoned after a forgotten war, A crossroads where travelers disappear but no one remembers them. When the innocent dies their fate will hesitate, the hesitation becomes a wound. Melanios now armed with the knowledge on how to stop his fate he looked for the perfect victim and finally after century of patience the perfect victim presented itself in the form of a traveling priest who was traveling to a shrine to begin his life as a priest of a new temple. Melanios posing as a monk tricked the poor soul into following him into an abandoned shrine near Sparta that was used by an army in a long-forgotten war. As soon as the poor monk entered the shrine Melanios stabbed him from behind and at the moment of his death Melanios refused to let the soul pass, not by force but by delay. He bound the dying breath to his own heartbeat creating the first Time Marker. A moment where fate does not know if the death has occurred. Melanios had succeeded in manufacturing the first-time marker, but it costs him something permanent. The fates did not punish him immediately for his heresy as that would acknowledge his success and instead Clotho stopped spinning threads that touched him. Lachesis refused to measure his lifespan. Atropos turned her blade away. Melanios became unrecorded. He exists, but fate no longer keeps track of him properly. The time marker allows him to rewind his own death, step sideways out of destined moments, teach others false methods that collapse their fates, but he can never be truly alive, die cleanly, or ever be reunited with his mother in the afterlife as she passed on naturally" Ryuzen asks, "Why is his power considered evil?" "Melanios does not change fate by choosing differently but robbing it of a certainty. Every time he uses his time marker it creates ripples of forgotten people, leaves ghosts who were never meant to exist, weakens the three fates ability to see the future. Melanios proved he can bleed fate with the unnatural time marker" It was then Ryuzen realized something, "If fate had chosen someone with a true destiny or someone the fates have already designated, they would have resisted him but someone who fate has not been measured yet or defined were considered irrelevant is a crime they cannot forgive" Isabell nodded in agreement and then placed her hand on his hand and stated, "You are the only one who can counter balance his chaos and as you begin to understand your powers the more you will be able to stop the bleeding and begin to repair the fates. Each fate of someone you change will repair the damage Melanios has already done. I will help you when you want to decide a fate or situation by getting a fragment of information to the choices you make. We are bound now and I will not leave you in this quest" Ryuzen blushed red in his cheeks as he was embarrassed by how forward she was being and he had no experience in this. She noticed his blushing and smiled gently and moved back away from him and he seemed a little less tense. "I know this is a lot to take in and we will have more time to discuss what comes next and will talk later. Then his father Jinsai came into his room, and he breathed a sigh of relief in seeing his son awake, Isabell then arose to stand up and bowed her head in respect to Jinsai and exited the room.

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  Jinsai then attended to his son and servants brought in some food for the Ryuzen. After he ate and was feeling better, he explained to his father the dark stranger who attacked him and his scouts. Ryuzen explained the man was looking for Joam and his daughter, but it did not seem he was connected with the Imagawa (He did not mention to his father about the three fates and dark strangers' real identity). Jinsai then handed him the black katana that was found near Ryuzen, when Ryuzen held the black katana, it felt ice cold to the touch. Ryuzen then stated to Jinsai, "It is very cold to the touch, yet it can cut a man's head with one strike cleanly off, this sword is unnatural but truly unique piece of weaponry" "Indeed my son and this is now yours since you fought and survived this warrior though I still don't understand how you survived at the moment but may this weapon serve you well with Kurokane" Ryuzen then remembered the time marker on his sword "Father where is Kurokane?" "I have it safely back on the sword rack in the weapons room, why?" "May I have it back near me?" "Of course, son, I have a servant clean and service it and bring it to you right away". Then Jinsai left Ryuzen room and he was finally left alone to his thoughts. "I am going to fight to protect my clan and family and whatever happens I will move with the currents of life and adapt. I will stop Melanios from hurting Isabell and keep her safe. I will hone my skills and new powers to create a better world than the one I was born into. This I vow here and now as member of the Kuroda clan upon my honor I will see the fates healed"

  A few days later when Ryuzen was feeling better he woke up before the rooster crow like normal. He sat up from bed and ran his face across his face to feel the new scar and thought to himself hopefully no more scars added to my face anymore. He got dressed and wrapped his black cloth around his head grabbed Kurokane and his new blade he now calls now Yamiuchi (Strike from the Dark), and the small, short sword Kageboshi. He makes his way deep into the bamboo forest away from anyone who could see Ryuzen practice. Finaly after a mile into the forest he came into a small clearing in the forest, he stood in the middle and started his meditation but this time he was holding Kurokane and begins to feel an overwhelming sense of weight on his mind and he begins to slow his breathing, and a leaf falls from a tree near him and then just freezes mid fall. As Ryuzen continues to meditate with Kurokane his new time marker he then opens his eyes and sees the leaf go into reverse back into the tree and placed on the tree branch seconds before it had fallen. Then time starts again and the leaf falls like before in real time and hits the floor. Ryuzen is drenched in sweat, and he places Kurokane back into its scabbard. He feels the morning chill and steam is coming off his skin. He then pulls out Yamiuchi and it feels colder than the morning winter chill and grips it tightly and then begins to practice his strikes. With each strike nearby bamboo trees are cut in half like a hot knife through butter. He feels the katanas strikes and each cut makes it colder than before and he struggles to hold it and finally he stops when his hands are numb completely. Ryuzen thinks I must build better stamina to be able to better hold and control this weapon. He looks around and sees the small clearing is now much bigger with freshly cut trees around him. The morning sun is finally peering through the trees, and it has nearly been two hours since he started and yet he was not done yet despite the numb hands and being drenched in sweat. He then begins stamina building exercises walking to the nearby brook and taking his shirt and robes off and plunging himself into the water and keeping his head above the water. He ignores the winter cold and the water temperature and keeps his mind focused on breathing and what seems like an eternity but actually 10 minutes passed by and then exits the water dries himself off and gets dressed and walks back home. Ryuzen has been talking with Isabell and learning more about the fates and how to control his new power, but he still keeps his mind on helping his father run the estate and keeping ever vigilant for Melanios return. Then as he is walking back toward home the conch shell blows and runs as quickly as possible back to home. He sees several of his father men gathering weapons and horses and getting dressed for battle. His father comes out of the house in his full samurai armor in all black and even though it is old and battle worn his father looks very formidable. He sees Ryuzen, "To arms son get your armor on and meet us at the stables, our lords son Katsuyori Takeda has sent a rider and asked us to aid him in battle against bandits in a nearby village, I know you are still recovering but our lord has summoned us and we must do our duty" Ryuzen nods and runs into his home, he decides to leave Yamiuchi as he feels he has not fully mastered it yet but takes Kurakane and his short sword. Ryuzen does not have much armor accept a leather breastplate and removes his headband and puts on his hachigane which consists of metal plate sewn into another soft black headcloth to guard against blade strikes. Jinsai has not been able to get Ryuzen his own full samurai armor yet and so Ryuzen will have to make do with what he has for now. Still dressed in black from head to toe but wearing the simple hachigane and leather breastplate over his robes he fastens his weapons to his belt and exits the mansion and heads to the stables and sees Isabell wave at him and wishing to be safe and return unharmed. He nods his head and keeps moving along. Everyone of Jinsai men eight in total are on horseback in various pieces of armor and armed with a katana and spear. Jinsai is also on horseback and armed with his katana and short sword and once Ryuzen is mounted on his horse he yells we ride east to the next village to aid our young lord in his fight against the bandits. They immediately ride off and into the direction of the battle and Ryuzen feels the adrenaline rush and excitement for this fight, even though he is young but he no longer a child but a warrior in all but name and he will prove his worth in this full pitched battle. He feels in his heart that time to command fate is now and he will forge a path that everyone in this land can live in peace and not fear and rides behind his father eager to begin.