Everyone has heard about The Castle in the Clouds; [i]what[/i] people heard about it is another matter altogether. Some people said it was a great civilization that ascended even higher into the heavens, leaving all their material wealth behind. Some people believed that it was the gods themselves who built the city in the days when they watched over mortals. There were stories of treasure, legendary weapons, and mystic powers, and yet they were all still stories. Many people had set foot on that island, but none had brought back so much as a golden cup. And so, the stories persisted, grew, and evolved with the times.

Ryozan, however, cared little about the stories of wealth and mystery. There was a piece of land that few people could reach. That meant that the men who were up there would be notable indeed, if not in name, then certainly in their deeds, and deeds were all that Ryozan cared about. However, getting to that island posed quite a problem, for Ryozan had no means of taking to the sky. Well, no direct means anyway. "Take me beneath the island, and I'll handle it from there," Ryozan said to a ship captain, and with that the kitsune took to the sea. 

It wasn't long before Ryozan was in the island's shadow, and even with what he had planned it would be some time before he set foot on it. He thanked the captain and, with no hesitation, dove over the side into the sea. Due to his Cryomancy, the water about him plummeted in temperature, and a patch of ice formed on the ocean surface. Ryozan stood atop that platform, and then he began sculpting. Armed with nothing but a bucket and is magic, Ryozan formed a great glacier in the water and built a spire heading upwards. Tirelessly, he scooped water onto his spire, freezing it and adding to the mass, until it eventually approached the height of the island. Ryozan climbed to the top of his spire, and with a mighty leap, hurled himself onto the ancient land. Here he rested, consuming the small amount of rations he had brought and figuring he could subsist off of whatever was found on the island afterwards.

After a night's rest, Ryozan took to exploring the island. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he felt a strong intuition pulling him towards something. It was strange; Ryozan had no idea what was there, but he knew it was something. He walked past various foliage and ruined buildings not seeming to care what was in them, then he began to think that it wasn't his intuition that was guiding him, but the spirit of the place itself. It was a strange notion, but Ryozan had seen stranger things, and before long he found his way to the gates of the coliseum. And then he saw that he was not the only one here. 

He stopped in his tracks when he saw the man, who seemed to be enjoying himself, and noted the sword planted firmly in the ground. The expression on Ryozan's face was stern, not openly hostile, but far from friendly. His past had made him wary of strangers, especially those who seemed friendly, and even more especially those who could wield a blade. The man didn't look to be from any region he had ever visited, so it was unlikely that he knew of the Tanzo family, but the very fact that he made it to this place meant that he was a man to be reckoned with. [i]Is this what you wanted to show me?[/i] Ryozan wondered as he pondered briefly about the will of this strange place. Then he looked up at the coliseum. Only one thing happened in places like that. "You know how to use that thing?" he asked, gesturing to the stranger's sword as the beginning of a grin forced it's way through Ryozan's cold expression.