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[color=gray]The loud jostling noise of a bamboo stick slamming into each of the iron bars was enough to wake anyone up. As his body jolted awake, his eyes opened to the last of the sun’s rays shining through a small opening disguised as a window in their otherwise barren jail cell. Reaching for the amagasa he didn’t have, Aki sighed in defeat as he knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. A guard approached their cell with a raspy voice filled with conviction, making them aware that this little holding center was only a rest stop for their transfer to their final destination, prison. They only had a few minutes between now and then to prepare for their transfer, but with nothing to their name how were they supposed to prepare? Aki was one of the last prisoners to arrive in what was already an almost full holding cell. What had he done to get into a hole like this? The mute vagabond was simply a victim of circumstance, wrong place at the wrong time. 

The young samurai had stumbled into a less than desirable town, eyes descended on him as soon as he stepped foot inside the village’s invisible borders. Walking street to street, alley to alley he found him self down a road famous for extortion. Of course, this knowledge wasn’t privy to him until after he had succumbed to it. Rather than pay for the scam, the righteous crane simply yielded his right to the law nearby whom were most likely to be part of said scheme. Regardless, he was there now and sat next to five other undesirables in the thick of it. The first sat across from him, a mountain of man who challenged the height limit of the room itself. It was a wonder how they managed to bind him let alone get him to fit in such a claustrophobic space. He must have fallen on top of someone and crushed them to death. Whatever the case was he was an older man, twice the age of Aki, and four times the muscle. 

Next to him was a girl which was an odd sight to see, most often if not always women were killed after having been accused of a crime. It was only recently that any form of [i]justice[/i] was applied to them which usually involved asylums and being at the mercy of the warden. Her eyes were incredibly large and the first thing he noticed about her, perhaps she was guilty by association with the massive bear by her side, preventing her early death. Next to her was another man much closer in age to the girl beside him, however far shorter than everyone in the room. Missing not only an eye but also an arm only served to further peak his curiosity. Whatever reason he was put at such a disadvantage must have warranted skills enough to land him in a jail cell. Next was something or someone Aki didn’t know what to make of, a mingling of all walks of life in one, reeking of alcohol. Both sight and smell weren’t too pleasant, leading him to believe the old man was a drunk who was caught publicly indecent or attempting to steal.  

Nevertheless, Aki still had a respect for his elders and would later pray for the man in return. Finally, there was what seemed like a foreigner to their natural lands in a boy similar in both physique and skill to Aki. The most prominent feature being his jagged black nails, but before he could guess what crime he committed their cell had been unlocked. Guards congregated inside the cells making sure both hands and feet were secured and bound by a chain connecting the two. One by one in a straight line they were paraded out of the cell and into the back of an armored cart. The last of the guards retrieved what could only be described as the chest containing all their weapons and possessions inside, of course that was loaded into a separate compartment far away from their reach. The car itself was of the highest caliber design that the time permitted. The design was of a simple wagon but enclosed in metal with a Japanese styled roof with no windows. There was one large iron door that served as both exit and entry point and a section in the front for the operator of the two horses pulling the wagon. 

They rode in silence with no whispers or murmurs within the wagon walls. Only a short spell into their journey did things start to go awry, suddenly the cart began to violently jerk. The sound of horses neighing in fear bounced of the walls of the wagon. There was a burst of speed, a pause, and then a lull in which the cart came to a complete stop. Both neighing and yelling came to a deafening stop. Knots formed in Aki’s gut knowing there was something coming on the horizon. Intuitively he dislocated his thumb, sliding his one hand free before attending to the other. Just as he had gotten his hand free a monstrous thud hit the side of the wagon sending it flying to its side. The force of the attack was enough to shatter and loosen the hood of the wagon revealing the nights starry sky.  The muscles in his legs were filling with oxygen ready to break the shackles around his legs and aim for the chest that was just in a few strides reach. 

Dashing outside he managed to arrive at the chest undetected, the horses had been decapitated and the guards were being killed and devoured by demons in the distance. Neither their numbers nor their goals were discernible to him. Perhaps they sought to kill them next and for a moment Aki thought about leaving the others behind as punishment for their crimes, but instead turned back and freed them one by one, starting with the towering giant. What fate was about to unfold for the unlikely company of prisoners?[/color]
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