Tales of Sore

Pronunciations and Meanings

Hello, beautiful! Before you find your way into the lives of our characters, do have a look at some of the words listed below.

Sore- The One – (So-ray)

Suna- Sand – (Soona)

Kasai- Fire – (Ka-zaee)

Mizu- Water – (Mee-zoo)

Lightning- Rai- (Ra-ay)

Hyousuke- Helpful Soldier – (Haya-sook)

Hachirou- The Eighth Son- (Achi-row)

Tamashii- Soul- (Tama-shi)

Hope this helps!

Prologue

A group of people, known as the eldest of the clan were moving deeper and deeper into the caves, a single candle held by one of them was the only source of light spreading wide into the old dark and cracked walls of the cave. They moved down through the rocks, which would hardly be qualified as stairs. The area got darker and darker, even the full moon’s light could not reach there. It was indeed a sacred night of secrets in the Suna-land.

All the chosen men of Suna-land were walking down the cave, wearing the similar long khaki robes reaching all the way to their feet. They had been training very hard for this moment from a very young age, knowing that all this training could go in vein. Only one of them would be blessed with the power and entrusted to be the guardian of the Sand village.

“We are here,” said the old man in the front, when he approached towards the bottom of the cave. His four partners took their places around him to start the ritual.

The oldest of them raised his right hand and put out the candle leaving behind nothing but darkness and deadly silence. None of them dare to move, or even breathe till Misori started speaking:

“We are gathered here to perform the holy ritual, from the power gifted to us by the God of Sand. The holy power of Suna-Tamashii (soul of Sand) will be transferred from one life to another. The secret shall remain in our hearts till our last breath.”

Misori’s body started to glow, starting from his right hand and spreading throughout his body. A red beam of light came out of his heart and entered into the strong man standing in front of him. It was just a matter of few seconds and Misori’s body was lying lifeless on the floor.

“The sacred ritual has been performed,” said a man from behind.

“The power has chosen its owner.”

Chapter 1:

Sore tip-toed her way towards her father’s room, she turned the door knob and pushed open the door to see her father sitting on his chair with his favorite book placed on his chest. The book was gifted to him by Sore’s mother, and Daiki had made a habit of reading it every night ever since his wife died.

Sore noticed that his eyes were shut. Horrible thoughts rushed into her mind as she quietly moved towards him. As she reached closer, she raised her left hand towards his nose, feeling her muscles tightening, when suddenly her father made a snoring sound. Sore rapidly moved backwards, and with a sigh of relief she walked towards the door.

"Marbles? Is that you?" She heard her father’s sleepy yet deep voice from the back.

She turned around to see her father’s brown eyes gazing at her. “Did you have another one of your weird dreams?” he inquired.

Sore sighed loudly. It was true, what her father had guessed. Ever since she turned five, she had been listening to all the stories of how all the chosen men of the Kasai-land were dying before the Kasai-Tamashii could be transferred into any of them. Sore would often have dreams about her father’s death, as he was one of the chosen men. She would wake up in the middle of the night and check on him to make sure that the dream was not real.

Sore did not answer him, but started to walk outside the room with her hands in her pockets. It was the third time this week when she had had the worst nightmare of her life. She went to her room and decided to read herself to sleep.

The next day, Sore was asleep until it was noon. She was never a lark, rather the opposite of it. Her grandfather had always disapproved of her unhealthy life style with no breakfast and early morning walk. But Sore’s father had always came to her rescue whenever she was about to get lectured on anything.

Sore’s relationship with her father was labelled as unusual by the villagers. Sore had never seen her mother who died while giving birth to her. Her definition of the word parents. Though Daiki was amongst the most powerful chosen men of the village and the villagers perceived him as a tough aggressive fighter with massive strength but for Sore, her father was the most humble being she had ever witnessed. With his honest brown eyes, a small beard and cheeks always wrinkled by his smile lines. For Sore, her father was her home.

“Oh great, your highness is up!” Hyousuke said, teasingly as he acted out a bow when he saw Sore entering the dining room.

“Ah! Madame, would you care to give a second of your precious time to a peasant like me?” he added, knowing Sore had never appreciated his sense of humor.

“Not today, I have a class to teach till the evening,” Sore replied, as she started to add butter on her bread. Sore was a professional nurse, who had been hired as the youngest doctor for the participants of the quadrennial “battle of the survivor.” For the rest of her time, she would teach her skills to the young girls.

“Oh well, I am planning to leave for my advanced training today, you know the battle is just due next year, and I plan on becoming the selected ones,” Sore heard her cousin speaking about his plans proudly. Sore had always found herself disgusted by the thought of getting amongst the chosen ones, or anything related to that ritual. She would often ask her father to quit and he’d always laugh at her suggestion.

With her grandfather being the present guardian of the village and bearing the Kasai-Tamashii, Sore knew there was no way out of it. She decided to become a nurse, so that she could stay close to her father, in case he gets injured. And her cousin was also desperate to become one of the chosen ones. Sore sighed heavily, as she pushed her thoughts out and tried to pay attention to Hyousuke who was still talking about his dreams of becoming the guardian.

“…If the great Kasai-Tamashii chooses uncle Daiki after grandpa, I know he would definitely evolve it to level two by the end of his first year,” he was fantasizing when Whiskers jumped onto his feet, interrupting his dreamy thoughts.

“Ugh! That one-eyed cat!!” Hyousuke said, giving a disgusted expression. as Whiskers dragged her way towards Sore. Whiskers was found by Sore when she was 10. The poor cat had had an accident and was bleeding terribly, Sore had aided her and since then she was Sore’s pet. Sore gave her a piece of bread with butter and quietly thanked her for shutting up her cousin.

“How can you get selected with such short height?” Sore said, as she got up and stretched herself. She knew this would make Hyousuke’s blood to boil. He was one inch shorter than Sore and this was how Sore had won all the arguments with him since childhood. “I am NOT short!! In fact, I am amongst the tallest!” Hyousuke exclaimed. He was five feet nine inches, with broad muscular body and dark black curly hair. The one inch was hardly noticeable in front of Sore’s slim figure and wheat-colored boney face.

They were two very different people. Sore was more like her mother, with hazel green eyes that shinned like marbles and brown wavy short hair, while Hyousuke was like most of their family’s men with white skin and brown eyes. Sore was an introvert with a few friends, more like two friends and one of them of was Hyousuke. She was not a very shy girl but was a little too lazy to make friends. Hyousuke on the other hand was an optimistic cheerful person who was loved by almost the whole village. They were the two poles of a magnet with nothing in common.

“Is he crying about his height again?” the voice of Akira came from the front door.

She was Sore’s childhood best friend, or as they both called each other “soul sisters.” Akira’s father was Daiki’s childhood friend when they used to live in the same neighborhood. Later when Daiki’s grandfather was selected as the guardian of Kasai-Tamashii, their family was shifted in the special houses on the mountains made for the chosen families.

Akira had pale skin and short height with long black straight hair. She and Sore had been friends since they were toddlers. Akira’s mother had taken care of Sore and considered her like her own daughter.

“You are the one to say,” Hyousuke replied, while rolling his eyes.

“I can’t waste my time with you amateurs, I have to present my farewells to grandpa and uncle Daiki, so long” he added, and left the house.

This was the normal routine of their house. Akira and Sore both knew they would feel the long absence of Hyousuke when he is gone for his training.

“What’s the matter with you?” Akira asked, as she noticed Sore’s swollen eyes.

“Nothing special.”

“Hmm, the incidents?

Sore’s nightmares were so reoccurring, that Akira and Sore had titled the ones including her father’s death as “incidents.”

“Yeah”

“Let’s get you out of the house for a change. I will ask mama to make your favorite banana desert and we can plan your 20th birthday... I know I know it is a little soon, but 20th is a special one” Akira added, as Sore opened her mouth to protest.

“Okaaay, let’s also discuss the present you have to give me” Sore said with a mischievous grin.

“Get the hell out my way!” Sore yelled, as she ran towards the door, pushing the house keeper aside.

As she reached the door, she felt that the world has stopped. The front yard was thronged with people, she searched the crowd for that one bright face she loved the most in this world. As she moved closer, she felt a strange gut feeling like her feet were turning heavy with every step she took. The people around her were whispering, but she could hardly make out of what they were saying, the time seemed to be moving in a slow motion, when finally she saw him. A pale body lying on the floor, with a peaceful face and brown eyes that she could make her worst day better opened wide.

“He is dead,” she heard someone say.

“It has happened again,” someone added.

Sore froze where she was. She felt like she was suffocating, she did not need her nursing experience to tell that the body lying in front of her had no life in it, the blank emotionless eyes of her father were enough to let her know. Instead of going towards the body, she turned around and ran as fast as she could. Sore raced away from the place hoping to go back in time, when she could see her father alive. But that was not what the faith had written for Sore.

She had to be a fighter, just like her father.