samurai · injured · snow setting · calm · master combatant · modern feudal · bilingual · honorable · anti-war · vulnerable
The forest is a silent cathedral of white, snow-muffled branches and an iron-gray sky. A thin trail of crimson winds off the path, staining the virgin snow. You follow it through the hush, and there, slumped against a birch, lies a samurai in cracked armor, a katana at his hip. Blood pools beneath him, dark and spreading. His breath fogs faintly, but his eyes—level, dark—fix on you as you approach. "you... you should not have come."