"No! I'm part of her very being!"
"I can never betray her!"
"No matter what might happen,"
"Ranni... she needs me,"
...
"Blaidd forgive me,"
*Thud!*
Falling onto his hands, the armored being choked up blood.
His lungs felt like they were puffed up against thorns that had grown inside his ribs causing the crimson liquid to come forth from his muzzle.
However, the blood dripping from his maw caused the puker to whip his mouth when he did so the being froze at the alien feeling that caused him to move his arm away from his mouth where he saw it. His entire arm was covered in a cold metal gantlet, staring at the armored limb his attention was brought to his other which was covered in the gantlet's twin. This wasn't the foreign sensation that he felt moments before for it came from his face hesitantly the dazed being reached for his face and froze.
The flat face he was expecting to feel was replaced by something else, for the face he had now was unfamiliar to him causing the being to reach for the rest of his head.
Pointed ears, fur, muzzle, fangs!
This new revelation caused the confused being to look down in the puddle of darkened blood barely reflecting a face not his own.
Where he expected to see the face of the human man he saw the face of a wolf.
"What in the hell," By hearing his voice the being grabbed his throat.
Like his face, his voice too was no longer his...
Yet despite the change of his face and voice, he recognized them both, even the very armor he was now wearing.
'Blaidd?'
"This is so exciting! The last time anypony has been over here was in the days of mistmane! I've only heard stories of Japony and the foxfolk but never would I ever think we would be able to visit the island! Why now after so many years? I mean sure they do trade but only training the rare firefish for bits and not even the merchants of the Mercantile trading company were allowed on the island! Plus their culture! Sweet Celestia almost all record documentation is so rare and the parts I've read are so interesting! I wonder how they developed over five hundred years! This is-"
"Twilight!" Starlight's voice snapped causing Twilight to turn to her friend who held out her hand. "Calm down, please. Your ranting off again,"
Twilight blushed in embarrassment while smiling.
"Sorry Starlight it's just... this is so exhilarating! We will be the first ponies in five centuries that are permitted to walk on Japony soil!" The princess of friendship's smile could barely be contained causing Starlight to shake her head.
"It's fine if I'm being honest Twilight I'm kinda eager to see Japony too. In my travels, I found a book talking about the land of Japony and I have gotta say it caught my interest to visit... but seeing how they were and kinda still are: Isolationists I couldn't go myself without you know," Starlight held a thumb out before going across her neck.
This caused Twilight's smile to fade slightly.
"Yeah I heard of ponies trying to go onto the island and only to get... beheaded," Twilight held her neck at the thought. "Yet hopefully that doesn't happen to us,"
Starlight nodded in agreement.
"With luck, we may have them finally open up to the world and hopefully open up to more forms of trading. Maybe even see Japony steel be traded to Equestria," Starlight pointed out while she rested on the window ledge of the ambassadorship.
"I kinda wonder though how they are so self-sufficient. Sure they trade fish but all they trade is gold bits nothing else," Twilight noted leaning on the desk in their cabin.
"I'm sure we will have all our questions answered in time Twilight... But you remember the other reason why we are coming here right," Starlight's question caused Twilight's smile to disappear completely.
"Don't remind me. I hope this doesn't go south,"
The two went silent as the only sound that echoed through the room was the crashing of the waves.
That was until the door opened spike entered slightly pale from the rocking of the ship.
"Something wrong spike?" Starlight stated with a smile.
"Ye-No maybe... ughhhhh," The dragon wabbled walked over to his bunk, and laid down not used to the more rigged waves that crashed against the ship.
"Someone doesn't have good enough sea legs," Starlight joked.
"B-buck you Starlight," Spike crooked causing Twilight to snap at the young drake.
"Spike!"
Starlight only shook her head while turning to the window, at the endless blue sea.
"Okay, I got this," Stumbling forward at his newfound height 'Blaidd' used a tree to support himself while he walked. "Come on you got this just one foot in front of the other,"
Like he had spoken aloud the wolfman carefully began to walk after having a moment to gather his baring from his current 'predicament' after taking a few steps the still confused half-breed slowly began to walk and as he did so his mind began to wander.
'So woke up as Blaidd... that much is clear. Did I get... Isekaied or something I mean to get isekaied I had to die right? But I don't remember dying-'
At the thought of dying 'Blaidd' grabbed his head by a surge of pain roaring throughout his brain.
Imagines flashed in his mind followed by extreme amounts of pain that almost had him fall to his knees again, however just as sudden as the pain came it quickly faded leaving the half-wolf back to his thoughts.
"What is happening to me," Shifting in place 'Blaidd' grunted still holding his head slightly. "I need to... I need to find help. God, I hope someone can help me find out what's happening,"
However, his thoughts of finding help were shattered by the sound of screaming and yelling, his new pointed ears perked up causing the wolfman to identify where the sounds were coming from. Almost like his body was on autopilot he bolted forward and surprisingly quickly in the damaged heavy armor he wore on his body, completely moving by instinct alone.
Her heart raced at the scene taking place right in front of her, everything seemed to slow as she watched dark-clothed figures rush at the escort and herself included. The sudden attack had the defending warriors disorganized which made them easy picking for the attacking figures.
Suddenly she was pulled to the behind by one of the escorting guards, standing firm in front of her and the surviving temple members.
"Tao-San stay behind me," Looking up at Madrame, captain of the escorting defenders who held his katana at the ready while the masked men stood firm from their surprise attack having killed many of the escort and those who were unfortunately slain pier to the survivors regrouping.
In a circle, the surviving guards held their weapons firm while they stood off against the masked attackers, the sudden switch from battle to silence was uneasy to the young priestess. However, she could tell it the silence could be easily broken at any minute at the slow moments of the attacking party.
The masked attackers suddenly ran forward blades ready to draw blood, Madrame and his men met their steel with their own, clashing blade against blade. Despite their swordsmanship the assassins had numbers on their side and moved it slowly picking them off one by one, they were losing ground around the fallen cart that the survivors used for cover.
Turning her attention behind her at the sound of something leaping onto the cart, the young priestess' eyes widen as an assassin raised his blade to strike her. His blade never met her flesh as something leaped above the cart taking the assassin off it and in a ball of fury rose her would-be killer being tossed like a child's doll into some of the attacking party. It was so quick the masked individuals around the grappler were suddenly cleaved in two by a massive sword cutting them down to size.
In the same swing of the blade, the thrown assassin and the ones he clashes with are also cut down, leaving both parties to look down at the being before them. They watched as the being lifted his blade from the bloodied remains of the five dead men at his feet while he rose to his full height.
All eyed the being clad in weapons and armor not from around here, which gave him away as a foreigner.
However the foreigner moved so quickly and so viciously that it was almost like he was a feral animal, yet he held a calm face as he stood there. The assassins didn't know what to do allowing the foreigner to move forward and swing his blade widely bisecting a baffled assassin with such speed that they could barely react. This action caused the assassins to switch their attention fully to the foreigner.
She watched while the foreigner held his ground cutting the head off an assassin, his large size didn't seem to slow him down however despite his speed the assassins still were able to foreigner. The armor around his body was battle-damaged and it was clear that the foreigner was wounded which the assassins attempted to exploit. The defending party only watched the giant wolf man fight the assassin causing the priestess to look up at Madrame who simply watched with his blade still at the ready along with the rest of the surviving guards not engaging to aid the giant lest they leave the survivors unprotected.
Tao could tell that Madrame was unsure if he even wanted to help them foreigner for they did not know who his alliance was too.
The foreigner snarled while one of the last few assassins drove his blade into his thigh causing the berserker, to back-fist the attacker and pull the blade out throwing it on the ground. Grabbing the attacker by the head he then slammed the assassin head first into a tree, only to repeatedly wildly while the foreigner roared.
Slamming the head of the limp body on the tree one last time so hard it completely crushed the head of the assassin, the foreigner turned his head back to the last of the assassins who watched the blood-covered face of the wolf turn towards them while the body of their comrade slowly slid down the tree trunk after the brutal beheading.
The massive blade behind the giant was dull and chipped the foreigner dragged it in front of him while he lifted the blade at the attackers while flesh and blood caked the dark metal blade. The assassins looked at one another shaking slightly at what they just witnessed, one of them lifted his arm and threw something down in front of them causing smoke to roar out covering the assassins.
The smoke then disappeared just as fast as it came along with the assassins leaving the foreigner with the escort.
Dropping his blade the foreigner held his side with one hand and turned to the group, Tao looked at the blue-eyed being who stared back.
"" Dropping down Tao rose along with a few of the temple while the foreigner fell to the ground, causing her and some of the others to rush to the side of the wolf.
"Tao-San wait it could be a trick!"
Yet his words fell on deaf ears while she was the first to get to the side of the Foreigner, and upon seeing the wolf close up she was shocked to see how many wounds were on his body. Some of the wounds he had didn't seem as fresh making her wonder if he was in a fight pier to this however the amount of blood he was losing told her they had to move fast if they wanted to save this foreigner.
Find out why and how he was here.
"By the goddess who are you,"
Author's Note
Whoa...
Back to the 'Red' series, in the form of an unlikely reboot: Blaidd the half-wolf.
Still, I aim to see this story do be better than it's predecessor the red knight, and in this case, be different. Having not xenophobic ponies, more flushed Japony lore, and me doing some research on Japanese culture for this story.
Speaking of... did you know in their culture they say their last/family name first rather than their first/given name? It's quite interesting plus the difference between -San and -Sama is quite simple.
Still, I hope you enjoy this!
Also, should I keep the dark souls tag since Blaidd isn't in dark souls but Elden ring or should I keep it since Dark Souls is in the same universe as Elden ring?
Till then lads and lasses.
(???)
"Let go..."
'No!'
"Let go..."
'I'm part of her very being!"
"Let go..."
'I could never betray her! No matter what might happen!"
"Let go..."
'Ranni...'
"Let go of everything..."
'She needs me!'
"LET GO!"
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
(Meanwhile)
The young priestess watched her sleeping savior jerk his head back and forth having a nightmare that that threatened to reopen his wounds, while she sat next to his bed the priestess softly placed a hand on his forehead. Closing her eyes she focused for a moment and upon opening her eyes she watched as magic glowed in the palm of her head and entered the mind of the foreigner who calmed down.
She smiled while the foreigner returned to a peaceful rest, retracting her hand she looked down at the man who saved their lives. After he passed out from the fight the samurai escort attempted to kill him for the fact that he was a foreigner however she and the rest of the fire temple priests and priestess stayed their hand. Not only did the goddess wish for peace with foreigners but so did most of the daimyos of Japony, and that's not to mention that he risked his life to save their own.
Looking down at the wrapped warrior, she couldn't help but be curious about his appearance she hadn't ever seen a foreigner before. She heard stories about many different foreigners, especially the ones about the mainland ponies but none of them ever mentioned a wolf people, dogs sure but none like this.
Maybe that's why he survived with so many wounds that could kill any normal fox-folk like herself, but that brings up how he arrived in Japony with such injuries?
By ship? That is not likely many areas on the water have magical bound traps that destroy ships that are unaware of the hidden routes to the main sea, along with the vigil land guardians there is no way he could have sunk shore even if the ship he was on knew the route. Perhaps he stowaway on the pony merchant ship that comes once every mouth for the firefish, but that is heavily guarded, and even then the ship docks by a small wet dock so the merchants are nowhere near the shore.
Teleportation is also unlikely the entire Island has layers upon layers of anti-magic fields that target any magic that isn't Reiki-based. Since only foxfolk could use Reiki-based magic not only because it was the only kind of magic could possess it was also because they had kept the way to use Reiki magic a secret only among themselves and never any outsiders.
Which makes her ask the question again: How?
In that instant, her trail of thought was interrupted by the foreigner snapping awake with speed that threaten to reopen his wounds if she hadn't stopped him from getting up to fast.
"Calm down. Everything will be alright. You are Safe," The blue eyes of the stranger looked up at her own.
"I... ugh... What happened," Her eyes slightly widened by his words, she had heard him speak equestrian before he passed out but never did she expect him to speak her language and with so little accent.
She shook her head.
"You passed out," She answered while letting him down to rest. "Our escort didn't wish for us to bring you back but we did to tend to your wounds if we hadn't you would have surely died from blood loss,"
He looked up at her, causing her to blush by his stare causing her to lift up one of her long cuffed sleeves while she looked away from him.
"You know it's rude to stare," She whispered causing the Foreigner to look away.
"Applogizies I... you look... um... your eyes look like mine," She lowered her sleeve to look back at the foreigner who was now looking at the sliding door of the room.
Taking this moment she looked at his and sure enough to his word, his were very much like hers, unlike many of her fellow vuplines she lacked the whites of a normal eye but had a black sclera like the goddess. For that very reason, many believe she was placed at the doorsteps of the temple when she was a pup.
It was strange seeing another with black sclera...
"I accept your apology. I am Rena Tao Priestess of the sun temple," She gave a slight bow while the Foreigner turned to look back this time avoiding eye contact so as not to make her feel uneasy. "May I ask for your name Stranger?"
He looked at her for a moment until he spoke.
"Blaidd..."
"Is that your family name?"
"No. I don't have one,"
"A family or a family name,"
Blaidd seemed uneased by her question as she pulled the wet cloth from his head to place a fresh one.
"I do apologize for my question Blaidd-San I didn't know. I thought all Foreigners had a family name,"
"I was never given one," Blaidd told her as she looked at him.
The two stared at one another for a moment until she rose.
"I will return. I need to inform the elder that you have awakened. Please rest I will not be long," Tao spoke as he nodded watching her rise and leave him alone in the room.
(Meanwhile)
"LAND HO!" Starlight rose from her spot on the deck at the loud voice of the spotter from the Crowsnest.
Looking towards where he pointed made the unicorn smile, sure enough, there was a large land mass in the distance.
Even from here, she couldn't help but be in awe.
The land itself almost glistened in the distance and she could see many different buildings dotting the land. She almost wanted to use a spell to get a closer look but didn't want to spoil the surprise when she would see it in person shortly.
It almost made her wonder what kind of world she was about to step into.
Author's Note
Okay a short second chapter, not one I normally due but it's close to Christmas so here's an early X-mas gift for all of you.
So... Rena and Blaidd finally meet although in a sorta awkward first impress but one I'm sure that wasn't the worst. Along with the ponies making it to Japony and oh boy!
Blaidd being on the island before them?
Well... Let's just say paranoia isn't just with always on the pony's side.
