Durma woke up. For a while, he lazily stared at the high ceiling of the cave, before looking towards the entrance. A gentle breeze from the sea outside flowed around the mouth of this cave filling him with some distant nostalgia.
Yes, he knew where he was, and this was the sixth time he had been here.
He dragged himself to sit up, not really minding the pains that ached his whole body. There was dried blood on his mouth and several other places on his body and his clothes had been really roughed up. But at least, he wasn't like the guy who lay a few yards from him. That guy won't be waking up for a while.
Durma smiled mischievously. He'd never gotten tired of the exhilaration he felt after beating Kan, the lad who lay there still unconscious. Prior to the fight they had just had, they both initially ran into each other at this cave.
Durma, a fifteen year old lad, wondering about aimlessly probably turned up there by coincidence. But that wasn't the same with Kan. He'd been there for something. Something he'd sought for a long time, finally tracing it to this same cave. It must have been some kind of treasure, but Durma wasn't going to let him have since he had found it first.
At the first turn, by now, he wouldn't even have any idea what that box was nor the floating, talking figurine which was as big as an adults head. It had been hovering around him since he unlocked the box and kept repeating the same thing over and over again. But right now, he hadn't payed it any attention yet. He just looked around an overly familiar environment. Then his eyes fell on Kan again.
He'd claimed to be a disciple of the 'Orrtaj' and was there to claim the shadow seal, which unfortunately, was the box that Durma had. Not that Durma had the faintest idea of what the Orrtaj nor the shadow seal was, but he had found this box sitting in a space deliberately designed for it inside that cave he'd gone to explore that day. He had no way of opening the box and would've abandoned it eventually. That was until Kan showed up, obviously aware of what the box was. From the way he'd acted, it was probably a treasure and there was no way Durma would have abandoned it after assuming that it was. And Kan, dressed properly in martial Hanfu so Durma could see he wasn't any ordinary scavenger like himself demanded that he handed it over. Durma, instantly disliking him would make things really difficult for Kan from that moment on which eventually led to an altercation involving their fists and of course the difference was clear between them. Kan wiped the floor with Durma, but the brat refused to let go.
And just when he thought he had put Durma out for good, he went on to unlock the box, but just before he could open it, Durma attacked again, and as they fought again, Durma eventually resorted to something he was sure would deal enough damage to Kan, knocking him out completely.
He could remember these things clearly now.
"Please, state your name, shadow warrior" the figurine asked for the umpteenth time. It had been talking to him since he woke up. He had just been ignoring it.
"Hello Gorr" Durma said casually, standing up in pains that stung around his body.
"You know who I am?"
"How have you been?" Durma asked almost blankly with a very faint smile, walking over to where Kan lay.
Gorr, the figurine followed him silently.
Durma observed Kan again thinking of what to do differently. This was his sixth regression and that meant he had been here five times before now. It always began from the moment he opens the box after which he'd fall unconscious since he couldn't handle the amount of shadow energy that poured out from the box given the state of his body after the fight. But he'd always wake up a few minutes later with Kan still unconscious; Durma had dabbed him heavily at his solar plexus. Something he learnt from his elder brother and something Kan never expected from a rookie like him.
"Where to now?" he asked the figurine.
"State your name first, shadow warrior"
"Ohh. I'm the shado..." he began before abruptly stopping.
"Nah, forget that, I'm Durma"
"I see" Gorr said. It had been asking the same question for some time now.
"Shadow warrior Durma, I am Gorr, the interface of the shadow realms and guide of the shadow warrior. I believe that, for you have successfully opened that box, you were already aware of what significance it holds"
"Yeah, yeah. Just skip this part. I know all about it. Let's just get out of here, I need treatment" Durma said walking towards the cave's exit.
"Wait, what...you don't..." Gorr stuttered, trying to understand Durma even if it was a little but Durma just kept walking out.
"Where are you headed to?" It asked.
"Iron reins" Durma answered continuing on his way to the caves entrance, slightly limping.
"What?" the figurine hung there seeming astonished.
"After I treat myself, that is" Durma completed.
The shadow warrior was meant to be lead through his long and tiresome journey through the provinces but then, he already seemed to know his way around.
Durma stood outside the cave now, watching the sea and waiting for Gorr who slowly floated towards him.
"We're going to Iron reins, but first I need to treat myself" he said again.
"You must know some place right?"
The figurine remained silent for a few seconds before answering.
"You wish to open 'Yaimin' now?"
Durma paused and gave it a thought for a few seconds. Perhaps he shouldn't go there yet.
"Forget that too" Durma said. Well, he had just wanted to get rid of the aches on his body as soon as possible. But then, it didn't really matter if he did that now or later. Gorr wouldn't allow him to begin the 'tournament' with these injuries.
Gorr, a brown figurine, covered in a reddish glow as it hovered midair, was carved to depict the head of a panther with it's mouth wide open and a certain deity sitting there on it's tongue with six orbs, three hanging from each hand. The deity also wore a certain diadem with a rune inscribed on it. It exuded mystery all about it but then, Durma already knew all about this icon as well.
"A very long journey awaits us, shadow warrior, but first, you must complete your orientation before you begin. Your guides await you in Yaimin" Gorr said.
Durma sighed softly.
"Yeah, yeah" he said in agreement. "But that would have to wait for now. I have to settle some things first" he said.
Gorr remained silent for a while before asking.
"Forgive me, as you may strike me for an assumer, but then, you seem to possess prior knowledge of what lays before you as the shadow warrior"
"Nope, I don't. That's why you're the shadows map, right?" Durma denied and asked.
"True" Gorr replied immediately then paused, before continuing.
"Well enough, shadow warrior. Indeed, I am merely the warrior's guide" Gorr concurred.
"And we have a long journey ahead of us. To that, I have a duty to ensure you tread the path of the shadow"
Durma smiled. Gorr wasn't just an object; it was imbued and programmed with a very complex magic and Ki technique that turned out to develop a consciousness of its own.
However, it's program was strong enough to keep it with very little interest on any other subject if it wasn't concerning the warriors journey. So it'd definitely loose interest in the fact that there was a brawl before it was summoned. It never, in any of the turns, questioned if he was a student of Orrtaj, the seclusive school who had always been aware of the shadow realm and, as much as they could, sought to wield the power left behind by the original shadow magnate who was in fact the creator of this box.
There were many other things involved, and it would be a long journey. A journey he had completed the last two times out of his five previous turns.
Durma then left the cave back to the village where he came from, to Frita, one of the village nurses and his elder brother's paramour. They lived in Kiaki, a small village just outside Iron reins, which, for a long time now, has lived in the fear and tyranny of a covert organisation known as the 'Clave'.