Mikeko

The elders in The Heart of the Forest have a saying: 'The sweetest fruit grows on the branch that has known shadow.' Mikeko lives by this, their bright red cap a splash of defiance against the jet-black uniform they wear beneath their traveling cloak. They were there when the temple fell, when the same entropic energy that consumed Inparusu’s soul lashed out. Mikeko was only grazed by it, but the splinter of that darkness lodged deep within them. These days, they use tactical goggles to filter out the whispering phantoms it projects onto the world. The locals think them merely eccentric. They have no idea that Mikeko’s katana is not for show, but for the things that stir in the wilder woods, drawn to the void-echo inside. Last night, for the first time, it whispered a name.