Darkness swallowed his vision. The world spun before it fell apart. Pain and confusion exploded in his head, made his eyes water.

As his vision returned Jin couldn't move his legs. Pain paralysed them, reached all the way down his back and twisted his spine.

He looked up, fire and screams greeted him. Not far from where he lay stood a mongol. Their gazes met. He tried to turn around, reach for his sword but couldn't as his legs failed him, chained him to the ground.

The tip of his finger brushed the handle of his katana.

But before the enemy could close in on him Lord Shimura rushed to his air. One quick cut and the throat of the Mongol was sliced.

Blood flowed like wine.

Jin made it back to his feet. Pain raged in his knees. Every breathing second felt like he was about to shatter all his bones.

"Jin!", his uncle grabbed him by the arm. "I need you with me."

A hoarse breath rolled off Jin's lips. He could feel blood sticking his face. Heat burned on his fair skin. Slowly, almost lost in the moment, he let his gaze wander.

Blood painted a picture of war and despair. Screams made his ears quiver and his skin crawl. Wherever he looked, a body lay. Or parts of one.

His uncle walked ahead and as he was used to Jin followed.

"We've lost so many.", the young samurai mentioned almost dismissively to himself.

He had seen men die, had killed with his own two hands. There had been disagreements amongst other lords, who had started fights to gain land or win the right to something.

But nothing had been quite like this.

A massacre.

"We have to keep pushing, Lord Sakai.", there it was, the title of his father out of the mouth of his uncle. "Even if it costs us our lives."

Jin was Lord Sakai now. But he would have preferred to just be Jin for once, his uncles nephew. Or son, at least that was how he felt.

But even in a moment like this which could perhaps turn into their final moment there was still this wall of etiquette and honour between them.

For once he wished to be addressed like a son.

The fabric of his bandana fell onto his view. With a huff, Jin reached up to pull it from his head. The black clan emblem of Sakai shone on a white background.

Twin mountains in the center of a ring.

Sprinkles of blood stained the light fabric. Determined to survive this night he untied the knot and fixed it back into its place.

"As you command, Lord Shimura.", he said and followed his uncles footsteps.

Sand burned below his feet. All of a sudden it was oddly calm. Jin looked around.

The rain of fire had stopped. All that was left was ashes and destruction. No samurai was to be seen. Neither a single barbarian.

Confused, he frowned only to bump into a body that lay on the ground in the next few steps. Torn from a state of delusion, the samurai screamed, reached out.

Jin backed away as quick as he could before realising why there was a samurai on the ground. The mongols had pinned him into the sand with his own sword, left him behind to either suffer until someone were to come or to bleed out slowly.

It was a death with no honour. The one of a mere criminal rather than a warrior.

Jin's brown eyes narrowed.

"They do not respect us...", he hissed.

The samurai to his feet let his eyes roll back. Screams got stuck in his throat before he returned to his state of unconsciousness.

Or perhaps death had gotten him, it was hard to tell.

As he looked up again, Jin discovered that his uncle had found some samurai that were still alive and able to fight. They gathered in a group around the Lord Shimura. He joined them, his katana tightly clasped.

"Men! We must hunt down the Mongol leader!", Lord Shimura urged. "Everyone, with me!"

Together with this small group, he made his way through a narrow path between two rocks.

To the right side was a cliff, too steep and slippery through the rain to escape upwards. To the left there was nothing but the open sea and thousand more Mongols to face.

A shadow wrapped around Jin's body as he followed his uncle and the remaining samurai through this path. He could hear Mongols on the other side.

In a whim, he looked around, tried to find something between rocks and shadows to look out for. Not danger but something that would warm his heart in its final beating moments.

And in this split second, as he passed a crack that opened up between the cliff and another rock, he came to find a pair of (E/C) eyes.

His breath caught in his throat.

But his legs did not stop. They kept him walking behind Lord Shimura and the samurai, urged him to go on and not leave his path.

Perhaps it had only been a trick of his own mind to sooty his soul but he could have sworn he had seen a pair of eyes in this merciless darkness.

"More Mongol dogs!", the warning of his uncle tore him from his thoughts. "Cut them down!"

Within the breath of a second Jin found himself in front of the blade of an enemy. He slipped back, widened his stance and blocked the sabre only by a hairs width.

He shifted, cut up and earned an arm. Blood poured from rosy flesh. A white bone could be found within. Screaming, the Mongol tried to grab him with the other arm but he turned around, put his blade to the throat of that man and cut right through flesh and muscles.

With a dull thud the head fell into the sand. Broken eyes met his gaze. He could feel the adrenaline rush through his veins. It felt like lightning had struck him.