The Assault on Kokodu | Zen Garden

“For generations the Garden of Kokodu was home to an ancient heirloom, The Sword of Shizukesa. The sword was fought after for centuries.
Wars were waged, leaders assassinated, alliances betrayed and love lost all in hopes of possessing the ancient blade.
Legends told that only those whom were worthy of the blade could wield it, those who were not would never possess the strength to do so.
A great war began for the sword, The War of Shizukesa. In the midst of battle a warrior sought to hide the blade, taking it to a long hidden mountain top garden. The Garden of Kokodu.
With the passing years the guardian became increasingly restless within his solitude. Finding company in a local woman, they quickly found a deep love and started a family together.
Children of the warrior were trained as he once was, and with this the family protected the swords hiding place from the local cities and villages.
What seemed like an eternity in the garden went by and the Guardians patiently protected the sacred heirloom.
Hundreds of years later as the family grew smaller, more and more ninja clans and mercenaries sought to steal the blade. Many of the family died in attempts to protect the sword, a task given to them by birth.
A time came that the garden was home to a lone guardian. What at first was tranquility and peace within solitude, quickly became mundane and numbing.
The guardian like his warrior forefather before him, found love in a local woman. And with this love his will was restored, guarding the sword with with a renewed vigor and his love by his side.
But like everything, the years withered the love they shared and the two slowly grew apart. The guardian seeking escape, found temptation in another local woman.
While the guardian was a master of the way of the warrior, he was in no way perfect. Hiding his secret love from his first love became increasingly hard.
Growing more and more careless, the guardian misplaced a hidden locket he possessed containing a picture of his secret lover. A locket quickly found by his first love.
Upon finding the locket, the she flew into an envious rage. Heartbroken by the betrayal the guardian had put her through, she sought vengeance.
Reaching out to the ninja clan that had often attempted to steal the sword, she found revenge by aiding the assassination of the guardian. The last obstacle between them and the sword.
The scorned woman poisoned the unsuspecting guardian, which was the cue for the assault to begin on the garden. The ninja assassin breached the garden and attempted to murder the guardian.
Trained well by his family before him, the guardian spent his remaining energy defending the blade. A vicious and bloody fight erupted between them with the Sword of Shizukesa nearby.
Both assassin and warrior were gravely injured and weakened by battle and poison, the guardian gave flight in an attempt to flee. Yet despite his best efforts to escape he was ultimately met with his death at the hands of the assassin.
Poisoned blood splattered the ground as the last of the guardians died at the hands of the ninja assassin. The assassin, also fatally wounded attempted to flee without the blade but died soon after.
Unable to deal with what she had done, the plotting lover took her own life in attempt to reunite with her lost love. And with this the Garden of Kokodu was lost, soaked in the blood of the family that protected it for centuries.
Many years on the stain of bloody battle still scars the once beautiful garden. The Sword of Shizukesa remains in solitude within the Garden of Kokodu seemingly lost forever.”