[Prologue] The Dream Eater & The Fallen Swordsman

Some say that nightmares are the worst kind of suffering. The dawn arrives and the sunset falls, only to close yer eyes and rest at ease for the new day.
But what if something worse than a nightmare feasts on yer mind? Something that not even thou can't escape.

There is such a possibility, although very rare - But we have such an specimen, and it could be the person next to thou, perhaps thyself?

Nerra - being said that she ascended to a monster without body, able to freely walk without any bindings - is a superior creature that feasts on the dreams and minds of her victims.
Many gave her dubious names, but she willingly accepts the term "Dream Eater".
Ages ago, long ago before Nerra ascended to a superior entity, she always had her head up in the sky and imagined the things people were thinking and were troubled with. Her dream came true when she betrayed her former master magician to receive access to a unlimited amount of pages of spells that are nowadays ancient and forgotten.

One of those entries contained the introductions and spells Nerra had to summon in order to ascend.
However... With her ascending and with time, her memory faded away and so her desire grew unlimited - All she wanted was to devour the dreams, nightmares, minds and memories of those she always was interested in, subliminally hoping to find any broken parts of her own memories.

Like a pilgrimage, Nerra travelled through many dreams and nightmares, but nothing was that interesting as his dreams.

It was a Swordsman from a clan that was supposed to be a secret. It felt like ages ago for Nerra, when she found something that interesting as him. She did not instantly consume, but slowly and constantly like a Spider waiting to devour a helpless victim in a cocoon.

The Swordsman did not live for himself but for others. When his wife died before giving birth to his child, he did not end his life as many would do, but tried to find the meaning behind his destiny and in the same time tried to find an other meaning of his life. And so he met his adoptive son and raised him all by himself as an swordsman.

Nerra in the same time devoured the swordsman's mind and visited him in his dreams many times. Nerra occupied almost the swordsman's mind when his adoptive son was old enough to participate in a challenge.
Instead of his training, the adoptive son rather travelled through Ionia to meet his friends. In the most important time in his life, he did chose to pause his training. For the swordsman, the tournament in which his son had to participate was very important to him, as it was the only way to become a master of the clan and one step closer to be a better swordmaster than his father.

In this very moment, Nerra and the swordsman both somehow fused to one person. The swordsman's mind was lost, but the evil mind of Nerra corrupted him in the same time.
The swordsman became obsessed with his dream of his adoptive son to become a greater swordsman than he himself.

As an act of hatred and despair, the fallen swordsman veiled his identity and became a murderer who slaughtered many innocent people in order to keep the friends of his adoptive son away from him.
The fallen swordsman killed Chizu's father in a cruel duel.
The fallen swordsman destroyed Mitsume's home village and killed his family - on top of that, he severed Mitsume's right arm.

When his adoptive son returned, he lost the most important tournament in his life - He lost his eye and his pride. The fallen swordsman in despair, unwillingly accepted that his adoptive son was too weak. The adoptive son left without a trace, but came years later back.

The adoptive son who lost came back with a confidence as his father could've never imagined. His name was Takumi - The Reluctant Swordsman.
Takumi did not came back to fullfill his father's wish to become the next master of his clan, but came to slaughter every master including his father.
Takumi killed every single master and even his father.

In that moment when the fallen swordsman was on the edge of life, he began to dream once again for the last time. Nerra appeared and asked him "Ohoho my, my little friend. You are in grave danger - Do you want to continue?".
The swordsman answered "I don't know who you are.. but if you lend me your strength, I will do everything you want!". Nerra continued "I want nothing but to enjoy your adventures. You are far more interesting than the rest of humankind together".

Nerra gave the swordsman a second chance to continue to live, even though corrupted and not sane; The only thing the swordsman is looking for, is to continue to watch over Takumi's progress as an Swordmaster and to guide him, even if it means to hurt or to kill him.

Indeed, this is the story of thee - Kenshi