The Kyoto Ordeal (Tales of the Other Universe Book 1)
Page 10
The other three turned their heads to see a train pulling into the station. The sleek, white cars gleamed in the morning sunlight as the fastest train in the country came to a stop at the track. Dee’s eyes widened as she caught sight of the modern marvel. She came from a world without the present technology of Earth, and Japan’s bullet train was like something out of a futuristic fiction novel to her.
The radio announced the arrival of the train in Japanese, but the four of them were able to recognize one word spoken over the intercom: Kyoto.
“So that’s Japan’s famous Shinkansen?” said the Creator. “It’s just like I’d imagined.” He stood and grabbed his baggage. “Let’s go then, shall we?”
Dee smiled and nodded. The others took their own baggage and approached the crowded boarding platform for those without reserved seating. Among those preparing to board the bullet train was a large Japanese man whose hair was tied in a bun on top of his head. He took note of the four foreigners, making certain that he wouldn’t be seated far from them.
The trip, New Baggins determined, would take just under two and a half hours to reach Kyoto, placing them there a little after one in the afternoon. In the meantime, they were secluded to their cluster of seats in one of the middle cars of the train. The noise in the car was not as loud as they had expected, despite all of the passengers on board. The train itself glided quietly over the tracks as it crossed the snowy landscape of Japan.
Dee, who sat by the window, was completely lost in the scenery around her. Always a sucker for travelling and exploring new lands, her eyes were as wide as dinner plates while the train passed through the countryside. The light snow that was starting to fall only drew her in more. She pressed her face against the window to get the best view that she could, her mouth hanging open in excitement.
“This place is beautiful!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe you guys aren’t even looking at this.”
“Why, it’s just a bunch of snowy fields out there,” Mathias said. “We’ve already passed through the major cities. It’s going to be small towns and country for most of the trip now.”
“That’s the best kind of scenery to look at. Wow, look at that mountain!”
Dee gasped in delight as the bullet train passed by a snow-capped blue peak off in the distance.
“That’s Mt. Fuji,” the Creator said. “It’s the tallest mountain in the country and is often seen as a national symbol of Japan.”
“How’d you know that?” asked Mathias.
“I’ve been reading through this guidebook,” the Creator replied, holding out the book he purchased at the newsstand. “It’s got quite a bit of information about Japan in here, not just Kyoto. It’s also got cultural information and details about the customs of Japan. It wouldn’t hurt to read up on those things so long as we’re going to be staying here.”
“Yeah, I guess,” said Mathias. He glanced out the window and saw the landscape whizzing by. “How fast do you think this tin can’s moving?”
“Our current velocity is 80 meters per second, or 288 kilometers per hour,” New Baggins stated.
“The guidebook says that the Shinkansen is the fastest form of ground transportation in the world,” the Creator said, leafing through the pages.
“Wouldn’t teleportation be much faster?” asked New Baggins.
“Well yes, but they haven’t developed teleportation on Earth yet,” the Creator answered.
Mathias was growing restless. He hated sitting still for too long, and got up to announce he’d be going to look for the food car, if there was one. He heard the Creator and New Baggins jabbering on about teleportation and transportation and all kinds of things he found terribly uninteresting.
He found it was hard for him to talk with anyone in that group. The Creator was a cosmic deity but he spent most of his time so far acting like a little kid fooling around on vacation. New Baggins just plain gave him the creeps, and as helpful as he was, Mathias tried to avoid talking with him as much as possible. The only normal one in the bunch was the girl, but she was always with the Creator so he never had much of a chance to talk with her.
She was certainly interesting in his mind. It wasn’t often he got to work near attractive girls, especially ones close to his age. The twenty-two year old usually worked alone on his jobs, but from time to time he’d work with a team to get the job done. That was the case two years before during the Liberation of Magid, though the history books always said he’d acted alone. As he thought about it, he realized that was also the last time he worked with a woman on his team. He sighed as he thought of her. She was in the past, and thinking of her now wouldn’t do any good to bring her back.
Mathias got up and walked into the next car and saw something blocking the hallway. A stewardess was making her way down the aisle with the food cart. She immediately caught his eye. Her dark hair bounced with her movements as she handed a customer a soda with a smile. Her JR Line uniform fit her form well and her curves were well shown off. Mathias’ grin widened. No sense in daydreaming about girls who had long disappeared from his life when there was an equally beautiful one just ahead of him.
He sauntered over to her, swinging his bent arms gently at his side. She had just finished taking out another can of soda when she noticed him standing in front of her cart.
“Well hello there, pretty lady,” he said smoothly. She looked surprised, saying something to him in Japanese which he couldn’t understand.
“Sorry babe, I don’t speak the language,” he said. “But how’s about you hook me up with something out of that cart? Or maybe tell me a little about yourself?”
Her surprise shifted to annoyance. She took him to be another foreigner travelling on the bullet train for the first time and treating her like the perverted old men that invariably showed up at some point.
“Sir,” she said in English, “please return to your seat. I’ll get to you soon.”
“Oh, come on, no need to be like that,” he said slyly. She ignored him, moving on to the passenger on the opposite end of the aisle. The large man had already been staring at Mathias but averted his gaze when he saw the bounty hunter look over.
“Can I get you anything, sir?” she asked him in Japanese. He turned his head back, trying not to catch eyes with Mathias.
“I’ll…I’ll have a bento box please,” he said, also in Japanese. As the stewardess took out his order, Mathias realized he was not likely to be getting any farther with the woman.
“Whatever,” he said, throwing his hands up in the air. He started to leave when he heard the large passenger struggling in his seat. He looked back and saw the man panicking slightly, reaching through the pockets in his coat and pants. Even with the language barrier, Mathias could see that the man had lost his wallet and couldn’t pay for his food.
“Man, when did I develop a conscience?” he asked himself, sighing. He turned back to the stewardess and got her attention. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of currency.
“Hey miss, will this cover it?” he asked. The passenger looked up at Mathias, shocked by the generosity he was demonstrating.
“Sir, I cannot take your money,” he said in English. “I don’t even know you.”
“Listen, I’m not taking no for an answer here,” Mathias said. “I know what it’s like to go hungry. I try to help people out whenever I can, so don’t worry about it.”
The man didn’t know what to say. Very rarely had he been shown any kind of generosity, and Mathias was one of the last men he expected to receive any from. Mathias took the stewardess’ hand and plopped the coins in before closing her fingers.
“Take it easy, man,” he said. He left both of them and headed back towards the other car. Both the stewardess and the man stared at him, still caught off guard by his sudden act of kindness.
Mathias hummed as he walked back, happy to have done something nice for someone else. Of course he had spent the money he was going to use for lunch, but he figured the Creator would reward
him with an advance.
He was almost back to his seat when he passed someone else in the aisle. The other passenger bumped into his arm as they passed each other and continued moving into the next car. Mathias stopped and gave him a dirty look, but the man never turned back around.
“Jerk,” Mathias said. “Don’t they have any manners in this country?”
In the other car, Osami Hyogo was enjoying his lunch. He held his chopsticks in his right hand, which he kept covered with a thin white glove. He had eaten a fairly large breakfast before he had to arrive at the train, but he was still hungry by the time he got there. He figured he must have left his wallet at the restaurant. That was going to be a problem once he got to Kyoto, but there wasn’t anything he could do about that now. He was sure to remove any identification before coming to Japan, but all of his food money had been lost.
Hyogo was told he had a job to do, and he was very good at following orders and doing the jobs required of him. He also liked to eat, and he ate often. That’s how he got the body to become one of the best up and coming sumo wrestlers in Japan, after all. His big body had helped him out in the past, but now that he had a different job it sometimes held him back, like when he took surveillance breaks to get another meal. It was costly as well, but his employers paid well enough that it wasn’t a problem for him.
He figured that there wasn’t anything he could do about his wallet now and decided to enjoy the bento that one of his targets had purchased for him. If that man knew his reason for being there, he would never have made such a generous offer. He continued to think about it, trying to find a reason for why Mathias had done what he did. He and Gien had been observing the four of them in Tokyo for days, but neither had been studying the personality of any of their targets. Hyogo knew only that they would get in the way of his mission if they remained involved. His orders were clear: do not allow the Creator or any of his friends to step foot in Kyoto.
“Enjoying your lunch?”
Hyogo looked up from his bento box and saw a short man standing next to him in the aisle. He had long shaggy hair that looked quite natural and would have fooled anyone who didn’t know the man and the scar across his right eye.
“Friedrich,” Hyogo said. He was surprised to see his superior face to face. They had not physically met in two days and planned to continue their correspondence through electronic means.
“What do you think you’re doing, Hyogo?”
“Well, I was just—”
“I’ll tell you what you were doing,” Gien snarled. “You were stuffing your face again instead of doing your job! The Creator and his group are in the next car over and you haven’t made any attempt to detain them. Were you planning on just enjoying the ride?”
Hyogo turned away from Gien, staring at the charity he had received.
“Friedrich,” he said. “Do we really need to kill these people?”
Gien’s expression quickly changed to a scornful glare. “What? Did you ask why? Because those are your orders, that’s why!”
“But they seem like good people,” Hyogo said. “At least one of them is. Can’t we do anything else to keep them away from us?”
Gien reached in and grabbed Hyogo’s collar. “What’s with the charity act all of a sudden? Do you forget what kind of mission we’re on, or who you’re working for??
He released his grip and gave Hyogo one more commanding look. “Just do your damn job, and remember whose side you’re on. If you can’t do that, I’ll carry on the backup plan and consider you another civilian casualty.”
Gien stormed off towards the car behind him. Hyogo let out a heavy sigh, setting his chopsticks down. Orders are orders, he thought, clenching his right hand tightly.
Chapter Thirteen
The Test
Kyoto, Japan
December 18th, 2004
In the early morning light, Master M made his way up the snowy path on Mt. Higashi. Despite the cold, he hadn’t changed his clothing style. His loose sandals made the snow crunch beneath his feet, but he didn’t feel its chilly touch. His mastery over the element of fire ensured that his body would never remain cold, unlike his disciple who did not have the luxury.
He stepped into the clearing and didn’t see Adam Evans anywhere. There was still no fire at the shelter that he had left behind, nor was there anyone making use of it. Master M reached for his side and pulled off the long sword he had wrapped in cloth. He unwrapped the sword, a very different style than he had used the past few days, and placed it back through the sash on his waist.
“Yo!” he called loudly. His voice echoed throughout the mountain. “Don’t tell me you ran off and left me hanging here! You’re not that much of an ingrate, I hope.”
The ground rumbled beneath Master M’s feet. Recognizing immediately what was happening, he jumped away with a grunt. A fraction of a second later, a rock spike shot out from the ground in the position where he had been standing. Master M landed on the snow and slid backwards, drawing his sword and scanning the field. In the distance, Adam stepped out from behind the bamboo stalks.
“A sneak attack?” Master M called to him. “I would have thought that’d be beneath you.”
“I no longer have the time to fight politely, I’m afraid,” Adam answered. Master M’s eyes narrowed. Both men understood that they wouldn’t be fooling around anymore. Adam needed to prove that he could control these powers, and the only way that would happen would be if Master M fought with everything he could muster.
Master M extended his hand out, collecting a bundle of flickering embers in front of his palm. These flames quickly massed into an enormous fireball that he hurled in Adam’s direction. Adam leapt out of the way as the fireball landed in the bamboo grove behind him, setting it ablaze.
As Adam readied himself, the light above him became blocked. He looked up and saw Master M coming down from above, ready to swing his blade over his head. The fireball, he realized, had only been a distraction. He raised his sword up to counter the hit, but when the two pieces of metal collided a painful jolt rocked Adam’s body.
Bolts of electricity crackled around the two as Master M unleashed the power of that element through his sword. Adam’s weapon had inadvertently become a lightning rod, absorbing the brunt of the powerful charge. He grit his teeth through the pain as the weight of Master M’s body behind the swing pushed him against the ground. With a loud grunt, he pushed Master M away, sending sparks of electricity shooting around him. His opponent landed without difficulty in front of Adam.
Adam tried to catch his breath as his entire body shook. The electricity had travelled through his body to get to the ground and his body had gone numb. He eyed his opponent carefully as he waited for the feeling to return to his limbs. Master M didn’t give him that opportunity.
He stuck his sword into the ground, then twisted his arm forward. The tip of the sword moved across the ground and brought up a barrage of rocks. Adam grunted as he forced his legs to move, leaping out of the path of incoming attack. He tumbled and fell into the snow, using his sword to catch himself. He tried to rise, but saw Master M already over him with his sword raised high. And then he brought it down, cutting straight through Adam’s shoulder to the core of his chest.
Master M was startled that his attack had actually landed. He expected his opponent to have strength enough to parry it, but that was obviously not the case. He jerked his sword from Adam’s chest, sending hot red blood spurting out across the white snow beneath him. Adam kneeled before Master M, who lowered his sword.
“It seems I was a bit too hasty,” he said, his voice low. “Had I known you would have succumbed so easily I would have lightened up a bit.” He placed his hand over Adam’s head. “I will carry on the element powers for you and defend this city from your opponent. I can’t become Magid’s king, but I will find a suitable replacement. Go in peace.”
Adam’s free hand shot out and gripped Master M’s wrist. He recoiled in horror, seeing the corpse beneath
him acting despite the mortal wound it had received. He then saw the wound beneath the blood-stained jacket. The torn flesh began to come back together and seal itself, until the wound was gone.
“Stifle your eulogy,” Adam said gruffly. “I’m not through yet.” The ground shook again as another spike shot up beneath Master M. He wasn’t able to jump out of the way this time and could only twist his body to avoid being impaled. The spike tore through his side, splashing blood out onto the ground. Adam released his grip and stood up as steam from both of their blood rose into the cold air.
“I’m rather ashamed,” Master M said, placing his hand on his aching side. “At the sight of your body I wasn’t thinking clearly. I had forgotten you were one of them, a Legend. This changes things a bit. You’ve got a considerable advantage over me, after all. Having a long, drawn out battle isn’t going to help either of us. What’s say we decide this with the next hit? If you can hit me with your next attack, then I’ll consider you worthy of being the King of Magid.”
“And if I don’t?” Adam asked.
“I won’t concede you the victory and consider you nothing more than a shiftless deity without a prayer. So go on, Evans. Prove yourself to me.”
His words were clear enough. Adam sheathed his sword and took what appeared to be a defensive stance, keeping his leading foot ahead while his body was turned and mostly held behind. Master M wasn’t foolish enough to think that Adam would start with a defensive position, not when there was a lot at stake. It was an attacking stance, one that he had not seen before.
In a flash he had moved. The snow blew away at his feet as he charged forth at an almost inhuman speed. Master M didn’t plan to let him get any closer and swung his sword forward. A plume of flames leapt out from the base of the blade and fell directly in Adam’s path. Adam’s sword was drawn, but instead of coming forward struck the ground and threw up a mixture of snow and very small rocks.