The Kyoto Ordeal (Tales of the Other Universe Book 1)

by J. G. Taschereau

  “How do you mean?” Abernathy asked.

  “I’m told that during the war he started, he acted in a manner very similar to mine. I don’t see that now. He’s gotten softer in his seclusion. It’s disappointing, but that seems to be the trend these days.”

  The doppelganger got up from his chair and walked towards the door. He stopped a few steps from the frame and stood still, his head hung. Before Abernathy could say anything, his hand lurched out as fist smashed into the wall. The room trembled and the section of wall where his fist collided exploded into splinters. Abernathy sat speechless as his leader steadied his body and inspected his bloody hand. The bleeding quickly stopped and the wounds sealed themselves.

  “I’m getting restless just sitting around here,” he said in a low tone. “My anger is getting built up just waiting. I overestimated the time it was going to take to lure The Baggins to our side, and now we’re stuck waiting for four days. It’s irritating.”

  Abernathy remained quiet until the doppelganger finally left the room. Alone at last, he let out a deep sigh. Setting the disk aside, he lay down on the wooden floor and quickly dozed off.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The Reconciliation

  December 21st, 2004

  Dee shivered in her chair. Unconsciously, she pulled her blanket tighter around her body. She kept her gaze on the window, watching the front gate for anyone returning home. She had been in this spot for over 48 hours now, moving only when necessary to use the bathroom. All other matters were of little concern to her right now.

  Ayumi and Mathias had each made attempts to draw her out of the doldrums, but she hardly noticed. Now as the hour stretched close to midnight, the dinner laid out for her sat cold and untouched. She couldn’t think about eating now. All she wanted was for the Creator to come home safely.

  It was snowing again, and her view of the gate was blurred by the steady stream of white. Her tired eyes kept up their watch, uninhibited by nature’s attempts to stop her. She shivered again.

  In the hallway there was a sigh. Adam leaned against the wall in the darkness, listening to the steady tick of the clock with each passing second he waited. After his talk with Ayumi, he decided he would have to talk to Dee. But every time the chance came, his courage failed him and he shrunk away again.

  Now he was standing in the hall feeling guilty. All this time Dee had been lost in grief and he had done nothing to change that. He was still afraid of how she would react to him after their encounter two days earlier. Now, he decided, he couldn’t walk away again.

  Adam turned into the doorway and saw her. The gray winter light was cast over her and he could see she was a mess. Dark bags lined her tired eyes and her long hair was out of place. It was clear she hadn’t done anything but wait for two whole days. She gripped her blanket tighter and shivered, prompting Adam to take some kind of action.

  Quietly, he stepped into the room and walked over to her. She didn’t notice he was there until he placed his hand on her shoulder. She glanced at him and then spun around excitedly, her face lighting up as she saw his. This happiness only lasted a moment, and Adam realized she had briefly mistaken him for the Creator.

  “Dee, don’t you think you should get some sleep?” Adam asked as she slid back into her familiar position.

  “I want to wait for him,” she answered, her voice cracked and weak. “I want to make sure he’s alright.”

  “I’m sure he’s alright, and I don’t think he would want you to worry so much about him.”

  “I can’t help it. He’s the Creator Most High, and he’s important to me. How could I not worry?”

  “He can take care of himself.”

  “I don’t know if he can here,” Dee continued, clinging more tightly to the blanket. “His life has already been in danger several times since we’ve been here and he only escaped unhurt because of you and New Baggins. If he’s alone, something could happen that he won’t be able to protect himself from.”

  Adam couldn’t think of anything to say in response. She had a point, and it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to persuade her. She turned away from the window again and looked into his eyes.

  “It’s not like when you left,” she said. “I was worried for you, of course, but you’re more than capable of defending yourself. Not only that, but the Creator knew where you would be. I knew we’d be able to find you, but it’s so uncertain with the Creator.”

  “Why were you worried for me?” Adam asked.

  “What?” Dee tilted her head slightly. “That’s an odd question. Why wouldn’t I be worried about you?”

  “I don’t know,” Adam said, fumbling with his words. “I mean, I don’t know, I figured you wouldn’t really care that much. We haven’t known each other for that long, so I figured…”

  Adam stopped as he noted Dee frowning. He looked away from her in defeat. Once again, he thought, his unintentional lack of consideration had put him in a bad spot.

  “I’m afraid you don’t know me all that well then,” she said, almost wounded. “I thought we were starting to get to know each other pretty well.”

  “I’m sorry, that came out wrong,” Adam said. “What I meant was I didn’t think anyone would care all that much about me. I mean, the person I used to be.”

  “Well you certainly didn’t make it easy,” Dee said. “By the end of the first week, I was begging the Creator to replace me with someone else so I wouldn’t have to deal with you.”

  “So why didn’t you just walk away?”

  “Well for one, the Creator asked me personally to help you get through the ritual. I wasn’t about to tell him no. And then you started to turn around.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you remember the night when I ended our session early? It was because I was too fed up to deal with your attitude and had to stop.”

  Adam did remember. He was being especially difficult with her, undermining her advice and refuting the effectiveness of her conditioning. He could tell she was upset when she left, and he quickly realized that he was to blame. After he’d calmed down, he found her and apologized to her for the first time.

  “I don’t know if you realized, but it meant a lot to me that you did that,” Dee continued. “It made me think that I was finally getting through to you. After that, you started to get much better around me. I was glad I stayed, because I knew I had really helped you.”

  Adam moved his hand heavily off of the chair and let it swing down as he turned away. Dee looked back at him, sensing his distress.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. Adam shook his head.

  “I want to believe that you helped me, Dee,” he said. “But sometimes I feel like I’m the same as I used to be. If I really changed, I would be much more open to everybody. I never would have hurt you.”

  Dee shrank in her chair, reminded of the incident. It had been on her mind since it happened, but she hadn’t told anyone else about it.

  “That was my fault,” she said. “You wouldn’t have attacked me if I hadn’t invaded your privacy.”

  “It still doesn’t excuse what I did, nor does it excuse ignoring you. You were there for me when I needed it, but I avoided you when you needed it. I’m sorry, Dee.”

  She remained silent for a moment, turning her gaze back to the storm outside. “Who was that man?” she finally asked. “The one in your dream, the one you took your dark glasses from?”

  Adam walked away from Dee’s chair and took a seat on the couch with a heavy sigh. “Seb Ommati. His name was Seb Ommati.”

  “You must have hated him a lot,” Dee said, “to butcher his body like that and then steal his glasses.”

  “He was the captain of the Khazaki’s first squad when I joined. I didn’t think much of him, but after the leader was killed he took control of the whole group. He initiated a search and destroy mission throughout the city to exterminate a supposed terrorist cell. It was just a cover, though. He used the move to cripple the population
and take control of the city government.

  “The soldiers that I split off with met up with the ‘terrorists’, who were just a group of rebels that knew the truth about Seb’s motives and were trying to take him and the Khazaki down. My group joined forces with them and stormed the building where Seb was. I cornered him in the basement and killed him.”

  “But why take the glasses?” Dee asked.

  “As a warning,” said Adam, “to anyone else who thought they could stand in my way. I wasn’t about to let anyone like Seb ruin the vision that Commander Moscov had for the city. I intended to uphold his ideals with the new Khazaki under my command.”

  “Commander Moscov was the first leader who died?” Dee asked. “He must have been an important person to you.”

  “He was,” said Adam. “He was the one who first got me to turn away from a path of endless killing. He helped to guide me towards a more focused path.”

  “I’m sorry to hear he died then.”

  Adam was quiet for a moment, staring at the floor before speaking. “He would be happy to know things have turned around for the city of Khanka.”

  Dee smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. And I’m glad to know that you had someone like that in your life. He probably made my job a lot easier.”

  Adam let out a quiet sigh of relief. He could tell that the stress gripping Dee was starting to fade away. Not only that, he had been open enough to her that she was able to forgive him for his actions.

  “Adam, come here,” she said. Adam perked his head up. This was the first time she had referred to him so informally, but it sounded very natural coming from her. He walked back over to her chair. As he looked down to her, there was a sparkling of light in her lap. A moment later, her wand appeared in her hand.

  “Since you apologized to me for hurting me, I need to apologize too, for invading your dreams. I want to make it up to you.”

  “What do you mean?” Adam asked, still looking at the shimmering wand.

  “I ended up looking at a very personal memory of yours in your dream,” she explained. “So I’ll let you see a very personal memory of mine. Kneel down.”

  Abiding to her request, he bent down so that his face was level with Dee’s. She touched her wand to her forehead and took Adam’s hand. She closed her eyes.

  “Inviso memoria, Diatyallah Gatti.”

  The tip of Dee’s wand glowed white. Adam saw light coming from out of the corner of his eyes, and in a moment it engulfed his vision.

  He found himself standing in an open room with dark animal furs lining the walls. It was brightly lit by torches that glowed without fire, illuminating the whole space. It appeared to be a sort of common room, filled with tables and short chairs. In the center of the room two teenaged boys with long hair were seated on the floor talking. Adam realized that Dee was standing behind him, still gently holding his hand. She remained silent, watching the two boys talking.

  “Will you have time to go out training with me tomorrow night?” the blond one said.

  “We’ll see, my master might want me to keep training with him,” the other boy answered. He had dark purple hair and a young face.

  “Master Khigal certainly has you working hard, doesn’t he?” the first boy laughed.

  “Well he believes I should catch up to you some day, so it’s to be expected.”

  “He’s got high expectations for you. Don’t worry about it, my friend. You’re just about an equal to me in magic anyway.”

  Adam watched the two continue to talk. He had no idea why Dee was showing him this, but he feared asking her anything in case the other two could hear him. He figured that unlikely, but he didn’t want to risk anything. Finally, the two boys stood up.

  “My grandmother will want me to help with the hunt today, so I’ve got to get going,” the blond said.

  “I’m surprised they have you do that. With your talent I figure the elders would want you focusing only on your training.”

  “Well it’s required for every able-bodied male from a household to participate in the hunts at some point. It’s not like there’s anyone else besides my parents in my house that’s capable of helping out.”

  Behind them, there was a bump against one of the tables. All four observers turned their heads and the blond boy looked displeased. He went over to the table and pulled a chair away. He reached under and there was a squeal as he pulled a small child out from under by her arm. It was a girl, who couldn’t have been more than four years old. Her hair was the same shade as the blond boy’s and fell down to her chin. As Adam studied the child, he quickly realized who it was.

  “What do you think you’re doing spying on us like that, Diatyallah?” the boy asked sternly.

  “I wasn’t spying!” the girl shouted. “I was playing under the tables before you came in.”

  “Why didn’t you say something then, you pesky girl?” The blond started rubbing his knuckle against her head, much to her discomfort.

  “Come now, Alkim,” the other boy said. “That’s no way to treat your baby sister, is it?”

  “It is when she’s being a pest,” the boy named Alkim said. “Diatyallah, shouldn’t you be at home?”

  “Momma said I could go play outside,” the young Dee answered.

  “I’m sure mother meant in our yard, not all the way out here.” Alkim grunted in annoyance. “I’m going to be late. Can you make sure she gets home?”

  “Not a problem,” the other boy said as Alkim ran off. His sister stuck her tongue out at him as he left. The boy placed his hand on her head.

  “Now, now, you should be nice to your brother as well,” he said. “At least then you’ll be in the right any time he treats you badly.”

  “That’s all the time,” she said, pouting. Diatyallah looked over the boy, whom she had never seen before. “Are you friends with Alkim?”

  “Why yes, I am,” he answered with a smile. “My name is Amadeus. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “My name is Diatyallah,” she replied.

  “That’s a very lovely name,” Amadeus said.

  “I hate it,” Diatyallah said.

  “Why do you hate it? It’s not a bad name.”

  “It’s too long, and people get confused when they say it sometimes. I don’t like saying it all the time. It takes forever to say it all the time.”

  She drew out her speech, typical of a four year old. That probably added to the anguish of her name length.

  “Hm,” Amadeus said pensively. “I can see why you wouldn’t like it then. Well then, why not try using a nickname instead, for informal purposes?”

  “What’s that?” she asked with wide eyes.

  “A nickname? It’s what you call yourself when you don’t want to use your real name. It’s perfect for people with long names like yours.”

  “Really? I want to do that!” she said with excitement. “How do I do it?”

  “Well, you just have to find a variation of your name that makes it still identifiable. It can be completely unrelated, of course, but it might be better off if it’s at least similar to your real name.”

  Diatyallah stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked on it as she thought. After a few seconds she furrowed her brow as she struggled.

  “Having a hard time?” Amadeus asked.

  “Kind of,” she admitted.

  “Let me see if I can think of one,” Amadeus said. He rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, and then in a moment of inspiration snapped his fingers.

  “I think I’ve got it,” he said.

  “Really?” Diatyallah was ecstatic. “What is it?”

  “How about we call you ‘Dee’?” he proposed. “It’s the first syllable of your name so it relates to you, and it’s short so you won’t get tired of using it.”

  Her face lit up with the suggestion. “Dee!” she squealed. “Dee! Dee! Dee Dee!” She began to dance around happily while Amadeus laughed.

  “I take it you like it. It’s settled then. From now on, I’l
l call you Dee, alright?”

  “Mmhm!” she answered.

  “Come on now, we should get you home.” Amadeus headed towards the door with Dee close behind.

  “Wait for me!” she said, following him out.

  At this point, the other Dee shifted. Her wand moved again and the light that encircled Adam returned. In less than a second, it had taken him again.

  Adam was back in the living room, the light fading away into the white haze of the storm outside of the window. Dee was in the chair, her position unchanged. She was looking at Adam and smiling girlishly.

  “I hope that wasn’t weird for you,” she said. “I’ve never brought anyone into one of my own memories so I didn’t know how it would affect you.”

  “No, I’m fine,” Adam said. “What was all that?”

  “It’s my favorite memory,” said Dee. “That was the day that I met my master and he gave me my nickname. It was a very special moment to me.”

  “Your master? What do you mean?”

  “I didn’t tell you this when we were working together before, because I usually only share this information with someone I’m very comfortable with. As you know, I’m a mage. We learn how to use magic from older mages, who are our masters. That boy in my memory would become my master four years later.”

  “I see,” Adam said. “So he was a very important person to you then?”

  “Yeah,” said Dee. “You could say that he’s my Commander Moscov. I want to uphold his ideals, and that’s why I’m going through so much to find him.”

  Adam gave Dee a quizzical look, and she realized that there was still more of her story she had left out.

  “He’s missing, I mean,” she went on. “Three years ago, he left my village and never came back. Nobody knows exactly where he went, but I wasn’t about to just let him disappear from my life. So I left home and I’ve been searching for him ever since.”

  “But you’re working for the Creator,” said Adam.

  “That’s part of the search,” Dee explained. “About a year ago I found out that the Creator was looking for a new personal assistant. I thought if I could get the job, I could ask him where my master went.”