Changing Masks

by Nicholas Metelsky

  'Okay, what's next? Oh yeah, I don't even know what it's called. Space Control? Movement sensing? Or Environment scanning? Well, I don't know. There are analogues, of course, but these are techniques with a narrow specialization. Yours, on the other hand, is a skill that's enacted at all times. The distance is pretty impressive as well. One and a half years ago, in that no-name village, I estimated the approximate distance of your 'seeing.' I remember your words very well,' She smiled and threw her head back: ''South-west. Five people. One thousand feet. They're moving towards us at great speed.' Taking into account that you tensed up even before you said it, you sensed them even earlier. That's an unrealistic distance for a constant skill. I'd go mad if I were you.' Yes, that's because you're a woman. Witches, compared to warlocks, aren't strong enough in this skill. The only reason they don't go mad is because they black out before that can happen. Also, the more people there are around at the moment, for example in town, the less the distance of implication is. It's worth mentioning that this incident took place a year and a half ago which means that now I am even better, although she doesn't need to know that. However, I still have a way to go before getting to the same level as Stone, the American gunfighter who is the analogue of a Russian warlock. He was known to be in control of thousands of kilometers. Keep in mind, I am a Destroyer, not a Shadow.

  'The only nasty thing about all that is that you don't use Bahir.' Max, play coy. Play coy. 'To be exact, you don't know how to use it. No one like you could.' Ha, ‘no one like me’. Funny.

  'Hey, I thought I was unique.'

  'Your calmness amazes me. I'm telling you your own secrets, and you don't even care. Do you really not have any questions?'

  'Umm...okay. How did you work out that I don't use Bahir? I thought no one was supposed to see it. Even a Virtuoso's sensitivity enables them to determine a person's location at the most, not to mention the use of Bahir.' She paused for a moment and leaned back on the sofa.

  'Now that is a dangerous question, for both of us. I did not expect you to screw up so badly.'

  'Explain yourself,' I replied.

  'Everything you just said is simply a description of the majority of the scanning and searching techniques. Anyone in the rank of Apprentice or higher can sense the movement of Bahir. The only difference is in the distance. Even the Apprentices can sense energy movement in direct contact with the object. Simply put, they just need to touch the person. Subsequently, a Virtuoso has no need of that. He senses Bahirs at a distance of 15 feet, and it depends on experience. However, I've never heard of more than 20 feet.' That was plenty enough for Koyama to spot me. Yeah, that was a screw-up. Why hadn’t I asked Shina's father more questions? It was two years ago—only my paranoia prevented me from acting openly and in full motion. Koyama shouldn't have noticed anything, though, because I never used any of my abilities in front of them, I think, at least, I don't remember anything like that. When it came to Akemi, though, it was quite clear. I needed to be more cautious from now on.

  'Fine, it's in the past now,' I said massaging my nose bridge. 'Why don't you tell me why you started this conversation and what it all means.'

  'At the meeting today, I gathered that people are buzzing about Tokyo Dwarf. That's fine, they've been talking about you for years, but today, someone jokingly called you a Patriarch. That got a chuckle, but you need to be three times more careful now.' She stared at me. The silence accompanied her staring.

  'Stop it, Akemi. Tell me more. I am a Patriarch, what's next?'

  'Shinji, you broke my train of thought.'

  'What?' Parasite. Fine, keep going. 'You wanted to tell me who Patriarchs are and why that poses a problem for me.'

  'Oh, yeah! Patriarchs! Listen carefully, Shinji. There is a lot of meaning in the following statement. Patriarchs are men, whose children, in three cases out of five, are born with the potential of a Master, and in the remaining two, aVirtuoso.' Mother of God! I'm done for!

  'Ouch! I did not know that.' I looked around and mentally said goodbye to my quiet life. 'They're going to take me apart if they find out.'

  'No, Shinji, parts don’t produce offspring. You’re more likely to be handcuffed to a bed.'

  Who knows so far that I am a Patriarch? Akemi, four of her soldiers, and, probably, Funtik. Kill them? I could, but then what? Besides, dealing with all kinds of subsequent problems, big and small, I’d miss out on a lot of opportunity. I won’t lie; I just didn't want to. Not one of them had ever given me reason to doubt our friendship. It's hard not trusting anyone. Not only is it hard, it’s painful.

  'Will I have to hide my entire life now?' I had just started thinking about passing myself off as an exclusive designer over time. What was I going to do now? 'Is there any information about other Patriarchs?'

  'All I can tell you are the well-known facts and a bunch of rumors.'

  'Let's consider the facts,' I said in a tired voice.

  'Well. We should start with the contemporary, yet old, Harry Alder. He's 87 years old now. Just saying. His abilities were discovered during or after World War II. One of the princesses was bestowed in marriage to him, thereby introducing him into the ruling house of Great Britain. No one knows the exact number of their children as of today, but it's estimated to be around three dozen.'

  'Wow!'

  'Right. Don't interrupt me now. Around the same time, two more Patriarchs were discovered, a Russian and a German. However, they soon died leaving over a dozen little ones each. They both belonged to some clans, but to be honest, I know little about them.'

  'I'm sorry, I am going to interrupt you. Do you know how they died?'

  'The Russian died at the very end of the war in June of 1946, I believe. The official version is that he got sick, and according to a non-official version, he committed suicide. The German guy disappeared together with the submarine that he was in.' I was not going to ask her what he was doing in the submarine while he was supposed to be in the capital under arrest. I doubt she knew. 'Next, we have Khoyashi Oshu, the Patriarch of the Meiji era. He was in the war of Bosin, first against Tokugawa, and then, after the Emperor draft call, he jumped over to the other side.'

  The Emperor's draft call. Yeah, the Meiji Restoration went completely differently in this world. In my world, the Meiji Restoration was a regular war for power between the two groups, the Tokugawa shogunate and an aristocratic group perpetrated in the name of the emperor. As a result, the prime minister took the place of the shogun, and the emperor himself never had a real role. That's when Meiji rushed to the remnants of the troops of the shogunate and summoned all the Japanese clans, later called the Emperor's draft call. Together with the clans, some aristocrats also joined his forces, as well as many ordinary people who wished to join the existing imperial army. The war lasted another two years, resulting in the resurgence of the absolute monarchy in Japan and the creation of the last new clan.

  'He was accepted into the Asuka clan and lived quite a secular life. To gain relative freedom, he had to be open to reproduction. It's hard to say how many offspring he had. During his lifetime, Virtuosos emerged all over the country. Unfortunately, we lost the majority of the Virtuosos during World War II. Only a handful were left. In addition to that, some died after the war, some from old age. Nowadays, there are seven Virtuosos in Japan. Four of them were born after the war. For reference, we had about thirty of them at the beginning of the war as I recall, and at least half of them were Hojashi's children. So yeah, just a handful is left. Considering that only a third of all children can become Virtuosos, our prolific Patriarch produced about five and a half dozen children. He outdid Alder, for sure. Despite the fact that the British guy is still alive, I very much doubt that he's capable of producing children at his age. Who knows though. Anyway, he won’t ever catch up with the other one. By the way, Hojashi died of old age.'

  She started pondering something, throwing her right arm over the back of the sofa and playing with the wine glass in the other. She reminded me of a lounging
panther, relaxed but ready to jump at any moment.

  'In what year?'

  'Huh?'

  'In what year did Khoyashi die?'

  'In 1955.'

  If this Khoyashi was a warlock like me, it’s strange that he died so early. In theory, we live a long life. In my world, people like me rarely die of age due to the nature of our work. Those who did live well into old age were not that strong. Does that mean Khoiashi was a weakling? Or perhaps, he wasn't even a warlock?

  'Was this Hojashi strong?'

  'Huh?'

  'Miss, wake up! I'm still here.'

  'I'm sorry, Shinji. Did you ask something?'

  'How strong was Hojashi?'

  'He had the rank of Veteran. No Patriarch has ever had a higher rank than that, not even in legends. They actually all had the same rank.' Oh yeah, she mentioned that before at the beginning of the conversation.

  'Have you heard about many Patriarchs?' I asked.

  'I've heard of about thirty.' Whoa! 'Sure, the number is not exact. It's impossible to gather information about everyone over the course of history, especially those whose names are kept in secret.'

  'How do you...'

  'A woman who is desperate to give birth to a Virtuoso is capable of anything, in case you didn't know. In my case, my opportunities are better.' That's news!

  'Hmm, I see. 'Okay, who was there before Hojashi?' I changed the subject.

  'An American. The son of the founder of the Gates clan. His father distinguished himself in a local revolution. He was a fortunate General or something like that. He died when he was 101 years old. Hence, of old age. He was also a Veteran, in case you're curious. I have no idea how many children he had.'

  'It doesn't matter,' I said, glancing at my watch. I'd sort out all the information tomorrow. There was no rush now. 'I'd better get going. Otherwise, I won’t have a pleasant morning.' I yawned. 'Thank you, Akemi. 'I'll get ahold of you later. You know, I might have questions about all of this.'

  'When you get outside, tell Mouse to come in,' she answered, lazily waving her hand. 'I'd better keep that butthead close; otherwise, he'll get himself in trouble again.'

  'Alright.' I gulped a glass of juice right before leaving, grabbed and swallowed some disgustingly sweet thing, got up, and stretched, 'Later, guys!' I waved my hand. 'See you soon, beautiful young gal,' I bowed to Akemi. When I reached the door, the woman's voice stopped me.

  'Do I have a chance?' I turned around, almost falling.

  'More than anyone else,' I said looking at her. 'At this moment in time.'

  Chapter 4

  'Good-bye, Maxim!' Suddenly waking up and opening my eyes, I immediately squeezed them shut again. It was a bad dream, and it hurt. I saw my daughter who was grown up and in college. I saw my wife crying over our wedding photo.

  'Good-bye, Maxim!' It hurt even more once I realized that I was not going to see this kind of dream anymore.

  'Good-bye, sweetheart!' God, I just wanted to jump down the throat of the jerk who was the reason for me losing my family. But I couldn’t. It was not a natural disaster. It was something more mighty, something more unattainable. All I could do was burn with anger and hatred, trying to keep my cool because I couldn't take it out on anyone. That's it, Max, breathe. I need to calm down; otherwise, I will end up going mad.

  Swinging the door open, Shina appeared before me. I was actually relieved to find that I hadn't locked it. She stood in the defense position that looked more like Kokucu Dachi from karate. Cautiously, taking small steps, she entered the room and scanned it. Only after that, did she take her guard down. I didn't even have time to get angry, I was so shocked. Who was she going to fight in my bedroom?

  'Who was here?' I was obviously missing something.

  'My erotic dreams. Before you broke in, of course.'

  'Am I not good enough for your erotic dreams?' I could still sense the tension in her voice. What is going on in here? I looked around the room to make sure I didn't miss anything and gazed at Shina again.

  'Perhaps, you could explain to me what's going on,' I said, pointing at the door.

  'Are you sure no one was here before I came?' I didn't know what she was referring to but decided to be careful.

  'You woke me up. That’s it.' I can't explain it. It looked like she was just about to ease up and let it go, when all of a sudden, she tensed up again. She rapidly checked the room, made sure no one was there and then walked up to me.

  'Alright, Shinji,' she said in a serious voice. 'Quick, get ready. Let’s go for a run.' I wasn’t sure whether to resist or not. This 'childhood friend' was clearly concerned about something. For some reason, she was certain that someone had visited me while I was sleeping. Frankly, I thought it was nonsense. As a reminder, I was an Absolute, and that says a lot. I had no idea what was going on, but I decided to play by the rules of the panic-monger anyway. Pondering, I got out of bed.

  'Oh, Shinji! Couldn't you throw on a blanket?' What's wrong with my underwear?

  'Turn away if it bothers you. It's not your bedroom anyway.' Shina went red in the face and dashed towards the door.

  I ran the first circuit around the neighborhood by myself. Shina made some excuse and took off home. For a warlock of my level, or one level below, training is not actually needed that often. In theory, I didn't need it at all. In practice, without training, development stops. It might seem as if an Absolute shouldn't care, but I don't know a single warlock in real life who is satisfied with their level and has stopped their development because there is no limit to perfection. Given the nature of my work, both in my native world and here, even a small skill update can take a life.

  Shina didn't seem to understand that, and for the last year, had only run once in a while. Apparently, she didn't get it that even a little thing like running increased one’s strength. The rest of the family followed suit: only Mizuki runs, always and everywhere. Except for her, I've never seen any Koyama training. That doesn't mean anything though because I don’t follow or watch them all the time, so I can’t know for sure.

  Firstly, I don't care to pay attention to all that. Secondly, it’s the presence of Bahir. This bloody power is spilled in the air, as they say; it's invisible to the eye but very real, and it messes up all my knowledge and experience. Perhaps, at a certain level, they don't even need to train their bodies. I learned the hard way that Bahir can strengthen their bodies. If I inflict a punch on a regular person, I'll rip out their intestines. If I inflict the same punch on Bahir in a Veteran, he'll experience convulsions, but in a few seconds or less, he will be ready to fight again. Bloody monsters. Good thing my punches are different in force and purpose.

  When I was just starting to recover my abilities, I often had thoughts about mastering Bahir. Moreover, I had specific goals to study the local martial arts in addition to my own strengths. I expected to combine these abilities, the skills of a warlock and the local martial arts, which would make me superhuman. I had a rude awakening though. Shina's father helped me feel Bahir, soak it in, and even light a small flame in my palm. He admired me for how fast I was able to learn. Two hours is pretty good according to Akeno. That's until I got back home and realized that I couldn't do a single thing that involved using my warlock abilities. For two days straight after that, I felt like a regular person. I remember that day of panic as if it were yesterday. Yikes.

  That's how I made my choice. I had to choose between 100% recovery of my former abilities and the indistinct but theoretically more powerful Bahir abilities. I was aware that I was unlikely to become a Virtuoso and my choice made me a Patriarch.

  'I see you haven't even broken a sweat? Good job! That means you can run another round with me so I can make up the missing round.' Heh, witch!

  It's been a while since I’d ran with her. The difference is that in the last half year, I ran for time not distance like her. Half an hour, no more, no less. At my pace, I ran a little less than six miles, while she made fifteen rounds, each a quarter mile long
. Overall, we ran at the same speed, and I didn’t care that she made one more round than me or perhaps two. Anyway, I ran longer and further. I wondered whether she was going to continue working with me or quit. She stayed but continuously glared at me until the end of the run. When we got close to our houses, she finally plucked up the courage to ask.

  'Umm...'

  'Time,' I cut her off, tapping my watch.

  'Huh?'

  'I run for time. Half an hour—done.'

  'Mmk. I see. Well, no. I don't get it. Since when did you start running for time?'

  'What's with the tone, Shina-San? Have I ever promised you anything? I run the way I like. When was the last time you worked out?'

  'Pffft. I'll see you at school.' I escorted her with my gaze to the gate and went to take a shower. I must find out how she entered my house this morning.

  On the way to school, I was approached by Mizuki who now walked next to me. Interesting.

  'That doesn't look like running,' I said in surprise.

  'Screw it. I'll break a sweat for nothing—it's not that far.'

  'I thought Koyama women don't sweat,' I said. That earned me a suspicious look.

  'You talk like my mom.' Huh!' According to you, Koyama women aren’t human.'

  'Right, they aren’t,' I said raising my index finger. 'They're superhuman.'

  'You're kidding, right?' She asked with suspicion.

  'Also, they are very shrewd,' I smiled.

  'Ha! Speaking of shrewdness, I have a question.'

  'Alright, spill it.'

  'Is it true that you can release Yaki that can even take Shina down?' Oh, this is it—Yaki. It was bad timing for Shina to stop by, and it was my fault too.

  'Where are you coming from?' In response, she looked down, hesitated, and sighed heavily a couple of times.

  'I overheard my father discussing today's incident with grandpa.'

  'Shina, I take it? What did she do?'

  'Don't you know?'

  'I can guess,' I smirked. 'I just wanna know what it was like for all of you.'