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

by J. G. Taschereau

  “And where is that?” Adam, now picking himself up from the floor, desired to get a better grasp on his twin’s plans. Rather than answer, his double formed a twisted smile.

  “Why? What do you care?” he responded. “It’s not like it’s your problem. You don’t want me anymore, and I don’t want to be anywhere near you. I guarantee you no one you know is going to be hurt, so do yourself a favor and stay out of it.”

  Feeling he had thoroughly beaten down his “parent”, the double turned to the door to leave, only to stop at the sound of Adam’s commanding tone.

  “You think I’m just going to let you walk off after hearing all of that?”

  The clone turned his head back with that same sour look as Adam brought himself back to his feet and glared at his dark half.

  “It’s not about knowing the people involved or not,” he continued. “I can’t allow you to run off and cause chaos, especially since I’m responsible for bringing you into this world. I will not let any innocent people get hurt because of me anymore!”

  “Innocent, you say?” His double turned back towards him with an angry scowl. “What makes them so innocent, that they don’t deserve to die? Do you think they’re all as pure as our esteemed Creator Most High? Or as kind and forgiving as that witch who helped seal me away?”

  Adam clenched his fist as his twin blatantly insulted Dee, but held back his wrath.

  “Well I don’t see any of them as innocents,” he continued. “To me, every single person out there is corrupt in one way or another. They’ll try to hide it through beguiling smiles or false promises, but they’re all fakes. I’m the only one who understands how things really work, yet I’m stigmatized for it? I’m evil, because I don’t fit in with that? Well now things are going to change. Now I don’t have an annoying voice telling me, ‘don’t do that, it’s wrong’. I’m going to Earth, and turning their corrupt society upside down!”

  Noticing he had said the word “Earth,” the doppelganger ended his monologue and flashed a wicked smile, acknowledging he had perhaps said too much.

  “Earth?” Adam repeated.

  His double didn’t reply, instead making his way out the door. Adam ran out after him, stopping at the door frame as his malevolent counterpart made his way down the hallway.

  “I won’t let this happen,” he called out. “I’ll find a way to stop you. I may be rid of you, but that doesn’t mean I won’t have a problem killing you!”

  His twin stopped in the hallway, turning back with a twisted smile.

  “Please,” he said. “Without me, you’re not a threat to anyone. You’re just a fledgling fresh from the nest who would tremble against a real opponent like me if you ever had to face him in battle. You are nothing in my eyes.”

  His final stinging words left Adam paralyzed. He couldn’t say anything as he watched the monster he created turn the corner and disappear from sight. Placing his hand on the door frame, Adam leaned against the wall and began to tremble.

  “What have I done?” he thought to himself, his head pounding. “I can’t let this happen. I won’t let this happen.”

  Pulling himself back together, he ran back into his chambers and began sorting through his closet. He pushed his way into the very back, where he discovered a large oak trunk. Reaching to open it, he remembered that he had locked the trunk two years earlier.

  Adam ran back to his desk, tearing open the bottom drawer and reaching into the very back for a box containing a silver key. As he pulled out the key, he saw the folded paper bird that Dee had made for him sitting on the desk. Looking at the symbol of his new peaceful life made him clench the key in his hand, and after a moment of wrestling with himself, pulled away from the desk and returned to the closet.

  He fit the key in and with a “clack” the lock opened. Adam opened the dusty chest slowly, gazing into it for the first time since he had taken the throne. Inside were a light blue jacket folded neatly into a square and a single edged sword, held safely in a black sheath.

  The time for reflection had passed, he decided. His enemy was already on the move, and there was no time to lose thinking about the problem anymore. Taking the sword from the trunk and holding it before him, he became resolute that the time for him to act was not later, but now.

  “Mr. Evans?”

  Dee knocked on his door, holding a slice of cake in her other hand. “Mr. Evans, it’s me. I thought maybe if you’re not too tired we can talk for a little before I go home in the morning. And I brought cake!”

  There was no answer from the other side, prompting some concern from Dee. Normally, Adam would tell her if he didn’t want to see anyone. He would never refuse to answer anyone.

  Falling prey to her worries and curiosity, Dee opened the door just a crack to peer inside. Seeing that the room was in disarray, she opened the door and rushed in, setting the cake down on the table by the door.

  “Mr. Evans? Are you in here? Are you alright?”

  She began to search each room in the chamber, unable to find him. Now with great concern gripping her, she thought to find the Creator. He would know what to do. She ran into the main room towards the door when she noticed the bird she had folded him on his desk, and a piece of paper next to it. She rushed over to discover that it was a note Adam had written. She inspected it carefully:

  To whomever discovers this,

  An issue has come to my attention that is of great urgency. For my own reasons, I cannot divulge the nature of this problem, nor can I allow anyone else to get involved. Therefore, I am abdicating the throne of Magid in order to pursue this. I am sorry to leave such an important position empty, and I ask that you forgive me and try to find someone more suitable. I doubt I will be returning any time soon, if at all. Please do not worry about me, and do not get involved.

  Adam Evans

  Dee read the letter over and over, unable to believe the words in front of her. Overcome with emotion, she ran towards the door to find the Creator already standing there, the shattered orb that once held the doppelganger in his hand. The smile he always carried was lost to a look of concern, his eyes listless, as if holding back his disappointment.

  Dee ran to him and buried her head in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. The Creator dropped the glass ball and wrapped his arms around the distraught girl, holding her closely in an attempt to comfort her before speaking nine words that surprised her.

  “So what are we going to do about this?”

  Dee managed to stop crying and lifted her head up. “What?”

  “Well, you’re obviously not happy with this, right?” he continued. “I’m not either. Iilil-ja is going through a very difficult time right now, you understand it probably as much as he does. And I know you don’t want him to get hurt, right?”

  With eyes still red with tears, Dee nodded her head silently. The Creator’s smile returned and he loosened his embrace on his assistant.

  “I’ll do everything I can to find out what happened to him,” the Creator said. “I promise I’ll bring him home safely. So please, don’t cry anymore.”

  Dee clutched the Creator’s robes, trying to regain her resolve. The warm aura that surrounded him made it easier for Dee to calm down, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief, at least for the moment.

  “So what are we going to do?” she asked him. The Creator placed his hand on Dee’s shoulder in a comforting fashion.

  “For now, just try to calm yourself down and get some rest. In the morning, I’ll let you know what I’ve come up with, alright?”

  Through her sadness, Dee smiled weakly.

  “I guess this means we won’t be going back so soon, will we, sir?”

  Chapter Four

  The Rescue Party

  December 12th

  The marketplace of Takuda Central buzzed with activity during the early morning rush. Not long before, the wooden panels of the individual vendor stands popped up, knocking off fresh snow from the night before as the eager salesmen set up for the day.
The marketplace was the central meeting place for the largest city’s population, where they could find just about whatever they were looking for, and often times pick up things they didn’t really need in the first place.

  “Fish! Get your fresh fish here, right from the docks!” cried a large fly-like humanoid as he flailed a large fish in the air. Most of the vendors were not as enthusiastic about their products, but all eagerly competed to bring in the crowd.

  At another stand, a blue shirted human with a thick black beard called to the passing crowd with a booming voice, drawing in most of them. One passerby however ignored him and continued moving.

  “Come on, everybody get a look at this!” the salesmen shouted. “You too, come on, you won’t be disappointed!”

  The traveler, concealed by a burlap cloak, ignored him and kept moving through the busy district. He was merely passing through and didn’t have the time to waste browsing in the market. As a matter of fact, he made it his business to avoid the large cities as often as possible and to carefully disguise himself whenever he had to. It was only because of the dire situation gripping the palace that he was willing to travel so close to population. Word of the incident had not leaked outside of the palace walls, aside from a select few that the Creator had informed personally. Among them was this somber passerby.

  The marketplace gave way to a small park, where the cobblestone path was hastily shoveled to provide travelers some relief when walking to and from the palace. The trees, leafless and still, stood around the path as if to guide the wanderer on his way. A few unfortunate birds, caught up by the storm and perhaps too reluctant to move someplace warmer, fluttered out of the trees and past the stranger as he made his way out of the park. He raised his hanging head to look at the gates before him and behind them, with its alabaster walls shimmering in the morning light, lay Magid Palace.

  Two guards donning heavy armor stood alert at their posts, clutching tall glaives in their right hands. The wanderer approached slowly, but without fear.

  “Halt!” cried the first guard. “What business do you have here?”

  The stranger stopped and quaintly bowed, not revealing his cloaked face.

  “Good morning, fine sirs,” he said. His voice was ethereal, almost ghost like, and caused the usually formidable guards to feel a slight twinge of dread. “I seek an audience with the King, for he has called me.”

  “The king is not seeing any audiences today,” the second guard said. “Please take your concerns elsewhere for now.”

  The vagabond stood still for a moment, then reached into his shawl. The guards gripped their weapons in defense, but the visitor only pulled out a piece of paper. Unfolding it, it revealed a brilliant golden circle with the emblem of the Creator in the center. The guards stepped back in awe at the revelation and relaxed their stances.

  “I do not seek an audience with the King of Magid, whose absence you wish to hide from me. I come to see he who is the King of All, who bids me welcome.”

  Without another word, the guards stepped aside and opened the iron gates with a loud metallic clang. The stranger pocketed his invitation and continued through the gates and into the inner court of the palace.

  Within the palace walls, Dee paced around the hallways in full fluster. It had already been two days since Adam disappeared and so far no action had been taken to find him yet. The Creator, who went to work setting some sort of plan in motion that very night, had locked himself in his chambers and didn’t communicate with anyone else in the palace, leading Dee, in a predictable fashion, to panic.

  The situation was dire. The king was missing, the embodiment of anger that was sealed away within the safety of the palace was also gone, and the entire country was dealing with the backlash as the government slowed to a halt while still trying to deny all possible cause for alarm. All of this rattled in Dee’s mind, but no thought more so than the fact that she had no idea where Adam had gone.

  As she rounded a corner at full walking speed, Dee barely managed to avoid running into one of the palace attendants.

  “Oh, excuse me,” she hastily said. The attendant looked up and gave Dee an odd look.

  “Worrying is bad, you know,” she said. “It’ll make your hair fall out early.”

  Coming back to reality, Dee recognized the attendant as Miko Lith, whom she had met while helping Adam prepare for the ritual.

  “Oh, good morning Miko,” Dee said as her face flushed red. “I didn’t realize it was you.”

  “No big deal,” the short girl said without too much care. “You should calm down though, really.”

  “How am I supposed to be calm?” Dee asked frantically. “Mr. Evans is missing, and we have no idea where he could have gone. What if he’s hurt?”

  “It’s odd you should think that,” Miko said, walking away from Dee.

  “Why is that?” Dee asked.

  “Because,” Miko answered, “when the king walked away, he didn’t just abandon you. He abandoned this whole kingdom. If word of this gets out, there could be civil war or a coup. It’s only been two years since the Liberation, and not a lot of people are ready to trust the new government, especially one as unstable as this one.”

  Dee was taken aback by Miko’s answer, but realized that she was correct and scolded herself for thinking only of her immediate needs.

  “By the way,” Miko added before disappearing around the corner, “there’s a strange man loitering around the grand stairwell. Someone should probably check on that.”

  Eyes widened by this strange comment, Dee turned around and headed in the direction of the stairwell. She reached the top of the magnificent marble staircase and observed a man standing near the bottom, looking over the statue that stood in the center of the entryway. Dee slowly stepped down the stairs to get a closer look. With great caution, she stepped close to the man, who she noticed was reading from the plaque below the dark metal statue.

  “Excuse me,” Dee stammered. “Can I help you somehow?”

  The man looked up at Dee and grinned. Dee was a bit frightened by the man at first glance of him. He had a short patch of hair rounding off the front of his chin, with dirty blond hair spiked back over the top of his head. His clothes were somewhat soiled, as if he had been rolling through a field of dust, and his side was covered with holsters containing an assortment of firearms, grenades, and knives.

  “Well hey there, little lady,” the man said in a smooth voice. “You wouldn’t happen to know who put this statue up here, do you?”

  “Uh, no,” Dee said. She looked up at the statue, which was itself the image of a fairly young man, unlike the statues of the ancient kings that decorated the rest of the palace.

  “Well, you ought to tell whoever made out this plaque here that it’s got some inconsistencies. Like here, it says that Mathias Albright came from Nishi Village in the Opal Kingdom of Carvon. He was actually from the nearby town of Brent.”

  Dee’s fear was suddenly pushed aside by her stubborn need to correct false information.

  “Actually, that’s not true. Mathias Albright was in fact born in Nishi Village, but at a young age his family moved to Brent, where he learned the knowledge he needed to become a bounty hunter.”

  “Well, well, check out the brain on Blondie,” the man chuckled. Dee shot him a disapproving glare, to which the man returned his former smile.

  “You sure know your stuff, kid,” he remarked, and offered out his hand. “Pleased to meet you. Mathias Albright, at your service.”

  Dee stared at the man and then looked up at the statue. To her sudden shock she realized that the man whose face was on the statue and the same gruff, dirty individual before her was indeed the infamous Mathias Albright.

  Only Dee, who was new to Magid, would not have recognized the bounty hunter at first glance. All of the citizens of the country knew this man as the one who two years ago single handedly stormed Magid Palace, then under the rule of a terrible dictator, and killed the despot in a coup d’état not
seen since the land was stolen by the dictator in the first place. His triumph brought Mathias into the center stage and he became a national hero. However, he turned down all offers of reward and fame and returned to his work as a bounty hunter, not achieving a goal of such notoriety since then. And now, he once again stood in the foyer of Magid Palace, extending his gloved hand to make Dee’s acquaintance.

  “You’re…you’re him?” Dee asked, mindlessly shaking his hand while still keeping her gaze on the statue.

  “The one and only,” the bounty hunter affirmed. “And you are?”

  “Oh, excuse me,” Dee said, swinging her head around to face him. “My name is Diatyallah Gatti.” As with all introductions, Dee used her real name rather than the informal nickname that only a few people had earned the right to call her.

  “That’s an interesting name, can’t say I’ve heard it before,” Mathias said. “Are you from around here?”

  “No, I’m from Carvon,” Dee replied. “I’m travelling with the Creator.”

  “You don’t say,” said Mathias, rubbing his beard in thought. “It’s funny, he’s just the guy I was looking for. Called me here saying he had an important job for me.”

  “Really?” Dee exclaimed. So the Creator wasn’t just biding his time the last few days. It makes sense, she thought, the best way to track someone down is with a bounty hunter. And who better than the most acclaimed one in Magid?

  “So is he around here then?” Mathias asked.

  “Yes, he’s upstairs,” Dee replied. “I’ll bring you to him.”

  Before Mathias and Dee could make their way to the staircase, the double doors of the palace swung open behind them. The pair turned around to see a rather tall figure wrapped in a thick cloak step into the vestibule. His entire head was covered by an oversized hood, and not even his hands were visible as the man wore a pair of yellow gloves. He lifted his head as he entered, noting Dee and Mathias’ presence there.