The flames crashed against the rocks. The snow melted instantly but the wave of pebbles seemed to be enough to stop the fire. Behind the attack, Adam shot his free hand out towards the collision, sending the wind to bend around the flames. The gust curved the flames around the small stones, which themselves had been breaking apart and changing shape. Master M gazed into the tempest with wonder.
At last the wind and flames had broken off and the middle of the area was cleared. Master M’s eyes widened when he saw what had resulted from the clash. Between the two of them stood a large circular sheet of what appeared to be ice. Master M, knowing that Adam didn’t have control over the ice element, concluded what had happened.
Adam had predicted that Master M would use fire as his final attack, being the most devastating of all the elements in his control. Knowing this, he sent out the stream of rocks to interact with the fire. They weren’t just ordinary rocks, however. Adam made certain that whatever they had been, as soon as they touched the flames he would break their structure down into something else: sand. As a result, the wind that fanned the flames shaped the sand to Adam’s precise expectations and formed what was now in front of him: a crude but functional parabolic mirror. Before Master M could react, Adam grabbed the mirror and leapt into the air, using the wind to propel himself high up. Master M looked to see him, only to find himself blinded. The parabola directed the already intense morning light directly into his eyes, stripping him of his ability to predict Adam’s movement.
Master M heard a sharp crack as Adam shattered his mirror, sending shards of glass falling to the ground. His vision still impaired, Master M hobbled around to dodge the glass shards. He put all of his attention into escaping the glass and didn’t realize that Adam had already returned to the ground and snuck up behind him. He turned as he heard the rushing footsteps, but it was too late.
He saw only one swing, but in that instant six pangs of pain tore into his chest. The shock overcame him and he dropped his sword, falling to his knees. And yet, he quickly realized, that he was still alive. Master M felt lucky to know that his opponent was the more rational of his two halves. As Adam stood victorious before him, Master M noted that he held his sword upside down, so that the blunt edge would strike him and spare his life.
“Well done,” Master M said. He couldn’t help but smile, despite the pain he was feeling. “Tell me, how were you able to strike me six times with only that one swing of your sword?”
Adam sheathed his weapon. “It’s a technique I learned from the former leader of the Khazaki. It’s called the Six Headed Wolf, and what you didn’t notice was that there actually were six swings behind the attack. They simply move so fast as to appear as one. That is the nature of what has become my signature attack.”
“I am impressed,” Master M said, “with everything you’ve been able to do.”
“I don’t mean to be discourteous,” Adam said, “But I’ve already spent a lot of time out here. I need to keep going and find my other half.”
“That’s to be expected,” said Master M. He attempted to stand, but found he couldn’t.
“The Six Headed Wolf is fatal if done properly,” Adam explained. “As it is now, your body will be unable to move for a short time. You’ll be fine in a while. I’ll wait with you until you can move again.”
“No, that won’t be necessary,” Master M said. “You need to get going, remember? But before you go, I want you to have this.” Master M held out the sword he had used during the fight. Adam hadn’t gotten a good look at it before, but he saw it was very different from the katana Master M had been using. It was a double edged sword intended to be held with two hands. It had an ornate golden hilt that was curved to appear like an upside-down M.
“This is the last remaining Sword of Magid,” Master M explained. “It belonged to the King of the Metal Kingdom and was passed to me when I left after the war. The power of the nation exists within it and will aid you on your quest.”
Adam examined the sword. It was really quite beautiful, obviously made by a master craftsman. He held out his own sword and looked over it.
“I don’t know if I should accept it,” Adam said. “I’ve been using this sword for a very long time. It belonged to someone I admire deeply, and I wouldn’t want to simply set it aside.”
“Stubborn through and through,” Master M said. “Take the sword anyway, if not to fight then simply to bring back to its rightful home.”
Adam found the idea agreeable, and took the sword from Master M with a short bow. As he raised his head back up, there was a crack in the trees behind him. He turned sharply, scanning the tree line for a sign of movement but saw nothing.
Souji Okita gripped the tree trunk tightly, hiding his thin body from sight. He cursed himself for having nearly exposed his presence. It looked like his target hadn’t seen him, but he wasn’t about to peer out again to check. He let loose a sigh of relief. After all this time looking he’d finally found Adam Evans and in no time had almost botched the whole observation.
It was by chance that while walking around the city that morning he saw a foreigner leaving an apartment complex. He might not have considered anything unusual about it if not for the item tucked away at the man’s side. It was the Sword of Magid, unbeknownst to Okita, still wrapped in cloth to hide it from view. Okita wasn’t fooled, and could easily spot a sword and its swordsman. Even more suspicious was the fact that he followed this man to the eastern mountains outside of the city, a spot not regularly visited at this time of year, especially not by foreign swordsmen.
What luck he had to discover where Adam Evans was. He was, however, a bit terrified to see the man’s powers up close. He had been told nothing about Evans except that he was an incredible swordsman with a history of killings longer than his own. He had hoped to find Evans, but he was starting to regret his eagerness now that the incredible power of Adam Evans had been revealed to him.
Silently, he reached for his phone. He had orders to call his superior officer immediately upon finding Evans’ location, though he didn’t intend to make that call just yet. He dialed a different number, and after a few rings the other line answered.
“Good morning, Souji,” the smooth voice said. “I hope you’ve been doing well.”
“Yes, sir,” Okita replied. “I have some news you’ll be most excited about. I’ve found Adam Evans.”
The man on the other end laughed. His voice was light, not terribly old, still vibrant and youthful. “I knew I wouldn’t regret sending you off with Black, Okita. You always get the job done so efficiently.”
“Thank you, Mr. White,” Okita said, smiling widely. Okita was paid the least of anyone on his team, but the praise he received from this Mr. White was worth more than money to him.
“I need you to do something else,” Mr. White said. “You must be quick about it.”
“Of course, sir,” Okita responded.
“Good. There is a train that will be arriving in Kyoto within 30 minutes. Gien is on it, he’s observing the Creator’s group. It seems something went wrong with their plan so I need you to meet him at the station. There’s going to be a bit of commotion when the train arrives, and when that happens I want you to deal with those people.”
“Kill the Creator, sir?”
“Relax, Souji,” Mr. White said. “The Creator will be the least of your problems among them. He’s got no power on Earth. The one you want to watch out for is the man with the golden mask. He’ll be the biggest danger. Also, Gien said to watch out for the girl as well. She’s more trouble than she looks.”
“Alright, I will,” Okita said.
“Souji,” the cool voice said, “Be careful. I’ll be meeting with you and Gien at the station, so try to get it done quickly and we’ll escape. Then we’ll return to see Black and see to it he’s keeping up his end of the arrangement.”
“Of course, sir,” Okita said. The Black they were referring to was their group’s code name for Adam’s other half. Offi
cially he was Mr. Black to them.
“I’m counting on you, Souji. Take care.”
With that, Mr. White ended his correspondence. Okita clicked his phone shut and peered behind the tree again. Evans was busy talking with the man he had followed here. Taking his time, he made his way down from the tree and headed into the city. He hated to abandon Evans now after finally finding him, but his new orders took higher priority. Between Black and White, Okita knew where his true loyalties lay.
Chapter Fourteen
The Living Metal
214 km from Kyoto, Japan
December 18th, 2004
Mathias yawned in his seat, completely succumbed to boredom. Next to him, New Baggins was reading through a magazine he picked up at the station while the Creator was engulfed in an actual book with some kind of dinosaur skeleton on the cover. Dee had fallen asleep half an hour ago, finally growing exhausted from watching the country speed by outside the window. Or maybe it was the snow, which had been steadily falling for some time now. He heard that snow could be hypnotic if you stared at it long enough.
“Hey boss,” Mathias asked the Creator, “any idea how much longer until we get there?”
The Creator looked up from his book. “We should be there in a little less than an hour, according to the schedule.”
“Good, all this sitting around doing nothing is making me antsy,” Mathias said. “We ought to take a lunch break when we get there too, I’m starved.”
“I thought you went to the food cart not too long ago? Didn’t you get anything?”
Mathias slouched in his chair. “No, I ended up giving my last yen to somebody else so he could get something to eat.”
“That was rather kind of you, Mr. Albright,” the Creator said. “A bit uncharacteristic though.”
“Hey, just because I’m a bounty hunter doesn’t mean I’m stingy. I know what it’s like not to have enough to eat, so I don’t like seeing anybody else in that situation.”
“I know, it was just a joke, Mr. Albright,” the Creator said with a smile. “I know all about your previous circumstances, remember? I know what kind of man you really are.”
“Yeah, well don’t go broadcasting it,” Mathias said, crossing his arms. New Baggins shifted his eyes away from the magazine he was reading to glance at Mathias. “I’ve got an image to uphold, you know. The last thing I need is for people—”
Mathias was cut off by a scream and the cries of a woman in Japanese. He turned around in his seat to look out into the hallway. At the end of the car, he saw the man whose lunch he had purchased holding the same stewardess against his body with his left arm. With his other hand he held a long blade up against her neck. The other passengers began to shout in terror, some of them getting up from their seats and rushing to the other end of the car. The Creator and Mathias stared in shock while the stewardess began to cry. Osami Hyogo ignored her.
“Those of you who are with the Creator stand up. Slowly.” His orders were in English and very exact. Without a doubt, he was another assassin.
All of the commotion stirred Dee from her sleep. She raised her head groggily, eyes blinking, and asked, “What’s going on?”
“Creator, who is that man?” New Baggins asked.
“He must be another assassin, like the soldier from Tokyo,” the Creator said.
“An assassin?” Dee said, startled that something like this was happening just after she woke up.
“It seems like he’s followed us from Tokyo,” the Creator deduced. “Clearly, we’ve gotten too close to something they don’t want us to discover.”
“What should we do, sir?” Dee asked the Creator. Before he could answer her, Mathias stood up.
“Mr. Albright? What are you doing?” the Creator asked. Mathias ignored him, stepping into the aisle and looking Hyogo straight in the eyes.
“Is this your idea of gratitude?” he asked coldly. Hyogo looked shaken by Mathias’ direct assault on his character. He was, however, entirely justified.
“Mr. Albright, please be less rash,” the Creator said firmly. Mathias continued to ignore him, unzipping his cargo vest and pulling out one of his many handguns.
“Stay out of it, Creator,” said Mathias. “This is personal business, just me and him.” He pointed his weapon directly at Hyogo and his hostage. “Now let the woman go, or I’ll blow your head clean off!”
Hyogo’s eyes widened at the sight of the gun. The remaining passengers on the car made certain to escape now before any shots were fired. Mathias didn’t move, keeping his weapon fixed on Hyogo. His eyes were narrow, and full of anger.
“New Baggins, can’t you stop this without bloodshed?” the Creator asked his bodyguard.
“It’s too risky,” New Baggins answered. “I don’t have direct visual contact with the target. Anything I try has the risk of affecting his hostage.”
“Well we have to do something,” the Creator said, turning his worry back to the situation. New Baggins wanted to get a look himself, but it was too risky to make sudden movements. It was then he heard a voice calling him inside of his head. He turned his attention directly across from him where Dee had her eyes locked on him. She was concentrated on him as she tried to get him to read her thoughts. After a moment of listening, New Baggins nodded his head.
The Creator kept shouting at Mathias to lower his weapon, but Mathias berated the Creator.
“I told you to stay out of it!” he said.
“This isn’t the proper way to handle this.”
“Do you think I give a damn?” He cocked the gun with his thumb, keeping it steady on his target. As he did this, he didn’t hear the words Dee had whispered behind him, nor see the sparkling of light where the four of them were sitting.
“Lower your weapon,” Hyogo shouted, “or this woman dies!” He felt his arm slacken a bit. He first thought his hostage had just shifted in his grasp, but saw a shimmering of light out of the corner of his eye. He looked down and saw that he was no longer holding his hostage. Instead, the girl between his arm and body was none other than Dee.
Hyogo recoiled in shock. “What is this?”
Dee thrust her right hand up, revealing a light blue rod topped with a darker blue orb.
“This is Astrusian magic,” she announced. “And I am its wielder, Diatyallah Gatti! Lumen!”
A bright burst of light shot out from the end of the wand, blinding Hyogo. He loosened his grip on Dee so that she could escape and he stumbled backwards. As he opened his eyes again, he saw movement in the aisle behind Mathias. The force from New Baggins’ hand came at him before he could even correct his footing. Hyogo felt as if a brick wall had just slammed into him, and the force was enough to send him crashing through the door to the next car. All of this had happened in less than four seconds, and Mathias tried to piece together what exactly had just happened.
“Ms. Gatti!” the Creator called to his assistant, running out into the aisle to where she had landed. Dee was flopped over a row of seats, her back bent over the armrest. She rubbed her head, which bumped against the wall of the train, but was otherwise fine. She seemed a little embarrassed, however, when the Creator stood in front of her.
“Are you all right, Ms. Gatti?” he asked. After she nodded and he verified that she was unharmed, his worry shifted to reprimand. “That was incredibly reckless, Ms. Gatti. Not only did you put your life in danger but you exposed your powers.”
“The train car was almost evacuated of normal passengers, so I thought it would be safe,” Dee explained. “I know it was reckless, sir. I’m sorry.”
The Creator sighed and flashed a relieved smile. “Even though it was dangerous, it was also very brave of you, and you rescued that woman without harming her. It was very quick thinking. I’m proud of you, Dee.”
Dee turned her head and blushed. The Creator almost never called her by her first name, let alone that name. She smiled, pleased with herself.
Mathias kept his sight ahead of him. The door to the next car
had swung after Hyogo was pushed through and his current position was unknown. He knew that an attack could come through at any moment, but he and New Baggins kept up their guard.
There was a groan behind Mathias. He turned his head and saw the stewardess sitting in Dee’s seat. Her eyes were closed, and she was holding her head as if to steady herself. With the threat set aside for a moment, Mathias realized what had happened. Somehow, Dee and the stewardess had changed places, and New Baggins took that opportunity to make his move. Of course that still made no sense.
“Hey, is there something going on here you guys aren’t telling me about?” he asked.
“I’m afraid it’s a complicated explanation, Mr. Silvos,” New Baggins said with that hollow voice of his. “I’ll explain it in full once the situation has calmed down a bit.”
Mathias turned towards New Baggins, his eyes full of surprise. “What did you just call me?”
Before New Baggins could respond, the car was filled with the sound of gunfire. Mathias instinctively ducked behind a seat and pointed his weapon over the top. In front of him, he saw the Creator move behind the seat where Dee was. The gunfire wasn’t being directed towards them.
A gust of cold air filled the car as the door separating the cars blew open. In the gap between the cars, daylight poured through as snow fell from the roof. Osami Hyogo was nowhere to be seen.
“Son of a bitch,” Mathias cursed. The Creator and Dee moved out from their chairs as the four of them gathered near the door. The Creator looked up and saw a large hole had been torn through the metal roof of the train, apparently blown apart by gunfire.
“He shot through the ceiling?” Dee asked.
“How could he do that? He’d have needed a pretty hefty gun to do that, and he didn’t have one anywhere on him. Just that sword thing, which he didn’t have when I saw him earlier.”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” the Creator said. “He couldn’t have had it hidden on him, and his movements would have been hindered by something like that if he was hiding it.”
The Kyoto Ordeal (Tales of the Other Universe Book 1) Page 11
