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

by J. G. Taschereau

  “Who are you, and why have you been targeting me since I arrived in Tokyo?” the Creator asked.

  “Weren’t you paying attention a moment ago?” Souji asked sarcastically. “My name is Souji Okita, and targeting you is the order of my superior.”

  Okita stabbed at the Creator again with incredible speed. The Creator only barely evaded the second attack, dropping down to the floor. He fell onto his hands, attempting to spin around and kick away Souji’s legs as he ran by. The boy was tripped up, but managed to correct himself with a stumble as the Creator got to his feet behind him.

  “That was pretty good,” Okita said. “Have you studied any martial arts, sir Creator?”

  The Creator was baffled by his opponent. He appeared out of nowhere making threats of death while at the same time smiling and making small talk. He wasn’t like the other assassins had been, either. He was considerably younger and much more pleasant. The Creator kept up his guard. His polite speaking was likely a ruse to distract him.

  “Is something wrong, sir Creator?” Okita asked. “I would have thought you’d be putting up a bit more of a fight against me. I mean, you have such amazing powers at your fingertips, why not use them? In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you look like you’re scared. But that can’t be the case obviously, as that’s a human emotion. It’s an emotion a deity like you couldn’t possibly possess.”

  Okita began to inch towards the Creator, his kind demeanor shifting to one much more malicious.

  “Unless, of course, you aren’t really a deity in our world. Could that be the case, sir Creator?”

  The Creator’s eyes widened. For the first time since his arrival on Earth, he began to feel nervous.

  “I see, I was right after all,” Okita said with a smile. “Your face betrays you. This is really quite interesting to me. I’d hear rumors, but actually knowing the truth is rather exciting. It opens up so many new questions.”

  The Creator backed away from the boy and felt his back hit something hard. He had backed into a wall with very little room to move. The hallway continued to his right, but running would not do him any good with Okita’s speed.

  “I wonder, does this mean you have a soul? If so, what will happen to it when I kill you? Would it go to Heaven? Or would it go to Hell? Well, I guess you’re about to find out, sir Creator.”

  Okita raised his sword up as he prepared to thrust at the Creator. His smile disappeared. “May God take pity on you for what you’ve done.”

  He leapt forward, a tiger upon its prey. The Creator moved to the side to try and avoid it, but he realized it was useless to dodge. He shut his eyes, only to feel something rush past him from his right. There was a clash of steel as the Creator opened his eyes again. In front of him, another swordsman had joined the fray, deflecting Okita’s weapon and holding it to the side. Both the Creator and Okita gasped softly as they laid eyes on the new arrival, none other than Adam Evans.

  “Caught you,” Adam said. His eyes were locked on Okita while he kept the boy’s sword pinned with his own. Okita had not expected this.

  “How did you know I would be here?” he asked.

  “At the mountain, I was certain I heard something in the trees. You probably thought I ignored you, but I was just waiting for you to move again. Sure enough you did, and I just followed you here.”

  Okita eyed the bloody stain covering the front of Adam’s jacket where he had been cut on the mountain. He chuckled, looking back at the Creator.

  “You certainly had me fooled,” Okita told him, his smile returning. “That’s quite a poker face you have, sir Creator. What sense would it make for your double to have his regenerative powers on Earth while you don’t? I bet you were planning a counter attack the whole time. Very sneaky, sir Creator.”

  Adam moved his sword up towards Okita’s face, but the boy moved aside and got away from his aggressor, who took a serious stance.

  “You’re not in any position to be joking around, you know,” Adam growled.

  “I know, Mr. Evans,” Okita admitted. “It certainly makes me feel better about this situation, though. I’m a bit out of luck, as you can see. I’m trapped between two powerful deities, and I have the wrath of a third awaiting me if I fail. No matter how you look at it, this is a losing battle for me.”

  “Are you trying to make me pity you?” said Adam. He had no intention of dragging out any kind of conversation with the boy. There was only one reason why he was even still alive.

  “I might have been, but it’s pretty clear that it didn’t work. In that case, I’ll have to defend myself. All I ask is that you keep this a fair fight and restrain those powers you’ve developed.”

  “You come to this place bearing the threat of death and you expect mercy from me?”

  “I wasn’t expecting it,” Okita said, readying his sword. “I just wanted to see if what my teacher said was true, about you being completely heartless.”

  Okita’s words caught Adam off guard, striking at his heart the same way they had done to the Creator. Okita took this opportunity to make his move, but his thrust was parried. Adam was not as phased as Okita had hoped, and now he had the upper hand.

  “If you think cheap psychological tricks are going to work on me, you’re wrong,” said Adam.

  Their swords disconnected and Okita stepped backwards, preparing to counter an attack. Adam stood still, keeping his gaze fixed on Okita.

  “There’s no point in keeping this going,” he said. “You won’t be able to hit me, especially not by using that technique, any way.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t have the luxury of running,” Okita said, his smile long since faded. “I’ll have to keep attacking until one of us dies.”

  “You seem to already know that you won’t be able to kill me,” Adam said. “Are you just asking me to kill you to get out of being captured?”

  “I can’t go back,” Okita said. “Not if I lose.”

  “Souji, please be reasonable,” said the Creator. Okita was surprised to hear the man he had just tried to kill arguing for his life, but disregarded him.

  “You’re just a kid,” the Creator continued. “You have your whole life ahead of you. Don’t throw it all away for nothing.”

  “Don’t lecture me, Creator,” Okita said sharply, finally dropping the polite address. “You’re not in a position to say that. You, with your wondrous kingdoms and countless loving servants, could never understand where I come from.”

  “Try me,” the Creator said. Adam shot the Creator a stern look, but the Creator’s face told Adam to trust him.

  “I bet you were never alone once in your life,” Okita said. “You’ve always had people there for you, people who love and care for you.” Both Adam and the Creator didn’t expect the sudden and drastic change in Okita’s personality. The kind and polite boy who had introduced himself to the Creator had been replaced by a shaky, pitiful child.

  “This job is all that I have, the people I work with my only friends,” Okita continued. “They look after me, and I’m glad to be a part of that family, even if I have to do terrible things. I bet you’ve never had to kill anyone just to make someone happy.”

  “You’re right, I haven’t,” the Creator said calmly. “But let me ask you something, Souji: does killing make you happy?”

  “My happiness is irrelevant,” Okita said. “All that matters is the will of the organization.”

  “What organization might that be?” Adam asked.

  Okita scoffed. “I’m not that gullible, Mr. Evans. I won’t give myself away that easily.”

  “Then maybe I can persuade you,” Adam said. He held his sword out, ready to attack Okita again. The boy seemed dismissive, as if he would freely allow Adam to skewer him. His face only made Adam angrier.

  “Would you really just throw your life away because someone told you to?”

  “You could never understand,” Okita said. “All I’ve ever wanted was to please him. Maybe giving my life will fina
lly be enough to do that.”

  “Do you really believe that, little one?”

  Okita froze as a ghostly voice rang through his ears. Adam heard it too, and turned to see a tall man in white and golden robes step towards them. His hands were both full of his companions’ luggage.

  “The man in the golden mask,” Okita announced. “That’s just perfect. Now my spectacular defeat is truly complete.”

  “Put down your sword, child,” New Baggins continued. “There’s no need to give up your life today.”

  “You don’t get it either,” Okita said, becoming more annoyed with all of them. “I owe my life to my teacher, and I would do anything he asked of me if that’s what he wanted.”

  “And what about what you want?” New Baggins asked. This pushed Okita passed the point of patience.

  “Will you all just shut up?” Okita screamed. “What I want is irrelevant! My only purpose in life is to kill. How could someone like you understand that?”

  New Baggins laughed softly, setting the baggage down. “You say your only purpose is to kill others? In that case, you and I aren’t so different after all.”

  Okita glared at New Baggins, who closed his eyes and began to list off information as if he were reading it off of a sheet of paper.

  “Let’s see, you’re name is Souji Okita, born December 22nd, 1988 in the Uji district of Kyoto. You’ve killed—oh my—57 people in the last three years.”

  “How did you know that?” Okita demanded, somewhat panicked. He obviously hadn’t been told the full extent of New Baggins’ mental powers.

  “You were a social misfit, an only child, and fairly lonely,” New Baggins continued, “though that wouldn’t have turned you into a killer. Wait, what’s this? You’re in the street, there’s been a car accident.”

  “Stop it,” Okita ordered. “Stop it now.”

  “There’s a lot of blood in the road, and you’re all alone. You’re just a child, and you’re crying.”

  “Shut up!” Okita screamed, rushing at New Baggins with his sword. He walked right into a trap, and before the sword got within a foot of New Baggins it broke apart in a spray of metallic dust. Before he could react, his entire body froze up as well.

  Okita panicked as he tried desperately to move his limbs, but he was completely paralyzed. Only his automatic bodily functions were left untouched, as he noticed with his slow breathing. Now there was absolutely no doubt: he was a captive of the enemy.

  “Don’t worry, that paralysis is only temporary,” New Baggins said, taking the baggage in his hands once more. “It will wear off shortly after the authorities arrive to arrest you. Ah, they’re almost here now. We should be going if we don’t want to be arrested as well.”

  “Good point,” the Creator said. He turned to Adam, who had already made his way over to Okita, grabbing him by the ponytail.

  “Where is he?” Adam demanded. “Where is that bastard hiding? Tell me!”

  “Iilil-ja, he can’t speak,” the Creator said. “His body’s been paralyzed.”

  “Then I’m taking him with me.”

  “There’s no time, we need to get out of here.”

  Adam scowled and let Okita go, sheathing his sword and walking towards the hall where he had come from.

  “I’m glad you’re alright, Iilil-ja,” the Creator said.

  Adam stopped, bringing his glare to the Creator. “I told you not to get involved.” Without another word he stormed away towards the exit. The Creator ran after him, with New Baggins close behind.

  Adam headed towards the escalator, hoping to get away from the station as quickly as possible. The Creator followed him, trying to get a response from the runaway king. Adam was in no mood to talk with him and continued on his way out to the exit.

  “Hold on,” the Creator called to him. “We came here to help you.”

  “I didn’t ask for your help, nor do I need it.”

  “Iilil-ja, I know that your anger escaped. I know it’s taken on your shape and that it’s somewhere in the city. You won’t be able to stop it by yourself, especially since you’re not used to being without it as a part of you.”

  “I told you, I can handle it,” Adam said bluntly. “So why don’t you and your friend go back home?”

  “We’re not the only ones who came here to find you, you know,” the Creator said. Before Adam could ask for an explanation, he saw it with his own eyes. At the bottom of the escalator, Dee and Mathias were looking up to see what had been happening on the second level. Dee looked at the escalator, and she caught eyes with Adam. Both of them froze.

  The night that he left Magid flashed back in Adam’s mind. He remembered Dee waving goodbye to him as he left the gala, and he remembered leaving the note he was sure she would read and shed tears over. Her crying face flooded his thoughts.

  “Ms. Gatti,” he said weakly, closing his eyes as he reached the bottom of the escalator. “I’m sure that I’m the last person you want to see right now, but I promise I don’t plan to—”

  He was cut off as Dee slammed into his chest. She threw her arms around him and clutched his blue jacket tightly. Adam’s arms were useless at his sides as Dee fell onto him, burying her face into his chest and letting tears fall over her cheeks.

  “I’m so glad you’re safe,” she said, starting to tremble. Adam was overcome with shock, not knowing at all how to treat this situation. It was something that had never happened to him before.

  “What’s going on, Mr. Evans?” she asked, looking into his eyes now. “Why did you leave us behind?”

  Too ashamed to answer, Adam turned his head so as to avoid her eyes. As Dee held him, Mathias inspected his bounty. He really did look exactly like the Creator, except for his round sunglasses.

  “We should be leaving,” New Baggins said. “The police are spreading out across the station.”

  “You’re right,” the Creator agreed. “Come on Dee, we need to go.”

  Dee turned her head to the Creator and nodded. She looked back at Adam, who finally met her gaze.

  “You have good timing, you know,” she said smiling. “Now you can eat lunch with us.”

  Adam didn’t say anything, feeling even more guilt wash over him. He noticed that the Creator was looking at him now, waiting for a response. Agreeing to go with them would mean a lot more than just having lunch. It got in the way of his entire plan of settling his problems alone.

  He looked back at Dee, who was still smiling as tears of joy rolled down her face. He let out a heavy sigh, then forced a smile for her.

  “Sure,” he said. “Lead the way.”

  Eight minutes after the reunited group left the station amidst the growing crowd, Souji Okita was escorted out by the police. He held his head down in shame to have been captured, while he heard the chatter of the crowd around him.

  “That’s the guy?” someone asked.

  “He’s so young,” said another.

  Okita tried to ignore them, but it was difficult to do. There were dozens of people lined up around the exit of the station watching him being led to a police car. These are the citizens of Kyoto, he thought, going through their lives carefree while he was being led away to what would certainly be prison.

  Among the crowd, there was something that caught his attention. The average person was not terribly tall, but there was one person watching him who easily stood a foot taller than anyone else. His face was hidden beneath a black hood, but the man standing next to him was much easier to identify. The young man was a foreigner with long white hair, unusual for someone his age. Despite wearing sunglasses, Okita knew that this man was staring solely at him.

  Okita hung his head once more, this time letting tears slide silently out from his eyes. He was led to a car and placed inside by an officer, and was quickly on his way to his incarceration.

  The white haired man and his tall associate took their leave from the gossiping crowd, following the sidewalk away from the station. In his pocket, the shorter man’s phon
e buzzed as a message arrived. He flipped the phone open to read it.

  >New Message 13:22

  >Contact: Friedrich Gien

  >Too crowded to meet you now.

  >Okita captured, dangerous to

  >move freely.

  >Will relay you coordinates

  >of Black’s location and meet

  >with you later.

  As he finished reading the message, his phone buzzed once more. This time a map appeared, revealing the path necessary to follow to get to the base where Adam’s double was waiting.

  “So much fuss,” the man said, reviewing the map. “This was supposed to be a rather quiet mission, Spartacus. How is it that now I have a mess to clean up?”

  His companion didn’t answer, remaining silent beneath black robes.

  “The interference of the Creator’s group has really caused us a lot of undue strife. We might have to do something about them so that everything goes as planned. I was hoping Gien and Okita would be able to handle this themselves, but obviously that’s not the case.”

  He closed his phone and slid it back into his suit pocket. The cold air drove his hands into his pocket as he and his associate walked onward.

  “I suppose we should see what Mr. Black has been up to,” he said. “I’m curious to see what he plans to do now that half of his team is gone.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Old Friend

  Adam took his first bite of authentic Japanese sushi. The ikura roll had a strange texture in his mouth but tasted good enough. Considering he had spent the last few days living off what he could find in the wilderness, any kind of prepared food would suffice for him.

  “So you’ve run into it?” the Creator asked. “The embodiment of your anger?”

  The five of them were seated in a well decorated restaurant, resting from the stress of the morning. As all of them but New Baggins filled their empty stomachs, Adam had been relating the details of his time in Japan.

  “I first met him at the palace the night of the gala,” Adam explained. “Then I saw him again in Tokyo. He was with a group of people then, and we were in a crowded place so I thought it best not to start a fight.”