“I’ve heard a lot about you,” he said. “I’m honored to meet you at last, The Baggins.”
“Who are you?” demanded The Baggins.
“I’m somebody who has a lot in common with you,” he answered. “The night is young, so let’s chat for a while.”
The Baggins narrowed his eyes, analyzing the stranger’s face. Although his hair was different, his facial features matched those of the Creator and his alter ego.
“So you’re the one they’re looking for,” The Baggins affirmed. “The embodiment of the Magid king’s anger. That’s you, isn’t it?”
“You’re pretty perceptive,” the doppelganger said with a wicked smile. “I should have expected as much from you.” He stepped closer to The Baggins, noting the squirming body of his henchman below him.
“That’s permanent, right? He’ll be trapped in that nightmare so long as you want him to be? Of course, I don’t imagine you’ll let him go.” The double shifted his cape away, revealing his sword. In a few swift movements, he drew the sword and pierced Serbanescu’s head through the only exposed part of his body. There was a short scream before his body fell still and he remained silent.
“I wouldn’t imagine you to be the merciful type,” The Baggins commented.
“Mercy had nothing to do with it,” the doppelganger said. “That screaming was getting on my nerves.” He used his own cape to wipe Serbanescu’s blood from the blade. “Anyway, let’s get back to business.”
“There is no business between you and I,” The Baggins said. “I don’t want anything to do with your problems or whatever you’re doing that involves the Creator.”
“Don’t be like that,” said the doppelganger. “I split off from the Creator a long time ago. He’s an annoyance in your life, that’s clear. Mine too, him and those people he brought here with him. That’s why I came out here tonight. We could gain a lot by helping each other, you know.”
As he got closer, The Baggins could see his eyes. They were bloodshot and seemed to burn in his head. Truly another monster.
“What do you say, The Baggins? Let’s work together, you and I. We can destroy the Creator and take over this world.”
The empty street stayed quiet. The smug doppelganger awaited a response while The Baggins looked back at him. Behind the mask, his white pupils stared at the doppelganger with contempt.
“Absolutely not,” he said firmly. The doppelganger’s eyes widened. The Baggins turned away from him, leaving him and the corpse behind. “I no longer seek what you’re after. Besides, people like you make terrible partners. I wouldn’t want to be stabbed in the back, after all.”
The doppelganger lowered his head. “I’m sorry to hear that.” With a flash, he made his move. The Baggins had predicted that his fight was not over, and he was correct.
He spun around and projected a glowing purple wall in front of him as the doppelganger’s sword crashed against it. His calm expression had now become deranged, and a wide smile spread over his face as he laughed like a madman. The Baggins forced him back by pushing the mental shield away from his body. The doppelganger landed on his feet and cracked his sword into the wall once again. It crumpled and disintegrated as a wave of particles washing away.
“He’s stronger than he looks,” The Baggins thought. He wasn’t just a lackey like the other assassin. This one was really the top dog.
“Oh, come on!” the doppelganger called out, his voice distorted with feigned madness. “Don’t tell me that a legend like you isn’t even going to fight back?” He cocked his head to the side, bobbing back and forth on his feet. One thing was obvious to The Baggins: sanity had not split off to this form when Adam Evans conducted his ritual.
The Baggins analyzed his options. He doubted a mental trap would work on the double as it had with his henchman, and with his powers sealed as they were by the Creator he wouldn’t be able to utilize enough power to kill him. Even with his powers sealed, he knew there were others ways to kill besides psionic force.
As the doppelganger inched towards The Baggins, he heard a quick crack on both sides of him. In front of him, The Baggins had raised his hands outward. The tips of his fingers glowed with the same purple light as his shield had. By the time the doppelganger realized his strategy, it was already too late.
The stone walls on both sides of the street shifted and split in pieces as two large slabs were broken away from the main body. In the blink of an eye, these slabs slammed together in the center of the road where the doppelganger was standing. There was no time to move away as he was sandwiched between them and crushed. The sound echoed through the neighborhood and a mix of ground stone and snow flew in the air.
As the debris cleared, The Baggins saw the outcome of his attack. The two pieces of wall were well stuck together, a puddle of blood now leaking steadily out the front and into the street. He realized such a bold attack was likely to draw attention and planned to make a quick escape.
“So much for that,” The Baggins thought. “What a lackluster ending. Is that really the man those fools were making such a fuss over?”
He turned to leave, but didn’t have time to take three steps. Behind him, the cracking of the stone walls echoed. A few bricks fell loose, then more broke away until both slabs had been broken away. In the center stood the doppelganger, his entire body now covered in blood. His eyes, already maddening, were filled with rage now.
“Impossible!” cried The Baggins. “There‘s no way you could have survived that.” Of course, he hadn’t taken into account the most important detail about his opponent: as a being descended from Adam Evans, who was in turn descended from the Creator, the doppelganger was an immortal Legend.
The doppelganger roared and leapt forward at The Baggins. He threw out another mental wall, but this was quickly dispelled. The Baggins was taken by surprise and was unable to defend himself as the enraged doppelganger fell upon him. The sword swung faster than he could make another move and tore through his front. Against the anger-fueled deity, The Baggins’ armor and flesh were like paper and broke away from the ferocity of the blade.
A spray of blood erupted from The Baggins’ chest as he wailed aloud, causing nearby windows to shatter. An unbearable pain burned through him as he suffered from the wound, one that he had never felt before in his life thanks to his incredible mental defenses. This time they had failed him and he was unable to stop himself from slipping into unconsciousness and falling to the ground.
Seeing that his prey was down, the doppelganger calmed himself by taking many slow breaths. He stood over The Baggins, hoping that the legendary man would get back up and continue their death match. It seemed that wouldn’t be happening.
“I’ve been told that when you were made, you were to become a living weapon,” the double said through staggered breaths. “So all of your strengths were shifted to offensive properties, leaving you virtually defenseless if you were ever injured. In such a case, the pain you’d feel would be one hundred fold. That is hubris, I suppose. It’s a shame, really. You would have been a great help to me, and I to you. In the end, you weren’t strong enough I suppose.” He lifted his sword over The Baggins’ head as he had done with Serbanescu’s. “Die.”
“That’s enough,” a voice called out.
The doppelganger froze. He had wanted to end this task quickly before anyone else had shown up. He looked out at the end of the street where a single figure was standing. The man stepped forward, making himself visible under the street light. The doppelganger grinned like a child.
“I’m the one you want, not him,” said Adam Evans. “So let’s finish this, my angry alter ego.”
Chapter Eighteen
The Gauntlet is Thrown
Mathias stared at the food in front of him, a delicious smelling but strange looking dish served in a bowl. With the odd table that was not even two feet off of the ground and the pillows used to sit on instead of chairs, his experience in the Hiwatari household was getting stranger by the minu
te. Still, he wasn’t about to turn down free food.
“This looks really good, Ayumi,” Dee praised. “What is it called?”
“This is oyakodon,” she explained. “It’s a mix of chicken and a few other ingredients topped with eggs and served over rice. I don’t make it often, but I figured tonight was a special occasion.
Mathias looked at the bowl again. Chicken and eggs served in the same meal? There was something not quite right about that, he thought. He planned to eat it all the same.
“Oh that reminds me, have any of you ever eaten with chopsticks before?” Ayumi asked.
Her three remaining guests picked up the polished wooden sticks that were set aside by their dishes. They weren’t the disposable kind like the ones the trio had used at the noodle shop earlier.
“I’ve got this,” Mathias said, fumbling around with the chopsticks between his fingers. He clearly didn’t, dropping both of them into his dinner. Ayumi laughed and helped him to hold his hand properly, then demonstrated the same for Dee and the Creator. It was definitely a learned skill, one that even after a week in the country none of them had fully grasped.
“Also, it’s polite to say ‘itadakimasu’ before you eat,” Ayumi explained.
“Shouldn’t we wait for Adam to get back?” Dee asked, eyeing the window behind her.
“No need,” Ayumi said sourly. “He’ll probably be out for a while. I bet he got lost looking for ingredients. We shouldn’t let him hold us up.”
“So much for politeness,” Mathias said under his breath.
The Creator chuckled nervously. “Itadakimasu,” he replied.
“So, Ayumi,” Dee started, changing the subject, “tell us about yourself.”
“Hm,” the girl said as she chewed her first bite of the oyakodon. “Well, I’m 16. I’m a first year at Kyoto Gaidai Nishi High School. I’m a member of the literature club, and I also sing in a band with some of my friends.”
Mathias didn’t care much about what his hostess was saying and feigned attention as he ate. The Creator smiled, happy to see that his old friend had grown up to become a normal teenager.
“What about Shuya?” the Creator asked. “What’s he up to these days?”
“He’s in his last year of study at Kyoto University. But right now he’s in Indonesia, studying ancient human remains of natives. He’s studying to be an anthropologist.” She struggled with the last word.
The Creator laughed. “That guy, always interested in the strangest things.”
“What about you two?” Ayumi asked. Had she not looked towards him, Mathias wouldn’t have realized she was speaking to him.
“I’m a businessman,” he said bluntly. “Boring stuff, trading stocks, things like that.” That was the lie he had been instructed to say if anyone on Earth asked. The girl seemed gullible, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to make up a story.
“My dad’s in business too,” she said. “He holds a pretty high position in his company, so he travels a lot for them. How about you?”
“I work for, uh, Daniel,” Dee said. “I’m his assistant and I help him with work. Taking notes, keeping track of appointments, things like that.”
“You mean like a secretary?”
“I guess you could say that,” Dee answered, taking a sip of tea.
Ayumi narrowed her eyes and smiled. “In that case, are you two having a secret office affair?”
Dee choked on the hot tea and coughed, her face beginning to flush red.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she stammered, waving her free hand about.
“It’s an old stereotype, but you hear about it happening all the time,” the girl said with an ever widening grin. She was enjoying this.
“Well not in this case!”
“Then why are you blushing like that?”
As this happened, the Creator ignored them both and ate his meal. Mathias eyed him for some kind of response, but he maintained the same serene, oblivious look he always had.
“Can we change the subject, please?” Dee begged. Her request was answered by the sound of the door opening in the hallway. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Adam was back and Ayumi’s teasing might be directed towards him.
“Is that you, Adam-san?” Ayumi called. “I finished cooking without you, I didn’t want to wait for whatever ingredients you were getting. You can serve yourself, because I’m not—”
Ayumi stopped herself as Adam appeared in the doorway of the living room. She, along with the other three, stared in silent shock. His right side was covered in blood, coming from the body slung over his shoulder. Only the Creator knew for certain, but it was The Baggins.
Ayumi bolted back from her seat in a panic. “What did you do?” she shouted. She watched as droplets of blood fell to the wooden floor. “You—you freak! It’s bad enough to carry around a weapon, even a toy, but you actually killed someone! Wait, that’s not a toy, is it? You’ve been carrying around a real sword?”
“Ayumi, please,” the Creator said calmly.
“Don’t try to defend him, Daniel!” she screamed. She was getting hysterical, an understandable reaction for a normal teenaged girl. “He killed somebody! We have to call the police!”
“Ayumi, please just be quiet and listen.”
The Creator’s stern words were uncharacteristic of him, and Ayumi stared blankly at him. He closed his eyes and frowned, clearly displeased.
“I was hoping that we would be able to get through all of this without you getting involved,” he went on. “It was obviously very naïve of me to think that. Ayumi, we haven’t been entirely honest with you, about who we are and why we’re here. It’s a long story, but you need to know it.”
Ayumi looked around the room. The others were looking at her with the same serious concern as the Creator. She tried to calm herself as best as she could, then slowly took a seat and waited as the Creator started from the beginning.
The food sitting on the table had grown cold by the time the Creator had explained everything. Adam had put The Baggins on the floor over a blanket and took a seat with the others. At the head of the table, Ayumi sat with her arms crossed, her brow furrowed.
“Daniel-kun,” she said, “do you really expect me to believe such a ridiculous story like that? I mean, come on, you? Some kind of cosmic entity?”
“We’re sorry we had to deceive you, Ayumi,” Dee said, “but all of this is true. The Creator really is who he says he is.”
“This is a really unfunny joke to be playing after all these years, Daniel-kun,” Ayumi said, agitated. “I don’t suppose you could prove any of this.”
The cup in front of her rattled, causing her to look down at it. The tea in the cup was swirling on its own. Then without warning it climbed out of the cup, moving around in the air as if it were floating in a zero gravity environment. Adam’s finger was pointed at the liquid and moved as it moved, guiding it about. This bizarre demonstration was proof enough, he hoped, that they were more than normal humans.
“How is this possible?” she asked absentmindedly, still focused on the tea dancing in front of her. “I knew you all those years ago, you were normal.”
“I couldn’t reveal the truth,” the Creator said. “But now you know. We’re here to remove the embodiment of Adam’s anger from your world, as well as those who are helping him. Only once we do that can we go back to our own world.”
“Why is he in Kyoto?” she asked.
“We don’t know. We’re hoping to find out before he does anything that could harm the population.”
“Well then let me help you. I know this city better than any of you, so if you’ve got any information about these guys I could try to do something about it.”
“That’s out of the question,” said the Creator. “You’re a civilian. I can’t let you get any more involved in this mess than you already are.”
“Now hold on Daniel-kun, or Creator, or whoever you are. This guy is planning to do something bad to my city. To my ho
me. He’s already targeted two places today. I’m not going to sit around while he’s out there. I don’t care if you’re some kind of otherworldly god, you’re not giving me orders. Not in my own house.”
“Ayumi, please don’t be offended. I’m only worried about your safety. I just don’t want you to get in harm’s way if you don’t have to.”
“Is that so?” a sinister voice said. The Creator froze. He wasn’t certain if the others had heard it too, but as they all turned their heads it was clear that they had. Behind them on the floor, The Baggins had regained consciousness.
“I didn’t think you had a problem getting Earth children to fight your battles for you, Creator.”
“So you’re alive after all,” Adam said. “Hard to believe after you took a hit like that. Though watching you use your powers at the station I’m surprised you allowed anyone to harm you at all.”
Dee looked over the armor clad man lying on the floor. He was the same height as New Baggins and he had a similar mask, but his clothing was much different and his attitude much more callous.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Same to you, woman,” The Baggins answered. “Stay out of this, and don’t speak unless spoken to.”
“Be quiet,” the Creator ordered. “You have no right to address my subordinates.”
“Odd, it seems as if I have no rights as far as you’re concerned,” The Baggins said coldly.
Ayumi leaned over to Mathias and whispered, “Isn’t that the man from earlier? Baggins-san?”
“Maybe, but I think we ought to stay out of this for now,” Mathias said. Better to be cautious when dealing with matters of supermen, he reasoned.
“You don’t deserve rights,” the Creator said. “Now explain yourself.”
“Why not let your double explain things? He’s the one that saw everything. I was about to die after all this time, but he had to come by and save my life.”
The Kyoto Ordeal (Tales of the Other Universe Book 1) Page 16
