Chapter 2: After Nightfall, Comes War.
Tired after running from a home we had mistaken for Mr. Hiro's, my brothers and I fell asleep to the sounds of the rushing river water, the flowing wind, and the rustling leaves through the night.
Throughout these hours of peace, nightmares corrupted my mind.
I found myself in the middle of the woods, tall trees that reached the sky acting like a secondary wall that enclosed us. A ring of hot fire encircled my body and another figure. I didn't know who it was, but the figure resembled a state of power. It circled me like a wolf hunting its prey. I looked down at my own shaking hands -- they were stained with blood. Then I realized that I had cuts all over my body, and in front of me, a long object was outlined with the red and orange glow from the fire.
It was a long, sleek, black sword.
"War doesn't wait for you to grieve..." The figure's deep voice boomed, "...Now..."
"...Pick up your sword and fight me, Takeichi."
Despite his command, I didn't move, my body frozen in fear as the huge figure revealed a long, heavy axe, it's head as big as a boulder and as sharp as a new knife.
The figure charged at me.
"FIGHT, TAKEICHI!" He yelled in anger, raising his axe over my head, and swinging down, killing me.
Then, everything went black. My feet were suddenly able to feel a familiar, soft, earthly soil. I stretched out my arms, and discovered that I could barely stretch them halfway before piercing my hands with sharp thorns, making me bleed. As I crouched down, holding my bleeding hands close to my body in excruciating pain, I felt a dim light shine down on me. That dim light allowed me to faintly see my surroundings, and I realized that I was in a hole. As my eyes ran up the long walls, the thorns got sharper, and more deadly.
"Where am I...?" I wondered in pain.
The light that shone down on me got brighter and brighter. A woman, glowing like the sun, looked down at me with kind eyes.
"Poor soul," Her soft and soothing voice spoke, "Allow me to show you the world..."
She stretched out her hand and showcased a humble smile.
"Allow yourself..." She finished,
"To receive My Blessing."
I stared at the woman in awe. She was beautiful, her body glowing like the sun.
"Who..." I asked, stretching out a bloody hand.
"Who are you?"
The woman took my hand. It was soft and warm.
"You are forgiven." She ended,
As I became lost in her eyes, I heard voices calling my name.
"...And I am sorry."
"Tsuji!" My brothers shook me awake. I sat up, alarmed by their concerned expressions.
"W-What's going on?" I asked them.
My brothers suddenly went quiet. My ears picked up the sound of soft footsteps in the night. My nose then sensed a peculiar smell. One that didn't feel right.
Smoke.
I then realized why they were silent. I looked outside my doorframe, and found the village, now gone up in flames. My eyes widened.
"What the hell is going on?" I muttered, advancing forward while motioning for my brothers to stay back. I then let out a small gasp, covering my mouth, as I met a gruesome sight.
"W-We'll give you anything.." A frightened fisherman tried to say, "Anything! Please, don't hurt-"
A foreign soldier raised his spear and slashed the man's belly open, blood and guts spilling everywhere. As the victim tried to scream for help, the soldier stabbed at the man's throat, killing him.
"...What is this?" I muttered in fear.
Then, I made eye contact with the soldier.
"Over there!" He shouted, sending two other foreign soldiers over, "A survivor!"
I fell back in fear as two foreign soldiers wearing shiny iron armor and holding sharp spears and shields made their way over to my small, broken shack.
I looked back at my brothers. They were afraid.
"What do I do?" I asked myself, trying to think of something as the soldiers got closer, "What-do-I-do-what-do-I-do-what-do-I-do?"
Stressing out didn't help me, as two soldiers towered over my brothers and I.
The soldier on the left looked back to the soldier that sent them.
"They are young! Do we kill them?" The soldier asked, "We were given orders-"
"I remember the orders! Bring them here!"
The soldier on the right grabbed Kiyoshi, who began to kick and scream.
"No!" I tried to grab my brother, but the soldier on the left kicked me in the ribs, making me stumble back, and grabbed Akaji.
"Agh.." I groaned as my vision blurred.
"Tsuji!" My brothers cried, "Help us please!"
"Silence!" One soldier screamed at my brother, and slapped him.
I stared at the soldier.
He slapped my youngest brother.
Clutching my side in pain, I stood up and shouted in anger,
"Hey! Let them go!"
"You wanna try taking my brothers?! You're gonna have to get through me!" I charged at them, yelling in anger.
The soldier who seemed to be in control of the soldiers who had my brothers sneered at me. He grabbed Akaji from the other soldier.
"Kill it." He commanded, and the soldier faced me.
I stopped rushing forward and faced him. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have a weapon, and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to use it.
The foreign soldier rushed at me.
"Die!" He yelled, brandishing his thick, heavy, iron sword.
I was frozen as death inched closer.
"The knife on his belt." I heard an unknown voice say in my head.
All of a sudden, my body was moving on it's own. I lunged forward and placed my left hand on the foreign soldier's knife handle. Spinning to my right, I unsheathed the weapon and used my momentum from my spin to drive the knife straight through the soldier's helmet and into his head. I stared at what I had done, my hand still gripping onto the blade's handle.
"I just...killed a man..." I muttered, "But...how? I-I..."
My thoughts were interrupted by the same unknown voice.
"Another soldier approaching. This one had a sword and a shield. Drive the blade under his shield and lift up. His torso will be completely open, strike there."
I pulled the blade out of the first soldier's head, spilling his blood as he dropped to the ground with a harsh thud! and faced the other soldier. I did as the voice in my head said. I rushed forward with tremendous speed, positioned the dull end of my knife at the bottom of the soldier's shield, and with unrealistic strength, I drove my knife up, the soldier's hands going with it. The voice was right: the soldier's stomach was exposed. I then moved my knife away from the shield, and before my opponent could react, I drove my knife into his stomach, twisted the blade with my wrist, and jerked to the right, slicing his internal organs, his blood spouting from his body onto my clothes and face like a fountain.
He fell to the ground and lay still, motionless. I turned to face the final soldier. He stared at me, slightly terrified.
"He was weak a moment ago...what happened?!" He questioned.
Time slowed down. I was able to sense every little detail of the scene in front of me. The final soldier's right hand reached for Kiyoshi while his other hand reaching for his blade. At that precise moment, that one second, I felt something take over me. I wasn't myself.
"Fujin: Swift Wind." I muttered, and in an instant I had rushed over to the soldier. Before he could grab neither Kiyoshi or his blade, I drove my knife into his stomach, the blade facing upward, and slashed up in a perfect arc with all my might, splitting his torso, neck, and head in half. As blood showered over Kiyoshi, Akaji, and me like rain, the body fell back, it's distorted and deformed face an expression of confusion and terror.
I breathed heavily as I stared at what I had done. My shaky hands dropped the knife into the now wet mud. It had begun to rain. As the fire from the village died down, my brothers stared at me, sharing my expression of confusion.
"What...was that?" Akaji asked me.
"I-I...I don't know..." I said shakily.
"Tsuji..." Kiyoshi whispered, "What happened to the village? Who were those men?"
My concerned eyes met my brother's.
"I don't know. We should go check to see if anyone is hurt...maybe we can help..."
I wandered off to Mr. Hiro's blacksmith shop, accompanied by my brothers. They were the only people who were keeping me sane.
"I killed a man." I said in my head, "I killed three men..."
"...I-I don't get it...that...that speed...that feeling." I muttered to myself.
What was that? What was I saying?
My thoughts were cut off as we arrived at the blacksmith shop. Slowly, with my brothers trailing behind, I entered the building.
"Stop right there, Mongol!" Mr. Hiro revealed himself, brandishing a sharp sword. I put my hands up, showing that I wasn't a bad guy.
"Oh, Tsuji..." He sighed, putting his blade down, "Are you okay? You look pale."
"Mr. Hiro..." I asked, "...What happened here?"
From behind Mr. Hiro's hiding spot emerged a girl a bit younger than me, maybe about 16, with long, flowing brown hair that fell down her sides. I almost lost myself as I stared into her hazel-brown eyes.
"The Mongols invaded Japan overnight." Mr. Hiro said to us, bringing me back to reality, "And...seeing that our town is a center for wandering Samurai...there's a war currently going on in the north. They didn't want any samurai to be able to come here to heal from their wounds...so we were a prime target..."
"The...Mongols?" I asked.
"The Mongols:" Mr. Hiro said, "An army that relies solely on its own brutality, lead by Kublai Khan. They want to take over Japan, and are willing to do so no matter how much blood is shed."
There was something about that name, "Khan," that felt...scary... no, familiar.
"And your brothers?" Mr. Hiro asked, looking down at them.
"They're...fine." I managed.
"Tsuji saved us." Akaji told Mr. Hiro, "He killed three soldiers that wanted to hurt us!"
Mr. Hiro then looked at me, shocked.
"You...did what?" He asked.
"I-I don't know how..." I tried, "I would say it was impulse... but I don't know... before I killed the last one, I said something..."
I tried to recall what I had said.
"Fujin: Swift Wind." I recited.
Mr. Hiro then dropped his blade and put two hands on my shoulders.
"Fujin? The Shinto god of Wind?" He asked me.
My eyes widened.
"Shinto? I-I don't know how that ties into-"
"In Shinto, the gods give out blessings to those who worship them..." Mr. Hiro said, "Tsuji, how did you kill those soldiers?"
"Um-" I tried.
"He was attacking super fast! It was nothing like the normal Tsuji...and his eyes were glowing like a teal-green!" Kiyoshi interrupted.
"My eyes were WHAT?!" I asked him.
"Knowing you, you're not much of a combat guy..." Mr. Hiro analyzed, and then he realized. He went silent.
"...Mr. Hiro?" I asked.
"Oh my...the gods..." He shook with happiness.
"What?" I asked frantically.
"The gods have blessed you with their power! You can call on their name to aid you in battle! Just like how Fujin, the god of wind did!" Mr. Hiro announced, "We're saved!"
I stared at him like he was crazy.
"What are you-" I asked.
Then, time slowed down. I felt the same familiar feeling that I had felt when killing the final soldier.
I looked out the window and found five Mongol soldiers armed with spears, swords, and shields charging at the blacksmith shop.
"The boy in black! Kill him!" One soldier screamed.
No. They were charging at me.
"Mr. Hiro?" I asked, "Take Akaji and Kiyoshi, and go hide somewhere...they want me for some reason."
"Use your power to stop them!" Mr. Hiro urged.
"-What power?" I tried, but then that sense of no control washed over me again.
I suddenly found myself surrounded by all three soldiers, my arms stretched out with my palms flat, parallel to the nearby burned and destroyed trees.
"Kill the boy!" Another soldier yelled.
"Raijin: Volatile Power." I muttered, and from my palms emitted a strong surge of lightning that struck the soldiers' hearts. In an instant, they fell to the ground, stiff and dead. I stood up from my crouched position, not knowing what was going on.
"Raijin!" Mr. Hiro cried, "The god of Lightning!"
"What?" I asked, standing up from my position.
"You're our gift!" Mr. Hiro said gleefully, "We've worshipped the gods for years, but have received no gifts! Now, in times of war, we receive the ultimate weapon to help us! Thank you! Thank you!"
I still didn't understand what was going on.
But something was happening to me.
And it had to do with the one thing I hated the most:
Shinto.
Chapter 2: After Nightfall, Comes War, END.
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