Simula Arka - Part 9

"I-I had a dream."

Juchi had a look of disbelief in his face. "Really now?"

"I am serious. It was like before."

Before... Juchi had remembered how Oji had a dream which turned out to be prophetic. During one of the battles the two fought at, Oji dreamt that the enemy would suddenly appear within their war camp through a hidden path behind them. Oji had tried to warn their commander about this dream but he dismissed it and punished them for their insolence, by placing them as a rearguard in the middle of nowhere.

When the commander came back to 'check' the 'rearguard' after the battle, he was shocked to see, twenty-five men clad in black, lying on the ground, all dead with Oji in their midst, bloodsoaked, with Saichi not too far, having killed five.

And today, after thirty years, Oji had another dream. Juchi couldn't just dismiss this as it may turn out true.

"When did this happen?"

"The night before he woke up."

Juchi nodded.

"It was a beautiful evening." He said as he began describing his dream. "The moon was halfway up and the night sky lush and blue. At first, everything was quiet, then suddenly screams, as horses, hundreds, no thousands of them, came galloping out from the forest, their riders wearing black armor. But worst of all, behind the samurai horsemen there were dark shadowy specters of death."

Juchi gulped as his heart raced wildly, the sheer thought of an army of horses made him shiver.

"It was chaos. Our men tried to put up a valiant but useless defense and were quickly cut down. I remember you leading a counter-charge, only to fail. I thought everything was lost, left and right everyone who came before them, men, women, children, they were all being cut down. Then I could see them approach my house, as I readied myself to protect my family, that's... That's when that man appeared."

"The human?"

...

Oji stood at the door in his home, his servants beside him carrying whatever they could use as a weapon, a broom, a pan, the gardening tool. They all stood, shivering and waiting for their deaths, that's when Isaiah came up behind and walked past them.

"Young man, there is nothing we can do, here, stand by my side and help me buy time..." Oji called out in desperation, katana in his hand. 

He had already given up hope of survival, he had already readied himself to die tonight, but his family, he had to buy time for them to escape. 

But just how much could he buy?

On the other side, Isaiah turned back towards Oji, his eyes full of power and conviction that Oji couldn't help but gasp.

"Isaiah-san."

Isaiah didn't answer. Instead, he turned his head back towards the gate. Just over yonder, a shadowy knight came galloping, its long spear aiming for Isaiah's head.

Isaiah stared at the knight, not one inch of fear in his eyes. As the knight came ever closer, to the point that Oji could already smell the foul stench of death. The spear was about to touch Isaiah's head, but before it could, he jerked his head.

"Is-Isaiah." Oji gasped.

Thud Crash Boom.

The knight had fallen off his horse as if pushed by a mysterious force and landed right at their feet.

Krrrrrsh

The servants became jittery thinking that they had to fight such a monstrous creature, but Oji remained calmed, cause he saw, that the black knight was dead.

Oji then turned his attention to Isaiah, who now had both arms open as Isaiah took in a deep breath, then he lifted both arms.

The sight to behold was...

"It was beautiful."

A question mark floated in Juchi's face.

"Anyway, the point is, we will soon be attacked by another clan and their black knights and only Isaiah-san could help us."

"Isaiah?"

"That's his name."

"Okay... Still, I don't really trust him."

"But in my dream."

"Look, I know about your dream and all but let's face it, the last time you had a dream like this was what? A very long time ago already? What if you're wrong and that he is in fact a spy? What if he was the one who brought those knights.  You could get us all killed."

"But what if he isn't?"

'...'

"Chief," Juchi sighed in defeat. "It still up to you however, what happens to him is your choice. Let's just hope that your dream is correct and that he isn't here to harm us."

Oji nodded as he crossed his arms and looked over the gasping group who had finished one out of three laps.

"Oh, by the way, don't be too harsh on them, they are doing just fine despite being young, why don't you end it after this lap?"

"Mhm, right," Juchi turned towards where Oji's house was, "When will he come?"

"Come where?"

"Here, where else?"

"Why?"

"To train for sword fighting. Human sword techniques may be inferior to ours but they do have some surprising ones, especially with knives, I'd like to study their ways to incorporate it in my 'Raiken-Style'."

"Raiken, are you really going on with that? Also, isn't that name already taken?"

"Taken, no? But yes of course, someday, I will be known everywhere as the founder of the 'Raiken-style' way of the sword. A mixture of our honorable methods, and human's cunning ways."

"You are basically removing Bushido in your style, don't you think you're only bringing dishonor to your self?"

"Honor or not, since when was taking someone's life honorable? Times have changed, I have heard that the humans in the east have invented a 'dragon's mouth' which spews out metal and breaths fire."

"It's probably magic."

"Magic? No no, it's not magic, its a weapon. I'd like to see one myself. Hehehehehe. Maybe that man knew how to make one."

"Very well then, I shall be going, there seem to be problems with those fishermen."

"Mhm, wait chief."

"Hmm?"

"I heard of rumors, is it true that Daimyo Zaiko is preparing for war?" Juchi asked, worried.

Oji looked around before replying with a lower voice.

"That may be, our taxes were just increased lately and I have heard of troop movements everywhere."

"Tsk, not again, isn't it enough? He was lucky the past daimyo was weak and was easily duped, and now he wanted to wage war over the other clans, what is he thinking?"

"I agree with your thoughts, but remember, he is our daimyo, our lord, we are here only to serve him and that is all."

"Ack, you and your honor, but like, I know, though I wish he would think about us, his subjects, as well and not just his pride."

"I shall get going now?"

"Right, sorry chief."

"No, it's alright, it's pleasant to talk with you sometimes."

Oji then left for the pier, the villagers, when seeing their chief would bow and Oji would sometimes nod in acknowledgment or not. Oji looked around the village that he had helped flourish, no, more like made it flourish.

Despite high taxes and low trade, Oji had slowly built this town, which was just once a tiny fishing village, into a now bustling mini-city complete with it owns shops, factories, and others. It was his dream, to turn this tiny village, into his clan's capital city.

'It was beautiful.' He let his mind wander as he remembered his dream. 

As Isaiah lifted both his hands up and bunched up both of his fists, every single horse and its rider and every single one of those black things, started flying.

At first, Oji was scared, he never thought that his people had the power of flight within them, that's when he realized, it wasn't them that was flying but rather Isaiah, making them fly.

'Him and his mysterious magic.' And today, he had witnessed it, on a far smaller scale.

Isaiah then released his closed grip and all those who floated began falling down.

Due to a curse, Kitsunes and other beastmen in general were never allowed the privilege of Magic-users. Because of that curse, not one of their offspring would be capable of using magic. But that all changed and now, they had magic-capable. Oji was one of the few to witness this magic-capable beastmen in action. And that sight captured his heart.

'It was beautiful.' he would say, as he watched flames erupt from the kitsune's hands and began devouring its enemies. Despite being outnumbered, the kitsune was able to not only repel but turn the tide of battle all by himself. Ever since then, Oji would act like a child in front of magic and he despised the fact that he wasn't born with one. 

But that didn't matter, since today, he had learned of the secret to obtaining magic capable kitsunes.

A male and female kitsune's child may never have magic, but for a human and a kitsune to have a child? It could happen, no, it did happen. And that was precisely why he wanted Isaiah to stay. 

Anyway, most of the nobility now would always have a human wife, in fact, the current regional daimyo had three human wives with him and of his twelve children, four of them could use magic. 

Right now, a magic able child was guaranteed to have a successful future.

Oji then turned to where his house was, on top of a small hill.

'Good luck, Senkuzi, Yumi.' He prayed as the fisherman called out to their chief. "Right, what seems to be the problem?"

...

Isaiah closed his eyes, placed his hand down for support, and began rocking his body.

He was tired.

For four hours straight, he did nothing but read and read and learn. And learn, he did not. 

'Man Japanese is hard, I thought it would be easy to learn other languages if you think about them as patterns, I wonder how could my manghud (little brother) do it so quickly?' Isaiah's respect for his younger brother rose. Isaiah remembered his younger step-brother who was 10 years younger than him but could already speak multiple languages, them being Russian and Japanese, apart from the usual three, English, Tagalog, Bisaya, despite being eight.

'Talent does run in the family eh? Then again, that was all he could do, apart from being slightly better than me in sports.' Isaiah stretched himself and then his body lay down to rest. Isaiah turned his head and saw a book titled 'Kisunean Empire by Klop Pencil' and quickly reached for it but stopped midway.

'No, I have to read this first, then I can read that.'

Isaiah then made a grunting noise too hard to describe but it sounds like a dying walrus which humans make when complaining but too tired. [1]

Isaiah took a deep breath before reciting basic greetings in Japanese.

[In Japanese/Kisunei] "Hi, how are you? I am fine thank you... What your name?"

"What is your name?" Senzuki corrected.

"Right, what is your name?" Then, surprised, Isaiah turned his head to see Senzuki enter the room, a tray of tea in her hand.

"Hello." Senzuki greeted.

"Hello, didn't see you there." Isaiah sat up, trying to muster what Japanese he could speak.

"You're doing good huh, impressive." She complimented.

After a few seconds of delay, Isaiah responded. "Ahhh, thank you thank you. This book, really helping."

"Helpful."

"Ahh, helpful, helpful, helpful, thank you."

"No problem. Right then." Senzuki then lowered the tray onto the table while Isaiah cleared it for her before she poured tea into the two cups.

"Smells, very good."

"Thank you."

"No problem, no problem."

Senki then handed one of the filled cups over to Isaiah as she placed the tray away. In the middle of them was a plate with rice cakes.

'Puto Cheese but no cheese?' [2]

"Let us eat?"

"Yes, let us eat."

Isaiah drank from the cup to quench his thirst while Senki took a bite out of the rice cakes.

"Nej Isaiah-san," Senki asked. "Would you like to converse in Kisunean?"

"Ehh, sure sure, no problem."

Chapter 9 Fin...

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[1] Minecraft villager noise, just slightly deeper if you will.

[2] Puto cheese is a popular snack in the Philippines, it is made out of starch or flour and made to look like macaroons and instead of raisins, a slice of cheese is placed on top. Puto is also a term for rice cakes in the Philippines but I have yet to see a puto-cheese made of rice so I am sorry.