11 Chapter 10

A small sanctuary that made us feel safe. That's what I saw our small apartment at the third floor. It may have been dark and gloomy but it was home. Despite sleeping on the wooden floor half the time it was no different than sleeping in the dojo. But all of it was gonna end as things were going for another turn. It was a sudden change of pace but it wasn't an easy one.

It started out the day after me and Mr. Williams finished raiding my room for supplies. There were those nightmares again. I saw a shadowy figure with a fox mask tucked in the corner. He was always crying there, sitting there with his head down.

A faint curiosity comes towards as I try to comfort him. But the moment I touch him. I see blood all over with corpses. But to my shock all of their faces were blacked out, like censored videos you can see from a television program. I would have spasms sometimes and scream in the dream. Only to wake up in cold sweat.

I woke up at noon with a slightly warmer air. I went out to the living room with Tyrell with a circuit board and a soderer on hand. He was working on something so I sat next to him. "So how long was I out?" I asked. "Almost twenty-four hours. You were having a lot of nightmares again. We had to shake you a couple of times. You didn't wake up but it did help you sleep." He replied as he checked his watch. The man then lets go of his equipment and reaches for something next to him. He brings on the counter a can of mixed veggies and a spork. "The old man told me you were doing magic stuff so he recommended you eat your greens." Tyrell said as he handed me the can. My stomach growled so fair enough I opened the can and started eating. Tyrell then continued to work on  whatever he was working on. Amazingly the soderer was attached to a car battery. "Where did you get that?" I asked. "Rebecca and the old man raided the room around the corner and it was owned by some mechanic." He says, "Luckily he still had some replacement parts."

Tyrell is soon finished with whatever repairs he needed to do. He reassembled the item and started to screw back everything in place. By the time he was done the guy removed the cables from battery and looked for any kind of missing parts. He was holding a stun gun with a pistol grip. There was no cartridge at the front but it looks like it still worked. Tyrell then arms the weapon and pulls the trigger. Electricity then started to pulse out from the front and kinda made Tyrell jittery. "My cousin was zapped by one of these... couldn't get rid of the phobia after seeing these in action." He muttered. Tyrell then disarms the taser and puts it in a side holster located at his hip.

I then took some pieces of paper from the stack and started to work on some paper charms and talismans. When I was passed out I had a dream from the first past life again and started tried to make use of what I had. My first talisman of the day was ready and it managed to call out a familiar that resembled a bird. It looked like a sparrow but was pure white and made out of pure energy. It still had the glyph at the chest and was faceless, much like the shikigami doll. Tyrell's eyes were wide open as this was the first time he saw magic happening in front of him. "You didn't happen to sell yourself to devil, did you?" He asked. "If I did then you would have nightmares too." I tell him, "The only demon here is me, remember?"

The bird then looks at me and waits for my orders. It then reads my mind and flew out of an opening from the window. I then poured water in a small bowl and put another paper charm. The charm's ink dissolves and I was given an image of what the bird shikigami was seeing as it was hovering above. All I can see was a wasteland equivalent of a desert. As the bird shikigami flew higher the more I was given a view of the land. My community used to be active but now it was but now it felt like a city in ruins. The terrain was uneven and the asphalt roads were broken. Building were crumbling on their own as their supports were barely holding up. But with this new ruined city came life. Some of creatures happen to be the ones we already stumbled upon. There were goblins, trolls, and dire rats roaming around quite a lot. Some were even ones that weren't even mythological at all. Coyotes and wolves were a couple of those species along with goats, deer, and various mammals. Amongst the reptiles were that of rattlesnakes and turtles. But even if there were of those of our kind, it didn't mean that there weren't any of mythological variants.

While flying I caught a couple people hunting a giant tortoise the size of a minivan. It had a dark jade, green color and had fangs the size of daggers. The shell itself was almost in the shape of a beetle. From what I can tell this was a giga tortoise. Unlike its smaller regular cousins, this happened to be a carnivore. The beasts neck can extend twice the size of its body and can consume a person with one bite. From the Ark Index it mentions that these things aren't just sought for its meat for food but for its shell. A giga tortoise shell is even strong enough to stop 45 Cal bullets making it good for shields or armor. I actually wouldn't mind a giga tortoise gauntlet myself but it would be far beyond our league to take one on. I'm the only one barely able to cast magic and only three of us are capable of fighting. The team I was looking at was already capable casting fireballs and  lightning out of their hands. Some of them were even able to be in synchronized at their attacks with even bows and spears. As the strategy went the two magic casters aimed for the legs of the monster to weaken it by burning its skin. Spearmen then charge to cripple the reptile by piercing the knee joints. The giga tortoise then falls at the ground to retaliate by extending its head. Only then a large green man with an iron club bashes back the head with his weapon. The green man had pointed ears and a flat nose with a large overbite. From what I can tell, this person was an orc. But out from the distance, a brunette man with a katana pulls out a lever action rifle and shoots the beast at the head, close range. "All seemed to fit accordingly, Richard." The orc said. "Yeah… it's expected. Our boss is after all the past life of Isami Kondo." The brunette said.

"But you're of that Ryoma fellow… right?"

"Sakamoto Ryoma  was just a lowly samurai that barely changed the world. Besides, boss is better."

"How so? Isn't the god Ebisu based on luck?"

"Boss has the Norns with her. Fate is better than fortune either way."

The man then hides his rifle and takes out a knife. He whistles to everyone. Soon the whole group then started to take the beast and butcher it. The brunette then scratches his head as he finds a corpse with the lower half missing. At the collar he took out a metal tag from a necklace. There he pours a flask of liquid all over it and snapped his fingers. The corpse lights on fire, then brings out a journal to record what happened. "So what are we here for?" The orc asks, "It's not like we came all this way for Giga tortoise." The brunette then closed his journal and looks at the distance. He brings out his binoculars and scopes around the area. The man looks relieved that nothing at all looked like a threat. There, Richard gets his canteen sits back down at a worn-out bus stop. "According to the boss, we have to find someone here." He said. "What does the man look like?" The orc asked.

"She doesn't know...some parts of her visions were blocked by divine intervention."

"Then why bother looking for him? Maybe the gods don't want him to be found."

"Apparently this person had been causing a bit of a ruckus at the divine pantheon. Under god a weird god too...not likely to find a familia either."

"Which gods then?"

"Tsukuyomi."

"The neutral moon goddess?!"

"Yeah I know… Ebisu was even hesitant tell me anything. Whoever this guy is... He's going to be as infamous as Judas."

"Any clues other than rumors?"

"All I got from the boss was that the guy was that he reincarnated too many times. She even says that the both her and I even knew him one point."

"That is odd…"

"I know… even the boss didn't want this info to circulate."

"You may be right, too many posers already want to join Hanami… it would be bad if we get the wrong person."

"So right now our goal is to find this guy before someone else does."

"What if we don't find him?"

The man didn't answer. Richard then continued to drink at his canteen. His thirst was replenished but he was still tense. I then noticed him looking at the corner of his eye. Richard then spins his rifle as he reloaded it with his left hand. He pointed it up in the air with one arm and shoots it like a pistol at the bird shikigami. But instead of hitting the familiar, it hit the desert wyvern behind the charm. It was a direct hit to the head. I watched him get the dead wyvern. He then picks it up and throws it in a sack. "Looks like we got some work to do." He mumbled.

I then let the shikigami took off and go back to the apartment.  Maybe he didn't notice my familiar. I didn't know at the time. One thing for sure was the fact that I was being tracked down. The purpose itself was being hidden. Yet then again in a world like this… no wonder the gods are going crazy.