5 Chapter 4

The next day came and it started with the usual antics. It started with me cooking breakfast and making some tea. I was already dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants as I was going to get ready for work. My hakama and gi was already on the sofa when I got a call. I pick up the phone and it was my uncle at the other line. "It's Rin, talk to me." I greeted. "I'm afraid class is canceled for today." My uncle answered.

"Why, what's up?"

"Turn on the TV."

I get the remote from the countertop. On from the TV comes a breaking news segment. There was a protest happening somewhere in town. It was about some case about  some high school library having some books in fascism and racism. Most of these happen to be based on the Nazi movement along with some other hate groups. One group endured to get rid of them because the references might influence hate crime. Another wishes to keep them in the library in for educational reasons. But soon it went for the worse as a few white supremacists groups started to join the fray. Watching the whole thing kinda gave me cringe. The weirdest part was the school was just few blocks here. "I thought history was there to learn that humanity can do better and learn from our mistakes?" I wanted to clarify. "You know well how quick people get offended here. Anyways most of the students won't be able to come today so enjoy another day off." My uncle concluded.

My uncle then hangs up the phone with my omelette almost about to burn. I laid my food to cool and got my rice ready. The kettle then blows off some steam and I poured the water a tea pot with fresh leaves. All the food was placed at a table near the window.  As I dug into my meal I started to hear the sound of chatter in the air. Looking from below I saw from the street view a couple of people walking to the scene. Tyrell then comes to the room in his work wear, already worn out from his job. He took off his jacket and sits across from me. "What are you looking at?" He asked. I pointed at the street and and he saw the same thing as I was seeing. Tyrell then looked at his phone and saw an email notification. "So the protest was today?" He asked himself. "You were going?" I asked.

"Nah, one of my cousins were in the rally." He tells me, "His mom wants me to pick him up after the whole thing."

"So would you go, if given the chance."

"No way! You know well we don't have time for that. Even if we did...we have other things to worry about."

"Like rent money and tuition?"

"Exactly."

I nodded my head as I got the point. Tyrell then grabs a chair with plate on hand. I handed him some utensils and we watched the crowd walk on their way. "You're still moving to Portland, right?" I asked.

"Maybe next year. I still have to save up on moving money." He replied.

"My uncle says that one of his friends has a good spot to put a dojo, you think we should put it there?"

"If you can, sure. It's getting too expensive here in California anyway."

"Yeah...maybe it might not be so bad to apply for a scholarship there when you think about it."

As we ate Tyrell comes to notice the box of weapons again I had at the living room table. "You really need to watch your stuff." He told me. "I got another day off so I'm thinking of cleaning them up again." I replied.

"You want some help then? All I see you do is cleaning them."

"It's alright. You've been up all night so you need the sleep."

"Okay then… I'll be turning in for the day."

"Don't jam the AC too high."

However my words don't sink as he shut the door on me. But by that time I was already finished eating. After washing the dishes I decided to go take care of my weapons. But looking at the box made me remember that I still had some other gear at my closet. I went inside my closet and found another box. It had a cleaning kit along with an assortment of bullets. But as I looked into it further another box fell out. Inside was full of combat gear. I only remembered now that it was just a few things I got in the past. Back the time I was also into airsoft and Rebecca would invite me to a few matches. It was a set of black tactical gear. It came with some knee and elbow pads, a pair of tactical trainers and combat gloves. I didn't like wearing the jacket that much so I used a parka and wrap it around my waist. I also wear a gauntlet at my left arm with a mask. It was a demon mask covering only the lower half to cover my face.

Looking at myself at the mirror I kinda look like some kind of cyberpunk ninja. I decided to equip my daito set on a frog strap and had to agree the katana was kinda overkill. My face turned red as I soon realized how ridiculous I looked. But as I was about to take off the sword, the ground started to shake. I fell on my bum to see a blinding light come out of the window. At first I thought it was nothing. It would have been nothing if the first thing I didn't heard after that was a gunshot, that is. I then rolled to the wall to get my chest holster and pistol. There I loaded my .45 Cal with a magazine and slowly peeked at the window. Yet all of this felt so familiar and yet I didn't know where this sensation was from. But right now I was more occupied with the monster outside.

It was there I something quite odd. It was a giant lion with a spiked mace tail and quilled mane. It moves its head to reveal a face of a man. There was something on its mouth. It looked like the upper half of a person. Soon Tyrell opens the door. "What the hell is going on?" He asked with a half tired face. I then ran towards him and slammed his body down on the ground. I dragged him at the wall and covered his mouth. There I gave him the sign to keep quiet. "Crawl to the window and lean behind the wall." I whispered to him. We slowly crawled to the window and we laid on the floor below it. I took out my phone and turned on the camera. In my phone I saw the beast there still eating away the corpse. Tyrell was about to scream but I  managed to cover his mouth. The beast then swatted away some guy with its tail. It then eats the person off like a kebab and wanders off ahead.

After that brief moment I let go of the Tyrell and we both managed to breathe. I couldn't believe what I saw at all. Yet everything was was recorded on my phone and I played it back again. It was too unreal to even see such a creature. "What is that thing?" Tyrell asked. "If I remember mythology...I'm guessing that was a manticore." I replied. The streets then started to be full of screams and gunfire. As I was about to get up a stray bullet breaks through the window and goes through my arm. I covered my arm in pain. I then took the tablecloth and was about to patch it up. To my surprise the wound healed instantly. This must have been the power I once had before and yet which past life was it? A dark vision came to me that of I wondered where I was. A land where darkness roamed and suffering that made people wish death would come sooner. I found myself crawling in a cave that exists in memory. A cave that cripples mind to insanity. It was there that I realized this was Yomi, Japan's version of the underworld. A fraction of it was driving me insane. However the most terrifying was being in an empty school. The vision had empty halls and quiet classrooms. Soon I smell rotting flesh only to see dead bodies all around. I ran out of there and there was limitless cadavers everywhere. But I soon I hear the splashing of water below me. It wasn't water, but blood. The pools of blood turn to a shallow river. I hear rumbling, only to look behind me and find a wall of red water sweeping me away like rapids.

I was then dragged from the current and out a window. My body hit hard at the pavement, only for something to appear. It was there a shadowy figure stood in front of me with the same four white horns I had. "Are you... really going to die here?" It said in Japanese with a bloody smile.

I managed to snap out of my vision but I was having a panic attack. My mouth did not leave a scream but I was truly horrified. I staggered to the faucet to wash my face. But as I turned the knob no water came out at all. I moved to the fridge but it looked as if the thing was broken. That's when I tried to flip a switch. The lights didn't work, neither the thermostat and the stove top. It was there I realized that not only the water was gone but the power blew out as well.

Gunfire started to get inside the building. Bullets from an automatic rifle then started to come through the walls and the both of us ducked for cover. The gunfire soon started getting closer until a man in full tactical armor broke through the door. I took out my gun as he pointed the rifle at me. But the man lowered his weapon and collapsed. It was that brief moment that I saw a small knife at the back of his neck. Out then comes out this small green, anthropomorphic creature with an elongated nose and pointy ears. The creature then sadistic laughs and started bashing the man with its club. Tyrell and I were paralyzed in fear as this was happening in front of us. A Japanese woman in a black and white kimono appears at the other side of the door. It was Tsukuyomi again. "Are you still willing to fight after all your suffering?" She asks in Japanese, "After all… if you wish to live… fight."

All those memories started to kick in. All the bloodshed...all the tears…the emotions and the souls that have been torn apart. The room turned white with me only there. I felt the presence of five people behind. My body wouldn't move and I was paralyzed. The door in front of me opened. I felt a hand push me from behind. "This is my fifth attempt. Do me well...me." A man behind me said.

I was back to the original setting with that creature still in front of us. Without hesitation I took out my gun out and shot it at the head. There I sheathed my gun but two more of those things came and went for me. I went to my stance and prepared my sword.  But with their first strike I was still sloppy. Their movements were wild and rapid and my eyes could barely keep track of them. Their movements were coordinated and we're focused on me. For something so small their hits we're enough to push me back. When the things knocked me back, I did a reverse dodge roll and pushed forward. The green creatures atempted to do a coordinated attack with their knives. But at the right moment, I parried it and slain them both with one slice. One was cut in half and the other had its belly open. The creature started to crawl to the door ahead but the thing was bleeding out too much. I instead grab a cleaver from under the counter and threw it at the beast. The beast dies instantly as the cleaver sticks in its head.

But out comes another threat...something actually broke through the window. It was a beast with a head, wings and front of an eagle but  a rear of a lion. This was a Griffin. It charges closer to me even with a damaged hind leg and wing. I then took out my pistol and shot it with lead. But there was it was...getting even closer with the bullets barely having effect. There I took a metal bat from my weapons pile and bashed it at the head with a horizontal swing. To finish it off I kept on hitting the head with blunt force. My mind was in rage. I couldn't stop. Each swing felt lighter by the moment. However a few moments later, Tyrell stopped me as the skull of the griffin was already unrecognizable. Instead I passed the mace to Alvin and took a water bottle from the fridge. I then pour it over me to cool myself down. It didn't do anything but it kept me sane, at the least.

But alas there was no end as I saw something across the door. It was something like the small green men but fatter and the size of a person. It had crooked smile, blueish-green skin and a round head with round ear holes. It squealed and was about to to attack. But as I took out my gun, somebody else took a shot at it at the head. It was Rebecca holding a pump action shotgun with Mr. Williams with his rifle. Yet to my surprise they pointed their at me and Tyrell pointing the mace at me. "Guys...what the hell are you doing?" I asked. "We should be asking the same thing but more of 'what are you'?" Rebecca replied.

Confused I looked at them with doubt. It was when my gaze was caught at the mirror in front of me I saw what was wrong. My four white horns appeared with my red and black eyes. There I retracted my form and removed my mask. It looks like I  got caught in something quite odd. What the hell was going on?