A Brisk Walk to Bun'ya no Mura

Yume led Jake down a thin walking path that led away from the cliff’s shelf. The path was very overgrown, with vines and small plants growing all over it. In addition to this, the tree covering above their heads was so thick that the forest floor seemed to be covered in perennial dusk. There was no sound from songbirds whatsoever, and the air was still.

Aside from their footsteps, the only sound was Yume’s constant exposition.

In brief flashes, Jake would catch small snippets of the rich history of Chū Nihon, the Downfall of Imawashī, and the Lore of the Mask. He was really more focused on the eerie stillness of the forest. The whole world was holding its breath as if it were watching him intently.

He looked back down at the Mask in his hand. It was extremely light, and it seemed to bend a bit in his hands.

“Yume,” he said.

Yume’s monologue ended abruptly. She looked at him with an annoyed expression on her face.

“Yes?,” she answered.

“Why don’t I just break the Mask now?”

Her mouth formed a perfectly straight line.

“Jeiku,” she said, then sighed. “Jeiku, when we started walking, the very first thing I said is that the Mask is a powerful magical artifact, and therefore can only be destroyed by the combined might of the Order of the Twenty-Four Wizards”

“Oh,” said Jake.

“And you paid attention when I gave you a brief history of the Order, right?”

“Yeah”

“Tell me anything about it”

Jake stared into Yume’s eyes. They were still bright, but they looked more like ice than stars now.

“There are twenty-four of them”

Yume shook her head.

“Well, since you seem to not particularly care about the history of this world, I’ll just tell you my itinerary for us,” she said, stooping a bit lower than she had been.

“Itinerary?”

“Yes. Now, I have taken the liberty to meticulously plan out a route we can take to get to the Great Sacred Temple of the Order of the Twenty-Four Wizards. First, we’ll continue to walk down this path until we exit the Forest of the Wolves, and after two more miles, we will arrive in the village of Bun'ya no Mura. It’s an unassuming village, but I have connections there that will help us build a party”

“A party? I thought we needed to destroy the Mask and all,” said Jake.

“Yes, that’s exactly why–,” she said, then realized what he meant. “No, not a ‘let’s have a drink and listen to some music’ party! Like an expedition team, or a fellowship”

“Okay”

“It is okay. After we recruit some people, we’ll take a boat down the River of the Yōkai”

“River of the Yōkai?”

“Must you keep repeating the last word I say in a questioning fashion?,” Yume said. “Anyway, after sailing down the River for four days, we'll disembark, then have a short day-long walk through the Untamed Lands, where we will find the Great Sacred Temple.” Yume took a deep breath.

“Thank goodness it’s not much further, because I’m getting thirsty,” she said.

‘Maybe you’ll be quiet for once,’ thought Jake.

“Now, those are a lot of names you wouldn’t recognize, so I’ll explain to you the various hazards we may encounter along the way in great detail,” said Yume. “First, the River of the Yōkai is known for its–“

At that moment, Jake noticed a glowing light, partially obscured by trees and logs, in the near distance. It was, yet again, the glowing butterfly.

“Look!,” he said, interrupting her. Yume’s eyes darted about until they landed on the glow, then they widened.

“By the Heights of…” Her voice trailed off. “That’s a Sacred Butterfly! Follow it, quickly!”

Yume poked Jake in the back with her staff.

“Hey!,” he said.

“Go, quickly! Genuine Sacred Butterflies are a once-in-a-lifetime experience!”

Jake balled his fists together.

“Fine,” he said. With that, he ambled off the path to follow the butterfly.

He wasn’t ambling for very long. Only about twenty steps off the path was a clearing, similar to the one he had appeared in. In the center of this clearing was a large animal. It looked like a very large deer, albeit one that was covered in a heavy coat of gray fur and had small black horns instead of antlers. A snakelike noose extended from a nearby tree to its legs, where it held them tightly together.

Above the creature was the butterfly, glowing like a fallen star. It fizzled away the moment Jake set foot in the clearing.

The deer-like creature was lying on the floor. Its eyes met Jake’s.

“Look at that!,” said Yume, suddenly appearing next to him. “It’s a serow”

“What’s that?,” asked Jake.

“That animal right there. Honestly, Jeiku, keep up!,” said Yume. “Now, you must free it”

“Me?”

“Yes, you”

“Why?”

“Because it’s in pain and needs to be freed”

“How do I free it?”

“Don’t you have a sword or a knife of some sort?”

“No”

“Okay, do you have any sort of tool or something in that belly pocket?”

With a smirk, Jake pulled the Mask out of his pocket. Yume rolled her eyes.

“Alright, smart guy,” she said, producing a small meat knife. “Use this”

She held it out to Jake. After a few moments, Jake took it and slowly advanced to the serow. The serow watched his movements intently, its chest heaving up and down.

Jake kneeled down next to the serow. He realized how easy it would be to simply kill the creature. With its legs tied up, there was no way for it to escape or resist him. He could end its life with a single thrust of his knife into the creature’s heart. Or, he could cut its legs, letting it slowly bleed to death. 

He shook his head, clearing away the thoughts. Yume would probably be upset.

He jammed the knife between the serow’s legs. Using one hand to keep its legs from moving, he gently cut through the rope. The moment its legs were free, the serow’s head shot up like it was splashed with water. Startled, Jake leaped back, causing the serow to leap up to its feet. They eyed each other uneasily.

The serow cocked its head at Jake. Jake turned to face Yume, who was now sitting cross-legged on a rock.

“Now what?,” asked Jake.

“Just wait,” said Yume.

Jake turned back to face the serow. The serow put its head down low to the ground, then back at normal height. It snorted, then wobbled its way over to Jake. It licked Jake’s face, causing his face to scrunch up like he'd eaten a lemon.

“Ew!,” he said.

“Congratulations, Jake!,” said Yume, clapping her hands. “That serow will be bonded to you for life now!”

Jake tried to push the serow away, but the affectionately wet onslaught could not be stopped.

“Sorry, how long?”

Two hours and eight miles later, Jake had had enough.

His legs felt like they were on fire because of pain, and the rest of him felt like it was on fire because of the heat. The Sun was pounding him with every step he took, and had been pounding him since the moment he, Yume, and the serow stepped out of the Forest of the Wolves about an hour ago. He really wished he’d happened to put on a pair of shoes before he went to bed last night.

After finding the serow, Yume had given him a lecture on serow behavior and biology, then fallen largely silent. This gave him a lot of time alone with his thoughts, and his mind inevitably wandered to the subject of his newfound destiny. He’d decided he really wanted nothing to do with the whole Chosen One business. None of it made sense to him. Why did he have to help destroy the Mask just because he found it? Why did he need to go to a small village and recruit a ‘party?’ And why the hell did he need to walk so much? The Chosen One should get more luxurious treatment, he thought. The whole thing seemed more like chores than some sort of escapist fantasy, and frankly, he just wanted to lie down and sleep.

Yume thought that this ‘Jake’ was a singularly odd person. She found it strange that the One Chosen by the Soothsayer would be so slow of mind and of body. Some confusion at the new world he had found himself in would be understandable, but to come without so much as shoes? To be unable to walk nine miles without experiencing serious pain? It puzzled Yume. Still, she wasn’t one to question the Soothsayer’s wisdom, and perhaps there was a greater meaning to it. The will of Chōra works in mysterious ways, she thought, and maybe her toleration of Jake’s imperfections was a necessary part of his growth into the hero he was meant to be.

The serow thought that the soft child and pointy-headed woman were awfully nice and interesting, and that following them was the smart thing to do.

And so, with these thoughts in their heads, Jake and Yume trekked across the rolling green hills, with the serow following them closely behind. Long grass, so tall that it reached up to Jake’s waist, extended past them in all directions, fading into forests at the foothills of the mountains surrounding them. Occasionally, gusts of wind would blow across the hills, causing the grass to ripple like an ocean.

On the top of the biggest hill in the valley was the village of Bun'ya no Mura. Enormous fields of wheat draped down the hill on all sides. A small path snaked through the fields extending all the way from Bun'ya no Mura down through the Forest of the Wolves. This path led up to the village's main road.

Once the group set foot on this road, Yume exhaled and put her hands on her hips, while Jake put his hands on his knees as if he’d just run a marathon. The serow snuggled up close to Jake and licked his face.

“Well, Jeiku!,” said Yume. “We have arrived!”

Jake pushed the serow away from his face and stood up properly. The village around him was extremely small. There were a total of twenty houses on each side of what Jake would call a large dirt path as opposed to a road. These houses were all no more than one story high and made of reddish wood. The road itself was bustling with people. Burly men with round straw hats on their heads pulled large carts full of wheat or bread, groups of people talked amongst each other, and kids chased each other around the streets.

“Thank goodness. Can we stop at a hotel and take a nap for the rest of the day?,” said Jake.

Yume raised an eyebrow at him.

“A ‘hotel,’ you said? Are those common where you come from?,” she asked.

“Uh, yeah,” said Jake.

“They existed in this world. During the Golden Era of Yatakana Tochi, an entrepreneur by the name of–“

“Yume, I don’t care!,” he shouted. Many eyes turned to look at him, and a hush fell over the village.

Yume stared at Jake blankly. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s just go to the Whispering Dragon”

“The what?”

“Shh, you’re being very loud. We shouldn’t be attracting so much attention to ourselves”

Jake folded his arms. Yume smiled and said “Good morning” to everybody and nobody at once. The village folk all turned around, returning to their conversations with a hushed tone in their voices. Jake, Yume, and the serow walked quietly. None of them noticed the stern-faced man watching them from an open window.

The man pulled the curtains shut. In the darkness of his cluttered living room, he pulled a large glass ball from his fireplace.

“Emperor Imawashī, Master of the Black Land, most feared in all the lands of Chū Nihon, I have news for you,” said the man.

The crystal ball glowed with a fiery orange light. A black helmet appeared from the flames. It was made from shining metal and molded in such a way that sharp plates covered all traces of the person underneath.

“Yes?,” said Imawashī.

“The time is upon us. I have seen the Great Wanderer Yume accompanied by a strangely-clothed teenage boy,” said the man.

“Is that so?” Imawashī’s voice was as deep as thunder and smooth as a stone.

“Yes. What’s more, I overheard Yume saying that they shouldn’t be attracting attention to themselves,” the man said, smiling proudly.

“This is amazing news, informant. If the implications of this sighting are correct, then maybe it is finally time for my reckoning! Yes…”

Imawashī paused.

“What is your name, informant?,” he asked at length.

“Himitsu Akira,” answered the informant.

“Well, Himitsu. A much more respectable post awaits you upon your return to Kuroi Tochi. I recommend you leave as quickly as possible. As you know, the Scalewalkers aren’t exactly discriminatory”

The flame burned out, and the room became dark. Akira smiled to himself.

Yume, Jake, and the serow continued to walk down the street. The village folk's eyes were all still upon them, and their suspicious glances only deepened when Yume smiled at them.

“We need to be more careful, Jeiku,” said Yume. “Between my wizard uniform and your otherworldly clothes, we’re not exactly inconspicuous. Also, most people don’t bring serows into villages”

Jake looked at his surroundings. Everything in the village was extremely symmetrical, orderly, and similar. Everyone’s clothes, these being gray robes, were identical. The houses were laid out perfectly across from each other in a grid, and all identical in square shape and red color. The only out-of-place object was a well, and even this was placed in such a way that it was perfectly in the center of the village.

Then, Jake jumped. Resting in the shade of the well was a wolf.

“Yume, there’s a wolf here!,” he said.

Yume saw the wolf and gasped.

“You’re right, Jeiku! I’ll see to this immediately,” she said with utmost seriousness.

Yume rushed over to the wolf and raised her arms to the sky. Then, she grabbed the wolf in a massive bear hug.

“Hey there Inu! I’ve missed you so much!,” she said. The wolf panted happily.

Jake watched with all of his muscles clenched. His right hand went into his pocket.

“Is that safe?,” he said.

“Yes! Actually, a lot of people have been taming wolves these days. They’re so nice.” As she said this, Inu gave her a big lick on the face.

“Sorry if I’m not convinced. Some of those things almost killed me just a few hours ago”

“I know how you feel,” said Yume. "It took me a while to get used to too, but once they're tame, wolves are awfully friendly! I think we should start calling them something else"

Yume got up, wiping her face with the back of her hand. Jake removed his hand from his pocket.

“This wolf belongs to the owner of that inn over there,” she said, pointing to a nearby building. This one was twice the size of any of the homes, both in width and in height. A long white banner reading ささやく竜, which Jake somehow understood to mean “The Whispering Dragon” hung from the roof, billowing in the wind.

“This is where our journey will really begin,” she said.

The moment Yume opened the door to the Whispering Dragon, Jake rushed in, frantically searching for a sofa or even just a chair.

“Why is everyone sitting on the floor?,” he asked impatiently. There were literally no chairs in all of the inn’s common area. Everyone was sitting on mats on the floor, arranged around extremely low tables. Even the bar on the right side of the common area was low to the floor.

“Where else would you expect them to sit, the walls? You must come from a strange world,” said Yume.

Jake lay down on one of the mats, stretching out like a blooming flower. The restful sensation of the soft mat was so pleasant that he immediately drifted off to a deep, restful sleep.

Then Yume whacked him on the head with her staff.

“Ow!,” shouted Jake.

“Why in the name of Chōra would you lie down on a tatami? What are you, five?”

“Look, I’m exhausted, okay? I woke up at like five in the morning in the middle of the forest, got chased around by wolves, found a hot psycho witch who sent me on a secret quest I still don’t understand, walked a million miles being chased by a deer who won’t stop licking me, and now I can’t lie down!?

“Keep your voice down,” said Yume.

“No! All this talk of how I’m some sort of Chosen One, and not at a single point have you asked what I actually wanted! Do you think I want to walk God knows where just to destroy a stupid mask?”

“Shh!”

“No, you listen to me, Yume. I don’t want to be a part of this! I’m confused, tired, and I just want to lie down in my bed and wake up from this nightmare!”

With that, Jake got up and stormed out of the inn.

Yume realized that everybody in the inn was staring at her.

"That's a very bratty teenager you've got there," said a voice

Yume turned around. Immediately, a strange man in the corner of the room caught her eye. He had short black hair and a long scar on his cheek. More strikingly, he was clothed in black-and-red armor. A helmet with sharp curved horns rested on his table, and a cup of sake rested in his hand.

Yume clenched her staff tightly, still hidden under her robes. She forced a smile.

"Yeah, he is. You know how kids can be sometimes. Difficult"

The man nodded his head. "Would you like to take a seat?," he asked.

Yume smiled at the bartender, then at a few other people in the bar. She walked briskly in the direction of the strange man’s table, and took a seat directly across from him.

"Let's skip the pleasantries, shall we?," said the man. "I know what that child has"

Yume rested her hands on the table, forming a tent with her hands. “I suppose you'll want to take it from us,” she said.

“And why do you assume that?”

"Your armor," answered Yume, eyeing his attire. It was broken in a few places and rather rusty, but it was unmistakeably the red-and-black livery of Imawashī's Imperial Samurai Legion.

The samurai’s expression remained unchanged. He took a long sip of sake.

"I see. Well, I can assure you that I keep this armor only for convenience. Despite the colors, I no longer have any loyalty to Imawashī"

Yume eyed him skeptically.

"Why should I believe you?"

“Let me buy you some sake,” said the samurai. "I think our goals may be similar"

Jake walked angrily down the streets of Bun’ya no Mura. The serow followed closely behind him.

“Leave me alone!,” he shouted, waving his arm at the serow, who continued to follow. Jake leaped at it, and the serow leaped back, waving its head playfully.

“Ugh!,” said Jake. “I don’t like pets! Shoo, go!”

Then the hairs on his neck stood on end. The sky grew dark, not as if storm clouds covered the sky, but as if the Sun itself had been dimmed. The village folk looked at the sky warily. Inu’s loud barks rang through the air.

A shadow flew over Jake. He looked up, and every muscle in his body locked into place. Hovering above him was a creature, black as the darkest caves and scaly like a snake. It had enormous bat-like wings that effortlessly carried it through the air. Its face looked almost like that of a human’s, but this face ended in a long birdish beak.

This demonic creature glided down to the ground, landing directly in front of Jake. Three other shadows circled him, then gave way to three more creatures identical to the first. They formed a circle around Jake, who remained completely still. The serow ran away.

“You know what we want,” the lead creature said with a voice so evil and cold that it hurt Jake’s ears. “Give it to us now, or you will be killed”

“Principally, I realize that you have no reason to trust me," said the samurai, as a waiter filled their cups with sake.

“That's very true. For all I know, you're just distracting me while other troops attack Jeiku outside,” said Yume.

“Jeiku? That is a very strange name”

“Yeah, I know,” said Yume, taking a long sip of sake. "Hot damn that's really good sake. Waiter–" she waved at the waiter, who was now serving a crowded table of people playing dominoes. "–three more cups, ASAP"

The samurai raised an eyebrow.

"I will ask this to you now, hoping to get the most relevant information out of you while you are still sober," said the samurai.

Yume tapped her fingers on the table and stared at the ceiling.

“No, you answer my questions first. Question one: what are you doing here?”

At that moment, the serow burst into the inn. It ran up to Yume and gently butted her.

“What is it, boy? Did Jeiku leave you? He’s a grump, but you need to stay close to him, okay? I’m trying to talk to this friendly man, so you need to watch him. You’re his cute animal sidekick, and every great Hero needs a cute–“

Her heart skipped a beat. It was suddenly very cold in the room.

“There’s a Scalewalker here,” said the samurai. If looks could kill, the samurai would have been struck dead by Yume's glare.

"I knew it," she said icily.

The door to the inn swung open. A black creature stepped inside, with its great wings folded around its body like a cape. A hush fell as soon as it walked in.

“Show yourself, wizard!,” it shouted with a snarl.

Yume rose to her feet, chugged her cup of sake, and turned around with a dumb smile on her face.

“Hi, do I know you?,” said Yume.

“Do not play games with me, wizard,” said the Scalewalker.

“Why not? You clearly must be playing games yourself, if you think one Scalewalker can beat me in a fight”

The Scalewalker snarled, then let out an ear-splitting shriek. Its great wings spread, revealing its gangly scaled body and shriveled bony arms. Yume’s cloak spread out like a cape, revealing her glowing skin and shining armor. The Scalewalker lunged at her, and she rushed forward to meet him, clashing in a burst of light and darkness.

Back outside, the Scalewalkers cruelly slapped and scratched Jake, whose muscles wouldn’t listen to his commands.

“Come on, give us the Mask!,” they said to him tauntingly. One of them kicked Jake in the stomach, and they all laughed maniacally, like crows.

Jake pulled his arms and legs in close to his body. He could feel the Mask calling to him from his pocket.

Back in the bar, Yume and the Scalewalker fought, dancing around each other’s blows. Yume fired white lightning from her staff, which the Scalewalker dodged, causing the blast to strike and destroy the bar. The Scalewalker lunged forward in a counterattack, claws glowing black with evil magic. Yume batted it out of the way with her staff.

All around the fight, patrons of the inn ran upstairs, hid behind tables, or dashed out the door. All except the samurai, who serenely watched from his table, sipping sake.

The Scalewalker shot forth a blast of dark magic, which Yume blocked with a flashing white counterspell. Immediately afterward, the Scalewalker lunged forward and punched her with so much force that she slammed into the wall, leaving a large crack.

Outside, one of the Scalewalkers tore Jake’s hood off, cackling maniacally. Another one of the Scalewalkers grabbed Jake by the neck and held him high in the air.

“Now,” it said, breathing the stench of death directly into Jake’s face. “The Mask”

Slowly, Jake reached a bloody hand down into his pocket. He pulled out the Mask.

“At last. Our Emperor Imawashī will be pleased, very pleased,” said the Scalewalker. It reached its hand out to grab the Mask.

Before the Scalewalker could take it, Jake put the Mask on his own face! He screamed in pain as red tendrils of light grew like weeds from the Mask’s eyes.

“What have you done?,” asked the Scalewalker. It reached up to grab the Mask off of Jake’s head, but his hand was incinerated by the red light upon contact. With a pathetic howl of pain, it let go of Jake.

Jake did not fall. The red tendrils snaked around him and dug into his flesh. Jake screamed helplessly as he floated there. The Scalewalkers looked confusedly amongst each other.

Finally, the red tendrils disconnected from the Mask, fully buried themselves into Jake’s flesh and disappeared. He opened his eyes, which were now the eyes of the Mask. The ghostly white color and red stripes stretched over his head, blending in so perfectly that it was impossible to tell where the Mask ended and Jake’s face began.

Jake’s yellow eyes pierced the very souls of the Scalewalkers. They eyed each other warily. One of them, who was either very brave or very foolish, jumped forward to slash him. Jake grabbed its hand, then punched it in the stomach. With one last cry, the Scalewalker disappeared into a cloud of black dust.

The remaining two shrank down to the ground.

In the bar, Yume and the Scalewalker’s fight raged on. The Scalewalker had now drawn a sword, which he swung recklessly, leaving gashes in the walls and the floor.

Yume grabbed a table in one hand and tossed it at the Scalewalker, who sliced it perfectly in half, flew up close to her, and batted her staff out of her hands.

“Ha! You have been disarmed!,” shouted the Scalewalker like a proud child. “Now you are helpless to me!”

It brought its sword down hard on Yume, who blocked it with two gauntlets on her arms. She laughed.

“What?! What’s so funny?!,” yelled the Scalewalker.

“See, I just realized something. You haven’t been playing games.” As she said this, her eyes blazed. “I have”

With that, a glowing light exploded from within her, blasting the Scalewalker away and sending the walls and roof of the Whispering Dragon flying all across Bun'ya no Mura.

Yume scanned the rubble for any signs of the Scalewalker, but saw a much more horrifying sight instead.

In the center of the village’s road was Jake, floating twice as high as the buildings. It had one of the Scalewalkers in his hands. It was shrieking, not in the harsh threatening manner of earlier, but in a pleading tone like that of a wounded lamb. Jake tore its head off with the ease that a child would tear off a doll’s head.

To Yume’s horror, Jake dropped the corpse and the head down to the floor, where the other three Scalewalkers lied in various pieces.

Yume was utterly speechless. Jake turned his head to face her. She shivered at his yellow, pupil-less eyes.

“Jeiku,” she said shakily. “I think you should take that off”

“Do you?,” he answered. His voice was utterly evil, much worse than the voices of the Scalewalkers.

“Yes. You don’t know what that Mask does to a person. It provides great power, but it tempts you into doing things that you never would have done otherwise”

“I disagree. See, I wanted to do this. I wanted to kill them”

“I’m sure you did, but you need to listen to me. If you keep that Mask on, you’ll eventually find yourself doing what you did to those Scalewalkers to everyone,” she paused, considering her words. “I know that the power feels great. But it's a slippery slope, and you can't stop slipping no matter how hard you try or how justified you think your actions are. You say that you wanted to kill the Scalewalkers, but what if you realize you want to kill other people? Even the most fleeting thought, even being annoyed by someone you wish didn't exist, will get twisted by the Mask" 

Yume's cloak billowed in the wind. She glowed brightly against the oppressive darkness which still hung over the village.

“You can’t go down this path, Jeiku. If you do, you will become eviler than Imawashī ever was”

Jake looked down at his hands. They were stained with much more of the Scalewalker’s black blood than his own.

Jake lowered himself down to the ground.

“Good,” said Yume. “Now, please take off the Mask”

Jake reached up to his face. Just as he placed his hands on his face, the serow came up and licked him.

“Get the hell off of me!,” shouted Jake. He struck the serow, sending it flying back. Nine black spikes shot forth from Jake’s hands and pierced the serow, pinning it to the floor and killing it instantly.

Yume’s heart sank. It was too late to stop Jake. She held her arm up to attack Jake with a spell, but Jake blasted her with a wave of red magic, launching her into the well, which exploded into fragments of stone bricks.

“You can’t tell me what to do, Yume! I am the powerful one, now! I am the one in control! I am the Chosen One!” Two large black wings grew from his back, and he flew up into the night sky, where he disappeared.

Yume pulled herself from out of the rubble of the well, asking over and over again to herself ‘What have I done?’

Imawashī slouched on his enormous throne, chin resting on his fist. He was covered in massive black armor. The armor was spikier than a thorn bush, and his helmet covered his entire face. He wouldn’t admit to anyone that it was actually quite uncomfortable.

His aide, Himei Hoshi, a gangly man with a black-and-red uniform robe, stood by the side of his throne.

“The report from the rice farmers came in this morning. All of the rice is dead,” he said, idly looking at a stack of papers in his hands.

“All of it?,” asked Imawashī.

“Great Emperor, the farmers (and I, for that matter) have told you dozens of times that you need water to grow rice. This area of Chū Nihon is simply too dry”

Imawashī sighed. “Oh how I long to see the Mask again”

The walls of the throne room were blown away. The bright midday Sun shone in. Imawashī leaped up to his enormous full height. Floating just outside the room, casting a long shadow on the floor, was Jake.

Hoshi cowered behind the throne. Imawashī clenched his fists, swallowed heavily, and said “So, I see the Chosen One really has arisen. I suppose you’re going to try to kill me now”

“No,” Jake responded with a tone that surprised Imawashī. “I’m not going to try to do anything. I will kill you now”

Imawashī felt true fear for the first time in five hundred years at that moment. He conjured a flaming sword from his hands and opened his mouth to shout a command at Hoshi. Jake was upon him before he could say anything. He punched Imawashī through the throne, pinning him to the wall. Imawashī felt an awful pain in his stomach. Looking down, he saw that Jake had conjured a sword and stabbed him.

Jake smirked at him, then removed the sword. Imawashī stumbled, bleeding black blood on the white floor. Jake grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the ground.

Before Imawashī could catch his breath, Jake had punched him three times, each one embedding his head further into the floor. Imawashī half-heartedly swung his flaming sword at Jake, who caught it in his teeth and broke it in half.

“Please, spare me,” said Imawashī.

Jake leaned down close to him.

“No”

Jake grabbed his face, and tossed Imawashī through the roof of the throne room and far off into the horizon.

Jake stood alone in the throne room. He looked up at the Sun, shining down through the broken wall and roof, and at his gaze, it dimmed until the world was as dark as night.

Hoshi ran forth and kneeled at his feet.

“Please, Chosen One, spare me. I’ll repent, I’ll be good, I’ll do anything, anything you say!”

Jake laughed, and his laugh chilled Hoshi’s heart. The throne room’s damaged roof began reassembling itself.

“Repent? Be good? You misunderstand me. I didn’t come here to depose Imawashī out of the goodness of my heart. I came to take his place”

Imawashī’s throne reassembled itself. The ripped areas of the wall either came off or flattened down to leave a large window where the wall had been.

“I am the Lord of the Mask. I am the one who came from another world to conquer yours. I am the new Emperor of Chū Nihon. I am the Chosen One!”

Jake shouted this last part at the top of his lungs. He felt the power of the Mask coursing through his veins, he saw Hoshi cowering in fear at his legs, and through the new window, he saw large armies of orcs, onis, samurais, and other evil things. This was the ultimate fantasy. Nobody could tell him what to do, and everybody in the world would listen to him.

So began Jake’s new life as the Chosen One.