Chapter 23:

A Fated Encounter

GONDWANA

“...and you are?”

“Me?” Reze responds, while placing his hand against his chest, “My apologies, I followed you and your friend after I saw the skirmish from the marketplace.”

Reze points to a red apple that Kimiko and Kayin had intended to leave for Narada.

“Can I have a bite? You see, I haven’t eaten in days…”

Reze’s stomach grumbles in cue, forcing Kayin and Kimiko into accepting his request.

“Thank you!” Reze says gleefully as he chomps down on the apple.

Kayin stares towards Reze, clearly cautious of the man that had appeared out of nowhere.

“What you said…about the heads of others not working in place of the actual king…”

“What did you mean by that?” Kimiko finishes for him.

Reze stops eating, and glances down towards the two of them with a shocked expression.

“You mean you haven’t heard? Not long ago, there was a bunch of people that claimed to have killed the king, and brought his ‘head’ as evidence. No matter how similar the heads may have looked, none of them were his…”

“So she killed them all.”

Kimiko feels a chill down her spine, while Kayin’s stare turns into a glare.

That doesn’t sound like something Temi would let get out to the media.

I’m supposed to be the one painted as a tyrant.

Not her.

“Is that something that you heard from others?” Kayin asks, while carefully observing Reze’s reaction, “...or is something you saw for yourself?”

Reze and Kayin lock eyes, and Kayin feels a certain fluctuation in Reze’s aura, before it immediately dissipates.

“You’re a clever guy, aren’t you?” Reze responds with a smile, “You’re right, I was one of the men there that day, but I managed to survive with my head intact.”

“How fortunate,” Kayin says with a smile of his own, “I’m sure that must have been quite the experience,”

“It certainly was! I’ve never seen so much blood in my life!”

“And yet somehow, I doubt that,”

Reze’s smile fades, but doesn’t disappear.

“...whatever could you mean?”

“Since the moment you appeared in front of us, you’ve managed to hide it quite well. Yet for a brief moment, I noticed an intense stench of blood surrounding you,”

Kimiko moves her hand to the hilt of her katana.

“Nonsense. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t bathed in a while. I don’t mean to offend, but I can also sense that stench coming from the both of you,”

Kayin laughs, “You’re right. It has also been quite some time since the last time we bathed,”

Reze laughs as well, “I see.”

“Are you native to this town?”

“No, no, I just recently arrived here. I’m guessing the same for the two of you?”

“Indeed. We’re wandering travelers, aiming to get to the palace and have an audience with the queen. But we understand how difficult it is for that to happen.”

“What is it that you wish to present to the queen?”

“...sorry, but that’s a personal thing.”

Reze smiles, “That’s no problem at all. Since I’ve had an audience with her before, I think I can be of help to you.”

“Oh no, we wouldn’t really want to bother.”

“But I insist,”

“And I respectfully decline,”

Kayin immediately grabs hold of Kimiko’s striking arm before she jumps towards Reze to cut off his head.

“Alright, I can take a hint,” Reze says as he holds his hands in the air, “I’ll take my leave then.”

Kayin and Kimiko watch as Reze walks away from them, but just before he turns the corner, he stops and turns back to point towards them.

“If you ever need me, you can find me in the town hall. I’ll be waiting.”

“Don’t wait too long. I wouldn’t want a fellow wanderer to end up stuck here forever.”

Reze grins.

“I like that sharp tongue of yours, my man. But I’m certain we’ll see each other again soon,”

Reze turns around and waves his hand.

“I guess you can call it…”

“Fate.”

Kayin freezes in place, and his recently recovered eyes seemingly pop out from their sockets. His mind races, recalling the exact words of warning that Taruk had given him.

“But there is one entity…that is far above what even Kayin is capable of. And unfortunately…you have become his target.”

Kayin rushes out of the alley towards where the man had left, and searches frantically, but to no avail.

Where’d he go?!

“Is it him?!” Kimiko asks as she catches up to Kayin, “That couldn’t have been a coincidence!”

Kayin continues to search, before he turns his attention back to Kimiko.

“Absolutely no chance that it was a coincidence!”

“But I should let you know…that it was this man that created your battle with fate in the first place.”

“He mentioned it on purpose! To rile m-!”

Suddenly, a worrying thought pops into Kayin’s mind.

…Narada!

Kayin immediately bursts through the streets of the town, desperate to reach the room he had left Narada in.

And once he reaches it, he finds the bed empty.

“Damn it!”

Kimiko rushes in immediately after, and after seeing the empty bed for herself, she grits her teeth and slams her katana into the ground. Multiple oni emerge from the shadows of the room and block the windows, while also barring the door.

“What now?!” Kimiko asks.

Kayin stares towards the empty bed, and shuts his eyes as he grits his teeth in frustration.

We could have escaped if we still had Narada!

It’s like he knew exactly when to approach us…

Has he been following us?

For how long?

“Kimiko…I need you to do me a favor,”

“What is it?”

“Begin evacuating the people of this town immediately.”

“And then what?”

Kayin remains silent. Instead he moves his hand towards his back, and summons Oshé in its battle axe form.

“Kayin! Don’t tell me you intend to fight him alone?! Are you insane?!”

Kayin says nothing, only staring at Oshé’s sleek design.

“KAYIN!”

“This isn’t your fight!”

“What?!”

“You have your own mission, don’t you?! Fight to kill the one responsible for your kingdom’s destruction!”

Kimiko pauses.

“Isn’t that the reason you’ve clung to me for all this time?! Am I not supposed to be your ticket to the queen’s head?! Well your ticket is about to disappear, so go out there and find another one!!”

Kimiko stares at Kayin, who refuses to return his gaze towards her.

“...so that’s all, then?”

Kayin’s lips quiver, but nothing more comes out.

Kimiko’s oni slowly unravel themselves from the window and door, allowing Kimiko to leave through the door without saying anything else. Kimiko puts on her oni mask as she walks out, and punches a hole into one of the nearby walls.

***

Kayin walks through the town at a slow pace, as the townspeople around him flee from the legion of oni chasing them. Fire now erupts through all of the town’s buildings, causing a severe wave of panic for everyone to escape from the town.

However, there is one building that remains untouched by the fire.

Accepting the invitation from earlier, Kayin carefully walks into the town hall building, and sees Reze sitting comfortably in the middle of it, with his eyes hidden by an adventurer’s hat.

“And would you look at that…”

Reze lifts the hat from his head, revealing his soulless eyes to Kayin once again.

“...it seems fate wins once again.”

Kayin glances to Reze’s right side, and sees Narada still fast asleep, clearly unaware of the situation around him.

“Before we get started,” Kayin says as he points towards Narada, “I would like you to return my ride,”

Reze smiles, and slowly moves over towards Narada. While crouching and staring towards Kayin, Reze waves a single one of his hands between the line of sight for Kayin’s perception of Narada; and in doing so, Narada disappears completely.

Kayin kisses his teeth, “Couldn’t at least afford me a handicap?”

Reze laughs, “You’re supposed to be the king of the world’s greatest empire. If anything, I’m the one in need of a handicap.”

Kayin quickly flicks his thumb across his nose, “Right. Let’s settle this like men, then.”

Reze stands up properly, and saunters towards his seat.

“I agree, Let’s,”

Reze kicks the chair away, and positions himself directly in front of Kayin with a fighting stance.

Finally…

Kayin gets into his own fighting stance, with Oshé in hand.

Shango…Oshé….I’m gonna need a miracle here.

The two immediately burst towards each other.

Kayin swings Oshé at a tremendous speed, and with such raw power that it completely levels the area of the building behind Reze.

However,