Meeting The Maker

It was a week ago, a regular cold winter’s night and I was feeling especially hungry, so I decided to walk to my local McBobalds for some nice hot coffee and fries, stepping into my thick fluffy boots and slipping on my headphones whilst I put on my favourite playlist. Saying goodbye to my dog and trying to be quiet so as to not wake my sleeping little sister, I left our small apartment.

Trudging through the harsh snow that is seeping into my long woollen socks, I make my way downtown bobbing along to the beat of the music blasting in my ears to drown out the world surrounding me. I looked around and saw a group of men dressed in leather jackets and motorcycle helmets bothering what looked like a young girl in her early twenties, not wanting to involve myself in any confrontation. I crossed the road headed towards McBobalds before a tall man dressed in a dark suit with hair slicked back to perfection approached me slowly, I lifted my headphones from my ear to hear what the mysterious figure had to say, “Could you spare a me 100 yen for a cab home?” said the wealthy looking man, it caught me off guard that this man in a well-tailored suit was asking me for money, confused I replied “sure” jamming my hand into my pocket fishing out 100 yen to give the esteemed gentleman. He thanked me and as I returned to listening to my music he called out “Sir Okino! Could you spare another minute of your time?”

I turned around and walked a few steps back to the man, “do you need something?” I asked hesitantly. He took a few seconds before answering “Do you like this world?” he asked. Taken aback by the sudden deep question I had to think before I answered him... “A little, I guess, I don’t really know how to respond to that, I'm sorry.” He stood there; his eyes looked soulless as though he couldn’t see me, looking right through me. He said softly, “Oh never mind that, nice to meet you, Okino” before offering me his hand to shake, I accepted his offering, taking the man's hand into a firm grip. “Oh, my I never did introduce myself to you, did I?” shaking my head whilst remaining in this awkwardly long handshake he spoke up and livened up a little, “Lord Tenshi, is my name, I own a few acres on the outskirts of Osaka.”

He offered to go for a walk with me, I told him I was going to grab some food even though it was quite late at night, he asked me if it would be okay if he joined me. I let him follow me to the restaurant and as I was ordering my food and drink, he bought a cheeseburger and fries, so I asked him “What about your cab money?” stuttering he said “Oh- right, I meant to give you your yen back, I didn’t really need it in the first place, I was just searching for a kind soul” as he stretched out his hand offering me the dollar back, I said “It’s okay, just keep it.” Thinking to myself what he meant by a ‘kind soul.’ Whilst thinking I couldn’t remember introducing myself to Tenshi, but he already knew my name.

As he unwrapped his burger from the paper cover, I asked him about it “How do you know my name? I didn’t introduce myself” He glanced quickly up from his burger and made eye contact with me before letting out a big sigh, He clicked his fingers and everyone else in the building disappeared, the cars on the road, the birds outside that were playing on the rooftops, all other signs of life were gone.

He stood up suddenly before asking me “let me offer you something, child.” confused, I nodded my head a little before he took off his blazer, turning around and revealing two large vertical holes in his neat white shirt. He took an extremely deep breath before the muscles in his back started to shake and contract, hundreds of tiny white feathers started to sprout from his back, piercing through the two slits in his shirt taking the shape of two large wings. “I, my child, am an angel. I have travelled here to your world from mine in search of a hero, pure of heart. I believe I have found the hero I’ve been looking for.”

I sat there, frozen and speechless not sure how to respond to the completely supernatural and unbelievable events that have taken place over the last 30 seconds... it felt like an eternity passed before I answered him, “w-what do you mean by a hero?” I stammered. He looked at me, and in the blink of an eye his wings were gone, the people and life around us had been returned and he was slipping his jacket over his shoulders before sitting back down to answer me. He solemnly started to speak once more “My world, called Hystenia is in utter peril, and the gods of my world have sent me on a mission to find brave and pure heroes to help save it from the impending doom it is facing.” I still sat motionless thinking to myself how much of a cliché fantasy story this random man I met only half an hour ago has approached me with. I didn’t know whether to believe it, I knew I saw his massive angel wings that towered above me, but I could have just been hallucinating or maybe he spiked my drink whilst I wasn’t looking.

I don’t know how I ended up in this situation, I don’t like talking to strangers or anybody in general. In response to his rather strange statement, I agreed to ‘Help his world.’ Once more he stuck out his hand, and as I grabbed it firmly once more, I blacked out. I don’t remember much after that, only a voice that I can only describe as unreal and in my head calling out my name, age height and weight for some strange reason.

Okano Seiji, 15, 5’6, 140 lbs. Welcome to the world of Hystenia.