The Distortion
Chapter 23

Laith was fully ignorant to what was transpiring upwards; the intensity of the confrontation contradicted its silent character. On his way to the rear gate, his heart crashed frantically against his ribs, the refreshing night breeze stinging against him like a freezing blizzard. He hastened his pace in an attempt to detract his attention from the symptoms of the pressure creeping its way through his body. A futile attempt, for there was one symptom that only grew worse with each step, a great classic of his: the grumble in his stomach.

Just another day at the job, I guess…

However, despite stress building up, he didn’t fret. His body did manifest signs of distress, as it naturally should, yet his mind remained sharp and focused. Laith got used to dealing with it; in a way, he got comfortable with the uncomfortable.

After crossing a few walkways, he finally saw a small gate, much smaller than the main one…there was no one guarding it? It should have been a good sign, a reassuring sign. That was not the case for Laith. Having low security would be plausible, but no security at all…? Highly unlikely. Maybe the guard were on the other side of the closed gate, watching it from the outside…? Whichever the case, Laith had better proceed cautiously before rushing to any decision he would come to regret later.

“Okay buddy, you will stay here and watch my back in case anything goes wrong, got it?”

Râad responded with a growl that only Laith would understand as an agreement.

“One more thing, try to not make it obvious if you notice something.”

Laith reached the gate…nothing occurred. He turned down a lever. A sound clicked and the gate slid open ever so slowly, wood grinding against stone as it lifted from the ground. The noise was far enough from the courtyard so it shouldn’t reach the crowd—definitely not with the festivities afoot—however, it was loud enough for any guard to hear. Laith held his scimitar preemptively…no one was on the other side. He crossed the gate, vigilant and watchful…still nothing.

The gate not being as fortified was a common occurrence. Any warrior worth his salt could tear through it like breaking through window glass—for regular folk that is—while competent spies could simply bypass it. Investing a lot of resources into bolstering the gate itself was a waste of money. Investing in strong sentries was the obvious alternative, or so Laith thought. Either the Yamatojin ran things differently, or they were deliberately remiss because of the festival.

No matter, Laith wouldn’t let his guard down, not until he carried the weapons back safely. He spotted the innkeeper accompanied with his two sons, the three of them carrying the numerous weapons on their back, swords, spears, bows, arrows…As soon as they saw him, they crept closer to the small and short bridge but Laith shook his head, motioning for them to not take another step. Not yet.

A sound decision.

Sudden and quick footsteps stirred from the opposite direction caught Laith’s attentive ears. They were definitely not those of a tiger; he’d grown familiar with the sound straw sandals made over the last days. And sure enough, there was a warrior charging at him with an unsheathed sword. The samurai swung down his katana vertically which Laith successfully dodged by leaping back.

Putting his hand back in warning, Laith let the concerned individuals know they should pull back so they could not be seen, which they did without hesitation. His opponent didn’t cease the assault and was already in his face; Laith hadn’t even got a proper look at who he was fighting. They clashed swords a few times before disengaging and regaining some distance. Only then did Laith notice that he was facing a boy with a bowl haircut. Laith found the style lame, only he ignored that most kids adopted it to follow a certain golden boy. After a brief stare down, the boy spoke.

“The name’s Satoshi and I’m here to defeat you! Who are you? And what are you trying to do?”

Laith pursed his lips, blinking a few times. Oh God, he’s even younger than I expected…

To this day, Laith had yet to get a good grasp on children’s growth after the Distortion—those born after the Distortion. It was very much confusing to say the least. This “Satoshi” standing before him had clearly gone through his growth spurt, except he probably hadn’t even cracked the ten-year-old mark—the way he introduced himself gave it away. Even newborns were noticeably bigger than their pre-Distortion counterpart, still taking the full nine months of gestation despite the different flow of time. People attributed this to the fact that children needed a stronger constitution from birth in order to have a better chance at surviving the world around them. Another form of adapta—

“Answer me!” Satoshi demanded vociferously.

Impatient I see…

“I guess you have not seen the show, I’m with the troupe of performers.” Laith replied calmly, almost indifferently.

“You’re lying! You are not Yamatojin, and I haven’t seen you before, so who are you and what are you doing here?” Satoshi asked, raising his katana menacingly.

“You’re right, I’m not from Yamato, but I assure you I just got done with my act tonight. You can go ask anybody who watched me.” unlike Satoshi, Laith kept a cool head.

“You think you can fool me? I won’t leave you alone here!”

Laith rolled his eyes. What a stubborn little brat…

“Believe me, I’m not trying to trick you.”

“Even if you are telling the truth, why are you dressed like that, why do you have that strange weapon with you and why are you sneaking around here?” Satoshi snorted in anger.

“Well, looks like I can’t talk my way out of this, I’m not Adam after all…” Laith mumbled to himself. “Alright, here’s the deal kid: I’m here to raid your castle.”

Satoshi suspected Laith’s involvement in some sort of shady plot, but he did not expect him to be that upfront about it. The content of the response was no less disturbing either.

“Why would you attack the castle?” Satoshi’s voice quivered a bit.

“I think you can guess the reason quite easily,” Laith came off as patronizing.

“I can’t think of any reason,”

“Really?”

“Are you making fun of me? It’s clear you don’t know this country very well since you are not aware we are in the middle of an armistice.” Satoshi stated that fact condescendingly to undermine Laith’s own condescension.

“And the fire that took place in the castle a while back? Does that ring a bell?”

“How do you know about that?!” Satoshi’s eyes widened before he added. “Even then, that doesn’t explain why someone is attacking us.”

Hmm, his ignorance seems genuine…, Right then, Laith started to question how many of the subordinates were kept in the dark. It was quite possible that the Daimyo would let only a handful people know of his scheme, considering he sacrificed his own men in the process. A random boy was highly unlikely to be amongst those who were confided with this secret. Or, the worst-case scenario would be that it truly was an accident, which would make the raid completely unjustifiable…Doubts started crawling their way inside his mind, but Laith quickly dismissed that likelihood. He reminded himself that Tokugawa Daisuke chose to overlook their dubious motives, it would only be fair to honor the agreement of mutual trust.

“Did you lose your voice, or have you run out of lies to tell?” the young boy smirked.

Laith fixed Satoshi with a solemn stare, his mind finally set. He let himself get carried away by the surprise encounter when the occasion originally called not for lightheartedness. Not only that, arguing with a boy was a waste of time, a severe oversight on his part considering the circumstances. People relied on him, the success of the raid and his mission depended on him. About time he did what he came here to do: secure the gate.

Satoshi dashed forward, holding his katana high before swinging it down on Laith.

The boy’s face turned pale. He was at a loss for words, unable to comprehend why his opponent would do such a thing. Laith blocked the edge of the katana with his bare hand, catching it in the palm of his hand. A tiny bit of blood started dripping, which didn’t concern him in the slightest. Laith didn’t so much as wince; he didn’t even spare the wound a single glance.

“What…are you…doing?” Satoshi stammered.

He desperately tried to retrieve back his blade, struggling to overcome Laith’s mighty grasp. When the boy wouldn’t let go willingly, Laith forcefully yanked the katana from Satoshi’s hand, the latter stumbling to the ground. Laith loomed over the boy silently like a baleful statue looking down on him. There was no contest, an overwhelming victory for Laith.

In this particular case, age was more of a deciding factor than Satoshi had accounted for. Laith not only was nearing the peak of his physical condition—as opposed to his young and still developing opposition—the time spent as an Incarnate was essentially the reason for this massive gap between them. Laith had unlocked his Incarnation as soon as he landed in Mihad a decade ago, and had ever since worked on developing and honing his skills accordingly. Meanwhile, Satoshi must have unlocked his abilities no sooner than three years ago by Laith’s estimation—this altercation consolidated his assumption. Thus, Satoshi was heavily outclassed not only from a physical standpoint, but also when it came to experience with one’s own Incarnation.

“It’s over. You have no chance of winning this, and that’s not even factoring the tiger standing behind you.”

Râad, surprisingly, succeeded in keeping his presence hidden as best as he could, enough for the young boy to not notice him, especially when dedicating his full attention to Laith. Satoshi froze. His mind went blank. He was not scared, not really. He was just…crushed. Laith bested him, easily…that was the nicest way to put it. And that was Laith’s intention all along. Whatever foolish ideas Satoshi had before needed to be dispelled, he needed to realize how wide the gulf between them really was. The sooner the boy understood that the quicker this scuffle would end.

Young and spirited though he was, Satoshi did understand, almost instantly, putting those foolish ideas to rest. He surrendered. He wanted to cry, but he held his tears. He was a man, he needed to maintain some level of dignity. Looking pathetic right before getting cu—

“Run away, kid, I’m not gonna kill you.” Laith said, tossing him back his katana.

“I lost, it’s only fair that you would take my life.” Satoshi insisted, sounding deeply upset—he didn’t even bother with the katana.

“And I said I’m sparing your life, so go on, get out of here.”

Rage surged within Satoshi. “Why won’t you kill me?!” Satoshi snapped furiously. “Do you take pity on me because I’m still a boy? Or perhaps you’re too scared to kill anyone?”

Laith let out a loud sigh. The world sure was a cruel place after the Distortion, putting him and Satoshi in this position, especially the latter. The reality of having a young boy or girl hold a dangerous weapon at such an early age, the reality of having them realize the consequences of swinging such dangerous weapon, the reality of having a kid, no older than ten, go down such a perilous path without him having any say in the matter…cruel indeed.

Laith himself had had trouble reconciling with that reality in the beginning. One moment he was a high school student, the next he was the physical embodiment of a calling some of his ancestors had chosen, as if their spirits had enveloped him against his will. All of a sudden, he was asked to wield a sword and be prepared to take lives as part of his vocation while having no say in the matter. How was that fair?

With time however, and as he observed the world around him, Laith discovered he was actually one of the luckier ones. It may have been cruel to have a random teenager from the twenty first century live as a Fares, but ultimately, that was part of what allowed him to survive the even crueler world surrounding him. In a world where chaos reigned, the mighty prevailed…and what he deemed as a curse, ended up being a blessing. Laith had gradually realized that acceptance and gratitude were an equally important lesson to learn as refusal and desire for change.

“Look, you are a Samurai, aren’t you? Which means you should swing your sword with pride and honor, and you do—I could tell from our short exchange. Living by the sword is no game; if you are ready to live by the sword, you must also be ready to die by the sword. Something you also seem to have it down. To already realize it at such young age is impressive, it really is. To not kill you could be considered an insult to your resolve.”

“Then why won’t you finish me off?!”

“Because this is not my battle. And you are not my enemy.”

Satoshi had no response to what Laith said, he could not rationalize how this man could say such words with a straight face considering all that had transpired between them.

“Make no mistake, I have killed before, and I will kill again, when I have to. And this time, I don’t have to. You have done me no wrong; you have done no one wrong. And even if you did, I could think of a bunch of other samurais who would have a better claim to your life than me.” Laith put his hand on Satoshi’s shoulder who didn’t seem to mind.

“What do you mean by that, what is going on here anyway?” Satoshi asked, lips trembling.

“You’ll know the truth, eventually. But not here, not tonight. One thing for sure, it’s not worth losing your life over it, trust me.”

Satoshi was still perplexed, not only for being ignorant to what was happening around him, but also by Laith’s behavior. Why was this complete stranger, whom he never met before, showing him such respect, respect he would not even get from his peers, let alone his seniors?

“Why…? Why are you treating me this way? You don’t even know me and I tried to attack you on our first encounter, you have every reason to hate me, and yet…”

“You were doing what you thought was right, we all are. I’m not going to hold that against you, but you still have a future ahead of you. You don’t have to forfeit it for a scumbag Daimyo who saw it fit to leave a boy guarding his castle instead of letting him celebrate the festival with everyone else.” The thought alone irritated Laith.

“But Nakamura sama promised me a surprising reward if I did this…”

“That doesn’t make it any better, Satoshi.”

Satoshi gulped; Laith’s firm tone hit the boy like a thunderbolt.

“What about the others? I don’t understand much of what’s going on, but Grandpa Atsuo is in there. Please don’t hurt him, he’s the one who took me after my parents…” the words caught in his breath.

Laith hissed as he remembered who Atsuo was. Why does it always have to be so damn complicated…, he would have liked to do something about it, but he was in no position to control the flow of the battle, not from where he stood.

“I’m sorry but I can’t promise you anything. You already learned some tough lessons, I’m afraid ’life is full of injustices” happens to be another one of them. All you can do is pray for his safety.”

“Where am I even supposed to go…?” Satoshi the Samurai faded; the terrified lost boy took over.

“Don’t worry, I have allies waiting for me beyond the gate with whom you can stay until things settle down. I’ll explain everything to them, as long as you promise to behave.”

Satoshi nodded shyly. He looked back towards the courtyard with watery eyes, thinking, imagining, picturing how it would turn out in the next moments. He had regrets—mainly his grandpa—but he finally decided.

“I haven’t asked your name.” Satoshi told him.

“Laith.”

Satoshi straightened up before bowing. “Thank you so much, Laith san!”

A warm smile was drawn on Laith’s face.

“Come now, and don’t forget your sword.”