Uzumi and the Seven Great Oaks Chapter 1: Yokai

 

Yokai

“Ah, it’s been a day, hasn’t it?” Greg sat in the passenger seat of his garbage truck with a cigarette in his mouth. Luke was leaning on the window, picking his teeth with a toothpick.

“Too many people throwing away sofas. What do they take us for, Ikea?”

Greg chuckled. “Living in New Yesterday really is a chore.”

“It’s a peaceful city. Got some good bars. We’re lucky not to be living in a dump like Detroit.”

Greg sighed. “Just one more stop and we’re done for the day.” He looked out the window at one of the seven giant oak trees that overlooked the city. Light from the skyscrapers reflected off the mottled surface of each tree. Birds flew overhead, flitting in the breeze. Each tree was covered with white talismans cut in a zig zag pattern. The leaves rustled, the sound floating above the city as an ever-present background. Greg sniffed. “I hope those damn Seeds don’t show up.”

Luke tossed away his toothpick and climbed into the truck. “Why are you saying that? You trying to jinx us?” He started the engine.

A thump reverberated through the vehicle. Metal groaned. Greg swore. “What was that?”
Luke took the gun from beneath the dash. “It sounded like someone hit the roof.”

“What you got the gun for?”

“Just in case.” Luke checked the magazine and snapped the gun back. “I’m going to check it out.” He looked both ways, and then climbed out of the truck.

Greg sat, glued to his seat, tapping his fingers. He watched as Luke looked up from the sidewalk onto the top of the vehicle.

“Oh—” Luke fired off two shots and then his body was ripped into the air. His gun dropped to the ground.

Greg swore again and gunned the engine. Whatever was on the roof rolled off. He gripped the wheel with white knuckles as he careened through the crowded streets.

“Hey, what the hell you doing?” Several drivers honked and cussed at him.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” The wheel suddenly jerked to the side. The truck turned over and smashed into a corner deli. Meat and glass flew everywhere. Greg’s seatbelt dug into his body. He spat blood.

The roof bent under the weight of something massive. Greg swore he could hear the thing breathing. Something, it could have been acid, dripped onto the windowsill.

“Oh, no …” Greg closed his eyes and prayed.

The monster on top of the truck screamed. Greg’s body shivered with fear at the sound. It seemed like two beings up there, fighting each other. One was the monster. The other had footsteps that were strange, but much more human.

The monster screeched one more time and then the truck shook. While Greg couldn’t see what was causing the commotion, he did see the concrete crack beneath the weight of something invisible.

A girl wearing black clothing, wielding a samurai sword, landed on top of the invisible monster. She ran her sword through the beast. Greg could see blood spurting out of the invisible beast. That part was visible.

The girl stabbed the beast several more times. She then hopped off the invisible monster. With a flick of her hair, she looked at Greg.

“You saw nothing today.” She held out a stick with paper talismans on it, and swung it back and forth. “You’ll feel better about it when it wears off.” The soft tingling of bells echoed through the street.

Then Greg was in the hands of a paramedic.

“What happened?”

“A drunk driver hit your truck. Your coworker is in critical condition.” The paramedic dragged Greg onto a stretcher. “We don’t know how fast he was going, but he must have been hitting it to cause this much damage.”

Greg rubbed his eyes. He didn’t remember anything about the past half hour.

He chalked it up to a head injury and left it at that.

###

Reese slid her memory talisman into the quiver on her back. She checked her scroll, a small roll of parchment with obsidian scroll rollers. Small Japanese lettering covered the inside. The paper appeared yellowed with age. A holographic picture rose from the open scroll, creating a floating image of the city.

A face appeared.

“Gardo Sensei.” Reese bowed. She looked up to the sky, checked the surroundings, and leaped twenty stories to the top of the nearest skyscraper. She sat down on the edge with her feet dangling off the edge.

“Did you eliminate the yoru beast?” Gardo’s face was grizzled, and his hair was long, white, and frizzy.

“Confirmed kill.”

Several small, turtle-like creatures with human faces popped out from behind a cooling unit and approached Reese. She rubbed their heads.

“Reese! Reese, do you have any peanuts?”

Reese patted the head of the kappa that spoke. “Next time.”\

“Aw, no fair.”

Reese returned her gaze to Gardo. “This one was strange. It attacked a garbage truck for no reason.”

“Yoru beasts usually don’t attack unless no one is watching. I need you to do some investigation into that garbage truck.”

Reese bowed. “As you wish.” She rolled up her scroll. With her high vantage point, she looked over the spot where the garbage truck had tipped over. As she examined the truck, she thought she could sense a faint energy coming from among the bags of trash that had spilled out. She leaped off of the building and landed with a roll on the sidewalk. The shadow of the Ragu tree, the fourth great oak of New Yesterday, was just beginning to cover the street. Reese approached the garbage truck. It was being cordoned by police and firefighters.

Reese slipped through the barrier. No one acknowledged her presence. She walked without noise, her black shoes making no mark on the pavement. Her robe fluttered behind her, and the memory talisman on her back shuffled a bit in the wind. She approached the spot where she had sensed the power.

It was a single bag of trash that had landed some distance away from the others. It bore two claw marks, as if the yoru beast she had just vanquished had been trying to open it.

Reese opened the bag. Trash spilled out, but also something she did not expect to see. A small ruby ball, about the size of a marble, clattered to the ground. Reese picked it up.

The red gemstone sparkled with an amazing radiance. It was as if it were not of this world.

Reese held it up to the light. “Command would love to hear about this.” She placed the gem in her pocket and stood up. With the same level of stealth, she left the enclosure and stepped into an alleyway. She came to a small theater building near New Yesterday’s homeless quarters. The theater looked as if it hadn’t been maintained in years, and yet there was an aura about it, as if it were not everything that it seemed to be. Reese stepped inside. A single woman was sitting behind a counter, reading a magazine. She looked up and nodded.

“Heyo.” She waved. A bookshelf rotated and revealed an elevator cage.

Reese stepped into the elevator. The elevator dipped underground. Soon the walls peeled away to reveal a gigantic space beneath the city, about the size of a football stadium. The buildings were Japanese in construction, full of elegant curves and pointing sweeps. Paper lanterns hung from awnings. Soft yellow light emanated from windows. The streets were lit with a warm glow.

Reese stepped out of the elevator and into the street. Around her walked monsters and yokai of all shapes and sizes, out in the open. Nezumi rat men, tengu crow people, kitsune fox people, and every other variety of civilized yokai were present.

Reese walked towards the tallest building in the cavern, a twenty-story inn with the layering of a fortress. Reese walked up to the entrance. She showed her scroll. The doors opened.

Reese bowed to the headmistress as she walked towards the Grand Master’s room.

She knelt down and knocked on the door to his room.

“Come in.” The Grand Master’s voice was powerful, full of magic and mystery.

Reese slid the door open and bowed before walking inside.

“Uncle.”

“Reese, my dear. I heard you performed admirably today.”

“Uncle, I need you to look at something.”

“Go ahead, my dear.” The Grand Master was wizened, with not much hair, but his presence was powerful. The kimono he was wearing lent him an aura of class. His posture was perfect and he held a dainty cup of tea in his hands. He sipped.

Reese held out the small gem.

The Grand Master’s face went dark. He placed his teacup on the ground. “Where did you find that?”

“In a bag of garbage upside. A yoru beast was trying to get to it, before I vanquished it.”

The Grand Master shook his head. “That is not something you should be handling like that.” He held out his hand. “Give it to me before something bad happens.”

“What is it, uncle?” Reese handed her uncle the gem.

The Grand Master stood up. He took a small black box from a cupboard and placed the gem inside of it. “This is an elemental crystal.”

“I’ve never heard of them.” Reese looked up.

The Grand Master placed the black box on a high counter. “Of course you haven’t. They were thought to be destroyed centuries ago.”

Reese blinked a few times. “Centuries? Then why did I find one in the garbage?”

The Grand Master sighed. “The elemental stones. There were many kinds, and all were powerful. Too powerful. They were determined to be too dangerous and were sealed away. The fact that you found one of them indicates that something, somewhere, out there is moving again.”

“But …” Reese tilted her head. “That can’t be right. If they were all locked up, then where did this one come from?”

“A good question, my dear.” The Grand Master stood up. “I shall do some investigation into this matter. In the meantime, I want you to be on the lookout for more of these stones. And do not tell anyone what you have seen today.”

“Yes, Uncle.” Reese stood up, bowed, and left the room. She left the inn and then took an elevator up to the surface—a different elevator from the one she had taken down. She came up in the industrial district, exiting from a warehouse that was full of merchandise. She walked out onto the street.

A group of thugs approached her. There were five of them, and they appeared to be looking for a rumble.

“You guys need something?” She took up a slight defensive stance.

The middle thug grinned. “Yeah, you’ve got what we want.”

Reese did not hesitate. She took three steps forward and slammed the middle thug’s chin with her palm.

He collapsed.

The four other thugs fanned out.

Reese did a leaping kick and knocked several teeth from the nearest thug. Two other thugs grabbed her.

Reese performed a break maneuver and broke two arms, one for each holding her down. She twisted and landed a blow on the cheek of the thug whose teeth she had shattered.

Three thugs fell to the ground. The last thug, markedly scared, turned tail and ran.

Reese wiped her hands off on the shirt of a downed thug. “Next time,” she pushed back her hair, “don’t try to mug a Seed.” She stood up, smiled, and walked away.

Five minutes later she was sitting at the edge of a tall crane, overlooking the entire city. The Ardus tree was behind her, casting its shadow over her back. Reese took out a pan pipe and began to play. Several crows surrounded her.

“Thanks, Reese!”

“Keep going, Reese!”

They chattered at her as her haunting melody floated over the rooftops.