“One must practice for war in times of peace, so that one does not find themselves a peaceful man in times of war.”
- Old Proverb.
----------------------------------------
“A calm and kind spring.
A gentle breeze upon me.
Comforts scars of old.”
Meditating in a seiza position, sitting comfortably but steady on the floor of my family’s ancient home, a haiku enters my mind and keeps me at peace. I remain in that position for several more minutes before my concentration is broken by the sound of a particular friend, one that has been coming to visit ever since I took care of him when he was at his lowest.
My eyes open once again, to find the familiar sight of my father’s old sword laying closely in front of me. Given to him by its father, and to its father by its grandfather, the relic was now in its fourth generation, and it had yet to be used for anything other than meditation and training.
Soon enough, that familiar friend from earlier comes through the open doors at my back, flapping its black wings a few times as it lands directly on top of the ancient heirloom. Unbothered by its expensive and irreplaceable perch, the raven stares at me, as if knowing exactly what it was doing.
I can’t help but smile a little as well. With my concentration broken, there was no need to keep the meditation going, so I lifted my dominant hand and offered the raven some well-earned headpats, to which he responded by replicating the sound of a light knock on wood. The raven quickly flaps its wings, flying a little to sit on my shoulder.
I take this calmly and remain concentrated. Although the exercise was over, procedure was still important to keep a steady and peaceful state of mind.
Leaning forward ever so slightly as to not bother the bird, I pick up the sheathed sword with both hands as I rise to my feet, approaching the decorated stand and placing it upon its own perch, where it has resided ever since my father’s passing.
The raven flapped its wings and flew away out the window, marking the end of my alone time with nature.
The bird often passed by the house, and I had made it a habit of offering it food every now and then as a sign of gratitude. The raven had come back the next day with a coin or other shiny item in its beak, offering a gift in return for each meal I offered it.
The transaction was peaceful, and I felt no need to give it a name since I didn’t wish to overstep my boundaries with the animal. Even if having a pet was something that would give me a purpose, the raven was still pretty much a wild animal that belonged in nature.
I had little idea of the population of corvids in Sendai nowadays, so I took the option of less resistance and just gave the bir food every now and then.
“...Another day passes…It won’t be long until I go with you.”
I offer my heartfelt words to the portrait of my father that lingered upon a small altar on the opposite end of the room. Although my father’s passing was indeed quite…Hard to deal with, though knowing I had a time limit on my life really did help put things into perspective. Eventually.
Some genetic disease that ran on my mother’s family was passed down to me, the one thing I received from her before she left father for another man. Before he turned to alcohol.
Remembering the whole ordeal only brought stress to my mind, so I decided to calm myself with a walk through the ancient home of my father’s family, the Katakura.
Retainers of the Date clan, we were basically a family of Samurai that served the lord of the land in the old days. With the passage of time that name grew less and less important, a mere footnote at the end of some history books.
It was tradition for the head of the family to carry the heirloom, the sword that once belonged to Kagetsuna Katakura. Swords were less of a weapon and more of a symbol of power, or so I was taught, but my father preferred to differ in his opinion.
“Swords were weapons crafted for battle, leaving them to rust away only took away their purpose.” He used to say.
The blade was now very much a weapon thanks to him. His desire to repair it and leave it usable for cutting down the mighty foes that tatami mats proved to be and all. Sharp and as deadly as any other you could find laying around an old family dojo, at least in the very few that survived past the age of modernization.
With a single bow to my father’s portrait, I walked out the room after taking off the chestguard from the uniform since it was proving to be a bit restrictive. I would need to buy a new one soon, oh the wonders of a growing body.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
Though I was past puberty at twenty years old, so maybe I was putting on a little bit of weight…
“I need to be more careful with my food…I don’t want to spend too much on new clothes…”
I muttered under my breath and just stepped out into the outer hallway that connected the dojo itself with the main building of the property. The house itself had stood since the very beginning of our family’s legacy, rebuilt many times due to unforeseen circumstances of course, but most of it remained the same wood and stone used in those ancient days.
Living in such a place brought me peace, somehow. Knowing that things would linger long after I passed on calmed me down a considerable degree.
Coming to terms with my approaching death was hard though. Not being able to push my body too far and needing long periods of rest between exercises left me tired and exhausted way faster than it should, and occasionally coughing up blood doesn’t help the situation at all.
But I had gotten used to it. To my reality.
I was the last of my name. With my father gone and my uncle leaving the family name in the pursuit of his own happiness, I was the last remaining member of the family, of the household.
“Katakura Akira.” My eyes fixated upon a small envelope that rested on top of the kitchen counter.
I picked it up and opened it. In this day and age there were very few people that would actually take the time and cost to write a paper letter and send it through physical mail. With the rise of augmented reality devices that could be directly implanted into your nervous system most people had moved on from such means of communication.
That envelope had remained there for the past week. It said precisely who sent it, and that was all the more reason not to dare to even open it.
“...Mother…” I muttered, flinching at the notion of even reading that woman’s handwriting.
She had left father, she was the one that sparked in him that violent state…I knew that I wasn’t being rational pushing the cause of father’s often violent rants onto her shoulders alone, but she had been the catalyst of it all. The one to leave me behind.
I looked at the envelope. I had wanted to burn it, to tear it apart but…For some reason I couldn’t. For some reason I couldn’t just allow my body to go through with it, so the days passed until today.
“...I may as well…”
I picked up the envelope and opened it, the fragrance of roses and other aromatics washed over my face as I opened the letter and read it all the way through.
“ Dear Akira.
I understand if you never open this envelope, or even read this letter, but I still wanted to write down my viewpoint of your situation with your father. I was never a good mother, not even a good woman. I left your father because I knew what was hidden behind that smile of his, and I left you to face all of that alone.
I now know that you are going through the same situation as my mother did, the same symptoms.
Know that although I never had a real connection with you, that you are more than able to reach out to me if you ever feel the need to speak about it to someone that knows how that disease will eventually take you from this world.
I was never the best mother, I was never a good woman, nor a good person. You can hate me, I’ll even thank you if you replied to this letter with a fistful of insults if you want.
I have seen what you will go through, and nobody should face that alone.
My phone number is written on the back of this letter.
May you find peace. “
I stopped for a few seconds to take in what the letter’s true contents were. So after ten years of not a single word she reaches out when she knows I’m dying, huh? What kind of mother does that? What kind of sane person thinks that’s fine?
I put the letter back on the counter and force my hand upon the nearby wall, my legs almost giving up beneath me as I feel something falling down my face.
“Why couldn’t you just ignore it?....Why couldn’t you just….ignore me?....”
Tears fell down my face, coating the wooden floors with a sad puddle.
I cried for what felt like an eternity until my stomach’s growl snapped me back into what I was actually gonna do in the kitchen. I wiped my face clean from the tear trails with a napkin before opening the fridge, to find some very basic ingredients and a few instant noodle cups.
Without the mental fortitude to handle another twenty minutes of wait, I just took the noodles and put some water to boil.
“....You should’ve just stayed quiet….” I mutter to myself as I shake my head and look directly at a projector on the wall.
A signal is pinged through the implant at the back of my neck, and the projector boots up a news channel through a simple holographic image. I sit down and prepare my instant noodles while the news reports on the preparations for a festival. Sendai was celebrating its third decade after the expansion efforts were started. A good thing, for most.
Something purely inconsequential for me, aside from having to deal with more people than normal now that the city almost expanded into the house’s property. Soon enough the house would be engulfed by the city walls and artifact turret emplacements to protect against the Nox.
“Oh right…Breaches have been a little more common nowadays…” I whisper under my breath as I let the noodles cook for a little.
Breaches, the invasion of the Nox into our reality in its crusade against sentient life. They were a big issue around fifty years ago when they first arrived, but after the arrival of the Angels and the technology they gave humanity, we didn’t have to worry as long as the Disfavored were there to guard us.
In the case of Sendai, energy walls and turrets were its main defenses. The Disfavored were pushing further into the southern provinces to liberate what remains of old Japan. Most of it is now in ruins, as is the case with most of Europe and practically all of America except for the northernmost parts of it.
“...I suppose expanding the city isn’t such a bad idea…”
A shudder ran down my spine. The mere thought of a breach scared me to the very bones. I was going to die, yes. But that didn’t mean I wanted to be devoured alive and turned into one of the Nox’s flesh machines. That was all the way down on my list of preferred ways to die.
“Maybe I should give Mo-....That woman a call sometime…It has been a week since the envelope arrived…”
Speaking to her may not be a good idea, but it was better than dying a little bit with each passing day…Marginally so, at least.
“Well, I do have some time before I need to go to the hospital…Last I checked she was still around Sendai…”
Even if I didn’t want to admit it, I had been keeping an eye on the woman in case she tried to come back and steal what little I had left. Although calling the ancient home of a rich family “little” is quite privileged of me to say.
I focused my mind and my implant sent another ping, this time to another projector. This one remained close to the kitchen counter, displaying a list of contacts I had saved and other numbers I had kept tabs on during all of this. A psychiatrist, therapist, kinesiologist, etcetera, etcetera.
I stared into the number pad and the woman’s phone was saved into the list and pressed the call button.
But the call didn’t go off, instead a warning message sprung into view, as sirens started to roar in the distance.
WARNING : A BREACH HAS BEEN DETECTED IN YOUR AREA! PLEASE PROCEED WITH EVACUATION MEASURES, ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL NOX ARRIVAL: T - 5:59