Chapter 4: Rude Awakening
I am caught, helpless, in the swirling eddies of the time streams. Possibilities and realities spin past my sight, immersed in a dense purple fog. My body is on fire with its energy. Am I screaming, or silent? Or locked in prayer? I can't tell. Downward I fall into this abyss, riven by the intense forces at work upon me. The pain is immense, yet I feel detached from myself, making it only a slow ache. I am vaguely aware that my equipment, weapons, and armor are starting to unravel from me. Then the light explodes, and I am lost again.
The mists clear away, and I have returned to reality. I can see nothing but blue sky and clouds, and the ground beneath me is soft and leafy. Moving to get up, I realize that it's not ground at all, but a group of branches in a tree. A large tree. On the edge of a towering cliff. The cliff fades down a rocky hillside, which has to be a couple of hundred feet down. A fall from this height would leave me in bad shape. I must be careful.
I try not to move around too much as I reach for a more solid limb. Finding one, I ease back onto it. There, that's a little more stable. Now to get down completely. It's at least twenty feet from the lowest branch to the ground, like the Sacred Tree at the Higurashi Shrine. Higurashi…Kagome…NO! I must not think about her right now. I have to get out of this tree and begin searching for Onigumo. Ambling out onto the branch, I grab hold of it and come to a hanging position. Letting go, I drop down.
"Oomph!" I land on my feet and roll to the ground. Damn! I think I sprained my ankle. Oh well, its not that bad. Getting to my feet, I realize that I can still walk, so I begin to walk away from the dangerous cliffside. Now where am I?
To my right is a waterfall, and serene droning presses at my ears. To my left and in front of me is nothing but dense forest. The only path is along the river that feeds the waterfall. I turn around. By the position of the sun, it looks to be around noon. Interesting…The machine must not be that precise when it comes to time of day. Are there any villages around? I look off into the distance over the cliff. Damn! Not one sign of civilization! I guess I'll have to do some old-fashioned footwork.
Now that I have my bearings, the next step is to check my equipment. Parts of my armor fell off during transition, such as the arm pads, leg pads, shoulder pads… pretty much everything besides the chest plate and shield generator, but I still have my pistols and laser blade. I can still kill Onigumo, if I can find him. My next question, though, is why did my armor come off? After all, it was tied securely to my body with leather, nylon, and steel! And I needed that rifle, as well as my grenades. Maybe some effects of the time transition? Who knows? I wish I would've read Grandfather's notes more thoroughly! Damn, I'm a fool!
Yet I must stay calm. I have work to do, though some of my equipment is missing. I begin to walk toward the forest. If I can follow this river, I will eventually run into some village or another, and then I can inquire as to the location of Edo. I'm not ready to give up yet.
Wait, where is my…Oh no! The Time Belt! It's missing! I must find it, or else I'm stuck here. I walk back to the Cliffside and scan the area. I look up into the tree. Nothing. I look all over the ground. Nothing. I even search the edge of the forest. Still nothing! Then I look over the cliff, and there it rests on an exposed tree root. It's ten feet below me, but there are roots jutting out everywhere. If I can use them as latticework, I can get to my belt, the most important piece of equipment I'm carrying.
I take a deep breath, say a prayer to the heavens, and place my foot on the first root. It gives slightly, and I am granted a fleeting, terrifying vision of falling headlong into the chasm. It unnerves me, but I climb further down. Now I am standing on another root and holding on to the one I was standing on in the first place. A fierce wind whips up the cliff face, causing everything to quiver. More prayers, and sweat dots my brow. I don't, can't, look down. Must not…Damn it all! A small cloud drifts by below me, but something else is there as well. It looks like…a…flying serpent. Flying serpent?
Dragon! Or rather, Dragon-youkai. This is not good. What's even worse, it knows of my presence. It begins surging up the cliff face with blinding speed. It will be upon me in seconds.
….
Deep within its primeval psyche, its deepest desire cries to be sated. It's hungry, and surges from its nest at the bottom of the hillside, anxious to feed. The Dragon-youkai heads for the upper cliffs, for it knows from experience that there will be game to find there. Massive birds, woodland creatures, even other Dragon-youkai. But a new scent, borne on the downdrafts, greets its sensitive olfactory. It recognizes it immediately. Human. They were typically not good for eating, since they were hard to find in this area, hard to catch, and were often too much trouble for too little meat. But this human was in trouble, and its fear was apparent. The dragon-youkai detected a few other scents as well, unrecognizable, but simply assumed the human had wet himself. Its reconnaissance complete, it is ready to strike.
It slithers silently among the clouds, but it knows that such a movement is worthless now. The human has already spotted it. The thin, whip-like mass of fangy jaw, emerald scales, and gleaming claws flaps its wings and surges upward. It hugs the cliff and passes right over the human. Correction: human boy. The stench of youth surrounds him, intermingled with his fear. The dragon-youkai finishes its pass over and stops above the boy's head, hovering just off the cliff's end. The boy's hand moves to his chest, possibly to still his erratic heartbeat? These thoughts drift delightfully through the beast's mind as it gathers its ancient power. Its fangs spread apart, ever so slightly, and smoke begins to roll forth. Its maw becomes a leering grin. The reaction completes inside its belly, and the dragon launches forth a salvo of deadly fire. It rushes over the boy, covering him completely. The dragon waits for the smoke to clear, and for the opportunity to view its well-done prize.
But what's this? The boy is unscathed! Last the dragon checked, human beings burned to a crisp when touched by flame. He should be nothing but cinders! The dragon tries again, creating flames inside its belly, and prepares to toast the boy once again. However, it never gets the chance. The boy releases a salvo of his own, and a wave of bluish sparks strike the dragon in multiple places. One rips a furrow in the beast's scaly neck, another tears off a foot off its tail, and yet another one destroys its upper left claw. A scream of agony, and the beast dives toward him. This particular dragon has never known the torture of defeat, and will not start at the hands of a human child. Its remaining claws open wide, and the dragon impacts the cliffside, pinning the boy against blackened stone and charred roots. It feels his helpless struggle, hears his plaintive cries, and presses harder. The boy's screams increase in delicious volume, but the dragon quickly adds its own to the cacophony. A burning pain rips along its underside, and it instinctively leaps back.
What is this? Sorcery? The dragon realizes that a two-foot gash has appeared on its underside. Worse, it has penetrated deep into its tough hide and caused massive bleeding. The youkai screams with unholy rage. It stares down at the boy, who now sports a crimson blade on his right arm. This is a surprise, since humans are usually ignorant of black magic. The boy stares directly into its eyes, and smirks. Then it lets loose with another flurry of the strange blue shots. They strike the dragon again and again, pushing it beyond rage and into mindless desperation. It conjures another burst of fire, but the shots get through its scaly skin, into its belly, and into its fuel supply. The wave of fire impacts the cliff, but not before the dragon is gone in an even more brilliant flash. Only cinders are left to be borne away on meandering mountain winds.
……
"Thanks…Gran…dpa." I say a silent prayer to the maker of this wonderful technology. My life is my own, for now. The shield blocked the dragon's fire, and the chest and back plate kept my lungs and heart from becoming paste. Yet I'm still in trouble. The dragon's attack has scorched the roots I'm depending on to keep me on the cliffside, and they won't last for much longer. I can hear cracks and groans all around, and feel the slide begin. My belt is close, and I must have it. I climb down a few more branches, then lean down to grab the belt. Another crack is heard, yet I keep leaning. It is inches from my fingers. But my luck has run out. As my fingers close around the thick nylon, the root gives, and I am left at the mercy of the uncaring sky.