Misteria

Misteria 2: A Stranger Appears

"Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralysed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds' wings."

The town of Xiaomachi is relatively peaceful. It isn't known for its military force but recently hasn't suffered from many events of mass damage. This is mainly due to its isolated location, as it's found on the outskirts of Kotodamoshu, and very few ships are used to travel to different places. Life in Xiaomachi is remarkably boring in comparison to other cities and most of the civilians who inhabit the small cottages are those who have never been able or have given up using the "presence". Due to its isolated location, very few tourists are seen in those parts...

A man (or that's what he looked like although he was only seventeen) walked down a small path. He looked down at the trail, it was muddy, with no footsteps visible. He thought to himself "Small, reasonably poor, isolated" - He then sniffed at the air - "and a port." The man continued to walk down the footpath, his eyes covered by the shadow of a hood he was wearing. All of his clothes were black and didn't have the appearance of the normal armour that a soldier normally wears. It was light and looked easy to wear. The only thing that was visible was a faint smile and two slightly curved katana that had been sharpened recently. They were also ebony coloured, save for a couple of red marks that lined the swords. He continued to walk towards Xiaomachi in a lazy way, although not without intention...

Life that day in Xiaomachi had proceeded as normal. The men had already made their first catch and brought back nets filled with fish that gave a strong and somewhat unpleasant odour (hence how the man had recognised that Xiaomachi was close to the sea). The women and most of the children were still asleep, as well as the soldiers, who were still asleep even though their shift started some time ago; the whole village were entirely unaware of the man approaching them.

One could understand a boy's curiosity to venture out of the confines of his town. Most parents say to their kids that what's outside Xiaomachi is dangerous and therefore because of that there is no need for one to leave the town. However, this lack of liberty makes a young child even more curious; it was coincidental that this was the day when the hooded man came to visit. The boy had finally escaped from his parents judgement, had ran into the woods and was free to explore the world (which was a lot bigger than he expected). Of course the boy went too far into the woods and forgot his way home. One would say that he was fortunate -or unfortunate- enough to cross paths with the traveler. When the boy bumped into his legs, he assumed that it was just a tree that he hadn't seen. This changed as soon as he saw the two glistening swords that he was carrying on his back.
"Oh. It seems that my legs were blocking your way." The man said. Before he finished though the boy, who had his eyes set on the two black swords was about to scream. The man quickly put a hand to his mouth, to which the boy fainted. "Oh well. Better return you back to the town".

When he reached the town, (this had taken him several attempts as the pathway stopped before it reached the village), he laid the boy down on the floor carefully and shouted "This boy was lost in the woods! I have returned him to you!"

To the normal civilian, this would have been seen as an act of kindness. However in Xiaomachi, this traveller was alien, something that hadn't been seen in the town for generations. To the citizens, this man had knocked out a poor child and was trying to break into their peaceful village. Some of the townspeople shouted for help, others hid in their houses, others found what they could to protect themselves. The village guard eventually came to see what was going on (as there was an unusual amount of noise coming from the huts), to find the traveler standing there, curious as to what's going on. "I'm sorry if I startled you," he said "I don't mean harm to the village. I just came here for supplies." The village guard however had seen enough and they drew out their swords. They were brown from the rust and were blunt due to the time as to which they weren't used.

The town guard was made up of ten people; they wore body armour made of leather but otherwise had very little protection. They charged at the mysterious traveler. One took a swipe at him. The traveler smiled and said "too slow."

"Speed is weight. Have you ever been kicked at lightspeed?"