Kalamazoo

A Day in the Life at Kalamazoo

            Edo concentrated on the ukiyo he was working on. He had been working on this one for days and, if he might say so himself, it was his best ever. There was no way old Denunci was going to beat him with this one. It was a complicated ukiyo that was very personal to him, detailing a conversation he had with his great-great-grandfather right before his ten-year term was up in the Hallows. The Hallows, of course, was where the dead stayed for their terms. Denunci's simply featured a made-up story about a garden gnome or something silly like that.

Edo finished what he was planning to do with his ukiyo today and carefully placed it back on his mantelpiece with the ukiyos of his "brothers", as the other members of his pentet were referred. One of them was working on his own over in a corner. "Hey," Edo asked him. "Where are the others?"

"Down at the pier," was the reply. Edo shrugged and decided to go find them. He left his home and walked down the street. There was the blare of a horn and Edo stood aside as a Shogun was marched and carried down the street. The Shogun turned and gave Edo a big smile as his palanquin passed, acknowledging their equality despite the procession. After it all had passed, Edo continued his way down south toward the pier.

After ten minutes, Edo finally reached the waterfront and, after five more minutes of searching, managed to locate his other three brothers. They were standing at the very end of the pier and dropping food into the water. As Edo approached, he saw that they were actually feeding a baby sea serpent. It hissed and swam around, gobbling up the spare food they were tossing to it. "Hey, Edo," they said when he walked up. "Where have you been?"

"Working on your wood block?" asked one of them.

"Yeah," Edo answered. "It's coming along great. I've never seen one better."

"Ooh, arrogant," laughed one. "The Shoguns don't like that too much."

"Well," Edo said. "I was actually going to go talk with one of them today. You know, my dad."

"That reminds me, why aren't you a Shogun?"

"I just never felt like being one. I mean, Shogunateship is not hereditary. I'm perfectly fine being an artist. Well," Edo looked at the sundial mounted on the edge of the pier. "I have to be going. I'll see you guys at home." Edo waved them off and walked north, traveling through the busy streets and into the marketplace. He was smart enough not to bring his money; he knew if he did he would end up buying something he didn't need.

Edo continued walking north until the ground began to slope upward toward the mountains. It got less and less populous the farther he walked until, at last, Edo entered the Hallows where the trees grew black and high, choking the sun from the sky. He reached a particularly gnarled tree and turned left, following the path until he got to a small shack back in these woods. "Hello!" he yelled. There was no reply, so he called again. "Hello!"

There was a grunt as an old man hobbled out, supported by a cane. This old man wore a medallion shaped like the sun with an etching of a quarter moon inlaid inside it, the sign of a Shogun. "Hello, father." Edo said.

"My boy!" the man replied. "I haven't seen you since the passing. What have you been up to? What brings you around?"

"I have a decision to make." Edo stated. "I'm thinking of leaving the city. Kalamazoo holds no more inspiration for my art. I need to see what's on the Outside."

"Good," came his father's reply. "You need to leave. Darkness approaches, my son. I want you to be safe. The future of Kalamazoo lies in your hands."

"What do you mean?" Edo asked. "There's never been any darkness here before."

"The Garden will rise. The sky will turn dark and the beasts will fall to the depths. The wall will fall and the Shogun will ally with the darkness to bring back the light."

"What are you talking about?" Edo repeated. "Are you prophesying?"

"I have spoken with my kind, Edo," his father replied. "The dead can see into the future, but not very much. We only get glimpses, flickers of what might possibly come to pass. You must leave, my son. Go beyond the wall into the great Outside and don't come back until three scores have passed."

"Three!?" Edo screamed. "Three scores! How can I stay from Kalamazoo for that time and still live?"

"You must and you will! Go!"

----

Edo left that day. He scaled the wall and disappeared into the Outside, not to be seen for over half a century. The year was 1542 and that very day, when Edo vanished into the unknown world of the Mi-Go, gloom ascended from beneath the city and changed the history of the eternal paradise of Kalamazoo.