Chapter 2: Drizzle

It didn't take long to reach the Imperial capital of Nara, given our motivations and the noble white horses we rode. We were stopped by a guard just outside of the gates, who asked to see some form of identification. I pulled out the envelope with the Elder's seal on it, and waved it across his vision.

“You don't need to see our identification.” I said.

“I don't need to see your identification.” he said.

“You want to give us directions to the Imperial Palace.”

“The Imperial Palace is down that way, and to the west.”

“We can go about our business.”

“You can go about your business.”

“Move along."

“You may pass.”

We led our horses through the gate, and followed the directions the guard had given us. Aislin turned to me and said “Showoff.”

“You're just jealous that you didn't think of it first.” I said teasingly.

“Damn right I am...”

We rode down the street towards the Imperial Palace. We went in, and asked a courtier how to request an audience. Ten minutes later, I was beginning to regret ever even contemplating following courtly procedure. I was attempting to formulate an excuse for excusing myself, when the large doors in the antechamber opened, and a dignified-looking man strode out, followed by the Empress. I'd not seen her before, but royalty has always strived to look the part, and Empress Gemmei was no exception. She noticed us standing there (we also kind of stood out, but in a different way) and asked who we were. Aislin and I bent down on our knees (royalty is royalty, after all, and blades are just as sharp wherever you go) and introduced ourselves, presenting the Elder's invitation. She motioned for us to follow, and soon we had an audience with the Empress of Japan.

“What is it you seek from the Chrysanthemum Throne?” she asked imperiously.

“We seek information about the energies known as Magic and Force.” I stated formally. “We seek any masters of this knowledge in the land. More than anything else, we seek information about using this information to return to our home.”

“You ask this in exchange for slaying Yamato-no-orochi?” she asked.

“We do.” I affirmed.

“Then it seems I have little choice than to accept.” she said. “There are few who know of the divine powers of Magic and Force, and those of the Imperial line are among them. I am the expert you seek.”


“You know of the Multiverse?” I asked.

“I do.”

“Then I will explain our situation.” I began. “We are from what you would call the future. We were traveling to the Japan of our era, but there was some kind of error. We came to Japan, but in the wrong time. We seek to return to our proper time, but in order to do that, we would need to understand how the error occurred in the first place.”



The Empress sat thoughtfully for a few moments, and then began to speak.

“There have been unusual storms plaguing our outlying farmlands. From the reports I received, they seem to be powered by both Magic and Force, and seem to recur periodically. The period of time between each storm seems to increase with each recurrence. But I digress. That much energy in one area is bound to affect processes using the same energies.”

“These storms are occurring now?” Aislin asked.

“Yes, near the borders.”

“If we were to channel some of the energy of the storms, we might be able to return to our time.” I said.

“If you could mollify the Divine Wrath, we would be thankful.” the Empress said. “The storms are quite destructive.”

“Then our next course is clear.” I said. “Thank you, Empress.”

“Be safe.” she said, rising. “My servant will show you out.”

And on that note, she left.

“Come, I will show you where to go.” the courtier said.


As we were mounting our horses, I had a thought.

“Do you think you could open a dimensional portal with an energy blast?” I asked.

“Well, I don't know.” she said. “You think you can do all that bullshit you just said?”

We shared a brief moment of “...”, and set off for the farms of Nara.

The skies were clear when we arrived at the farm of a man known as Testuo. He showed us around, gave us some food, and expressed his hope that we would succeed. Three hours in, the clouds came. And boy, did they ever. Great, roiling black clouds appeared from what seemed like nowhere, spitting green lightning bolts. We ran out to the field, getting drenched in the process. I begin to concentrate on Kusanagi, focusing my will. The energies began to swirl around us, and they began to dissipate. I heard Aislin gasp, and we looked up. A bolt of green lightning flashed towards us, and we each had time of only one word.

Aislin went with a simple, we're-so-screwed utterance of “Shazbot.”

I remembered that the farmer was bringing out some food, so I ended up shouting “Tetsuooooo!”

Then it kind of went black.

------------------------------------------------
I was surprised to open my eyes, but I did. The sun was high in the sky, and I blinked until my irises adjusted properly. I sat up (I had been lying on the ground), and noted a skyline. Or rather, what had once been a skyline. The ruined husks of a great metropolis surrounded us, echoing eerily with the wind. Aislin was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, one of the ruined skyscrapers caught my notice. It had rather clearly once been the Sears Tower. I laid back down.

“I knew I should have stayed home today...”

Elsewehere, Aislin Avari opened her eyes as well. It was dark, and it took her a while to adapt. She seemed to be in an empty transit station of some sort. No, not just empty. It showed signs of neglect and disrepair that pointed more to 'abandoned'. Experimentally, she yelled “Hello out there!”. No one answered, and she wondered where everyone was. Who wouldn't? She decided to look around, so she picked a direction. Upon reaching the top of an escalator (temporarily stairs, sorry for the inconvenience), she recognized the architecture at last. It was Union Station.

“Well crap.”


In the ruins of the Museum of Science and Industry:

“Beep. Beep beeeeeeep beep."

The machine's incessant beeping woke Richard Gregarus from his reverie. He checked a display, and then double-checked it.

“It can't be...” he said, in fearful awe.