Stepping off the train and onto the platform, two things struck the Samurai immediately. The first was a bullet, catching him in the chest and plinking off the iron chest plate which sat beneath his duster, secured by leather straps that buckled about his waist and shoulders.
The second thing he noticed was the smoking barrel of a chrome-plated Mauser pistol sticking out of a shadowy corner as the other people on the platform dispersed in a medley of yells and terrified screams.
"Rubber," The Samurai muttered unamused, kneeling and squishing the projectile between his fingers. Standing again, he started for the corner and was met by a tall, cloaked figure, golden eyes gleaming malevolently from its shadowy cowl from which only a bleached skeleton grin beamed as if death itself was staring at him and daring him to blink.
"Samurai," said the figure, voice like a whisper of thunder in the bowels of Hell's lowest circles, and the Samurai nodded, noting the voice as eerily familiar to the man he'd been hunting for the past thousand lifetimes.
"Watcher," Replied the Samurai, nodding and touching his hand to his collarbone, as was customary when greeting a Watcher in the Dark, "Why be you here?"
"The World Tree is burning," Said the Watcher, and the Samurai's eyes widened.
"Yggdrasil burns?!" He cried, and the Watcher nodded glumly.
"Aye, so it does.," The Watcher replied, and the Samurai looked down in thoughtful realization.
"Am I the one the Watchers have chosen?" Asked the Samurai, and again, the Watcher nodded, holding out his hand to the Samurai.
"And if I should refuse?" The Samurai asked, and the Watcher chuckled as they joined hands.
"Samurai," Said the Watcher as they disappeared, "We both know you won't."
YOU ARE READING
A Tale Out of Time
FantasyA Very Long, Confusing and Epic Tale, told in a variety of formats. This First Volume contains the first 25 parts of A Tale Out of Time.
