Tales of a Lost Sword 72

Episode 72 The World of Dreams and Memories
The sound of water slowly dripping into a pool of water somewhere permeates the dark and damp room. It is the only sound disturbing the overwhelming and heavy silence in the stagnant air. Its echo floats outward through the room, like a ripple that fills the air. Drip.

Kunai opens his eyes, but does not see anything. Only the cold caress of the moist air around his body can be felt in the dark void. He shivers slightly from the cold. Drip.

“Where…am I?” Kunai asks out loud, fumbling about blindly through the darkness.

‘You are in a special space. Can you not see?’

“See?” repeats Kunai, blinking pointlessly. “I can’t see anything at all…!”

‘I see. Then you are still not yet ready.’

“Ready…? For what?” Even without seeing, Kunai feels the presence that had spoken drifting away. “Wait, don’t go!”

Kunai unconsciously leaves his feet, but stumbles as he trips into something solid at his feet. He lands harshly on the ground, smashing his face against the loamy dirt. The faint scent of warm earth fills his lungs. Drip.

As Kunai lies on the ground lost in the darkness, slowly but surely, light begins to flood into the room. Raising his head, Kunai peers around in the dim light, which is barely enough for him now to see the rough contours of the place he is in.

In front of Kunai is a small pond bounded by smooth, gray rocks, its water still and murky. The only disturbance is from a slow trickle of water dripping into the pond from an unseen point in the ceiling. Ripples flow out from the center of the pond with each drip of water. Behind, Kunai sees that he has tripped over what appears to be a small, low wooden table.

Suddenly, a dark figure appears before Kunai’s eyes. He jumps in alarm, screaming out loud at the ghostly apparition. Ayame strides steadily towards him, her red eyes strangely still and lifeless as she approaches silently.

“What are you afraid of, Kunai?” Ayame asks. “We have been sharing a body for a very long time now. I have lent you my powers. There is nothing to be afraid of. The fact that you do not recognize this place saddens me.”

“Recognize…?” Kunai murmurs, confused. He peers around, but nothing appears familiar to him. A faint mist seems to hover low over the ground.

Ayame sighs, gazing at Kunai with those blank red eyes. “Look,” she gestures, directing a hand at the pond behind Kunai. “See. Look into your own reflection. Gaze into the depths of your soul and tell me what you see in there.”

“My own reflection…?” Kunai repeats softly, turning slowly to face the pond again. He stares into its murky depths and quickly suppresses another scream, jumping back as he sees the reflection.

“What…is this?” Kunai asks, his heart pumping loudly and his eyes widening.

He takes another glance at the pond. Several faint, ghostly figures stare back at him from within the pond. However, he cannot make out their faces, only their black outlines.

“Who do you see?”

“Who?” Kunai blinks, cautiously peering back into the still mirror. “What do you mean? More like what… I don’t see anybody. Only figures. Very faint ones.”

“Then I am saddened. That is only proof of your inability to sense the dormant power that has waited for you to see it for so long.”

“Power? Wait…” Kunai mutters to himself. He suddenly turns around, staring at the grim figure of Ayame gazing at him sternly. “Could this have anything to do with…my F—”

Almost like a computer glitch, the image of Ayame abruptly jerks. Kunai suppresses a gasp of alarm as Ayame begins to grow dark and disappear. The light around Kunai dims as well, until he can no longer see anything again.

“Wait, Ayame! Where are you going?!” Kunai shouts into the darkness falling around him like a curtain.

‘Search out your memories. Your feelings. Your heart. The truth lies within. What is the source of your power? If you are to grasp it, then you must understand where it lies.’

“My power?” Kunai whispers, still perplexed. Absently, he reaches for Myou at his side, but it has disappeared.

With a lurch, Kunai lands in a new room, equally as dark. However, a dim, yellowish light gradually begins to fill the room. Kunai turns around in the dusty cavern, and chokes back yet another cry of surprise as he sees the person sitting on a throne before him.

“Hello, Kunai,” Dark Kunai sneers quietly. “I did not expect you to pay me a visit. Have you missed me?” He rises from his seat, carrying Myou in his hands. Unlike the current form of Myou, this Myou that Dark Kunai holds resembles Kunai’s previous sword, a hulking weapon reminiscent of a giant butcher’s knife.

Kunai takes several steps back, watching his clone warily. He places a hand on his belt, withdrawing a Steely with his right hand.

‘Is this the source of your power?’

“Of course…” Kunai mutters breathlessly, refusing to remove his eyes from Dark Kunai’s figure. “It’s only through him that I have my Fatalist powers—”

‘Really? Then I am saddened.’

“Then what are you talking about?!” Kunai lashes out at the disembodied voice in frustration. He waves his Steely violently through the air, but encounters only air.

‘Who is the master of this world? You or him?’

“Master…?” Kunai wonders back, completely confused. “I don’t even know what this place is. How can I be master of a world I don’t even know?”

Dark Kunai continues to approach Kunai, his black eyes glittering with malice and glee. He raises his sword as his pace quickens. Kunai gulps. “Kunai! It was foolish of you to enter this place!”

‘You or him?’

“Fine…me! I’m master! That’s why I conquered my clone in the first place! So that I could use his powers…!”

Another lurch occurs. Kunai is no longer in the room with Dark Kunai, but instead finds himself in another dimly lit room made of stone. A fire burns in a hearth at one end of the chamber, while the rest of the room is furnished with rustic, wooden furniture.

Instead of lying on the ground, Kunai finds himself sitting in a throne-like wooden chair, not unlike the one his clone had been sitting on.

‘Then if you are the master of this world, where does your power come from? If you do not serve Him, but He serves you, then what is the source of your power? Why are you master? For what reason do you fight?’

Kunai stares straight forward, his mind blank. Automatically, he answers. “My friends, of course…the people I want to protect. There is no reason for me to be fighting if there were not something that needed to be protected. That’s why I’m fighting the Fatalists in the first place… That’s why I’ve come so far…”

As soon as these words leave Kunai’s lips, a burst of light rushes into the room, enshrouding everything in its white radiance. Kunai raises an arm over his face, his eyes unadjusted to the massive volume of light.

A flash of distorted and apparently random images floods through Kunai. Whether they come from his own mind or are being shown to him in the room is unclear. However, seemingly endless images of Ivy, Ryuu, Lily, Ayame, Arai, Fayvard, Shuriken, Zack, Sasha, Rill, Silver, Tide, Wake, and countless others from his past journeys rapidly flash in front of him. Like a tidal wave, the assorted memories wash over Kunai, drenching him with their nostalgic power.

“These pictures… What is this?!” Kunai cries, still blinded by the immense light.

‘You are the only person who can unite these images. You are the only person for whom these images make sense. Realization will lead to consolidation. Consolidation will lead to augmentation. Augmentation will lead to evolution. A master is only as strong as those around him. Power is within your grasp. Remember: the source of your strength lies within the memories of those that occupy the space closest to your heart.’

“Wha…t…?” A surge of strength floods through Kunai’s body as the light reaches a crescendo. Just as suddenly, the light begins to die down, until vision returns to Kunai’s dark eyes. He reaches out, and clutches something solid. The images presented to him in his mind slowly fade away until they blend into reality. The images gradually become transparent. They continue to glow, but slowly their light transforms into the light of the stars above.

Kunai shouts out loud. “Wait…don’t leave me! Iv—”

Cold night air fills Kunai’s lungs, as the dark, starry night materializes around him. Crickets chirp all around. Cynthia is poring over him, looking at him with worried green eyes. “Kunai! What’s wrong?! You were talking in your sleep.”

Cynthia is wincing heavily, Kunai having unconsciously grabbed her tightly around her injured arm with his hand. With realization, Kunai quickly retracts his hand. “I-I’m sorry!” he cries quickly.

“N-No, it’s okay!” Cynthia murmurs back, blushing slightly. She softly massages her arm with her other hand, near the spot where Kunai grabbed her. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have woken him. He was about to say her name…’

As silence falls again, Kunai turns his head to the side, staring blankly at the shrubbery growing near his sleeping bag. His glassy eyes avoid Cynthia’s.

‘Just a nightmare, huh…?’
—END SEVENTY-TWO—