Night Blade: Dawn of Discovery

Night Blade

  Dawn of Discovery

  Kyle M. Perkins

  Copyright 2013 Kyle M. Perkins and Lunar Productions

  Prologue

  It's all come down to this. This one final moment.

  I'm standing in a shadow of my former self, questioning my motivation. Surrounded by all of the friends I have made over time. We all knew that everything that has happened led up to this.

  "I don't know about this." she says. What is she unsure about? Do I even know her?

  "Ha ha ha! Fear me!" my old enemy says. Wait - why was he my enemy? I can't recall.

  "The Medallion! Get it!" I say. What am I saying? Why is that important?

  Another of my friends is crawling on the ground, just barely able to move. "Can't.... reach.... don't..... give.... up." he says, reaching for the medallion that I spoke of.

  I hear "Here goes nothing," from behind me. I look in that direction, seeing another person surrounded by a flame of.....light ? Is he going to attack me?

  After I turn to look, I notice that I'm holding something. In my hands, I'm holding one of the most powerful weapons, the Banish Blade. My parents told me about it. But why is it all black....and sparking? That doesn't seem right.

  I look up, seeing a large powerful being. I can't make out any details of his figure, but I know that deep down, I must stop him, even if it means sacrificing my life to save others.

  I take a big breath in, and quickly exhale. What choice do I have? I must do this.

  As I move forward, my body seems to move on it own. I'm suddenly rushing towards this large being, sword ready to strike."YAHHHHH!"

  Niko quickly sits up in bed, the sheets fall away from his upper body. "....AAAHHHH!" The position of his arms mimicking the holding of a sword about to strike.

  The jolt wakes Niko's cat, Shadow, out of a deep slumber and almost off the bed. Hanging off the edge of the bed by his claws, Shadow uses all of his might to try and climb back up on the bed.

  Breathing heavily, Niko looks around, seeing nothing but a dark room with minor details of his belongings outlined by the red glow of his clock, which said 3:23AM. Putting his hands on his knees, he says aloud. "Not another weird dream!" Looking over at his clock, his eyes quickly adjust to the sudden increase of light. The right side of the clock says "May 23". As it occurs to him what the day is, he signs as he continues. "....and on the day of the big tournament. Just great...."

  A glimmer of an outline catches his eye, and Shadow hanging onto the edge of the bed. Niko reaches over to Shadow, picking up the clinging feline. "Aw, boy. I'm sorry." He picks up Shadow and holds him close, trying to apologize for his recent unexpected action.

  Shadow looks up at Niko with big, reflecting eyes, but then starts to jostle, wanting away from the close hold. Niko lets him go on the bed. Shadow quickly curls up and falls back asleep, wrapping his tail around the front of his head. Watching his cat fall back asleep, Niko says "Good idea," then turns away from the clock, repositioning the sheets into a more comfortable position, and closes his eyes.

  The slumber of sleep is cut short by a loud buzzing. Niko rolls over, hitting his alarm clock. Pulling his hand away, he looks at the clock display. 7:00 AM. Resisting the urge to go back to sleep, he forces himself to sit up in bed. Extending his arms outward to stretch, a "Mroaw" comes from his lap.

  Shadow is sitting upright, looking at Niko. He pulls his arms in and wraps them around Shadow. "Hey Shadow – did I scare you last night?"

  The black feline responds by moving forward towards Niko's face, and headbutting him, purring softly. "I'm sorry, boy. I just wish that weird dream would disappear." The purring grows louder as Niko starts petting Shadow on the head.

  Shadow moves over as Niko starts to get out the bed. Taking in a big whiff, the aroma of pancakes fills the room. "Ahhh. Mom, you know just how to start off a morning."

  Running downstairs in his most comfortable khaki pants, a white t-shirt with an inverted triangular logo for "Sword Titan,"his favorite anime, on the upper left, and a red, unbuttoned short sleeve polyester/rayon collared shirt, along with his lucky black sneakers with silver accents, Niko passes through the kitchen. His shoulder-length spiky red hair bounces with every move.

  "Good morning, Niko." Misaki says, flipping another pancake in her dark turtleneck, a nice A-line pleated skirt draping down just below her knees over a pair of black tights under, and a white apron on top.

  "Mornin' mom! Smells delicious!" Niko replies as he inhales the delightful aroma of delicious pancakes once more.

  Niko reaches over, grabbing a couple of hot pancakes. "Be careful, they're fresh." his mom warns.

  The pancakes hop from one of Niko's hand to the other. "AH! Yeah, you're right," he says as he pops them into his mouth, hanging mostly out. He continues his sprint towards the garage.

  "You are sure in a hurry, son. Think you're going to be late for the tournament?" Himuro says, looking at his tablet in a traditional dark blue yukata.

  "Dad!" Niko responds, "You know with the rush hour traffic, I gotta get there early, or I'm gonna miss the opening ceremony! Don't forget: I'm in it!" He grabs his gear bag from beside the door to the garage. Putting a hand on the door handle, he pauses before opening it. Frantically looking around, he notices that something is missing. "Where's my-" he starts to ask, but is cut short.

  "I got your uniform dry cleaned. It's in your car." Himuro says, not looking up from his tablet.

  Niko lets out a sigh of relief. "You had me worried there for a bit, dad. Bye!" he says as the door slides open and rushes through.

  A few seconds later, a small sequence of beeps is heard from the door as it slowly slides shut. "That boy still hasn't learned to close a door yet, has he?" Misaki says.

  Not looking away from his tablet, Himuro nods his head in agreement. "Just be glad those doors are automatic." Seconds of silence pass by, then he looks up at Misaki. "Tell me again why we aren't going to see him at the tournament?"

  Misaki places the last pancake onto a stack ready to be served then turns off the electric griddle. "You remember: we were told by Lord Tora that he must complete this on his own, and his adventure begins tonight."

  Himuro places his tablet on the table. "Okay, okay. I've known Lord Tora for quite a while, but I've never heard him say something so.....isolated."

  Misaki places the stack of pancakes in the middle of the small round table, then sits across from Himuro. "You know how cryptic he can be. I'm sure he had his reasons."

  Driving down the road, the loud bass reverberates inside of Niko's car. His mind starts to think about the dream. Who were those people? "Ha ha ha! Fear me" sounds like a cheesy line from a kid's show. Why did I need to get the medallion? What's so important about it?

  What does it mean?

  His car pulls into an already full parking lot. Finding a lone parking space seems like finding a needle in a haystack, but on the far side of the lot, Niko finds one and pulls in. Countless people are migrating from the parking lot inside the large glass-covered Convention Center.

  Stepping out of his car, Niko reaches into the back seat, pulls out his gear bag and his uniform, throws both over his shoulder, and starts to follow the crowd to the entrance. Approaching the entrance of the building, a familiar voice comes from out of nowhere.

  "NIKO! DUDE!" A person with short, spiky blonde hair with thin sun glasses races towards Niko with arms raised and waving. His blue school uniform jacket is loosely blowing in the wind.

  Slightly startled, Niko responds. "Daisuke? What are you doing here?"

  Daisuke puts one arm around Niko, opposite the gear bag and uniform. "Just here to wish you good luck, dude. Like you need it!"


  "Don't worry about me – let the ring decide my fate."

  "Dude, you sound like a fortune cookie!" Daisuke says as he walks with Niko through the entrance.

  Now in his pristine white Taekwondo uniform, Niko walks with Daisuke into the main event area, with his gear bag is still over his shoulder. Entering from one of the spectator areas, the two of them stop walking and take in the sights. The amount of the many different rings, the countless people in uniform on the main floor walking around, the reflectiveness of the trophy table, and the large digital display at the front, hanging from the roof, behind a large banquet table. "Wow, this is one heck of a view!" Daisuke says as he places his sunglasses on top of his head.

  Niko lets out a large sigh. "Yeah, the best of the best are here. They even made a special area up front for the top ranked people."

  Daisuke looks up at the large display. Amazed by the size and resolution, he says "Dude, that is one killer TV."

  Niko looks up at the 6-meter high, room-spanning digital display. "Whoa. They went all out for that, didn't they?"

  Daisuke hits Niko on the back. "You ain't kiddin'."

  Walking away towards the spectator seats, Daisuke gives a 'thumbs up' to Niko. "Good luck, dude! I'll be up here rootin' for ya!"

  Niko gives a 'thumbs up' back at Daisuke, then descends the stairs into the main area.

  While on the floor, Niko finds his ring and places his gear bag down in a storage area. Looking up at the large digital display, the display cycles between a few items, including a large clock saying "10:00 AM" and the date, the convention center logo, the series of school logos from among the country, the founders of the sport and top ranking instructors, and a series of brackets, with each competitor's face next to the edge of the display. Niko quickly finds his face among them, but doesn't have time to recognize any of the others before the brackets cycle away. "I guess I'll find out who I'm fighting when the time comes."