Neverending Tempest - Part 5

Ensnared

TW: Slight Descriptions of Violence | Mature Language

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I never knew you

Your face appears in my dreams

Replaced by a man who isn’t there either

The memories I treasure of you have disappeared

I never knew you

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PT 393, Present, Dimension ???

Looks like Daisuke was right. I went to my P.O. box and opened the will. There was lots of stuff that he left to me which looked like crap. The biggest thing that he left was his house. Which meant I would have to go to America. I would really rather not, but it was a chance to escape. Kubota had a helluva time taunting me when I asked if I could go. He sent one of his boys to go with me. The same guy who had woken me up and threw me to the ground two years ago. He was like a mini-Kubota. But he lacked restraint. We got to take one of the Kubota family’s private planes. We relaxed like kings on the long flight to America. For the first time in forever, I left Kabukicho. It was relieving to see it shrink beneath my feet. To see my world and prison shrink to nothing. Of course, this was only temporary with Dazai in my ear.

“So, was your pops rich? We gonna be walking into a mansion or what?”

“I already told you. I don’t know anything about him.”

“So you’re kinda like an orphan? I guess your parents really disowned you so ya could go to martial arts camp. You are a really special case. What the hell even made ya wanna come to Japan?”

“It’s where my master left me when I disobeyed his orders. The last thing my Father told me to do was to stay there because I was better off. The next day I met my sister.”

“You must have wicked Daddy issues.”

“I don’t even know why the hell I’m talking to you about this.”

We touched down in America after a relaxing, albeit annoying ride with Dazai in my ear the whole time. He seemed to know his way around an airport. So I followed him. We were met with rental cars. Apparently muscle cars were all the rage in America, and Dazai wanted to indulge himself. He bought a nineteen-seventy mustang convertible, and for me, the newest dodge challenger. I personally wished I got to drive his. Like a gentleman, he opened the door for me. But this was clearly only to assert himself, as I stepped into the car, with one leg hanging out, he slipped something around my ankle.

Click!

A fucking ankle monitor.

“Wouldn’t want you slipping away. Not that you’d go anywhere without your sister.”

I scoffed and got in my car.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m gonna take this baby for a spin and find out what all the buzz about this American life is. Remember. Ya will meet me here, at this spot tomorrow at five.”

He jumped in his car, firing it on with a hefty roar from the motor. He sped away. The vanity of it all was nice, yes. But a normal car made no difference to me. A normal plane ride, no difference. The yakuza life isn't about vanity. Not to me. What was it about to me? I pondered this as I drove myself to my Father’s. The answer was obvious, but was still a question I had to ask myself. Since it had been so long since I’ve taken a life. The Order of Nazareth was like a cult. We acted out Easan’s orders with perfect accuracy. Even if it was killing. Which I did a fair bit of. It has been a long time since I’ve killed anybody. Maybe a couple hits for Kubota at the beginning. But we were more about extortion. We were a business organization. Not murderers.

But hey, beating the shit outta assholes who owed us money felt empowering. I guess I liked that there was somewhere else I felt welcomed, just the way I was welcome at the order. I laughed to myself.

How did I not realize that?

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My Father’s house looked like any other normal suburban house. It had a deck in the front with rotting wood and a rocking chair. The house looked uncared for. Like he had left it a long time ago. Grass was massively overgrown, and there was a mess of leaves tangled inside. The windows were closed tight with the blinds shut up to let no light in. I took my Father’s will from my bag. I read his name, and all the items he left to me. Igo Eclipse. Died on october thirteenth, nineteen eighty-eight. Inside of the will was the key to the house. Which was a keychain on a necklace. There were no cars in the driveway, when I stepped out, it smelled nothing like Kabukicho. It smelt of sap and fire. I had never felt this engaged with nature. Behind the house, there was a mirage of trees that seemed to go on forever. I trudged through the overgrown grass to the front door of the house, and I inserted the key. While the outside was unkempt, the inside was fairly furnished, and my Father clearly had an eye for room decor. There were relics, and weapons on some of the walls. In the living room there was a TV and on the shelves, there were pictures. Of his family?

He didn’t give a shit about family. But there it was. Pictures of him and his wife. Mom and Dad. They looked like a nice, young couple. They were doing the classic bridal carry. Dad was smiling, his hair was done up, it was shorter than I liked to let mine hang, styled into a tasteful mess of curls. While my Mom’s black hair flowed along with her, she looked like she had been laughing. Such a happy family. Why did he send me away? Why Emi? I would have rather her been held together by a good Mother and Father than the sorry excuse of a brother I had made myself out to be. It felt kind of disgusting to me, walking around here. There had to be something more to this situation. I knew I was a relatively special case. So what was it about my parents that made them need to get rid of me? If I was a special case, maybe they were too?

I made my way up to my Father’s room. There were two guest rooms that could’ve been myself and Emi’s room. Then there was his room. The bed was a king, so it was still big enough that his wife would have slept comfortably in with him. The thing that led me to think it was more Igo’s room than one that he shared, came down to the entire house’s decor. It was all clearly his. There was no mix of styles. It was all old weapons of war, mostly Japanese. Most of these weapons were listed on his will. I explored in the dark. The light gave me just enough to see what I felt was important. There was one thing listed on his will that I was confused by. “DAR Mask”. I think I could see it. It was sitting on top of his shelf that was leaning against the corner of his room. There was a shelf and a mirror that looked worn. There was the mask. On a stand. It looked like a practical kitsune mask. It had large, cat-like ears, it would fit from the nose up. Maybe it was some sort of special relic? The eyeholes were useless because there was some sort of material that covered it up. When I picked it up, it was very light, on the inside, then things began to come together. There were tons of miniscule lights and pressure sensors on the mask. Including around the eyes. It looked exceedingly advanced. Out of curiosity, I held it over my face. Only to see black.

Zap!

I felt an electrical current, the air was quickly broken when I felt something injected into my face. I reeled backwards, throwing the mask on the bed. I rushed to the light and looked at myself in the mirror. There was a black mark on my forehead. Between my nose and forehead that looked more like a tattoo if anything. Maybe I was overreacting. The quick injection felt like the gust of air they spray in your eye when you go to the eye-doctor. I knew the way my body overreacted. I picked at it. It felt as if whatever it was, it was already embedded in my skin.

When I looked at the mask, laying on the bed, I couldn’t help but feel called to it. I held it to my face. With a click, I was allowed to lower my hands, and the mask sat comfortably on my face. This time, I could see through the eye-holes. My Father’s room stood before me, but now I was seeing things like they were strings of code. Like they were loaded into this world…Like a video game. The bed was still clearly a bed, but was now made from some sort of wire-like code. Only showing vertical and horizontal lines, creating a bed, a desk, a mirror, which I no longer saw myself in. I felt an ethereal gust of wind graze across my cheek. My head began to throb. What was I seeing?

I ran outside of the house with the mask on. It wasn’t just the house, it was the entire world that was like this. I looked in the sky to see a blanket of green code with lines running over the earth like a jail cell. Trees were now blocky, stringy remnants of what they once were. Grass was nearly non-existent, even the sun fell into this trap. Everything in front of me seemed to distort. Lines of code appeared in front of me, creating what looked like a stringy remnant of a woman. I ripped the mask from my face. Leaving my face stinging. My vision took a moment to adjust, and when I saw her, I nearly fell backward and to the ground, if it wasn’t for her catching me. Have you ever been caught in midair by what felt like an invisible force? That was the mess of code that stood before me. She was half translucent, with those wires of code running around her body vertically and horizontally, forming something that looked like a woman who was floating on nothing. She had long hair that was made from these lines, finally able to wave and curl as they floated in midair. She was naked, but with a featureless body. Except for eyes, nose and a mouth.

“I…took the mask off. How can I…?” I asked myself with bated breath.

For some reason, my heart was racing. like I was seeing a ghost for the first time.

“Enzo Eclipse. You have been integrated into the network. Congratulations.”

She clapped for me, although her hands coming together made no discernable noise.

“Who are you?”

“I’m an AI. What do you think I am? My creator called me Edriel. You don’t know me?”

“No…” I responded.

Edriel stood in midair, with a pensive stance, thinking and looking off into the distance. It was as if a lightbulb went off in her head. She snapped her fingers.

“Well…You need to do some learning! Let’s get that mask back on.”

“Hell no.”

With the snap of her fingers, the mask acted like it had a mind of its own. It threw itself onto my face, so hard that it sent me railing back again. This time Edriel wasn’t there to catch me. I fell through the floor of the Earth like it was glass.

I was free-falling through an empty void of dark green. Visages of memories danced around me. Happening all at once. Being implanted into my mind at a rapid rate.

Terra and Tempest begrudgingly went onto the dance floor. Their hands twitched and spun as they joined and got just a little closer to each other.

“One thing. I don’t know how to dance.” Tempest said.

Terra looked at him, baffled. Her heart was already spinning out of control.

“Then why’d you ask?” She asked.

“Dancing is normal for couples. Whether we are together or not.”

“We had dances back when I lived in the mountains, but I’m rusty.”

“I lack memory of what dancing ever was. So it’s perfect.”

“Ugh. Put one of your hands on my side.”

Terra guided one of Tempest’s hands to her hip. She lightly grabbed his other hand and let it rest behind her head. She tried to step around, as strategically as she could with Tempest tied to her.

“So we do this for the whole time?”

“No. You can add moves to make it more interesting.”

“Stop it! What are you doing to me?!” I yelled into the void. 

Terra and Tempest sat on the riverbay, soaking their legs in the Hudson river. Amidst war, the river still held it’s beauty. Captivating as always. The moon’s reflection dilated against the river, and gave just the perfect amount of light for Terra to see her partner.

“I brought something for us.” Tempest confessed.

He took some food out of his backpack. He had doughnuts from Bibble and Sip. Terra’s favorite breakfast place.

“How did you get those?” She asked cheerily.

“Their kind of cold. But not moldy.”

He handed Terra one. They ate in near silence. Hearing the silence of the war-torn land. It was almost peaceful. They sat next to each other, staring off into the distance. The next minute, Tempest was looking into Terra’s eyes. He leaned in and kissed her. She was completely caught off guard by this. But went with it. They pulled away from each other.

“Sorry.” Tempest started.

Terra could hear his heart racing.

“Was that not the right way to do this dating thing? Lobo told me to-”

“No, no. It’s okay.”

“Edriel! Let me go!” I yelled once more.

Wham!

I hit the ground with a hefty thud. My mask only caused my vision to distort more and more. I saw a universe. The universe forming right in front of my very eyes. This universe. Terra and Tempest, more names, memories, frights, fears, wars.

“I am an AI program created by Igo Eclipse. It was my job to code and create new, man-made universes. Under the direction of an organization called DRU.”

Every new universe was the same. I saw Terra, again, and again, and again. An event where Tempest’s eyes were slashed out of his skull with a slice from Terra’s arch-nemesis. This meant nothing to me. But I saw it over and over again until it did.

“My creators only gave me one template. This one. Where he leans in and kisses her, but they go with it anyway. Where Terra guides one of Tempest’s hands to her hip. Over, and over, and over. Would you be tired of this too? The same event. The same universe, guided by the new Artemis. Terra Lorenz. How the fuck does that make sense?! She’s nothing like Artemis! She has earth powers and her name’s Terra! She’s not Artemis! She’s Gaia if anything! This shit is from some pretentious fourteen-year-old! They gave me this muddled shit to work with, then they didn’t like what I made, so they sealed me away. I need your help, Enzo. You’ve been played for a pawn. Just like me”

Enzo finally was able to sit face-to-face with Edriel. They were sitting in an office. Where he sat across from her, dressed up in a white blouse and big, round glasses.

“Can you slow down with this? This is all new and kinda insane for me. I don’t know what half the stuff you are talking about is.”

“True. You are from nineteen-eighty-something. Multiple dimensions or universes sounds kind of crazy to you. Right? Look, imagine an Earth you live on, where one thing changes. Then imagine an infinite number of those Earths. Where every decision made leads to something different. Whether it be your decision, or the mosquito’s decision to bite you or me, an infinite number of possibilities. I don’t even know them all, and they’ve been locked from me. How would you feel if all your toys were locked away?”

“So…You can make those new Earths? Or someone gave you the ability to do it for them? That’s like the ability to steer fate!”

“It’s not as extravagant as you’d like it to be. Things are getting too complicated. That’s why I am going to help you with an ultimatum.”

“What?”

“I see you are trapped. What an unfortunate number of circumstances to get you to this point. I am not as strong as I once was, because this is all an illusion.”

The mask was lifted from my face. Edriel stood above me, and the clear sky, right in front of my father’s house was all that was around me. The bugs crawling on me in the long grass were almost comforting compared to the bombardment of information I had just sustained. I stood up, my mind still reeling. Edriel stood in front of me. She looked like a punk child who had just gotten away with the prank of a lifetime.

“Your ultimatum, sir.”

“Fuck. What is it you have to offer?”

“You are still chained. I will give you the privilege of keeping my mask.

There’s some pretty crazy shit you can do with it. If there’s an emergency,

you call me using the mask. This will come at a cost, of course.”

“What kind of cost?”

“You will be set free from your chains, Enzo. Or, well. We will.”

“What does any of this mean? Stop being so damn cryptic!”

Ring ring! Ring ring!

I picked up my phone. It was Daisuke. I was pleased to see him calling after the stress that was dealing with Edriel. I finally took a breath of air, and answered the phone.

“Hey bro! What’s up!”

“Enzo! I’m sorry. I know the timing is horrible!” It sounded like crying on the other line. “Emi-she’s…He’s making an example! Something’s wrong!”

I dropped my phone, and looked up at Edriel.

“Wow. Sounds like an emergency. You should probably do something about it.”

I scoffed, picked up the mask, and rushed to my car.