Guardian Spirit
The samurai stood before us. His clothes were a touch of dark brown and grayish hakama. He also wore socks and slippers along with his outfit. His hair wasn't your typical ponytail flailing around in the wind, but an average-sized haircut.
The kind where hair was cut short on the sides and left to grow on top, but also still maintained very well.
A samurai from Japan.
But how could he be? How can a samurai be here at this time and in another world?
He drew one of his swords, the black katana, and struck the approaching cross, splitting it in two before cutting it again into pieces that dissipated into light particles.
He had his back on me, a back that seemed to be a mountain in my eyes.
He was just a head taller than me, and his clothes moved with the wind, making him even more majestic.
I was in awe, and so was Asahi.
Asahi screamed joyously, staring at the samurai with glossy eyes and a happy smile.
He was thrilled.
He even ceased his intent to kill me, or rather, his intent to cause me harm.
He approached me all merrily, regardless of what had just happened. The situation he put us in right now.
Was he going to act like nothing happened and behave like this?
Before he even took the first step towards me, Rita squinted her eyes as if she saw something. It was the kind of squint one makes when danger approaches.
What she sensed was danger, but more specifically, she sensed bloodlust.
Faster than any of us could see, Rita and the Samurai were locked together just a few feet away from Asahi.
The samurai tightened his grip on his drawn sword with both hands, lunged forward, and shot for Asahi. Rita, having seen this before, reacted quickly, creating a hexagonal-shaped shield of light.
It was shaped like a honeycomb with all the hexagon shapes.
If you were far away and you saw this shield, you would think that it was the beehive of a giant honey bee due to its golden color and shape.
The samurai went in for a swing and found Rita in front of the barrier. Striking his sword against the barrier, he created a shockwave of wind that blew away all the dust in the area.
All this happened faster than we could see. This must be the power of two superior magical beings fighting.
The samurai backed away, jumping back to the starting point.
Rita and the samurai stared each other down. We were just small fries, not deserving of any consideration, but we held the power to command these beings, and each one was fighting to protect each of us.
Rita is protecting Asahi, and Samurai is protecting me.
None moved. Samurai didn't move because Asahi didn't make a move, and Rita didn't move because Samurai didn't make a move.
It was a two-way standoff riding on who made the first move. I was not included in the whole ordeal.
I was surprised, bewildered, and had a lot of questions, but the most important one right then was Who is this samurai protecting me?
I asked that question in my mind, not expecting an answer, and yet, an answer arrived for me.
As if the samurai could read my mind, he turned around to face me and bowed on one knee before me and said, "I'm at your service, master."
"What? Me? Master? Wait, wait, wait. You must have got the wrong person."
I denied that with all the will I had, but in a polite manner. I couldn't imagine myself being someone else's master, let alone someone so powerful.
I just stared at him as he bowed his head, not daring to look me in the eyes. His head was as low as it could get. However, it didn't appear as though he was brown nosing me. He was truly bowing his head like a devoted servant.
Right knee down with the right hand fist facing the ground, and the other hand holding the katanas on his waist.
"..."
"Hey, did you hear me? I said I am not your master."
"..."
He didn't respond to anything I said.
It was as if he didn't want to hear anything that conflicted with his will to serve me.
"Hey, Asahi! Are you free from your craziness yet?"
I shifted my focus to Asahi; he might have an answer because when I explained the appearance of this samurai, he started acting strangely.
"Umm... Yeah... I'm satisfied now."
He was frozen in place from seeing the locked-up state of Rita and the samurai. My voice snapped him out of it.
He moved a little, and this caught the samurai's attention, which he reacted to by turning his body towards Asahi's direction, still in his one-kneed position. He had his right hand on the hilt of his katana and his left hand holding the scabbard.
He was preparing himself.
Asahi raised his hand, sensing the danger of making even the slightest of moves towards me.
"I surrender, okay! This whole thing was just a misunderstanding... Rita, stand down."
He even ordered Rita to stand down, dispelling the summoning magic. She turned into light and disappeared.
I also look at the samurai and say, "Hey. Stop."
The samurai looks back at me and obeys wholeheartedly without any problem. He removed both his hands from the katana and calmed down from all the tension.
☆
Now we were sitting under the big tree on the edge of the plateau.
I sat down in the butterfly position with my legs crossed and my shirt off, while Asahi sat on the side. He placed his hands directly on my wounds, and out of them came a golden light that enveloped me.
By its appearance, it was healing magic, but one that I am not used to seeing. The typical color associated with healing magic is green, symbolizing a fresh start with renewed body tissues.
However, it was a warm light, kind and gentle.
Not only did he heal my wound, but he also made sure to leave no scratches, and the pain disappeared as well.
"I'm really sorry about this whole thing..."
He said, while he healed me. He was as gentle with his healing magic as he was warm with his words.
I could sense the remorse in them, almost like he was expecting me to get angry, which I did. It pisses me off, and yet...
"It's fine... Just explain yourself. You owe me at least that much. I mean, who attacks their friends without a reason?"
My words sounded friendly, but I was serious about it. Even my face was stiff from all the turmoil I just went through. He has to give me an explanation, and hopefully it will be related to the samurai.
"Right..."
He finished healing my wound and sat beside me. The three of us formed the three points of a triangle, with the samurai seated at a distance where he wouldn't need to turn his head to get a full view of the two of us.
Although he had his head bowed, still.
"The reason why I attacked you is simpler than you think. It's related to what you told me about the hallucinations."
"What, so you attacked me because I am hearing voices?"
"Well, those aren't hallucinations."
"..."
Silence.
I didn't know how to respond. In my opinion and knowledge, what I had was nothing more than inconveniences.
If it weren't for them, maybe we wouldn't have suffered such damage in the forest. They were nothing more than a distraction.
I stare at the samurai because his whole appearance looks the same as in my dreams. So I guess I can believe him when he says they weren't hallucinations; otherwise, they wouldn't come to life.
"...Explain?"
"Take a look at the samurai. Doesn't he look like the hallucinations you explained to me?"
"Yes, that much I can see. He does have an uncanny resemblance to the man in my dream, but how does he fit into your explanation?"
"As I said, it wasn't my intention to hurt you like that, but... When you told me about how you would hear a voice you didn't recognize, always warning you about dangers, it got me thinking that maybe you had a connection to a spirit.
It sounded like how Rita communicates with me when she's not manifested."
"Wow..."
"Yes, when a spirit is not manifested, it is still possible for the master and it to have a conversation, only it would be telepathically."
I was surprised by how he was able to make such a deduction with little information, and that he didn't say I was crazy for hearing voices. Or maybe it's because he, too, experiences it.
He continued speaking, turning his focus to the samurai while relaying his reasons.
"But then, when you told me about the appearance of the man in your dream, it changed my previous assumption of the situation... It didn't make sense that the spirit would have an appearance and mannerism from our previous world."
"Now that you mention it, I've never seen a samurai ever since I got here."
This posed a lot of questions. Like, why was he wearing like that, and those swords? Those are clearly katanas from Japan.
I've never seen a resemblance to katana swords nor any of this attire.
"Yes, so when I realized that, another possibility came to mind, but I had to test and see if my hunch was right. Luckily, it was, or else that last attack was going to hurt pretty bad if it landed."
He said that with a straight face, and the remorse I felt in his words was erased. Maybe this guy was really trying to kill me.
"Ryu..."
"Yes."
He looked at me with an intense look in his eyes.
Tension grew in that moment of silence when he stared at me without blinking.
However, his eyes sparkled like those of a baby when he sees his mother. It was odd.
And how can he have that 'This is awesome' look in his eyes in this situation?
"What you have is not just a spirit... It is a Guardian Spirit!"
"Ee?"
He was so hyped about this guardian spirit that he got all nerdy on me again.
"This is awesome, man... I never thought I would get to see a Guardian spirit up close like this and so soon, too."
He even got up and circled the samurai multiple times while rambling on and on about how majestic he looked, the attire he was wearing, and how cool it was to see him kneeling there with his eyes closed.
"So aah! What exactly is a Guardian Spirit?"
I tried by all means to remember any information I had read about on spirits back at the mansion, but I couldn't retrieve any information on spirits higher than lesser spirits from the books I had read on them.
I drew a blank and was clueless.
So I had to ask.
And it didn't help that he gave me the look as if I was supposed to know the answer, as if, since this so-called guardian spirit came from me, I was supposed to know about its origin.
"Don't you get it?"
I clearly don't, that's why I'm asking.
"...A Guardian Spirit is way cooler than a spirit. They are powerful and have the intelligence to communicate with everyone. They obey their master's commands, no questions asked, and they exhibit traits that are unique to their master's memories and experiences.
That is why the samurai look a lot like people from our world."
A lot like was an understatement. The samurai looked exactly like he was from our world.
"Is that right?"
"Huh? You don't seem surprised at all. What gives? You should be more hyped about this than I am.
You have a Guardian Spirit, my dude.
That's like... One in a million chances, man! This makes you one of the lucky ones."
"I am, I am..."
He went from apologetic to enthusiastic, and now he was scolding me for not being surprised, which I was, but it's hard to be surprised about something when you don't know anything about it.
And yet that's how surprises work, but me, I wasn't that surprised.
However, watching how Asahi behaved from the moment he saw the samurai to the point where he explained it shows that this is truly something special.
"...It's just that I don't know anything about Guardian spirits and what makes them special. Today is even the first time I've seen a superior spirit in person.
Believe me, I am amazed."
"Well, I guess I don't blame you. It's not every day you see a superior spirit, let alone a lesser spirit, roaming around.
They are considered legendary creatures."
Everyone has strong emotions, and yet not everyone has a Guardian Spirit, which suggests there must be something else that goes into bringing them into existence.
I couldn't help but want to thoroughly examine all the unknown possibilities that make up a guardian spirit.
I stare at the samurai deep in thought.
Asahi was right, I was wasting my time enjoying this moment.
☆
When they were in the middle of their conversation, a beast was lurking in the shadows. It opened its eyes as if noticing or feeling something in the vicinity around it.
And that thing got its attention.
Its eyes were narrow and big with a pupil shaped like an oval.
