CHAPTER I

It was a warm summer day. The Chizan High School Marching Archers had just let out from practice. Sadakatsu Fujimura put his horn away and hurried out to his car, pulling out of the parking lot and heading up the road toward Michiba and the market that took place there on Saturdays. Looking around at the various junk-sellers and faux antique dealers, something caught his eye. Laying on a table amid gaudy knickknacks, almost unnoticeable, was a wonderful, old piece of armor, a shoulder plate.

Noticing his curiosity, the vendor at this table called out, "You like that old thing too, huh?"

Looking up, Sada smiled and said, "Well, it just caught my eye. How old is it?"

The vendor came closer, his cokebottle glasses magnifying his eyes almost comically. Grinning and showing off his missing teeth, he said, "Well, I been using it to collect dust in a box in my basement since about 2620, so it's at least that old. Looks sturdy, but since nobody uses that armor anymore, I guess it could be a... what do you call those... conversation piece."

There was little decoration. Sada asked, "Do you remember where it's from?"

The vendor mulled it over: "Well, let's see... ... ... Don't remember, but I'll sell it to ya for... oh, 1 kane.1 "

Sada looked at the plate, and then at the vendor. "You're serious, aren't you? Look at this stitching; it's a mess! I think 4 shira MIGHT be suitable."

The vendor grinned slightly, "6 shira."

"4 and a half."

Smiling, the vendor agreed. "You're good. Here. Take this too; you deserve it." The vendor gave Sada the armor of... somewhat dubious quality, and threw in a small figurine of yellow metal.

Sada left, grinning with confidence in his new bargaining skills. Looking in his bag, he took out this freebie that the vendor had given him. It was a figurine of an angel. The angel had one hand raised high, holding in its hand a small clear stone. Noticing its simplicity, Sada stopped and looked carefully at it. It was quite stylized, showing little in the way of a face, but with elaborate wings, set with mother-of-pearl and what appeared to be obsidian or black granite. The stone appeared to have a tiny flaw in the center, creating the illusion of a tiny image suspended inside.

Fascinated by this trinket, Sada went home and put the new piece of armor into his chest with the rest of his Armor of Somewhat Dubious Quality. Clearing off a space, he placed the figurine on the shelf next to his books. Carefully adjusting it to face just the right way in the light, he went about his business for the rest of the day.

That night he said his prayers and went to bed, as he usually did, but scarce did he escape into the world of dreams before he was interrupted by a mysterious voice...

Sada… Sada…

Sitting up slightly, he looked around; nobody to be found. Sada shrugged and lay back down. Soon the words echoed again…

Sada… Sada…

Sada rose and called out into the blackness: “Who is it? Who’s there?”

The voice crescendoed, “Sadakatsu Fujimura…”

Now sitting fully upright, Sada was quite certain this voice was not within his own ears. He shouted, “Show yourself!”

The air was filled with a loud ringing, the sound of a vicious gale. A haze evolved in the air, conglomerating in front of the figurine. Sada’s eyes widened in shock as light suddenly streamed through the cloud, and there before him stood a female figure in shimmering kimono like those of old, one silver and one azure. The eyes of this being glowed bright green from their sockets, and its glossy brown hair flowed long down its back. Most notable, however, was the presence of two large, angelic wings, plumed in the colors of jet and opal. The whole being seemed to give off a light of its own, illuminating itself but nothing around it. Sada sat bolt upright in his bed, white and quaking.

The being spoke: “Sadakatsu Fujimura, be not afraid. I come to you because you have been chosen to accomplish a great task by the will of Fukenjin!”

Sada’s eyes widened further. “Then you… you must be… an angel! A messenger of heaven! What is my task? I am here; tell me how I may serve Fukenjin!”

The angel opened her arms in a wide gesture. “This and more shall be revealed to you in time. But for now, come with me.” She reached out for Sada. Hesitantly, Sada took her hand. The angel clutched him close, enveloping him in her wings as light surrounded him and he felt as though he may be sick. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaws, unable to withstand what he was now feeling.

At last the gut-wrenching feeling subsided, and the light faded. Sada noticed that he was in fact holding himself against the angel and promptly withdrew. Clearing his throat and scratching the back of his head, he noticed that the sun was shining. What was more, the bed, the house, even the nearby road, were gone. In their place was only tilled hillside. A few houses stood at the bottom of the hill, all of a much more ancient appearance than the one he had just been in. Looking up at the angel, he opened his mouth to speak, but no words came.

Almost sensing his perplexity, the angel smiled, “This is a much different place than where we just were, isn’t it?”

Sada’s jaw still hung open. Finally summoning up the neurons to speak, he said at length, “…Yes.” After another pause he added, “Where… are we?”

The angel responded, “It may not seem like it, but we have actually gone nowhere. Rather, it is a matter of when we have gone.”

Sada goggled at the angel.

Sighing, she said, “You see, from the night out of which I brought you to the day where we now stand, is a gap of nearly eight hundred years.” Seeing that Sada had yet to comprehend that statement, she groaned, “Just come with me,” and led him into the hamlet at the bottom of the hill.

1 Kane, shira, mon, rin. 金・白・文・厘The official monetary units of the Koryu Empire. 1 kane8 shira200 mon800 rin.