A BOOK FOR SAVAGES. A LIGHT NOVEL BY KATEGUSHI TANEGAWA.

FOREWORD AND DISCLAIMER: this story is not inspired by any other entertainment and or art. This story is not a statement about anything, nor does it have a meaning, nor does it try to prove any point of any kind.

CHAPTER 1: THE WEDDING.

This story is told using pronouns, because the reader is supposed to view the story through the eyes of our protagonists.

I was born from a lotus flower in the backyard pond of a family. They raised me, but I refused to ever be taught anything, and always resented education, yet I taught myself how to read and write. Living a solitary life, I've never had a single friend, and it's better that way.

I'm light-skinned, with unkempt dark brown hair that reaches to my pectoral muscles, and I have a black beard. I have very long fingernails. I have bad teeth 'cause all I ever drank was cola. I never have bad breath, nor body odor. I'm 5'9, and weigh 160 pounds.

I live in a rural area. I feel like going outside and looking for aliens. I sit in my chair on the front lawn at night, with the radio playing 80's and 90's music. I think to myself, "I'm not initiated into the world of aliens." And just at that moment, I see a huge yellow streak across the sky in front of me.

That night, I have a dream: I'm standing inside the garage, there's a tall Caucasian woman. We embrace. Our minds connect. There's love shared between us, and she says, "I've been watching you for years."

The next night, I go on the internet, type in, "How to summon aliens", and read on some shitty blog that aliens are telepathic. So I go outside, sit in my chair, and begin speaking to the sky.

The next night, I fall asleep while listening to the audio of a spiritual teacher talking. I have a dream: I walk outside of a small house, I fall to the ground and everything goes black. I wake up in a room with beds all along the wall. It's dark. Then I see someone sleeping in the bed next to mine, and he turns the lamp on the nightstand on, and he gets up and he's a 7-foot tall alien grey, and he says to me, in a very matter-of-fact manner, "Why take in a jerk Italian savage?" Then the dream ends. The "Italian" part was to imply that I'm homosexual.

The next night, I walk out to the back pasture, and call out to the sky, "Where are the good aliens?" And I see a streak of yellow light in the sky that gives me reassurance.

Now before every time I go outside, I bathe myself completely, get fully-dressed in baggy grey cotton pants, a white cotton sweatshirt, and moose leather moccasins.

The next night, I go outside, and ask if the alien woman would consider marrying me. They say, "She'll think about it."

The next night, I lay on the ground in the back pasture, and ask if the alien woman wants to marry me, then from the south, I see a ship flying north, shining beautifully, and I'm elated. I ask if she would like to get married on the 1st of the next month, and they adhere to that.

On the 1st of the next month, I go out to the back pasture, and I ask if the aliens will land, and they say give the affirmative by flying over. I wait for awhile, and then ask again if they're going to land, and they fly over again to give the affirmative. Then I wait, and wait. I lay down near some trees. Then, tired, I get up, and realize that I've been stood up for an alien wedding.

I keep going out at night until a ship lands, that's round and about 30-feet in diameter, and out steps people that are half-human, half-fish. They're short, and each one holds a staff with a crystal on the end that glows.

Who appears to be the leader steps out on a platform on the space ship, and says to me, "Our most recent visit to Earth was in Africa, but we've heard of the boy born from the lotus flower. We've heard your wishes to become a hunter on another planet. We will take you to a planet that has a rural civilization on it."

And so I boarded, and off we went, and in the spaceship I was fed something like green beans. It took a long time to fly to another planet. The leader gives me a bag of silver coins, and says, "Here we part ways. Take this as a gift. Buy yourself a boat, and travel south to the Tropical Paradise Hotel. There you will find hospitality; and you can plan your hunting adventures therefrom."

I exit the spaceship, then watch as they fly away. All I brought with me is my clothes, my money, my bow and arrows, and my knife. I walk into the boat shop, and see big, heavy wooden boats on display. I purchase a 200-pound cedar rowboat with 100 silver coins, and I drag it out to the water's edge. Then I go to a mighty live oak tree and, leaning up against it, fall asleep.

CHAPTER 2: THE SAVAGE.

It's morning, yet the temperature is already about 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

I wake up on the hill, beneath the live oak tree. I'm wearing white cotton pants that are loose, yet tight on the waist. I'm wearing a white cotton T-shirt, and my moccasins.

Sitting beside me, is my osage orange bow, 64 inches long and 52 pounds draw-weight at a 28-inch drawlength. This bow has a deer sinew string. I have three river cane arrows which have turkey tail feather fletchings, and chert heads. I carry my bow and arrows in a leather case to protect them from the elements. My leather case has a strap so that it can be worn like a backpack.

In my right pocket is my curved knife which is for skinning, and for melee combat.

I look, surveying my surroundings. Beneath this hill, all around is marshlands infested with crocodiles. I walk down to my rowboat, that's on the water's edge, and I put my bow and arrows into their leather case, then put the leather case in the bottom of the boat.

As I begin rowing, I see a tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed man standing on an area of raising ground. He waves for me to come over, so I start rowing that way.

As I dock, the man says, "My name's Thomas. I'm a traveler. Where are you heading?"

"Oh," I say, "I'm just heading to the Tropical Paradise Hotel."

"That's where I'm headed to! I'll pay you five silver coins for a ride."

Knowing I can make money off of this fool, I'm happy to envision the food and drink I can buy once I get to the hotel.

"Get right in." I say, as I open my money bag, then the guy drops five troy ounces of fine silver into it.

So I begin rowing, but then the unexpected happens: Thomas turns around and grabs my crotch, and I say, "Wow I don't swing that way." So I let go of the oars and throw my right fist, hitting him underneath the jaw, but apparently this guy's tough, 'cause that didn't phase him. Both of us stand up and exchange punches, until we both fall off of the boat, and then there's a loud crash in the commotion, and a crocodile jumps out of the water and bites onto Thomas's head, and I hear a crunch sound. Then the crocodile does a deathroll and Thomas's head comes clean off of his torso. While this is happening I climb back onto the boat, and row as fast as I can to get away.

Many hours pass of rowing south. I row the boat slow and steady so as not to attract crocodiles with any commotion. Now I see the hotel sitting at the end of my journey. The hotel sits with the marshlands on its southern side, and the ocean to its western side. I dock my boat on the southern bank of the hotel, and tie it to an iron post so that it doesn't drift away.

The hotel is massive. On its western side, there's a glass wall about 40 feet long and 20 feet high, overlooking the ocean. Behind the glass wall is the hotel's main lounge, wherein the center there's a large pillar about 15 feet in diameter that reaches to the ceiling, and this pillar is pink in color and seems to have some energy in it that's flowing upwards. The general appearance of the hotel is an austere, megalithic foundation, that's grey and square, but the inside is painted to have black walls, and its furnishings are red. I walk in and my arrogant, pompous attitude is elated at my presence being before all of these people, some of which are wearing black woolen trench coats, and have black eye-liner like Egyptian kings. Since all eyes are on me, I decide to give myself a low profile by looking non-suspicious, and I do that by just walking up to the counter. I see the receptionist, and she's small, with naturally white bobcut hair at a young age, and she's wearing a black dress.

I ask, "How much for a week's stay in a room?"

"Seven silver coins"

Oh I feel so lucky that I ran into Thomas. I open up my money bag and pull out seven silver coins, and give them to the lady.

"Thank you for your patronage. I'll show you to your room."

We walk out of the hotel's main lounge and up a flight of black stairs. Now we're in a dark grey hallway with many doors. She takes me to room 117, then she unlocks the door, and to my surprise I see a very comfortable-looking round bed that has a round comforter blanket, in a room that's devoid of anything but the natural evening light, which is just perfect for me. There's a bathroom with a hot shower, and in the main room there's a square opening in the ceiling that's covered by a square wooden lid, as if it's the entrance to some sort of attic.

I'm averse to saying, "Thank you", so I just set down my leather case and say, "I'm going to get a shower", hinting for her to leave.

She throws the room's key on the bed, and says, "I'm the maid and the chef, so don't hesitate to ask if you need anything!" Then she walks out and shuts the door.

I walk past the big mirror on the wall, then into the bathroom, then I take off my moccasins, and my pants and T-shirt. I fold my clothes and put them on the sink's counter. I turn the shower on hot, then step inside the tub and lay down. I'm almost about to fall asleep, but then I hear creaking sounds as if someone is walking on the wooden floor in the other room. I'm immediately alarmed, and I think how I don't have my knife to defend myself. The thought comes to mind that the lady probably forgot to lock my room's door, and somebody must have walked in. I get up nude and ready to fight, and I open the bathroom door into the main room, but I don't see anybody. I walk to the room's door, and it turns out that the lady locked it. I feel relieved, as if it was all just my mind playing tricks on me.

I go back into the bathroom, grab one of the plain white cotton towels, and dry off. After that, I get in bed, but can't stop thinking about those creaking sounds I heard earlier.

I start hearing those creaking sounds again, so I get up, still without my knife, and begin walking towards the bathroom, but right as I get close, my reflection jumps out of the mirror and slams into me. I fall onto the wooden floor, then roll to my left to get him off of me, but he grabs me from behind and begins strangling me. Strong as I am, I do a roll forward, breaking the stranglehold and his grasp on me. I get up, turn around, and I stare into my own evil eyes. His intention is to kill, and so is mine. I run at him thinking I can beat him in a slug-fest, but he jumps forward into my knees, and I fall on top of him. I get up instantly and turn around and begin kicking him while he's down. Finally he's in a weak state where I can finish him off. I start kicking him in the head, trying to incapacitate and eventually kill him, and it works. He's stopped moving. Now I see something extraordinary: his body begins getting devoured by a blue flame until he's completely gone. I walk in front of the mirror, and I have no reflection.

I get into bed and fall asleep. I begin dreaming. Now I must say that I'm hypocritically disgusted by women who defecate and urinate and sweat and have flatulence and belching, as such natural bodily processes disgust me; however, in this dream there is a perfect young girl, who is without such processes, as there's a fire in her stomach that does not harm her body, yet it destroys food and liquid matter, and then the residue is excreted as light out of her pores, and she is in a public market place, and I am looking for the opportunistic time to kidnap her for my own pleasure. The girl has skin that is white and glossy like a pearl, and large eyes like jewels, and she's full-breasted, as in her breasts reach maximum capacity without being excessive, and her every body part is perfectly-proportioned according to every other part, and her hair is black and curly and reaches so that it is just an inch away from her shoulders, and she is about 20% shorter than me, and she is wearing a yellow silk dress, but then she notices me, and she tilts her head back and gives me a sly look, then she speaks in verse:

"Like the color green is unnoticed in the forest
There's something hiding in plain sight
You do not notice it."

I wake up to a loud thud, and look around, but see nothing except the silent room with the morning light filtering in. I can't help wondering what the attractive woman in my dream meant by what she said.

I get dressed, open the room door, lock it, and head down the stairs into the main lounge. The first thing that I see is the great glass wall, which shows the scene of a storm brewing over the ocean, but this storm is strange, as its clouds are black, and its lightnings are red. I see many people gathering to look through the glass wall and stare at the storm.

I go to the counter, and ask the lady, "What is this storm?"

"I've never seen anything like it."

I leave the counter and walk outside the front door.

On this planet, the architecture is spaced miles apart, so that in-between there's rivers, creeks, streams, waterfalls, plants of all kinds, and creatures of all kinds. There are no roads. At each building there are landing pads for spaceships, and people take rides over the nature to reach their desired destination, but as for me, my only means of transportation is my rowboat. I sit on the stone steps outside the front door and think about where I wanna go and what I wanna do. I hear somebody walking in my direction behind me, and then the receptionist sits down to the left of me.

"I'm off work now." She says.

"So you decided to spend your time with me? I'm flattered."

"Your beautiful hair caught my eye. Why is your hair so long?"

"It makes me more accurate with my bow and arrows."

"Is that what's in the case on your back?"

"Yeah."

"Are you a hunter?"

"I used to be, on planet Earth."

"Why did you move to another planet?"

"For every reason, and no reason, and I don't need a reason."

The lady says, "My name's Tara. Do not head east, as there's warriors out there who kill everyone that they meet, and they ride donkeys."

I laugh and say, "I'm not scared of donkeys."

"These donkeys are not normal."

"I was thinking about heading east to go hunting, but it seems like now I have even more reason to go. I want to see these donkeys for myself."

"Are you suicidal? Do you want to die? At least let me supervise you."

"It's true that I'm going on the warpath, to which returning from it is not certain, but you will see how strongly I fight."

Both of us begin walking east, amidst live oaks and pine trees, and then we hear the sound: "Eee ahn! Eee ahn! Eee ahn!" And that is the braying of a donkey, except twice as loud as a normal donkey. I take my leather case off of my back, pull my bow out, string it, then nock an arrow. Tara goes and hides inside a hollow tree.

Here comes a black donkey! With a neck twice as long as a regular donkey. It has double rows of sharp teeth with black goo oozing out of its mouth, and it has glowing red eyes. The rider is dressed in a green silk robe, with a green cone hat, and he's holding a spear. He spots me and the donkey starts running in my direction. The donkey must be running at least 30MPH. The rider throws his spear at me, but I it dodge by running in-between dense stands of pine trees, and his spear sticks into a tree. While running, I rotate my torso backwards, and fire an arrow, which punctures into the chest of the rider, then he screams and leans forward, drooping over his saddle.

Two more riders appear about 100 feet away. They begin charging in my direction. I nock my second arrow, but my index finger touches the string as I'm releasing it, so the string rattles and sends the arrow flying way off course. Then I yank the dead rider's spear out of the side of the tree, and run! I hide in the hollow tree where Tara is, and, with my heart pounding, listen attentively. I can hear them come close. The thought occurs to me that they may know these woods well, and rat us out. Me and Tara both stay quiet. I hear them pass, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

I run outside of the tree's hollow, and climb up a ridge, that overlooks an orchard of apple trees. This ridge is a strategic point. As I see both riders' donkeys walking betwixt the apple trees, I do my archery routine, which is this: I breathe through my nostrils powerfully, create the intention of where I want my arrow to hit, aim, and then narrow my awareness into the most intense focus. The string is released, the arrow flies, and immediately strikes one of the riders in the neck, and there goes my last arrow, as the man falls off of the top of his horse.

The last rider begins calling out to his donkey, "Hye, hye." And he's puffing and riding hard in my direction. Little does he know that I have a spear intended for his donkey's guts. I put my life, my everything on the line. I run down the ridge screaming with spear in hand. My burning tears of rage hit the dirt. I throw my spear first. The rider throw his spear second. His spear flies true and scrapes my left leg's quad, tearing muscle as it flies through. My spear enters his donkey's throat, and the donkey reels back, throwing off the rider. I fall face-first onto the ground. I hear the fallen rider scream, and I look up and there's Tara, stabbing the man in the heart with my knife. She stabs him until he expires.

I stand up, despite my crippling wound, and my stomach growls, which reminds me that I haven't ate in two days.

I say to Tara, "Let's collect some of these apples, then get out of this place."

With the two living donkeys nowhere in sight, me and Tara gather up some apples, using my shirt to carry them.

Tara says, "You're the manliest guy I've ever met."

"Yeah. People call me a savage." Too bad Tara doesn't meet my standards, like the woman in my dream does.

We sit down, underneath an apple tree, and eat some apples. Afterwards, I get up and say, "We're going back to the hotel."

I say to Tara, "Take these riders' bags of silver coins. I'll be able to live in the hotel for awhile now. Can you cook me some fava beans with chicken breast? And I'd like an orange on the side, and a glass of milk."

"We have beans, but not Earthen beans, and we have bird meat, but not chicken."

"That'll do."

We head back to the hotel without any interruptions. I put one of the rider's spears in the bottom of my boat.

At the hotel, me and Tara walk in. She goes behind the counter, and I walk up to the front and look at the menu, and then I start pointing at items on the menu, which is in a language that I don't understand. I point and say: "I want these beans. This bird meat. This citrus fruit, and some milk."

"As you wish, Mr. Warrior."

"What's with the "warrior" title?"

"You are, aren't you?"

"No. I'm all about romance."

"What kind of romance?"

"Wholesome." Before she gets to reply, I walk away from the counter and head to one of the horse-shoe shaped booths which line the walls of the main lounge.

My muscles have never gotten exhausted in my life, but when I do lots of physical activity, I get really sleepy. I waited until Tara brought my dish over, which is exactly what I want: beans topped with bird meat, a citrus fruit on the side, and a glass of milk. Tara sits down on the seat opposite to me, and she watches as I eat gluttonously.

Tara asks, "What's your kind of girl?"

The woman from my dream comes to mind, and I say, "One that's perfect in every way."

"Well, you certainly don't ask for much."

Having finished eating, I get up and say to Tara, "I'm going to bed."

Tara grabs my arm and says, "I warn you to be careful, as recently people have been having heart attacks here, and they leave the hotel in body bags."

"Why? Do you think that I'm going to have a heart attack?"

"No. You don't get it. It's strange for so many people to die in their beds. The hotel tries to keep it a secret, but I'm telling you so that you will be wary."

"There's nothing I can do about it if I had a random heart attack." I leave the table, head up the stairs, to the hallway, to room 117, then unlock the door. As I walk into the room, I see through the window that it's starting to rain outside. I pull the string that calls for room service. I take my dirty clothes off and put a towel around my waist. I hear a knock the door, and it's Tara, I ask, "Can you wash these clothes for me?"

"Can do." She says, then takes my clothes and leaves.

I close the door, walk into the bathroom, get in the hot shower, then lay down. I hear a thud sound in the other room, and I think how I already killed my reflection, so, what could it possibly be now? In no rush, I get out of the shower, then dry off with a cotton towel. I walk into the main room, and see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. I lay in bed, and begin dreaming: I see a thermal river, where on both sides are black cherry trees filled with pink cockatoos. I see that perfect woman from the first dream. She's bathing in the middle of the river. She looks at me, and like in the first dream, she speaks in verse:

"If I wanted you dead, then you would already be dead
I'm a jealous woman, and you have a majestic soul
What am I to you that they can't be?
What are you to me that you can't be to them?"

I step into the river, and its deepest point is in the middle, and is probably only 3-feet deep. It's like a hot tub. She gives me a kiss, and then, once again, a loud thud wakes me up, and I'm feeling discombobulated, having no idea what to make of that strange sound. It's morning, and the rain is pouring even harder than yesterday. It must be the front of the coming storm. I walk over to the string, and pull it to call Tara. I wait, and then she comes and knocks on the door, I, wearing just a towel, open the door, and she hands me my T-shirt and pants.

I say to Tara, "Make the same dish as last time, because I eat the same thing every day."

"Yes sir." She says.

I close the door, put on my clothes, then open the door and walk down stairs to the main lounge. I find myself a booth and sit down. Tara brings me my plate and milk.

I ask Tara, "Did any of the people who had heart attacks mention having strange dreams before they died?"

"That's an unusual question. Why?"

"Did they or didn't they?"

"They didn't."

I look around and remember what the woman said in the first dream, just then, the central pink pillar comes into my view, and I think, "Aha, I found it!"

I say to Tara, "What is that pillar anyways?"

"You've seen the megalithic exterior of this building, and now that you mention it, I'll tell you: this megalithic building was constructed by the old people, and the pillar has been here since before the hotel was built upon the megalithic work, and the hotel was furnished with the luxurious decor that you see all around you."

"Who were the old people?"

"Magicians who understood how to work stone better than we do, and they levitated the massive stones into place."

"What do you think the pillar does?"

"Every time a dead body has been carried out, at night-time when everyone's asleep, I've seen a red light flow from the bottom of the pillar up into the ceiling. It's been bothering me for awhile now."

"And you mention that to me just now?"

"You never asked."

"Go to my boat, and find the leather case. Put the spear into the leather case, then bring it into the hotel and meet me in my room."

I run up the stairs, unlock the door to room 117, and sit on the bed and wait. Here comes Tara. She walks into the room. I shut the door. I open the soaked leather case, and pull the spear out. I pick up Tara, much to her surprise, and I put her so that her legs are on my shoulders, and I say, "Open up that square wooden lid for me." I walk underneath the wooden lid, and Tara lifts it open.

I say, "Good. Now wait down here."

I set Tara down, then I jump up towards the square hole, and my fingers catch the floor of the attic. I then yank my entire body weight up and into the attic. Tara hands me the spear. I look around, and what I see is disturbing: there's a square hole with a wooden lid on top, for every single room of the second floor of the hotel. In the center of this vast megalithic room, is the upper half of the pink pillar, and it has a golden faucet attached to its lower section. The faucet is slowly dripping a blood-red liquid. Then, to my horror, one of the wooden lids lifts up, and what crawls out can only be described as horrendous, and it is this: a two-feet long golden orb-weaver spider, but it's white and glossy like a pearl, and its black hair is curly, and it's emitting golden light from where its hair comes out.

And then it talks to me in my head by telepathy: "My husband. What are you doing in my private quarters? And armed with a weapon too. Who do you plan on killing? I certainly hope it's not me, because I might retaliate and hurt my favorite man."

"Why have you been killing people? And what is this red liquid?"

"Yes, I was the one interfering with their heart beats and causing them to die of heart attacks, and this red liquid is the souls of the deceased, churned into juice that I can drink, of course. Letting their souls stay in their dead bodies, or their souls leaving their bodies and going to heavenly abodes or hell realms, or their souls becoming aimless ghosts, or their souls reincarnating, rather, as opposed to all of that, I eat their delicious souls, sending their very selves into oblivion."

"I can't let you live after what you've done. But first tell me what's your name."

"When I crawled into your room at night. I fell in love with you because I can read your mind and found you to have the most beautiful soul, whatwith the way you experience existence and how you see things in ways that others do not. My name in your language would be Shining Constellation Queen."

"So, are you ready to make our play?"

"I know you're serious about actually killing me."

I throw my spear, but Shining jumps, dodging it and landing on the ceiling. She begins running towards me. I jump down the square hole, falling into room 117. I run down the hallway while Shining's in hot pursuit. As I reach the main lounge, I see that it's flooded, and there's people running upstairs in dismay. Ocean waves cause boats to slam against the thin glass wall and it's instantly shattered into thousands of pieces. I jump down into the water, and swim through the glass, which cuts me up. I swim into the ocean to escape Shining, despite the enormous crashing waves. I swim to the southern side of the hotel, where my boat is tied up. I get to the boat and untie it, then jump in it. I begin rowing north into the marshlands where the ocean's crashing waves aren't so harsh. I'm still being pushed around by the storm.

I row for several hours amidst treacherous weather, until the weather calms down, then I dock my rowboat on the hill where the grand live oak tree is. The storm passes by, and the sun begins to shine. I lay down up against the oak tree, like I did so many days before, and I fall asleep.

I wake up, and it's the middle of the night. The stars are ablazing in the sky. I point at the brightest star, and ask, "Will you adopt me?"

"Yes." Says a voice.

I leap up, and see an old man with glowing, twinkling red eyes.

The old man continues: "Your fame resounds throughout the different plains of existence - the demon world, the world of aliens, and others. Pure of birth, born from a lotus flower, you do not have defiled senses like those of a person born from a woman's womb. I'm willing to take you as my son-in-law."

"Then take me to your spacely abode, father."

A vortex opens up, and I'm pulled in. My vision goes blurry, and then I begin to see again, and I'm in a palace made of Lapis Lazuli. There I see my new father, seated on a throne of fused black opals. I ask him, "Father, what's your name?"

"Gogora is my name. Successfully hunt a celestial buck and bring it to me, and I will bestow upon you a mighty bow; but never pull up one of the turnips in the garden, for that is forbidden for you."

"Consider it done, father." I say, as I walk out the palace's large double door, which is made of sandalwood.

All the plants here are made of flexible crystal, that's blue and semi-transparent. The plant life is mostly beech trees and saw palmettos. I find my way through the woods to a basin, that's about 30-feet deep, and I lay down in the palmettos at the top edge, with my arrow nocked, ready to fire at any big-antlered celestial deer that comes to take a drink at the bottom of the basin. Then I hear ashaking, as if some mighty beasts were treading the ground. Out of the palmettos on the opposite side, comes out two bears, each one three times the size of a grizzly bear, and white in color, and they're walking bipedally.

"I smell osage orange. Some cowardly hunter hiding in the palmettos is trying to heart-shot us." One says to the other.

Then the other says, "Let him try, for we have no hearts in our bodies, and cannot be killed."

I drop my bow, and run for my life! I can hear them in hot pursuit, but they're too stupid to run on all fours, as they're running slowly, bipedally. In front of me I see a castle, and I run inside. I see a great, big treasure chest and decide to hide inside, but when I open the lid, I see that I'm looking down at a lake with a swan swimming about it. I jump head first into the treasure chest, and fall 10-feet deep into the lake. I swim to the surface and to a small island in the middle, and this island is a circle about 16-feet around. On the middle of the island is a bald cypress tree. The swan swims to me, and opens up its wing, and pinned to each wing is a tiny heart.

I say, "Thank you." And I rip the hearts from the undersides of the swan's wings.

Then the two bears jump down into the water and begin swimming towards me. I call out, "Nah nah nah nah nah, I have your hearts!"

"Nooo!" The bears cry out.

I squeeze one heart, and the bear on the left drops dead and sinks into the water. I squeeze the other heart, and the bear on the right drops dead and sinks into the water.

I swim to a ladder which apparently goes up to the treasure chest. Had I known about this I would've just climbed down! I climb up the ladder and head back to the palace, holding the two squished bear hearts in my right hand.

I walk into the palace, and see father sitting on his thrown, and I say to him, "Father, I've vanquished two mighty magicians, albeit by luck. I hope this is better than having killed a celestial deer." I hand him the two bears' hearts.

His face takes on a surprised look, and he says, "You've exceeded my expectations, son. Now here I will give you a bow of flexible crystal, made from the finest local trees. Whenever you want an arrow, just touch the golden string, and reel your right hand back, and a lightning arrow will form in your right hand, and when you fire it from the bow, it will decimate any foe. This bow is only 3-feet long, and in a Hupa design."

I walk outside. I see the turnip patch, and pull one out of the ground, and what I see is this: my rowboat! I dig up the ground until it's a wide enough hole for me to fit through. I drop a grass blade and it falls slowly down through the sky. So I jump down and fall slowly until I touch the ground.

Then, the old man, my father-in-law, appears, and says, "Now we part ways. Do good in the world, as I will be watching you from my spacely abode." And then he vanishes in a cloud of dust.

CHAPTER 3: 15 YEARS LATER.

I'm 5 years old. Me and my best friend, a girl neighbor, are playing amidst a grove of oak trees, in the morning fog by a river, and here is a massive abandoned Gothic building. All I remember is seeing a dark object, then I ran home. I assumed my friend was running home with me, but she never came to her home. There was a big search that lasted for weeks, but nothing of her was ever found.

15 years later, I live with that best friend's parents, as my mother passed away and my father married my best friend's single mother. Nobody ever believed my story of seeing a strange, dark object, in the shape of a being, and sometimes suspicions were glanced in my direction. We live in a two-storied house. Upstairs is my younger brother-in-law Tomogawa's room, it has shelves full of books that he wrote, and he's not the type to believe in the superficial explanations given by scientific nonsense, but instead truely has a knack for understanding the mysteries of the universe. My in-law family is rich, and we live in a big house that's surrounded by a stone wall 7-feet high. The entire 360-degrees around the house is a garden.

I'm 6'2, and 220 pounds, and light-skinned. My parents gave me the strange name, "Freedom." I wake up. I get out of bed, put on beige cotton cargo pants, a cotton plain white T-shirt, and my leather moccasins. In my room, I always have an oscillating fan running, because I love the white noise and how it lulls you to sleep and drowns out annoying noises. I grab my lighter and cigarettes and put them in my pocket. I feel like going out to the spot where my childhood friend disappeared. I run down the stairs, out the front door, then begin singing my favorite song, which goes like this:

"In the universe of uncertainty
Is there someone good looking out for me?
All day
All night
Inside
Outside
Take care of me
For life
Standby
Answer my cry
Don't leave me alone."

After finishing my song, I'm at the oak grove, and it's a foggy morning just like that day. My hair stands on end. Everything is an eerie quiet. The sky is cloudy. Beyond the oaks, I see the Gothic masterpiece. I walk inside, and in every nook and cranny there's a huntsman spider. This place was never a church, rather it was a college for painters, sculptors, and architects. It's starting to rain outside, and not wanting to get wet, I decide to hang out in the main chamber, which is 144-feet tall. I light up a cigarette and begin smoking. I don't even know what I'm hoping to accomplish by being here.

Then I hear the sound of scraping metal, and I look down to the far end of the chamber, and I see a black mass darker than any shadow, and it's growing. Waves of darkness begin flooding towards me, and I walk against them. The shadows all around morph into ugly and frightening faces, and they're laughing at me.

I say, "What are you?!"

I see a burst of lightning that strikes the black mass, and this lightning crackles the loudest thunder, all the while the black mass explodes into goo that covers the walls.

"Hold hard! I'm here to save you!" Calls out a voice from far behind.

I turn around, and see a thin man, much shorter than myself. He has brown wavy hair that reaches to his pectoral muscles, and he has a black beard. He has long fingernails. He's dressed in white pants, and a plain white T-shirt. He's wearing moccasins like me. In his left hand he's holding a blue, clear bow made out of what appears to be flexible crystal, with a string of the woven fibers of gold.

I say, "You probably just saved my life, and for that you have my thanks."

""Probably?", that ushala was about to take form and kill you, but don't worry about it. Follow me to my horse, Midnight Racer, and he'll take you back to your house."

"What's an "ushala?""

"It's a being from another plain of existence. They have four legs, and five digits on each foot. They have the body and head of a dragon, but their snout is like that of a pig. They're all black. They're metallic, which makes them almost impervious to any attacks. We were lucky to catch it trying to cross into our plain of existence, when it's easy to kill it."

"What was that bolt of lightning?"

"That was my arrow."

"Are you some kind of super wizard?"

"No. The bow was given to me by a star."

"How do you know where my house is?"

"I know everything."

"I bet you don't know half as much as my younger brother-in-law."

"We'll see about that once we get there."

We both hop on Midnight Racer, and begin heading home.

"My name's Freedom. What's yours?"

"Don't have one."

"You mean to say that your parents never gave you a name? Or were you an orphan?"

"No. I was born from a lotus flower."

"I'll call you Zogzor."

"Why?"

"Because it sounds like the name of a wizard."

"What do I have in common with wizards?"

"It fits you, because of your magic bow."

"Have it your way. I'm Zogzor."

We arrive at my house, and my parents left a letter on the dining table, saying that they went to the shopping district for dinner.

"Now I can contend with your brother", says Zogzor.

We walk upstairs, and knock on my younger brother's door. He opens the door, and Zogzor doesn't look impressed with the young boy who has small round glasses.

"This is my friend Zogzor," I say, "he wants to test your knowledge in some way."

"Only if he takes me out to pizza if I win."

"Yeah, sure." Scoffs Zogzor, who laughs.

"What makes a good hunter?" Zogzor asks Tomogawa.

"To have long hair and long fingernails."

"Now what defiles a bow?"

"When a woman touches it."

"What causes an arrow to fly wrong?"

"When a child steps over the bow while it's laying on the ground before the hunt."

Then Tomogawa asks Zogzor, "What makes an arrow fly straight?"

Zogzor asks, "What does?"

"To have red and green stripes on its shaft."

Zogzor looks aghast, being utterly defeated by a child.

"You owe me a pizza."

"That I do, but that's for another day. Today I'm going hunting."

"When are you going hunting? And what are you hunting?" I ask Zogzor.

"I'm hunting at midnight of course, where do you think my horse got its name from? And, I'm hunting the ushala who abducted your childhood friend."

My eyes stare in wonder, "Is she still alive?" I ask.

"If so, then bound in torment in a another plain of existence."

"That's too horrible to believe."

"But most likely true." Says Tomogawa, before Zogzor gets to reply.

Zogzor asks me, "Can I wash my clothes and get a shower here? And you should tell your parents that I'm your friend, once they get back."

"Yes. Feel free to use the washer and dryer, and the shower."

Zogzor goes into the bathroom, then comes out wearing just a towel. I can tell by looking at his physique that he's no muscle-man, rather his muscles are overworked and strong from much use and abuse. He's got powerful, blood-filled hands. He goes and puts his pants and T-shirt in the washing machine, then goes back into the bathroom to get a shower. I hear the front door open, and my parents walk in, and I say to them, "I'm having a friend stay over tonight. He's going to sleep in the attic."

"Attic?" My dad says, "Have him sleep on the couch."

"Oh that makes more sense."

"Who's your friend?"

I can't tell my dad that I just met this random, nameless guy who was born from a lotus flower and shoots lightning from a bow, and saved my life, so I lie, "I've known him for awhile. He likes to go hunting."

"What's his name?"

"We like to call him "Zogzor.""

"Okay. Just keep an eye on your friend, because I've never heard of this fellow."

"He's in the shower. He'll be out soon."

"Sure. Whatever." Says my dad, as he and mom walk upstairs to their bedroom.

Zogzor walks out of the bathroom, in just a towel, and says to me, "As soon as my clothes are dried, we're going to find that ushala that abducted your friend, and we're going to kill it, but I warn you: we're going to travel into their plain of existence, and that is a perilous journey."

"I won't back down from this."

"Good, but I'll be the one doing the fighting."

Time goes by. I spend it smoking cigarettes and reading harem manga.

It's now midnight. Zogzor walks into the room in full dress, holding his crystal bow in his left hand. He says, "We're going to mount Midnight Racer, and head some ways into the forest, and you'll see what happens from thereon out."

We walk outside, and Zogzor begins a high whistle, and out of the brush comes Midnight Racer. We both jump on Midnight Racer, and he runs as fast as the Commonwealth Bay winds. Zogzor's long hair blows in the wind. Finally we see something strange, and it is this: a staircase in the middle of the woods. Zogzor pulls on Midnight Racer's bridle, and dismounts. I get off too.

"Now we've reached the point where we can say we're on the warpath. When we walk up that flight of stairs, we'll be entering the domain of aliens and ushalas, and the human afterlife."

Me and Zogzor slowly walk up the stairs, and then there's a feeling like being pulled into a vortex, and then I see the most horrific sight in my life: in front of us, on a big hill, is an oak tree, but not a normal one, as this one's blue-ish grey and clear, and it's made of the anguished faces of the deceased, and this tree twists and writhes in agony.

"Help us." Ghostly voices wail.

I look up at the sky, and see a triangular spaceship sitting stationary.

"They know you're here, but they don't know that I'm here, as I've prepared myself against the telepathy of demons and aliens." Says Zogzor.

He reels his right hand back, and an arrow made of solidified lightning forms in his right hand, then he nocks it on the string, and he puts the arrow on the left side of the bow. He runs out, shoots the arrow, and the spaceship explodes into a great ball of fire.

"Damn mosquitos gettin' big these days." Says Zogzor.

"You didn't say we were fighting aliens! What if their allies show up?!"

"They stood me up for a wedding, and I still hold a grudge."

"I don't even need to know your backstory. Killing people is fucked up."

"Violence is the only way in life. Now let's find your friend before the ushala finds us."

We walk up to the ghastly oak, and all the faces look at us in despair.

"What's your friend's name?" Asks Zogzor.

"Her name is Akida."

"Is Akida here?" Zogzor asks the tree.

But a dozen female faces say, "I'm Akida."

Zogzor looks dismayed, and says, "This is futile. How can we ever tell which one is her?"

I look at them, and recognize Akida's face, and point to it, and say, "This one's her!"

"Step back. The souls are indestructible, but this tree is not. I'm going to shoot it with my bow and release all of these souls."

Zogzor pulls his golden string back, and releases a lightning arrow, that explodes the entire tree, and ghostly beings begin flying all around us.

The ghosts cry out, "Who is our savior? It is Lord Zogzor!"

Akida, still trasparent and blue-ish grey, walks up and hugs me.

"I never knew you'd come to save me." She says.

"We have Zogzor to thank for that." I say.

"You don't have to thank me, I already have a girlfriend." Zogzor says haughtily.

"I NEVER thought about thanking you in THAT way."

Zogzor says, "Let's get out of this plain of existence, before the aliens' friends show up."

We head down the flight of stairs, and we're back at the forest, where Midnight Racer is waiting for us, but there's one problem: standing on a hill is a black shape in the form of a human, about 7-feet tall.

"A human-shaped ushala. Now there's something I've never seen." Remarks Zogzor.

The ushala runs at superspeed, right into Zogzor, and Zogzor's bow flies out of his hands. The ushala grabs Zogzor by the hair, and throws him against a boulder, where Zogzor's head starts bleeding profusely. Zogzor throws wild punches which the ushala dodges every time. Finally they grasp hands, and Zogzor throws the ushala on the ground. Such savage strength! Zogzor pulls out a knife from his right pocket, and grabs the ushala from behind, and slits its throat.

Zogzor quickly stands up, and says, "Now I've defeated many foes, and this was easier than fighting myself. Now that the ushala is dead, mount Midnight Racer, head to your home, and bring your younger brother so we can all get pizza."

And so we went, and Zogzor spent his fine silver coins on much pizza, and we ate in a side store of a shopping mall, but then there came the day when Zogzor was to leave us. He leads us to the oak grove, where fog always hangs, and down to the river bank, where there is a large cedar rowboat. Zogzor bids us farewell, with these parting words: "There is no one greater than I. I've rid you of your worries, and you can live in peace. I'm no longer in need of Midnight Racer, to whom I give to Freedom. Just whistle the highest tone you can and he will be summoned to you. I bid you farewell." And off he rowed away, and knowing this fool, he's probably headed towards more reckless adventures.