Nine Swords

Carroll sat laid out across the backseat of an old white Jeep Cherokee in the middle of darkened parking deck. Carroll’s Jeep was one of a few vehicles on the third level; parked in the corner Carroll had a clear view of everything from behind his tinted windows. The Tokyo skyline twinkled outside the view of the parking deck’s window brightening up the outer edges of the dimly lit complex. Within Carroll’s jeep Carroll was kicked back across the back seat with his sword laid across his lap, a sharpening stone in his hand as Carroll finely sharpened his blade.

Carroll had been losing track of time as the night went on with only the sound of the stone on his blade to break the silence of cold night. Carroll sat with his head propped against the door; his eyes were growing heavy as he began to drift off to sleep. Before Carroll slipped off he reached into his jackets inner pocket and pulled out a small leather bound book….

Carroll’s mind flashed back to the day when his world changed, the day when he learned of the secret world….


Carroll remembers the small farm he grew up on, the animals they raised, the pond he fished at, the woods he hunted in, and the old house down the road from the Carroll’s farm. Carroll had always heard stories that the original owners of the old house had disappeared without a trace, with only rumors and whispers of what happened to them. It was a cloudy day when Carroll, his lil brother, and their dog were out in the woods hunting on the corner of their family’s property. A light rain was beginning to trickle down through the trees. They were about to head back to the house when a limb fell from the top of a large tree near them. Carroll leapt to tackle his brother out of the way as the limb landed hard into the spot where they were standing. Carroll looked up as his dog let out a squeal; Carroll watched the frightened animal run and disappeared in to the woods. Carroll and his brother picked themselves up off the ground and began chasing the dog through woods. As the rain began to fall harder the dog ran up to the old houses porch slipping within a hole in the backdoor. Carroll and his lil brother came up on the porch just as the rain began to fall its hardest, Carroll kicked the door in and the pair quickly scurried in.

The inside of the old house showed obvious signs of abandonment, the old chairs and tables were covered in a thick layer of dust and mold. Carroll ran his hand along the shelves picking up one of the cracked picture frames, putting it down as he heard the dog’s whimper coming from down beyond the basement stairs. Carroll looked over at his brother “Stay up here” he said as he pulled out his cell phone using its brightened screen to light the way. Carroll carefully descended down the creaky old steps into the dimly lit basement. With each step the darkness seemed to become more menacing, more deafening, as if reaching out to pull him in. Carroll began to lose his bearings when dizziness fell upon him as his foot lost hold of the next step sending him skidding down to the hard basement floor. “Are you alright?” came a frightened voice from the door above “Yeah just peachy…” Carroll mumbled back “Just down here chilling with the Bogeyman” “That’s not funny” his lil brother shouted down to him as he collected his bearings, rising to his feet Carroll heard the dog’s low growling in the corner of the room. Carroll picked up his phone/flashlight and continued his search for the dog. The old basement was full of clutter, different things from different eras; old decayed books, broken metal toys, cracked lamps, busted furniture, and other random junk.

The dog was kneeled low to the floor letting out a low growl, every hair on his back stood straight up, every one of his razor teeth glistened in the dim light. Never before could Carroll remember seeing the dog quite like this, nothing could ever get the lazy thing worked into such a frenzy. The dog was growling at what appeared to be an old table in the basement’s corner. Within the dim light Carroll saw what appeared to be a few old burnt out candles, the decayed remains of a shrunken head, some old bones, and in the center a lil old urn. Carroll eyed a few of the things before quickly turning around to retrieve the dog, as Carroll turned around with the phone in his hand its light illuminated the world behind him revealing the face of a small pale horrid ghost like creature.

“Ahhhh” Carroll screamed throwing his phone into the creature as he backed up crashing into the table spilling its former contents onto the basements hard stone floor. “ow” the creature replied rubbings its eye where the phone made contact “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE?” Carroll yelled realizing the creature’s identity “I got scared…” his lil brother mumbled “yeah alright I think that’s enough playtime down here” Carroll said picking himself up from the floor once again “Let’s go” as the three made their way back to the basement steps. His lil brother and their dog raced up the stairs ahead of Carroll. Before leaving the basement Carroll looked back he could not tell if it was the darkness playing tricks on him or if he did see something darker than the night crawl from where the lil old urn had fallen. The rain was pouring as the trio rushed back to the comfort of home “So do we really like this dog or have we done enough for it?” Carroll said as they continued on in silence…

A few weeks passed as the strange events began to happen. First it started with the fire that destroyed the old house only a few days after Carroll and His brother chased the dog through it. A week or so after the neighborhood was flooded with flyers reporting missing animals, everything from small cats to large cattle, none of them ever turned up. Carroll never knew how it happened or what all came to pass, all he remembered was waking up to the blaring sound of smoke detectors. Carroll jumped out of bed smoke billowing into the room as he opened his door. His brother’s room was across from his, pushing the door open Carroll pulled his lil brother from the bed onto his feet. Carroll followed his lil brother down stairs to his parent’s room only to find their beds empty. Figuring they were already outside and with fire at every exit Carroll took his lil brother down to the panic room. The fire was spreading as the house went up in flames. Carroll was opening up the panic room door when he heard his brother slip to the floor behind him. Carroll turning to pick up his lil brother saw through the flames the silhouette of a hulking black shadowy figure of death itself wielding a sickly blade as dark as the creature itself. As Carroll hesitated staring at the monster the flames laid their final claim to the families’ home and with a roaring explosion Carroll was sent flying back against the hard wall of the panic room. Carroll watched as the massive shadow creature disappeared into the fire before the panic room door sealed shut. Blood stained the wall where Carroll’s head hit in the blast, before Carroll blacked out he heard over the roaring flames engulfing his home and the melting smoke detectors dying beeps Carroll heard a sickening scream… before the blackness took him….


Carroll awoke with the screams filling in his head as he stretched out in the back of his Jeep, his lil booklet still in his hand. Letting out a yawn Carroll realized the screaming wasn’t just in his head as he heard a women’s cry for help echoing in the parking garage complex. “Time for fun” Carroll muttered grabbing his sword springing from the door Carroll ran to the nearby stairs. Carroll left the third floor following the stairway down to the second floor where the screaming originated. Carroll entered the second floor of the parking deck where a group of five figures were huddled around the trembling body of a young Japanese girl. The frightened child sat bunched in a corner as the figures closed in on the poor girl. Carroll walked into the parking deck; channeling the chaos magic within him Carroll hit the demented creatures with a blast that sent them scattering. Like a flash the five figures were back on his feet moving in to attack the new comer. With his blade in hand and the chaos magic flowing though him, Carroll charged the creatures.

Carroll struck down the first one before spinning sliced the second one, Carroll hit one with a full powered blast of chaos magic in its chest before throwing his Kris dagger into the fourth ones skull. The final one stood at the back, fangs glistening with hints of red, its pale skin showing no signs of life, as it’s razor sharp claws reflected the moon light; while Carroll stood poised for the attack with sword drawn and his tattoos glowing from the magic’s flowing through his body. Carroll and the creature began running toward one another, Carroll sent a blast of magic slamming into the creature sending dust and smoke flying. As the dust settled Carroll was walking toward the girl in corner cleaning the blood off his blades, the child hid its eyes once again as Carroll drew closer. Carroll knelt down in front of the little girl, as she looked up and they locked eyes Carroll waived his hand over her eyes casting a spell upon her he put her in a deep sleep. Picking the child up Carroll headed back to his Jeep ready to leave this place behind…

Later on at the hotel after dropping the sleeping child off at Tokyo’s Police Station Carroll settled down in his bed with a bottle of brandy and his laptop, jotting down the information from the cities latest attack in his logs. Carroll sat there looking at the computer screen before laying his head back closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep. As sleep took hold of Carroll the days events kept running through his head, Carroll mumbled “There’s always more….” before nodding off…

Carroll sat on the side of a bus stop on a busy Tokyo street; people were walking up and down the sidewalk with cars buzzing by. “Sitting down and I’m still taller than most these people” Carroll muttered picking up a nearby paper. The newspaper Carroll was reading showed the girl found outside the police station the night before was pictured on page three. The police were asking for help in locating the poor girl’s family or any information about them. Luckily Carroll was already ahead of them; across the street from where Carroll sat was a small orphanage. Carroll had tracked the girl from the night before as well as the girls from the previous attacks to girls who were just recently adopted from the orphanage. Every time one of the girls was adopted a large sum was deposited into the orphanage’s account “Always follow the money…” Carroll muttered looking at the numbers dancing across his laptop screen.

Before long Carroll watched the orphanage’s head mistress come walking out with another figure carrying a small briefcase, both figures walked silently side by side. Carroll rose up slipping into the shadows he silently followed the pair…..

The pair entered the head mistress’s house a few blocks from the orphanage, locking the doors and sealing the curtains behind them the two disappeared inside. Carroll snuck around to the back of the house, using his set of locks picks he quickly made his way into the back door. Carroll drew blade his blade as he walked through the house’s hallways, searching for the pair. The rooms were dark without a trace of light. Most of the windows had been boarded up from the inside making this house that looked like a normal house on the block into a darkened and lightless den. Carroll clung to the shadows checking every room as he passed until the sound of classical music coming from up the stairs filled his ears. Sneaking up the stairs at the top there was a small bedroom room let only by a few candles with clutter covering the wall and shelves. The room was empty of anything interesting except for the small briefcase the figure with the head mistress was carrying. Carroll walked over to pick it up, examining the locking method on it Carroll felt a small tingle run through him “Damn” he muttered spinning around with blade in hand to face the two unwelcomed guests.
The orphanage’s head mistress and her companion were standing in the doorway with fangs glistening and claws at the ready. “I’m sorry I was looking for the bathroom, think you could point the way” Carroll asked politely as the two growled in response. Both the figures jumped into the room ready to maul Carroll, “I’ll take that as a no” Carroll said as he fired off a blast of magic at the pair. Carroll hit the companion directly in the chest knocking him back into the hallway while the head mistress dodged the blow to tackle Carroll to the floor. Carroll lost his grip on his blade as the two rolled across the room slamming into the table knocking over a few of the candles.
The two leapt to their feet, the head mistress growled as Carroll drew his Kris dagger in one hand while channeling energy into his other while the flames slowly started to spread. The head mistress jumped toward Carroll with claws ready to strike, Carroll stepped to the side catching the head mistress in the gut with his dagger slinging her into the flames beginning to swallow the walls. Carroll looked up to hear the sound of the head mistress’s companion running down the stairs making a break for it. Carroll picked up his sword and the small briefcase to begin the chase…

Carroll reached the bottom of the steps as the back door slammed open with the sound of steps disappearing down into the alley. Carroll crashed through the back door in time to watch the dark figure spin around with a pistol in hand, Carroll hid behind a dumpster until the barrage of bullets. The sound of the empty clip clicking filled the darkened alleyway, Carroll jumped from his hiding spot letting loose a blast of magic energy. The blast grazed the figure as it disappeared down another side alley with Carroll closing in. The pair ran through the different back alleyways of Tokyo, exchanging bullets and magic back and forth. The path they took was left scared and burned from their fast paced battle. Carroll watched the figure round a corner before vanishing, Carroll sped up determined to not let it escape. Rounding the corner Carroll came face to face to the figure and the barrel of its gun.
Carroll took note of the creatures black trench coat, black rain hat, the Glock pointed at Carroll’s face, and the wicked lil smile it now wore. Carroll dashed to the side in time in time to hear the first bullet buzz by his ear; before the second one could be fired Carroll hit the figure with a blast of chaos magic to the chest sending him down the alleyway. Before Carroll could close in to finish the kill the creature rose back up firing shots, the wounded creature scrambled down alleyway. Carroll running after began hearing the sound of voices and cars honking. Carroll was almost blinded as he turned the corner coming out into a busy street filled with people. Looking down Carroll picked up a black trench coat and hat, throwing them in the dumpster nearby Carroll tucked his blade away in its sheath he walked out to join the crowds as fire trucks whizzed by…..

Later on Carroll sat in his hotel room on the bed with the small briefcase in lap. After a few hours with a lock pick Carroll smiled as he heard the locks click open. Within was a few bank statements, a small bag of cash, some office clutter, and a PDA. Carroll pulled the PDA out of the briefcase, logging it up he began to play around on it. Carroll brought up the former owners account information including information such as his name, his email, and Carroll’s eyes narrowed as the screen showed his address. Carroll pulled up the address leading him to a warehouse near where the cities attacks have been happening. Carroll leaned back enjoying his new cash and PDA before falling off asleep, ready for tomorrow's hunt…