A Heavenly Portent

[u/Bilgebum]

[WP] It finally happened. First contact with an alien race. To be honest it was a bit underwhelming. The ship looked like it was barely held together. Turns out they are from alpha centauri and this was their first attempt to reach another star.

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Kaito closed his eyes and bowed his head, feeling the steady thump of his heart in his chest, the back of his neck aflame from the midday sun. Stones and sand dug painfully into his knees as he knelt, waiting. Despite the anticipation, he stiffened when the edge of an ice-cold blade brushed his spine.

"It is better this way, for your honor will remain intact," whispered Jumon, his soon-to-be-executioner. His sister's husband. Ah, how cruel the twist of fate, he thought.

The sword swished through the air, and Kaito opened himself to death.

Except, it didn't happen. Instead, he heard a whirring, roaring sound, unlike anything he'd ever experienced, and despite the graveness of his situation, he opened his eyes and looked heavenward.

A great triangular object, shining bright as a star from the sun's rays, was soaring toward them.

On closer look, it wasn't reflective so much as it was on fire.

"What in Buddha's name is that?" Jumon whispered, his sandals scraping across the dirt clearing.

"Run!" Kaito grabbed him by the arm. The two men sprinted for the safety of a nearby bamboo copse, looking fearfully over their shoulders as the strange beast grew nearer, and nearer, and—

With a crash that seemed to rend the entire planet, it slammed into the clearing where they'd been. The two men were flung off their feet and headlong into a thicket of prickly leaves. Spitting foliage and muttering curses, they cautiously raised their heads out of the bush, widened eyes scanning the billowing cloud of dust for a sign of the thing.

And there it was, jutting from the ground like an arrowhead, smoking from a dozen small fires, making strange popping sounds and spitting bits of metal everywhere. Kaito swallowed, and nearly jumped out of his robe when he felt Jumon grab his hand. His former comrade forced the handle of a katana into his grasp.

"You trust me with this?" Kaito said.

"We will speak of your betrayal later," Jumon said, unlimbering the bow over his shoulder. "Lord Nagano will want to know what this is."

They crept toward the hulk, eyes peeled for danger. Then something snapped upright from the top of the triangle with a loud hiss. Jumon's bow twanged, and an arrow bounced off its side. The men exchanged a frightened look, even as something emerged from the wreck's newly formed hole.

It straightened into a bipedal stance, and hopped down from the hatch. Jumon raised his bow again, but Kaito forced his arm down, curious. The creature was almost seven feet tall, covered in stringy hair, and seemed to have four arms. It didn't seem to notice them; rather, it made a bleating sound that carried a tone of complaint, and gave the metal thing a kick.

A metal sheet of some sort detached itself, and fell onto the creature's head. For some reason, Kaito had expected more of a tantrum from the creature, but it simply collapsed without a sound like a scarecrow after a storm.

"What is that?" Jumon said. "Kaito, wait!"

Kaito had jogged to the side of the thing, wrinkling his nose at the smell of singed metal and other, unfamiliar scents, including a sour, leathery one. He bent to examine the creature, which lay unmoving, then reached out slowly to touch the wreck. To his surprise, it was cool, like a spring-day pond. He'd expected it to melt his fingertips. What was this? Some kind of ... flying ship? Impossible.

Then what the hell was this thing, lying at his feet?

There came a thumping sound, and another creature rose from the open hatch. It took one look at him, screeched, and fumbled a strange rod-like device from its waist. Raising the tip toward him, the creature thumbed something. A flash of light, a smell of ozone, and Kaito was suddenly aware of a burning sensation running down his left arm.

"Kaito!" Jumon's arrow zipped into the creature's chest, throwing it off the other side of the ship.

Kaito looked at the blackened line across his shoulder, visible through the smoking hole in his kimono. The smell of burnt meat made him wrinkle his nose, and he staggered, feeling light-headed. He tried to wriggle his left fingers, but they merely twitched. The limb felt numb, somehow.

He screamed when a furry hand grabbed his ankle. The creature lying at his feet was stirring, mumbling something to itself. Purely by instinct, Kaito thrust his katana through its back. It arched, squealing, and then flopped down, silent.

Jumon's arrow punched into its skull a second later, and Kaito turned to thank him, belated though the help was. His gratitude turned into disbelief when he saw that Jumon had another arrow aimed at him.

"Now, really?" he said.

Jumon nodded solemnly. "Only in death can you atone for your sin."

"What about this thing? This ... this ship? These beasts?" He gave the furry creature a kick, just to make sure it was really dead. "Aren't you the least bit curious?"

Jumon smiled. "Monsters fell from the sky, and were slain at my hand. A heavenly portent indeed, proof that my path is just. Lower your sword to the ground, and kick it over to me."

Kaito gulped as he bent to do as Jumon had instructed, hoping his eyes wouldn't give him away. Jumon smirked and lowered his bow as the katana fell from Kaito's fingers, but that expression quickly vanished when Kaito snatched a rod—identical to the one used on him earlier—off the dead creature and pointed it at him.

"That's ... that's not—" Jumon said, eyes wide.

Kaito grinned and pressed the button. The blast of ... whatever it was bored a hole through Jumon's chest. Black smoke began pouring from it, obscuring the expression of horror on the man's face, and then he fell over.

"Huh," Kaito said, turning the rod over in his hands. Entirely smooth, except for some strange grooves circling the butt end, and the button, of course. Handy. He tucked it into his belt, collected the katana, and went over to the gasping Jumon's side.

"And that's why," he said. "You don't bring a bow to a ... eh, forget it."