An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) (16 page)

“But I can promise that, even if the worse should come to pass, those responsible get to look forward to a brutal killing in their future.” I reply and
Mrs. Wright starts sobbing into her hands.

“Wait, I mean the perpetrators being brutally killed by me
! Them looking forward to it was sarcasm!” I exclaim.

“Cole… stop talking.” Cheza says
while slowly shaking her head.

I get down on my knees in front of Mrs. Wright, take both of her hands, and gently pull them away from her face.

“Linda, listen… the last person I lost on a kidnapping was my daughter… I don’t want to see you and your husband go through what I had to, so I promise that I will do everything I can to rescue Ryuji.” I gently tell her.

“And that’s saying a lot from someone who ca
n kill gods.” Cheza intercedes.

“Have you really killed gods?” Mrs. Wright asks
.

“Yeah, I killed Venus three days ago
for killing my sister.” I reply with a straight face.

“See? Ryuji i
s going to be fine! Despite Cole being a bit of an idiot sometimes, he can bring Ryuji back if anyone can.” Naia reassures her.

“
I can’t find the address so I’ll just give you guys a ride there.” Mr. Wright says as he walks back into the living room.

Naia mumbles something as
Cheza, Naia, and I follow Mr. Wright to the door; I look back at her and see that her wings and tail are gone, but her aura still follows the outline where they should be. We follow Mr. Wright out to the driveway, where we all pile into his Subaru Outback… Can this man get anymore generically white? It takes about thirty minutes of slightly awkward silence until we reach the part of Chinatown that Ryuji’s master is located in.

“Here we are. Li
Zhang owns that building with the red door.” Mr. Wright informs us as he points across the street.

“Thank you for the ride.” I tell him as I exit the car.

“No, thank you, Cole.” He replies and drives away.

Naia, Cheza, and I cross the street to the unmarked building and knock on the
red metal door. A slot in the door opens up and angry almond shaped eyes look at us.

“Hi, we’re here to
see Zhang Li.” I say, unsure if Li is the first name or the last name, because it can be either, but I know that the majority of Asian cultures address names by last name first. Since Mr. Wright said Li Zhang, I decide that Zhang is probably the last name.

A man’s voice speak
s back in Chinese, not sure if it’s Cantonese or Mandarin… What? Just because I speak awful Japanese, I’m supposed to be able to differentiate between Cantonese and Mandarin? Most people aren’t even aware that there is more than one kind of Chinese! Realistically, I’m not positive this guy is speaking any kind of Chinese! I just know that he’s not speaking Japanese and that he might know English.

“We owe Zhang Li money.” I reply and the slot slams shut.

“Nice going, Cole.” Cheza says.

“I got it.”
I tell her.

I start
moving my bandage on my left hand aside before several locks click. The red metal door swings open and we’re led down a set of stairs by an Asian man, who is about five inches shorter than I and wearing all black clothing with a bright red tie that matches the color of the door. We follow him through a concrete room that contains half of a dozen tables lined with green felt, and I come to the realization that this is an underground mahjong den. At the back of the room is another metal door, behind which is a staircase.

The man leads us up the stairs and into an office, where a beautiful Chinese woman in her early forties is lounging on a wood and silk couch while wearing a red and gold ‘china dress’. I say early forties, but I’m not really sure, and not just because she’s a dragon that possibly has an extended lifespan. I’ve noticed that a lot of Asian women are timeless until they hit sixty; for example, I always thought my Japanese teacher
in high school was in her late twenties or early thirties until I found out that she had a daughter that was at least five years older than me. The woman shouts at the man upon seeing us and the two large men in the room pull guns from hip holsters.

“So you must be Ryuji’s master, Li. Do you mind if I refer to you by your first name?” I ask
over her shouting as Cheza starts to get a little frosty.

“And
who might you be?” Li asks with a light accent.

“
I’m known by several names, but probably the most well-known name is Feros.” I reply.

“You are the third man to come into my abode claiming to be Feros.” Li replies and I engage my silver helmet.

“This is always a good test since the silver helmet isn’t something that can be replicated.” I say with my modulated voice before disengaging the helmet.

“For what purpose are you here?” Li asks.

“For information. Your pupil, or at least acquaintance, and our friend, Ryuji, has been kidnapped. The perpetrators were most likely dragons, consider that the spells of a powerful jinni had no effect on them.” I reply.

“Ryuji has been taken!?” Li asks in an alarmed fashion.

“Four armed men with ski masks took him from his home in Seattle earlier today.” I inform her.

“I was afraid this day would come to pass… Ryuji was most likely taken by the
Longwang, the Dragon Kings, because of a prophecy.” Li says and I try not to snicker at ‘Longwang’.

“What prophecy?” I ask.

“A prophecy that was made nearly thirty years ago. It claimed that ‘the black one will bring about the destruction of the Longwang and usher in a new era.’ This prompted the other three Longwang to kill the black Dragon King of the north, as well as any black dragons that lived and have been born since. The Longwang gave orders to all dragons that any black dragons are to be brought to them.” Li explains and a small chuckle slips out of my mouth.

“And Ryuji is a black dragon, I’m guessing?” Cheza asks.

“That is correct.” Li answers.

“Why didn’t you turn him in?” Naia asks.

“Because that prophecy is too vague and stupid.” Li answers simply.

“Do the Longwang have the power to kidnap Ryuji?” Naia inquires.

“The Longwang’s reach is far and wide—” Li starts to say before I can no longer take it. I just start fucking dying with laughter; did she really just say that by accident?

“Hahaha… alright so all we have to
do is go to the Longwang, burst into their
pitched tents
, break through the
shaft
of their defenses, rescue Ryuji from their
firm grips
, and
come
back. I just hope that they aren’t
beating
him like he owes them money or
jerking
him around too much. So where are they?” I ask as Cheza rolls her eyes.

“You know that you went from dick innuendos to masturbation innuendos, right?” Cheza thinks.

“Yeah, but I ran out of dick jokes that made any contextual sense.” I reply.

“Given the circumstances, Ryuji will most likely be taken to Ao Guang’s crystal palace at the bottom of the East China Sea
since it is the closest. However, it is impossible to reach without being transported by a Shen dragon because of the barrier that camouflages the palace and prevents discovery through electronic means.” Li explains.

“Oh, I don’t think that will be an issue. Can you get me the exact coordinates of the palace?” I request
; I can utilize Neptune’s power to get down there so I don’t need to worry about a submarine.

“I do not have the coordinates, but I’m told that it can be reached
by heading ten kilometers northwest from the western tip of the Japanese island of Hateruma.” Li tells me. Well, I should be able to find it and I can always think of something else if I can’t…

“Alright, thanks. Now I need to go rescue my friend. Goodbye.” I reply
.

I
grab Naia and Cheza’s hands before porting back into the living room of Jason’s house in Niflheim.

“Okay, you two are going to have to stay here. The only way I’ll be able to get there is if I use my ability to breathe underwater that I gained from Neptune. Since it only
affects me, you two will drown if you come with me.” I explain.

“Cole!” they both exclaim.

“I’m sorry, but there is literally no alternative. I’ll go get Ryuji and bring him back here.” I reply.

“Okay, Cole… be careful.” Cheza
reluctantly says and I give her a kiss.

“I always am.” I reply with a smile.

“You are such a bad liar.” Cheza smiles back.

“Take care of Sara; I’ll be back as soon as I can
.” I tell her as I pull out my phone and look up satellite images for the island of Hateruma.

I touch my Haglaz and port to the master bedroom our house in Bellevue; I doubt this is going to be non-confrontational so it is probably a good idea to grab
the rest of my equipment. After sliding off my jacket, I clip on the rest of my holster before returning my jacket so that my Diamond swords are mostly concealed. Once equipped, I port to the satellite photo of Hateruma. As I stand on the beach of the island, I feel someone beside me.

“
Feros… it has been quite some time.” A Japanese man with long black hair, wearing a white and blue kimono, says. It takes me a few moments before I recognize him as Susanoo, the Shinto god of the sea.

“That it has, Lord Susanoo.” I reply.

“What business do you have here?” Susanoo inquires.

“Not here, about ten kilometers northwest of he
re. My friend was taken by the Dragon Kings and I’m going to get him back.” I answer.

“So you are headed to Nirai Kanai… you shouldn’t have any issues seeing past the barrier around the place, but you will have problems going that far down. Head in that direction, and you will find yourself on top of it.” Susanoo replies.

“Thank you, Lord Susanoo. Before I go, how is Inari’s servant, Yui?” I ask.

“
She looked well when Inari brought her to the last meeting a few months ago.” Susanoo answers.

“
Goodbye.” Is all I say before walking away.

M
y arm flushes black as I tread through the waves. I push the water away from my body to avoid getting wet as I submerge myself. Enclosed in a bubble of air, I will a water current to propel me forward and down as I engage my helmet; it’s probably going to be rather dark near the ocean floor. After about thirty minutes, I come across something that looks like a dome with an aura. I set my hand on it and it sinks through with little resistance before showing me its contents. The crystal palace of the east dragon king is quite magnificent; azure colored crystals stick out of the ground and collect into a spiky pyramid shape that reminds me of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.

I notice that my hand is dry inside of the
dome before hearing a bizarre sound. I turn to the right just before a gargantuan mouth swallows me.

Chapter 15: Frogman Jones, Turtle Poon, and Atlantis

I start freaking out for about fifteen seconds
as I’m passed through a series of winding tubes, feeling like any cartoon character that has ever been flushed down a toilet and traveled through the plumbing. The large tubing, that must be an esophagus, drops me fifty feet into the center of a chamber that I can only assume is this creature’s stomach; I deploy my flight to keep from falling and I gently touch down onto the squishy pink floor. Green lights along the inner walls of the chamber slightly illuminate the area as I realize that there isn’t any water in here, which should be completely impossible. What the fuck is going on? Did I just get swallowed by Moby Dick? No wait, I’m thinking of the whale from Pinocchio… what’s its name…? Monstro?

Well, the first thing that I need to do is figure a way out of here. I could probably just hack my way out, but that would most likely kill whatever swallowed me and I’m interested in seeing what this thing is; plus, it might be the last of its kind
considering how big it is and that would be a waste. Besides, I still have quite a bit of time until Ryuji gets to the palace anyway since it’s a twelve hour flight from Seattle to Shanghai, giving me about eight hours until he lands and then there’s the travel time from Shanghai to the crystal palace.

I start walking along the spongy pink
ground towards an end of the room, figuring that the best way to get my bearings of this place is to walk to one end and follow the wall. I reach a wall and start following it, keeping the wall to my left.

“
Korosu!” a croaky voice exclaims to my left, causing me to jump.

“HOLY SHIT! Dude, you scare
d the hell out of me!” I reply.

I get closer and see an Asian
human stuck into the wall of the room with some sort of crunchy, pink, coral-like substance holding him in. It reminds me of the crew of the Flying Dutchman in the
Pirates of the Caribbean
movies.

“
Onegai! Watashi o korosu!” he repeats and I realize that he’s speaking Japanese; he’s asking me to please do something for him, but the word korosu is unfamiliar to me so I don’t know what he’s asking.

“Airi, a little help with the translation?”

(On it)

“
Mou ichido.” I tell him.

“Please kill me!” the man exclaims, my helmet translating the Japanese so his lips don’t match the words, like a dub over of a martial arts movie.

“I feel like I have been stuck in this wall for so long! I regain consciousness on occasion with no sense of how much time has passed. This is no life, so please kill me!” The man explains.

I decide
to honor the man’s wishes and pull out a Diamond sword. I disengage my helmet so the man is able to see a human face before he dies. I quickly bring the sword through his neck and his head tumbles from his shoulders, but there isn’t any blood; some skin flakes away from his neck and dust trickles out of his severed head, but no blood. How long has he been down here?

“Ari…gatou.” The man’s severed head says and his eyes close.

Okay, that definitely wouldn’t be possible unless magic was involved. The body of the man rapidly decays until all that’s left is dust. What in the hell is going on here? Is this some kind of security system around the palace to prevent human discovery? I continue walking along the wall until I see something to my right, closer to the center of the room. I walk over and find that it’s a small, round, submarine with Japanese Kanji characters on it; it looks just big enough to fit a single person. If this is where that man came from, this thing is at least twenty years old. I look closely and see that the door of the submarine appears to have been bashed open… that’s not good.

I hear the distinctive clink of metal behind me… that’s also not good. I turn around and see short green men with tridents and swords. The men are five feet tall on average, have webb
ed hands and feet, frog-like heads with rows of sharp teeth, triangular fins sticking out of the sides of their heads, large green luminescent eyes, are as muscular as Russian gymnasts, and there are about twenty of them behind me… Pfft! Only twenty? Just who do they think I am?

(This may be a good opportunity to gather some information)

“What do you mean? I highly doubt they speak English… and they might not have the capability to speak at all.”

(You have Neptune’s power over the sea so you can communicate with all aquatic life)

“Great, now I’m Aquaman, arguably the lamest superhero of all time. Once the super villains stop making their doomsday machines out of paper mache, Aquaman’s usefulness goes out the window.”

(Just shut up and try it)

“Halt!” I command to the frog creatures as my arm flushes black, causing them to stop their advance… sweet! Next I have to go see some of those sea turtles to find out if shell-shock is turtle slang for some sort of turtle BDSM…

“I command you to tell me where I am.” I order
the closest frogman.

What follows is an odd sort of grunts, squeals, and clicks that my ears don’t understand at all, but the meaning gets relayed directly into my brain.

“We are inside our god, the great sea serpent of old.” Frogman Jones tells me.

“Great sea serpent of old?”

(Given the location and the enormous size of this creature, I’m willing to bet that we are inside of Leviathan)

“Wait,
the
Leviathan? The giant sea dragon from the Old Testament?”

“Why did Leviathan swallow me?” I ask.

“I do not know, but our Chieftain might.” Frogman Jones answers.

“Please
take me to them.” I reply.

“This way.
” Frogman Jones says and walks to the right, away from the submarine.

I follow Frogman Jones as the other frogmen fall in behind me. After walking for about ten m
inutes, we reach the pink wall of the chamber with the green luminescent crystals that remind me of the frogmen’s eyes. Frogman Jones walks up to the wall and places a webbed hand over one of the crystals. Part of the wall to the left of the crystal thins before it separates and reveals a circular opening that is roughly eight feet in diameter. We head down the passageway, which goes on for the better part of a kilometer with few luminescent crystals (thankfully my helmet offsets the lack of light), when a question occurs to me.

“Do you know why Leviathan swallowed that metal ball and why the human was being held in the wall?” I ask Frogman Jones.

“Are you referring to the submersible? Our god swallows humans that discover him to keep his existence a secret.” Frogman Jones replies, making me feel like an ass for assuming that he was uneducated.

“Why was that man in the wall?” I inquire.

“We were commanded to put him there.” Frogman Jones answers. So was the man being used as some sort of power source? That’s the first thing that comes to mind considering his lack of blood and presence of dust…

We walk around a bend to th
e left and run into a dead end. Frogman Jones opens his mouth to a 130 degree angle, revealing two rows of shark-like teeth, and a chant flows out of it. His voice is like that of an angel, ethereal and beautiful. His singing goes on for ten seconds before the wall opens up. The passageway lights up as a chamber is revealed that is as bright as the first one, but only about half the size. I follow Frogman Jones as he enters what must be the Frogman village. Teepee-esque huts line the chamber and appear to be made of the pink coral substance that was holding the Japanese man. There are over a hundred huts of different sizes; some only large enough for a single person and others large enough to fit a family of twenty.

The frogmen fall in beside me and behind me
as we head into the village. I see tiny frogmen playing, accompanied by frogmen that are devoid of head fins and have breasts covered by tube top-esque bits of cloth that show off their significant abdominal muscles, which match any of the warrior frogmen with me and freak me out a bit. Everyone we pass stops and warily looks at me as we pass by.

“Papa!” a frogchild squeals as it runs over to Frogman Jones, with a frogwoman following behind it. Frogman Jones lifts up his daughter (if the lack of head fins are an indicator) and spins her around before setting her back down.

“I still have work to do so go play with your mother.” Frogman Jones tells his daughter.

“Yes papa!” She squeals and runs back to her mother. Frogman Jones continues walking through town.

“Cute kid.” I tell him.

“Do you have any children of your own?” Frogman Jones asks.

“I did once… Now I just have a goddaughter that I adore.” I reply.

“Goddaughter?” Frogman Jones inquires.

“She’s the daughter of my friend. He and the girl’s mother chose me and my wife to become her parents should anything happen to them. Do you have anything like that in your society?” I ask.

“No, we don’t. I have never heard of someone being unfortunate enough to lose both of their parents before they reached the age where they were old enough to
care for themselves.” Frogman Jones replies.

We pass through the center of town and reach the opposite edge, roughly a
kilometer from where we came in. There is a large opening in the pink wall with strange tentacles draped over it.

“This is where our chieftain resides.” Frogman Jones reports.

“Thank you. I shall go speak with them now.” I reply and walk through the tentacles.

I walk down the dimly lit tunnel, passing by alcoves with strange pink
coral sculptures. After about a hundred feet, the passageway opens into a chamber that is roughly thirty feet in diameter. At the end of the chamber is someone in a large chair, facing away from me.

“I have waited a long time for this day, Father!” a
deep voice calls out from the chair as I notice a golden outline.

“Trapping me in Leviathan for a few years to teach me a lesson
about not fucking your favorite turtles, I can understand… However, A HUNDRED YEARS IS A LITTLE MUCH!” The voice shouts and swivels around in the chair. Sitting in the chair is a man that has blue scales from the waist down and flipper-esque feet. His central aura looks a lot like the Starbucks logo. A merman demigod?

“I—
You’re not my father. Who are you?” the man asks, perplexed. I disengage my helmet.

“I’m Cole.” I reply.

“But I sensed my father’s power! I had Leviathan swallow my father!” the man exclaims.

“Your father wouldn’t happen to be Neptune, would he?” I ask.

“YES!” the man shouts with annoyance.

“Oh, Neptune’s dead and I have his power over the sea now.” I inform him,
keeping it vague for my benefit.

I
f he didn’t like his father and is happy he’s dead, taking credit can only help me, but if he tries to kill me for killing his father, I can backpedal and explain that Hades did it and I killed Hades; either way, I’ll benefit from it.

“What!? When did he die!?” the man asks.

“About four years ago.” I reply.

“I see… you killed my father, and you have his power now… so I’m free to leave?” the man asks.

“That depends, who are you?” I ask.

“Triton, K
ing of Atlantis.” Triton replies.

“Well Triton, you are free to leave, but I don’t know how to get out of here.” I tell him.

“You just command Leviathan’s body to open up the passages. While Leviathan helps me out by occasionally following my orders, like the one to swallow you, certain passageways can’t be opened consciously by Leviathan; they’re coded to Neptune’s power.” Triton explains.

“Okay then, let’s get out of here.
” I reply. Triton groans something out and the chamber rumbles in response.

“
Alright, Leviathan is going to swing by Atlantis to drop us off. Just place your hand on the green crystal on that wall and we can leave.” Triton says.

“
Good… wait, don’t you need to name a new chieftain or something?” I ask.

“Oh, right.” Triton replies and groans,
causing the chamber to rumble again.

About two minutes later, Frogman Jones walks into the room. Triton talks to Frogman Jones and names him the new chieftain, presumably; I’m not sure because I didn’t bother to use Neptune’s power to translate it.

Triton nods at me and we walk over to the right wall. I place my blackened left hand on the green crystal, assuming that I need to have Neptune’s powers engaged for this to work. The pink wall opens up and reveals a dimly lit passageway that slopes upward. The passage winds back and forth, steadily rising in elevation.

“You said you’ve been trapped in here for a hundred years?” I ask as we walk.

“Yeah, give or take a few years.” Triton replies.

“How long do mermaids and mermen usually live?” I inquire.

“The average lifespan is usually only about a hundred fifty to two hundred years, but I’m going on four hundred; most likely because Neptune is my father.” Triton informs me.