Yasuke

Honnō-ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan; 21 June 1582 (R4): 44,995 hTC; 284 ACC

Shit, shit, shit, dammit, I thought; the worst possible scenario appears to have happened, a coup, and to make it even worse, Akechi led them. Something about him always seemed off, but I couldn’t place my finger on it. I’d only been serving as a samurai for about a year and in that time, I’ve seen the head of the Oda clan, Nobunaga, become the most influential daimyo. I don’t think I could have ever imagined that, but now? Now, I feel as though my desired quaint life is being ripped away from me.

“Black Samurai! We know you’re in there,” yelled a man from outside my quarters. “Considering you are a foreigner; it would appear your majesty is taking pity on you. By order of the Emperor of Japan, Emperor Ōgimachi, you will be given two options, you can either surrender your head as a trophy to the emperor or surrender yourself back to the Jesuits where you’ll likely be executed for interfering with our political affairs.”

Are you serious right now? I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, the choice to go back to that place, anything but that place.

“I—,” a hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back, it was a black man. The first black man I have seen in this country, but who was he, how did he get in here? Was there a window left open that I didn’t know about? Questions plagued my mind, so much so that I couldn’t find the words to speak. The black man had midnight purple locs and his eyes shimmered a dazzling gold, “O-rish-a,” I managed to croak. He smiled and placed his finger on his lips to shush me, and in that exact moment, the unthinkable happened; the man began to speak, but with my voice.

“Compelling offer,” the man said in my voice, “but tell me, how is aiding to unify a nation considered a criminal offense by your monarch?” It was like he was reading my thoughts; I never could make sense as to why the emperor was so against it.

“Surely you jest, Black Samurai,” the retainer replied. “You know, as well as all of Oda’s men know that the Sixth Demon known as Nobunaga was a tyrant; and humoring and taking pity on a foreigner, even going as far as to bestowing said outsider the title of samurai. Need I continue?”

The black man snickered, “Nothing you’re saying is making sense, but I’ll play along with you.” I wasn’t sure what this man had up his sleeve, however I couldn’t explain the overwhelming feeling of trust that I should place in him. “If you and your men can find me and take me down, I’ll let you do whatever you want to me,” and just like that the trust I had began to dwindle.

“Is that all,” the retainer yelled with a chuckle. “Clearly, this fool is begging to die; men, storm the building!” All the grunts shouted and began their advance.

My eyes darted in every direction of the room, looking for some way out, but the man, the man just smiled at me while extending his left hand forward, “Gate,” he whispered, but it felt like a thunderclap. In that same instant, a sliding paper door appeared in front of us; the door was a lot like the doors here, but it also seemed familiar in another way. The door opened and the inside was something out of an eclectic painting; a swirling blue and yellow vortex to the unknown, and he pushed me forward into the nightmare. I started to think this man may have been a demon of some kind, he appeared as a savior, but would a savior do this?

The feeling of the inside of the vortex was odd, not uncomfortable, but odd. I could breathe, which was a good sign, and surprisingly enough, I could see. What I saw however, I would have to add to my new “List of the Unthinkable,” it was another door, and the more I looked around, the more I recognized that this place I was in, looked like a well-lit hallway. I stood up and dusted myself off as the man from earlier approached me.

“Sorry about that; popping in and using your voice like that without saying anything,” the man said. In this space, I got a better look at the man; he too was wearing a kimono, but his didn’t look like it was made by anyone from this land. It had a familiar and intricate pattern that made my ancestors dance with excitement.

“Where are we? We must go, quickly, or surely, they’ll catch up to us,” I stated, but the man, just strolled down the hallway, without a care in the world, as if he didn’t just provoke an attack.

“Calm down,” the man said as he walked past me. There was something about him that made my ancestors perk up and push me, urging me to follow him. “I’ll explain it all later, oh and they won’t be reaching us any time soon,” he opened the door that was before us, and yet again, I was left speechless, we somehow made it to Yasaka Shrine. It was mostly emptied and abandoned due to the siege; there was, however, a window with some light flickering faintly in the furthest corner of the building, “C’mon, they’re waiting on us,” the man said. Inside the building, the walls that once dazzled and dance with its sophisticated beauty, was left to ruin due to this betrayal. I can’t understand why the emperor would be so afraid of a unified nation; I wondered.

“This way,” the man motioned me into a room that coincidentally led to another hallway, but it wasn’t too far away from our destination. “Thank you for your patience, Yasuke,” the man said as we stopped in front of the door, there was a sinking feeling in my stomach, I wasn’t scared, or nervous, but I felt a since of sublime. “We don’t have a lot of time, but my name is Myrlin. Myrlin Samael Wyllt-Garyushi, and I wish to fulfill your deepest desire.” He slid the door open and upon entering I saw several people, three in total: a man with bronze, brown skin, a pitch-black beard and short golden hair holding a weapon I’d never seen before. He wore an unusual outfit; it appeared to be thin and baggy.

The other man was a young lighter skinned black man with dark hair, however unlike his comrade, he wore plated armor and had a king’s robe, in his hand’s rested the most perfectly symmetrical blade that I’ve ever seen. The blade shimmered like a divine road and the smithing on the weapon had to have been done by the gods. Finally, the final person in the room would fit comfortably at the top of my unthinkable list, she was a maid, a maid with skin that was identical to the night sky. She was poised and positioned herself in the center of the other two men, “Welcome, Young Master,” the woman said.

“Onechan, please, that name is so embarrassing,” whined Myrlin. “When we get home, then you can call me that, but right now, just call me Myrlin.” The other two men started to chuckle as we entered and took a seat, “Now Yasuke, like I said earlier, my name is Myrlin Samael Wyllt-Garyushi, and these are my subordinates: the blonde meat head is Gil, the high-yellow Knight-King is Art, and lastly this is my big sister, Jade.’”

The three each gave me a slight nod, “A pleasure to meet your acquaintance, as The Young Master stated, my name is Gilgamesh, and normally in times like this, I would be more than eager to boast of my excellence, but I fear we’re pressed for time,” Gilgamesh directed his attention to Myrlin. “It’s only a matter of time before they find us, do you have a plan to avoid our demise?”

“Neru kimi,” Myrlin said with a relaxed demeanor, surprisingly, I found that I could understand what he just said, it was something like a mixture of Japanese and Yoruba, it meant something like, ‘chill out.’ “It’s not like they have any leads to our location, and besides, our main objective was retrieving Yasuke,” he redirected his attention to me. “Yasuke, you are far from your home, aren’t you?”

Was this a rhetorical question, is he really suggesting that I’m far from my home? “Well of course I’m far from my home,” I exclaimed, “you led me through a mysterious hallway that somehow magically transported us to Yasaka Shrine; and you’re really asking me if I’m far from home?” I know that I sounded harsh, but I was seriously pissed, I was finally getting the chance to live a normal life, one where I was free, and now I had the option to die or die by the Jesuits.

Myrlin looked at me with his intense golden eyes and motioned me to sit with the rest of them, and without a second thought, I did as such, but I wasn’t the one moving, my ancestors were controlling my body, making me sit, “what’s going on,” I asked.

“It would appear your ancestors are telling you to hold your tongues and hear him out,” the regal young man commanded.

After I was forced to sit down, the four strangers fixed their eyes on me, “Yasuke, what happened to Nobunaga was definitely a tragedy, coupled with the siege, things are looking pretty meek,” he started. “That being said, you are not from here, and you being here, complicates things in this era. So, I will offer my own proposal to you; you can either stay here and hide from Akechi’s retainers by yourself, or you can go back to your homeland. The place where you don’t have to search far and wide for someone that looks like you.”

My vision began to blur, am I crying? I was crying, but they were tears of joy, relief, and a hint of desperation; Myrlin smiled at me, the look in his eyes had a genuine sense of longing to fulfill my truest desire. “I can go back to The Gold Coast,” I cried, “my homeland, are you being serious? And how am I to believe this?”