Dark Warrior

I had traveled
To the other side
Of Tokyo to
Meet a friend
Who wanted me
To see her favourite band.

I stood under
A street light
In a deserted side street,
Waiting patiently for
Ayako to arrive.

Unexpectedly,
The street light began
To malfunction,
Coming on and off,
Plunging me into bouts of
Darkness and light.

Buzz, crackle, darkness,
Buzz, crackle, light.

Before me stood
A Japanese man
Of advanced age.
He wore the robes
Of a samurai
And the air of confidence
And power emanated from him
Like a potent fragrance.

Buzz, crackle, darkness,
Buzz, crackle, light.

"Who are you?
What are you?
You are darker than
The farmers who toil in the sun."
His Japanese was old and formal
And I barely made out what he said.

Buzz, crackle, darkness,
Buzz, crackle, light.

As I told him my name,
Informing him that
I was of African descent,
He circled around me,
Observing me, then
He stopped before me
And pulled out his katana.

Buzz, crackle, darkness,
Buzz, crackle, light.

"Do you know what this is?"  he asked.
I nodded.
"Do you know how to use one?"
I nodded slowly.

Buzz, crackle, darkness,
Buzz, crackle, light.

With the light,
Appeared a katana in my hand,
It became quite apparent
That I was to fight
This samurai.

"I can't fight you
While the light comes and goes,
You will use it to your advantage,"
I said to him,
A fair fight,
I can live with,
An unfair one,
I can not abide.

"Worry not,
The light will remain on
During our fight.
We will commence
When the light returns."
I nodded.

Buzz, crackle, darkness,
Buzz, crackle, light.

We ran at each other,
Katanas prepared to draw blood.
They clashed, sparks flying,
Then we separated
And lunged at each other.
This continued as time passed
And the light remained on
As he had promised.

Soon, I was winning
And each time I struck
The samurai became more macabre.
His eyes cried blood,
His skin became sallow,
His teeth began to fall out,
I even smelt rotting flesh.

And with my final blow,
Sure to leave him defeated,
The lights went out.

Buzz, crackle, darkness,
Buzz, crackle, light.

He stood before me
As he was when we first met,
No torn garments,
No torn flesh,
No sweating brow.
He bowed deeply
And I did the same.

"You are truly a gifted fighter,
Dark warrior," he said
Just before he brought
His katana down on my shoulder,
The blow pushing me back
As darkness engulfed me.
"It was an honour fighting you."

I awoke to Ayako shaking me
Under the lit street light.
Immediately I touched my shoulder,
And found no injury there,
No torn clothing,
No torn flesh,
Just a slight burning
That soon disappeared.

I knew not how to explain
To my friend what had happened
So I gave a lousy excuse
For why I was unconscious
On the ground and
Insisted we still go
To see her favourite band.

It was only later on
When I was preparing
To go to bed
That I saw the tattoo,
Starting from my shoulder
Down my chest,
Where the samurai's katana
Struck me.

The script was old Japanese
But with the help
Of an old scholar
I found out what it said.

"Dark Warrior rises
One level up."

To be continued........


A couple readers have heard this piece already and I must admit, it's one of my favourites as it mixes poetry and anime. It all started with a blinking street light and this was spawned. I already have the continuation of this in my head and boy, is it fun, I just have to write it out. Be on the look out for Dark Warrior 2.

Submitted to dVerse Open Link