Lucky Prodigy

2: Little Sage

^^ James ^^

— James —

I breathed deeply, confused by the surroundings, and looked at the woman who was speaking to me in fluent English, despite her oriental features. She was wearing flowing white robes, like a Pagan priestess or a Miko, and currently kowtowing on her knees beside me. I, who was standing up all the way, was still somehow only equal to her shoulder height when she lifted her front up after bowing. Her face was not old, but not overly young, either, perhaps in her early twenties.

The only truly odd feature was the horn growing from the center of her forehead, parting her bangs.

I gazed up at her, still confused, and tilted my head. "Who are you?" I asked clearly, shaping the odd syllables as if I'd been born to them.

She gasped, and bowed her head under mine swiftly, though it seemed difficult, given my small size. "This one is called Mika, Little Sage!!! This one is charged with caring for the Little Sage, who is said to have been meditating for 1,000 Suns to obtain his true enlightenment!!! This one has been the Little Sage's caretaker for twenty-one Suns and three Seasons!!!" She spoke with distinction now, enunciating carefully and formally.

A few voices picked up behind us, a few dozen meters away, speaking in hushed tones.
'The Little Sage is speaking?!?'
'Wait, He's really moving around?!?'
'Quick, send for the Holy Shrine Maidens!!!'
'What's he saying?!?'
'Has he achieved enlightenment?'
'Ooh, that damned Ogre Mika is talking to him!!! How dare she speak to the Little Sage?!?!? Fetch her away!!!'
'And risk angering the Little Sage, who can wipe this mountain off the earth with the twitch of his little finger?!? Are you insane?!?!?'

I frowned. "Little Sage? My name is not Little Sage... I am James Taaliyah... and this is a most odd dream... I've never had such a vivid vision before." I turned away from her, and looked out over the mountain that I currently stood at the peak of. The building we were standing on was a simple pavilion, but beautifully detailed, like real thought had been put into it. Where I had been sitting, there was a crater in the stone, like I had melted the stone under me with my 'Ur' as Ganesha called it.

After a few minutes of breathing the air, I was forced to believe that this was either a horribly effective illusion, or a true reality. Perhaps I was Dreaming so long that my previous body died, and I was placed in this one? Or maybe I died in the accident, and that place I woke up in, where I couldn't move, was me in a baby's body?

"You said you've been watching me for 22 days?" I asked suddenly, curious.

She flinched at the sudden address, still kowtowing, and then cleared her throat. "I... this humble one has been the Shrine Maiden for twenty-one suns, and three seasons, Little- that is, Master James Taaliyah..."

I hummed. "A sun... a set of Four Seasons is a sun, then? A year?"

"Yes, Master." She nodded.

"Twenty-two years... and you are not the first Miko to watch over me?" I asked.

She chuckled softly to herself, then blushed. "I- This Humble One means no disrespect, Master!!! No, there have been several generations of simple Shrine Maidens such as this humble one; this humble one's own tenure is only beginning, and this humble one is only a Shrine Maiden, not a Holy Miko!"

I raised an eyebrow slowly; the expression was oddly difficult, like the muscles of my face were unused to movement. "Twenty-two Suns is 'only beginning'? How long is your tenure supposed to be? And how many generations is 'Several'?"