Tales of A Swordsman (Chapter 1: Project Luxor - Part 2)

10:00 PM. Back in my flat, Shane's report came in and I downloaded it into my laptop computer. They found the glitch on the power rectifier. The output is slightly out of sync. They had it fixed already. We'll have to do another runtime test first thing in the morning.


My phone rang.

"Moshi-moshi"

"Rey Jonn, San", It's Yoshi.

"Turn on your TV and turn to All Asia News Channel"


I switched to the news tunnel. Our Project Luxor client, the owner of the Luxor Museum of Ancient Egypt is being interviewed. Within a two months, the museum will be opened for the public.

"... the new Luxor Museum of Ancient Egypt is busy preparing for the arrival of the mummies and relics that were all bought back from the different Museums and private collectors from different countries. The relics and mummies were bought by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. This is the biggest one-time purchase of relics made by a single institution. And this is made possible my the financial backing of a group of business companies, led by Yosef Akhun-Amun, who is now most probably the richest man the world."



"The Pharaohs and the relics belong to Egypt. Unfortunately, for centuries thieves, who had no respect for the dead, have desecrated and looted so much from the graves of the ancient pharaohs. And it has always been the dream of my father and my father's father to bring these stolen treasures. The Supreme Council of Antiquities has been trying to reclaim Egypt's past from the history thieves. And they have done a great job thus far. It was them who first brought back Ra to his rightful place. But they lacked the necessary resources to complete their job as quickly as possible. In this view, I, and the other businessmen who have the same passion for the History of Egypt have seen the need and agreed to help the Council. Thus far, we have recovered so much already!"

"But still we want to share to rest of the world the relics that proves the greatness of this once proud nation. Thus we have constructed this Museum. This way, we can give the ancient pharaohs the rest the truly deserve, at the same time, by using the state-of-the-art technologies at hand, show them to world!"

"This is just the beginning. Soon Egypt glory will soon be fully restored ... in more ways than you can ever imagine"



"Reporting from Luxor, Egypt for All Asia News Channel, this is Marry Lyn Chan Reporting"








(end Part 2)

Author's Note

Time Flies!!!

I just realized that its been over a month since I posted the first part of Chapter 1. Whew. Although the script of chapter 1 is already finished and chapters 2 and 3 are already plotted. It took me longer to finish the drawings. The sketches are finished and scanned already, inking and coloring it digitally just takes so much time. Specially if I'm just using a mouse. Although I was able to got hold of my old but reliable graphic tablet, I wasn't able to use it much, just so much distraction here.

For the meantime, I'll give some backgrounder ( I hope I don't bore you).

Personal Background.

I have been drawing ever since I was little boy. I got the habit from my brothers I guess. Our eldest brother is the more talented one when it comes to this area. I also love reading comic books. I've been reading Superman, Batman (from DC Comics) the X-men titles, and my personal favorite Spiderman and other titles from Marvel ) . In college, I friend of mine introduced me to Wetworks by Image Comics. And while writing this blog I found the creator of this title's blog, Whilce Portacio.

Well, due to rising cost of comic books, I wasn't able to keep up with my favorite titles, and ultimately stopped buying them. *sigh*.

While in college, still. A friend invited me to an Aikido dojo. Though I love martial arts, I never had joined any dojo's before that day. After sometime, he stopped practicing, while I went on.

Then while on vacation I saw Samurai-x! I instantly fell in love with the series. I'm not a morning person, but I would get up at 6 am and sit in front of the tube just to watch this series! Dubbed in English or not!

I don't remember when neither how it started, but I have been having this interest in Japan and its diverse culture.

Though I haven't gone to that place (I hope someday I could and would), my interest keeps growing. So when I thought of creating this FictionBytes, I did some research and still keep on doing the research. I'll be posting some of results of my research and the source in between issues.

And thanks to my Fans, though I know you are still few in numbers, you are my new inspirations to continue this fictional blog.

Tales of A Swordsman (Chapter 1: Project Luxor- Part 1)

Japan, present day. A nation full of contasting culture. One of the leaders in the field of research and technology. Influence of the West is evident everywhere, yet their own long standing traditions and cultures are still upheld with highest regards. High rise buildings with state of the art technology fills the streets of every city, then again, there are still castles, temples and shrines, built centuries ago, that withstood the test of times.



My name is Rey Jonn Lauron. Born and grew in the Philippines, I came two Japan almost two years ago to work as part of a development team in Hineji Systems International. A company that develops and deploys security and automated building management systems in major companies all over. Recently our company was contracted by another company from Egypt install our state-of-the-art security system in the- still under construction- New Luxor-Ancient History Museum. The project, we call Project Luxor includes installation of our security system in the Valley of the Kings itself.

Currently I'm supervising the installation of the systems console remotely. Coordinating the work with my counterpart in Egypt, Shane Founder.





"It's ok, Shane, you're two days ahead of schedule. Your team has done a great job. Take your time. Run all diagnostic routines and send me the results as soon as you got them."

"How's it doing, Rey?" - Nikano Yoshiro, my department supervisor. Since I arrived here in Japan, he and his wife have been very kind to me. They treated me as a family. Even though he is my superior he and his wife easily became my best of friends here.

"There's a minor glitch with the VS-2. However, Phase two is almost complete, Sir. I guess you'll be flying to Egypt within two weeks for the final phase of this project!"

"I know you want to join me there in this project, you got this fascination with Egypt."

"Yeah, you know I do, but the 3rd Phase requires you to stay there for at least 6 months for run time debugging, and I am due for my leave on May for my fiancé's birthday and preparation for our wedding after my contract here expires next December."

" Besides, you're the best person that can handle things there. And ..."
I paused and Looked around the office and whispered "... The boss surely won't approve the extra expenses if I go with you. Hehe"

Yoshiro jokingly slapped the back of my shoulder and smiled..
"Yes, you're right. hehehe. See you at the dojo tonight."

"Hai! See you there!"

I went back to my work after Yoshiro left. I run the diagnostic routine on my end. With the size and complication of the system we installed in Egypt, it would take about 5 hours to complete and I'll be off in 20 minutes. I guess I'll just have to get the report from my flat later.

6 PM. I grabbed my gear from flat and walked my way to the Iaido dojo.

Not only Youshiro is my superior a good friend and officemate, he is also my Sempai, my mentor in iaido, a style of Kenjutsu- the Japanese sword fighting style. With his guidance and tutelage, I was able to obtain the Shodan - (first degree black belt), with in a year of practice.

I have been attracted this Japanese Art when in the midst of my study of Aikido. I realized, though different in form yet similar in principle and teachings. Both focuses on defense. Though most martial arts also claims to be a self-defense art, one common principle that Aikido and Iaido sets them apart is - not to defeat the enemy but to control one's self. In Aikido- also dubbed as a gentleman's martial art- one teacher once said, "How can one defeat his enemy if he does not know himself?". And in Iaido, a practitioner is taught to use a sword not to control their opponent, but to control themselves.

When I arrived at the dojo, Yoshiro and his wife Ayame, also a third degree black belt in Iaido, was already there . I greeted them and proceeded to change into my training Gi.





(To be continued ...)