Tales of Leonardo: Blind Sight issue 3

#3
Indoors, Splinter summons Leonardo. Splinter believes his son's blindness is more than just a physical condition, but comes from some obscure source inside his mind. He hands his son a cup of tea&mdash;a special concoction he calls "infini-tea." Leo asks if the tea contains drugs, but Splinter says the tea represents a doorway into the depths of the mind.

When Leo sips the tea, he senses a change in his surroundings. More than that, he can see again, but he is clearly not where he just was, and Splinter, the room and the tea are nowhere in sight. His eyes take in the beauty of the countryside surrounding him. And he notices the context&mdash;he is a samurai on horseback, apparently in feudal Japan. Leo at first wonders why he's in this place and in this situation, but then decides to let go and accept it as-is.

Leo spots a man hiding in the tall grass nearby, moving in his direction. He sees the man appears to be unarmed and dressed in humble, worn clothing, and appears to be hiding from someone else in the opposite direction. Leo hears the yells of other horse-mounted samurai converging on the man's location intending to kill him. Leo has no idea what his own role in this situation is, but soon decides he has no intention of letting an unarmed man die.

Leo rides out into the grass, placing himself between the man and the other samurai, and declares the man to be under his protection. The samurai unsheath their weapons and attack Leo, calling him a demon. Leo is quickly drawn into a fight, and wastes little time decapitating one of the samurai and impaling another through the abdomen with his katana, shocked at having just taken two men's lives. Leo shoves his sword deep into the mouth of a third man, and quickly realizes that he can't control his own actions, not even knowing who these people are. Leo shouts at the unarmed man, telling him to run away, just before cutting a fourth samurai in two pieces at the waist. A fifth samurai attacks Leo on foot with a naginata, but Leo parries the attack and slices a deep gash in the samurai's cranium, killing him. When it is over, five complete strangers are dead, and Leo is horrified by his own actions, but he tries to reassure himself that this must just be part of a vision he's having.

As if by rote, Leo slowly trots his horse cross-country to an unfamiliar feudal village. Peasants leave bowls of rice as offerings as Leo's horse passes them. But it also occurs to Leo that they are humans, and they can see that he is not human, and wonders why they are unafraid. Leo's horse stops in front of a house, and two women greet him&mdash;a young woman named Yumi along with her mother. Yumi's mother commands her daughter to tend to the turtle's horse. Yumi welcomes Leonardo home, addressing him as "father," and asks to take the horse. Leo consents, though he clearly finds this entire situation very strange. Yumi's mother addresses Leonardo as "husband," and invites him inside to a bath she has drawn for him. Leo silently expects the older woman to begin screaming, but she remains calm.

Inside the house, the older woman begins helping the turtle out of his samurai armor, but demands he immediately put away his swords, not wanting them lying around the house. Leo sees an appropriate-looking chest and stores his twin katana inside. The woman observes how quiet her husband is, hoping not to have offended him. But Leo is not offended. She asks the turtle what is troubling him. Leo asks her if she does not find his appearance frightening. She calmly tells her husband that he is as he has always been.

Leonardo and his wife lie in their shared bed, Leo again thinking to himself that this is all just a vision.

Leo awakens in a startle as his wife announces that his swords have been stolen. But Leo dismisses it, now content that his swords are gone. He reassures his wife and Yumi that they are just swords.

But the turtle samurai is summoned by his daimyō.

Leonardo's vision

 * Human Samurai
 * Human Villagers
 * Leonardo's Daimy&
 * Leonardo's Wife
 * Unarmed Man ?
 * Yumi

Transcript

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