WARNING: CHAPTER CONTAINS BLOOD MENTIONS AND INJURES

神の妖怪

God’s Youkai

十四

No one is really prepared in life for that kind of moment. To see someone else dying in front of their eyes. More precisely, getting ripped into pieces. Minami’s eyes widened, his body suddenly tensed painfully, cold chills running down his spine. He forgot how to breathe, and all sounds became inaudible. He forgot who or where he was, as the shade of bright blood splashed over paper spells and himself. It wasn’t his blood of course, but there was nothing left of the person that it belonged to.

“Minami!! Minami!!” From the cloudy mist and loud tingle in the youth’s ears, a weak voice went through. “Get away from there now!!” Minami’s view got suddenly blocked, when Jirou jumped in front of the boy, and a sudden glowing light made him snap out of his trance.

Minami looked up at the thin bright wall separating them and the forest. It was the first time the boy saw a barrier - the vivid energy that was coming from Jirou, the power of the light was giving Minami back his senses. When the youth finally blinked, the red eyes in the shadows were gone.

“Boy, are you trying to end me here? You know my heart is weak.” Jirou suddenly grabbed Minami’s shoulders, making the boy look at him. Minami just now understood how badly he was shaking. “I understand that what happened must have been a great shock to you, but there is no time. Come here.”

Minami tried to nod, even though his eyes were full of tears. The boy’s legs somehow moved when Jirou started dragging him further from the place, but his knees were shaking so hard he didn’t know how he managed to walk. That student… just now… That creature… a monster…. Youkai. It was tall. Like a fully grown human, Minami had never seen them so big before. It was their darkness that Minami sensed today, and now it was coming from every side around.

“What’s going on… Jirou-san…?” The boy finally stuttered. From how Jirou was usually walking, Minami would have never guessed that he could run so fast.

“You go and hide with other new students in the office. I must send the messenger to Ryou-sama.”

The man ordered with a strict voice. It was strange to hear Jirou speaking like that, his eyes were also different. Even though the man tried to hide it, the youth saw something that confirmed his worst guesses - the high priest was terrified.

“But…”

“Minami, go and don’t come out until someone comes to get you. Now! Hurry!” Jirou didn’t let the boy finish, he quickly waved with his hand towards the office, and then in the same fast steps, he walked to the building with the God’s bedroom.

The boy didn’t have a clue what the older man meant when he mentioned messenger, but there was something odd. Jirou’s expression of him being in a rush didn’t match with the atmosphere. The shrine was under a deadly silence, not even the quietest whistle of the wind, and as Minami slowly moved forward, his steps seemed somewhere lost in this void. Was it a silence before the storm? The heavy feeling crushing his lungs wouldn’t leave, Minami stood still next to the stairs, leading to the office. His clothes were covered in bloody stains, fingers shivering from the dark vibrations around. The boy kept seeing that one exact moment over and over again when everything turned red, and those eyes… those glowing eyes in the shadows.

And when the silence took the last drop of air from Minami’s lungs, a deafening screech pierced the whole shrine. The range was so overwhelming that the boy himself loudly gasped as the screams continued one after another like an echo. It could be coming from any side, and all of them were full of the same painful agony.

“Help me!! Help! Anyone!!”

It was easier to follow the voice. Minami didn’t think twice before he turned at the side where it was coming from. His legs that just a moment ago were pinned to the ground, moved as the boy ran fast towards that desperate call for help. One of the older students, that Minami only met a couple of times from the distance, was on the gravel, covered in scratches and deep wounds, his hands were burned, covered in red bright blisters. Minami almost fell on his knees next to the boy. But he acted as if he couldn’t see Minami, the student’s voice was tired and lower than usual but he kept asking for help, trying to crawl somewhere further.

“Please… stop, don’t move... we need to stop the bleeding…” Minami tried to catch the boy, and calm him down, but there was no point. However, the elder student froze after a moment, on Minami's side hyperventilating.

“Spells… spells… won’t hold….it...” He babbled, Minami barely heard his words because of other screams around. The sounds just merged into one heavy panic.

The youth hugged the mumbling student under his arms and tried to drag him somewhere deeper in the shadows. As soon as Minami thought that the older boy would be safe from anyone else's eyes, for now, he looked at the direction from which the boy crawled here. It wasn’t hard to find the bloody trace.

“I will be back soon… don’t move…” Minami promised. He had to make sure there wasn’t anyone left behind.

Minami ran towards the ropes with paper spells behind the main shrine, he kept looking around, but there were no other students nearby. He did see someone in the distance, but as the sun was already set, it was getting harder and harder to catch the shape of the shadows. No one lightened the lanterns before all this chaos began, and the shrine drowned in pitch black. Minami noticed that a few hanging papers were all that was left of the protection spells. The boy thought of running back to the office since they had a stock of spells prepared there and put them back on the rope when he heard a low but strong growl.

That sound coming from far above alone was enough for the boy to understand how huge the creature was. The corrupted energy was everywhere already and Minami still didn’t know how to separate it properly, but what he felt now made his heartbeat fall so low he thought it would stop. He flinched as the shivers kept running down his spine, instincts told him not to turn around, just keep running away in whatever direction, but Minami slowly moved his head up.

Its enormous head and huge widely opened jaws made Minami almost fall backward from instant shock. Those small red eyes and intense stare were nothing compared to his large sharp claws that were bending trees as the monster leaned against them to take a better view of the petrified boy. He growled again in that deep perishing sound, dripping liquid off his fangs. Scream stuck in Minami’s throat as one drop of it fell on his face - it was sticky and hot blood. Fresh.

Paper spells won’t hold it. And Minami honestly didn’t know what could. But if this creature stepped in the shrine’s territory, cutting those ropes, it would open the way for other Youkai. That would be the end.

Run. Some voice inside his head warned and Minami did. He stuttered at first, but strength came back to his legs a moment after. The boy saw Jirou in front of his eyes, emitting that strong light, pushing away the darkness into the woods. If the darkness could be destroyed with the brightness, the boy was sure that the same energy was something that attracted them the most. Of course, his spiritual powers were not even close to the ones Jirou had, but all Minami needed was to lure this monster away.

They were warned not to use their spiritual energy until they learned how to control it properly, but again, life wasn't preparing for a moment like this. Even if his heart was painfully pounding in fear and his eyes were filled with tears. Even if the boy had no clue what he was doing and where all of this would lead. But he tried. Tried thinking that Jirou would do the same to protect this place, thinking that Ryou would praise him for being brave. For trying hard. Minami didn't want this life here to end.

Those thoughts made him find a sparkle of his spiritual energy within. The light and warmth spread through the boy slowly, as he finally moved forward. Lucky for him, the Youkai’s movements were clumsy and slow. Its body was very disproportional and that gave an advantage for the boy to pass through it quickly. The darkness between the trees didn’t let Minami see where he was running. He felt branches scratching his face, the ground was slippery and uneven, Minami had to grab on everything he could on his way and still almost fell a few times. And yet, he succeeded. The surface trembled hard, when the giant turned around, following after the boy.

The youth decided to run as far as he could, until feet wouldn’t hold him anymore, hoping it would be enough for it not to turn back. The warmth inside him, however, started to become heavy. Suffocating. Minami was losing control of it. Apparently sharp branches weren't the real cause of the burning in his hands. His fingers began shaking and twitching in stinging pain so suddenly, that boy had to stop. The forest behind him was crashing down as the Youkai kept following the youth’s spiritual power, which now was hurting the user himself. From the boy's palms, the aching went to his wrist, it locked his lungs too and Minami’s voice got swallowed by it as well.

Was he far enough, was he still too close? The boy tried to crawl further, but suddenly he froze in the spot when together with the blasting crack sound a tall tree smashed just next to him. His face turned pale white, and his heart skipped a beat, almost stopping. Fear completely took over him, as the boy turned around and saw the giant claw just above him.

“Master, can I eat him?”

A voice, that barely resembled any human sound, groaned, at the same moment as the huge weight crushed Minami to the ground. The boy didn’t hear what kind of answer the Youkai got.

Now his own shriek was the sound that pierced the forest.