"I think I've heard a story about a half-demon once," Atomu mentioned. "It's an old Paladian tale, at that."
"You guys have tales?" Jyuzou was confused.
"O-Of course we do!" Atomu turned around. "We're not cultureless, what are you thinking?"
Jyuzou shrugged. "I just assumed Paladians are the most basic of races around Errarion."
"Wow." Atomu was shocked. "Rude..."
"Will... you... be... nice..?" Morio smacked Jyuzou's head four times.
"Sorry, sorry. Tell us the tale." Jyuzou nodded.
"There were two half-demons. One, very human, looked like a Paladian but had these small little horns growing out of his head. Then the second, barely resembling one. Of course, Paladians focused on the more human one, trying their best to find a way to prove that he has some hidden scheme, but they kept failing that task. They were way too involved, that they couldn't see the other half-demon, which managed to sneak into town, despite the Demonears outpost, and it killed two families. Classic."
"These are your bedtime stories?!" Jyuzou was shocked.
"What about them?" Atomu squinted his eyes.
"Aren't they a little terrifying?" Jyuzou continued.
Morio looked around, as the three stood against some tallgrass.
"Well, how else do you instil fear into children?" Atomu scratched his nose. "They won't listen and something dangerous might happen!" he explained.
"Well, nothing's of danger with us three!" Morio added. "After all, we've seen what you can do, Atomu!"
"Morio..." Jyuzou looked at him.
"What? Are you going to deny his strength?"
"I told you that anyone could fight against a drunk. The booze there makes you weaker..." Atomu shook his head. "Not that I'd know." he looked to the side.
"You're way too humble! If there was any danger around, you'd protect us, eh?" Morio pointed.
"Listen." Atomu shook his head, grinding his teeth in stress. "I don't want you guys thinking that I'm some guardian of yours, okay? We're just travelling, from point A to point B, and that's pretty much it. I'll try to protect you, but don't think of me as some sort of leader."
All of a sudden, a figure appeared out of the tallgrass behind Atomu, stumbling into him and pushing him to the ground.
The guy breathed in and out, standing up, holding at least 20 Bullion seeds in both hands. "Hi!" he raised one hand, as some of the seeds fell to the ground, much to his surprise.
"Gah!" Atomu sat up. "Wait, you're... Chyuuichi?" he pointed.
"The same guy that caused a ruckus at the bar yesterday!" Jyuzou added.
"Oh ruckus, I only borrowed a thing or ten!" he laughed a bit.
"GET BACK HERE YOU THIEF!" A voice yelled out from the tallgrass behind.
"Oh, oh! Gotta go!" Chyuuichi raised his voice, pushing the seeds into the hands of Morio and Jyuzou.
"Wait, you're stealing the seeds?!" Morio asked.
Chyuuichi jumped through the grass in the front.
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL!"
"Damn it!" Jyuzou dropped the seeds, and started chasing after Chyuuichi, Morio followed, and Atomu did the same, after almost sliding his face into the snow. He looked back for a moment, hearing the footsteps of the land's owner. He sped up, catching up to Chyuuichi.
"What the hell did you do?" Atomu asked, looking at his face.
"I'm hungry!"
"They're someone's property!" Atomu pushed around the grass, as the snow stuck to his face.
"Oh, then why weren't they signed, huh? It's out in nature!" Chyuuichi explained, before making a sudden turn.
"You..!" Atomu grabbed his long scarf.
Morio and Jyuzou struggled to breathe in between the snow.
"We have to keep running... run, run!" Chyuuichi said.
"I'm not in on your action! We'll stop and explain everything to the owner!" Atomu yelled out.
"There's no peace here!"
All of a sudden, Chyuuichi stopped, right in front of a steep cliff, that would lead down to the forest below. Atomu bumped into him, causing him to lose balance for a moment, but Atomu quickly grabbed his hand. Then, Morio and Jyuzou joined, completely destroying the formation, as the four fell down the cliff, landing on a snowy road in the middle of the hanging trees.
Chyuuichi stuck his head out of a snowdrift, spitting out some of the snow. He stood up, brushing off the snow from his blue jacket and light pants, fixing his headband.
"Ah!" Atomu walked up to him, grabbing him by the scarf again. "You could've gotten us killed!" he yelled out, visibly angry.
"Could've!" Chyuuichi smiled.
Morio shook his head, as the snow fell off his hair and Jyuzou stood up, surprised at Atomu's sudden change.
"But we didn't. I can call this a shortcut, then."
"To what?" Atomu asked.
"Magna! I have to make it there in a few days, after all." Chyuuchi raised a finger.
"What..?" Atomu was confused.
"Are you going to the Demonear exam too?" Morio asked, stepping closer, and putting his hand on the sheath.
"Exactly! So, I thought I'd stop for a moment to get food for the road... just some Hawana fruits..." he bragged, showing the Bullion seeds and making sure everyone saw them.
"Hawana fruits don't grow in Yule. They're only there in Gorro!" Jyuzou stood up, opening the red book. "See?" he pointed.
"Oh." Chyuuchi scratched the back of his head. "So... these aren't Hawana..?" he looked down.
"They're Bullion seeds!" Jyuzou raised his voice.
"Oh... Belfer..."
"Bullion." Jyuzou corrected him.
"Ah..." Atomu looked up. "Jeez..." he breathed out, closing his eyes. "Okay, I'm calm. I'm calm," he repeated to himself as Morio waddled over. "We need to find a way to get back to Lapida." he pointed.
"This still is, Lapida, just the forest part," Morio explained. "We were going to step into here either way. It leads to the Shimori lake after all."
"So what was the purpose..?" Atomu asked, in the same voice that greeted them in Wendigo.
"Well, there was a safer road that let us down here..." Morio explained.
"Oh. Well, someone caused a rather dangerous change of plans." Atomu squinted his eyes at Chyuuichi who waved at him. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Nothing a Morian can't handle!" Morio raised his voice.
"R-Right." Atomu smiled awkwardly.
Jyuzou paced around, while Chyuuichi sat in the snow, eating some of the Bullion seeds. Then spitting them out. They weren't very tasty if they weren't mixed together in some stew.
Jyuzou sighed. "You can't grow Hawana fruits in the grass either."
"Oh, really?" Chyuuichi asked, disappointed.
"Were you planning to steal some more?"
"Borrow! That's the right word!"
Suddenly, a wind picked up from behind the trees, and some of the white sleet flew onto Morio's and Atomu's clothes. They looked into the distance, seeing some hooded figure, seemingly floating above the ground.
"What's that?" Atomu asked.
"I think it's a weird tree," Morio answered.
"No, it's... moving. Guys?" Atomu raised his voice.
"What's up, team?" Chyuuichi squeezed in the middle of Morio and Atomu and Jyuzou looked out from the side.
"We're not a team," Jyuzou commented.
"There's something there, or..?" Atomu pointed, as the cape-like material around the figure started floating, carried by the wind, which kept flying in their direction. There was a black shadow covering its face, and then, a loud screech could be heard.
Atomu's eyes shrank, and Morio opened his mouth in shock. "OFF THE ROAD!" Atomu yelled.
The four stepped down, hiding behind the bigger, thick tree trunks. Atomu sat on the ground, holding his hand over Chyuuichi's mouth, and Morio and Jyuzou breathed heavily.
It's gotten quiet. Morio looked up, before putting his hand on the trunk and peeking out from behind the tree. The figure floated right in front of them, extending its devilish, sharp sword claws from beneath its shadow.
Morio immediately moved back, holding his breath.
Atomu closed his eyes, as Chyuuichi kept eyeing everything around him.
One of the claws changed into a bony hand, which reached onto the trunk, slowly crawling towards Morio's face. He looked at it, terrified. It kept growing closer, almost touching his face.
There was a rather unknown fact about Shimori that sometimes went overhead of even the most knowledgeable Morians.
To be exact, there were these very rare cases of cold winds, forming and rising up from the seas surrounding the country. They seldom appeared, on the last few days of Yule, usually accompanied by a gust of snow and a precise sound if you're near trees.
In the life of most Morians, they'll never experience this sudden, icy wave. It never appears on the inside of towns, nor does it step inside the various huts sprinkled around Shimori, much like the mashed-up seed, spread over Jul meat.
If you ever were to stumble upon it, it'd probably be somewhere between Wendigo and Magna, precisely carried into the region of Lapida. The people living there sometimes complained about the issue to the passerby, but then were greeted with either confusion or a rather happy response, the likes of: "Wow! I never thought these were real!"
To which the experienced replied with a dissatisfied frown, followed by angry words: "You haven't experienced the REAL Shimori!"
To many, the so-called truth was simply that these winds were a very rare occurrence, maybe even a myth or some kind of over-exaggeration, but in reality, they existed, caused small problems with temperature in certain areas, but had no real effect on life. It was a bit cold, but what is a Morian if they hadn't experienced some ice?
But this time, the cold wave would prove to be much more beneficial than one thought.
A drop of sweat rolled down Morio's face, as he stared blankly at the hand reaching towards his face. He could almost feel its dead touch and its evil desires. He perfectly knew that whoever was on the other side of the tree saw him, and was out to obtain whatever he possessed. Maybe it was Gloria's necklace? Maybe it was the sword he put his hand on, ready to strike? But if it's nothing but a demon, how do we kill it then?
Morians weren't exactly known to be a brutal race, yet, they had rather violent tendencies. Much like Paladians, they often found joy in hunting animals and then reaping the freshly harvested meat near a warm fire. Some of them would eat it raw, some of them would wait for it to change into a warm brown colour, and some Morians went out to hunt simply for the thrill or joy of using the weapon they had, sometimes they just left the dead animal in the open, waiting for it to be consumed by snow.
Paladians didn't do that. When they hunted, they always brought back resources. So in reality, people should really step back and think if Morians aren't the ones holding the knife too close to the belly.
From a young age, Morio went out to hunt with the others, either doing the deed himself or watching in patience and excitement as the others struck their weapons around, hunting for his dinner. On the other hand, Jyuzou refused to participate in events like these, he never even ate meat.
"Morio... kill it, kill it..!" thought Jyuzou, knowing that Morio had way more experience, and if the time called, he'd be the one to jump and attack. For now, he simply stared at his white-haired friend in as much fear and panic as Morio had, spotting the hand. He held onto his red book tightly, praying this moment would pass, hoping that this thing would just go away.
Atomu glanced at the two, in a panic. With all the solutions he had in his head, not one did seem reasonable in this scenario. He could've stepped out and tried something, but he had to hold Chyuuichi's mouth shut, otherwise, he could've done something reckless. He ground his teeth, as the creature kept growing closer. He managed to take a closer look and his eyes widened in shock.
It wasn't a Demon, nor a centura or a goblin. It was something else entirely, a thing he didn't recognise. He moved back, startled.
What once was nothing but long, sharp, tentacle-like eight arms, changed into bony hands, with the seven climbing around the tree and into its leaves, looking down at the terrified Jyuzou, and the last one reached right towards Morio. It was covered with a cloak, but it wasn't silky or made of any known material. Its inside, despite being practically engulfed in darkness from the setting sun, was full of flesh, pulsating, with blood flowing in between its massive, skin-like veins.
...and the shadow that covered its face... it seemed to be a part of it entirely. No matter how hard Atomu looked, despite his fearful curiosity, the only thing he could make out was an even thicker murk, smoky and moving, changing. It seemed as if it started looking towards him, noticing, watching, observing. Atomu's grip around Chyuuichi's face tightened, and Chyuuichi closed one eye.
Morio started sliding around on the snow, weeping quietly. Jyuzou covered his eyes, and Atomu tried to stand up, but couldn't.
It seemed as if, at that time, only a miracle could save them, and that's exactly what happened, well... sort of.
One would call it a miracle, especially a Paladian like Atomu, but a heavy wind suddenly picked up from the front, carrying a massive gust of snow. When it reached their bodies, they felt the most intense cold they ever did in their entire lives. It was sinking, agonizing, freezing, but to them, it was a gift, especially after they'd heard the creature's ear-piercing scream, as it moved back, flying up to Lapida.
Comments (0)
See all