Eyes of Grey
The pale moonlight shone softly down on a patch crimson snow, contrasting radically in the middle of the lonely clearing. A solitary figure peeled itself from among the forest shadows, thick leather boots crunching down the pristine snow into the ground. The figure revealed itself as a man, clad in thick robes in deepest crimson lined in intricate silver filigree. He paused, patient and slowly, the methodical hunter kneeled to examine the partially frozen blood. A single deep breath escaped his lips, the warm air of life crashing violently against the cold air forming a cloud. The brief puff of vapour was quickly swept away in the night wind. Without a word, the man rose and drew a long glimmering crimson steel blade and strode forward following the other patches of blood marking his new path.
The wind howled around him, biting cold and harsh as it pushed the man back, almost as if to reject his presence in this land. It caught on his hood and dragged it back, revealing jet black hair framing the young man's face. A handsome face it would have been, if not for the scars marring his visage. His eyes were grey, sharp with intellect and haunted by experiences that no youth should have. His name was Ryo; at only fifteen years old, his life was simple. He lived to hunt the darkest nightmare that his twisted world had to offer and destroy them. His expression would have been unsettling if anyone had ever taken the time to look. His features impassive and expressionless, without fear, joy, or anger. Even as the snow melted and soaked his now exposed skin. His face was empty and hollow to mirror how Ryo felt inside. His existence driven by a singular purpose, and that made things simple.
The first body was close by, the small boy had not much blood to spare and succumbed quickly to the mortal wound. Ryo had been this boy once, full of hopes and dreams, both of which had been snatched away the day his own family had been murdered. Ryo had been lucky or perhaps unlucky, depending on your perspective. Ryo had found by the Order, they saved him and given him the skills and purpose that lead him every day since. The dead eyes stared at Ryo, accusation and sadness in the silent stare. Ryo understood the implied message, too little, too late.
There wasn't much left of the boy below the waist, something had bisected him at the waist. His lower half had been torn into bloody little pieces. Whatever had killed him had made a meal for itself before moving on towards the village. Ryo reached out to touch the boy's forehead, gently brushing the matted brown hair from his small face. Ryo's expressionless mask slipping to one of sorrow for the briefest moment. He ran his sword across the boy's shattered frame, the frozen blood melted instantly and flowed upwards into the crimson sword. The boy shuddered as his tortured soul was ripped free and cast into the void, destroying it entirely.
Ryo’s face grew cold again, he was no priest or champion of the gods. He lacked the means to send the boy to a peaceful afterlife. Consigning the child to oblivion was better than the alternative he told himself bitterly. Ryo had hunted wraiths before; he did not wish that fate on this innocent child. The deed done, Ryo pressed on as the heavy snowfall began to erase the unnamed boy.
Before long, Ryo found himself on the edge of the ruined village. It had been a simple logging village, ringed with timber walls and a wooden gate twice his height. The gate was ajar, no guards were present to challenge him, and Ryo strode inside without hesitation. The snow inside was soft and fluffy, it was doing an admirable job of covering the shattered bodies scattering the shared avenues between the homes. The soft mounds of purest white acted as frozen graves for the fallen. Ryo moved among them, silently erasing their souls. Slowly but steadily moving inwards towards the village square. In the square, a statue of some local hero standing prominently, at the statue’s hearth sat a young girl.
The girl was beautiful by most conventional standards, tall and lithe with flowing black hair and pale skin. She wore a revealing dress of royal purple, made of wide interwoven silk strips tied into ribbons. The girl turned to regard Ryo with grey eyes that matched his own. Her flawless features twisted into a wicked smile as she recognized her newest prey.
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"Dearest brother, still alive, I see?" She sneered with vicious delight. "I promised to see you rest, Monster." Ryo's expression was empty, but he gripped his father's sword tight in his hands. "Oh, really?" She smiled maliciously. "Well, we will have to see about that." The fiend rose, dropping the severed arm she had been consuming. Gracefully stepping past the corpses at her feet, she maintained her wicked smile. "They fled here, to pray to their precious hero to appear and save them. She coldly laughed, her voice filled with disdain. "They didn't even fight back, like cattle to the slaughter."
Ryo said nothing, but deep inside his psyche, he blamed himself. He had been too weak to stand against his sole sibling when she had fallen to the darkness. His five-year-old self had run in terror and fear at the sight of his dead parents. His face was penance for his own cowardice, the thing that was his sister had left him a permeant reminder. Ryo had never told anyone this, he buried himself in his calling. Embedded his heart and mind inside walls of ice, so he never had to feel the pain of loss. His father’s sword was still in his hand, the memories it held gave him strength. Taking a deep breath, Ryo rushed forward, ready to meet fate.
The Sister-Creature laughed insanely, and her features turned cruel. Her eyes shifted to glowing red, and her smile filled with pointed fangs. Her fingers transformed, forming barbed talons as she lunged forward to meet Ryo's charge. The pair crashed together, her claws sweeping aside Ryo's sword and smashing him backwards with inhuman strength. Ryo's footing was lost as the blow hit him, and he fell back. This unfortunate slip saved Ryos life, as a moment later, Agony bit into his shoulder. The Sister-Creature's Talons had been aiming towards his throat, but his inadvertent move had directed the razor-edged fingers into his armoured shoulder. He rose to lash out again with his sword one-handed, bleeding profusely from three deep gouges. His sister was already bearing down on him, driving him backwards with ease.
Ryo rolled on the ground to avoid a decapitating strike, spattering blood across the snow as he drew and threw two vials at his once sister. The Sister-Creature side-stepped without difficulty and moved in to finish him. The vials shattered against the ground, releasing their contents. The exotic chemicals combined and detonated with enough force to blast the Sister-Creature into the air. The Sister-Creature slammed against a stone wall, dazed at the violent impact. Ryo didn't let her recover, driving forward and impaling her to the wall. "Goodbye, Jana," he whispered into the wind.
Jana's eyes widened with horror and surprise as she struggled to free herself. She lashed out at him, her claws cutting deep into his flesh. Ryo was soon bleeding from a dozen deep cuts, but Jana's strength was fading rapidly. Jana began sobbing, her red eyes returning to the same grey as Ryo. Tears streaked down Jana's face, her sorrow turning to ash as she shifted back into the human girl Ryo once cared for so deeply. Jana was the last of his family, she had hidden him the night the demon had come for his father. In revenge for the fiends his father had slain, one had come to murder him and turn his children into fiends. The monster had succeeded, his parents had died, and Jana was turned. When Ryo emerged from his hiding spot, the new twisted Jana had scarred him for life before letting him go.
Jana stopped resisting, and with her last breath, reached forward to gently brushed the hair from his eyes. "You've grown little brother." Jana smiled softly before drifting away forever. A decade of trauma and pain released itself as he twisted the blade, releasing her soul from its mortal prison. The body of his sister slowly slumped forward, crumbling to ash. One of the thick silk ribbons that formed her dress shifted on its own accord and gently wrapped itself around Ryo's shoulders. After the initial moment of panic, he relaxed and accepted the make-shift scarf as his sister's parting gift.
Ryo sat in the snow unmoving, his tears came now, flowing freely from the frame of a child forced into manhood too soon. Ryo wept for parents whom he had missed every day for ten years. He wept for the sister who had given her life for his, and who's soul joined one of hundreds he had been compelled to destroy. Ryo knew his childhood had been stolen, never to return. As the cold finally closed in on him, he felt it now, for the first time in a long time.
The moment passed after what felt like a long time, and Ryo carefully bound his wounds. He pulled his new scarf tight to shield himself from the cold and drew his hood. He would travel west and report his kill to the Order. Even if his own past was now resolved, there were still many nightmares lingering in the dark corners of his world. The life of a hunter was the hunt, and Ryo simply knew nothing else. The snow continued to fall as Ryo left the ruined village behind, this time the howling winds and snow embraced him as if he was coming home.