Tsuki had just killed Carlson. His warm blood left his body like a river until the flow ceased at once. After all, his heart was gone, taken by the glaive when it formed. With nothing to pump blood to his brain, Carlson was doomed to die. Still, he wasn’t human, but a fae which meant he could survive for some time and if he had the strength, even heal from such a wound…But he wasn’t strong enough. He was old and tired. He was ready to die and embraced the inevitable long ago. When his wife died, he wanted to follow her. When his only son was murdered, he was ashamed to still be alive. And when his grandkids died, he wanted to kill himself. But that promise he made to his wife on her deathbed was to make others happy and find joy for himself. At that time, those simple words ‘I promise’ brought him so much anguish that life became meaningless.
He made stories from this day on that many kids could enjoy. Sculpting slabs of wood and using them to print many drawings of cats going on adventures and bringing joy to people was now his life. For more than 200 years he sculpted and printed, waiting for the grim reaper to knock at his door.
“How ironic—” –for the one to end me to be wearing her ribbon...He tried to say but vomited blood over the girl’s hands.
Tsuki moved back, pulling her glaive from his body in the process. It was surprisingly light as if it moved itself following her intent. She was mesmerized by its luster and delicate pattern over the shaft that she could only feel with her hand as the colors didn’t change. Instead, the pattern was created from a colder material.
Carlson tried to say something to the girl entranced by her weapon but all that came out was a disgusting gurgling. Understanding that it was useless to say anything, even if he desperately wanted to beg for forgiveness, he simply sat on a bench overlooking the sea. It took him back to the day he made it. Someone had given him a kid to take care of and as the child grew, he would read him stories about adventurers discovering unknown islands while watching merchant ships leaving the calm gulf.
He snapped his fingers, and a root made its way inside his house and came back with a leather satchel filled with woodblock printing tools, small blades, and whetstones. The vine headed toward Tsuki who got startled – she had a bad experience with them – and gifted her the satchel while gesturing a sort of adorable bow. Not knowing any better, Tsuki took this offering and the vine flopped on the ground without any strength left.
She looked one last time at the back of the man looking down the empty gulf and left without saying a word.
❀
When Tsuki came back to the usually occupied village that was squirming with plenty of creatures a moment ago, she was shocked to notice that there wasn’t the slightest sign of life. There were bodies in plenty all over the place, but nothing was alive. Not even the usual insects or birds which lived by feasting on the dead showed a sign of existing.
For the sea monsters and the villagers, the confrontation had taken them somewhere close to the exit while the bugs and birds were simply scared and were long gone from the village.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
As such, Tsuki managed to walk in the dark with relative safety. She used the backstreets with ease until she found herself in front of the main street in the market. It was empty with not even a body to show the carnage that took place. The only way forward required her to leave her peaceful backstreet and run in the large market road until she could reach someplace safe.
She looked left and right and ready herself. There was no one. It was now or— *meow!* —or so she tried but a cat meowed behind her as she was about to run for it. She looked back startled, but there was no trace of any cat.
“That’s why I don’t like those sneaky…” Said Tsuki under her breath before freezing after a gigantic shadow passed above her.
A large snake-like creature slithered on the roofs nearby and sent rubble flying everywhere, almost killing Tsuki outright as she had to hide from stone the size of her head. She tried to jump inside a building from a broken window but just before she could get inside, a piece of wood clipped her left foot.
“!!!” She tried to not make a sound, but a low yelp still managed to escape her cracked lips.
Then she realized something frighteningly wrong, the loud destruction had stopped. She held her breath scared that the unknown snake knew her location and was about to jump at her, swallowing her whole. But nothing came and nothing changed. The monster made no sound.
The girl was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She either hide forever from this gigantic snake and be swallowed by a tsunami or run as fast as she could and die from this giant. Waiting was an absolute death but escaping gave her a chance to survive…
Tsuki crawled as far away from the window as she could while trying to not make a sound. When she found out she couldn’t go any further, threw a rock out the window in the hope to distract the lurking predator, possibly waiting for her. But nothing happened. The rock resounded in the oppressive silence that made Tsuki’s own heart sound loud.
She had no choice: to run. She opened the front door to leave this prison and there it was, looking at her. The head of an old lady dangling a tapered snake-like neck. She had a mystifying smile filled with freedom while her eyes, dark and profound, observed the girl as if planning something.
Tsuki threatened this creature with her glaive, swinging left and right as if saying: “Ya bastard! I’ll make filets out of you and feed them to your brother by the ears till their heads pop!” or so it was how the creature interpreted Tsuki’s actions. In this giant point of view, Tsuki was nothing more than a prairie dog screaming their anger against the world.
Surprisingly, the giant snake gave an amused smile and left. Tsuki, confused, could only look as it went back toward the sea while destroying as many buildings as possible.
The old lady was Scylla’s daughter, the one blessed with a calculating mind but lacking a heart. When she was absorbed by her mother after dying, the anger and rage that should have infected her did nothing of the sort. She simply saw the world as it was: a young girl without parents trying to survive alone…It reminded her of her past and thus she was left lacking the will to kill this child.
In truth, the only one of the siblings able to fight was the eldest brother who followed all of his mother’s orders without a thought. The youngest despised fighting and was more apt at taking care of the soldiers his mother created. He was even the one who had cleaned most bodies in the village, understanding they would degrade otherwise.
Tsuki, not knowing any of that, simply ran as fast as she could toward the village’s entrance. Her weapon shined brightly under the waning moon while strange flowers seemed to form behind her. Separating her from the village and the wilderness was now just a bloody confrontation between the villagers and the sea monsters.