“Gan, where are you taking me?”
The young master yelled loudly and asked Gan he was being dragged away to the direction of the forest in a hurry by Gan. He tried to stop Gan, but surprisingly, he was not able to escape Gan’s hold.
No matter how much he shouted or tries to ask Gan, Gan didn’t hear him and continued to move thorugh the forest in urgency. His face was covered with sweat and his breathing was shallow but without even with that, he continued to move forward.
“GAN, STOP!!”
“?!”
Seeing that Gan had no intention to listen to him and stop in his path, the older brother shouted and used his power to stop Gan. Gan too came to his sense as soon as he heard his young master’s voice.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
*Grab*
The young master suddenly grabbed Gan by his shoulder and looked directly into his eyes.
“Gan, if there is something wrong, say it to my face. What are you doing, dragging me into the forest suddenly?”
“T-That...”
As Gan calmed down, he started to hesitate to answer back as he started to recall the foggy memories of him seeing Ashv killing the sash in front of him. When the young master told him about Ashv going for a hunt, something happened inside him that he couldn’t explain.
A sudden rush of blood inside him that made him grab his young master’s hands and drag him to the forest.
‘So it was because of these memories?’
Though doubtful, the memories felt more surreal and more real than just mere imagination. Something inside him made him rush to the forest, but he doesn’t know what that was.
*Sigh*
Seeing Gan standing silently, the young master sighed. He could felt the nervousness from Gan’s grip while he was busy dragging him till here.
“Gan, is there something you want to say to me? You know, you are my elder, so please don’t hesitate to speak to me. Tell me, have I done wrong sending Ashv to get food for us? Is that why you are so tense?”
As he remembered, the moment Ashv’s name fell from his mouth, Gan reacted in an abnormal manner and as soon he informed Gan of Ashv hunt, he is here, standing in front of Gan after getting dragged by him.
“Gan, please!”
“Hahh!”
With his heartfelt request, Gan finally gave up.
“Okay, young master. Listen.”
***
“Keh, Keh, Keh!!”
“KUE!!”
In the forest, a man was sitting on the ground while holding a white ball of fur. He laughed like a maniac as he thoroughly looked at the ball of fur in front of him.
“See, your wife and child are crying for you. They are begging for your life. YOUR DAMN LIFE!!”
On closer look, the fur ball turned out to be a sash as he struggled while the man held the sash with his ears. The sash looked like a rabbit but with the looks of a squirrel.
While the sash struggled in the man’s grip, two other sashs, one smaller than the other stood in front of the man while crying and kneeling in front of him, asking for the life of the sash in the man’s hands to be spared.
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The man, who saw this, instead of feeling bad and guilty, grinned even more. An ugly smile befitting of a demon was looking down at the terrible situation of the sashs.
“See, see!! Look, look. This is what you get when you think you can surpass a human, hahaha!!”
“K-Kue!!”
“How does it feel, having your ears in my grip, huh? Now, where is that confidence of yours when you tried to stood in front of me?”
The man looked directly into the eyes of the sash in his hands while the sash writhed in pain as he gave more pressure into his grip.
“Understand one thing. You shits are nothing but food to us. How dare you even try to go against me, huh?”
Suddenly, he stood up which stunned the three sashs. Seeing their stunned expressions, the man grinned even more as he alternated his eyes between the three of them.
“Now, its getting late. Brother might get suspicious if i take more time with you. I don’t want my brother to be hungry, right. So-”
He then suddenly kicked away the two sashs who were by his feet and then stomped on them.
“K-kue!!!”
Seeing his family being stomped, the sash in the hand struggled even more and shouted, trying to somehow stop the man from torturing his family. But little did the creature knew that it’s his helplessness and fear that the man want the most.
“It’s a good morning talking to you all. But then again, all good things come to an end eventually, so-”
From his waist, he took out a dagger and slowly brought it towards the sash’s neck. He then lowered his upper body and brought the sash near the two sashs under his feet while keeping the blade near the neck.
“K-Kueee!!”
“KUE KUE!! KUEEEE!!”
“HAHAHA!! Blame the goddess for making you like this, not me. I am a predator and you are the prey. Unlucky for you that you got to meet me first. Now, reunite in our stomachs.”
The sashs ultimately accepted their fates as they saw nothing but the vile demon visciously looking for their deaths. The three of them closed their eyes and hoped that they could reunite again in another life.
*Baam!!*
But before he cut behead the sash, something hard suddenly struck his face.
“Gahh!!!”
***
“Gan, how can you even think that i will believe this?”
Inside the forest, Gan and the young master stood face to face, their eyes looking deep inside each of their eyes back. The atmosphere around them too got so tensed that the silent jungle didn’t felt that eerier than the silence between them.
“How can you acuse Ashv, Gan. That Ashv, who is raised by you? How can you say that my brother, descendent of the proud warrior class can commit such heinous crime?”
His voice, full of questions finally broke the errie atmosphere between them. He couldn’t handle the rush of questions inside his head after he heard what Gan said.
Inside, he denied everything that Gan said about Ashv. He couldn’t believe that his brother, his dearest brother would commit a heinous crime like this. On top of being taught by Gan, both the brothers are raised under strict discipline, so he can’t believe that Ashv would something like this.
“Say it Gan!! How can you even accuse Ashv like this? What even made you accuse him?”
With trembling hands, he held Gan’s hands as he looked at him, with an expression that is denying everthing.
Gan, who looked at him too felt like needles are piercing his heart. Even he couldn’t believe what he said. It felt like he saw a whole film with every detail thoroughly embedded inside his brain.
From Ashv killing and somehow pursuing Gan to Ashv betraying them and burning them to death, he spilled everything that he could remember.
“...Young Master, I do not if i am right or wrong, but-”
“But?”
Gan freed himself from the young master’s grip and kneeled in front of him.
“Young master, if what I said turned out to be false, feel free to behead my right here, right now. I swear on the authority bestowed on me by your father, my owner and lord that I will follow any punishment you decide for me for staining the name of the great warrior family.”
The sudden declaration of Gan stunned the young master. Though their family is not the best as they were once, their name still holds much value in their current time. And now, Gan has put the stake of his family name and the aurthority bestowed by his father on the line.
Seeing this, a weird feeling started to crawl out of his heart. But before focusing on the feeling, he looked down at Gan.
“Gan.”
“Yes, Young Master!”
“Are you really serious about this. If you want, I-”
“Young Master. Please, do not disrespect the oath i have taken now.”
Moments ago, there was a hint of guilt and fear within Gan’s eyes, but now, a fire that burned so gracefully within his eyes that even the young master was left speechless. The loyalty towards them was something he knew from his childhood.
But one thing he knew that Gan’s allegiance towards his father is unbreakable. And now, seeing Gan taking the oath and kneeling in front of him, looking directly into his eyes had finally made him surrender to Gan.
“...Fine. But Gan, if what you said turned out to be false, then be sure that i will be the first to gouge that tongue of yours that disrespected my brother and took a fake oath of our family.”
“I know, Young Master. And I am ready too for that.”
“Hmm. Show me the way then.”
And so, both of them continued to walk towards the path leading to Ashv, with one having doubts slowly rising in his heart and one hoping that what he saw in the dream won’t become reality.