“GODDAMN EH”, the yell caused the winged lizards to fly out of the trees.

Ame was pacing in front of the campfire, he was studying the map in his hand, Onyx was comfortably laid out, his eye’s following Ame’s movements.

Only now, Ame realized that leaving home looking for “some mountains” probably wasn't the best idea, especially because that's all he knew about it. He was looking for a mountain, sadly Ame had overlooked the fact that there were quite a few mountains in the area.

It had been about two weeks since Ame had left home in search for a man that could teach him how to be a Breaker, only so he could avenge Yuri. Two weeks since he first heard about Breakers. Two weeks since he made possibly the most impulsive decision in his life.

It was dawn, the sun just rising. Ame wanted to get on the road and make good time in the sun. He had thought about going back to the village a few times. He decided otherwise because, well, imagine it, writing notes and everything just to come back and say “yeah actually I don't know where i'm going” it would be humiliating.

Ame had been through a few other small villages while on the road, that’s where he got the map. The man who sold it to him had been a great help, he told Ame the mountains that were more likely to be the one he was looking for.

Ame took one more focused look at the map.

“Okay! Dis way…i fink.” He said as he pivoted his foot so he was pointing at the peak that was just southeast of them.

It was quite a bit of a hike, they weren't even at the top yet and it was noon now. Along the way Ame had noticed quite a few roadside shrines, some were black with deep red accents and the others were white with light teal details. Ame couldn't help but wonder what deities the man he was going to see was loyal to. If this was the right place that is.

The sun was just starting to set, but still Ame felt uneasy. He was in an unfamiliar place, and any place could have demons, what happened to Yuri showed that much. They were approaching another roadside shrine, this one was a bit larger than the others; it was black and red. The thing that caught Ame’s attention was the dim light he could see coming out from the entrance.

He slowed Onyx to a stop, he grabbed his bow and an arrow as a precaution. He quietly hopped off of Onyx’s back and crouched close to the ground, bow and arrow still in hand. The boy made large paces, still close to the ground yet his movements were like the ocean, collected and deep yet threatening.

He came to a halt at the sound of whistling. He stayed for a moment, zoning out in curiosity. After a second of just sitting, not thinking just sitting, he suddenly shook his head from side to side so fast it was hardly noticeable. He started to focus on the whistling. He waited for a few moments longer, eyes looking down at the ground, trying to pin where the melody repeated. Then almost as if a lightbulb in his head went off he recognized the tune. He didn't realize the whistling stopped.

“Hall Of The Mountain King.” He muttered under his breath, not even trying to say it aloud.The second the words slipped from his mouth he noticed the absence of the tune.

A sigh “ Are you just gonna sit there kid? Your starten to freak me out.” a voice.

All at once everything stopped as Ame tried to process what was said in his moment of realization. “Wait what” he thought as he tried to unscramble his thoughts, trying to retrace the situation. Ame was frozen not out of fear but of shock. The only thing that snapped him out of it was Onyx nudging him forward with his snout.

Ame crawled forward and peeked into the shrine, showing as little of his face as possible. He was met with a small chuckle. The woman was wearing some kind of dress, it was sleeveless, the bottom cut off at the hip, except the middle that went down almost to her ankles. She had tan skin and long hair. One side of her hair white the other black. And that's when Ame noticed them.

Horns, the woman had horns! Ame froze at the realization. The woman let out another chuckle, “Don't worry kid, I'm not hungry,” she let out the last bit with a snicker as if she was making a joke.

Ame untensed, just slightly. Not because of the comment but because of the calm nature of it all. Reading aura was something quite normal for Ame, and yet he’s never seen aura look quite like this. It was strong Extremely strong, but it was perfectly level, it was just completely balanced.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Ame was more intrigued than scared at this point. He crawled over into the entrance and just sat somewhat unsure of what he was trying to achieve. The woman took note of the behavior of the boy, she was starting to get curious herself.

Suddenly, basically out of nowhere the woman spoke up, “Are you afraid of demons?” she questioned.

Ame was surprised by how normal she made the question sound. After a moment of just staring wide eyed he nodded his head. Ame took note of the understanding shrug like nod and hum the woman let out at his answer.

There was another moment of silence, Ame was debating if he should ask the woman something, the woman just sat comfortably.

“Do you hate demons?” The woman asked abruptly, Ame felt like he might get whiplash from how quickly the interaction was stopping and starting back up.

It took Ame a second to actually process the question. Once he did he had to take a moment to think, Yuri was killed by a demon but Ame had seen other people killed by demons, they were eaten.

After a moment he shook his head from side to side, he stopped, “No” he said.

Now that caught the woman off guard, well, she raised an eyebrow indicating she wanted Ame to continue. And so he did, “ demons eat humans and elves…buh humans and elves eat animals toh” he said in a small voice.

The woman looked a bit surprised at this, she sat up straight, “My name’s Naru”, she said as she stuck her hand out for the boy to shake.

Ame sat still looking at the hand for a moment, “...Ame, names Ame” he said as he brought his hand up to shake Naru’s.

As they shook hands Ame looked up at Naru, He was met with one eye with a black sclera and a white iris and the other the opposite. He noticed her horns were like this as well, the half of her hair that was black had the white horn on its side, the white hair with the black horn.

Naru ploped backwards onto the small red cushions that were in front of a small table, she let out a big sigh. Ame leaned back to look outside the shrine, to see what Onyx was doing. Sleeping…He was sleeping of course, Ame’s curious face quickly fell into a displeased look as he tilted back into the shrine.

Ame was just keeling when he looked at Naru. Naru’s shoulders and head were leaned onto the wall, her legs crossed and elevated, her feet were on the small table. She smiled at Ame.

“So, what’s a kid like you doing out here alone on a mountain,” She asked.

“Kid?” Ame questioned. Naru’s face fell into a questioning expression,

“Uhhhhhh yeah…kid…your like… 5 right?” she said as if Ame was the strange one for saying anything.

Ame was shocked for a second but that silence quickly turned into hysterical laughter. Ame had tumbled down, he was grabbing at his chest his head pressed to the floor as he wheezed. Naru couldn't help but laugh at his reaction,

“Hahaheheh what?!” she asked not even trying to hide how humorous she found it.

Ame was just gasping and wheezing. He let out a few attempts at words something about how he couldn't breathe but he kept laughing through the sentence.

Once Ame had settled he answered Naru’s question about why he was here,

“Well I wanna become a Breaker. I heard there migh be some old guy tha’ll train me” he said.

Naru just looked at him in confusion,

“Wait, wait, wait, wait I thought you said you didn't hate demons” she questioned.

Ame just returned the look of confusion, “Wha’you mean, i mean yeah the harbingers are demons…probably, but dat doesn' mean i hate demons.” he said.

Naru let out a small scoff not to make Ame feel bad more or less just to voice her disbelief.

“The Breakers aren't just trying to get rid of the harbingers, hell not even just the “human killer”. They want the world to go back to the way it was. They are trying to wipe out Nu demons, well Nu demons and everything else that came from the war.” She explained.

Ame just sat unsure what to think of the situation, Naru could tell, she let out a huff.

“Ah sorry i just-i just am not a huge fan of the Breakers.” she sighed, this got Ame’s attention.

“Are-are you a likea harbinger?” He asked, sounding a bit on edge. Naru just looked at him with a curious expression.

“You think i'm a demon but you're still sittin here talkin, it’s just the harbingers” She said almost like asking if she was correct.

Ame just sat for a second as he processed the words,

“Waih so….you’re noh a demon…?” He asked, sounding confused.

Naru didn't answer, “what’s your grudge with the harbingers?” she interrogated.

Ame didn't feel asking again so he just sighed,

“One of dem killed someone imporant tuh me” He said.

Naru just looked down as she contemplated.

“Hey kid you dont want to get attacked by an old guy as he says “your training begins now” right?” Naru blurted the words out so fast they sounded more like gibberish.

Ame just looked at her with a judgmental confused face,

“...Huh…” he said.

Then all of the sudden Ame’s vision went black.

He had been knocked out.