She found herself in soft grass. The scent filled her lungs, It smelled of fresh wild life. She could hear a gentle river by the side. The way the trees carried their leaves. The sound of petals falling. Oni were particularly aware of their surroundings. It was in their nature to notice everything. Every shift in the air. Every change in temperature. Every sound that did not belong.
She opened her eyes. The sky was painted purple. The grass beneath her was red. The river carried a faint red tinge to its water. It was pretty... An feeling she have now recently learned to recognize, She stood up slowly. Her head was pounding. She remembered that she had walked toward a rift. She knew what this was. It had finally arrived. The fated day she have waited for. The day where she would be tested. The day where she could finally awaken her dormant lineage and utilize her latent trait to its fullest potential.
She stood fully and looked down at herself. She wore the same dark robes she always wore. Her physique was somewhere between extremes. Not fully fleshed out but yet not too frail either. She still had her delicate soft touches. Her feminine contours. The sunlight had a purple tinge to it as it mixed with the red ambiance of the place. Everything was familiar and foreign at the same time.
She was no stranger to this place. She knew it. The red grass. The slightly red river. The purple sky. It was her origin. Her home town that had existed at the edges of the scattered realm next to the continent of Osteria where major power houses resided. Vex Academy. The Dao Dynasty. Her people had come from desolate islands where the oni had made their home after being exiled from their true rightful place. After being supposedly cursed by the twin moons. Yomigahara. Home to the most talented swordsmen to ever wield the blade. She did not remember much from her childhood. But those were the details she had retained since she was small. Those were the facts that had been repeated to her until they became part of her identity.
She walked a bit more. Further into the landscape. As she went on, she saw a settlement in the distance. She recognized the painful architecture. The way it was laid out. Carved wooden fences. Slanted roofs. Everything was exactly as she remembered it.
"Miss Ayame!"
She turned around quickly. She saw a small girl dressed in thin dark robes. A short singular horn protruded from her forehead. She wore a light smile that seemed out of place in this somber landscape.
"Chika," she said in a broken tone. The name came from somewhere deep. Somewhere she had buried.
"What is it? Our clan head master went to see you!" The girl grabbed her arm without hesitation. Without fear. "Come on!"
She took her arm and carried her through the red grass field. Her grip was warm. Alive. Real.
She could not believe it. After all these years, she was back. The rift trials were always said to break their victims. But this was a demand far too taxing to pay. Far too impossible to complete. They made you face what you had lost. What you could never have again.
She remembered everything now. About how her mother and father had entrusted her to lead the future of her clan toward success. To restore Sellenia and Morwen. Toward the ways of Mother Fate. Toward the land of Yomigahara where they were once exiled from. Toward redemption. Toward a future that no longer existed.
She stopped walking for a moment. She looked at the little girl's pale hands. Her dark eyes. Her body was malnourished. Probably from a lower social class within the clan structure. Her name was Chika Amane. Her parents had passed away after participating in the great siege. There had been an empire in the continent of Ashten that required young healthy individuals for their armies. And they had turned their eyes to the oni. What better soldiers than beings with feast blood. Beings that could live for days without sustenance. Beings that could survive harsh weathers and brutal conditions. Though their view of humans as superior had been another bad aspect of their culture. Another source of conflict.
She continued to walk with the girl until they reached the settlement proper. Sleek architecture made of what seemed to be bamboo. A small pond of exotic fish. The buildings were arranged in careful patterns. Everything had purpose. Everything had meaning.
The oni were said to be the most feared savages that lived in huts. These allegations were entirely false. Her people had culture. Had art. Had sophistication that humans refused to acknowledge because it was easier to see them as monsters.
"Miss Ayame, everyone has been worried for you!" The girl's voice was bright. Full of energy that seemed impossible in this place.
"You are the head of our clan. Please, you make poor Chika sad!"
Her happy demeanor was a complete stark contrast to how oni normally acted. They were usually cold. Indifferent. Reclusive. But this girl acted different from the rest. She acted oddly human. The Lotus Clan had suspected that she was of half human and oni descent. It was not unheard of but extremely rare. Due to the anatomy differences between oni and humans, such unions were difficult. Her elders had debated on whether to exile her when she was born. But she had stopped them. For some reason. The decision had shunned her in the eyes of many. But bit by bit, the people had started to grow used to the girl's presence. Started to accept her.
She looked around the settlement as they walked. She saw people with familiar faces. Old ones she recognized from childhood. Some were young. Young faces she had never seen before. Children born after she had left. After everything had fallen apart.
'Could this be a future? If so, it was one of the cruelest things a trial could do.'
They stopped by what seemed to be a stand. A small street food vendor. Eating delicacies in this place was not the norm. But each living being required sustenance. Even oni needed to eat.
"I'm hungry, Ayame san!" the girl declared.
She tried to look for her small pouch. The one where she kept what little money she had.
"What are you doing, Ayame san?"
"I need to see if I can pay."
"Pay?" The girl looked confused.
"Young mistress." The oni man behind the stand spoke. His voice was deep. Measured. "You need not pay. We do not operate by human principles. Have you forgotten?"
The girl threw her a quick look. Something between concern and understanding.
"Well, she is coming from her expedition! I found her early in the grass fields!" she explained quickly. Her tone was light. Playful.
The oni man behind the stand looked at them with indifferenAce. But there was a slight smile on his lips. Barely visible. But there.
The girl had started to affect the locals. Little by little. Each one by one had started to like her. Had started to soften in ways oni were not supposed to soften.
"A bowl," she said quietly.
"For two."
"Please."
The man looked at her. Noting her apology and manner. Noting how she had changed. How she had become something different from what she was supposed to be.
She noticed his observation. She remained quiet. It reminded her of him. Of Lucid. About how they had gathered the required amount of points in the Cleansing. About the village afterwards. She had grown quietly aware of his behaviors. Had picked up on his mannerisms and applied them without knowing. Before, when she was younger, when she was still with the clan, she did not care for such things. She did not care for money or politeness or human customs.
But after she met him, she felt awfully different. She felt relieving in a way she could not explain. She felt human. Or at least closer to it than she had ever been before.
The man placed a bowl in front of them. What was in the bowl was blood. She remembered this meal. Since her kind was on a strict carnivorous diet, they only ate either meat or blood. Nothing else sustained them properly.
'Blood soup. The blood of cattle that was recently slain.'
She brought the bowl up and drank from it. Chunks of meat were inside. She savored it. A deep nourishing meal indeed. Especially after surviving on unedible human food and the occasional taste of his blood. Lucid's blood. Which was different from anything else. Which carried something she could not name.
The girl drank hers down as well. Quickly. Without hesitation.
"I am pleased to serve you, young mistress," the man said in a monotonous tone. But there was warmth underneath it. Respect.
She nodded. Said nothing back. It was the oni way.
The girl beamed and said thank you with a blood stained mouth. It was an ungraceful sight. But somehow endearing.
They walked. She saw the red trees. Saw her people going about their daily lives. For the first time in years, she felt at home. She thought they would point at her. She thought they would talk behind her back. Would whisper about her failures. About how she had abandoned them.
But they were not human. These people abided by oni principles. To respect their leaders. To respect one another. To maintain honor above all else.
It felt relieving. For the first time in so long, she was at home. She could relax. Could let her guard down. Could be what she was supposed to be instead of pretending to be something else.
But she could not live in this dream for any longer. She knew what this was. A trial. A test. A cruel trick designed to break her.
"Chika. Can you take me to my parents?" Her voice was quiet. Controlled. "I need to see the elders."
The girl continued forward without breaking stride. As if she had not heard the request. As if it did not matter.
"Come! We have yet to see the training grounds of our most capable fighting youth!" she exclaimed. Her voice was practically beaming with joy. With excitement that seemed impossible to fake.
She followed. What else could she do? This was the trial. This was what she had to face. The past or maybe the future she had lost, the future that would never come. The people she had failed.
The training grounds were exactly as she remembered them. Open spaces surrounded by wooden posts. Young oni practicing with wooden swords. The sound of wood striking wood. The grunts of effort. The focused silence that came with discipline.
She watched them train. Watched them move with precision and grace. With the talent that Yomigahara was known for. The talent that had made them feared. That had made them exiled.
"They're good, aren't they?" the girl said beside her. "They train every day. Waiting for you to lead them. Waiting for the day we can return to our true home."
'Return. As if it were possible. As if the world would welcome them back.'
She said nothing. She tried to memorize every detail. Every face. Every movement. Because when this trial ended, when she completed whatever objective awaited her, all of this would disappear. She would return to being memory.