Reiji Kurozuma placed Haruto Hishino on his shoulders, and the both of them made their way down the icy pathways. The fact that they weren't fully carved out caused their descent towards the village to be slow.
When they got to the clearing that gave them a clear view of the village, all they saw were ashes of the houses that once stood there. They stopped and stared at the ruins with terror.
"Mommy? D-daddy?"
Haruto started to cry. Tears streamed down his cheek. He didn't scream or yell. He was too overwhelmed by his emotions.
"Don't lose hope, kid. They might be alive."
Reiji searched under the collapsed houses. No bodies, no blood—nothing. As if everyone had vanished, and then the village was set ablaze. With a curious mind, a thought popped into his head. Wait, the demon's body—where is it?! Reiji ran toward Haruto's house, which he had already checked for his parents but not for the demon.
He ran to the backyard, only to see that the body was nowhere to be found. Reiji entered a state of panic, his heart hammering against his chest. He gathered every piece of information in his mind that he could.
Think! What could have happened? Did it revive? Maybe, but the fire that burnt this pace down contradicts that. Could the body attract more demons? If a demon died, then maybe other demons would come to absorb its power? A demon with fire abilities? No, wait—a villager could have set fire to these houses as a last-ditch effort to kill it. Ugh, I've got pretty much nothing to go off of!
He heard the loud noise of someone crying—Haruto. He ran over and saw him sitting on the ground, his knees tucked closely to his chest, his head buried in his arms.
"MOMMY…DADDY!" Haruto screamed with tears in his eyes as he called out to his dead parents. Reiji decided to let him cry. He needed to let all that pain and fear out. He looked around and felt that this was all his fault. He was the one who had promised to protect.
At fourteen I realized that there was a difference between talking about doing something and actually doing it in the given situation. But now, ten years later, I know the true meaning of it. I promised and failed them. I promised to protect them and failed them right when it mattered!
Reiji was about to let out a scream of rage so pure that if it was a liquid, it would be the deadliest poison in existence. But he didn't. He couldn't. Haruto was his responsibility now and he needed someone to lean on—a strong adult.
Whoever did this, I'll kill them and make it hurt! He forced himself to calm down, if you can even call it being "calm."
"Get up, Haruto." "I don't want to!" "Look at me." After a few moments of silence, Haruto slowly lifted his head and wiped away his frozen tears. He looked at Reiji with puffy eyes and a stuffy nose."I'll protect you." "Promise?" "I…I promise!"
Reiji grabbed him by the back of his winter coat and placed him on his shoulders. Haruto held onto his hair and Reiji held his legs. They slowly made their way up the pathways, which were easier to move across now. It was pitch black. Not even the moon lit up the forest.
"Where are we going?"
"Back to the campsite. We'll sleep there, and in the morning make our way to the closest village."
Reiji froze mid step. Both of them heard a bone-chilling scream for help. Reiji quickly hit the deck and got Haruto off shoulders. "I'll bury you under the snow and then pull you out when it's safe."
"Who's that?" Haruto pointed with his mitten at someone behind Reiji. He turned to look at whoever—or whatever—he was pointing at. The moonlight appeared perfectly, allowing him to finally see his surroundings.
Reiji saw a man standing like a statue, with bear skin covering his body and the upper jaw of the same animal acting as a hat. He had glowing eyes that stared at them and an expressionless face. He also had a pretty big belly.
"Dig yourself in, Haruto."
Haruto quickly dug a small hole, lay down, and Reiji covered any exposed parts of him with one hand while still staring at the man.
Reiji stood up and fully turned towards the strange man. Reiji slowly reached behind himself and grabbed the handle of his katana, pulling it out from its scabbard. "Let's dance, fatass."
Reiji blinked, and the man was now a bear. It growled and charged at him. Reiji swung from right to left, but the bear bit down on his blade, stopping it mid-slash. It pushed against it, trying to get a claw swipe on Reiji. He grabbed its paw before it could try anything and, with his inhuman, strength stopped it from moving.
It used its other paw to press down on the tip of his blade, pushing it down into the ground. It then released its bite on it and instead tried to bite Reiji. He leaned back just before the jaw snapped shut, missing him. He headbutted the beast, disorienting it enough to free his blade and cut off its right paw—the paw still in his hand.
It walked back on its three remaining limbs. It looked at him for a moment before Reiji heard a voice in his head. "You will die." The voice was firm and undeniable. The bear slowly turned to walk away—a fatal mistake, thinking all Reiji wanted to do was protect Haruto.
Once its side was fully exposed, that's when Reiji felt it again. The same thing as when he fought that demon. It was as if his body weighed nothing as he launched forward like an arrow, slicing off the bear's head.
Thud! Thud!
Its body collapsed first, making a soft thud thanks to the snow. The head followed, which made a quieter thud due to its smaller weight. Both the body and the head hit the ground almost at the same time. For some reason—a reason even Reiji didn't know—he could perfectly tell apart the interval between the two impacts.
He took a minute to calm himself. Once again, he was surprised by the same thing happening just a week apart. He slowly turned to look at the bear, blood pouring from its neck and head, turning the snow red—but not the same crimson as the demon's blood. He watched as its body lay on the ground, showing no signs of life.
"We all die, sooner or later. For you it was sooner! What's next? You're going to tell me that I need to breathe in order to live?"
He screamed at the dead body while pointing his blood-stained katana at it. He felt so relieved after he said that. The rage inside of him was so potent, so pure, that even he couldn't help but need to release it one way or another.
"Haruto, you can—"
He saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a man. No—a monster. It was in a bridge pose, palms planted on the ground. It looked at him with black eye sockets that oozed a thick, black liquid. The same liquid dripped from its pitch-black mouth. It was thin—you could make out every bone by just looking at it. Its skin was gray and cracked at every joint, from which the dark liquid seeped.
It didn't smile or move. It just stared at him, holding the same pose. Reiji felt a shiver of terror run down his spine before it slowly turned into something else.
I don't know what that is but I want to kill it! Reiji thought to himself. He couldn't stop the wicked grin that came to his face.