Chapter 3

Reimei breathed a sigh of relief but as her mind returned to the hunt, the uneasy feeling was stuck in the back of her mind.

She was following the trail again; looking around she glanced up at the trees briefly. By now the light had thoroughly faded; one moon was waning, the smaller was full, but behind the clouds it shone little light through the canopy. She realised she was looking around more than strictly necessary as she moved. Her vision was clear but colourless in the darkness, making some details difficult to make out.

She pushed on. The trail was becoming more scarce the further she went and the muddy ground began to give way to rocky hills. In one sense, she felt very alone; in a more concerning sense, she did not.

She rummaged in her pocket for that stupid pendant the mage had given her and looked it over. She couldn't read the symbols but she recognised the script; it was the same as was sewn into his cloak. She huffed and wrapped the cotton cord around her bracer and tucked the pendant under the leather.

"This had better not curse me," she grumbled.

Then something made her look to her left. Maybe she'd heard something because not far away from her she saw the silhouette of a deer. She let out the breath she had held momentarily. Okay, might be too on edge here.

She watched it for a moment; it stood extremely still. Not that unusual, deer freeze in fear sometimes. Which is true, it just didn't ring true in this moment. If I move, it will bolt. Another reasonable assumption, so why wasn't she moving?

Suddenly she heard a sound, something huge falling somewhere on her other side, a rock or similar; whatever it was the sound echoed around her and the deer's head turned, slowly.

Then it bolted, directly towards her. She tried to pull her bow but it was moving too fast. At the last second she threw herself sideways; her tail whipped around as she twisted in the air and landed on her feet, drawing an arrow. Glancing at her arm she saw a small gash. Sharp antlers? What the fuck?

But she had no time to think before it charged again. She managed to loose two arrows before it arrived this time, both thudding into their mark. But she was still forced to kick off the tree next to her to tumble out of its path.

It crashed into the tree with a terrible crunching sound; as it turned this time she saw one antler splintered and hanging to its side, and then she saw its face. Its eyes were sunken and glassy, the skin hung from its cheek and jaw where it had impacted the tree, and the bone of its front left leg was protruding from the skin. It stumbled forward, bleating as its leg crunched under its weight and forced it to favour the other side.

She felt sick, no number of hours spent hunting could have prepared her for this. She forced herself to focus; her arrows protruded from its chest and she saw blood. Not invincible, okay. Lifting herself up she drew back her bow and began to loose arrows as fast as she could. Quantity over quality, as long as they met her target.

The animal screeched like nothing she had heard before as it continued trying to charge her, but she was wearing it down. She backed away, shooting consistently. Thud, thud, thud. Thud. Thud.

It didn't reach her this time before it collapsed. She hesitated for a second before drawing her sword and sprinting at it. It bit at her legs wildly, screeching and moaning, forcing her to kick it away. Stop! Just stop! She swung her sword, cleaving into the flesh. She swung again, separating the head from the body.

It writhed and reached for her with its broken limbs; blood was pouring onto the ground but it was thick and viscous. The smell was rancid and burned Reimei's nostrils. She backed away, panting and retching. Eventually the larger movements stopped and it just twitched.

A twinge of pain drew her attention, her arm was bleeding but only a little. She fumbled in a pouch on her side for a bandage and wrapped it quickly, not taking her eyes off the twitching deer. After a while she managed to yank her gaze from the grisly sight and as soon as she did, on the tree next to her, she saw a simple carving of an eye, encircled by a strange script.

The dreadful feeling from before returned at once and she recoiled. Another feeling rose though, an irrational anger, the symbol was mocking her. She drew her knife and stabbed furiously at the carving, cutting chunks of wood, trying to destroy it. Then the feeling passed. She stared at the mutilated tree trunk. Did I need to do that? She decided it was for the best, just in case.

With one last look back at the creature she ran.

The terrain was changing now, soil giving way to rock and the trees thinning as she climbed higher and higher. She kept a close eye on every shadowy gap in the rocks as well as the forest behind her.

The hairs were standing up on the back of her neck; this wasn't paranoia, something was out there, watching, waiting.

She vaulted to the top of a nearby boulder and jumped up to grab an outcropping above her, pulling herself up and standing atop it. She took a deep breath and calmed her breathing once more. Looking out from this vantage point she could get a better idea of the terrain and her position.

She had hiked quite a way up the mountain now; looking out she could see the lights of that small town with the steeple far off by the lake. The forest in-between was dark and foreboding, more so than before.

She turned to look up the mountain; she was almost disappointed to see the creature's tracks heading further up. They led into a maze of jagged rocks. She looked back at the town for a moment, then sighed and began to walk upwards.

The rustle of the trees faded quickly as she moved between the rocks, most sounds seemed to; it was disconcertingly calm. She moved carefully and deliberately, watching her steps and checking around corners. Up ahead she could see the gaps widening and beyond that a relatively flat area. She moved closer, peering into the darkness.

Suddenly she felt something warm on her wrist; she looked down and saw a faint pale blue glow from below her bracer. She felt the need to look to her right. Inches from her face, carved into the rock, there was a ring of symbols. In the centre, not an eye, a jagged shape she didn't recognise.

Get down! The impulse hit her from nowhere. She threw herself to the ground as the symbols began to glow, and covered her head. There was a loud bang and she heard rocks cracking. She looked up to see the rock opposite the symbols bubbling and melting; a sharp, acrid smell hit her senses.

She looked down at her wrist. Not cursed, okay.

Reimei crawled forward and gradually pulled herself to her feet. She was now standing at the edge of the open, flat area. The walls of the space were tall and jagged; a sliver of moonlight shone through one of the gaps but otherwise it was completely dark.

She took a step forward, peering through the darkness for anything she could lock onto. Movement, a shape, anything.

She realised her eyes were moving slowly, her thoughts felt heavy. Then the space seemed to stretch and warp. She could hear her breath and the pulsing of blood through her temples. She felt a pressure, like someone gripping her skull, tighter and tighter. Then she heard a voice, like something next to her ear, whispering directly into her mind.

"Mmm," it purred. "What have we here?"

She spun around, gripping the hilt of her sword; the world span out of sync with her movement. Nothing was there, and yet it returned.

It laughed inside her head; the sound set a chill in her bones. "Try again, little demon girl."

She struggled to focus; the voice burrowed into her head; she felt sick.

"Is it alone? Is it helpless?" it growled. "Alone she is. Always alone," it laughed.

"Get- get away," she mumbled, trying to draw her sword to threaten it.

"Ah, I like her" it said. "Feisty little demon girl."

Stop struggling. Breathe. It was her thought but it felt bolstered by something. Breathe. It's nearby, moving closer.

"Oh?" it laughed, "Is she giving up? Is the little demon girl laying down to die?"

Her grip tightened on the hilt as her breathing slowed. She closed her eyes to focus.

"Is it mine now?"

Was that the same voice? No, that felt closer.

"Can I have it?"

There, you heard it. Her stance subtly lowered, muscles coiling like springs.

"I want it, I'm hungry, it's mine!"

Her eyes snapped open as the voice erupted into the world behind her. She ducked and spun on her heels, the enormous claw narrowly passing over her head. The next blow came for her guts with a huge upward swing but she deftly interposed her sword, her off-hand on the back of the blade. The impact was heavy, lifting her from the ground painfully.

She used all her strength to push the blade forward against the claws, lifting herself just high enough to kick off the creature's arm, leaning backwards and using the momentum to gain a moment of space. She rolled into a landing a few metres away and turned to face her attacker.

Before her stood an enormous creature, at least three metres tall, even hunched over as it was. Its long arms hung at its sides clumsily; its claws were half the length of her sword. Its snout resembled a bear's, but scars made it almost unrecognisable. Its teeth bowed from its mouth like painful fangs, gnashing together. Its eyes were glassy; the right was darker, surrounded by a strange burn that wrapped around to the back of its head. Its entire face was contorted with rage.

"Give! Give!" it roared, charging again.