The white snowflakes cascaded downward, burying the village of Wep'keer in their merciless cold. It was a discouraging thing to see. Everybody had believed the weather would improve after the sun goddess, Amaterasu, had vanquished the Lord of Darkness. Yet, though for a while things had indeed gotten better, the blizzards' onslaught had come to rear its ugly face again. The Oina Tribe had fallen into hard times.
Not the slightest vegetation had grown in the Ezofuji Mountains, even after Nechku and Lechku were annihilated. No plants meant that there was no food for herb-eating animals. The rabbits and deer had died off by an astounding number. Without these animals, carnivores were left hungry and weak. In turn, the Oina were quickly running out of food. Chief Samickle watched desolately as their hunting grounds worsened day by day.
Their luck had run out, it seemed. For, as they were slowly sinking into starvation, even the youngest could see that on the other side of the mountains their alleged Sister-Tribe was flourishing. The Yama Tribe, long avoided by their wolf-like neighbors, had bountiful food and grand hunting grounds that, at the very least, was blessed with some sparse vegetation.
Such jealously was a breeding ground for further hatred. And Oki, the brave warrior who dared to take on the sacred mountain's demons, was no exception to that rule.
How was it, he often wondered, that they managed to grow anything in their lands when in Wep'keer, the Oina were suffering? It seemed unjust that a clan of lazy, temperamental creatures as the Yama were better off than the Oina, who worked hard just to keep moving each day.
Oki also started to notice the discreet happenings hiding right in front of him. With so little food, there were those who were willing to sacrifice, though what they had was already too little. Kai ate less, making sure that her younger sister got enough to sustain her strength. It was a sad thing to see, being that Kai never complained of the matters. She still believed things would get better. However, it was the chief's actions that worried the warrior most. Samickle had nearly stopped eating altogether. Trying to help, Oki attempted to do the same. Unfortunately, Samickle caught him, and a good hide-tanning from both him and Elder Kemu followed.
It was a few days after his punishment that Oki confronted his friend about a solution. He caught the corner of the leader's eye. "We should try hunting farther to the west. From higher up it's easy to see the animals there."
But the man just shook his head, gaze unmoved. "It's not our land."
"But-!"
"No, Oki." His tone suddenly grew harsh and angry, even by the normal standards. "Our treaty with the Yama Tribe shows exactly where the neutral territory ends, and we already reach to the edge of it."
"They never patrol out that far! Maybe just once we could get away with it!"
"No!" Oki was almost taken aback by the resentment in Samickle's voice. "I will not stoop down to that level! If we've only one thing left, let it be honor!" Without another word, the man walked off, soon disappearing in the vision-killing snow.
The warrior growled to himself, bitter. The Yama must be very selfish, he thought, to not even allow a few Oina hunters on their copious hunting grounds.
If honor meant sitting back and watching his Tribe die, Oki was not interested.
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"Snow, snowing, snowing~!" The little boy's sing-song voice wrapped around his sister's patience, slowly strangling it. "It's snowing again~! Snowing, snowing, snowing~! It's cold outside and it's snowing~! Adventuring while it's snowing is fun~!"
"UGH!!" She growled at that interval, blonde hair whipping her in the face. A scowl protruded her cracked, bloody lips. "Stop singing! Stop it stop it stop it!! I can't stand any more of this!"
The boy, who was far younger than the angry girl trudging along behind him, just smiled brightly. "But it's fun to be adventuring, sis! Out in the wilderness, away from home, nothing but us and fighting monsters and-"
"No! No way! There will be absolutely no monster fighting in this little expedition!"
"- with no adults to give us stupid chores or yell at us for anything!"
"…" She put a finger to her chin, considering this point. "Well, I suppose that is a good thing. But still! No monster fighting!"
"Aw… but I wanna battle demons!" He spastically punched the frigid air in front of him. "I could be the hero!"
"… Yeah… Good luck with that, buddy."
He pouted and turned around, blue eyes beckoning for her full attention. "Rin, you're no fun at all!"
She staggered the next few steps, appalled. "I am too! I do lots of fun things! Like I… I… Um… I get to chase those stupid bunnies all the time!"
"That's lame," the boy jested. "You only have fun when you're on adventures with me!"
"YOU ALMOST ALWAYS GET US INTO TROUBLE!!" She folded her arms and bared her sharp teeth. "I wonder why I even agree to come sometimes! Last time I got caught sliding down the mountain on a block of ice going a bagillion times faster than you could ever run! I could have died, you little whelp!"
"I'm not a whelp! You're the whelp!"
"No, you're the whelp!"
"Am not!"
"Am too!"
"You're im-ma-ture!"
"I'm immature?! You're a little kid!"
"Four eyes!"
"Oh! You did NOT just make fun of my goggles!"
The senseless, victory-free argument continued as the two waded farther into the snow. The peaks were almost silent apart from their bickering. But, the sound of a low rumble was a sign that peace was nowhere in the white lands of Kamui that night.
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A greedy smile passed over the lips of the dark-furred wolf. Kai, looking nervous, crouched down in the snow next to her companion. The lost deer just ahead of would indeed be a fine catch, but she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. After all, the two of them were pilfering from the neighbors. "I don't think we should do this," she whispered.
"Come on, Kai! You want Lika and everybody to have food don't you?"
"Well, yes but…"
"So, it's worth bending the rules just a little bit!" He stalked closer to the unsuspecting prey. It didn't even notice enough to flick its ear at them. But, then again, the wind was so deafening that neither wolf could hear much either.
They were oblivious to that same low grumble protruding from the very ground beneath them…
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The two children looked upwards; there wasn't a star to be seen. It was well past sunset, and still the snow wouldn't sleep. The wind was just beginning to weaken, But not by an impressive margin.
There didn't need to be any less wind for the two siblings to hear the noise that echoed off of Ezofuji. A screech, terrifying and gruesome, bounded off of the peaks. It momentarily shattered the very sanity of those that met it.
"What was that?!" The boy spun around in confusion, trying to pinpoint the origin of the sound. His sister was already ahead of him.
"It sounded like trouble to me," she muttered while facing the Ezofuji Pass. "I don't want to meet the monster who did that."
"But sis! We have to! What if something amazing is over there!"
She frowned and looked at the boy's innocent face, She knew exactly what he spoke of. "It's in the Pass… whatever it is. I don't want to travel that way."
The neutral territory between Oina and Yama had always been a bit hazardous, which eventually led to the Yama pulling out from that area completely. It seemed that the wolves liked their new space, anyway. It was even a rumor that anybody who wandered into the Oina land was savagely attacked- though it was never proven as either demon or warrior. Though claimed as neutral, it was a dangerous place to explore.
However, the pleading in the child's eyes forced his sister's hand. "Fine," she scowled. "But it needs to be quick! The last thing we need is to be chased by a pack of angry Oina hunters!"
"Yes," he cheered with a fist pumped in the air. He then crouched low to the ground, like his traveling partner, and shifted shapes in a puff of feathery material. Where they once stood there were two formidable-looking wildcats. The heavy supply-pack that the sister hauled remained on the slightly larger beast.
She bared her teeth and let out a growl. "I smell demon already," she excitedly cooed. They scampered off across the snow, fleet-footed and confident. "In the name of our tribe, I'll kill the beast if it comes close enough!"
The brother smiled at his sister's sudden change of attitude.
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Kai threw herself at Kemu's door forcing it open as she tumbled inside. She was hyperventilating, tears welling in her eyes. Samickle and Kemu were both quick to take notice of the panicked girl. She breathlessly did her best to speak up. "It's Oki! He's… he and I went out into the eastern side of the mountains and-"
But Samickle needed no more explanation. He knew very well what lied on their borders. No listening to what remained of the girl's explanation, he was already turned to a beast-form and charging out the door, barreling towards the entrance to Ezofuji Pass. Kai knew he'd need help, and was soon following her leader into the storm.
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Somehow, the weather had gotten worse. It was something that the Yama children quickly noticed. It had taken a long time, perhaps an hour, to get even the right spot, and it was still considered close to Yama territories. The area of the pass where Rin was completely certain the scream emanated from was coated in an ink-black liquid. She sniffed it, curiously. "It's monster blood," she smiled. Most of her many, sharp teeth glinted in the sparse moonlight that shown through the snow-clouded sky. The younger of the duo turned around, scratching at the snow.
"Woah!" He jumped. "It- it's a finger!" Sure enough a giant finger, cleanly cleaved from its demon owner, was laying in the ice. "Sis, it's a finger!"
She rolled her eyes. "So I heard." Her eyes and nose pulled her in the direction of a very differently colored liquid. She suddenly felt her heart sink into her stomach and the excitement of her hunting instincts fell away. "Su! Get searching the area! Somebody else was out here, and they left behind a lot of blood!"
The brother didn't seem to move. When Rin heard nothing from him, she was about to turn around and yell. But, she then saw what he was staring at, and also felt the need to be in silent stillness. "Dear lords of the Sky," she whispered in awe. She pawed the ground for just a moment in anticipation before carefully approaching the shallow cavern. Scarlet blood was starting to pool on the stone, leaking out into the snow where it left a deep stain. The wildcat seemed to pay no heed to the foreign blood that was tainting the pads of her feet; demon and human alike. Her brother closed in on her, fearful of whatever being might leap out at them.
On the rocky ground, fallen in his own blood, was a battered Oina warrior. Rin could hear him breathing, though fighting for the air. A pile of smoking junk on the floor next to him was the remains of a pitiful flame. There was no more warmth where the injured had taken cover. His arms were covered in the demon blood, and a few dots of it spattered across his face.
The cat nudged him, jumping back in shock when the mask fell right off of him. It revealed an expression twisted with agony and fear. The girl stood on two legs, and her furry feet were soon replaced by animal-skin boots. Her ungloved hands traced the warrior's side- the source of blood. Other than a single, unconscious flinch of pain, it seemed that he was unaware of everything around him. His flesh was cold like the rocks he was sprawled out on.
I hope you liked the first chapter! Reviews are appreciated.