Ashes of Sanity
Lullaby – Part 1
There was a truly unique beauty in a sunrise ushering in a new dawn. A simple, innate delight was easy to derive from the divine elegance of the sun slowly crowning over the horizon. But to a man who had failed to miss a sunrise in nearly a decade there was a far greater and yet baser appeal. To him the celestial body of light bravely piercing thin morning fog symbolised the very continuation of life.
Life itself is not a beautiful thing; life is death, an ugly void waiting to swallow every living thing that depends on it. The only two real absolutes governing life are contradictory in nature, that every life ends and that life as a whole always goes on. There's a certain kind of forbidden beauty found in the contrast between the two truths, it's the beauty of an electrical storm or a burning building or the duet of two swords as they cleave paths toward one another. The visual beauty of a sunrise is plain to see and appreciate, even an infant can recognise its splendour. The infant could see thousands of subtly different sunrises but most would agree that a far more powerful response would be evoked from sunrises observed while thoroughly aware that death was drawing rapidly nearer.
If death were to take a form, it would mimic the abhorrent terrors that haunt this mortal world, for they are just as illusive and yet their shadow looms just as obvious as death's. These affronts to all that is good elude conventional understanding; they can invade our settlements, our thoughts and our dreams. Although rare they represent the greatest threat to mankind that there is and as such, the living dwell in near-constant fear of them.
Purging the world of such monstrosities was an essential duty as far as the man was concerned; the need to do so was as obvious as the glaring sun he regarded. In a way though, these macabre perversions of nature make everything more beautiful with their ever-present threat, they're a dark catalyst forcing mortals to cherish their fragile time. He couldn't help but ponder; was he stealing a fraction of the beauty that mankind was capable of perceiving by eliminating the terrors? It was a strange thing to consider but years of pursuing the blights that make every sense scream run makes you somewhat strange.
To those who met him, strange defined Ash. He drifted between towns looking to carry out his purpose, looking to kill monsters and he rarely visited the same one twice. No one knew him when he arrived and they were seldom given the opportunity as Ash wouldn't linger in any one place. He was a grizzled young man who appeared older than his years and carried a stoicism that bordered pure apathy, on the outside at least. His defined facial features hid behind wild stubble and an array of scars. He wore a long winter cloak consisting of thick black wool; a light dusting of snow had fallen on the fine fur that adorned the cloak's peak at his shoulders. It draped over a brown leather waistcoat, which offered modest protection. Ash's boots were of a similar but darker leather. A large, powerful looking wooden crossbow was slung over his back by its strap and equipped to his belt was a sheathed knife. Also adorning his belt were several small pouches, many containing things far more dangerous than his conventional weapons.
Whether or not solitude was something Ash desired, townspeople would not tend to approach him. Although company was not a concern, testimony regarding the creatures that he sought was of paramount importance. Children in the nearby city of Cerulean had disappeared during the recent nights, mirroring abductions in not too distant northern towns. He hadn't been able to uncover anything in the two he had visited prior to journeying south of the Cerulean Bay. When it was just a single northern town shaken by kidnappings, Ash had thought that a member of the community must have been responsible and he took leave soon after. The circumstances had made it difficult for Ash to believe that a human was capable of the crimes but he had other matters that needed pursuing despite his conflicted mind beseeching him to linger a little longer. No one had seen or heard anything night after night and child after child. But it wasn't until Ash heard the grisly reports that echoed the same circumstances in the next town that he knew for certain that the culprit was no man. Something inhuman was preying on the children of the north.
Hesitantly, Ash tore himself away from his view of the newborn sun hovering over the bay. Fishermen crossed paths with him as he walked away from the gently lapping sea; they worked long days in order to supply fresh Magikarp and Goldeen, the lifeblood of their city. Powdery snow atop the fine morning frost elicited quiet but satisfying crunches underfoot as Ash covered the short distance through the woods from the sea to the city. The trees were bare and almost skeletal, contorted into unnerving silhouettes in the fog. A plump bird with a leek stalk in its mouth observed Ash from a thick branch as he passed its nest. There wasn't much to fear from mundane animals like the bird quizzically tilting its head but Ash was considering what manner of monster might be responsible for the abductions. Either the thing was actually entering towns unseen with unnatural speed and guile or perhaps by assuming the shape of man. Perhaps it was luring the children to it from afar or employed illusions to appear invisible. However it was committing the atrocities, Ash would inevitably have to hunt and face the being.
Upon arriving at the perimeter of the city Ash regarded the citizens that busied themselves with their daily duties; the grip of fear that seized so many parents in the town was all but invisible to an outsider's eye. Ash made his way straight towards the inn at which he had spent the previous night. There he quickly ate a breakfast of bread and meat, a meal which he had previously elected to postpone in order to gaze upon the morning sunrise from a suitable viewpoint first. Ash then washed his meal down with water before setting out to look for the appropriate people to question. A look of subtle grief or suppressed worry was enough to warrant a conversation. Those he approached with the subject of missing children initially met Ash with indifference. The reaction then tended to diverge into either disdain by those believing their children were gone forever or towards gratitude that he was investigating but with a heavy overtone of hopelessness. Ash spent a large portion of his morning in this way, his success at identifying those that had suffered loss was his only real victory and eventually he begrudgingly returned to the inn for lunch without having acquired any useful leads.
He was served by a middle-aged woman with dark orange hair that he had not seen working there until now. He had resigned himself to continuing his search for useful information after a hearty lunch of fish and rice. Upon receiving his meal, Ash concluded that the city in the Cerulean Sea area certainly lived up to the culinary reputation that its fish boasted. He was already halfway through his meal before he noticed that the woman who had served him exhibited the same signs of restlessness and worry that he was looking for.
"Excuse me," Ash called out.
"Can I get you anything else, sir?" The woman replied softly, attempting to collect herself as she approached.
"The meal is superb, I couldn't ask for more. I was going to ask you about the disappearances." He manoeuvred.
The woman was doing a near-perfect job of hiding how uncomfortable the topic made her but he had already seen. "I know it's not an easy thing to talk about but I'm here to help and for me to have a chance I need to know the details." Ash declared. "Your town is not alone in this, it has to stop."
The orange-haired woman clearly found Ash's words difficult to respond to, her eyes wandered and jumped around the room aimlessly as she listened.
"Thank you stranger but we've lost five children this week, nobody has seen or heard a thing. What makes you think you could stop whatever evil has taken them?" She asked with an unsettled quality to her voice.
"I've pursued and slain horrors that I don't care to look back on for over a decade now, if anyone can put an end to this, it's me." Ash responded confidently but with sympathy. "You've lost a child to this monster yourself? Let me help you try to get them back."
The woman narrowed her eyebrows as she recoiled from Ash's assumption. "No, my daughter is here safe," she informed the wild-looking stranger. "But I'm worried to death for her."
Ash swallowed his mouthful of rice and fish as the woman explained. "My dear lady, I'm elated to hear that your daughter has not yet fallen victim but I am confident that if we do nothing, many more will." He told her bluntly with almost unnaturally static eye contact. "Perhaps her among them"
A long pause hung over the conversation as the two stared at one another until the woman finally opened her mouth to break it. "But how can I help you if I have nothing substantial to tell you?" She queried.
"Well its unfortunate that no one here seems to know any more than the other towns I've passed through." Ash said before pausing to eat the final chunk of fish that he had been saving, relishing it. "I'd appreciate you keeping a room at this inn for me as long as it takes to end this."
"Of course, whatever I can do to help you. Please just keep my girl safe." The woman begged, "Misty means everything to me."
Ash gave her a solemn nod and laid his chopsticks down on the empty plate.
"I'm Kasumi by the way," the woman said with a tiny smile of relief, "and what is the name given to our town's new guardian?" She asked, poking a minute amount of fun at the man with a newfound optimism.
"Ash"
"Well Ash, what's your next move?" Kasumi asked with slightly morbid curiosity.
"I'm getting the impression that there's nothing to learn in town so I'll survey the surrounding land and seek out travellers nearby in case they've seen anything in the wilderness." He told Kasumi while standing and putting his cloak back on.
"What if there's nothing to be gained from them either?" Kasumi queried regressing back to worry as she thought Ash's plan through.
"Lets hope there is something to be gained," Ash retorted before giving a small formal bow. He leant down to pick up the crossbow that leant against the table and left the inn.
A bitter chill greeted his unshielded face and hands as he stepped outside; the last few weeks were the first of this winter and they had brought some of the harshest conditions in years. He would have to buy a new pair of gloves soon but Ash decided that his pockets and his cloak would suffice for today. Ash's investigation of the surrounding area would have to be swift for fear of a freak snowstorm. The cold was a formidable killer in its own right and certain creatures employed poor visibility as a perfect opportunity to hunt unseen.
Ash strode into the forest at a quick pace, the crisp snow now shone under golden rays of midday sun. Another inch had fallen since the morning and the veil of fog had almost entirely lifted, making for a picturesque view. Although scenic, the land in this direction was unremarkable; it was flat, uninterrupted forest without even so much as a stream. With it being winter, Ash hadn't expected to encounter very many travellers; it took over an hour before he stumbled across the campfire of two journeying scholars. Ash shared their fire for a short while, running through a list of questions that might help him but they were only observing plants and plant-like creatures that strangely thrived in winter and had seen nothing of note. They were of no use at all.
Wandering further north, Ash eventually stopped for a while atop a tall cliff overlooking most of the Cerulean Bay expanse. From there, he could appreciate just how far the bay penetrated inland. The gravity of his task had set in during his exploration, he had almost nothing to go on and the creature would likely strike again soon. The vast majority of horrors Ash faced were little but animals responsible for savage maulings. They usually had a nest close to where the attacks were occurring, which Ash would seek out. But every once in a while Ash hunted truly intelligent nightmares and more often than he would like, found himself hunted in return.
In the south-eastern corner of the Kanto, a younger and much more naïve Ash had investigated stories of men being viciously murdered in the dead of night; survivors of the attacks were rare but they each swore that they had been set upon by perfect duplicates of themselves. This was the first time that Ash had sought to engage the darker side of nature and part of him didn't want to find something responsible for the slayings. It took over a fortnight of near-constant searching before Ash was staring into the eyes of the phantom killer, staring into his own eyes. Ash hadn't even been successfully located the fiend himself, alone searching grassy plains Ash became aware that he was being pursued. The sinister stalker that he laid eyes on did not hesitate to attack once discovered. The reflection possessed Ash's athleticism and combat prowess, making for a formidable opponent in a brutal fight but it lacked Ash's weaponry and he was narrowly able to triumph. After the seemingly fatal blow was struck, the strange being fell apart into viscous sludge of a dull pink, which struggled to ooze and flop around. A fascinated Ash studied the slime for a short while until he beheld two dark, miniscule eyes staring back at him, at which point he promptly destroyed it with neutralising powders that petrified it forever.
It was barely two months later when Ash investigated a grotesque creature, which terrorized a small town in the south by capturing those that ventured too far into its wilderness domain within invisible walls. Described as a terrifying abomination by survivors and being proven to have killed nearly a dozen, the thing was worse than a typical predator. It was said to have carried more sadistic desires than simple predatory instincts; it supposedly seemed to enjoy toying with its prey, which ultimately lead to the escape of would-be victims. The freak wasn't particularly difficult to hunt, Ash found it near the area where the attacks took place. Human remains were still strewn around, trapped within transparent barriers that required forceful blows to shatter. The creature vaguely resembled a man but was misshapen and hunched over. It had a deathly pale complexion and stood at barely four feet tall. Even from afar Ash could make out its bloated face, stained fangs and the twin wisps of dark, matted hair atop its head. Ash managed to lure the thing out and grievously injure it but the wounded monster bounded away into the trees. It took a further day of tracking before the monstrosity attempted to ambush Ash and gave him the chance to finally vanquished it once and for all.
Perhaps the most dangerous situation Ash had ever had found himself in was in the clutches of the wailing woman of the Seafoam Islands. Sailors had long told tales of a beautiful woman's crying leading men to their dooms in the waters that run between the Seafoam Islands near Cinnabar. He had lied to a small boat crew with promises of treasures well worth the danger to foolishly seek out the woman's song. The small boat set sail toward the icy southern waters surrounding the Seafoam Islands. An eerie mist illuminated by moonlight quickly fell upon them moments before they first heard the woman's awful song. From that moment they were hers, totally spellbound; the rowers instinctively rowed towards her.
Upon reaching the frozen land she inhabited, the men marched slowly in a grim procession towards the woman with Ash at the rear. He tried desperately to free himself from her control as they wandered toward scattered ice sculptures but it was to no avail, his body was no longer his own. From afar the sculptures looked beautiful, they were distinct silhouettes of men standing tall against the starry sky. But as the march passed among the statues, the men saw the sculptures for what they were. Dead sailors stood frozen upright with their chests ripped wide-open, their expressions were perfect displays of fear and agony. Ash started making his peace, believing that his death was imminent and surely unavoidable as the first crew member approached a dark figure. Far past the macabre statues, she was waiting for them.
The wailing woman barely resembled a woman at all; she stood on two legs and with human proportions but there was no humanity there. Her features were all wrong; her expressionless face bore no nose, only two disgusting slits where one might once have sat. Her long hair was of a ghostly white and it danced an eery waltz in the bitter wind. Pitch black frostbitten skin sat loosely around her unsightly, bloated figure beneath a tattered relic of a dark red gown.
Ash watched as the first sailor shuffled reluctantly towards the awaiting demon amid a chilling soundtrack of howling wind and the erratic beating of his frenzied heart. Her eyes were glowing a fierce blue as she glided the short remaining distance to the seaman, her ruined garment only just flowing over the ground below. The blue fire in her eyes dimmed as she leaned over the helpless man and seized him in a vile kiss. Her jaw opened to an unnatural width and engulfed the man's entire lower face. Ash and the other horrified sailors were frozen in place watching their doom unfold before them.
The sinister being reared her terrible black hand back and shot it forward deep into her victim's chest. The two paused in this horrible embrace for a brief instance, fixed in the ethereal moonlight before she tore her hand from him in a spray of crimson. The woman didn't let him fall, no sooner than her horribly stretched mouth released the sailor's face it unleashed an arctic wind upon him. He was another icy statue in her gruesome gallery before his warm heart had fallen to the ground. Before Ash had a chance to digest the gruesome scene that had unfolded before him, the woman's eyes lit up with an intense energy once more. She glided along the ice toward the next sailor standing among the petrified dead that he was soon to join. As her jaw elongated once more and the grim process repeated itself Ash forced his eyes tightly shut and tried to distance himself from his impending doom. At least ten seconds must have passed before Ash had realised that he had actually been able to close his eyes. He had a small amount of control over his body while the woman's attention was focused solely on her current victim.
Before Ash could test his theory, the next sailor had been petrified and another heart lay steaming gently on the ice and snow that drank deeply from it, becoming stained in a matching deep red. The demon was soon upon its next victim and Ash mustered all of his strength to reach something from his belt that might save his life. His arms were nearly immovable, weighing many times what they should but he refused to give up. Ash's hand was painfully close to his salvation before he became powerless once more. The woman floated over the ice to the final sailor that stood between him and her, eyes ablaze. Ash knew he had made a terrible, fatal mistake by coming here.
As the wretch craned over the last of the terrified seamen for her kiss of death, Ash put everything he had into trying to grasp the small vial at his waist. Ash had never faced physical exertion on such an unforgiving scale; his muscles were burning just to move the final inch. His blood surged through his veins like acid and his nerves screamed as his fingers finally brushed against the vial. There was a sickening sound of snapping ribs when the foul woman tore out yet another heart as Ash's fingers finally began to curl around the vial. He saw the heart weakly beat one last time before it fell as he lost what little control he had. He was completely paralysed once more as the monster glided toward him. His hand was at his waist wrapped around the vial, which was barely freed from his belt. The seconds felt like hours as she approached. Fine details in her horribly cracked black skin became clear as she drew near, her eyes burned like two blue stars and Ash was powerless to look away.
The demon was before him now, dominating his vision as she sank from the air back to the ice. The blue fire in her eyes began to extinguish and Ash recognised his last chance. He had originally hoped to muster the strength to throw the vial from afar when he first conceived the idea to reach for it; despite quickly realising that act would be impossible he had persisted in his efforts. As Ash stared into the growing void that was the wailing woman's mouth, he desperately tried to release his grip on the vial. Effort was sheer agony, Ash felt as though his fingers were breaking under the strain.
The woman's horrible maw was upon his face as the vial finally began falling to the ice below. Ash couldn't breathe, a strange feeling washed over him and he felt himself slipping away. If the wretch's approach had felt like hours, then Ash had spent years bathed in the warmth of his impending doom. There was no use in fighting the battles he fought; he was infinitely insignificant and after years of subjecting himself to endless torment for others he had earned peace at last. As Ash started to let go and allowed himself to embrace death's radiance, he felt it. It was a tingling sensation, initially so light and almost pleasant but it had began to intensify. Soon there was a storm brewing in his nerves, what began as a strange sensation grew more and more into sheer anguish.
He was ripped at last from his trance-like state and sent screaming back to reality. His vial had shattered on the ice and released a flash flood of fire, which washed over his boots and the monster's tattered garment. Ash saw the flames licking at his legs in slow motion as his senses snapped back into focus, the fire climbed quickly up the monster's gown like an inverted waterfall but she didn't relinquish her victim. Her unsightly form was soon completely engulfed as she raised her arm and reared back her hand to claim another life before the pain of the inferno overwhelmed her.
Then all at once, the agony broke her. Ash was thrown backwards violently, landing excruciatingly on his crossbow as the woman erupted with a shriek that made Ash writhe on the ice. He knew only pain. The horrible wailing noise felt as though it was boring a deep fissure into his head, his vision was scorched from staring into the demon's eyes and the skin of his lower legs had been burned from the fire that had risen above his boots. Ash's involuntary writhing on the frozen tundra was helping to soothe the burns he had sustained but even as the wailing began to subside he speculated that he was far from safe.
His fears were confirmed when instead of collapsing, the hideous woman turned to face him. She was still wearing a shroud of fire but it was dying down. A terrible smell reminiscent of disease assaulted Ash's nostrils preceding the creature's advance, the harbinger of a grisly end. She no longer glided ominously over the expanse towards him, instead she strode on badly burned legs. The pains that stabbed at Ash's every sense were barely subsiding but he was running out of time. He desperately fumbled onto his side and reached back to retrieve his crossbow.
As the wretched demon closed the distance between them wearing a visage of fury, Ash clawed at his weapon to save himself. He clasped the powerful crossbow firmly and slid it round to his front. Recognising the injured young man's efforts were a threat, the woman broke into a bound. Ash didn't let her pounce, her form shook with the bolt's impact and she fell forward carried by her frenzied inertia landing with a heavy impact. A welcome silence filled the air, Ash had hit her in the centre of the chest. He knew she was vanquished but didn't grant himself the rest he yearned for. Fearing that the cold would take him, instead he clambered to his feet and made for the boat after taking a second to observe her smoldering corpse.
Standing atop the cliff overlooking the Cerulean Bay, the hiss of the wind and the sensation of snow landing in his dark hair forced Ash to cease reliving dark memories. The cold and snow were hallmarks of the darkest chapters in Ash's life and when the winds of winter washed over him Ash couldn't help but be reminded of the times he had been lost in the cold terrified. When Ash had clung to life fiercely rowing back from the Seafoam Islands he shook the entire way from the cold and the sheer shock of the ordeal as it set in. The wailing woman was one of the larger droplets in the ocean of experiences that constituted Ash but it could never be the largest. Winter was once again prepared to greet Ash now, as it did at sea, as it did when he was a child.
A celebration of life that became an unprecedented spectacle of death; the disastrous event that set him on the path he was to walk ever since was hauntingly accompanied by the first snow of the year. Only a boy, the young Ash had fled aimlessly into the snow, alone and lost in every sense. Now the snow was only a distraction to him, he had purpose and he had direction. Ash had known that the caress of the cold was the icy stare of Death, he recalled cursing the snow as a lost orphaned child and cursing the gale lost at sea. Now he welcomed Death's company for as long as it was content to simply watch him from a distance.
It was time for Ash to make his way back to the city, the light snow could rapidly develop into a blizzard and it would be getting dark soon; his investigation was done for the day. Ash took a last look at the view before heading directly for civilisation, orange and blue clashed for dominance in the sky as the sun fell but they would both be replaced with black soon. The monster hunter regretted that he was not able to learn more about the creature he sought. If he wasn't able to find a solid lead in the next few days his only option may be to forgo sleep during as many nights as possible to hopefully catch the monster in the midst of an abduction. Ash was proven right to retreat as he neared the city, the snowfall grew steadily heavier and the wind intensified; it pushed against him as he strove for the warmth of the inn where he could gather his thoughts for tomorrow and try to forget that Death was always watching, always waiting.
