Chapter 1: Pricking the Bubble of Illusions
The nature's soft blanket left no land untouched, as she swept and covered the existing landscape before her in unmatchable grace and beauty. Like a loving mother tending to her innocent babe, she neglected not one spot of exposed skin. The plains that stretch along endlessly, the high and rocky mountains that stood majestically above sea-levels, nothing was left behind. Even the lakes seemed to have changed into beautiful, reflective mirrors overnight. Such was the beauty and grandeur in nature itself. This breath-takingly beautiful landscape however, can never be truly complete without its perfect counterpart, the starless night sky, in which it hangs only a mocking crescent moon, acting as a lantern for the child below.
From afar, the child was resembled nothing more than a tiny dot. This tiny dot however was soon replaced by the figure of young child, no more than 8, bundled in warm winter clothes. The child treaded the soft, white blanket dauntingly, afraid that she would lose her footing, and heaven-forbid, stumble to her death beneath the scary-looking ravine below her. Carefully, the child raised her foot over another, leaving a neat and tidy file of footprints etched deeply on the virginal snow, as she continued her journey, braving the strong and merciless wind.
"Onii-sama, where are you?" she shouted. Her young voice echoed through hill. But her shouts and cries seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, as no answers were heard. It wasn't long before she came to the entrance of the thick forest. Tired and unable to walk any further, she reconsidered her options. She could always go back, but then her okaa-sama told her to head east. She never disobeys her okaa-sama's orders, should she disobey it just this once? No, she told herself, the scary-looking men were surrounding the house. The thought of meeting those frightening-looking men doesn't look appealing to her at all. There was a certain smell of rotten flesh surrounding those ungodly men.
Besides, she needs to find onii-sama at all cost. She promised her okaa-sama that she will find onii-sama and deliver the message to him and when a Kuran makes a promise, he or she always keeps the promise. Taking in a deep breath, she put on the bravest face she could muster, and walked towards the pitch-black forest, entering the unknown world inside the forest. However, she soon began to regret her course of action. The dark surrounding around her and the hoots from the various nocturnal creatures inside the forest scared her to no end. She eyed her surroundings suspiciously, as if there was a wild beast waiting to devour her right at the corner. "Argh!" she screamed as a screeching bat swooped down a little too close to her. Losing her footing, she tripped and carelessly scraped her unprotected knee against a thorn bush. Drops of crimson blood flowed from her wound onto the white snow. Tears filled her round brown orbs as she watched her blood dripped silently onto the snow. Usually when she got hurt, okaa-sama would always clean her wound and her otou-sama would kiss the wound to make it feel better. Now, she was miles away from home, from her parents, from warmth. Whatever sins she has committed, she definitely did not deserve to be left alone in this strange surrounding she never knew.
Tired, hungry, scared and alone, she felt as though the whole world has abandoned her, even her beloved onii-sama. She hugged herself as she sat down unceremoniously on the ground, humming an old nursery rhyme her okaa-sama used to sing to her when she had a nightmare. This is all just a dream, she told herself desperately. I have to find onii-sama, then we'll surely find okaa-sama and otou-sama. They must be somewhere out there. They can't just leave me behind. Can they? As her question laid hanging in the air, unanswered, her mind drifted hopelessly again once more. Within seconds, the horrific cries of agony, the charred smell of burning flesh and the sick, nauseating smell of black blood filled her mind and nostril. Sitting there alone, she could feel her heart beat quicken as those terrible images entered her mind. She could herself feel herself shaking not from the freezing temperature of her surroundings, but of the fear she felt inside.
Stop, she screamed subconsciously, as she forced herself to stop her train of thought. Her otou-sama and okaa-sama are strong, kind people, whatever she saw then couldn't have been real. Okaa-sama once told her that kind people always have happy endings and live happily ever after, just like how she lives with her otou-sama , okaa-sama and onii-sama in their humble and warm house.
The warm house that's now nothing but a pile of ashes, argued her rational mind. That's right. She can't ignore or deny what she saw then. She saw their house being burnt to the ground with her very own eyes. She saw her otou-sama lying in his own pool of blood. She remembered her okaa-sama telling her to run, to find onii-sama, to tell onii-sama a message. Those sightings were real, that is an inevitable truth. It wasn't just a bad dream, and yet she simply couldn't accept the fact that her parents are now gone. I feel so confused, she murmured as she sat in the snow, hugging herself as if she was shielding herself away from the snow and the strong wind.
I need you, onii-sama. Where are you? Didn't we promise to always be there for each other? You promised. Onii-sama please answer me. A fresh, new trail of tears soon replaced the old ones. Her tousled black mane was blown across her face by the cold wind. Sobbing broken-heartedly, all she could do now was to sit and await either death or rescue. After all, the chances of her, a young defenceless girl surviving in the forest, is pretty close to zero.
"Yuuki, Yuuki," came an echo. Onii-sama, she thought. She clambered hastily onto her feet thinking in delight of meeting her beloved onii-sama. She knew it, onii-sama always keeps his promise. He would never have left her alone. Okaa-sama and otou-sama must also be with onii-sama. Yes, she sees it now. She must have gone lost and fell asleep. Worried, her parents must have sent onii-sama to look for her. Everything she saw just now was nothing but her figments of imagination. It was a dream.
"Onii-sama, wait for me," she yelled happily. She felt herself bursting with energy as she ran through the woods, following the source of the sound. "Yuuki, where are you? Dinner is starting, okaa-sama and otou-sama are waiting. Hurry, Yuuki," came the distant voice. Pushing herself, she increased her speed as she herded herself towards the sound source, towards her beloved onii-sama, towards home. The thought of going home excited her so much that she abandoned all her rational thoughts. She paid no heed to neither her surrounding nor where she was venturing. If only she had looked, she would have discovered that in truth, she was simply moving further and further into the forest. The voice that called out to her, the voice which she thought belonged to her onii-sama, in reality was a call from the terrible beasts that lurk inside the forbidden forest. If only she knew the truth, then she would have known what awaits her beyond those thick bushes was not her onii-sama but a creature of darkness. A creature that lurked behind her, hiding in the shadow of the trees. The very creature that has lured her into its trap by beguiling her with strings of broken promises, and simply lying waiting for the right moment to pounce.
"Onii-sama, you can come out now. I don't want to play hide and seek anymore. Onii-sama, if you don't come out now, I'll –" She left her sentence abruptly when she felt herself being towered by a large shadow. Thinking it was her onii-sama, she spun around with a frown, intending to scold him for teasing her. Instead, she only found herself coming face to face with a hideously shaped monster. Its face was twisted beyond recognition, its eyes were a terrible shade of ruby red but the most frightening part of it was its sharp incisors protruding from its smirking face. Though it resembled a human form, she was sure whatever part of humanity it once had has died a long time ago. What she is seeing now, is nothing but a beast filled with insanity, kept alive only by its hunger and lust for blood. What she saw just now, those images, however unbelievable as there were, those were living facts. It was not a dream after all. She truly was all alone in the dangerous forest. There was no one but herself to rely on. Moreover, from the way things are looking, she has a pretty good idea, what going to happen to her if she doesn't save herself from the horrible monster.
"Little girl, your blood smells so wonderfully divine. I can hear it calling out to me. I can almost feel the taste of it at the tip of my tongue," came a menacingly fiendish voice from the beast. The child could only watch in fear, as the distance between her and beast got closer. Paralyzed, she fell onto the ground below her. Relying on her four limbs, she whimpered in fear, crawling backwards awkwardly. Suddenly, she felt something round, and heavy. It was a piece of rock. She wasted no time in grabbing hold of the round rock, for she knew that her very survival depends on it. As soon as she felt the beast's horrible breath, still reeking from its last meal upon her, she threw the rock as hard as she could, aiming for the beast's ruby eyes.
Her shot proved true, as the rock hit the target straight on. The beast doubled over and howled in agonizing pain. Trickles of blood seeped from its eye wound onto the snow. Taking advantage of the situation, she got on her pair of feet and commanded herself to flee. Over the bushes, hedges and overgrown pine trees, she ran without stopping for breath. Faster, faster, she told herself.
Unfortunately, her short legs were no match to the monster's supreme speed. The monster was back on its four feet within seconds from its position on the ground. In a matter of minutes, the monster had already caught up to her. "HAHAHAHAHA," came the eerie laughter behind her, "you foolish little girl, don't you know that you can never outrun a master of the woods." Surprised and frightened, she could only quicken her pace, hoping to increase the distance between prey and predator as much as possible. Her efforts however proved to be utterly useless, as the monster used brute force to pounce on her from behind. It happened so quickly, that all she could only see was a blur of movement, before she was pushed down forcibly onto the snow-covered ground. On top of her, was the menacing-looking demon with its sharp fangs glinting in the moon light and its hands wrapped around her throat. Its very mouth salivating from the thought of enjoying human flesh and blood, a rare delicacy in the forest where no men dared to venture. Its pink tongue darting from its mouth nervously.
"Let me go!" she screamed as she tried to break free from the monster's ironclad grasp. She struggled with all her might, depriving the monstrosity beside her from getting any satisfaction of seeing her giving up her life as a forfeit. However, her struggling only made it worse, as she felt the merciless monster tighten the force around her neck. She was losing her air supply, but the worst was yet to come, as she saw herself being lifted by the beast. Her feet were unable to touch the solid earth, but were left dangling in mid-air awkwardly. Beads of sweat trickled down from her forehead, even though it was in the middle of cold, harsh winter.
"Now, why would I do that? You, my little prey, are the best meal I have ever seen for all my years in the forest. I have to be really stupid to trade you for a meal of rotten rodent meat. Hold still, so I can drink your blood," hissed the monster in a hoarse, disgusting voice. She felt beast's hold on her tighten tremendously as the monster's fangs slowly closed in on her bare porcelain-skinned neck. Using the last bit of energy left in her small body, she aimed for the any parts of the monster's body that she could reach and kicked with all her might but to no avail. The poor beast was already drunken with the prospect of drinking her blood. This gleaming prospect was so intoxicating and appealing that it had already been rendered immune against all other distractions, so much, to the extent that no more pain was felt.
So this is how it feels to be helpless, she thought. Around her, she could no longer feel anything. Sights, sound, smell are all a blur to her. She safely deduced that she was either going to die from suffocation or loss of blood. Either way her life was going to end in an excruciatingly painful way right there, right now. No onii-sama to save her. No more warm hugs and kisses from okaa-sama and otou-sama. No more happily ever after. Yielding to her fate, she finally stopped struggling at all. Closing her eyes tight, a single tear could be seen falling down her cheek as she awaited the final blow that would put an end to her life and everything she once knew in this life.
Good bye, onii-sama.
Author's Note:
Say hi to my new VK fan fic. ! Nasty Cliffhanger huh? Interested in knowing what's happening next? REVIEW NOW!!