Author's Corner
Enter the feudal landscape! Enjoy!
EIGHTH BLOOD
Chapter 2: Castaway
.
.
Octavia sat up in the pit of the dry well and groaned.
The ground was dirty, covered in the same dust and grime as the surface, and she was positive that her nightie would be horribly stained. Fantastic. At least she could quickly run back to the house and change, hopefully without anyone seeing her in the cover of darkness. At least, that was what she told herself as she strained to her feet and began to clamber up the stone walls. She couldn't recall if the ladder of thick vines had been there before, but she paid them little mind as she climbed.
It was hot tonight.
Blisteringly hot.
Had it really always been so sweltering?
She finally reached the top of the well and hauled herself out over the edge. The shed looked considerably cleaner than it had before. Had she been knocked unconscious long enough for Jirou to come in and finish his cleaning without even noticing her? The boxes were all gone, the shelves were empty, and the charms and sutras had been removed. The lid was gone too, vanished out of sight. Wouldn't he have gone to put it back on and saw her lying down there if that theory was true?
No sunlight streamed in through the thin paper windows of the shrine.
There was only darkness.
Still night, then.
But a new kind of silence stretched out. There was no late-night traffic, no buzz of electricity pylons, no nothing. And it only seemed to be getting hotter.
Slowly, she limped across the shed to pull open the double wooden doors. They opened with remarkable ease, lacking the stiffness they'd had before, and they didn't creak either. Had they been oiled? How long had she been unconscious?
She opened the doors fully and stepped out . . . into a wholly different setting.
Where the main house and shrine had once been, there were trees. Just endless stretches of trees for as far as her vision went. She stumbled back onto her bad leg in shock and winced at the sharp pain. She turned around to examine the shed. It looked sort of the same, but it was the only remaining part of the Higurashi residence. What had happened? Was this some kind of joke? A dream? Because she doubted she'd been unconscious long enough for a whole forest to grow outside. So, what the hell was going on?
"Stay calm," she mumbled to herself, trying to keep a hold on her sanity. "There's no need to panic. Everything's fine. Now, I think the house was . . . this way?"
After taking a deep breath, she strode through the long grass and over winding roots into the trees. Every step away from the well felt like she was wandering further away from what she knew. Into wild territory. The unfamiliar. A plain of mystery. Sounds in the branches sent her heart thundering, but she shrugged them off as birds or other woodland animals.
Of course it was a dream.
What else could it be? Houses didn't get picked up and thrown into other words in real life. This wasn't The Wizard of Oz. Her imagination had to have gone wild recently with all the excitement, so what had she expected? This was totally normal. Normal like her life, like her, like everything. But boy did this feel real for a dream. She'd had her share of lucid dreams before, but this . . .
This was on a whole new scale.
The outside temperature penetrated her skin in a way that a dream surely couldn't, and the noises around her seemed too intact, too crisp in her ears. Not to mention that her vision was perfectly clear, lacking that wobbly quality a dream had as if one were watching an illegal copy of a film online. But it couldn't be real, she thought, extending a hand to rest against a tree trunk. That couldn't be physically possible.
Things like this only happened in stories.
Magic, fantasy, and wishes only existed in stories.
She knew that better than anyone.
After about an hour or so of walking blindly through the forest on a bad leg, Octavia decided that it might be best to go back and wait at the wellhouse. But a light in the distance stopped her, and instead, she hobbled in the direction of the light and came across a small grassy clearing.
A campfire was lit at the centre, and nestled around it were an interesting collection of creatures. A scaled horse with two heads laid on its stomach beside the fire, next to something which looked like a strange toad of some kind, and there was a girl there too. Just a normal human girl with wild black hair and a purple yukata, who couldn't have been any older than her early teenage years from the looks of her. They were all sleeping soundly, their breathing even and calm. They were unwonted – alarming, even – but they were the first lifeforms Octavia had seen, and she desperately wanted to know what was going on.
She was moving to approach when one of the horse's heads lifted and its eyes shot to hers.
She staggered back on her bad leg again and winced silently.
It stared at her from across the clearing with its glowing yellow eyes, its monstrous faces bathed in the light of flickering flames. Sinister. Dangerous. Almost warning her to stay back. She turned to make a run for it but came face-to-face with another creature. A creature that at first glimpse could have passed as human, but on second was nothing of the sort.
He was the most frightening thing she had ever seen.
He had the fur of a dead animal draped across his shoulder, long silver hair – dyed almost orange in the light of the fire – and deadly amber eyes, so narrow they were just slits. The double stripes on his cheeks were a deep magenta, jagged and sharp in the dim light, and he bore the mark of a blue crescent moon on his forehead, giving him a sort of regal appearance. Almost like he was a god. And he was beautiful, in an ethereal, haunting sort of way. It was a dangerous kind of beauty, like the kind from trickster fairy stories, or from poems about forbidden love. Women would damn themselves for a creature like that. And he would have no qualms about eating their hearts afterwards.
She went as still as possible.
He stared at her, the blaze in his eyes making the campfire seem like a useless dying ember, and she almost trembled on the spot. But she wouldn't. She would never do that. Because somehow, she had a feeling that was what he wanted.
"What are you?" she asked in English.
His eyes widened ever so slightly, but only for a second.
She wished she would have kept her mouth shut when his lips curved into an injurious smile.
"You do not speak the tongue of these lands," he answered finally, in English as well.
Whoever this man-beast was, he understood her language.
"You speak English," she said, surprised but pleasantly so.
He studied her more carefully, staring her up and down. His gaze was calculating and eerie. She felt incredibly uncomfortable under his piercing gaze, but simply balled her fists and pressed her mouth into a tough line. She would not back down from a figment of her imagination, no matter how scary he was.
"Well, since you understand me, could you tell me where I am?"
He stared at her more intensely, eyes flashing like tail lights.
"Are you lost, human?"
"Maybe—Wait, are you implying you're not human?"
It was almost a joke, but the look he gave in answer chilled her to the very bone. He certainly didn't look human, but still . . .
He didn't answer, just kept staring at her with those sharp, scarily beautiful eyes. She hadn't really expected a verbal answer after his dark change in expression, but she still wanted to try and probe one from him. What was the risk anyway? It wasn't like a dream could clobber her.
"What are you then? A vampire?"
He seemed genuinely surprised at that and his brows quirked up in a sort of amusement.
His mouth twitched, and she swore she saw a flash of fangs.
"Foolish human," he said finally.
"Who are you calling foolish? I'm not the one walking around like a half-arsed cosplayer."
"'Cosplayer'? Is that some manner of human insult?"
Okay, apparently people in dreams don't know what cosplaying is.
She crossed her arms, frowning at him.
"And who are you exactly to be acting all high and mighty?" she asked, all traces of fear gone. "What makes you so special?"
He snorted then.
Octavia's anger faded and her cheeks burned with embarrassment that he was treating her like some brattish child.
"You really do not know who I am," he stated, voice distant and cold. "Or should I say what."
"Then tell me."
He stared at her intently. Deeply. With those chilling, calculating eyes. Like he was trying to pick her apart on the spot, trying to see inside and work out who and what she was. Like she was some kind of mystery to be cracked open and solved.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?"
Octavia turned to see the sleeping girl – now awake – standing beside the scaled horse and looking over at her and the not-human sleepily.
"What's going on?" she asked, her big brown eyes blinking the sleep out of them. "Who's that girl you're talking to?"
She was speaking Japanese, so this wasn't another planet she was dreaming up. She stared at Octavia with awe, her big eyes wide and glittering. "Hi, Miss," she said shyly.
"Hi," replied Octavia, raising her hand in a faint wave.
"Go back to sleep, Rin," the vampire said in Japanese, "Everything is all right."
Rin nodded and laid back down without another word or complaint, and before long, she was asleep. But the two-headed horse kept watching with its sharp yellow eyes, making Octavia shudder under its gaze. It was looking at her in the same way as who she presumed was its master. Like she was something curious.
Or like something it would love to eat.
"Shouldn't you be on your way, human?" he said, reverting back to English.
"Well, like I was saying earlier, I don't know where I am, so if you could just give me a few clues I'll be on my way. And stop calling me 'human'. It's creepy. And makes you seem creepier than you already are. Creep."
Maybe she shouldn't have said that.
His eyes darkened and she did shiver then.
"You should watch your mouth when speaking to me, or I might have to rip out that little tongue of yours. Address me properly next time, human."
"I would if I knew how to address you."
"It matters not, for I have no interest of encountering you again. Now, hurry along. There is a village to the east of here. They can assist you. Begone."
How impeccably rude.
Ignoring his frightening appearance and attitude, she smiled sarcastically.
"Thank you," she said, "That's perfectly fine with me because I have no interest in sticking around anyway. Bye."
As her back was turned and she began walking in the direction of what she thought was east, he spoke again.
"You should be grateful that I did not slit your throat on the spot for your behaviour. And that is south you are walking, not east."
"Sorry I don't have a compass on me. How was I supposed to know?"
"The stars are out."
She turned her head back to him. Suddenly all that daydreaming she did in class didn't seem all that great anymore with the smug look he was giving her. Oh, he could do one. She could use the stars to navigate if she wanted to. How had they done it in all those books again?
He looked down at his nails, which happened to be very long and sharp looking, almost like . . .
Claws.
Maybe he wasn't a vampire after all. The eyes, the markings, the fur. Was he a werewolf? Too many useless stories were stored in Octavia's brain, too many things that really didn't need to be up there. Maybe if she had read what was in the Higurashi records and scrolls instead, she might have clicked on to what this creature was earlier. But, of course, Fate would have it differently, for that would have made the upcoming journey too easy.
"Pitiful," he spat, "Typical stupid human."
"And I suppose you're all knowing on star constellations and scientific life cycles then?" she challenged, "Go on then. What's the square root of pi?"
He looked up from his claws then and regarded her again, with that same interest. Like she was something he'd never seen before.
"Such strange words for an imbecile human girl," he said finally, "Strange words, strange behaviour, strange clothing. Perhaps the better question is, what are you?"
She smirked.
"It matters not, for I have no interest of encountering you again."
His brows actually shot up in astonishment at the repeated words and she laughed.
Dusting off her dress, she spun and began walking in the true direction of east, a satisfied grin settled on her features. Her boots clanked along the soft grass, dewdrops gathering on the soles and laces, and she let them carry her away from the alien stranger. She could feel his golden eyes on her as she walked away, but she didn't turn back. Though she couldn't help the nagging question in the back of her mind that she couldn't deny she wanted an answer to.
What are you?
.
.
The sun was beginning to rise by the time Octavia was about half a mile away from the supernatural camp. Her body was covered in a layer of sweat, hair plastered to the sides of her face and down her neck, and her knees were scraped and sore from where she'd fallen several times. A twig snapping from behind caused her to swivel around and see the two-headed horse from before on the overgrown path. On its back sat the girl called Rin, and the toad was awake this time, standing on the ground beside them and carrying a large wooden staff.
"Are you following me?" Octavia asked, then realised they may not understand her as their friend had.
She repeated the question in Japanese.
"Yep! Sesshoumaru-sama told us to!" Rin beamed, which set the toad off for some reason.
"Silence, girl!" he squawked, "Don't speak to her so freely! She could be anyone! And now she knows Sesshoumaru-sama's name!"
"But Jaken-sama, I already said it last night in front of her. And you just said it again now."
"Be quiet, you insolent child! This is hardly the time for your smart comments!"
Octavia stared at the stupid but hysterical scene before her.
Oh, yeah. The girl had said that name at some point last night when talking to the vampire.
Sesshoumaru.
"Excuse me?" she asked, stopping their lunatic behaviour. "Why did this Sesshoumaru ask you to follow me?"
This time the toad – or Jaken, as Rin had called him – answered. "That is none of your business, human! His orders are final and no one challenges them!"
"Actually, it is my business since it's me you're following."
He didn't seem to know what to say to that.
Whilst he was stuttering wildly, Rin climbed down from the back of the scaled horse and bounded over to Octavia. She stopped in front of her and clasped her hands together behind her back, smiling brightly.
"I'm Rin," she said, "What's your name?"
"Octavia."
That seemed to impress the girl even more, and her eyes glittered. "That's a pretty name!" she exclaimed, and Octavia felt colour creeping into her cheeks at the compliment.
"Thank you," she murmured, and Rin giggled.
"I've never met anyone called that before. And I've never seen anyone with hair the colour yours is. And your eyes are pretty rare for a human as well! They're so green and shiny. I've never seen you around here before, are you new? Did you come from somewhere else? Your clothes are weird, they look like Kagome-neesan's. Do you know her? Ooh, and your shoes are so cool!"
There it was again, use of the word 'human'.
Was Rin not human either?
"Rin," Octavia started, cutting off the girl's frantic speech, ". . . You are human, right?"
Rin burst out into even more giggles at that and swirled around in her purple kimono. "Of course I am!" she sang, "I'm the only human here! Not counting you, obviously. It's always been just me with them. They don't usually like humans, you see."
"But if they're not human, what are they?"
"They're youkai, silly! Demons!"
She answered like it was the simplest answer in the world, and there was nothing weird about things like demons being in existence.
What would the Internet have to say about this? Or news outlets? This must surely have gone viral by now. But then Octavia remembered that this was a dream, and there was little logic in a dream. Surely this one would end now? It had been long enough already. Soon it would be time to wake up and go see Jirou Higurashi to go over to the family records.
Wouldn't it?
"Demons?" she repeated, letting the word roll off her tongue slowly. "Actual, proper demons?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well aren't they, you know . . . Not real?"
Rin seemed confused about that.
"Huh?"
"Aren't they just myths? Stories?"
"Well, look around you. If they are stories, there's a whole lot of them."
Rin pointed up into the branches, and Octavia followed her moving finger. In the place of where cicadas would be in high summer were creatures Octavia had never seen before. There were creatures from fairy tales. Birds with many eyes, and scaled triple-headed lizards, and glowing creepy crawlies. It was unreal. It was terrifying. It was beautiful. She spun her head around, staring up into the green canopy and studying every form of life in sight. There were colours of blue, pink, and red. Frightening beasts, but lovely as well, in a dark and twisted way. Insects with forked tongues – beetles, spiders, and centipedes.
Monsters.
Real monsters.
It was upon seeing them that Octavia thought they looked a little too not dream-like, and a little more real-like.
Suddenly things didn't feel so much like a dream anymore.
"Now do you see?" asked Rin with the biggest knowing grin.
Do you see the monsters from all those bedtime stories?
Seeing is one thing, but do you believe in them, truly?
Surely not?
Surely?
.
.