Chapter 2

Kill the Guilt

Tatsumi woke up in a cabin, screaming. A man came into the room he was in. The man said, "Good you're finally awake. I would like to ask you some things if you wouldn't mind." Tatsumi seemed to get calmer and nodded in agreement. "Splendid! Now my first question is why in the name of hell did we find you with the danger beast Lurker and why were you still alive?" Tatsumi was confused by the name Lurker, so he asked "A what?" The man simply replied with disturbance in his voice, "There is only one Lurker, and this is a danger beast that has mastered the shadows itself. It is known to kill its victims as soon as it touches them. The only exception to this is now you." Tatsumi could only say one thing, "It knocked me out while I was trying to defend my friend Sayo after I found her on the side of the main road waiting for death with my already deceased friend Ieyasu." As soon as Tatsumi finished his thought, he couldn't help but grieve as he lost the hope of being able to get revenge for Ieyasu and to protect Sayo. The man instantly regretted saying that last part. "Well look, if it will make you feel any better, I can have my men go out in search parties for your friend." The man said, hoping to brighten Tatsumi's mood. Tatsumi looked up rapidly and said, "Really, you would do that for me?" The man replied, "I don't see why not." Tatsumi was put into a slightly brighter mood for the time being and said, "Thank you so much sir!" The man replied, "Don't mention it. But I do want to know if you would like to be told what the Lurker is and what it does." Tatsumi said, "Yes." without any thought going into the decision. The man put on a grin when Tatsumi said yes as he sat up in his seat. The man said, "Well, to start, the Lurker is an Ultra Class danger beast that hunts on extremely rare occasions, with the perfect conditions being met for it to come out of hiding and hunt. The conditions that it prefers to hunt in is called Disparity Shadow Day. What that means is that once every few years, something happens in the forest that stirs the emotions of two people close to one another by another third person's demise. The demise would have to have been brutal and caused by some who would hide in the shadows of the night and forest by day. An event like this hasn't happened in decades, that is until today." He finished his thought with a grim look. The man continued on, "As to what the Lurker can do," pausing a moment before continuing, "It kills both of the two who have suffered by draining the emotions of it's victims and then eats select parts of the body that it knows will feel most pain." The man's voice trailed off before looking at Tatsumi again. Tatsumi looked as if his heart might burst in horror and despair. Oh god, please don't tell me that Sayo met this so called Lurker after I was knocked unconscious. Tatsumi asked the man, "Did you see anyone else beside me?" The man said, "No, I didn't." Content found its way into Tatsumi's heart as he was relieved that they didn't find Sayo. The man then asked Tatsumi, "It still doesn't make any sense as to why the Lurker didn't kill you. Nor does it make sense that it only knocked you unconscious unless…" The man's voice trailed as he looked to be remembering something. Tatsumi looked at the man with confusion and asked, "Unless what?" The man shook his head and said, "Forget it, it was nothing." The man seemed to brighten up as he remembered that he hadn't let the boy know who he was. "I almost forgot to tell you who I am, silly me. I am Kortenyu, the chief of this village." Tatsumi looked at the man with relief and a questioning look. Tatsumi replied, "I am Tatsumi. I already told you about what had happened."

The man then looked around as he though he felt something move. Tatsumi could see that he had a look of both uncertainty and then saw him moving his hand down to what looked to be a scimitar. The man then said with urgency in his voice, "Get your weapon out, now." Tatsumi did as Kortenyu said, having a feeling of fear sink in slowly. The sun that had shone so bright a moment before was now behind a thickening layer of black clouds, blotting the sun out replacing daylight with darkness. The village had gone dead silent. Kortenyu stood up just before the door to the room they were in slowly and menacingly creaked open. The Lurker had found the Tatsumi. In the brief time that the Lurker had been opening the door, Kortenyu had moved in front of Tatsumi. He got to see the Lurker and its horrific looking mangled body. The Lurker looked like a mix of a bear, human, and reptilian danger beast. Its head was scaled, save the parts on its cheeks and its eyelids. It had a gaping mouth with the teeth of both a bear and a human. Its body had horizontally sloped stripes of skin and fur, the rest was scale and bone. Its arms and legs were of a human hand and its forearms that of a bear with reptilian scales dotting the arms and legs. Parts of the body were protected by what had looked to be bone that seemed to be thick.

The lights dimmed as the Lurker entered the room. Kortenyu yelled in anger at the danger beast, yelling, "BEGONE FOUL BEAST!" and lunged forward. The Luker hissed, as one of its arms swung at Kortenyu sending him into the nearby wall with an excessive amount of force. The next thing that Tatsumi saw was Kortenyu be impaled by one of his prized danger beast heads. Tatsumi recoiled in fear. In self defense, he put his sword up with a shaky hand. The Lurker didn't seem to care as it back up some to show that it wasn't going to harm him. This looks to be the end for me. Why did this have to happen to me of all people, why? As if the Lurker could hear his thoughts, it looked at him with human-like eyes. They were as black as night. It tilted its head, as if it were trying to show him something. What the hell? If this thing is going to attack me, why hasn't it? The Lurker then gave a confused look to Tatsumi. It shook its head from side to side. Tatsumi then had the idea thinking it might be reading his mind, thinking he should ask a question to it by thought. Wait, can you understand what I am saying? It seemingly worked as it nodded it's head in agreement. With a look of pure amazement, Tatsumi continued on with his thoughts. So, you can understand what I am thinking. Alright then, why did you knock me unconscious? The Lurker looked at Kortenyu and then tried to imitate a carriage, moving around him at the speed of a carriage and then looked outside. Tatsumi felt like he knew what the Lurker was trying to hint at. You wanted me to be alone, right? The Lurker nodded. Why did you want me to be alone? It then seemingly trying to get him to follow. What? The Lurker looked like it had an idea, trying to spell "follow me" on the window behind Tatsumi in the fog that had condensed on the window. It didn't know how to spell and instead was able to spell, "fal w m." Tatsumi thought of what could be spelt similar to what it had spelled out, thinking of the words follow me after a few moments of thought. Follow you where exactly? The Lurker just rolled it eyes and started walking out of the doorway to get outside.

Then, Tatsumi watched the Lurker for a few moments before realizing that it had put its arm around him. Tatsumi said, "What do you thin-" He was cut off by the sheer speed that the Lurker ran at. Everything looked like a blur to Tatsumi. The blur continued moving for a few minutes more before everything stopped moving and he was set down. Dazed by the speed of the Lurker, he could barely stand. It took a few moments for Tatsumi to regain his balance and when he did, he saw what looked like an abandoned village. The Lurker looked at Tatsumi and then started going for the largest building in the abandoned village. Tatsumi looked around, amazed by his surroundings. It was when he turned to the large building that he felt drawn to it, as if something were whispering, "Follow the Lurker." Tatsumi tried to resist, but the whispers overcame him. He started walking to the large abandoned building. Although he was compelled to go to the building, he still couldn't help looking at the village in the twilight that it was bathed in as it seemed to have been removed of its inhabitants decades ago. Tatsumi reached the door of the building and went in, feeling as if darkness had been infused into his being.

That was Chapter 2! I was talking with some fellow authors while writing this and then I had an idea as to the direction that this chapter would go. I would like to say that this story wouldn't have been possible were it not for the two other authors that helped me with writing and editing this story. The two are The Mourning Wolf and DemonFoxBK201. If you have suggestions, go ahead and PM me!