Hypothermia Chapter 11

Sasame walked down to the front desk to ask the cat-like leafanian if she knew anything about the creature in town. Even though there were many monsters in Leafania it was rare for one to come into town.

When he reached the desk the woman had her head down on the desk. He thought she was sleeping again until he heard muffled sobs. He slowly approached.

"Excuse me?" He said and her head shot up.

"I'm sorry." She said while wiping her eyes with her hands.

"I saw something last night; I was wondering why a shadow-like creature was in town."

This made he woman cry more. "Those are Shadow Creatures who take Leafanians away. They've been appearing everywhere lately. They took my sister last night!" She said in-between sobs. Sasame left her alone not wanting to upset her more.

When he returned to the rooms he told of his findings to the others. Mannen heard from his spot on his bed. He had a blanket wrapped around him that flopped over his head.

"We fought one." Everyone turned to him. "Me and Reki. We préted too."

'So she is a power enhancer.' They all thought. Go had said it out loud. Mannen just looked at them. Somehow it didn't surprise him.

"I have seen them many times. The number of them seems to be increasing."

"Do you know what they do with the leafanians they take?" Hayate asked but Reki shook her head.

"Go, Kei, Hayate," Sasame said. "Let's go."

"Hey! What about us?" Mannen protested.

Go stepped in "Stay here till we know what we're dealing with!"

"We fought one! We know!"

"We need to find out more!" They were yelling back and forth till Himino stepped in.

"Both of you, stop fighting! Mannen, Hajime, Shin, Reki; stay here. Hayate, Sasame, Go, Kei, Takako; let's go." She ordered while she dragged Hayate out the door.

"But Takako is a human!"

"She's older! And she used to be a prétear!" She yelled back from down the hall.

"Himino! Let go!" You could hear Hayate yell as they left. The room was now vaccant of the older ones and of course, Mannen wasn't one to listen.

He got off his bed and dropped the blanket then went to the window as the others fallowed. They watched the adults leave the building and walk towards the heart of town.

"Let's go." Mannen said as he got down from the window.

"Himino said to stay here." Hajime said.

"So? When have we listened before?"

"Oh yeah..."

They all fallowed the ice knight down the stairs and passed the front desk to the outside. They ventured through the small alleyways and hidden spots of the town which were almost forgotten or unused by the inhabitants. They didn't stick out due to the way leafanians looked; they fit right in.

"What are we looking for?" Shin asked.

"Shadow Creatures." Mannen replied.

"Shadow Creatures do not come into town in daylight." Reki said.

"What!" He yelled before turning to the group. "Then we'll just have to wait till nightfall."

"What are we gunna do till then?" Hajime asked as Shin nodded.

"We'll think of somethin! Right?" They all cheered and nodded. "Let's go!" He said and started to walk.

They walked in an alleyway where no one else was. Water dripped from unknown places and made muddles in the stone walkway. Pieces of wood that had once been used for building now leaned against the walls of the buildings that formed the alleyway. Boxes held various pieces of junk and sat on the ground. There would be a few spots where the stones which they walked upon had worn away from rain.

At the end of the alley way was an open area enclosed by buildings on all sides except for the alley from where they had come in. The four curious kids approached the house which was old and in ruins. They were able to open the big wooden doors of the unknown place the planned to explore. They all coughed from the collected dust that was moved around from the door moving.

From where they stood in the doorway, they could see that the house had been abandoned for a long time and the age was having an affect on the untended house that probably stood grandly in it's day.

They entered the building with excitement for the unknown.

"Let's stick together," Mannen started while he looked to the others in time to see Shin and Hajime running off on their own in the dusty, dim lighted house. "Hey! Wait!" He said while running after them.

Reki was looking at the stairs that had a beam of light from a hole in the roof that attracted her. She went towards it and looked up in wonder. She slowly ascended up the stairs. There was a long dark hallway, which she walked now.

Various paintings hung on the walls and she jumped when she saw her reflection in a mirror. She looked at the mirrors and saw that there was a crack that ran from one corner to another.

She soon continued down the hall till she reached a door at the end. She touched the dull, gold colored knob that was attached to the wooden door and it slowly creaked open. Inside was a bed, a few chairs, a desk, a bookshelf with books, and a cradle.

Reki walked over to the cradle and looked in. There were a few blankets and a doll that lay there. She picked up the doll to examine it before laying it back down and walking over to the desk. There was a picture frame with dust covering the picture.

Reki picked up the picture frame and wiped off the dust with her hand. In the picture sat a woman holding two babies. One had fox ears and a foxtail and orange hair. The other had the same type of ears and tail but they were grey-blue and the baby had gray-blue hair. The woman looked like a combination of the two with her one orange ear and one grey-blue ear and had two tails, one of each color.

The fox girl touched the picture with one of her hands but soon jerked away at the sound of Mannen's voice. "Reki! Where did you go?" She heard him yell from downstairs. She put down the picture and hurried toward where Mannen's voice came from.

Somewhere else in the house-

Mannen, Hajime, and Shin walked in a hallway which was dark and that made it hard to see. Somehow they had gotten lost. The house looked smaller from the outside than how it actually was on the inside. The house seemed to have been abandoned suddenly and unintentionally but they didn't know why.

Something caught their eyes once in awhile. Shadows seemed to move on their own and they wondered if they were Shadow Creatures.

"Mannen...what are those things?" Shin asked in a scared voice. Mannen turned around.

"They're ghosts!" He said trying to scare them more. They screamed and Mannen snickered until he felt someone tapping him on his shoulder. He froze before slowly turning around and because he was still weak from the Tsumetai incident he accidentally froze part of the hallway.

When he saw who had touched him he was relieved.

"Reki! You scared me!" He hung his head; Reki petted his soft hair.

"Shouldn't we be getting back?" Hajime asked.

"Go's gunna be mad!" Shin added and Mannen nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go." They all walked back to the place they had first entered but before they could reach the door a Shadow Creature dropped from above them.

Mannen thought quickly to freeze the creature to the ground so it couldn't move. Unfortunately, it could still move it's arms, hands and claws, which it used to smack them all back with great force.

Mannen tried to aim ice at the creature but was not able to control the direction and missed. His eyes were un-focusing on their own so he decided to tell the others tactics to use.

"Hajime!" Hajime turned to him. "Prét with Reki!" The younger boy nodded before holding his hand out to her. She took it and in a matter of seconds and after a flash of blinding light the water prétear appeared.

Reki and Hajime used the water frail to destroy the Shadow Creature with ease. They unpréted and looked back to Mannen and Shin who were behind them.

"Mannen!" They both yelled as they saw him laying on the ground with Shin kneeling next to him. Hajime and Reki ran to him and kneeled by him like Shin.

His face was twisted as if he was in pain of having a nightmare.

Mannen's Dream-

"Mannen." He heard Tsumetai's voice and he opened his eyes. He scanned the place where he was and saw it was dark and made of stone which he laid upon.

"A cave?" He questioned.

"My home." He looked up to see Tsumetai sitting on her knees in front of him. She smiled at him. He turned his head to the opening and saw Zutto and the wolves playing outside. "Mannen." She said to get him to look at her. "There is a technique you must learn."

"What technique and why?" He asked.

"It's a purification technique. The Shadow Creatures take leafanians away to make them Shadow Creatures but there is a way to turn them back without killing them."

"I've been killing leafanians?" He was shocked and a strike of sadness and grief came to him.

"Mannen..." Tsumetai started, "It was the only way at the time. Learn this technique so you won't have to do that anymore." Mannen nodded solemnly.

"Why were Shadow Creatures in that house?"

"They are attracted to that house."

"Why?"

"That's the place it all began..."

"Huh?"

"Mannen...find the core..."

"The core...?" He asked as everything faded. He awoke in the inn room.

"The core..." He repeated.

To be continued-

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