After we left the town, we walked for about a day, until we arrived at the edge of the forest. Ican still remember hearing the snow crunch with every step we took. How the dark gray tree trunks mixed with the white blanket of snow, combining that with how still the wind was only added to the eeriness of the place.

You know I remember that moment because it was the first time they both held my hand, I can still remember how they looked at me with a mixture of fear and uncertainty. But we needed to move and we were to exposed just standing there, so what else could we do than go straight in.

You expect a forest to be filled with life, even in winter but no the place was quite deadly so. All we did was walk that day and like the children they were they got tired. So I was forced to cry them.

But as we go deeper and deeper, into the forest the feeling of ever present danger increased, In all honesty I can honestly say I thank God that I had a strong body back them. As the day became night and the Moonlight up the sky , I made my way up one of the trees, it was too dangerous to stay on the ground.

In all honesty there was no way a tree branch should have been able to support a full grown man and too children but it did. We were lucky.

I wonder how the three of us looked, sitting on a dead tree branch, dressed in white while looking at the crescent moon, surrounded by snow and trees.

I can still remember how the nightwinds carried the putrid smell of corpses and rotting flesh. It was sickening, it was disgusting, it was tasty. I can still hear my swords demanding me to look for the bodies and add their souls to my collection.

I resisted the urge to comply, after all those to kids wouldn't last a day in the world. As the night went on my heart slowed and with it my breeding, until sleep took over. I awoke in an Ocean filled with animals, of all shapes and forms, joyfully killing each other only for them to re merge stronger than before.

A woman swam up to me covered from head to toe in a thick white robe, that covered her from head to toe, making it impossible to see her face or any real form of her. It was odd considering we were under water.

''Does my husband not like the circle of creation and destruction.'' She said in an oddly caring way.

''Whats going on.'' I asked her

She giggled and began to speak ''People live and people die that is the truth, that binds us all. Human, animal, plant, but what of those that don't. Angels, Demons how does one defend themselves from things that can not die.''

''Give up.'' She began to swim in circles. ''It's simple you lock them away and if you can, you experiment on them to find ways that you can hurt them. Prepare yourself husband this is not the world you know.

[][]

He awoke to the sounds of snow crunching under people's feet, the growling of dogs and fresh air of a cold winter. In his arms both children slept comfortably, unwilling or perhaps uncaring to the cold climate they slept in.

As the snout of dogs and wolves sniffed the air around the tree they slept on, as they searching for prey, behind them were several men and women followed each of the beasts. Either way he did not move for he did not know these people or their intentions, perhaps they were searching for food, like deer or rabbits, or they might have been searching with a darker purpose.

Still his white coat, that somehow reformed around him, while of the same time it self remained as the cloths the children wore, one by one the men took their dogs while the woman took the wolves. It was only then, that he dared to wake the children, as they stird in his arms he was careful to keep them from making any loud sounds.

As a falken screeched out in the sky above him, the rapid sounds of a chase reached his ears. As the ground below shook the tree the sheltered them, he lifted to his head only to be greeted by the sight of snow lifting itself into the air.

No longer caring for any form of subtlety, he grabbed both children and ran by jumping from tree to tree. As some branches were too weak to sustain their combined weight, he compensated by hardening the air beneath him, how did he do this he did not know, nor did he care.

Every step he took seemed to stiffen his feet, every time he gave it, however he was too inexperienced with this kind of movement and so he fell. As both children screamed in fear, as they saw the snow covered ground, coming towards them.

Their voices hardening his heart and fueling his strength each time making him dig deeper into his vast resowar of power, in order to protect them. The very air seemed to harden, yet at the same time, seemed as fluffy as a pillow, cushioning their fall before they reached the ground.

As if they all had been synchronized, they let out a breath as they felt this feeling did not last as the sounds of the crunching snow, soon reached them once again. And so once again they fled, either by jumping from tree to tree, or by the hardened fluffy air, how long did they run they did not know.

For the man did not stop, even as the children screamed that they were far enough, only did their words reach his ears when they came close to a small city. It was there that he stopped and it was there that both children laughed , the man had run like rabbit being chased by wolves even when the wolf was long gone.

As their smiles and joy filled expressions, were met by an unmoving face that refused to show any form of expression, however the sight of a small blush filled with embarrassment was not lost to them. Still they made their way into the snow covered city.

As they entered the city streets the feeling of despair and hopelessness was felt almost as if one could seemingly taste it, the winter winds felt some wat lacking. Almost as they neither gave nor cared for such a place.

Each step they took seemed to echo thru the buildings, every person seemed to shy away from them as if they were being besieged by some sort of unearthly being. Still these people weren't his problem, nor did they hold any real importance, all he cared about were the two children that accompanied him, it was they that he had save and it was they that kept him company.

''Excuse me sir, would you like to see these new fragrances.'' a man said

As he turned around to see who spoke, he was greeted by a man wearing a blue scarf, bluish green kimono and a large box besides him. ''My name is Mononoke the Medicine Peddler.'

[][]

I thought it would be the last time I would ever see the man again…..I guess I was wrong.