Fate's Design

"Noooo!" Somebody screamed. It took him a while to acknowledge it was Sayo.

He leaned over the broken window's sill and looked outside. In the narrow light of the moon he saw two figures lying on the ground. Motionless from what he could see.

Squeezing his eyes to slits he sharpened his gaze.

He clenched his teeth together while he stared at the silhouettes on the ground.

After what felt like forever one of them moved. Relieved he leaned back again and released a puff.

"What are you doing?"

Shimon turned right to look at his sister standing where the chair had been. The chair she had tied the boy to was gone out of the window like the boy himself.

He also wondered what he was doing. He could have killed them both and fulfill the legend for good. Instead he had hesitated. Instead he had been overcome with fear watching her drop out of the window and relief upon watching her move.

Not only was he unable to kill her, he was concerned for her well-being, when he should actually be more interested in ending her life. Why?

Had the gods spread this threat between them from the start? Was this how he was supposed to feel for the last of Amawaka?

These emotions were odd and disturbing. For the first time, he questioned his mission to reclaim his soul, all thanks these awakened feelings.

It was almost as if he became more human the closer he was to her, as if his soul was caged inside his body, reacting to her proximity and raging against its restraining bars.

"Shimon! What are you doing? Why aren't you sending men to chase after them?" Sayo addressed him again, this time in an insistent tone.

There were quite a few things he ought to do, instead of brooding over this. He did behave oddly. But he couldn't explain the reason why, neither to Sayo nor himself.

A sigh left him and he leaned through the window, avoiding the shattered glass.

They were gone. If there was an emotional reaction, which should settle in, it would be him getting angry or frustrated. Yet, it didn't. He felt easier than before.

"Shimon?"

No matter what any of this meant, he still needed a plan. He need to shake out of this state and he needed to find her again. He would deal with however the play turned out then.

Looking at Sayo, he told her, "They belong to this village. We'll find them."

The question was how. He could let his henchmen flip every stone in the village but something told him they won't be inside the village. Earlier this day Mayura had said something about belonging to an orphanage. He just needed to find it.

Like a puzzle a plan formed within his head. "We'll ask the other prisoners. They should know where they are hiding."

"You want to interrupt the feast?" Sayo looked at him wide eyed and shocked. Gone was her playful and childish attitude. Right now she reminded him of the old Sayo; the sweet and kind girl who always had told him in a calm voice, that he needed to let her go. If it hadn't been for her and his inability to obey her request, they'd both wouldn't be here. Their corpses would have rotted away a long time ago, leaving only bones behind. None of this would have happened. Yet, of all of the things he could regret, saving her life he would never regret. Even though he'd exchanged the nice girl with the bloodthirstiest of them all.

She was right to be shocked, though. Controlling a bunch of bloodgorgers was hard enough. Ripping them from their prey was another thing. Whether he'd fathered them. However, he needed to see Mayura again.

"Yes," he nodded at Sayo and walked towards the door.

"But Shimon –"

"I know...," he interrupted her, knowing exactly what she wanted to say. Blood-thirst was the first and most mutual characteristic of gorgers. "Regardless, it will give me some leverage to lure her out again, if the prisoners are kept alive."

"Her? You think she is the one?"

"I am very certain that she is." He looked at the tip of the fire poker which was covered with the boy's blood. The scent of it lingered in the room. Sweet and almost bitter. Yet, it did not stir anything within Shimon except for thirst.

He had felt nothing when he had poured the blood of the brown haired boy. He was sure Mayura was the one of the legend. Fighting her, watching her, looking after her, he had felt like he had not in centuries.

Tossing the poker aside, he left the room to stop his people from emptying all the villagers.

Thud.

Her body hit the grass with a dull sound. She yelped as pain exploded in her leg. High pitched screams and contorted grunts swirled in her head..

Dizzily Mayura pushed her body off the ground and hissed through clenched teeth as a sharp pain pierced her leg. Damn. Her ankle. She had tried to outbalance the impact with her feet but twisted her ankle instead.

Blinking her eyes open, her sight was overwhelmed with a chunk of wood. Surprised she leaned back to make out the shape of a chair leg. She barely missed crushing into the chair, she had hurled through the window earlier.

Every cloud has a silver lining, right?

Next to her she heard another groan and the shifting of clothing. She turned around to see Rokuro roll off his arm which remained in an unnatural angle on the ground. A tiny piece of white glinted in the moon light, sticking out of a skin.

The arm was broken.

With a grunt she heaved herself to her feet, ignoring the sharp needles rushing from her ankle through her body.

On wobbly feet she dragged herself to Rokuro's side and dropped to one knee. She took his good arm and slung it over her shoulder. In response he groaned but appeared to be his body upwards she uncovered a puddle of blood on the ground. It looked almost black in the shades of the night. Mayura gulped. She had no idea, if it was because of his arm or the stab wound. She only knew she needed to bring him to safety. Fast. Although lifting both their weights on her unhurt leg, made her groan in exertion.

She tumbled once when she had straightened her legs but fortunately kept her balance.

Slowly she started to walk, lugging Rokuro's body along while trying to spare her left leg.

He groaned again. This time directly into her ear. The volume of his voice stung.

Brokenly he uttered, "Mayura?"

She hummed in reaction. Slowly he released most of his weight from her shoulders, moving on his own feet.

After clearing his throat Rokuro raised his voice again, "Where are we going?"

"Home," she replied while looking straight ahead into the alley, darkened by the buildings' shadows. She hoped to get out of the village before the gorgers searched for her and Rokuro.

"What about the other villagers?"

She swallowed bitterly. "There is nothing we can do for them. We were lucky to escape in the first place."

Admitting defeat was not as hard as realizing the failure in the first place. Would she have been able to save them all, if she had not let herself be influenced by the monster? Should she have concentrated on finding the other villagers instead of rescuing Rokuro only? What a hero was she if she would sacrifice the lot for one life dear to her?

Now it was too late. She would have stood no chance against a ballroom filled with enemies, especially not with her twisted ankle.

Finally the reached the road leading east of Narukami. It appeared as if nobody followed them. The village was awfully quiet.

"Mayura, you're crying," Rokuro said all of a sudden.

Funny, she had not noticed the tears streaming down her face until now. Confused she raised a hand to her face and could a warm drop on her forefinger. It appeared, realizing the truth was not one of her strong suites today.

Luckily Rokuro did not probe further but left her alone to her thoughts, silently walking on the path bringing them to the orphanage. He must have sensed her uneasiness.

She had known something was off before. The signals had screamed at her and yet she had let herself be persuaded by interesting blue and intelligent eyes. She had talked to and even danced with the monster and all she had felt was the pull towards him. She should feel ashamed.

Yet – yet, she could not help but feel sad and disappointed. Had she been so wrong about him? Had she misread the sad eyes and the way he shielded himself with a prideful demeanor. Had everything been an act? Was the Shimon she had seen unreal?

Moreover, she was feeling this way, no matter that this monster had hunted her family for centuries, had killed each and everyone of her ancestors – her beloved father included – and stabbed her best friend right in front of her eyes.

She did not understand anything.

He had reacted like a human. Had looked irritated, had called out for his sister. The longer they had fought the uneasier she had felt, fighting him. How could it be that the monster acted more like a human than the gorger-girl he called his sister? Was it all a trick?

After walking the few miles through the dark the orphanage came into sight. A fire burned inside the two story building. She was sure Jinya waited for them.

Upon entering she was surprised at the sight of the numerous faces of her siblings, though. They had all waited for them. Grins and tears of the children, various of age, welcomed her and Rokuro and Mayura was happy to see the face of the girl she'd saved earlier today among them.

After calming down some of the younger, weeping ones and receiving scolding lectures from others, Mayura and Rokuro got patched up by a sourly looking Jinya. Mayura was sure that he thought it was his fault for not preparing her sufficiently. It was her own fault. How could he have known she'd get confused about the so-called monster?

When Jinya was done treating both of them, he sent all the other siblings to their beds and went to prepare a tea for them.

The moment he left the room, Rokuro addressed her again in a low and tired voice, "Mayura, can I ask you a question?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you hesitate, when you fought him?"

She pulled her legs from beneath the table to her seat and hugged them. "I don't know."

Then they both stayed quiet again. Confused and frail emotions hung in the air.

Jinya returned, carrying a plate with three steaming cups of hot and pretty good smelling tea and joined them at the table, "Now talk."

They told him as much as they could, about Rokuro's imprisonment and how he was picked by one of the gorgers from the rest of the villagers. Mayura told them how she came to face one of the gorgers and killed him, how she learned about the ball and found Rokuro. She told them everything but left him out of the story.

"I see," Jinya said. His small eyes looked weary and old, a story of loss and fear carved into the face of a middle aged man. "I suggest you two get some rest. I will keep guard for the night. If anything happens, you know what to do."

Mayura nodded, feeling tired out all of a sudden. The hot tea had soothed down some of her distress. Stumbling into bed she fell asleep soon but slept restlessly, disturbed by dreams of pointed white teeth, rooms drenched with blood and haunting blue eyes.

She felt like she hadn't slept at all when something jolted her awake. Stumbling to consciousness Mayura tore her eyes open and was blinded by sun light. Moaning she lifted an arm. From afar she heard a group of voices talking.

Suddenly dread punched into her as she remembered yesterday. What if – ?

Tumbling to her feet she quickly made it downside. To her surprise everyone was gathered in the dining room staring out of the windows of the front.

"Jinya?"

The older man stood close to the doorway to the kitchen. Worried eyes searched hers, "I think this thing came for you." He nodded to the outside.

What thing?

She rushed to the window and saw what had kept everyone staring outside the window: On the fence, not far from the building, sat a black, huge crow.

"It refused to leave and caws at everyone approaching. I think it is a message for you," Jinya explained.

Mayura nodded and walked outside, closing the door behind her to keep the others safe.

With each each step her ankle stung but the pain had dulled to a throbbing sensation.

The crow remained still as Mayura got closer. It was a big animal. Bigger than she would have assumed from seeing them flying in the sky.

Her breath hitched while getting closer, anxious about the large animal. There was a little piece of paper tied to one of its legs, making it look like a third one. It reminded Mayura of the three-legged crow, the god of guidance.

Well, then... She should just grab it, shouldn't she?

Reaching out for the little paper roll, Mayura carefully observed the crow's movements.

It did not move until Mayura jumped back, holding the paper in her hand. Suddenly the crow spread its wings, almost as broad as Mayura was high. With one strong push the crow lifted to the sky, whipping stains of blonde her against her forehead.

Utterly relieved she sighed and began to unroll the scroll.

It said,

Last Amawaka,

meet me at the split willow south of Narukami at sundown. In return I will release the prisoners.

Sincerely,

Shimon Ikaruga.

So he knew who she was and where she was. There was absolutely no point in hiding.

She knew the place he referred to. The split willow was a tree in the middle of a meadow close by a the outer rims of a forest. How did he know this spot though?

Confused she stared at the letter, eyes rushing over the words, back and forth.

This letter appeared to be a test. Only she knew his name, knew the name the monster hid behind – or was it the other way around? Was Shimon Ikaruga concealed beneath the monster?

Shaking her head, she ripped her gaze from the letter and looked towards the horizon. She had received another chance and this time she wouldn't hold back. This time she would succeed in stopping the monster for good.

The paper crumbled between her fingers.

She needed to kill him.