Chapter 3 – A Mortal Wound
As the darkness retreated, a dim light fell over the forest. The sky was filled with rainclouds, no hunting today. It was too dark, too rainy. Kaze layed in his bed, resting as he watched the rain fall against the leaves. The forest was quiet…honestly too quiet for his tastes. As he rose from his small bed, he heard the noise of a man in pain. Kaze looked out of his window, seeing a man…wait, no, that was his father! He was limping, for his foot was severed from his body. Kaze's eyes grew wide with fear for his father, and he rushed out. "Father! What happened?!" Kaze yelled, running to the aid of his wounded father. "N-No time to explain. Get your mother." With the final word, Kaki collapsed, becoming unconscious from the amount of blood he had loss. Kaze ran inside, yelling for his mother. His mother quickly appeared from the back room, carrying a bandage. She had already heard Kaze yell before. She ran to the door, slamming it open and running to her husband's side. She made a tourniquet for his leg, tightening it to stop the blood flow. "Kaze, help me get him inside and to the couch!" she commanded, obviously worried for her husband. He helped his mother pick him up and carry him in. Even if they hand bandaged him, the blood still flowed out steadily, staining the floor. The floor was no matter, Kaze was more worried of his father's life. He had been wounded before, but nothing this fatal. If they did not react quickly he could lose his life.
It was a few hours after he had woken up, and Kaze was in his room. His mother was tending carefully to his father and had sent him away. She was crying, which was odd because his mother never cried when Kaki was hurt. Kaze did not ponder this, for he was too busy pacing his room, wondering what could have been strong enough to cut off his father's foot. As he paced around, he heard a knocking on his wall. He slowly proceeded to look out his window, seeing a small fox below him, holding a small message in his jaws. Kaze held his hand out, and the fox dropped the note. He opened a small steel strongbox under his bed and pulled out a small amount of squirrel meat, giving it to the fox and patting his head. The fox, now content, ran off. Kaze looked at the letter, opening it and reading it carefully. "Kaze, meet me in the heart of the forest,come alone, or I will not hesitate to kill your family." The note suddenly began to burn. Kaze yelped and dropped the note, watching it disintegrate below him. That…was odd. Very odd indeed, for the fire did not burn any of the wooden house around him. He was…scared, to say the least.
(WARNING : SLENDER REFERENSE!)
It was midnight. Kaze had successfully snuck out of his house and had nothing but his knife, bag, and Lantern. He did not fear the dark, for it was his friend as a hunter, but the ominous message he had received earlier that day had put him on edge and made him very, very paranoid. As he was walking, he had heard footsteps behind him. He turned around, but saw nothing in the dark mist. He continued to walk, looking around him and hearing what he thought was the noise of a T.V going static. He turned, obviously paranoid, and saw Slender. He sighed in relief. "You gave me a heart attack Slendi!" he growled, proceeding to facepalm. "I am sorry Kaze, I did not mean to have scared you. I only have a warning for you." Slendi replied, a tone of seriousness creeping into his deep voice. "What is it? I am supposed to-" Kaze was cut off by Slendi putting a hand over his mouth. "I know, you received a letter. Do not go to the heart of the forest, a Hunter of the Dark is waiting for you there, he will kill you, and then your family." Slendi commanded, taking his hand off the young boy's mouth. Of course, being the boneheaded child he was, Kaze ignored the warning, and proceeded to walk to the heart of the Slender Forest. Slendi just sighed, disappearing into the night. As Kaze had reached his destination, he felt something was off. The note said to meet here, but nobody was around. He was about to leave, when suddenly, a dark figure appeared infront of him, about twenty feet from his current position. The dark figure spoke, "So, you came. Foolish little child, do you not know wwho I am?". Kaze just stared at the dark figure, his nightvision slowly adapting to the lighting. When Kaze realized who the voice belonged to, and saw the man himself, he was crippled with fear. It was his mother's ex-fiance, Eridan Ampora. "I know who you are, you idiot, how can I not? My mother left your stinky fish ass for my father." Kaze replied, growling and drawing his knife. Eridan was stronger than he was, bigger than he was, and Kaze did not stand a chance against him. Eridan laughed, and pulled out a small, metal cylinder. Kaze had no time to react as he threw it at him, hitting a tree behind him and watching the sleeping gas grenade explode. Soon, Kaze was overcome with weakness and fatigue. "Tonight, you will witness the death of your two beloved ones." Eridan laughed, smirking at the child. Kaze tried to stand, but was too weak. He very slowly drifted into sleep. When he awoke, he would see the nightmare he had experienced just the night before, unfold before his very eyes.
A.N. – So, tell me what you think, please leave a review, tell me if I should keep going, and Im sorry they are so short I just don't have a lot of time on my hands to be able to write a lot. Thanks for the support. And thank you Heiress of Blaze (My one-chan), for helping me out with the reviews! :D