Ashes of Sanity
Lullaby – Part 2
The trek through the harsh winter winds had left a deep chill in Ash by the time he approached Cerulean City. When he neared the inn, he could hear the merriment of drunk patrons and dearly looked forward to shedding the cold that clung to him. The privacy of his room would offer a suitable environment to meditate on the cause of the city's plight. It wasn't immediately obvious who was tending to the patrons when he entered; Ash thought he might be able to avoid Kasumi prying into his lack of progress until her high, expectant voiced cried out from a table on the other side of the large open room.
"Ash!" she called as she rose to meet him.
His reply, a single nod, failed to satisfy her as he strode on towards the stairs leading to the room he was renting. Kasumi clumsily dashed to catch up with the man from out of town nearly tripping over her stool in her hurry.
"Did you find any traces of whatever it is Ash?" she asked enthusiastically, praying for good news.
"Unfortunately, the snow meant I couldn't cover as much ground as I would have liked to," Ash replied with honesty while deftly avoiding the meat of her question, he saw her wide-eyed anticipation wane.
Kasumi's gaze fell from Ash's face to the floor and finally back to where she had been sat. Her hands fidgeted with one another nervously as she looked back, focused singularly on a young teenage girl with similarly dark orange-tinged hair, her daughter, Misty.
"I'm sorry I don't have any better news, but this is only the beginning. I will vanquish the fiend but doing so will take a well-composed mind," Ash told Kasumi softly, placing a hand on her shoulder, "And it will take patience."
"I can't lose her, Ash. I can't lose Misty…" Kasumi choked out, quietly on the verge of weeping.
"I won't let that happen, this will all end well. Winter alone may even see the monster held back," Ash consoled, "Bury your concerns and go to her."
Kasumi thanked Ash with a nod of reaffirmation and went back to sit with her daughter. Ash dearly hoped that his reassurance would come to pass, that the town would get a respite from the fiend's evil, but he couldn't count on it. He entered his room intent on mediating and reviewing the day. There was little to consider with regards to his task in these early stages so before long Ash thought at great length about the unwanted memories that had surfaced during the day.
He recognised the importance of reflecting on the past but preferred to set his full attention toward the present. The small clutch of memories that were normally buried deep by Ash had caught him off-guard with their reappearance that afternoon. And if they could surface then even more sensitive experiences that cut him deeper than any blade or claw might exhume themselves. His condition was of no importance to anyone else, but Ash would still rather not display any hints of vulnerability. He believed that doing so would detriment him at critical moments and never yearned to search for any deeper or truer reasons for his self-imposed stoicism.
He reached into a pouch at his belt for a small handful of dried berries with anxiolytic properties and thought towards dinner. He paused at the idea of dining within the walls of the inn; although he had told Kasumi to be patient and he doubted she would bother him, he did not want her eyes to linger upon him as he ate. Ash was now planning on eating earlier than usual in order to alleviate the uncomfortable digestion that typically accompanies the berries but unwanted attention from Kasumi seeing him again so soon would cause equal discomfort. He decided that a change of scenery would be best and that it would also aid in clearing his head.
Ash slunk out unseen into the wintry evening and ate at a cheap tavern across the way. The modest establishment was favoured by fishermen judging by the banter, and the smell. He remained there, listening to boasts of impressive hauls and exaggerated sea creature sightings that grew more outlandish with every drink the men had until the sun had long since set. They spoke of fantastic pearls guarded by living shells and of legendary sea serpents that breathed flames and devoured small ships whole as they and their sailors burned.
Ash eventually grew tired of the company and returned to his room in the inn, eluding Kasumi again as she busied herself served the remaining patrons that stubbornly drank long into the evening. Though he functioned on a minimal amount of sleep Ash was cautious to give himself a wide window in which to obtain it, hesitantly skirting the line between rest and sleep for as long as possible. Inevitably Ash drifted from the waking world into a worse one.
Although he couldn't be physically hurt by what he saw, he always felt utterly exposed. Over the years he had grown to expect this torment when sleeping. Consciousness was his only salvation but now more than ever, the brutal flashbacks were bleeding through the divide and invading his waking mind. For now, the worst of them was still completely confined to the realm of nightmares. And in his nightmares, it came to him.
He was a lost child again, running through inhospitable land. Hard ground dusted with fresh, powdery snow met his frantic feet as he dashed forward, not daring to look back. His mind was racing with the burden of loss, once again as familiar as breathing. The chase was all he knew and to look back was to forfeit his life. Death was behind him, he could feel its putrid breath run over the back of his neck. A blood-curdling scream shot out across the land, then silence. Frantic yelling coloured the air with urgency, this wasn't a part of the nightmare that Ash knew so well, this distress was alien here, it was of the waking world.
He sat up sharply in his bed, gaining his focus. It was a woman's scream, barely sensical woe reverberated throughout the inn. Only being naked from the waist up, Ash reached for his belt and felt for the distinctive shape of a particular vial. One drop of the vial's contents onto the wick of the candle at his bedside then agitated by just a flick of his finger saw it lit and his room illuminated with dim flickering. The woman's shouting was quieter now, she was joined by others attempting to console her panicked voice, Kasumi's voice.
Quickly getting dressed and adorning himself with belt and candle, Ash opened the door to the distress in the corridor to behold Kasumi flanked by patrons, parents perhaps. Kasumi's chaotic state was the epicentre of the tense atmosphere, confusion hung in the air as the man and woman at Kasumi's side attempted to make sense of what had made her so hysterical. She ceased her aimless pacing when her eyes locked on Ash.
"You! You were supposed to protect her!" she screamed, her rage now given direction.
"What happened?" Ash inquired, extending a hand toward Kasumi as she approached with a look of hatred, only to have it swatted away.
"Misty! I heard noises in our room, she isn't in bed! I can't find her anywhere!" Kasumi answered as she pointed towards a staircase to the second floor room she and Misty occupied with a fury that was not subsiding.
"That's impossible, she would have to come by my room to leave, I would have heard if…" Ash said, trailing off as he rushed past Kasumi up the stairs she motioned toward. The room appeared perfectly tidy, the ajar door was all that was out of order, apart from the missing girl. Ash entered, her bedding was recently vacated, warm, no signs of any struggle. Ash stared out of the small open window into the night.
"Kasumi!" He yelled.
A string of heavy footsteps banged their way up the stairs behind Ash before Kasumi was at his side.
"Look there!" he instructed, pointing to the small figure looking extremely out of place walking the empty winter streets in pyjamas amid the light snowfall.
Kasumi didn't reply to Ash, she just started banging on the glass and screaming "Misty!"
The third time Kasumi called her daughter's name, the young girl's head slowly twisted to glance back at her mother. Misty stared back vacantly; it felt like an eternity for Kasumi before Misty bolted into a sprint without warning. Kasumi was dumbstruck, she tensed for a second before turning and running down the stairs. Ash saw how fast Misty was going, he'd lose her if he ran back through the inn. The window opened wide enough to allow a small teenage girl to slip through carefully but not a grown man in a hurry. Instinctively, he kicked out the glass, sending shards showering down onto the section of rooftop below. He dived through the remains of the window onto the lower rooftops before climbing down to street level.
Ash burst into a sprint of his own to intercept the girl, but she continued fleeing at a speed no child should ever be able to muster. Ash kept up well enough as she darted into tight alleys and bounded over obstacles with ease, though he couldn't quite match her. The distance between them was growing as Ash failed to perfectly emulate her feats of unnatural athleticism, but he kept the young girl in sight for as long as he could. Ash kept up the pursuit until he was completely spent, gasping for breath on the outskirts of the city. His leg muscles cramped, bathed in acid and his heart was pounding out of his chest. Misty's inhuman pace hadn't faltered in the slightest and she ran off into the night.
Ash's mind raced as he walked back to the inn defeated. He ignored the aches in his legs that begged him to rest as he attempted to digest what he had seen; he was in peak physical condition, no child could best him so completely and what even instigated the girl's fleeing in the first place? Was she possessed?
Kasumi was in the street by the inn upon Ash's return, she was even more unhinged than before, Ash hadn't thought it possible. Her emotions were no longer being channelled into aggression towards Ash despite him coming back alone. She was aimless sorrow; raw anguish personified.
"I'm going to get her back," Ash said with a quiet intensity, making the only eye contact he planned to for this brief conversation as he strode past her into the inn.
"But you're going the wrong way! You're going to lose her!" She shouted before rushing to keep up with him.
Ash didn't reply as he ascended the stairs and walked down the corridor to his room. Kasumi ran ahead of him as he entered the room, desperate to gain insight into his motivations even if only from his expression. She was bewildered as to why he wasn't pursuing her daughter at that very moment and agitated even further by his lack of words. Yet more silence as he dressed his upper half in shirt, waistcoat, and cloak.
"This is it," Ash said, breaking the heavy silence between them. "The fiend has struck again, I believe it has control over your daughter. I came back because she could not be caught, and because I need this," he added, picking up his crossbow and loading a long dark bolt into its flight groove.
"I'm not going to lose her. I know her direction and I'm a very capable tracker. A fresh set of footprints in the newly fallen snow should be easy to follow and she must have cut her foot running, I saw the blood on my way back, nearly impossible to lose," Ash explained as he manoeuvred around Kasumi and left the room.
"You assume she'll lead you to the creature? and then you'll kill it? that's what that is for?" Kasumi asked, looking to the heavy mahogany crossbow and praying she was right about each assumption.
Ash gave her a serious look and nodded as he walked out into the night.
"Bring her back safe Ash. You promised," Kasumi said anxiously.
"I will," Ash assured her, remembering that he had made no such promise.
And now such a promise was impossible to make; if Misty maintained the furious pace she had set when eluding Ash then she would be in the clutches of the monster long before Ash could intervene. There was also the off chance that there was no monstrous puppet-master. Misty's inhuman ability may have been the result of her being exactly that, a monster herself. It was a farfetched theory but after catching a glimpse of what he faced, Ash didn't know what to make of it and he wasn't going to rule anything out.
Ash jogged back to where he had lost track of the girl not far from the city's edge. The moon was half full and shone on the fresh fallen snow, even without the spattering of crimson blood upon it, the tracks were easy to follow. Out of habit Ash put himself on the opposite side of the tracks to the moon in order to better see the shadowing in the prints that Misty's bare feet had left.
The shorter striding distances he soon came across thankfully indicated that Misty had slowed her pace to a walk again shortly after Ash had abandoned the pursuit. She was walking before she was spotted outside the inn, the run must have purely been a response to her discovery. This was welcome news, Ash might just have a chance to intervene after all. He followed her tracks to the northwest for a little under an hour, jogging most of the way to regain lost time even at the risk of losing the trail as the blood drops shrank and disappeared. He didn't have any idea how far the trail would go on for and needed to conserve as much energy as possible.
The trail led Ash to the western-most stretch of the Cerulean Sea and ended abruptly at the edge of a sixty-foot cliff, he wasn't far from where he had journeyed to the day before. He stared over the edge into the dark sea that lapped below like a gently tipped inkwell. There wasn't much to behold, the moon's radiance did not fall on the precipice, it appeared dark and unknowable. Ash felt strange as he stood atop the cliffs; heights didn't intimidate him, he almost felt the delirium of an insomniac. Ash knew that although his dreams were restless that night, he had acquired more than enough sleep to function. He attributed the feeling to not being prepared for such exertion on such short notice.
The area lay between the city and the settlements that had also lost children, near as far inland as the Cerulean Sea stretched. Children from towns north of the slither of sea could feasibly reach this side. Ash thought it too perfect to be a coincidence. He took off his winter cloak and left it on the fresh snow atop the cliffs, Misty had either climbed down or dove from this cliff and Ash would have to follow. The only option afforded to him was diving. Ash couldn't even attempt a climb; the lack of light and treacherous near-vertical surface made sure of that.
Ash made his way to an overhanging portion of the cliff granting him a fall that was clear of any perilous rocks hidden at the cliff's base. Ash stepped from the rock's edge, plummeting straight down into the abyss. Ash met the dark icy waters feet first to avoid a jarring impact to his head and neck. The sea immediately bit at his skin with a ferocious chill that he couldn't ignore but Ash had to remain alert while underwater. There were many forms of deadly aquatic life even in the shallower waters. But as Ash quickly scanned around him all he beheld were the tiny familiar lights of Chinchou, which glowed a vivid yellow deep beneath him.
Surfacing and inhaling deeply, he surveyed the underside of the cliff upon which the girl's trail had ended. Something unusual quickly piqued his interest; a gaping cave cut deep into the face of the rock lay to Ash's left. He swam straight for the opening, staring into the black void of the cavern and just listening for a time. There were no ominous sounds besides the babbling seawater inside the steep arched entrance. Ash didn't like how quiet it all was, it made him feel uneasy, which compounded the strange tiredness that dogged him. He brought seawater to his face hoping to recompose himself, but it hardly had an effect. Ash would have preferred to survey the cave for a lot longer before swimming into the unknown, however time was not a luxury he or Misty possessed. He took several deep breaths into his lungs before holding one and submerging.
The small points of light grew closer as he approached the nocturnal Chinchou that dwelled near the seabed. Ash drew his knife as he swam down to one of the luminescent creatures from above. Chinchou were curious sea creatures barely bigger than grapefruit, which relied on the glowing lures that sit on the end of their long antennae to draw smaller prey to them. They used discharges not dissimilar to lightning to kill their prey and ward off larger carnivores. Although effective predators in their own right, Chinchou were not fast and even when the one before Ash caught sight of him, it didn't even attempt to escape. It instinctively flailed its two antennae defensively as Ash brought his knife to bear, impaling it. Not yet dead, the Chinchou desperately jabbed its antennae at the blade. They caused intense spasms in Ash's hand but all it did was tighten his grip and he swam upwards to the surface while the Chinchou died and the painful jolting sensations subsided.
Raising his hand out of the water, Ash looked at that the strange dead fish and observed its limp antennae begin to glow many times brighter than they had when it was alive. Fishermen first noticed this reaction in Chinchou caught by deep fishing nets and concluded that it must serve to warn other Chinchou of a predator in the area. Ash had used one of the creatures as a makeshift torch only once before, but it had served him well for a short time, he'd have to be swift or risk being left stranded in the pitch black of the sea cave.
Wasting no time, Ash swam into the cave as quickly as he could, the wide opening tightened as he followed the singular passage to a dead end. He dived again under the water's surface and held the Chinchou's corpse in front of him as he swam deeper. Ash searched every direction in the inky blackness until the antennae's light fell upon an underwater opening in a low section of the cavern's wall.
Ash pulled himself through the hole and prepared himself for whatever might face when he emerged. Without hesitation, he swam up to break the water's surface and quickly scanned every which way with the dead angling fish but found only damp rock sprouting eerily beautiful stalactites.
The chamber Ash found himself in was vast; the sounds of babbling were muted here, replaced with only the echoes of dripping seawater. The way the bright yellow glow fell on the damp walls was surreal. The dreamscape-like environment weighed heavily on Ash, who felt himself starting to drift in and out of consciousness as he treaded water. He had once trained himself to combat exhaustion on the side of the mountain they call Moon on the advice of a great mentor. The songs of the spherical pink creatures there felt like they added an hour of fatigue for every minute he'd listened, but this current strain made that trial feel easy by comparison. He had to slap himself to regain his control. He didn't care if the noise alerted the resident of the cave to his presence, he and Misty would both surely perish here if he fell asleep.
The weary man pulled himself out of the water and onto the cavern banks. There was no time to waste; Exhaustion clung to Ash like his wet hair and the fabric of his clothes, he was soaked to the bone and freezing cold. Ash slid the Chinchou off of the blade and severed its antennae to regain the use of his knife. Despite the size of the chamber, there was only one direction yielding a passageway. Ash hurried down the dark tunnel, holding up the still brilliantly radiating antennae like he would hold a lantern. Though Ash recalled that this type of light source did not wane and extinguish gradually like a torch, the reaction would eventually fail suddenly without warning.
The passageway continued with very few twists and turns although Ash had to duck under sections with an especially low ceiling. He was thankful that there were not multiple passageways requiring exploration. Sharp crunching noises informed Ash he was very likely close to the monster he sought; they were the sounds of small bones underfoot. He confirmed what his ears knew by looking down and beholding the remains. Immense relief washed over him to see only small animals bones and crustacean exoskeletal remains beneath his boots.
Ash crept onward, trying to avoid the bones where possible but they were plentiful and cracked loudly with the slightest pressure. He stopped dead still. There was movement ahead, the same snapping and rattling bone sounds. Ash quietly laid his gruesome torches down on the damp floor of the cave. A small spark crackled from the antennae tips contacting a puddle as Ash proceeded to creep forward. He could hear the source of the sound that he stalked now only metres away, every accidental snap under foot caused his heart to skip a beat. He only resumed sneaking after listening to the sounds ahead continue undisturbed for at least five seconds, implying he had remained undiscovered.
At a divergence in the tunnel just around the corner from the noises, Ash knelt and pressed himself tightly against the cave wall. The sounds were in the right-hand side tunnel just around the corner. He listened to the crunching of bones and the dripping of water, they were joined by new disturbing instruments in the eerie symphony. Muffled, horribly congested breathing echoed out occasionally interrupted by animalistic snorts. Ash felt himself slipping below the weight of his tiredness again, but he recognised the mortal danger he was in. He steeled himself, drew his crossbow and darted forward with all his resolve.
His eyes fell upon them, but it was hard to make out the finer details with the small amount of amber-yellow light that reached far into the room. They were like huge, misshapen babies; dark mucus coated their swollen, pale flesh. The faces of the creatures looked vaguely human, but each bore a flapping trunk that writhed like a tentacle with a mind of its own. The seven of them were feeling around the floor with their strange appendages. The creatures were in a shallow dish-like erosion in the ground. Among them were larger bones, the bones of young humans. Ash could have believed that the bones belonged to creatures like these if it wasn't for the scraps of shredded, bloody clothing strewn about, luckily none of it matched Misty's pyjamas. They didn't appear to pose a threat to Ash, most hadn't noticed him bursting in. One was clearly staring right at the intruder but simply did not acknowledge him. Ash didn't know what to make of any of it. He didn't take his eyes off the thing until it went back to poking around with the rest, it's trunk finding and seizing one of several tiny Krabby scuttling right into the creatures' domain.
Ash gradually lowered the crossbow he had trained on the being and backed away towards the Chinchou antennae, trying to decide how to proceed. He had to make up his mind quickly and the best course of action was totally unclear to him. The little beasts had a bizarre obliviousness, they didn't seem aggressive in the slightest. However physical threats were not the only danger, they may be more sinister than they appeared. Searching further into the cave was an option, but the idea of leaving those things between him and the exit while he explored made Ash uneasy. He felt his latter thoughts begin to degrade more and more into nonsense, he had to act before tiredness overwhelmed him entirely, the curious animals had to die.
Ash reached for one of the antennae, leaving its twin as a beacon to return to after further exploration of the cave. He gathered his remaining fortitude and marched back towards the things, locking his sights onto the nearest once more. It looked to be the plumpest of them all and moved with great difficulty. It was splayed out on its hard belly and its limbs scarcely touched the floor. Ash didn't intend to use his crossbow if it could be avoided, only targeting it until he was closer in case it could sense his intent and responded in kind.
But as soon as Ash stepped out of the tunnel into the wide chamber the creatures inhabited his heart skipped a beat. The creatures were not alone anymore, a skinny young redhead walked towards their bowl-like pit. Ash could see the side of her face from where he stood frozen in the entrance. It was Misty, alive and in one piece. She certainly wasn't running anymore, she moved sluggishly as she stared upwards towards stalactites, an utterly vacant expression adorning her face. Her skinny build looked so fragile compared to the horrible proportions of the things she approached. Ash couldn't let her reach them.
Without saying a word Ash approached her, cautiously determined to bring her to her senses and leave the cave as soon as possible. But he only managed a handful of steps before he caught sight of it, the hidden puppet master, the monster. The shadowy figure was scarcely touched by the yellow radiance that had subtly crept into its lair. It was totally unlike the things in the pit, something else entirely.
In the meagre light, its pale skin appeared a sickly yellow like that of the seven other creatures. It was nearly as hairless as they were, distinguished only by the mane of thick silvery white hair around its neck. The flesh tone was the only similarity between them though; where they were bloated, this creature was disgustingly bony with a rib cage that protruded out of its chest. Where they had strange trunks for faces, it had the basic structure of an angular human face. Its eyes were the shape of a man's but its long, hooked nose was too exaggerated to be found on the face of a man and its thin, pointed ears stood like the silhouettes of two stalagmites. Its gaunt frame was supported by legs that were somewhere between a quadrupedal animal's and a human's, they ended with hoof-like feet bearing two distinct claws
It stood as tall as Ash and its slender frame possessed human proportions save for the hideously long, bony arms. Thin fingers at the end of the long arms ended in clawed fingertips that loosely held a swaying pendulum. Though it seemed to merely be a ring of metal on the end of a thread so fine that it could barely even be seen in the low light, the more Ash stared at the trinket, the more he saw that it swung as powerfully as a boulder. The creature's eyes were lit with the same azure glow that he had first seen in the Seafoam Islands. These eyes were not quite so bright as the wailing woman's but Ash had no doubt that the creature was channelling its power through the pendulum.
Ash had vowed to never again take any chances with a telepathic being. He catapulted the glowing antenna at the monster's face with such force that the distraction was almost an attack of its own. The creature was reeling from the sparking impact when the bolt came flying out of the blue to wedge itself deep into its chest. Ash had hoped one bolt would have sufficed but the slender monster was flailing on the floor wildly after being taken off its feet by the projectile's force. Though still dazed from the antenna it must have known that it was badly hurt. Ash wanted to run over to help Misty who had collapsed onto her side several feet short of the dish, but he had to finish off her captor first.
Ash had his boot on his weapon's cocking stirrup and was midway through drawing back the string when the creature rose. It was a horrifying silhouette against the intense yellow light of the antenna on the floor. Ash couldn't believe it; he saw the blood streaming from its wound, it was a black river streaking down over yellow. But despite the severe wound it struggled to stand upright as Ash locked the string back into place and drew another bolt. The monster had regained its balance as Ash fired again, aiming to put it down once and for all.
The bolt travelled straight and true but when the blue glow returned to the monster's eyes it stopped dead. The projectile stood frozen in place in front of the fiend's face, its tip nearly touched that of the pointed nose like a metal reflection. The monster observed the bolt briefly before permitting it to fall and land with a clatter. Ash instinctively lowered his weapon to reload again but the creature was darting towards him. It zigzagged erratically to avoid the next bolt, which Ash didn't even have time to load. Jumping onto the rocky wall and launching itself at Ash like a furious animal, the creature gave Ash little choice but to abandon his weapon and dive away.
Ash sprang to his feet after rolling, he turned back to face the creature but didn't expect it to be so close. He only just managed to duck under the clawed hand as it swept for his throat. The range granted to the monster by its arms put Ash at a great disadvantage. It pushed Ash onto the defensive as it raked at him with a barrage of slashes. Ash fell back just out of reach until he had an opening to get past the claws and shut down the gap between them. This time when the fiend brought its clawed hand to bear again Ash struck first, he delivered a quick strike to the area below the embedded crossbow bolt. As the blow elicited a shrill cry of pain and a splash of blood it was quickly followed up with Ash bringing his forehead crashing down on the beak-like nose. The monster gave an inhuman shriek that echoed terribly but Ash could feel no mercy for it and drove a powerful kick into its lower torso.
The gaunt wretch was sent tumbling backwards as it failed to keep its balance. It fell to its knees and gave out a series of panicked cries. Ash drew his knife and cautiously approached. He expected a lot less of a fight this time, the monster was on its knees and elbows, shaking as it tried to support itself. Ash held the blade before him and watched for any sudden movements. It was aware of his approach and slowly raised a hand as if to beg for mercy when Ash was upon it. He stood poised to deliver the killing blow, his knife shimmering like a blade of gold in the Chinchou light.
Then Ash finally saw it, dangling from in-between those clawed fingers on the outstretched hand, the pendulum. It was swinging just for him. Time was static; only the pendulum was moving. Ash felt wave after wave of exhaustion crash into him trying to lull him into a long, well-earned sleep. This thing was responsible for how he was feeling earlier but now it was so much more intense. Ash couldn't take his eyes of the metal ring on the thread, it was beautiful, he studied it. It looked ancient, a tarnished ring of copper swinging back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth. It was the most elegant thing he had ever seen but he worried that he wouldn't be able to behold its wonder for much longer, every swing felt like another hour had passed. It weighed heavily on the already exhausted man. His sleep debt was growing more and more cumbersome, he couldn't bear it; his body yearned to lie down and his eyelids were could scarcely support themselves.
Ash vaguely recalled that the pendulum was connected to his fatigue, but he just let it happen. The pendulum was beauty itself, when it was at the top of its swings it caught the light just right and shone like the sun. He felt the bliss he had been resisting begin to set in as he started drifting, the bliss of rest. Why had he been resisting this? had he wanted to punish himself for hurting the supreme dream weaver? His eyes were half closed but they endeavoured to follow the sun as it rose to the east and shone. Then it was shining in the west, Ash let the yellow star show him the way.
Ash was so close to peace, so close to rest but something was out of place. Something was wrong, dreadfully wrong. The sun had a rival, a second yellow beacon shone to his right; it didn't rise and fall like a true sun, it stayed perfectly still. What was the impostor sun? It taunted Ash and divided his intention from its beautiful twin. The false sun was on top of something, it was lying on a bed of metal. It was the metal, sharp metal with a deadly purpose. It was his knife, Ash recalled needing to slay the taint but that didn't matter now, he was starting to fall. He was falling… falling down, falling asleep. He didn't have long, he lashed out as he went down and two stars met and became one.
Ash felt the impact of the damp cave floor, he could hear himself collapse with a splash and the cold metallic clatter of his knife. A lighter piece of metal hit the floor a second later, it was further away. Ash was stunned from the fall but only for a second; he jerked like a startled sleeper and shot to his feet. A shimmer off by a far stalagmite told Ash that he had severed the pendulum's string as he fell, presumably saving his life.
A short trail of blood led Ash's gaze to the defeated monster. He could feel his burden lighten as the cloak of exhaustion fell, Ash had almost forgotten just how aware he had felt before he ventured into the lair. The monster was crawling towards Misty now, drained of its lifeforce by the loss of its pendulum or by it's wound. It had an urgency that almost looked as though it could be trying to protect her. Whatever its sinister motivations were, they ended here. Ash threw the knife and it sank deep into the creature's uppermost back. There was no shriek, the wretch just collapsed flat on its face.
Ash walked up to the corpse and took a knee. He twisted the knife a quarter turn before sliding it out and wiping it off in the monster's mane. Ash directed his intention toward the oblivious bloated creatures in the pit in case they became hostile, but they seemed just as content as ever to simply wallow around miserably. Ash retrieved his crossbow and inserted a fresh bolt into the flight groove just in case. The clumsy stirrings of the trunk-faced creatures were the only sounds in the cave until something closer grabbed Ash's full attention. It was Misty, awake and clearly disorientated and confused. Ash silently wished for her to have made a full recovery as she looked around frantically while breathing fast, panicked breaths.
He rushed over to the girl, she was as soaked as he was from the swim into the cave. Ash would need to get her out of here as soon as possible. He could give her his cloak once he got them back to the top of the cliffs, that ought to warm her somewhat. Misty was shivering and clearly terrified of the creatures in the pit before her.
"Don't look," Ash told her, but she was transfixed. "Look at me instead, just focus on me," Ash advised.
Misty pulled her eyes from the grotesque creatures and turned towards Ash. He was bruised and bloodied but he made for a better sight than the things in the pit or the corpse behind him.
"I saw you back home," she choked out. "I-in the inn."
"I'm surprised you remember me," he replied supposing that he didn't exactly look like an ordinary citizen.
Misty nodded, "And you were in my dream running after me."
Ash was taken aback, not expecting her to be conscious of the recent events. "What else do you remember from your dream?"
Misty looked up at him with wide blue eyes as she thought back, "Not much, I was running away from home and you were chasing after me and then I was here."
"Well we've got to get you home now, it's not safe here," Ash told her softly, it wasn't his place to decide whether or not she should know everything that had transpired if she didn't already. Getting her home was the priority.
Ash helped Misty to her feet and directed her towards the tunnel leading out. He guided her eyes away from the pit and the corpse of her kidnapper.
She pulled on his sleeve with a certain shy reluctance, "Is he gone?"
"Yes," Ash told her, "He's gone."
Ash recalled the wound she had sustained while fleeing the city. He had nothing to bandage her foot with here but the saltwater would have helped to clean it. He carried her to the antennae that he'd left behind in the tunnel and put her down. He told her to wait just one moment while he was gone. She nodded and studied the Chinchou antenna beside her as Ash walked back into the chamber; he couldn't help but commend her bravery.
Ash rolled the corpse of the slain fiend into the pit and took out a vial from his belt.
He threw the glass into the centre of the creatures. He could hear the roar of the flames as they washed over the things, but they made no noise as they were consumed. He could've methodically gone from creature to creature with the knife instead, but nothing was so thorough and pure as fire.
Ash helped Misty every step of the way in the long journey back to the comfort of Cerulean City. He reassured and guided her through the freezing waters that led back out of the cave and carried her to the cliff tops once they had swum back to accessible dry land. Ash gave Misty his woollen cloak to wrap in once he retrieved it from the cliff tops and they were fortunately not challenged by any wind as they trekked. The half moon led their way as Ash carried the orange haired girl.
She had fallen asleep before they were even halfway there. Ash gently laid her on the ground, he had to rest for a few minutes to regain strength for the final leg of the walk. Light snow glistened in the silver light as it fell making for a picturesque view across the white plains. Ash took the opportunity to inspect his injuries, all fortunately superficial. Ash contemplated the past day as he sat paused, he thought of the horror and how he had cheated death once again, he held back a chuckle to avoid waking Misty and just sat, content to relish the peace that followed the storms.
Kasumi was waiting at the front window of the inn when Ash returned with her daughter, she shot out of view as soon as she saw them and came dashing into the street moments later. Ash could see the uncertainty on her face, she did not know if he brought her a daughter or a corpse in his arms. A smile and a nod from Ash confirmed that Misty was all right, Kasumi approached, weeping with joy. She was struggling to contain her relief but couldn't bring herself to wake Misty. The relieved mother simply brushed the snow from Misty's fringe and quietly thanked Ash over and over.
"It's what I do," was all he had to say to her before handing the girl over and seeking out the comfort of his bed.
It didn't surprise Ash that he started drifting off almost immediately after laying his head down. His last waking thoughts revolved around what he had just seen. What were the kidnapper's motivations? What was its relationship to the trunk-faced animals? Ash wondered if it had been feeding children to them or worse, if they used to be children themselves.
Those children joined the other poor souls touched by the darkest side of nature, they weren't the first and they wouldn't be the last. Some were maliciously struck down long before their time, forever gone, and some were left alive and forever altered by their experiences. It didn't matter, all were forever lost. Ash was one such soul, the child that he was on that fateful day would inescapably remain a part of him. And within his dreams the child would overtake him entirely. He was fleeing through the town as the first snow of winter fell lightly and he was fleeing through the forest when it grew heavier. He would never have ordinarily dared to venture into the dangerous forest alone, but nothing dwelling amongst those bare trees could be worse than what he had witnessed that day in town. Death was behind him, he didn't dare to look back, but he was resolute that the sinister hands were reaching for his little body. The town of Lavender had become home to death. A hand grasped his arm and shook him.
The hand was not death's own, it was a woman's. It was the dead of night still and Kasumi was standing over Ash's bed with a candle in one hand and a cup in the other. She looked down at him with the same motherly serenity that had returned to her along with Misty.
"Pardon my intrusion, sounded like one hell of a nightmare," she said softly.
"It's nothing." Ash immediately lied.
"Well I brought you a little remedy for bad dreams all the same Ash," She offered him the cup. He could tell what the herbal tea was made from before he saw or tasted it. Ash had tried the remedy before, he had tried every supposed remedy there was, nothing helped.
"Thank you, Kasumi."
"It's no trouble to make and I cannot thank you enough, I really can't, I thought I'd never see my little girl again." Kasumi's face was a mixture of sadness and joy, she wiped the small tears that rolled down her cheek. "I'd heard you thrashing in your sleep when I went to check on Misty last night too, so I thought I'd try to help when I heard it again just now."
"They're probably just a side effect of that fiend making is lair so close to here," Ash told her, drinking the tea down, even though it didn't help at least it was healthy and flavourful.
"If you say so Ash, you're the expert," Kasumi replied, "But I've been sleeping quite peacefully for the past few weeks." She looked as though she had more to say but was hesitating to give it voice.
"What's on your mind?" Ash asked, determined to learn what looked to be concerning the woman so.
"Well, it's just… the way you responded. I'd say you've been having nightmares for a while now."
Life is a nightmare, thought Ash as he reflected on all the things that he'd seen in his life so far. "You're not wrong Kasumi."
Kasumi was visibly saddened by his response; she didn't want her daughter's saviour to suffer.
"The tea should help Ash, try to get some more rest," she advised tenderly, her motherly sensibilities on display, as she retreated to the doorway with her candle, leaving Ash in darkness.
More sleep, that's the last thing I need. He thought, not wanting to slip into the past again. Inevitably though Ash did fall asleep but fortunately it was a dreamless one. He awoke to a bright new morning, something he never did. The brightness of the day only filled Ash with a sense of dark foreboding, he had missed the sunrise for the first time in over a decade. Ash didn't want to think about what that meant.