Residual Hate Chapter 1
Title: Residual Hate
Genre: Fantasy
Chapter 1
As a general rule, seventeen-year old girls did not travel the forest paths of Northern Eother by themselves. Every one knew that there were bandit camps throughout the lush folliage, men and women ready to ambush an unwary traveller for money and pleasure. Many have died from attacks over the years, a treatable knife wound becoming fatal before the traveller could find a farmhouse or cottage where he or she could receive medical care.
However, Hitori of Kazoul was not a regular seventeen year old girl. At thirteen, she had received her credentials as a weaver mage from the university of Halesborough. At sixteen, she was known throughout Cypressia as a Great Mage and had lived with the responsabilities it brought for years. Now, along with her two friends who were waiting for her in Meiron, she travelled the world for new knowledge.
’Of course, it still took me a day to convince Kamatari to go ahead without me. He was bored out his mind at the temple, but he would’ve stayed there just to make sure I was safe from the nobles if Faylin hadn’t pulled him out the door.’ She thought sourly, turning a corner.
The sight of a fork in the road jarred her from her musings. A post was driven into the ground beside the boulder, bearing two signs: one that pointed left and read 'Milk Village', the other pointing right bearing the word 'Farmshead' right below it. It was the girl who sat at the crest of a diverging path that really caught the traveller's attention however.
In her early teens, the girl possessed dark grey eyes that widened at the sight of a traveler in such a rural area. She looked like she had only recently had enough to eat, her face slightly sallow as her clothes hung around her loosely. Her medium length black hair was tangled and filthy like the old dress she was wearing. Scratching a scab on her bare leg abscent-mindedly, she smiled at Hitori. "Hi."
"Hi, do you live around here?" The traveller asked, hoping for a place to restock her supplies.
"Yes. Now go away." She said and looked away, fully expecting the young woman to turn around and start walking.
"Why should I?" Hitori replied instead, brushing aside the thread of silvery fire that came from the girl without any effort. 'I may not be Kamatari but I can still deflect bits of uncontrolled magic.' She thought wryly.
The girl looked up so quickly that she almost lost her balance. "You didn't go!" She exclaimed, alarmed. "Almost everybody does what I want nowadays."
"Your magic’s untrained; mine’s not." Hitori shrugged.
"You're a mage!" The girl pulled her legs to her chest defensively. "Don't take me away!"
"Why would I?" Hitori asked curiously. She knew that she was in the middle of nowhere but surely there had to be someone appointed by the mage’s guild to inspect newborns for magic. There was no reason for the girl-child to still be in such a rural town instead of studying her craft.
"Because I have a demon in me and Kyu told me mages would take me away. He said they'd experiment on me!" She blurted before covering her mouth, horrified.
Hitori blinked. "How old are you and how long have you had your demon?"
"Fourteen." She said, shaking. Her uncle’s command to always answer a question honestly triumphed over his command to not talk to strangers, the former was reinforced by prior punishments. "I've had it for a couple of years."
"Calm down, love. I'm not going to take you anywhere." Hitori said, smiling in what she hoped was a soothing manner. "You just look younger."
"Well, I didn't get much food 'til nowish." She explained, relaxing slightly when she sensed that the mage had no desire to hurt her. “People don’t scream at me for taking bread anymore. They’s scared of Kyu.”
"Oh. Who's this Kyu person?" She asked after a pause.
"My uncle. He isn't affected by my demon. He's a bad bad man." She whispered, looking furtively around them, as if expecting him to appear from the bushes.
Hitori frowned, a sense of wrongness growing in the back of her mind. "Where's your village?"
"That way." She pointed right, towards Farmshead.
"Why aren't you there?"
"Kyu’s... hurting people." She trembled, covering her face with her hands.
Hitori looked at her closely. The girl wasn’t lying, she knew that much, but there was something missing to her answer. "How?"
"With-" She started before stopping abruptly. Her eyes, which had been darting around furtively, stilled at the same time as her body stopped trembling. "Do you want to see?" She asked calmly, unfolding her body gracefully before getting to her feet.
"Sure." Hitori agreed, knowing that she was talking to someone completely different from before. She followed the 'girl' into the forest without voicing her concerns though, choosing to act oblivious for now. "So what's your name?"
"Nanashi." The girl answered, lengthening her strides.
Hitori got the hint and stopped talking. Instead, she focused on the threads of magic around the girl. Nanashi's magic sputtered around her body, surging like a wave towards Farmshead while almost none of it came back. The more she watched the pattern, the more Hitori became convinced that someone or something was draining the girl’s magic as she generated it, an act that warranted death by mage law.
'Damn.' She thought as Nanashi smirked at her. Someone grabbed her from behind, laying a knife against her throat and taking away her travelling pack before she could react. Deciding that cooperation was the only way to figure out what was going on, she let herself be led, making a note to pick up her things later. As the forest line broke, she saw the village and understood.
The village was an assemble of cottage-like houses, most of them used as outposts for the out-of-town farmers to sell their wares. The more permanent residents, generally businessmen and craftsmen, were at the end of their properties. Standing beside the road, eyes vacant and body perfectly still, they looked like wax figures that breathed. Even the children stood still as she passed, starring stupidly at the traveller, the young girl and the knife-man as they passed.
Hitori's attention was then drawn to where a man stood, bloody whip in hand. He was a little over six feet tall, with sinewy arms and a wide upper torso. Years of hard farmwork had toughened his hands and made his skin leathery and tanned. His hair was graying, light brown eyes watched the approaching group wickedly. The only thing that was dainty about his appearance was the pendant around his neck, a ruby mounted on a woman’s chain.
At his feet lay six people; two women, a man, two little girls and a little boy. The adults and the girls were already dead from the flaying they had received. As Hitori watched, the boy, taking one last labored breath, died. Not one of the spectators moved.
Hitori barely stopped herself from throwing up, focussing on the man in fornt of her rather than the broken bodies at his feet. 'This isn't good. I interrupted a whipping spree… a spree where he controls the crowd with Nanashi's magic.' A quick glance showed that the girl was now free of his control and was being violently ill a good ten feet away. Hitori looked away when she felt bile rise in her throat again, struggling for control over her body.
"Welcome traveler." He boomed and Hitori was pushed forward by the knife man, making her fall to her knees before the madman. "I am Kyu, lord of Farmshead." The ruby pendant drew some more magic from a shuddering Nanashi, a silver line of magical fire entering its core, making it glow a malignant red to Hitori’s eyes.
At his words, the spectators seemed to come to life, sending him looks of such devotion that made Hitori feel even sicker. No magic should control people to this degree.
"So silent." Kyu said remorsefully. "I expected another demon holder to be as talkative as this one." He announced, pointing at Nanashi. The girl flinched as the villagers laughed, looking queasy. "This purifies her demon, allowing a strong person to wield it for justice." He took hold of the pendant, caressing it with his hands.
"You call this justice!" Hitori growled, disgusted. "This is madness! The girl's power has corrupted your soul." She declared, getting to her feet.
"How dare you question me, Demon!" He bellowed, raising his whip. Faster than she could react, he hit her on both cheeks, cutting the skin with the serrated edge, and the knife man pushed her down once again. Kyu relished in her surprised yelp, his euphoria turning to surprise as the cuts healed quickly. "You are a powerful demon indeed." He conceded, hungering for her power now.
Hitori did not bother to explain that her face only healed because she could control the fibers of her body to repair the damage. "You are a very sick man." She said instead, getting to her feet once again. The knifeman found himself to be in a full body-binding cast composed of his own clothes, his sleaves knitting themselves together as well as his pant legs.
Kyu looked into her golden eyes and was afraid for the first time in a long time. 'This is a very powerful demon.' He thought, respectfully. 'All the more fun to break.' He sneered walking past the blood-soaked corpses, raising his whip hand.
Not one to be caught by the same trick twice, Hitori reached out with her left hand. The whip slithered out of the surprised man's grip, making its way to her outstretched palm like an obedient snake. "Surrender now." She commanded, feeling her power coursing through her body, waiting to be used.
Sensing the change in the most primitive part of his brain, Kyu imagined a demonic surge of red power in her eyes to symbolize her power. Zealously, he raised the pendant in one powerful hand. "Absorb and purify this demon, Bloodstone!" He ordered.
Hitori smirked, feeling the talisman’s weak pull on her magic. She kept it close to her skin, an isolating layer that covered her entire body. ‘Only an untrained mage could be affected by this trinket.’
Kyu was confused. Nanashi had almost instantly collapsed when he had purified her. Could this one be so very evil?
"I’m a trained mage, farmer." Hitori informed him cooly, interpreting the confusion on his face correctly. "That trinket has no effect on those who can control their magic. But, I think it's about time to destroy it. These horrible events must not be repeated."
"No! Kill her!" He ordered.
The village-folk surged forward, raising hands and other handy blunt objects against her. From the woods, an archer shot an arrow which was deflected by a magical shield. That delt with, Hitori restrained the villagers and the archer with their own clothes. Kyu roared, seeing his forces so easilly neutralised.
Running forward, he landed a solid punch to the teenager's stomach, knocking the breath out of her and making her fall to her knees once again. He leaned in close, ready to bash her face into the dirt road.
Seeing the pendant swishing out away from his chest, she grabbed it weakly. With a thought, the chain came loose, the pendant falling into her hand. Changing his mind, still unaware of the missing pendant, Kyu grabbed her neck. Chocking as he deliberately squeezed her windpipe, she sent a desperate burst of wild magic into the pendant, trying to overload its storage capacity so it would become useless. The hand on her throat tighened, making it increasingly hard for her to concentrate. With one last desperate burst of magic, she suceeded. It shattered, dozens of ruby shards falling to the ground like common glass. 'So pretty...'
She dimly heard a scream before fainting from a lack of oxygen.
***
Nanashi saw the stranger being strangled to death by Kyu but could not make herself move. Suddenly, the pendant shattered and she felt her demon awaken inside her, more powerful and wilder than it had ever been before. Strange faces, names, and memories made her skin burn, thoughts of strangers threatening to overwhelm her through the haze of her uncle’s hatred.
She screamed to shove away the fog of thoughts, willing Kyu to let go of the traveller's neck with her entire being. Her wish, powered and amplified by her demon, struck Kyu making the man let go immediately. The stranger's body fell to the ground face first, like a doll that had been thrown aside. Nanashi shoved her uncle to the side, kneeling besde her savior to see if she was dead. Before she could feel the strengthening pulse, Kyu grabbed the girl from behind, twisting her right arm behind her back to keep her in place.
She shrieked in pain, her demon unfolding its bat-like wings as it screamed with her. Kyu, being the source of her pain and the one touching her, received the brunt of the brutal onslaugh of mental energy. His mind shattered like a mirror, shards of memory and experience flying every which way, a puzzle never to be completed. His lesser brain, the one that controled all of his body functions, faltered once before stopping completely.
Feeling drained, she fell forward, landing a foot away from Hitori's unconscious form. Scared now, her spent demon withdrawing closer to her heart, she crawled closer to the other girl until she could rest her head on Hitori's back. Feeling the slight rise and fall of the other girl's chest, Nanashi uttered a strangled sob of relief.
The villagers finally aware for the first time in years, saw the dead man's body, the unconcious stranger, the bloodied corpses and the sobbing Nanashi; and remembered how Kyu had always said that his sister’s child would turn on them. Since they were still restrained by their own clothes, they jeered at the orphan.
"Killer." A woman sneered. "Killer of children."
"Killer of men." The man beside her continued.
"Killer of women." Another woman shouted..
Sensing their hate, Nanashi curled into a ball beside Hitori, the only one that had ever defended her. The only one that had fought Kyu. "I didn't-" She hiccuped, feeling their hate slash at her skin like razors. The scent of blood in the air just seemed to make her mind feel fuzzier so she burried her face on Hitori’s chest. The scent of sweat, soap, and treesap anchored her to the world a little, keeping her from bleeding out.
"Killer!" They screamed.
"No..." Nanashi said weakly, covering her ears with her hands. "That was Uncle! He killed Lilian, Karla, James, Timmy, Betty and Lucy!" She revealed.
"You filthy liar!" A man declared, hate in his eyes. He remembered the tales Kyu had told about her mother’s magic, a magic so powerful it could capture one’s mind forever. "You killed them! Your demon killed Kyu and those people!"
Nanashi knew that the man was right about her demon and started crying again. "I didn't mean to..." She pleaded, seeing her damnation in their eyes and their thoughts.
***
Hitori, who had been gradually regaining consciousness after Kyu had let go of her throat, became aware of the screaming around her. She rolled over, staring at the clear blue sky for a few moments to clear her head before returning her attention to the crowd around her. “Fools." She croaked, voice barely above a whisper. "It wasn't her fault."
Nanashi suddenly climbed on top of her, sitting on the other girl’s stomach so she could make eye contact. "You're okay! I thought you was dead!"
Hitori winced at the bad grammar and the pain brought on by Nanashi's enthusiasm. Still, she managed to draw soothing circles on the girl's back with one hand. "Takes a lot more than that to kill me." She said hoarsly, knowing that she could have easilly died instead of fainting.
Nanashi did not call her bluff but continued to use the other girl as an anchor against the villagers’ hate. She knew Kyu’s strength very well.
"What happened?" Hitori asked, sitting up. She held Nanashi close, settling the girl in her lap. She saw Kyu's apparently unharmed body and unconsciously tightened her hold on Nanashi.
"My demon killed his mind. It shattered like glass." She confessed, so softly that the villagers could not hear.
”You shattered his mind." She repeated weakly, paling.
"He was hurting me so my demon struck out." She explained, shivering. She did not want ot be rejected by this one. This one -this mage, was special; unlike the villagers. "I'm sorry, don't leave me here!" She begged, throwing her arms around Hitori's neck to hug her. She rested her head on Hitori's left shoulder.
Hitori felt the girl's cheek brush hers and blushed. Still, she returned the desperate hug, making up her mind. "I won't leave you. I'll teach you to control your magic. Your demon." She clarrified, remembering the word Nanashi had been using.
"Thank you." Dark grey eyes glistened with tears of joy.
"Come on." Hitori said finally. "Lets get out of here."
Nanashi eagerly got to her feet, offering her a hand. She did not even say anything as she saw the ugly bruises on Hitori's neck. She would never regret killing Kyu.
"The binding I placed on your clothes will disappear in an hour." Hitori told the villagers before she left.
The villagers watched them go, relieved.
***
Hitori found her pack by the treeline, untouched. Slipping it on, she held out a hand to Nanashi. "So what's your name?"
"Nanashi." She replied, confused.
"That's the name they gave you. What do you want to be called?"
Nanashi looked at her shyly. "There was a story about a beautiful songstress named Ryu that I really liked when I was really small. I don’t remember the story though."
"Ryu it is." Hitori declared. "I'm Hitori."
"Hitori." Ryu repeated, smiling for the first time in years. It fit. She knew of the legendary fire bird who brought renewal to the land, a great being of power that was to be respected and feared.
"C'mon love, we're off to Meiron."
"Wait." Ryu said suddenly.
"What?"
"Can Ryu be a name between us? A special name?"
"Sure." Hitori blinked. "Then what do you want other people to call you?"
"Adeliva." Ryu decided. That was her demon's name, one she had given it long ago when it was still small.
Hitori looked at her strangely. "Sure Ryu. You're the only one who has the power to choose what you want to be called by others. I'll introduce you to people as Adeliva and later you can decide whether or not you want them to call you Ryu too."
Ryu knew immediately that she would never ask anybody else to call her Ryu but did not tell Hitori this. "Okay." She took Hitori's hand. 'I'll protect you from your enemies, even those you won't let yourself see. I'll kill those who hurt you, punish those who wish to do so.' She vowed to herself. This was one promise that she would never break. Her demon licked it's long, sharp fangs in anticipation.
Prologue ^-^-^ Chapter 1 ^-^-^ Chapter 2 ^-^-^ Chapter 3 ^-^-^ Chapter 4 ^-^-^ Chapter 5 ^-^-^ Chapter 6
Genre: Fantasy
Chapter 1
As a general rule, seventeen-year old girls did not travel the forest paths of Northern Eother by themselves. Every one knew that there were bandit camps throughout the lush folliage, men and women ready to ambush an unwary traveller for money and pleasure. Many have died from attacks over the years, a treatable knife wound becoming fatal before the traveller could find a farmhouse or cottage where he or she could receive medical care.
However, Hitori of Kazoul was not a regular seventeen year old girl. At thirteen, she had received her credentials as a weaver mage from the university of Halesborough. At sixteen, she was known throughout Cypressia as a Great Mage and had lived with the responsabilities it brought for years. Now, along with her two friends who were waiting for her in Meiron, she travelled the world for new knowledge.
’Of course, it still took me a day to convince Kamatari to go ahead without me. He was bored out his mind at the temple, but he would’ve stayed there just to make sure I was safe from the nobles if Faylin hadn’t pulled him out the door.’ She thought sourly, turning a corner.
The sight of a fork in the road jarred her from her musings. A post was driven into the ground beside the boulder, bearing two signs: one that pointed left and read 'Milk Village', the other pointing right bearing the word 'Farmshead' right below it. It was the girl who sat at the crest of a diverging path that really caught the traveller's attention however.
In her early teens, the girl possessed dark grey eyes that widened at the sight of a traveler in such a rural area. She looked like she had only recently had enough to eat, her face slightly sallow as her clothes hung around her loosely. Her medium length black hair was tangled and filthy like the old dress she was wearing. Scratching a scab on her bare leg abscent-mindedly, she smiled at Hitori. "Hi."
"Hi, do you live around here?" The traveller asked, hoping for a place to restock her supplies.
"Yes. Now go away." She said and looked away, fully expecting the young woman to turn around and start walking.
"Why should I?" Hitori replied instead, brushing aside the thread of silvery fire that came from the girl without any effort. 'I may not be Kamatari but I can still deflect bits of uncontrolled magic.' She thought wryly.
The girl looked up so quickly that she almost lost her balance. "You didn't go!" She exclaimed, alarmed. "Almost everybody does what I want nowadays."
"Your magic’s untrained; mine’s not." Hitori shrugged.
"You're a mage!" The girl pulled her legs to her chest defensively. "Don't take me away!"
"Why would I?" Hitori asked curiously. She knew that she was in the middle of nowhere but surely there had to be someone appointed by the mage’s guild to inspect newborns for magic. There was no reason for the girl-child to still be in such a rural town instead of studying her craft.
"Because I have a demon in me and Kyu told me mages would take me away. He said they'd experiment on me!" She blurted before covering her mouth, horrified.
Hitori blinked. "How old are you and how long have you had your demon?"
"Fourteen." She said, shaking. Her uncle’s command to always answer a question honestly triumphed over his command to not talk to strangers, the former was reinforced by prior punishments. "I've had it for a couple of years."
"Calm down, love. I'm not going to take you anywhere." Hitori said, smiling in what she hoped was a soothing manner. "You just look younger."
"Well, I didn't get much food 'til nowish." She explained, relaxing slightly when she sensed that the mage had no desire to hurt her. “People don’t scream at me for taking bread anymore. They’s scared of Kyu.”
"Oh. Who's this Kyu person?" She asked after a pause.
"My uncle. He isn't affected by my demon. He's a bad bad man." She whispered, looking furtively around them, as if expecting him to appear from the bushes.
Hitori frowned, a sense of wrongness growing in the back of her mind. "Where's your village?"
"That way." She pointed right, towards Farmshead.
"Why aren't you there?"
"Kyu’s... hurting people." She trembled, covering her face with her hands.
Hitori looked at her closely. The girl wasn’t lying, she knew that much, but there was something missing to her answer. "How?"
"With-" She started before stopping abruptly. Her eyes, which had been darting around furtively, stilled at the same time as her body stopped trembling. "Do you want to see?" She asked calmly, unfolding her body gracefully before getting to her feet.
"Sure." Hitori agreed, knowing that she was talking to someone completely different from before. She followed the 'girl' into the forest without voicing her concerns though, choosing to act oblivious for now. "So what's your name?"
"Nanashi." The girl answered, lengthening her strides.
Hitori got the hint and stopped talking. Instead, she focused on the threads of magic around the girl. Nanashi's magic sputtered around her body, surging like a wave towards Farmshead while almost none of it came back. The more she watched the pattern, the more Hitori became convinced that someone or something was draining the girl’s magic as she generated it, an act that warranted death by mage law.
'Damn.' She thought as Nanashi smirked at her. Someone grabbed her from behind, laying a knife against her throat and taking away her travelling pack before she could react. Deciding that cooperation was the only way to figure out what was going on, she let herself be led, making a note to pick up her things later. As the forest line broke, she saw the village and understood.
The village was an assemble of cottage-like houses, most of them used as outposts for the out-of-town farmers to sell their wares. The more permanent residents, generally businessmen and craftsmen, were at the end of their properties. Standing beside the road, eyes vacant and body perfectly still, they looked like wax figures that breathed. Even the children stood still as she passed, starring stupidly at the traveller, the young girl and the knife-man as they passed.
Hitori's attention was then drawn to where a man stood, bloody whip in hand. He was a little over six feet tall, with sinewy arms and a wide upper torso. Years of hard farmwork had toughened his hands and made his skin leathery and tanned. His hair was graying, light brown eyes watched the approaching group wickedly. The only thing that was dainty about his appearance was the pendant around his neck, a ruby mounted on a woman’s chain.
At his feet lay six people; two women, a man, two little girls and a little boy. The adults and the girls were already dead from the flaying they had received. As Hitori watched, the boy, taking one last labored breath, died. Not one of the spectators moved.
Hitori barely stopped herself from throwing up, focussing on the man in fornt of her rather than the broken bodies at his feet. 'This isn't good. I interrupted a whipping spree… a spree where he controls the crowd with Nanashi's magic.' A quick glance showed that the girl was now free of his control and was being violently ill a good ten feet away. Hitori looked away when she felt bile rise in her throat again, struggling for control over her body.
"Welcome traveler." He boomed and Hitori was pushed forward by the knife man, making her fall to her knees before the madman. "I am Kyu, lord of Farmshead." The ruby pendant drew some more magic from a shuddering Nanashi, a silver line of magical fire entering its core, making it glow a malignant red to Hitori’s eyes.
At his words, the spectators seemed to come to life, sending him looks of such devotion that made Hitori feel even sicker. No magic should control people to this degree.
"So silent." Kyu said remorsefully. "I expected another demon holder to be as talkative as this one." He announced, pointing at Nanashi. The girl flinched as the villagers laughed, looking queasy. "This purifies her demon, allowing a strong person to wield it for justice." He took hold of the pendant, caressing it with his hands.
"You call this justice!" Hitori growled, disgusted. "This is madness! The girl's power has corrupted your soul." She declared, getting to her feet.
"How dare you question me, Demon!" He bellowed, raising his whip. Faster than she could react, he hit her on both cheeks, cutting the skin with the serrated edge, and the knife man pushed her down once again. Kyu relished in her surprised yelp, his euphoria turning to surprise as the cuts healed quickly. "You are a powerful demon indeed." He conceded, hungering for her power now.
Hitori did not bother to explain that her face only healed because she could control the fibers of her body to repair the damage. "You are a very sick man." She said instead, getting to her feet once again. The knifeman found himself to be in a full body-binding cast composed of his own clothes, his sleaves knitting themselves together as well as his pant legs.
Kyu looked into her golden eyes and was afraid for the first time in a long time. 'This is a very powerful demon.' He thought, respectfully. 'All the more fun to break.' He sneered walking past the blood-soaked corpses, raising his whip hand.
Not one to be caught by the same trick twice, Hitori reached out with her left hand. The whip slithered out of the surprised man's grip, making its way to her outstretched palm like an obedient snake. "Surrender now." She commanded, feeling her power coursing through her body, waiting to be used.
Sensing the change in the most primitive part of his brain, Kyu imagined a demonic surge of red power in her eyes to symbolize her power. Zealously, he raised the pendant in one powerful hand. "Absorb and purify this demon, Bloodstone!" He ordered.
Hitori smirked, feeling the talisman’s weak pull on her magic. She kept it close to her skin, an isolating layer that covered her entire body. ‘Only an untrained mage could be affected by this trinket.’
Kyu was confused. Nanashi had almost instantly collapsed when he had purified her. Could this one be so very evil?
"I’m a trained mage, farmer." Hitori informed him cooly, interpreting the confusion on his face correctly. "That trinket has no effect on those who can control their magic. But, I think it's about time to destroy it. These horrible events must not be repeated."
"No! Kill her!" He ordered.
The village-folk surged forward, raising hands and other handy blunt objects against her. From the woods, an archer shot an arrow which was deflected by a magical shield. That delt with, Hitori restrained the villagers and the archer with their own clothes. Kyu roared, seeing his forces so easilly neutralised.
Running forward, he landed a solid punch to the teenager's stomach, knocking the breath out of her and making her fall to her knees once again. He leaned in close, ready to bash her face into the dirt road.
Seeing the pendant swishing out away from his chest, she grabbed it weakly. With a thought, the chain came loose, the pendant falling into her hand. Changing his mind, still unaware of the missing pendant, Kyu grabbed her neck. Chocking as he deliberately squeezed her windpipe, she sent a desperate burst of wild magic into the pendant, trying to overload its storage capacity so it would become useless. The hand on her throat tighened, making it increasingly hard for her to concentrate. With one last desperate burst of magic, she suceeded. It shattered, dozens of ruby shards falling to the ground like common glass. 'So pretty...'
She dimly heard a scream before fainting from a lack of oxygen.
***
Nanashi saw the stranger being strangled to death by Kyu but could not make herself move. Suddenly, the pendant shattered and she felt her demon awaken inside her, more powerful and wilder than it had ever been before. Strange faces, names, and memories made her skin burn, thoughts of strangers threatening to overwhelm her through the haze of her uncle’s hatred.
She screamed to shove away the fog of thoughts, willing Kyu to let go of the traveller's neck with her entire being. Her wish, powered and amplified by her demon, struck Kyu making the man let go immediately. The stranger's body fell to the ground face first, like a doll that had been thrown aside. Nanashi shoved her uncle to the side, kneeling besde her savior to see if she was dead. Before she could feel the strengthening pulse, Kyu grabbed the girl from behind, twisting her right arm behind her back to keep her in place.
She shrieked in pain, her demon unfolding its bat-like wings as it screamed with her. Kyu, being the source of her pain and the one touching her, received the brunt of the brutal onslaugh of mental energy. His mind shattered like a mirror, shards of memory and experience flying every which way, a puzzle never to be completed. His lesser brain, the one that controled all of his body functions, faltered once before stopping completely.
Feeling drained, she fell forward, landing a foot away from Hitori's unconscious form. Scared now, her spent demon withdrawing closer to her heart, she crawled closer to the other girl until she could rest her head on Hitori's back. Feeling the slight rise and fall of the other girl's chest, Nanashi uttered a strangled sob of relief.
The villagers finally aware for the first time in years, saw the dead man's body, the unconcious stranger, the bloodied corpses and the sobbing Nanashi; and remembered how Kyu had always said that his sister’s child would turn on them. Since they were still restrained by their own clothes, they jeered at the orphan.
"Killer." A woman sneered. "Killer of children."
"Killer of men." The man beside her continued.
"Killer of women." Another woman shouted..
Sensing their hate, Nanashi curled into a ball beside Hitori, the only one that had ever defended her. The only one that had fought Kyu. "I didn't-" She hiccuped, feeling their hate slash at her skin like razors. The scent of blood in the air just seemed to make her mind feel fuzzier so she burried her face on Hitori’s chest. The scent of sweat, soap, and treesap anchored her to the world a little, keeping her from bleeding out.
"Killer!" They screamed.
"No..." Nanashi said weakly, covering her ears with her hands. "That was Uncle! He killed Lilian, Karla, James, Timmy, Betty and Lucy!" She revealed.
"You filthy liar!" A man declared, hate in his eyes. He remembered the tales Kyu had told about her mother’s magic, a magic so powerful it could capture one’s mind forever. "You killed them! Your demon killed Kyu and those people!"
Nanashi knew that the man was right about her demon and started crying again. "I didn't mean to..." She pleaded, seeing her damnation in their eyes and their thoughts.
***
Hitori, who had been gradually regaining consciousness after Kyu had let go of her throat, became aware of the screaming around her. She rolled over, staring at the clear blue sky for a few moments to clear her head before returning her attention to the crowd around her. “Fools." She croaked, voice barely above a whisper. "It wasn't her fault."
Nanashi suddenly climbed on top of her, sitting on the other girl’s stomach so she could make eye contact. "You're okay! I thought you was dead!"
Hitori winced at the bad grammar and the pain brought on by Nanashi's enthusiasm. Still, she managed to draw soothing circles on the girl's back with one hand. "Takes a lot more than that to kill me." She said hoarsly, knowing that she could have easilly died instead of fainting.
Nanashi did not call her bluff but continued to use the other girl as an anchor against the villagers’ hate. She knew Kyu’s strength very well.
"What happened?" Hitori asked, sitting up. She held Nanashi close, settling the girl in her lap. She saw Kyu's apparently unharmed body and unconsciously tightened her hold on Nanashi.
"My demon killed his mind. It shattered like glass." She confessed, so softly that the villagers could not hear.
”You shattered his mind." She repeated weakly, paling.
"He was hurting me so my demon struck out." She explained, shivering. She did not want ot be rejected by this one. This one -this mage, was special; unlike the villagers. "I'm sorry, don't leave me here!" She begged, throwing her arms around Hitori's neck to hug her. She rested her head on Hitori's left shoulder.
Hitori felt the girl's cheek brush hers and blushed. Still, she returned the desperate hug, making up her mind. "I won't leave you. I'll teach you to control your magic. Your demon." She clarrified, remembering the word Nanashi had been using.
"Thank you." Dark grey eyes glistened with tears of joy.
"Come on." Hitori said finally. "Lets get out of here."
Nanashi eagerly got to her feet, offering her a hand. She did not even say anything as she saw the ugly bruises on Hitori's neck. She would never regret killing Kyu.
"The binding I placed on your clothes will disappear in an hour." Hitori told the villagers before she left.
The villagers watched them go, relieved.
***
Hitori found her pack by the treeline, untouched. Slipping it on, she held out a hand to Nanashi. "So what's your name?"
"Nanashi." She replied, confused.
"That's the name they gave you. What do you want to be called?"
Nanashi looked at her shyly. "There was a story about a beautiful songstress named Ryu that I really liked when I was really small. I don’t remember the story though."
"Ryu it is." Hitori declared. "I'm Hitori."
"Hitori." Ryu repeated, smiling for the first time in years. It fit. She knew of the legendary fire bird who brought renewal to the land, a great being of power that was to be respected and feared.
"C'mon love, we're off to Meiron."
"Wait." Ryu said suddenly.
"What?"
"Can Ryu be a name between us? A special name?"
"Sure." Hitori blinked. "Then what do you want other people to call you?"
"Adeliva." Ryu decided. That was her demon's name, one she had given it long ago when it was still small.
Hitori looked at her strangely. "Sure Ryu. You're the only one who has the power to choose what you want to be called by others. I'll introduce you to people as Adeliva and later you can decide whether or not you want them to call you Ryu too."
Ryu knew immediately that she would never ask anybody else to call her Ryu but did not tell Hitori this. "Okay." She took Hitori's hand. 'I'll protect you from your enemies, even those you won't let yourself see. I'll kill those who hurt you, punish those who wish to do so.' She vowed to herself. This was one promise that she would never break. Her demon licked it's long, sharp fangs in anticipation.
Prologue ^-^-^ Chapter 1 ^-^-^ Chapter 2 ^-^-^ Chapter 3 ^-^-^ Chapter 4 ^-^-^ Chapter 5 ^-^-^ Chapter 6