The
Crimson Road
The
sky was clear and starlight illuminated the dark forest on that cool summer
night. A small figure walked with
haste through the darkness, the only sound that could be heard was the faint
rustle as the dried up leafs on the ground crumbled under her feet and the
sound of her rapid breathing.
Emi had gone into the woods to meet
Ichiro, the most wonderful guy she had ever meet in her short life. She loved him, and he said he loved her as
well, but sadly her father didn’t quite agree with it so she was forced to meet
him in secret like he was some kind of fugitive or something. She loathed it but she loved spending her
time with him, in fact she loved it so much it seemed to literally fly away and
before she knew the sun had set and darkness covered the world and she was
forced to go home alone.
From every side the shadows seemed
to crawl up on her, sneaking up from behind her, covering her, swallowing
her. She looked to her sides, into the
forest, into the darkness and
everywhere she saw potential danger,
she felt like something might reach out of the shadows and grab her at
any time, which of course, didn’t happen.
She did on the other hand see something rather peculiar, a light in the
darkness.
Only about a dozen yards into the forest
there was what seemed to be a large bonfire in a small clearing. She felt the relief wash over her, that fire
had to belong to a hunter or some other kind of outdoors man from the village,
he might be willing to escort her home.
Slowly she walked into the clearing,
“Hello?” She called out hopefully as she came into the light. But
instead of a nice old man she saw a young boy with some bizarre tattoos on his
back, laying on the grass.
“Hello? Are you alone out here?” She asked the boy gently;
when no reply came she walked up to the boy to see if he was asleep. As she came closer her eyes went wide with
horror, there where no tattoo’s on his back.
His entire back had been carved open with some sort of sharp object, the
boy wasn’t sleeping, he was unconscious from blood loss.
For a few moments her mind went
blank, then she
did the first thing her panicked mind could think of doing. She took the young boy into her arms and
ran, she ran until her lungs burned and her feet wobbled. Finally she reached home, where her parents
were to take her and the boy to the hospital.
She saved my life, and for that,
I am grateful.
I
lay unconscious on that hospital bed for a whole week, my life hanging on a
thread. Ill never forget the first
thing I saw when I finally woke up. A
beautiful young girl sleeping in her chair by my bed. She looked so peaceful, so… serene that it took my breath away.
I tried to touch her but no matter
how hard I tried I couldn’t gather the strength to raise my arm, so I
waited. I waited for what seemed to be
an entire lifetime, then finally, she
woke up. For a moment her eyes where
blank and unfocused, then she noticed him.
A big smile covered over her face and she whispered softly “Hello
there little fellow, how are you feeling?”
“I.. I’m alive..” I mumbled, taken completely
off guard by her kindness and concern.
No one had ever asked how I was feeling before, I didn’t know how to
react to it.
She
smiled, a smile so warm and kind that
it made my heart beat faster “I asked my parents to let you stay with us
until we find your real parents, don’t
you worry, everything is going to be ok” She said in a clear soft tone.
“I
wouldn’t try to find mom and dad if I where you, they like hurting people” I whispered
concerned. Emi looked shocked for a
moment but quickly regained her calmness as she dismissed his words as childish
babble.
That’s
how it happened, they took me into
their family after I was released from the hospital a few weeks later, My wounds healed perfectly but the red scars
will never fade. They shall serve as a
reminder of worse times.
They searched for my parents far and
wide, they hung up posters, sent messages to nearby towns and asked
around for weeks. But weeks turned to
months and months turned to years and in the end they had accepted me as a part
of their family. They cared from me and
I started to throw away my old memories and love them aswell, but no one did I care for as much as I cared
for Emi. She became my big sister, my best friend and my teacher. She thought me everything I know about human
life, the morals, the ethics and the
emotions. My heart hopped with joy as
she explained to me feelings of love and affection, she made it sound like such a wonderful thing and I couldn’t wait
till I got old enough to feel those emotions.
Now that I think of it, perhaps it would have been better if I had never
gotten them.
As I got older is started to be
plagued with horrifying dreams. Night
after night I watched my sister die a horrible painful death by the hands of a
demonic shadow. The wounds on her
body, the pain in her face and
cries, it all haunted me for months. I started to fear sleeping to the point of
hurting myself to keep awake, I would
sit in the darkest corner of my room pushing a needle through my hand, hoping
that the pain would keep my dreams away, even if just for a moment. But the dreams always came in the end, no
matter what I did I could never escape them.
For some reason I was seeing the
future in my dreams, that was the
conclusion I reached after a few months.
I had to prevent that from happening, I would have to be the one to save
my sister, I would be her hero. That
was what I thought
I
started going out of the house at night,
I went into the forest where my story started and trained myself. I
trained and I trained my body and mind to the extent I think it is a wonder I
didn’t ruin my body. I would literally
work myself until I passed out. Now
that I think of it I’m not sure if I did that out of discipline or out of
simple desperation. I would work myself
till my hands bleed and my vision got blurry, so many times I thought of giving
up, so many times I just wanted to
break down and cry of pain and fatigue.
But every time those thoughts entered my mind the picture of my sisters
crying face appeared in my mind. So I continued.
My body became hard and my movements
sharp. I became a huge topic in town,
my strong body was a popular topic, since I had the strength of boys twice my
age and size but even more then that was my ghostly appearance. Lack of sleep had given me big shadows under
my eyes and my skin had become as pale as the whitest pearl. Strange stories started to arise, each
dumber than the last. I caught the
fruit vendor telling someone I had been killing Iwahiron’s chickens at night
then drinking their blood, and the tailor telling someone I was probably
possessed. The rumours struck me hard;
I started to stay at home at all times, fearing what I would hear next. I found comfort in the darkness, it was so
soothing I would lay down in the basement for hours at a time, Mainly when Emi
was with that… that... Bastard of a man
she called her boyfriend, for I spent most my time with her. I could see that she worried about me, as
kind as she was, how could she not? I
looked like a corpse; I almost scared myself when I looked in the mirror.
Then
It came, the day that changed my life forever.
It started in the middle of the night,
I had decided to sleep properly for once and was awarded with a extra
long nightmare. Once again I saw Emi
being carved up by the shadow. I stared at it,
the monster I would have to protect my sister from. I stared and slowly, the shadow began to
become clearer and clearer, until I could see his face perfectly.
Slowly I rose up from my bed and
walked towards the door. It was a
silent night and everyone was still in their beds, sleeping, completely
clueless about what was about to happen.
I walked into the kitchen, it still smelled heavily of last nights
dinner, fried fish and rice, but I didn’t really notice. My stare was fixed on my mothers big kitchen
knife, it was about the size of my
forearm boath in length and width. I
lifted up my sleeve and let the blade slide slowly over the back of my
arm. I felt the pain as a dozen crimson
rivers flowed down my arm, coming to gether at my fingertips forming a single
drop. “This will work” I whispered to myself as I headed out the door and walked slowly
towards the towns gate. A single
guard walked in my way raising his hand signalling me to stop, “What are you
doing out at this time of night boy?” He said kindly and walked up to me and I quickly hid the knife
behind my back “Where do you live?
Ill escort you home” he
continued
I
looked him with begging eyes “please get out of my way, I have to go out”
Kindless was replaced with anger in the
guards eyes and he continued “now listen to me young man, your going back to your house even if I have
to drag you the..” He suddenly
stopped, his eyes full of confusion as
his hand reached up to his throat and his face became deformed with fear for
one moment before he fell to the ground with a loud thunk noise, a large pool
of blood rapidly forming from the large cut across his windpipe.
I ran out of town as fast as I
could, I darted through the
forest, jumping over logs and small
creeks like I had done a thousand times before, and within minutes I was in
front of a small hut, probably only a
couple of rooms, if not just one. As I
walked towards the door the image of the guards face before he died suddenly
flashed into my mind, the pain, the horror, “I bet he didn’t think he was
going to die tonight” I whispered to myself and suddenly I started to
chuckle, I tried my best to keep it
down but I couldn’t, the guards face was
engraved into my mind and I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Who’s there?” A voice boomed from inside the hut and I
stopped laughing immediately. “Stay here ill go out and check” The voice continued and I could hear
footsteps followed closely by the opening of the front door. A large man came out wearing nothing but his
underwhere with a axe in his hands. I
stared at him and my blood ran cold, that man was the one who would kill my
sister, of that I was certain, “Ichiro...” I literally growled as I
walked towards him with the knife in my hand
“Ren?, Is
that you?” He asked with a puzzled
tone, but I didn’t hear him, all I
could think of was to kill the man that had caused me so much misery, the man that would ruin my life. I darted
towards him, holding the knife with both hands intending to jab it deep into
his gut. I took him by complete
surprise and I could feel the knife entering his stomach, piercing through the
skin and muscles, but before it could reach deep enough for it to be dangerous
he grabbed my arms and lifted me of the ground
“Have
you gone completely insane?” He yelled at
me and squeezed my arms so tightly I dropped the knife and it fell to the
ground where it sank deep into the ground “What the hell do you think your
doing?” He continued, his anger
being rapidly transformed into wild confusion.
I tried my best to tear myself out
of his grasp but it was like trying to rip of iron shackles, I was to weak, I wasn’t strong enough, my sister was going to die and I was helpless
to do anything. Then I heard something
that made my heart sink, it was the angelic voice he had heard so many times in
his life “What’s going on out
there?” My sister said as she walked out the front door. My blood turned to ice and my heart stopped
beating, she was here, alone with this
man, she was going to die tonight, of
that I was certain.
She just
stood there and stared at me and her boyfriends bloody chest, petrified by the
sight she was unable to do anything at all.
My blood went from ice to fire in an instant “You have to DIE” I screamed as I reached deep within myself
calling out the strength within me,
channelling it to my feet and hands.
The feeling was amazing, I tore myself free from his grasp and kicked
him as hard as I could followed by a satisfying cracking sound as his chin was
shattered into pieces. I used the force
from the kick to jump a few feet backwards, twisting myself in the air landing
on my feet. I charged in as soon as my
feet touched the ground, I threw myself
on the ground faster than I had ever done before, sliding in between his feet I
reached out for the knife with my right hand and with a lightning fast movement
I spun around and cut tendons above his heels on boath legs.
A grin
covered my face as he fell to the ground, shivering, crying, screaming in utter
agony. Next thing I knew I was standing
over him, he looked so pathetic, so defenceless, tears flowing down his cheeks
in an endless flow. A feeling of joy
came over me, starting in my gut moving upwards, into my throat up to my
face. I started chuckling again, I couldn’t help it, I had never felt so good
in my life. I crouched down beside him “Does
it hurt?” I asked him but he
answered only with a sniffle “Do you want to live?” I asked him with a
smile on my face
“Y… Yes”
He managed to stutter miserably.
I put my face
only a few inches away from his and yelled, “I said, do you want to live? As
I cut open his left eye with the knife and felt another wave of ecstasy go over
me as he screamed louder than ever before,
“Yes!! I want
to live! Please don’t kill me, ohh
god…” He cried out in desperation
“Fine then” I answered joyfully, “Then stand
up…” I whispered into his ear
“What?!” He cried out in disbelief
“You heard me” I said as I let the knife slide
across his chest, leaving a shallow cut
across it “I want you to stand up,
If you can do that ill let you live”
Ohh I still remember the joy I felt, watching him trying
to stand, the look on his face the as he almost passed out from pain, and the
relief on his face as he managed to stand up.
Followed by face of surpise and despair as he felt a sharp pain behind
his knees as I carved through the tendons with my knife. Even today I can recall how he looked, he no longer cried, he no longer begged. He had lost all hope, all desire, he was
completely broken.
“Are you finished?” I asked as I put the knife on
his throat, there was no reply. I
slashed open his throat and licked across the blade, It was the first time in
years I had tasted blood, it felt as if it was the first thing I drank in
years, I felt so, Alive.
“I have no use for a broken toy..” I said with a bored tone as I switched
my focus over on my sister. She just
sat there, shivering, biting her index
finger so hard streams of blood flowed down her hand.
“Yes I
understand, It must be quite a shock to
see your boyfriend murdered in front of you like that” I
said to her softly as I crouched down in front of her, “You loved him
didn’t you?” I continued
“Yes…” She answered, her voice completely broken,
hardly understandable
“Well then, don’t you want to say goodbye to his
face? You can hardly see him from here”
I said as I picked her up gently
and carried her over to Ichiro’s carved up body “You know, your surprisingly light, Have you been eating properly?” I asked
her but she was in no condition to answer “Well, Say your goodbyes” I
said with a grin on my face as I placed her by the corpse.
It was
wonderful… Her beautiful face, twisted in sadness and despair, the tears
flowing like rivers down her face, The pain,
The agony, Ohh the Ecstasy! I loved her so much, she was everything to
me. I smiled widely as she looked away
from Ichiro and crumbled on the ground crying hysterically
“I’m sorry I killed your boyfriend, and I’m sorry I
killed your mother and your father as well” Now I only regret that I hadn’t actually killed her parents, it would have been more… real then. But it had the desired effect, She crumbled.
“No, Its not
true, no… Why would you do that? No it can’t be” She mumbled madly
“I’m sorry, but it’s the truth, I always hated them,
deep down, all I ever wanted to do was
to cut of their heads and throw them to the dogs, I’m sorry” I said calmly “A
scar like this will never heal and you will never see them again, I started of
trying to help you but in the end I robbed you of everything you had to live
for” I continued with the same
sincere tone “Im afraid that every single day from now on is going to be
like a living hell to you, especially since the villagers are going to blame
you for all the murders” I said with a grin on my face
“No, they wouldn’t…” she said hopelessly
”Ohh yes they would, who would belive that a eight year old child was capable of
doing something like this? You would be better of dead” I was starting to have a realy hard time
holding back to laugh outloud “Here take this, one cut up your forearm and its all over, the pain will be gone and you can meet
Ichiro again” I said as I offered her the blood drenched knife.
For a
while she just stared at it without saying a word but in the end she took it
and placed the tip on her wrist, “I’m sorry I can’t take this, mom, dad,
Ichiro, and you Ren, I love you
all, goodbye” She said right before she pierced her flesh
and dragged the knife all the way up the road to her death.
I walked into the forest, tonight I had lost everything
that had ever been dear to me, the
tears of sadness ran down my face, but I couldn’t stop smiling. I guess after all, I was realy a Majere.
For the next two years I travelled across the land,
trying to master the force within me,
until finaly, shortly after my
eight birthday, I came to a small
village called Kumo, Where I rented a
apartment with the money I took from my latest victims and joined the Academy
that promised to teach me all the basics of my source of power, my chakra. | 
