Chapter 2: Strange World And Strange People
A mysterious rhythm is barely audible in the woods, the sound of a casual whistle. Who would be so calm on a night of the blood moon?
The rhythm is coming from a shadowy man. He wears a sack on his back, one arm on the strap.
As the whistling gets closer to Issei and Yuta, the man senses a great presence. Well, for an area that he would expect had some weak travelers at best.
Yuta hears the whistle, just barely. Yuta is quite frightened. He expected something or someone dangerous but was still surprised something had shown up.
"Issei! I hear something!" Yuta whispers, "Listen closely!"
"I hear a strange whistle, we should leave, and fast," Issei whispers as quietly as he can
Yuta yells, "But the ca!-" He is cut off by Issei, "Don't yell!"
They both hop down from the tree, as quietly as they can. Taking their time, but also being as quick as possible.
The mysterious man calls out to them both, "I know you're there! You were being much too loud! Don't you dare interrupt my nighttime walk!" And he runs towards them, his bloodlust leaks out. Issei and Yuta can somehow sense his violent intent, they know his location.
The old man pulls out his hand dagger and dashes right in front of Issei and Yuta. The man attempts to cut Issei's arm off, Yuta grabbed an axe earlier by the camp. Yuta strikes the man's arm, leaving the axe stuck in his arm.
The elderly man shrieks, his eyes open wide as the pain grows stronger with every second. He takes the axe out of his arm and throws it into a tree.
The man shouts loudly, "First, you interrupt my evening stroll. Then, you attempt to cut my arm off! What disrespect to your elders!" Issei runs toward the tree the axe is stuck in, and tries to pull it out.
Issei thinks, "How strong is this guy? He threw it into the tree at the perfect speed and angle and I can't even pull it out!" Issei has an idea, though. He focuses greatly on his right leg, seemingly imbuing it with an unnatural force, and kicks the axe in its handle, it is thrown high into the air from the sheer force of the kick.
The man hisses, "He knows tsu!" Issei is confused, but it does not matter. He launches himself into the air and grabs the axe, gripping it tightly. Issei falls head-first with his axe in both hands, Issei strikes the old man in his head with much more force than he has ever emitted. The man yells out, "You bastards!" With the axe still deep inside his head. Issei pulls the axe out of the man's head and buries the axe's head into the ground.
Issei remembers what happened a couple of days ago with the brawl on the log. He smiles and whispers to Yuta, "Let's use what we learned from the log fight." Yuta smirks and nods his head.
Issei rushes in with a dash while the man is still stunned. The man notices and counters with a kick, the world around Issei seems to slow down, and he jumps to avoid it. This leaves the old man with his eyes open wide, he is scared for his life. The man pretends to lose his balance, to hopefully get a hit in on Yuta or Issei. But after being reminded of the log fight, they knew it would be an act. Yuta dashes towards the man, the man attempts to stab him with his dagger, but Yuta already knew he would, so he dodges quite easily. Issei does a front tuck behind the elderly man and kicks him in his spine, the man gasps, as his back has seemingly broken out of nowhere. He never knew that Issei was behind him. He looks behind himself, only to be punched in both sets of ribs, Yuta uses to hands to punch him. Yuta then jumps into the air and launches off the man's stomach. Issei jumps to avoid being hit. The old man flies into the tree and falls onto his back, leaving an outline of his body in the tree. He coughs up blood and passes out.
Issei and Yuta are breathing heavily, to the point their heartbeat can be heard from 10 feet away. They both sigh and fall over. They pass out on the ground and sleep for 3 nights.
Issei wakes up in a strange room, perhaps a village found them lying on the ground and wanted to help. But where was Yuta? Issei is so thirsty and hungry that he can barely move to pick up his glass of water and plate of moldy pork.
Issei looks around the room. The walls are seemingly made out of paper, and it isn't cold in the room. So, they are most likely not in Hokkaido anymore. He can smell in the building, like blood, or maybe a corpse.
Issei finds a trapdoor in the floor near the corner, almost as if they don't want Issei to come out of the room. The tunnel through the trapdoor is dusty and has blood on the walls of it. That must be where the smell came from. But, why did he smell corpses?
Issei quickly crawls through the cramped tunnel and finds another trapdoor. He pushes it open, to find an ominous, long hallway. A shadowy figure comes out of one of the doors, Issei can sense the strength of it, he needs to hide and fast.
His heavy breathing makes the shadowy figure suspicious, it runs toward Issei's hiding spot. Issei's heartbeat increases in speed and the figure finds Issei's hiding spot. It claws at Issei with its long, tiger-like fingernails. Issei immediately jumps backward. The figure whispers in a frightening manner, "Help me," And then falls to the ground. Its fingernails seemingly retract.
Issei stealthily walks toward the figure. It might be a trap. Its eyes are pupilless and its veins are dark purple. The figure is most definitely dead. Issei holds his hand out toward the hallway and says, "I need to find Yuta fast,"
Issei dashes across the hallway, ignoring the cries for help in each room to his right and left side. He worries, what if Yuta is already dead? But then he cancels out all bad thoughts. A small tear falls from his left eye, and he slows down. He quickly gets back to it, though.
Issei finds the end of the hallway, he assumed Yuta would be far away from him. He looks into one of the rooms, and his face turns from blank, to terrified.
There lies Yuta, passed out on the dirty and hardwood of the floor. A shadow figure lay next to him, the figure has its fingernail in Yuta's neck. The fingernail must be a way to transfer the shadow's blood into Yuta. Just thinking of losing Yuta like that makes Issei freeze, on top of it actually happening.
Issei stands frozen looking into the room. Yuta's eyes roll back and he starts to shout loudly. Issei simply can't move, no matter what he does. He might already be too late.
Issei thinks, "I have enough time!" He channels all his emotion and visualizes all of it flowing to his fist. He dashes behind the shadow figure, and quickly punches it, blowing the figure's head off. It's blood splatters everywhere.
Issei turns Yuta's head to the left, pouring the dark purple blood out his neck. He turns Yuta's head after red blood starts coming out. Issei bites his thumb, and he drops some of his blood into Yuta, as a lot has turned purple already.
Yuta's eyes turn back to normal, and his passed-out body relaxes. Issei wonders what would have happened if he stayed in the room he woke up in.
Issei waits for Yuta for what seems like hours. Yuta finally wakes up, and he is greatly confused, all he can remember is fighting the old man,
"Where are we?" He asks.
Issei says, "Do you remember fighting an old man in the woods?"
Yuta says while yawning, "Yes, but how did we end up here?" Yuta stretches his arms and gets onto his feet.
"Well, someone must've taken us here and locked us in a room. I was really worried," Issei says.
"Why were you worried?" Yuta asks once again.
Issei says trying not to sound crazy, "Well, first I woke up in a room just like this one. Then, I found a way out. And then I found a shadowy figure, then I ran down the hallway to find you and…. An unidentifiable creature was transferring blood into your neck, most likely to make you a monster."
"Yeah, okay. I totally believe that," Yuta jokes.
"Fine, see for yourself. You know, I was really worried!" Issei yells.
While walking down the hallway, Issei and Yuta think about what they will do to leave. They haven't seen any sunlight let alone a sign of where they are.
Issei knows how strong the mutated figures are, so he keeps his guard up no matter what. Yuta is a bit scared because of Issei's story, but he doesn't believe it for the most part.
Yuta feels the roof shake, he can hear laughing and loud footsteps. He feels inclined to investigate but thinks it isn't worth the trouble and that they should just leave the room
Issei is still quite confused about one specific thing. How did Yuta's injury on his neck heal so fast? But, Issei brushes it off and forgets. As he is in a stressful situation.
As they both walk down the hallway, they hear one of the doors open on the right side ahead of them. A strange, brightly colored, friendly-looking humanoid figure comes out of the door. She has her head down, she looks exhausted.
Issei and Yuta get into a position to fight, but the girl doesn't care. She just asks who they are.
"Who are you two?" She asks.
Issei responds, "I'm afraid we can't tell you that," He squints his eyes and clenches his fist.
"You know, I don't want to fight you." The girl tells him, "I can help you guys get out, that's the whole reason I come here."
Yuta is suspicious, but his trusting nature gives in and he approaches the girl, "Who are you?"
"I can only say when you answer the same question." She says.
"Fine, I'm Yuta, he's Issei," Yuta says.
"Yuta!" Issei yells, "Why did you tell her? We don't even know her!"
Yuta says quite calmly, "I can just tell, I suppose."
Issei has an astounded look on his face, what if this is just a disguise for one of the monsters?
Issei can tell that this girl is strong, her emotions don't get to her, and she is much more ruthless than she looks.
"We answered your question, now help us leave." Issei mumbles
The girl claims, "I never said I would help you," "I simply want to get out of here, if you follow so be it. But if you attack, I will not be afraid to break your neck and burn you alive."
Frightened by the girl's comment, they simply follow her. She can fend off every one of the blood mutants like they are just regular people. Yuta knew that this journey would involve getting stronger and fighting powerful foes but, he didn't think there were people so strong and that Issei and himself were well, weak.
Eventually, Issei asks the girl a question, "Do you know the way out?"
"That is a foolish question indeed, for if I knew a path out we would already be out of this wretched place." The girl responds
Yuta, channeling all his courage to ask a question to this monstrously strong individual says with a weak mumble, "Are there more people out there, stronger than you?"
"I would suggest you stop asking me questions. But to answer that, I am a mere weakling among even the least powerful beings in any region I've come by. My existence is purely pitiful, I don't have a purpose. I roam the world with a blank face, my entire being is dead inside. I would suggest you leave me soon after we get out. You won't gain anything through me. I will die in this place, even one of the weakest areas." The girl says with a blank face, showing a lack of emotion or will to live.'
Yuta thinks about the journey ahead, how strong they must become, and how likely death is. While Issei thinks about what must've happened in the girl's life. Will he end up like her if he keeps trying to live out his dream? When he achieves his dream, will he truly be happy? The only good outcome in his life would be if he found a different goal alongside the journey, perhaps being a king of the lands. He is not suited for kinghood, and neither is Yuta. Perhaps he will die, knowing he has regrets. Just as what will happen with this girl.
The girl eventually finds a way out of the miserable and dangerous building. She tells the two boys next to the exit, "Leave before I change my mind about letting you go," Yuta pushes the grand and tall door open, the landscape is beautiful, yet horrendous. Is this the grand adventure they were planning? The flowers in the landscape are roses, they hang down and are a deep black. The sky is a depressing gray, and the monstrous, victorian castle reaches the moody clouds.
This world they live in is truly one suited for evil.