The Wooden Sword

Final Selection took place on a desolate mountain, Mount Fujikasane. The mountain was roamed by imprisoned demons that were captured by the Demon Slayer Corps. The demons were unable to leave due to the Wisteria that surrounded the mountain, instead they were forced to stay on the mountain. The examinees were expected to survive 7 whole days on the demon-infested mountain top which was densely populated by tall trees and scattered with shrubbery. Sunlight and moonlight both alike found it difficult to penetrate the thick layer of leaves that wrapped around the mountain.

The dim forest was eerie with silence and anticipation. All the examinees had now been moved from the base of the mountain, where two child instructors had explained the whole process and rules of Final Selection, to the mountain top where the examinees had begun the test. Only a mere hour had passed since the beginning of Final Selection, yet the intense atmosphere had made it feel as if countless hours had gone by. The powerful emotions that a person went through while walking across the dimly lit forest could ruin even the strongest of minds. Anxiety that formed knowing that a demon could leap out any bush and maul you alive. 7 hard nights of this intense mess were enough to ruin people with weak minds. Final Selection was a place where people could be driven to insanity even if they were in no danger at all. Eira slowly yet steadily walked, her palm wrapped around the handle of her sword, a sword that held so many memories, that once rested on her father's waist and now hers. She hadn't encountered any demons but every movement made her heart race. Leaves rustled, the trees sloped in such a way that they seemed to be facing Eira as she walked slowly. Eira had a definite confidence, she was sure it would be a breeze to make it through the 7 days, however she still refused to let her guard down at the slightest. She only worried about one fatal disadvantage she would face, her stamina. Eira's stamina wasn't the best, she'd easily exhaust when she used the enduring ice breathing techniques. In Final Selection rest was something that was extremely dangerous. Eira's plan was to find a good place to rest, safe from demons, as she wasn't good at conserving energy or staying up countless days. Examinees were split into two groups, one that hoped to find a good place to rest, and the other that had no problem with the idea of staying up 7 whole days. The stronger the examinee the more likely they were to neglect sleep to protect themselves.

Eira's strengths excelled in areas of speed, strength and accuracy. Not to mention, a very special ability she had trained, an ability she was familiar with since a young age. Eira had a rare ability to sense danger or generally anything living, she had this strange visualisation of everyone's energy, or as she liked to call it everyone's auras. They came in all colours and sizes, and they were attached to a person like a shadow. Although, the aura was more of a flame around a person than a shadow, the very embodiment of their soul that flared around them. This ability gave many benefits to Eira, she was always able to predict her cousin's jump scares or when someone was trying to sneak up behind her. As she trained it further and further, sometimes she blindfolded herself and relied only on her ability to dodge as her older brother tried to hit her. It had only gotten stronger in the past years, her body would feel chills and send signals to her brain that danger was present, as if it was a radar, she could tell which direction the danger was coming from and how dangerous it was. She had a funny way to describe the feeling. Eira's mind was constantly flooded with people's auras, everyone had a different colour, the colour often informed Eira of what type of person they were, she had already associated multiple types of personalities with different colours. Calmer people were more to the blue -purple range, sweet and kind people were often softer colours like pink, then of course the more spiteful and angry people were on the red range. Eira's older brother was always fascinated with this unique ability she had, often he asked about it in an attempt to understand it.

"It's like I can see sounds... or like see souls or the aura of people? As colours... You're a cool blue because it just fits you I guess? And if it's dangerous I just know. You know?" She always used to tell her brother all the time. He would never understand her, always replying with.

"No Eira. I don't know. I don't understand your weird condition" He would say, then they would both share a laugh.

Suddenly, Eira's arms filled with goosebumps and her eyes automatically moved to the left of her body. There was someone present. A boy seemed to be shouting something. Eira moved to her left as she heard the loud shouts from whoever it was, their aura was blurred? This was a type of aura Eira had never encountered, she moved closer and hoped she could get rid of this weird sense. Through the thick bushes, Eira squinted her eyes, she could very slightly see a boy with a light green haori. Then Eira's mind clicked.

"No way..." Eira quietly mumbled, confused. She considered that she might have sensed it wrong. It wasn't that the aura was blurred, it was just the boy seemed to have no colour in his aura at all, instead a bland grey. A grey soul? She had never seen it before. The bushes rustled as Eira creeped along them in order to get a closer look. The boy held some weird brown sword, he seemed to be shouting at a demon.

"Listen here demon! I will become the Wind Hashira! No matter what it takes!" The boy rambled loudly. About 6 metres in front of him a short demon, pathetic looking with sloppy hair and drool oozing out of its filthy mouth, it had vomit green skin that protruded with small bumps, which matched its filthy dark green aura. Its neck seem to be swollen with a very evident red marks on its neck.

"H-Hah... not with that sword.." The demon stuttered as it boldly stated its remark, Eira could slightly see small tears in the demon's eyes, most likely from the stinging pain of its neck.

Eira watched the boy visibly get annoyed, he leaped forward and twisted his body as he dashed to the demon. A loud thwack sound echoed through the forest as the boy slapped the demon's neck. It yelled out in agony as it feel backwards, after a multitude of curse words it scrambled backwards and began to run away. After a while the demon had disappeared into the bushes. Eira found this to be a perfect opportunity to go up to the mysterious boy.

"If you don't mind me asking. That's a different type of sword isn't it?" Eira asked as she climbed out the bushes. The boy shot a weird look at her. He turned his body towards her as he brushed off his sword, upon a closer look, it was clear that the sword was completely wooden.

"Shit, were you just spying on..? Whatever. Yeah nah my sword is wooden. Cool huh?" He slightly boasted as if it was something to be proud of.

Eira was not impressed, rather disappointed even, mostly at his word choice, she didn't like swearing. Her expression couldn't help but tilt a little, a small frown formed on her lips. That one sentence gave her all she needed to know about the boy, no wonder he had a grey aura, he was not important in the slightest, Eira cleared her throat.

"Yep... well. Pleasure to meet you." She bowed awkwardly and walked in the opposite direction. She really just wanted to get out of that awkward conversation, considering she didn't want to carry it on any further anyways, she just turned and started to walk rather quickly.

"Yeah nice to meet you too. My name is..." His voice drowned out as Eira passed the bushes again rather swiftly, she had no interest in knowing the boy at all, she quite quickly walked away.

"Yeah... no chance of him surviving. He's gonna be eaten by demons in the first 3 days if he doesn't somehow get a proper sword." She laughed a bit in her head. He had got a spot on Eira's list of who wouldn't survive. Eira just now realised she hadn't even seen him at the meeting ground, perhaps he was late. Seems like something he would do.

She had a bit of a mixed feeling about the boy, obviously he didn't leave the best impression on Eira. His grey soul was very interesting though, since it was grey it was one of the first times she had made a judgement completely independently, usually her weird ability would help her out in knowing what type a person is. She couldn't shake the fact that his aura had no colour at all. Everyone had a colour, why didn't he?

"His grey aura was strange..." She wondered to herself as she looked up at the depressingly monotone colour of the tree trunks. Eira found it hard to put grey into an emotion, what would grey represent? Boredom? Blandness? Her mind chart of colours and their association to emotion had not once considered colours such as white, black or grey. She compared her colour chart to a horoscope at times, not that she believed in that type of stuff anyway. She continued walking, thinking about that boy, weak and hopeless, it was harsh from her. Eira almost never insulted anyone, but this boy was different, it was like in her mind she passively decided she would never lose to him. She didn't consider him as competition at the slightest but she just didn't like his character.

"If I ever let him surpass me, then I've failed as a demon slayer." Eira loosely thought in her mind with no sympathy for the boy. She shook her head and continued on her path.