30 Steps to Stop a Sacrifice

Azuka slowly wakes up from being unconscious when he suddenly realizes that he is in the center of the village tied up with Ichina. Ichina had already been awake and was calmly waiting for someone or anything to happen. "Where am I," Azuka asks, "We kind of got defeated by those demons. Not only that, but we were apparently brought here by that bigger demon, who had to leave for the Underworld. The village leader told us to stay here until he gets back."

"He as in..."

"As in the demon... We are being sacrificed to the demons, I think."

Azuka sighs, he stands up forcing Ichina to stand up with him. "What are you doing Azuka?" Azuka says nothing and burns the ties between him and Ichina. "I'm not going to be sacrificed to some demons. I'm getting the hell out of here." Then Azuka notices all of the passing villagers. It seemed more alive than when the demons were here. Azuka takes a deep breath and begins walking away from Ichina who stayed behind, only sitting down and contemplating on her next move.

I need to comply to the leader's decisions. This is his domain, so I must listen to him. Azuka can leave all that he wants, he isn't my servant. Ichina sits in silence for a long time. "Maybe I should focus on Azuka's example. Yeah, I should follow Azuka!" Ichina springs up scaring nearby villagers. I'm going to stop the both of us from getting sacrificed to the demons. I should go talk to the leader myself, as I princess I should not have been inclined to going against the leader's requests.

Ichina begins walking in the direction of where the presumed leader's hut was. She scares a bit of the villagers who pounce out of the Giant's way. As she reaches closer and closer to the hut, she overhears murmurs about herself and Azuka. "Don't even make contact they have angered the demons..Their sacrifice will make the demons go away for another 2 years..." I feel like I am a mass murderer in a large crowd who knows exactly the horrors that I have done. What is with this weird atmosphere, Ichina thinks as she finally reaches the hut.

The villagers glance at her, but quickly run away when she looks back at them. She knocks on the hut door-pauses- then knocks again. "Hello! I am-" the hut door swings open as the old man seizes her into the hut. The old man slams the door closed, while Ichina has fell to the ground. "What the hell," Ichina covers her mouth, I've been around Azuka too long, I'm getting influenced by his foul mouth. Keep your composure Ichina, focus on the task. The old man walks past Ichina, in which she gets up, turning around to see a low long table in front of her. Papers, books, and other tribal items were laid out on the table.

"What is all this," The old man took a seat at the end of the table, placing his cane on his crossed lap. He looks down at his necklaces, clutching some of the stones near his heart, he lets out a weakly breath. "All my life, I waited for his return. They attempted to overthrow me, they called me a liar, a monomaniac." The old man looked up at Ichina who was inspecting the many papers on demons, photos of many young girls, a report on several men. "What is all this," Ichina asks again with a more stern attitude projecting from her voice.

"I should introduce myself. I am Shi Kasai, the 186th tribal leader of the Fire Village, in which you are residing in currently." Shi grips his stones harder, "For the past 100 tribal leaders, we have been under demon control. After an unfortunate event that I would like to further discuss with the boy you were with. What is your name, young lady?" Ichina was barely listening to Shi talk, but heard the gist of it all, "My name is Ichina of the Giant Kingdom," she says as she skims through more and more papers. "That other boy is Azuka- Azuka Limgard."

Shi lessens his grip and sighs, "Azuka, he looked more like a Mark to me," he gives a dry halfhearted laugh. He coughs at the end leading to Ichina believing that he might be dying in front of her eyes. "Are you alright?" Ichina rushes to Shi to help him get stable again. "Thank you darling," Shi clutches Ichina's arm, staring deep into her eyes. "You remind me of my daughter," he lets go of Ichina and slowly poses in a meditating state.

Ichina waits for Shi to talk again, but he seems frozen in time, watching him was like watching paint dry. Ichina takes a seat, "As you may know you are getting sacraficed to the demons," Ichina is startled by Shi's sudden enunciation. "Yes, I- no we both know," Ichina's face becomes troubled as she thinks about the many things that the demons could do to her and Azuka. "Personally, I am tired of it all. 100 tribal leaders, almost 50 years of my life. We have been controlled by the demons. I prophesied that someone would come to free us from this demon curse. It seems that the day is soon upon us," Shi grins a practically toothless smile.

"Can you tell me more of this prophecy-" as Ichina asks someone enters the hut, drenched in sweat. "Chief," a middle aged man was gasping for breaths, with a letter in his hand. "I think this is it chief, Khi is returning to the village!" Shi grins an even wider smile than before, "Are the gods truly on our side today? This truly makes me happy. Well out with it, where is he now?" The middle aged man attempted to give the letter to Shi, but he collapses right by Ichina. Ichina and Shi stare at the fallen man, who seemed to have passed out while holding up the letter.

Shi stretches his hand out to grab the letter in succession. He completely dismisses the unconscious man and focus on the letter. He lets out a dry chuckle, "I suggest you find that Azuka boy, with Khi here we can fulfill the prophecy." Ichina continues staring at the fallen man, "Who is Khi," is he not going to help this man out, she asks herself. "I'm glad you asked, he is simply our strongest."

While Ichina is having a conversation with Shi, Azuka has been walking to the shore to their boat. "It's getting kind of late, the sun is already setting." When Azuka neared the boat he could hear the crackles of fire. He rushes over to make sure the boat is okay. In which he sees a young boy munching on food in front of a fire, staring at the sea. Azuka walks up the boy placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Are you eating my bread?"