The Smell of Rain
My name is Kenji Ato. I live in a small mountain village north of Grand-Magic-Forest. We live on the mountain called Shoyukimota: the mountain full of white snow, there is a myth in our village that the queen of snow rested on this mountain. We don't get visitors, because below this mountain is the Grand-magic-forest, which is full of man-eating creatures and demons. Everyone in the village knows each other, the Ato family is one of the elder families that's been in this village for generations, they are well respected. I grew up knowing everyone in the village. I was never a trouble maker, I help everyone who needed it. My father Jin Ato is a great hunter, he brings home meat all the time, my mother Izumi Ato is a stay at home mom, she takes care of the family, I have one older brother and one younger sister, Ken Ato, who helps father hunt a lot of the times, and Kazumi Ato, she is loved by all the villagers. I love my family and my village.
This was just a normal day, or that's what I thought, but this will be the day hell fell on to the small world of mine. I am 15 years old, working in my neighbor's garden. My father and my brother both went down the mountain hunting, my sister and my mother were at home. The sun that day was so bright, the smell of fresh spring was everywhere, but the snow was still thick, the streams were running again, and everyone was out after a long harsh mountain winter. I grounded up the dirt for my neighbor while still remembering my father leaving this morning. He padded me on the back with a big smile and said to me: "Son, someday you will join me and your brother for some amazing adventures." I smiled but did not say anything. They went on their way, my mother smiled at me, it felt so warm.
Down the mountain in the Grand-Magic-Forest where Jin and Ken are at...
Ken: " Father. Look, what is that?"
Jin: "It's a nice looking spring deer. The meat looks very tender." He said with a big smile on his face. He draws on his bow and arrow.
"Nice and easy, you will make a great stew." The hunting group all kept quiet and claim as Jin pull back the bow. Then a sound of a whisper comes a bright flash of light. Fire blazing through the wind and melted the deer, the smell of burning ash from a melted deer sting the nose, no one moved in the brush. A group of people fully geared with armor and swords walked by the burn site.
Person one: "you melted the deer. Wow, that is some sick flame."
Person two: "It's more like f*cking Lame!"
But the man that burns the deer did not say a thing. That man was wearing a mask, not just any kind of mask, it was gold, and the eyes were big, and glowing red, the mask had 2 big black pieces stuck to the side near the mouth, the mask only covered the face and the neck, not the hair, he had short sharp snow white-colored hair. He was exceptionally tall, compared to the 2 men following him, he is around 2 heads taller, and those men aren't short by any means.
Person one said: " will Gold, where do we go now?" He was facing the man in the mask.
Gold: "why don't we ask the people hiding, they may lead us to a village or something." The masked man said with a deep voice.
Jin: " we mean no harm, we are hunters for a small village, that is all." He walked out and everyone followed him.
Person one: "Were you guys hunting that deer? Sorry about us using it for target practice."
Jin: " It's not a problem." He was afraid to speak his heart because the mask man's murderous intent was raging out of him.
Person one: "My name is Ki, the person next to me is Crow, and the man in the mask is Gold. We are travelers. we all are magic users but don't worry, we only kill people that attack us. Haha!" He laughed.
One of the people in the group said: "Oh. Good, come to our village travelers, and take some time to rest." As he said that, everyone including Jin and Ken freaked out. These people that just murdered a deer, melting it and laughed about it, this man just invited them to our village.
The man wearing a mask said: "if you insist, I have been traveling for a while now."
Jin told them: "can we at least bring something back to our village. I hate to go back empty-handed."
Both the villagers and the group of three agreed. But after the agreement was made, the man in the mask looked into the woods.
He shouts with a loud voice: " COME BEASTS!!!" The ground trembled as beasts of any kind within around 50 miles radius ran towards him. His mask was glowing with bright gold color.
Then he said: " NOW STOP!" All the wild animals stopped the command. Those wild animals are so claimed, you can even reach out and touch them without them even respond to you like they no longer have life in them.
Jin responds: " how did you do that, I have never seen anything like it. Could you control the beasts of the land? They are wild." Jin and the others was astonished by the sight in front of him. Gold just stands there.
Ki: "It's like magic but different, the fire before is magic, but this is no magic." Then his face changed and an evil smile broke out, and he said: " This is a power of Myth." Everyone started to whisper among themselves.
Gold said: "Should we start harvest? I am tired."
The villagers started cutting into the bigger beasts and getting all that they want and can carry. The villagers walked back to the village with a group of three.