(7) Selection Process

Tamashi looked amongst the crowd of children. It was as though he was judging them, deeming their worth. His eyes flickered over Yuna as she watched him, and for a brief moment, his eyes returned to her, their eyes locking before he continued to scorer the crowd.

"Well, we have some promising children here… but sadly… we also have some blunders. There is a rule to the nature process, this rule being that once you reach a certain age, your nature has already been decided and you can no longer nurture the opposite nature. And that age is thirteen. Meaning, any children here thirteen and above cannot nurture the Yin within them, as it no longer exists. Meaning all of them must be killed. I can count at least eight of them." Tamashi waved his hand.

Demons came barreling into the crowd, pushing the smaller children aside as they grabbed the oldest of the kids, including the girl from before.

"No!" She screamed, "Wait! Please! I was promised a good word with the prince! Please!"

"Quiet, wench. I do not care if one of my henchmen approved of you or not, fact is, you are of the Yang nature, meaning you need to die." Tamashi said with a scowl, his eyes flashing red from above the spire. "Lob off their heads."

All of the kids were then brought out in front of the crowd, being forced to their knees. The girl was last in line as the demons, one by one, began to quite literally rip off the kids' heads, digging their talons into the children's jaws and wrenching their heads off, the sound of tearing flesh and splitting bone the only thing to be heard in that moment.

Yuna watched in horror as the older girl turned back to face them, her eyes meeting with Yuna's. And then, in the next moment, she too had her head ripped off, her blood splattering and soaking into the black sand as her corpse fell, twitching in the sand.

Tamashi began to clap his hands together. "Bravo, truly a wonderful show. Well done, bravo, bravo, my loyal demons."

Yuna looked away from the corpses laid out in the sand, tucking her face into her older brother's arm.

"Well now, with that out of the way.." Tamashi put one foot forward and then descended from the pillar, dropping to the ground beside the corpses. He didn't even glance at them as he walked into the crowd if kids, all of them moving out of his way as he strode over to a young boy about Yuna's age. He had rugged black hair, tattered clothes, bruises and scratches and a scar across the bridge of his nose. His eyes were a deep amber and had a burning flame of defiance in them.

The boy glared up at Tamashi as the demon leaned over him, grabbing his arm and absorbing the marking. It was red.

"I see. How interesting, now, where is the other one..?" Tamashi said, letting go of the boy and looking about. And then his eyes locked with Yuna's and he grinned.

Yuna hid her face in Edric's arm as Tamashi strode over to them, kneeling down beside them.

"Well, hello there." Tamashi said.

"What do you want with her?" Edric asked defiantly.

"I commend you for trying to protect your sister, boy, but I hope you realize, one day, she will be a chaotic force of destruction who kills indiscriminately." Tamashi stated.

"What..?"

Tamashi grasped Yuna's arm, causing her to yelp as he pulled her towards him, observing her mark. "Yes. And so the stage is set."

Tamashi stood back up, releasing Yuna. "This girl and that boy are to be privately tutored by me. All the other children are to be divided up into classes and trained by the demon generals, make six classes. For now, escort them all to their rooms, they've had a very long night and I am sure they would like to sleep." Tamashi grinned at all the children, "Tah tah, I wish you all good luck with your night terrors. I expect to dance to your screams."

— — —

"Tamashi," spoke a large demon. Nine demons were all scattered across a large, dark cavern, sitting in random locations. "This was not the plan."

"What? I honestly don't think the gods will give a damn if we take a few extra kids here or there." Tamashi said, waving his hand.

"The gods firmly stated that we would only be allowed to take fifty children. You took almost one hundred and fifty." Another demon hissed.

"Look. We only agreed to go to purgatory in exchange for these children." Tamashi spoke, "I doubt they would start the war back up so soon just because of a few extra worthless kids."

"The gods cherish the innocence of the young." Another demon said grimly. "It is likely they will confront us about this."

"Well, I guess it is a good thing these kids won't be so innocent much longer. Once these kids have fully been adapted to their Yin nature, the gods won't be able to do anything against us. We will obliterate all of them, and the overworld will be ours whilst the gods are all but extinct." Tamashi growled.

"This is a dangerous game you play, prince."

"And that… is what makes it fun."

— — —

Yuna sat with her back against the cold stone wall. The "bed quarters" were nothing more than barren, dark and cold prison cells. It was so cold Yuna could see her own breath, and she pulled in her knees to her chest as she breathed.

She just wanted the pain to end..