Encounter

The sounds of dripping resonated in a large chamber, echoing louder and louder…

He falls to his knees, unable to stand, looking at the scene before him. On the ground lay a woman of transcendent beauty, blood still flowing from a large open laceration in her stomach. Her hand grasping tightly to a stone necklace, once adorned to her neck. The stone emitted a faint light before turning dull in color. The world around him is quiet, a high pitched sound ringing in both of his ears as his arm is grabbed from behind by a cloaked woman as she runs. The two ran through out of a stone castle and into a dense fog blanketing the ground, through a complicated maze of deep blue rose hedges before arriving in front of a pond. A condensed droplet of thick scarlet fell from the thorn of a rose onto the ground.

The woman grasped both of his shoulders while kneeling to the ground, "I must leave now, please escape from here while you still can!" Hearing a loud noise from behind, the woman glances behind her back before making a resolute decision and pushes him.

From the water he sees her rush away, bubbles forming as he sinks down, his hair and clothing lagged as he's pulled down by his own weight. A small glow emitting from his chest as his eyes slowly shut closed. The dark abyss enveloped his body as the glow dissipates into the darkness.

————————————————————

In a remote village, children chase each other down dirt paths, some men and women tending to the rice paddies, sleeves and trousers tied up. A young child is strapped to a woman's back, eyes curious as she work's. A man is braiding straw and another walks out of his home, greeting him. A few cattle are led through a pathway with sacks strapped to their backs, chewing on regurgitated feed. A the edge of the village is a forest entrance, where a young man has entered with a basket and a short, hand-scythe. He has long, raven-like hair which has been tied back with cloth, his eyes a somber blue color. The garment sleeves are tied up while his top exposes some of his chest to counter the summer heat.

After placing cut ferns into the basket, he wipes the sweat which has formed on his face before venturing further into the forest. Though he has been in this forest countless times, he notices a path not yet taken, driving his curiosity. Cautiously, the young man progresses down a steep path, where he misses an invisible ledge. He holds onto a young tree with his left hand while he holds onto his scythe which has been dug into the ground with his dominant hand, and attempts to bring his leg up; However, the topsoil was loosening due to the little foliage and the young tree's roots had given up, thus, the youth began his fall.

It could only have been a few hours once he opened his eyes, his whole body was sore and his clothes heavy and wet. Groaning; he pulled himself up and attempted to feel his surroundings as the view was dark and he couldn't even see his body. As he groped around, all he could feel was the hard stone ground and rocks, until he touched something soft. Surprised, the boy tripped backwards and fell onto his rear when suddenly he saw movement to his left, ripples of light mimicking the patterns of water shone into the grotto he was in. Then a cold drop of water hit his face causing him to look up.

Above him was a peculiar sight, it seemed as if the edges of the cave mirrored over a pool of floating water, and the ledge where he had fell from was visible through a small opening where a morning light was shining into. More and more light started to poor into the entrance of the grotto and the surroundings were becoming more visible.

Suddenly remembering something, the young man's gaze shifted down again when he saw something even more peculiar. A body.

"A BODY?!" The boy cried, dreading the thought of having just touched the remains of some person. But upon closer inspection, he realized that this person looked very much alive. The person was facing the opposite direction so it was hard to see the face, long strands of platinum hair wrapped around the body and covered the floor. It seemed that 'that' part was also covered but one could tell this person was male.

Circling around the body he leaned in front of the face, which although was draped with hair, was quite flattering. His attention was drawn to a mark under the left eye when suddenly, the two eyes slowly lifted open, revealing irises the color of brilliant amethyst's.

The two stared at each other for a moment before jumping back in shock. The young man had shown less surprise, however. The now awoken boy was dumbfounded, he shivered and looked at his hands in front of him, before looking down at his body, surprised to see his own appearance. 'How long was I asleep?' he wondered, before suddenly turning his attention back to the stranger in front of him. He had never seen someone with an appearance of his before.

The other has also never seen something who looked so much different from people he's seen, much less in this condition. So he had made an assumption and believed it.

"You…you're a kitsune aren't you?!"