~55~ Archdemons: The Void

What a was a strange woman. She was short, roughly five-foot-three, and she had short black hair tied into a tight bun. She was thickly built, nothing like the fair maidens f the kingdoms. She had the muscles of a battle worn man and her palms were scarred and covered in calluses. Her expression was stern and her eyes were tired and near emotionless.

"Birgin? What brings you here?" Shayna asked as she leaned back in an old wooden chair, rickety and on the verge of falling apart. Since her home had been destroyed, she lived in one of the small rooms upstairs in the inn. The room was simple, small and square with a single shelf holding books and such, while a bed was placed against a wall, the only wall with a window. In one corner of the room was a massive bag tucked into the shadows of the room.

"And who is the stranger?" She spoke, her eyes falling, not kindly, on Tetsuno. Her eyes also dropped down to his hip, where his sword hung from a gold string.

"This is Abeza, he is here to help." Birgin spoke.

"Help? Help with what? We don't need any help from outsiders. He's in over his head." Shayna argued.

"Shayna." Birgin insisted, "he single handed lay defeated Zelden and two others."

Shayna turned to Birgin furiously. "Are you serious?! Great! You know what they'll do, right? The whole village will burn!"

"He's an Aberrant."

Shayna paused for a moment, taken aback. "Come again?"

"My name is Abeza." Tetsuno chimed in, "and I am an Aberrant. I have hunted over forty-nine beasts, three among them were dragons."

Birgin turned to Tetsuno with a look of awe. He hadn't told them about his kill count yet, though the number of people he'd killed was much higher, but he'd rather leave that out.

Shayna had nothing to say for a long moment before she walked towards Tetsuno.

"Well, Abeza," she said, stabbing a dinner to his chest, "you are neck deep now. You better not mess this up."

Tetsuno calmly looked at the woman, his deep ocean blue eyes gazing expressionlessly at her. He knew, as he saw realization cross her face, that she could see in his eyes the pain he'd been through, as well as the pain he's caused. He has treaded through an ocean of blood and corpses in his path for vengeance, and there was much more blood to come.

Shayna backed away, pale in the face. She glanced down at his blade. He could tell she was scared of him now, weary of his capabilities. He was shocked at how good the girl's senses were, seeing how young she was.

"Shayna, he's here to help, stop threatening him. He can help us better than we've ever been able to help ourselves." Birgin spoke.

"I.. yeah." Shayna answered, coming out of her stunned state. "What do you need from me?"

"You think you can get a forge going?" The old man asked.

"A forge? Why?"

Tetsuno pulled his bag over his shoulder and onto the ground with a clang as he opened it up and revealed the armor inside.

"I need this repaired." He said, handing her a shoulder pad. "Can you do it?"

Shayna observed the armor in awe. "This metal… how did you-?"

"Does it matter?" Tetsuno said sharply.

"Well, no.. I guess not, but.. I've never worked with metal like this. It would take a really high heat to be able to mend it, even then it would be difficult.. but I think I can do it."

"So long as you don't fuck up my armor." Tetsuno spoke.

"Yeah, yeah. Birgin, is the downstairs forge usable still?" Shayna asked.

"It is. They didn't ever find it, so it's in order. It isn't as nice as your father's was, but it works."

"Good. Well, I'll be taking this." Shayna shoved the shoulder plate back in the bag, closed it up, and then threw it over her shoulder. "Wow this is heavy.." she complained. "Give me a day. I will have it done, the dents aren't that bad."

Tetsuno nodded. "Thank you."

Shayna stopped beside Tetsuno, not looking at him. She was silent for a moment, but then said, "don't mention it." And walked briskly away.

"She is a strange character." Tetsuno said as soon as she was gone.

"She's been through a lot. Give her some patience." Birgin insisted. "She should be done by next morning. So take a break and do as you see fit. Just be careful."

"Yeah, I imagine the absence of those three from earlier will be noticed soon. They may attack tonight." Tetsuno agreed.

"Yeah, and they will most likely go for you." Birgin noted. "Will you be alright?"

"Trust me. I can handle myself." He said, then turned and exited the room.

•

•

•

That night Tetsuno paced around in circles about his room in the inn. He couldn't get rid of this restless feeling he had. He could feel something cold and unsettling. He held the hilt of his katana in a death grip. He kept glancing out the window, then at the door, then back out the window. Outside was dark, almost pitch black, the only light being the dim glow of the moon behind the ghastly clouds.

"Damnit!" Tetsuno cursed, biting his lip, the taste of blood crossing his tongue as he strode to the door, swinging it open. He traveled the hall to the top of the stairs, which he then descended. When he entered the bar, he could hear the faint *clang* *clang* of Shayna working on his armor. Birgin had gone to bed, as had Kedo, so the bar was dark and lightless, the moonlight the only dim light casting through the window panes.

Tetsuno exited the inn and out into the cold night. The air was crisp and when he breathed in he felt his lungs shrink from the cold air. He could also feel the precipitation, cold and wet on his skin.

He stepped carefully down the stick stairs, trying not to slip, and stepped onto the ground. He looked down one direction, then the other. He could see nothing in the road, just darkness. He walked out to the center of the road and stood there, solitary in the sea of shadows. He was alone, but he could still feel eyes on him. He couldn't tell if it was just a feeling.. or if someone was really there.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he focused completely on his hearing, listening as intently as possible for any sounds that could be an enemy.

Dead silence.

But the silence was loud.

Then he heard a faint *snap* as a twig was broke somewhere in the distance, down the road. Tetsuno's eyes opened and he turned to face down the direction he had heard it. He began to walk in that direction, slowly and carefully, his hand on his katana.

Tetsuno came to the edge of the village, facing out to a yawning abyss of shadow ahead of him, forested areas on all sides of his path, the dark trees glowering down on him like giant phantoms. Then he heard a faint *ti-tic-tic* as something tapped his sandal. He looked down to see a rock resting against his foot. He looked into the woods at his side, the direction the rock had came from. As his eyes peered into the blackness of the forest, he felt as though he were falling into it, like it was going to consume him, as though it were drawing him into it.

He lifted his foot, moving it towards the void of the woods, then placed it back to the ground ahead of him. Then he lifted his other foot, carrying it over and forward, then shifted his weight onto it as he moved his other foot forward, rocks and pebbles crunching beneath his sandals. Then he pushed his way through the pines, thin needles poking at his skin as he forced his way through. And then he was surrounded by inky black shadows.

He drew his katana, the sound a cold metallic scraping. Even though he was the one doing it, the sound made him uneasy. He then flicked his wrist, the blade striking the ground and scratching a rock. With a hiss, flames engulfed his sword in a flash of light before then fading out. The stone embedded in either side of the blade had absorbed the flames' heat and now the black obsidian-like material gave off a light like that of glowing embers. The dim orange light casted across the area before him, lighting up the trees and ground faintly as he slowly crept forward, waving the blade like a torch.

Tetsuno moved like this for a long time, twigs and leaves crunching beneath his feet. He stoped suddenly. He could smell blood, but from where? He waved his katana about, looking around him. Then he felt something drip on his shoulder. At first he thought it was water from precipitation, but then it kept dripping. He looked up, holding his katana above his head. His eyes grew dark. Above him hung four men wrapped in the same cloaks as the men that had attacked with Zelden before. They were strung up by black phantom-like wires that were embedded through their bodies, impaling them. Their flesh was torn and ripped apart, organs hanging from them and blood soaking their cloaks. It was gruesome, morbid sight.

Now even more weary than before, Tetsuno began to observe the area around him. He imagined that the Golden Sin members he saw had come to investigate the disappearance of Zelden's group, but were killed by someone or something on the way. He tried to think of anything that could do anything like what he had seen. Some kind of beast maybe? He couldn't think of any who could do anything like that, not that he'd ever heard of or seen. And this cold feeling he felt… the image of vibrant flames and a black figure of death… He felt extremely uneasy now. He could feel a cold presence, something watching him from within the endless shadows.

Then a sudden wave of bitter frost fell over Tetsuno, putting out the light of his katana and making the only visible thing to him his own breath in the cold. He felt an intense sense of danger and death from behind him and, instinctually, he leapt to the side while spinning to face his attacker. As he did, he narrowly avoided being obliterated by a massive shockwave that exploded forward from something deep in the shadows. The shockwave blasted through the trees, going in and on as it obliterated and shredded them into nothing but dust and slivers of wood. As far as the eye could see, an entire section of the forest had been annihilated, in a straight line, nothing left in the shockwave's path. The pale light of the moon shone through the new opening in the woods, casting an eerie glow over Tetsuno and the path laid out by the blast.

Tetsuno's body was frozen. He was unable to move, unable to breathe, as though he were encased in ice, his lungs being wrung out, suffocating him. He felt helpless as fear overwhelmed him. He couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu as he sat there, staring into the shadows that seemed to watch him.

Then they began to move.