Restless

Leon stayed seated for a long while, mulling the information over and over in his head until he could make sense of it all. How did this all happen so quickly? Everything felt like it was finally going my way…

He couldn’t help it as his mind traced back to a day he lived when he was much younger; the helplessness he felt now and back then was nearly the same.

…

It had been nearly a week since the disaster had happened in his life, and he was desperately running for his life through the night.

Leon’s feet burned with every step, but he couldn’t let himself stop; there was nothing that he could return to anyway, so all he could do was run. Tears ran down his dirt-and-mud-covered face, leaving behind faint marks of the uncontrollable despair he felt.

He looked up at the stars and gave a silent prayer for the strength to keep going and never stop, hoping they could grant him this one wish.

Suddenly, whistles sounded from nearby him, and the echoes of men shouting and dogs barking reverberated in his ears. He knew who those people tracking him were; they were Hunters. Leon didn’t dare slow down for a second.

The memories of how his village burned before his eyes flashed through his mind again and again as he continued to run.

His body was frozen still as he watched countless Hunters running through his village, massacring the Kitsune of his village relentlessly. Leon was unable to do anything to save his people as they were all slaughtered before his eyes, and even his parents could do nothing to save him from the travesty. Leon watched them fall dead mere feet in front of him, losing their lives in the blink of an eye.

As he stood alone and traumatized, a hand touched him from behind, tenderly brushing his shoulder and tracing a line to his chin. As the hand reached the bare skin on his neck, it felt unnaturally cold for a person’s touch. Leon’s blood ran ice-cold as he froze in fear, his body starting to shake involuntarily.

Leon felt the person’s breath graze against his ear, his vision guided upwards as the hand caressed his chin. They whispered, a young girl’s voice with a chillingly calm tone, “Isn’t the sky so pretty tonight?”

Above the embers that choked the air around him, Leon looked through the smoke and into the vast night sky. His eyes adjusted from the fires that burned the homes around him and stared deep into the sky, looking for signs of light.

But there was nothing there, only an empty expanse of black.

A night sky without stars.

Leon felt so utterly alone in that moment that he thought he might have disappeared from the world entirely.

The girl’s voice next to him whispered in his ear once again.

“I love how I can take away the stars so easily.”

Her words pierced right into Leon’s heart, and he whipped his head around to look at her.

Through the flicker of firelight and thick tendrils of black smoke that twisted strangely around him, he saw her pretty face, plastered with a devilish grin, staring back at him.

Her lips moved in a trance-like way through her smile as she whispered, “Just like how I’ll take you.”

…

Leon’s eyes stared blankly at the ground. He hadn’t spoken or moved in minutes, the room’s silence starting to suffocate Sera.

“Leon?”

He snapped upright on the chair, blinking. His breath was shallow as he combed his hand through his hair, wiping away the cold sweat that stuck to his forehead.

Sera leaned forward, studying him with reserve.

He looks distraught, as if I've just broken something deep inside him. Is this because of the mark? Did it trigger something?

She wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words.

“Just remembering something,” Leon muttered. “That’s all.”

His face was ghastly pale.

Sera didn’t prod him any further. Instead, she stood up, intending to give him some space.

“I’m going to wash up and get some sleep here. Do you have an extra bedroom?”

Leon shook his head, “Actually, I don’t think it’s safe to stay here much longer.”

Sera’s forehead wrinkled, tilting her head in confusion. “Why is that?”

“The individual who was in your shop earlier, I was contracted to take him in alive for questioning.” He paused, barely hiding his disgust behind his calm demeanor. “By the Hunters.”

“The Hunters?” Sera bit her lip.

I’ve heard rumors about them, a powerful group with relentless brutality in any mission they accepted. Why would Leon associate himself with them?

Her eyes flicked to the mark on his shoulder, then back to his face. “You were working for them?”

“Only for this contract. I’m a tracker. I find lost things and people, not capturing criminals.” His eyes darkened, “But when the Hunters request a contract, it’s not something easily refused.”

Not easily refused… they might have threatened his life if he did, if the rumors are true.

“I failed the contract quite spectacularly, so I almost guarantee they know about it already.”

“And they’ll come for you here?”

“Once they find where I live, yes.”

We definitely can’t stay here then, but where would we go?

Leon got up from his seat, immediately walking towards the kitchen. Sera watched him in silence, putting together the pieces of information.

“If you’re wondering where our destination is, I’ll just say we should prioritize leaving over figuring out where to go. I’m going to start packing supplies, so grab anything you think could be useful.”

Sera silently agreed, looking around the place for any important items. She found a small knife sitting on a shelf, hooking its sheath to her belt. Then, a question struck her.

“How are we going to travel? You’re not planning on us going on foot, are you?”

“I have a long-time client who’s a stablehand. I’ll visit him after we depart and buy a couple of horses to ride.”

“I haven’t ridden in such a long time…” Sera said meekly.

“Unless you have a better option, this is the best we have.”

Sera's face dimmed slightly, feeling like a burden. “So you’re buying two? Aren’t horses expensive?”

“I have money saved up, so it’s not something you should worry over.”

Leon reached under the faucet’s plumbing and pulled out a very worn wooden box. The muffled sounds of coins comforted Sera’s ears. So he did have a lot of money saved; he wasn’t lying.

Placing everything he collected in a large satchel, Leon looked around for anything else he could have missed. Finding nothing, he beckoned to Sera.

“Are you ready to leave?”

“Yeah, I didn’t find much, though.”

“Let’s go then.”

Sera stepped out of the front door first, looking back at Leon. He took one last look inside, clutching the sigil on his waist tightly, before closing the door behind him and departing.

…

Three individuals stood blocking a doorway, clad in full black cloaks. They stiffened their postures as the man in the center knocked on the door.

No answer came as one of them began to tap their foot impatiently.

After knocking once more with no response, they looked at each other and nodded their heads.

The individuals standing on the side stepped away as the man in the center dropped his hood, revealing stark red hair as he bent down low to the ground, breathing in deeply. He raised his foot off the ground and bashed it into the door, sending it flying into the house in splinters.

The group stepped over the debris as they walked inside, their eyes scanning every inch of the home. They explored it until they reached the back of the home, disappointment and anger written on all of their faces.

One bashed their hand into the living room table, shattering the wood with ease. He grumbled in a low tone that reverberated throughout the entire room, “Where did he go? Stupid tracker thinks he can get away from his consequences so easily?”

“Easy with your words,” the red-haired man said, “It hasn’t even been half a day, I’m sure we can find him with ease.”

He didn’t even look at the third member of their group before they began searching the ground for any clues. They only had to wait a second before they spotted a bloodstained shirt on the ground, picking it up with gloved hands.

“What did I say? This is gonna be a breeze.”

The shirt began to glow as the still-silent individual muttered incomprehensible words, causing bits of the blood to attach themselves to the gloves before returning to normal.

The shirt was dropped haphazardly as the blood-covered, gloved hands raised in the air, beginning to lead the group away and onto the street, walking with haste.