Chapter 1

The sun is setting. Despite that I am walking. On my head is the kasa my grandfather used to wear in the old war. On my shoulders is the dark mantle my father used to wear in the winter. In my hand is the sword, marked by Lady Death herself.

My name is Isuri Bankoku. My whole village died earlier today. There was only one survivor after the events that unfolded: Me. Isuri Bankoku.

My short white hair used to be clean. Used to be pure.

Now there are some small red dots. When the blood was spilled and the villagers I once loved died, it got in my hair.

I still remember it vividly. There was Hira. She used to be my best friend, but just a few moments ago…

I should stop thinking about it. My people have died. My village is lost. That is what I have to accept. I should stop thinking about it…

Tears are dripping down my cheeks, dropping onto the ground. Of course they are. How else should I react? I can think easily. I can easily tell myself to stop thinking about all of this. I can easily try to forget it. I can try. But that is the thing: In the end, I can only try. For I am human. And it is human to remember. Human to cling to what is long gone.

Shit! I can’t… I really just can’t accept it!

The sun is setting, like I said. That is - of course - because it is evening. Night will soon arrive. It will be my first night alone in the wilderness. After all, everyone else is dead. And, of course, I am walking. This is due to me leaving behind my destroyed home, searching for a new place to settle down.

I can easily spout non-sense like that, yet again; Settling down, starting anew, becoming another, never-before-seen, version of myself.
The truth is probably that I will never be able to fully come to terms with what happened. I will probably cling to my past and all the people I have met, for as long as I will walk on this earth. I will never get to be a new person, I will forever - almost stagnantly - be the person I am at this very instant. A person thoroughly scarred by the extinction of everything and everyone I once adored. A person thoroughly scarred by the destruction I have witnessed and which I have - shamefully - survived. A person thoroughly scarred by a meeting with Lady Death herself.

Lady Death is a being which is often talked about; She is one of the six Protogonoi that is said to define this world to its core and walk across it.

Many people deny the existence of these six as actual manifestations and instead only see them as a way to simply teach these - sometimes not easy to understand - principles to children. The six Protogonoi - Light, Darkness, Time, Fate, Love and Death - were often said to have been seen in some way or form, but no one I knew would actually believe that to be true. Neither did I… Well, until today, I guess.

I was always a strict denier of them being actual… beings, I guess. I am aware of the 6 paths of magic, and that they are directly influenced by each one of those principles… but, like I already mentioned, I never thought the mascots they choose for those principles would actually exist.

The sun has set completely now. I’ve decided to rest, even if only for a short while. I know I originally planned to sleep out here in the wilderness, but the thought does send a shiver down my spine, I can’t lie.

I lie down on the ground, beneath a try. The hat once used in battles to the death by my grandfather is resting peacefully on my head, slowly sinking deeper and deeper into my field of view. My eyes seem to get weaker as well and my thoughts sink back into the very past.

I once ran across the sunday-market with Hira. Her brother's birthday was soon to come and she had yet to get a present. I assisted her; After all, I didn’t want the poor guy to have to accept whatever his sister picked out for him, as it rarely ended well. We were smiling and giggling. The music was playing around us, the grown-ups were dancing.

While running around the market, I suddenly felt something. The memory, which was oh so very vibrant and colorful the other moment suddenly grew pale and cold. Time seemed to slow down until it fully stopped. I slowly looked to the side. And there, patiently waiting for customers, was Lady Death. Her face was gone. It was as if my very mind tried to hide it from me. But I saw her clothes. I felt her aura. I recognized the black dust on her skin.

Death is near.

I quickly open my eyes, clinging to my sword. What I originally believed to be nothing more but a bad dream quickly turned out to be nothing short of a warning.

In front of me stands a giant being; A spider, being roughly 2 meters tall and more than 5 meters long overall. Instead of a spider's 8 eyes and small head, the giant and fat face of an ox staring deeply inside my soul. Two tall horns are atop it and a thick fog seems to spill out from its disgusting mouth. What stands before me is nothing less than an Ushitora, a rare yokai.

Yokai are creatures that rapture, murder and delve into terror. It was those very yokai who were responsible for the destruction of my very village.

I quickly stand up, trying to slowly go backwards. My back, however, crashed right into the tree I have just slept beneath. I have subconsciously begun shaking. However, at this very moment, I could not despair. I could not give in.

I calmly breathed and touched my sword.