Interlude: The Hound (2)

The incessant ringing of bells had been echoing across the island all day, disturbing its hidden shadow. If someone from the village were to come across the mythical being on this day and were able to catch a glimpse beneath the shrouded figure’s mask, the expression on the real Hound’s face would be contorted in pain.

Alas, even coming across the shadow of Tsuiraku was unlikely, let alone getting close enough to unmask the mysterious wight.

Having suffered the perpetual chimes reverberating throughout his being and being unable to act while the sun was in the sky, the Hound was grateful for the moon’s rise as the umbra gave him cause to act. From his veiled perch behind the shrine at Mt. Ochiru’s peak, he glided quickly down the side of the mountain bypassing the shrine in the foothills before taking to the sky like a bird leaving an aerie.

His body remained in the obscured embrace of his shroud as he drifted smoothly across the tops of the trees at village’s edge, before descending upon one of the village houses with its lanterns already extinguished for the evening. Moving with such quiet swiftness and grace in the shade of night, that even the most observant villager would be unable to detect his presence, the Hound traipsed across the other rooftops, his unseen feet barely touching wood or clay before he was soundlessly on the next roof.

He finally ceased his movements, the persistent jingling at its pinnacle as his unseen eyes gazed upon the third floor of the innocuous resthouse. There was neither movement in the road below nor in the garden behind and all but a trio of windows were unlit in the night.

The Hound’s right hand manifested from the blackness of his shroud, its muscles clenched firmly, his fingers spread apart as if ready to extend through the shadows to snatch the offending, chirring object and fling it into the sea.

Yet, he hesitated, his gaze fixed on the far-right room until its light was snuffed out.

Then, as swiftly as he had descended, the Hound vanished back into the dusk.