The Prologue Chapter Part 2: The Bandits

The moon shone down on the dirty road that Sabishi and Jonah are treading on. The trees extended their branches over their heads, barely letting any moon light enter the forest, and the moon light that does enter are just small snippets of bright, brilliant light.

It’s been three days since the incident with Eric and the two will arrive at another village soon. But the forest is a dangerous place, not just because of the deadly wildlife, but also because of the numerous bandits and burglars that wait around, hoping for unwary travelers to fall into their traps.

Both Sabishi and Jonah know very well what could happen if a group of bandits show up, and no one wants unnecessary bloodshed. That’s why, before entering the forest, Sabishi had already informed Jonah about getting through the area as quickly as possible.

“That means no breaks, and no sleeping. It’ll probably take us a few hours to make it through, and then you can sleep all you want once we’re back on the open road again, okay, Jonah?”

“Swordsman, I know what you said, but c’mon it’s been more than a few hours! I need to sleep!” Jonah rambled. Sabishi sighed.

“Jonah, it doesn’t matter if you need to sleep or not. We need to get out of here. I don’t want to wake up to see you torn apart by a bunch of barbarians, or worse, I don’t want to wake up to be in heaven myself.” He sarcastically informs him. Jonah scoffs at this.

“It’s not like a bunch of bandits can kill you, swordsman.”

“Maybe when I’m awake they can’t, but what about when I'm sleeping?” Sabishi asks. Jonah rolls his eyes.

“C’mon, swordsman! At least just an hour!? Please!?” He begs while falling to the ground and putting his hands together. He looks up at Sabishi, who groans.

“Fine. You get thirty minutes of rest, and then we’re going.” He tells Jonah. Jonah grins and jumps up, proceeding to scan the area for places where he can rest. Sabishi raises his hand and points to a giant tree. The tree is close enough to the road that Sabishi can easily see who and what are going through the dirt-filled pathway, but far enough that it’s hard for anyone traversing throughout the area to spot them. Jonah plops down right in front of the tree and rests his head against the dirty, rough wood.

“Ow!” He yelps, placing his right hand on the back of his head and looking back at the tree. A piece of the tree had peeled off and it pricked Jonah’s head when he laid back on the tree. “Tch, stupid tree!” Jonah yelled as he jumped up and kicked the tree, over and over.

Sabishi walked over and curled his hand into a fist, before he raised his arm and hit Jonah straight on the head. Jonah yelped and fell down, rubbing his head with his palms.

“Dammit, swordsman! What was that for!?” Sabishi shook his head.

“Your thirty minutes have already started.” Jonah’s eyes widened and he quickly cupped his hands over the side of his head and laid down on the soft grass. Within minutes, he was asleep. Sabishi let out a sigh and sat down in front of Jonah, facing the road.

He looked up at the sky and he stared at the stars. It looked like someone had placed fireflies in the heavens to light up the night sky and those fireflies were remarkably good at their jobs. Sabishi stared at them for a moment and then looked over at Jonah.

What would be happening right now if we brought that boy with us? He placed his hands on his face and gripped it.

Was it really the right choice? It was my fault that the remaining villagers died, after all. He closed his eyes and he thought of all of the people he had killed throughout the past two years.

I came out here to kill demons. To find Chiyo’s soul. To find Death. He opened his eyes once more. But so far, I’ve just kept on losing. I’ve killed more humans than I can count. I’ve caused people unmeasurable pain. And yet, He brought his hand over to his chest and kept it above his heart. I still can’t feel anything.

Once again, he looks up towards the sky, lifting his arm, attempting to grab the stars.

“...What would Chiyo think…?”

“I’d do anything to reach my dreams. People may call it stupid, but there’s so many things I’ve always wanted but have never been able to have, Sabishi. But you have what I don’t, and I have what you don’t. You work to reach what you want. That’s why-”

“That’s why I love you.” Sabishi repeated. He sighed and with a smile he put his arm down.

I don’t know what she’d think. All I know is that I’ll do anything to get her back.

And with that, his eyes close and he slowly falls asleep.

……

“Swordsman! Swordsman! Wake up! Wake up!”

“...Jonah?” Sabishi groans as he slowly opens his eyes. “What’s that noise? Where are we-?” His eyes widened as he quickly realized something.

I can’t move my hands. He thought.

“Swordsman!? Are you awake now? C’mon, we gotta get out of here!” Jonah yells. Sabishi stares at Jonah while he quickly begins to realize something else.

It’s too dark. Wait, why do I hear galloping? And are we in something that’s moving? Sabishi attempts to move up, when he realizes that his legs have been tied up too.

“Tch! Jonah, where the hell are we?!” He asks. That’s when he notices that Jonah’s shivering. He’s quaking with fear.

“I don’t really know either…I woke up just as I was being thrown into a cart. And then a tarp was placed over me.” He stares straight into Sabishi’s eyes. “Swordsman…what are we gonna do?!” Sabishi grits his teeth.

“So we were kidnapped by bandits or demons…or something of the sort.” He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, before thrusting his hands and legs apart, breaking the ropes in half. He then moves over to Jonah and rips the ropes off of him too.

“How’d you do that so easily-?!” Jonah asks. Sabishi turns his gaze over to the tarp that’s above them. He reaches for his hilt, but finds nothing there. He looks down and sees nothing. His sword and hilt are gone. Sabishi stares at his waist for a few seconds, before screaming and placing his hands on the tarp. He places his fingers on the creases in the tarp and holds them still, before pressing on them and pulling them apart. The tarp rips open and Sabishi quickly stands up to the sound of a crossbow firing.

His eyebrows push down on his eyes as he dodges the arrow by ducking down. His eyes scan the area as he attempts to get an understanding of the situation.

“Where’s my sword…?” He mutters. Jonah continues lying down on the floor of the cart, too scared to move. Sabishi takes a deep breath.

Him and Jonah are in a cart which is connected to a wagon. Two horses are in the front and there are two horses to the side of the wagon, with a man on each of them. In the wagon, there’s around six men and he can see his sword on the ground. Quickly, Sabishi jumps up as another arrow is fired at him.

He then jumps onto the wagon while the bandits take out knives and swords. Sabishi quickly dodges one of the men’s knives, before grabbing his arm and forcing it to his back. Two other bandits stand in the back, with one behind them holding a crossbow and on his waist lies Sabishi’s sword.

“You damn barbarian…who said you can take that sword!?” He screams as he plucks the knife out of the bandits fingers and throws him off the wagon. The bandit rolls onto the ground, screaming in pain each time his broken arm hits it. Sabishi dodges another one of the bandits and hits him in the stomach with the knife, before kicking him down and stabbing his neck.

Blood sprays all over him, but Sabishi isn’t fazed at all. Instead, he continues his onslaught. The bandits are all screaming for each other to do something, all while the man driving the wagon yells at the bandits on the horses. Jonah watches the ongoing events with horror as Sabishi rushes at the other two men.

The bandit with the sword aims his crossbow as the other two bandits rush at Sabishi. Sabishi dodges one of the bandits' attacks, but the crossbow is fired and Sabishi dodges it, only to be cut in the arm by the other bandit. He grunts and stops for a few seconds before stabbing the bandit that just attacked him.

“Get the bastard! He’s just one man!” The bandit with the sword yells. Sabishi rushes at him as another crossbow shot is fired and the other bandit attacks him. He quickly dodges both attacks before stabbing the bandit in the head.

“Iris…I’m sorry- '' Another stab from Sabishi hits the bandit in the heart this time and he falls to the floor. The crossbow is shot one more time, but Sabishi once again dodges and then quickly puts his dagger straight through the bandits neck. His head falls off the carriage and his blood washes all over Sabishi’s knife. The body falls to the ground as the driver screams in terror.

“Plea- please don’t kill me! Please! Please!” Sabishi stares at the driver for a moment. Then then leans down and unbuckles the headless bandits’ belt and takes the sword and the hilt off. He attaches it to his waist and walks over to the driver with cold eyes.

“Stop the wagon.” He demands. The driver gulps and begins to stop the wagon just as Jonah screams. Sabishi turns around quickly. “Jonah!?”

Right next to the cart are the bandits that were on horses. One of them is holding Jonah by his hair with a small knife right on his neck. The other bandit is waiting on the left side of the cart, shivering with fear. Sabishi walks forwards, right to the edge of the wagon when the bandit screams.

“Stop right there, you Asian bastard!” The bandit screams. He clutches the knife and pulls it closer to Jonah’s neck.

“Swords- swordsman…-“ Jonah struggles to speak and Sabishi watches the situation, shaking with anger.

“If you don’t drop your weapons and walk out of that wagon with your hands in the air, I’ll murder this brat!” He pulls the knife as close as possible to Jonah’s neck. “You hear me?!” He yells out.

“Y- yeah!” The other bandit exclaims. However, Sabishi stares at the bandits, not moving at all.

“Well?! Are you gonna drop that damn sword down on the ground!?”

“You cowards…I’ll kill you!” Sabishi screams. “Mahō form one!”

God’s agility! He thinks. Within a second, Sabishi is right in front of the bandit that’s holding Jonah captive. He pulls out his sword quickly and quickly slashes the bandits head off. The blood sprays all over him and Jonah.

Jonah screams in terror and falls of the horse, which gallops away. Sabishi jumps down onto the ground before pushing his legs straight off of it and twirling in the air. The other bandit attempts to get his horse to move forwards, but he isn’t able to make it time. Sabishi’s sword cuts straight through his chest, slicing him in half.

Sabishi lands onto the ground, covered with crimson red blood. For a few seconds, he doesn’t move. Instead he pants heavily, before walking over to the front of the wagon. Jonah hides behind the cart while the driver curls into a ball, shivering with fear. Sabishi walks over to him and puts his sword on the man’s back. He yelps and tears begin to appear in his eyes.

“Please- please don’t kill me! I’m begging you! Please!” He begs. Sabishi stares at him.

“Why did you attempt to kidnap me and the boy?” Sabishi asks. The driver whimpers and begins shaking more and more.

“We- we’ve been needing m-money. So if we got the chance, we’d kidnap and take the peop- people we’ve been stealing from.”

“And so, you’ve been selling them to people, right?” The driver closes his eyes and begins whimpering even more.

“Y- yes. Nobles, farmers, anyone that could afford the sla-” He gulped. “The slaves.” With one quick flick of his wrist, Sabishi throws his sword down on the driver’s neck and slices it straight off. The blood flies everywhere and the driver's head rolls off of the wagon and onto the crimson ground. Sabishi’s breathing is heavy.

“You bastards are scum!” He screams. Sabishi jumps off the wagon and onto the driver’s head, crushing the head into pieces. The driver’s head has broken into blood, eyes and veins. His brains are stuck on the bottoms of Sabishi’s sandals. Sabishi stares at the blood with disgust. “I hope you burn in hell, you shitty buzzards.”

Sabishi turns around, only to see Jonah standing right behind him. His eyes are wide open and he slowly begins to back away. Sabishi stares at Jonah while he continues to pant, before he turns around.

“Help me clean up this wagon, Jonah. We’re going to use it instead of walking.” He explains, before he walks over to the front of the wagon and he picks up the driver's body. Jonah watches Sabishi for a few minutes before Sabishi looks back at him. “What’re you waiting for, Jonah? Help me out, now” He tells him. Jonah continues to stare at him for a few more seconds before nodding.

“Yea- yeah…”