The Encounter

Kenji was the first to spot the gold boulder. He had been leading the way through the forest, eager to show his friends the amazing discovery he and his sister had made a few days ago. He had promised them a treasure that would make them rich beyond their wildest dreams, and he was not over exaggerating.

"Look, look! There it is!" he shouted, pointing at the glittering mass that rested at the bottom of a small valley. He ran down the slope, followed by his sister Akane and Sakura, who were equally excited.

They had been walking for nearly an hour, climbing over fallen trees, pushing through thick undergrowth, and dodging sharp rocks. The forest was dense and misty, with towering trees that blocked out most of the sunlight, making it look like it was still early morning even though it was nearly noon now.

Takisuma was the last to reach the crest overlooking the valley. He had been trailing behind the others even though he could have easily outpaced them, keeping himself silent and watchful. The servant’s outfit that he always wore—a baggy, dark grey pair of pants with an orange and white-colored top, that resembled the top of a kimono—was far more practical for this occasion, rather than the other three’s elegant kimonos that kept snagging on the forest undergrowth.

He did not share their enthusiasm for the gold boulder at all. He had a bad feeling about this whole “adventure” as Kenji had called it. Why had the guards let them out of the estate so easily? Why had they not questioned their destination or their purpose for leaving? It seemed too convenient, too suspicious.

Indeed, it was huge, about the size of a carriage like Kenji had said before, and shone brightly in the few rays of morning light that passed through the treetop canopy. It looked like it had fallen from the sky or emerged from the earth, sunken halfway into the ground either way.

"Wow, it's even more amazing than I imagined!" Sakura exclaimed, touching the smooth surface of the boulder.

"It's ours now!" Kenji declared, wrapping his arms around it. "We're rich! We can buy anything we want!"

"Like what?" Akane asked, tilting her head.

"Like... like a real sword!" Kenji said, his eyes sparkling. He pictured himself with a blade that gleamed brighter than any other sword he had ever seen, going out to hunt the monsters that his father killed on a daily basis.

"A sword? Why would you want that?" Akane said, frowning, “You already have a good one.”

"Because this one is wooden!" Kenji said defensively. He jerked out his wooden sword and showed it to Akane. “I can’t kill monsters or anything with this… I need a real one to do that!”

"But they're also dangerous! And heavy! And they can hurt you!" Akane argued.

"So what? I'll train with it like everyone else needs to in the beginning!" Kenji said, starting to swing his sword around with a surprising amount of control and skill for a boy of his age. “Before long, I will be a master swordsman like father. And I will kill all the monsters, so no one ever needs to worry about going outside again!”

"No way!” Akane protested. “You'll become a bandit for sure!"

“Will not!”

The two started to bicker, as they always did.

Sakura smiled at their antics. She turned to Takisuma, who was still standing on a rock above them with his gloved hands in his pockets. He was looking down at them with his usual stoic expression.

"What do you think of our treasure, Taki?" she asked him. “I’m sure father will be pleased.”

Takisuma hesitated for a moment. He didn’t want to spoil their fun, but he didn’t want to lie to them either. "… I… I think it's a problem." he finally said.

Sakura blinked in surprise. "A problem? How can it be a problem? It's a giant gold boulder, Taki!" she said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Kenji and Akane stopped their bickering and looked at Takisuma as well.

"Yeah, what's the problem, Takisuma-kun?" Kenji asked, his voice full of curiosity. "Are you afraid someone will steal it from us?"

Akane nodded in agreement. "Or are you jealous that we found it and not you?" she teased, sticking out her tongue at him.

Takisuma sighed. He knew they were just joking, but he also knew they were not seeing the bigger picture.

"No, I'm not afraid or jealous," he said calmly. "But I am worried. Don't you think it's strange that a boulder of gold this size is just lying here in the middle of the forest? Don't you wonder where it came from?"

He pointed at the tree canopy above them, where a large hole was visible with broken limbs still dangling high above, as if something had crashed through it. "Look at that. It looks like it fell from the sky. What could have carried it? And why did they drop it here?"

The other three looked up as well, their expressions telling Takisuma that this was the first time that they had noticed the hole. He could see the excuses formulating in Kenji’s eyes, even with the distance between them.

He looked at them with a serious expression and continued before Kenji could get a word out. "Something is not right about this boulder. It could mean trouble for us, the Komono House, and the village not too far away from here. We should go back and report it to Ryuu-sama and your all’s father, let them decide what to do with it."

After a moment of thought, Sakura nodded, agreeing with her brother. She always trusted his judgment, even though he was younger than her.

"Taki, you're right." she said softly. "This boulder is too out of place. We should leave it alone and go back to the estate. Telling father is the best choice."

Kenji and Akane, however, were not so easily convinced.

"C-Come on, Takisuma-kun, don't be such a spoilsport," Kenji said, trying to sound cheerful and hide his nervousness. "Maybe it's a gift from the gods! They used to bless mankind with gifts from the heavens before the Great Fall… They might be trying to bless us again."

Kenji walked over and slapped the gold boulder before looking back up to Takisuma, “We already came all this way, why don't you at least come down and feel it before we head back?"

Akane nodded, supporting her brother. "Yeah, Takisuma-kun, stop being so worried," she said, pouting, "come down and get a better look at it!"

Takisuma shook his head, feeling frustrated. He knew they were being naive and foolish, but he also knew his friends. This was the way that they were all the time. He didn't want to argue with them or hurt their feelings. He tried to reason with them one more time.

"Kenji-sama, Akane-sama, please listen to me," he said earnestly. "This is not a gift from the gods, the gods abandoned mankind. This is a trap from the demons. There's something evil about this boulder. I can feel it in my bones. It's dangerous to stay here any longer. We have to go now."

As he spoke, he felt a sudden tremor in the ground beneath his feet. He looked around, alarmed, and saw that the others felt it too. They all stopped talking and looked at each other with fear in their eyes.

"What was that?" Akane asked nervously.

"I don't know," Takisuma said, scanning the surroundings for any sign of trouble.

The tremor grew stronger, making the trees sway and the leaves rustle. The birds flew away in panic, screeching loudly as they sensed danger.

Then, from behind the trees on the other side of the valley, a huge shadow emerged. It was a Fester. As far as monsters went, they were the legendary beasts that terrorized the world. It had scales of black and red, horns of silver and gold, and very large, folded wings that wrapped around its back like a cape. It let out a deep crackling growl, making the air vibrate with its sound, as it stepped out into the small opening where the children all stood in horror.

Takisuma had never seen a Fester in person before, only in a few books, but the best way that he could describe its appearance was to compare it to that of a dragon back on Earth. No doubt, it held the same kind of terror in the minds of people as a real-life dragon would. Even other monsters stayed clear from these demonic beasts.

From the little bit of knowledge Takisuma had on these creatures, they seemed to be a curse that has haunted every living thing in this world since the Great Fall over a millennium ago. The traumatic proceeds of a great war between the one hundred angels, who looked over and guided mankind. The traitorous angels were cast out of heaven to live bounded to the mortal realm, and it is said that the Festers spawned from those angels’ broken souls.

The four children gasped in horror as they saw the monster approach them. They realized too late that they had stumbled into its domain.

Is that boulder its treasure or something!? Takisuma thought in a panic before looking back down to the others below. All of them stood still in shock as the Fester looked down at them, bearing its jaws of daggerlike teeth.

Takisuma watched for a second as the Fester started to move closer to the others, before doing the first thing that he could think of to get his friends moving.

He screamed.

"RUUUUUUUUUN!" Takisuma shouted as loud as he could, before jumping off the stone he was perched upon and ran towards them.

At the sound of Takisuma's voice, all the others snapped out of their trance and turned to run. They all ran along the base of the hill they had slid down, hoping to find a way out of the forest valley that wasn’t so steep.

Akane was the most panicked of the four, her eyes wide with fear and her heart pounding in her chest. She ran ahead of the others, ignoring the pain in her legs and lungs. She felt a surge of adrenaline that made her legs move faster than ever, faster than any normal human could. She was almost a blur as she dashed through the trees, quickly disappearing from everyone’s sight.

"Akane!?" Kenji shouted, but his voice was drowned out by the roar of the Fester behind them.

“What the hell!?” Takisuma shouted, having no chance at all to keep up with the girl who was smaller than everyone else.

Takisuma was puzzled by Akane's sudden burst of speed, but he had no time to think about it. He focused on keeping up with Sakura and Kenji, who were both slower than him. He glanced back at the Fester, which was gaining on them with every step.

Damnit! I knew this whole thing was a bad idea! Takisuma cursed to himself, before focusing on Kenji who suddenly looked weak in his legs right behind him and Sakura.

"What's happening to me?" Kenji asked himself weakly, feeling a cold sweat on his forehead, and then stumbled to the ground, scraping his knees and palms.

"Kenji-san!" Sakura cried out, quickly stopping to help him up.

Takisuma also slid to a stop and turned back as fast as he could. He saw that Kenji was pale and sweating, almost like he had a fever, as he groaned, clutching his chest. They grabbed his arms and tried to pull him up, but it was too late.

“R-Run!” Kenji shouted before instantly vomiting. He didn’t know what was happening to him, but he wanted his sister and friends to be safe.

What the hell is wrong with you!? Takisuma thought in a panic as he pulled his friend with all his strength.

“Taki!”

Sakura’s voice drew his attention back to the Fester. He looked back to see it had caught up with them and lunged with its mouth wide open.

Takisuma reacted quickly and heaved Kenji out of the way, just before the Fester's teeth closed where they were. He saved Kenji, but Sakura wasn't so lucky. She had tripped on a root and fallen to the ground. The Fester clamped down on her leg and Takisuma watched as his sister being lifted into the air.

"Sakuraaaaaa!" Takisuma screamed. He saw her face twisted in pain and fear as she hung from the Fester's jaws, screaming in agony. She could feel the sticky, warm sensation of blood running down her leg.

Time slowed for Takisuma. All he could focus on was Sakura's blood dripping from the Fester's mouth and hearing her cries for help. Flashing images of his past life filled his mind.

Looking down on a hospital bed at a girl, her entire body covered in blood. Seeing the bruises that covered her chest and arms. Pulling back the blood-soaked towel to see the side of his friend’s face partially smashed in with lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling.

Misha…

Takisuma wouldn’t let Sakura die, not like how he let Misha suffer. He would save her, and hopefully one day atone for the wrong that he put Misha through. Praying that she would forgive him, whether she is in this life or already moved on to the next.

Takisuma screamed in anger as he ran towards Sakura and jumped into the air. He reached out and grabbed a tooth of the Fester's lower jaw, hearing the joints and wires in his metal fingers popping with the strain as the Fester slung him and Sakura both up into the air.

Takisuma tried desperately to reach out and grab Sakura as the two of them constantly flipped in the air. Pass after pass, he missed Sakura’s hand and couldn’t help but look down into the Fester’s gaping mouth. He looked back up to see the tears floating away from Sakura’s eyes, they were both scared, but Takisuma was sure for different reasons.

He had one more attempt. He needed to save Sakura.

He reached out one last time, stretching his body as far as he possibly could. With metal fingers spread wide, his gloved hand came down and slapped Sakura’s shin. He clung to her as tight as he felt he could and then grabbed one of the back teeth of the Fester’s lower jaw, as they passed through the mouth with his opposite hand.

The strain of his metal arms being pulled in two different directions felt like Takisuma was going to be ripped apart, but he was not about to let go of either hand. In anguish, he looked down to see Sakura looking back up to him, hanging upside down headfirst, deep into the Fester’s throat. Fear painting her face more than any other emotion, it even overtook the pain that she should have been showing a little bit of at least, giving the opposite leg Takisuma was holding looked like it was hanging on merely by a piece of skin.

The loud popping sound of the metal cables in Takisuma’s arms snapping drew his attention for a second. One of the main cables running down the length of his arm hanging on to the tooth launched out, ripping through the sleeve of his shirt and slapped him in the face.

He ignored the stinging pain that rippled across his face as he noticed his arm stretching and coming apart. The joints in his elbow had given out, and now only stayed connected by one more cable.

This is bad. Really, really bad…! He thought looking back down to Sakura again through strain and panic, but this time he saw her face being much calmer. And though she was scared, she smiled up to him, blinking tears.

“Let go...” she said calmly, “Let go of me, Taki…”

“Like hell I’m doing that!”

“Please! I-I don’t want you to die as well!” she screamed back, this time fear controlling her voice. “I-I-I am sorry I made you come along… I am sorry I-I didn’t listen to you…!”

“Shut up!” Takisuma yelled angrily, his eyes peering down at his sister he was desperately holding on to. “You are not going to die as well! I won’t allow it…!”

A second later, the fast motion of the Fester swinging its head down threatened to make Takisuma lose his grip. He looked up and out of the slightly gapped mouth they hung in and seen the ground. The two of them hanging in the beast’s throat must have been gagging it, or it was going back down to get Kenji as well. Either way…

This was his chance.

Takisuma drew on all the strength he had left and hoisted himself and Sakura both up towards the front of the Fester’s mouth. An instant later, he watched Sakura fly away from him towards the forest floor, looking back at him as she narrowly missed the Fester’s top and bottom, daggerlike teeth.

“You will live, sister…” Takisuma said calmly with a proud smile. “I have never once regretted doing something that you wanted me to do…”

All that he could see was the shock in his sister’s eyes as she reached back for him in the air, but she disappeared behind a wall of teeth that clamped all the way shut between them. His arm he used to throw Sakura severed just above the elbow, and the fingers of his other that he used to hold on with got crushed.

With nothing around for him to hang on to, and no way to grab it if there was, Takisuma slid back and down the Fester’s throat.

To be continued...