Chapter Text
It was all so… weird. I was scared, confused, and disoriented. I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t know why it happened. I had woken up to the sound of shouting and crying. I didn’t know why I was asleep, but that thought was quickly erased when I noticed figures in front of me.
There was a group of people surrounding me. Some were crying, some were asking me hundreds of questions that I couldn’t find the answer to. But there was one thing I noticed.
The smell of blood. It was so heavy, I felt so nauseous. I quickly looked around me, seeing nothing but blurriness. But the smell of blood was what scared me. I begin to shake, the feeling of what seemed to be a panic attack creeping up my body.
“Are you okay?!” A male’s voice brought me out of my thoughts, and I looked up, seeing a disfigured body in front of me, reaching out. “Are you hurt, princess?”
Princess? What is he talking about? There’s so much that is happening, so many people around me, it’s scaring me. I can’t take this anymore! What is happening?!
In a moment of fear, I screamed, “Get away from me!” And used as much strength as I have to push the man away, surprising him. I slid back until I felt a cold wall behind me, cornering myself. My vision was getting clearer each second and I was able to see what was going on. I was in some sort of alley, with five people standing in front of me, all wearing surprised and worried looks on their faces. There was one lady standing behind the group, crying and sobbing. She had long eggplant purple hair and she was staring at me with worried light blue eyes.
“W-Who are you people?” My voice was shaky and cracked at each syllable. I could feel myself shake violently, and I subconsciously wrapped my arms around myself. “What d-do you want from me?!”
The lady behind the group stared at me with shock, tears slipping from her eyes. “Y-You… you…!” She burst into tears once more.
The man in front of me reaches out a hand and I quickly looked away. “Don’t touch me!!” And that’s when I noticed. There was blood. There was two dead bodies piled over each other right next to me. They were decapitated and was covered in blood. In fact, the walls and the floor was covered in blood. My heart nearly stops.
‘Why is there blood, and dead people?!’ I thought to myself, feeling as though time had completely stopped. ‘Were these people killed? By who?!’ I then noticed weird marks on their bodies. There was inhuman claw marks on their bloody arms and clothes. My eyes widened in horror and my heart begins to pound. ‘By… demons?!’
I can’t take this anymore. I don’t know what’s going on, or who these people are, but I need to get out of here. I don’t know these strangers, and these bodies…! ‘These poor people! They lost their lives! I…I…’
“Get away!” I cried out, suddenly scrambling to my feet and pushing the male away, causing him to fall back and groan in pain as his head hit the pavement. The group of people gasped, and with every strength I had left, I ran past them and ran as far as I could go. I never looked back. I didn’t want to look back. I needed to get away from what I just saw.
I ran and ran and ran, my legs screaming in pain and my throat burning. ‘I can’t stop!’ I told myself, not even paying attention to what’s in front of me. ‘I…I can’t! I don’t know… I don’t know what to do. B…but I need to run and get away! I don’t know anyone!’
I don’t know those people. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know who killed those two people. But it wasn’t me! It had to be a demon! The way they were decapitated… It looked inhuman! There were claw marks on their clothing. What happened? Was I attacked by a demon and fell unconscious? But those two people… were they protecting me?
I skidded to a stop, mouth wide in surprise as I panted and wheeze, my heart pounding. ‘Did they sacrifice themselves to protect me?’ I looked down at myself, seeing as I was wearing a bloody red and white kimono. I had bruises and scratches across my arms and legs, and there was even a large gash across my left thigh that was slowly leaking blood. I don’t feel the pain. I feel somehow numb. Until I realized where I was.
I was walking in a snowy mountain, and it was so cold that I could barely feel my own skin. My eyes widened in panic. “It’s so cold… I need to get out of here, or I’ll freeze to death!” I said to myself, quickly looking around. “B-But where did I come from? I have to go back… It’s too cold…” My body begin to shake and my teethe started to chatter. I could barely hear myself over the snowy storm. ‘I need to keep going…’ I slowly started walking, wrapping my shivering arms around my cold body in a weak attempted at warming myself. ‘I need to find a way out… or I’ll die… or…!’ I wheezed, my throat dry and wailing in pain. ‘Or a demon will come and… and eat me!’
I didn’t want to die. Not by a demon! I didn’t want to be eaten alive! I need to keep going and find a way out. But… But where am I? No matter how long I keep walking, it felt like I was walking on an endless trail. Miles and Miles of snow and what seemed to be the same trees I keep passing by. It felt like I was walking in circles. ‘I-I can’t keep going! I can’t find a way out! It’s so cold… my legs feel so numb…’ I fell to my knees, the cold causing me to freeze in place, shaking and shivering as I closed my eyes tightly, every numb limb keeping me from moving and my tears freezing onto my face. ‘I can’t move anymore… I’ll get swallowed up by the snow… It’s so dark, I can’t see anything.’
I forced myself to look up, feeling my eyelids going droopy. I could see an outline of something, but I couldn’t focus. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t escape. My body has shut down and I’m going to freeze to death. ‘I can’t stay awake. There’s nothing I can do but to… fall… asleep…’
And then everything went black.
So… warm.
Everything was so warm. It felt like I was sitting by the fire, wrapped up in a comfortable blanket. In fact, the more I think about, it surely feels like I was indeed wrapped in a comfortable blanket. And then I remembered.
The dead bodies, the blood, the strangers. That cold mountain. The snow. Freezing to death.
With a gasp, I forcefully opened my eyes, rapidly blinking the sleep away. “I’m… I’m alive…?” I muttered to myself, looking around. I was in what seemed to be a cabin, and it smelled of burning wood. There was a fire, crackling and swaying gently while being surrounded by wood and sticks. It was what keeping the cabin warm. ‘Where am I?’
“You’re finally awake.” A male’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I quickly sat up, looking behind me to see a tall male a few feet away from me, leaning against the wall. He had wild dark hair and his dark blue eyes intimidated me.
“W-who are you?” I questioned, confused. ‘Did this guy save me?’
“You’re lucky I was making my way through that mountain,” He said in a sharp voice, causing me to flinch a little. “You would’ve frozen to death. Are you out of your mind? You shouldn’t travel in such a snowy storm with the clothing you have on. It barely kept you warm.”
‘So… so he did save me…’ I thought, swallowing nervously. I didn’t know who the guy is, but he saved me… Like he said, I could’ve died there. And I’m still completely confused on what is going on.
“Uhm… th-thank you…” I stuttered. I couldn’t help but to bashfully look down at my hands, which was covered in what seem to be in bandages. Even though I barely know this male, I still feel somehow embarrassed and that I should feel ashamed. “…I’m sorry.”
He pushed himself off the wall and walked over to the fire, where I finally realized that a pot stood on a stand right on top of the crackling fire. He must be cooking something. No wonder why I smell cooked meat. “You don’t need to apologize.” He said, sitting down and using a large spoon to stir whatever that’s in the pot. “What’s your name?”
“My name is…” I started, pausing for a moment to think. For some reason, I couldn’t utter my name. I couldn’t feel it at the tip of my tongue, and I was confused. “M-My name…?” I stared at my hands in confusion, my mind completely blank. ‘I can’t… I can’t remember my name! Who am I?’ I started to panic, my heart beating as my breathing quickened. “I-I don’t know…” I manage to say, gripping onto my blanket.
The male looks at me in what seemed to be annoyance. “You don’t remember your name?”
“No, I-I don’t remember…”
“Do you remember your parents? What’s your mother or father’s name?”
“N…No, I don’t…”
“What village do you remember living in?”
“I don’t know… I-I don’t know anything!” At this point, I was hyperventilating. I can’t believe that I can’t remember a thing! Who am I? Where are my parents? Am I even human? Who were those people? And… and… who killed those two innocent human beings?
Was it me? Did I kill those two people?
‘No…! It couldn’t have been me!’ My mind screamed as my vision gotten slightly blurry. ‘I would never kill anyone! It had to be a demon! Those claw marks…’
I couldn’t help but to think of those bodies, piled on top of each other right next to me. Their heads was completely missing, and their clothes was tattered. I can remember it. There were claw marks on their clothes and bodies. I couldn’t even tell the gender of those two bodies.
‘Am I a demon? Were those claw marks was made by me? Did I really murdered them?’
“Hey.” I was snapped out of my thoughts when a steaming bowl appeared in my view. I looked up, seeing the male holding out a bowl full of soup in front of me. “Stop crying. Whining doesn’t help. If you can’t remember, then that’s it. You might either gain your memories back or permanently forget them. In the meantime, eat this.”
I didn’t even know I was crying. Now that he mentioned it, I could feel tears falling freely from my eyes and dripping on to my hand. I could feel my cheeks burning as I quickly wiped away my tears and gently grabbed the bowl. “Thank you…” I said, using the chopsticks he had given me to eat the chunky parts in the soup.
He didn’t say a word and walked back over to the pot, fixing himself a bowl of soup before eating. His cooking wasn’t the best as the soup was partly cold, but it was still enough to fill my belly. I quickly finished the food, letting out a satisfied sigh. I don’t know when’s the last time I ate, but I know for sure that I was really hungry.
“It’s dark outside right now,” The male said. “There are demons lurking out tonight. You’ll have to sleep in today until the morning. Then, you can go.”
“But… where do I go?” I asked, confused. “I…I don’t know where else to go… I don’t know where I live or who’s m-my family…” I nearly choked as my eyes started to well up. I quickly rubbed my eyes, letting out a sigh.
“…” The boy was quiet for a moment, examining me for a few seconds. It made me slightly uncomfortable. “Go to bed.”
“H-Huh?”
“Go to bed.” He repeated, sitting his bowl back down and reach up to blow out a candle, making the fire the only light source in the room. “You need as much rest for tomorrow.”
I didn’t know what he meant. Tomorrow? What’s going to happen tomorrow? What does he mean by that? Is something bad going to happen? I didn’t bother to question him anymore. He seemed somehow annoyed and I didn’t want to make it any worse. Maybe he’ll explain everything in the morning. I was still incredibly tired even though I had just woken up.
“Okay…” I said, letting out a yawn. I snuggled back into my makeshift bed, glancing over at him. He was sitting in a corner, his eyes trained on me. ‘What a mysterious guy. Should I trust him? Well… he did save my life. Without him, I would’ve frozen to death in that mountain and no one would know. I could’ve been eaten by a demon! He has to be a good guy, no matter how mysterious he is. Thank you…’ I thought as my eyelids begin to quickly grow heavy.
Just as I was about to go to sleep, I mumbled out a quiet, “Good night…” and closed my eyes.