by A/N: I wrote this a couple years ago during school (instead of writing notes, I wrote this) and it's definitely not the best. The chapter divisions are more for if I wanted to post them all as, well, chapters. They're really pointless, but removing them would require rewriting too much and I'm just posting this 'cause I can.
Another quick note: the world they are in is completely made up. I used random Japanese honorifics because I felt like it.
Yet another quick note: the ending kind of leaves room for a sequel or something. There were heavy implications of things to be explained later (particularly in Clove's case), but I have no intentions of writing more. If you want to write more, go for it. *shrug*
Also: FRIGGIN' HUGE POST!
.:Chapter One:.
"Sempai," Sun, a blonde six year old girl, began. "Sempai, why do I have to do this?" Her big blue eyes were moist, indicating a coming flood.
Clove sighed and rested his big hand on her head. "This is your duty, young one. It--"
"'It is a great honor,' I know," the small girl interrupted. "But I still don't like it." She lapsed into silence, the pack on her back seeming to become several times heavier, all at once.
Clove looked lovingly at his charge. Sun had been chosen from the young women and girls in their village to fetch the Chrystal Fire from the Dark Flame Caves. Every fifty years a young woman, occasionally a young girl like Sun, was chosen to enter the dark caves to retrieve the Crystal Fire. This special stone protected the village and surrounding farms from the demons that were so common during this age. This mysterious grew in the cave. It took fifty years for it to grow, and fifty years for the plucked stone to die and lose power. Of course, on its own, the Crystal Fire had no power. It only kept away the demons when it was in contact with the Flame Stone. A pedestal in the center of the village was made of this rare rock. Because there was no Flame Stone in the Dark Fire Caves, they were teeming with demons.
Clove sighed again. He would not be allowed to go with Sun. She would be left to her own powers to protect herself as she made her way to the Dark Fire Temple in the heart of the caves.
"Sempai," the small voice began again, disrupting his thoughts. "Sempai, are those the Dark Flame Caves?" Her small hand pointed at the cliffs ahead of them, her large sleeve dwarfing her already small hand.
"Yes, young one, that is your destination." Clove scanned the surrounding trees, hoping there was enough in the power left in the Crystal Fire in the village to keep the demons away this far from it. "The entrance is--"
"The hole in the rock in front of us?" Clove started and looked ahead. The cliffs, a ten minute's walk ten seconds ago, was now a gaping hole a mere ten steps away. Slowly, Clove was beginning to understand why such a young girl had been chosen by the Three Spirits to do such an enormous task. The part that scared him was that the girl bouncing on her toes beside him had no idea of her own power.
"This is as far as I can go with you protecting me, isn't it, Sempai?" She bit her lip and held back her tears.
Clove smiled sadly and knelt in front of her, his hands on her shoulders. "You are more than capable, young one. The weight on your shoulders may seem great, but you need not worry. You have been trained in how to fight the demons. Just remember, when you find the Crystal Fire, you must hold it to your body. The necklace you wear holds a fragment of the Flame Stone. When they touch, the demons will be driven away and your return will be much easier."
Sun looked at her feet as he said this to her. She took a swipe at her nose and a deep breath. She stiffened, straitened up, and looked the big man in the eye. "I was more worried about you than I was about me." The defiant posture and this bold statement made the man laugh a deep, hearty laugh.
"Then on you go." He straitened and watched the young girl march into the yawning gap in the stone before them. "Be careful, young one," he whispered as she disappeared from his sight.
.:Chapter Two:.
"Who knew it would be this dark?" Sun muttered as the sunlight faded into nothing. "Yori-sensei said that it would be dark, I suppose. She said to use the torch in my pack." Kneeling in the dust on the floor, she untied her pack and found the wooden stake that would serve as her light source. "Oh man," she muttered after a moment. She could not find her spark rocks.
Tapping her knees with her fingers, she considered what to do. Left with no other option, she held the unlit torch in her left hand and snapped her fingers with the right. A spark leapt to life and danced on the oil-soaked rag on the wood for a split second before bursting into light. Sun smiled, packed the rest of her items back in her pack, and continued further into the cave.
She traveled for some time without running into any trouble. There had been no demos or anything, not even a spider web. Sun was beginning to wonder if the stories of demons swelling in the caves were true when a screech echoed through the tunnel. Throwing herself to the ground, Sun narrowly escaped the claws of what seemed to be an oversized bat. Still on her stomach, she looked back, only to flatten herself again to avoid the creature's return.
Rising quickly, she prepared for its return. The creature was angry at her light for disturbing its rest. It thought that attacking it would make is go away. Sun released the torch, but it remained suspended in the air. Weaving quick symbols in the air, she put up an invisible net of thorns and vines. The creature returned with a screech and flew right into the net. Wrapping it around the demon, she captured it. She moved the net aside, retrieved her belongings, and continued on after sticking her tongue out at the large bat-demon.
When she was out of sight, the captured demon was crushed by the naïve girl's net, collapsing to the ground and crumbling to dust on the already dusty floor.
Pleased with her victory, Sun skipped along through the tunnel, torch in one hand, taiyaki in the other. “If I had known this would be so easy, I would have brought more snacks,” she said, blissfully unaware of her dangerous surroundings and her devastating power. “Oh, I know,” she said, stopping suddenly, a thoughtful look on her face. “When I go back, I’ll take that bat thing back to the village with me! Won’t Sempai be so surprised?”
Thoughts of her new pet fled her mind as she flew across the floor in a rather awkward manner. Snatching up her torch, she angrily turned to face the creature that had knocked her down.
All defiance followed her previous thoughts when she caught sight of her new opponents. There were three of them, all tall, clawed, and an ugly brown-black color resembling mud. Their red eyes glowed angrily in the half-light in which they stood. Growls echoed menacingly in the tunnel.
“Wh-what are you?” Sun stammered breathlessly as the creatures circled, hissing angrily.
.:Chapter Three:.
“The flame spirit is defeated by what?”
“The flame spirit is defeated by a net based on the flowing river, Yori-sensei.” The questions were getting easier, so Sun knew she was almost done with the final review for the day.
The village elders had chosen her for the retrieval of the Crystal Fire two years ago. Immediately following the announcement, she had been rushed to the small cottage just outside of town for training. Yori was the most powerful nature shaman alive. He had been trained by the previous master some fifty years earlier.
Nature shaman were women who had the ability to control the spirits of nature. They had the ability to form weapons, shields, devices, and many other things with these spirits. Often the form the nature shaman were able to create revolved around a particular skill. In the case of Sun, nets and webs were the form her powers connected to. Her master, Yori, created swords and knives using the spirits.
“Very good, Sun-kohai,” Yori, a middle-aged woman with bright red eyes, said. “You have learned much during your time here.”
In her youth, she had been chosen for the same task Sun had been. She, also, once had an unusual hair and eye color. Those in the village had dark hair—black and brown—and dark eyes – green, hazel, and brown. Yori had red hair as a youth, before it turned white from age; Sun’s hair was golden. Yori had red eyes; Sun, blue. This was the mark of a nature shaman. Not all women and girls had the power to control the spirits. Those who did were discovered not long after birth. They were trained to control their power as soon as they were able. It was, what seemed, a misfortune that the child that was chosen for the special mission, the child with the most potential, were three years of age at the time of her choosing.
“Yori-sensei,” Sun said, bowing as well as she could while sitting on her ankles. “Yori-sensei, may we take a break? My tummy is being noisy.”
Normally this question would be met with anger and an hour of training. Sun knew this, but asked anyway. She did not mind practicing and knew she stood a slight chance of a little extra sleep the next morning or an extra scoop of rice during supper.
Yori smiled slightly, an expression rarely used and was not seen by the small girl. “Tonight is your last night with me. You go to the Caves tomorrow morning.” Sun gasped quietly. “Hurry, child, wash up for supper.”
Sun ran from the room to fetch the rice she would need for their meal. Even though she had been told to wash up, it was her duty to cook the supper, as well. It was part of her training to use the spirits to cook and move the food.
Yori sat on her mat and listened to the young girl prepare. “She is much like you were, Yori-chama,” a man said from the shadows.
“She is full of spirit, that one,” Yori replied. “She does have quite a predicament set be for her, however. Her powers are better suited for housework and cleaning than they are for battle. Nets and webs, they can be formed into a defensive power, yet her control is not great enough to use it to it full advantage.”
Clove sat down beside the old woman. “You are afraid for her?”
A sly look on her face was the only emotion in her reply. “I fear that she could fail in her duty, only. That would be the doom of the world.”
.:Chapter Four:.
Sun was tired. She had started running from the strange creatures as soon as she could regain her feet. She had never heard of demons like what chased her now. Any chance she had of discovering how to defeat them lay in frightening them, which was the farthest thing from her frightened mind. She threw up nets of all kinds as she ran, none of which so much as slowed the creatures down.
“What do I do?” she gasped, turning a corner in the tunnel. “Nothing is working!” Tears began to cloud the small girl’s vision. “Fire, water, plant, earth, metal, rock, air – none of them—oof!”
Sun connected with the ground so hard that she saw stars. The three demons had her surrounded in the blink of an eye. Wincing as she sat up, Sun considered her situation. She did not have many options: fight or die.
Scopping up her torch, Sun thought through what she had to her. Summoning ice and lightning spirits, she created her nets and flung them both at one of the creatures. This was a more powerful net compared to a simple lightning net. The demon paused a moment, proof that it had worked, however, she did not have enough power to increase the nets strength to capture even one.
She leapt to her toes to dodge a swipe one of the beasts threw out. Sun looked around frantically, searching through the spirits only a nature shaman could see. They all shrank away from the demons, scaring Sun all the more. A fine mist appeared in the corner of her eye, but when she looked that direction, see saw only her torch.
Something whistled in the air and sharp pain erupted in her left arm. She screamed in agony and collapsed to her knees. The mist floated at the edges of her vision. This time, when she looked, however, it remained. In fact, it became clearer, becoming a shape she recognized. Smiling through the pain, she began to weave a net she had never thought of using before.
Flinging her new net at her foes, she hoped with all her might that her new allies were able to defeat the demons.
The nature spirit she had found was rare; few humans ever came in contact with them. They were spirits of light. Unique in their ability to hide within the light of the sun, torches, and fire, the only reason Sun had seen the spirits was the overwhelming darkness in the cave. Sun also discovered the spirits of darkness. The opposite of the light spirits in every way but their ability to hide from nature shamans.
Through the aid of her new allies, the demons were captured, erupting into clouds of dust practically on contact with the nets. Breathing deeply, Sun eased the pain of her wounds using various spirits and continued forward in a daze. Her danger and power were becoming ever more apparent as her journey continued.
.:Chapter Five:.
Sun found that the spirits of light were far more effective than the other elemental spirits, the deeper into the cave she traveled. The demons she encountered were becoming less and less like the demons she had learned about during her training. The creatures held traits of common demons, but seemed to be corrupted versions of what she was used to.
“I wonder why Yori-sensei never taught me about these black and light spirits,” Sun wondered. She had been horrified by the sight of the destruction of the demons she had captured. After using the nets for defense for so long, it was practically a reflex to create them when attacked. She could only steady herself by reminding herself that they were creatures of evil that would kill everyone in her village.
The tunnel was gradually becoming smaller; the air, wetter. The darkness, if at all possible, seemed to becoming deeper and more oppressive. The demons ceased to attack for the moment, for which Sun was thankful. Creating so many nets and manipulating so many spirits in rapid succession in such a short amount of time was tiring.
Quite suddenly, the tunnel opened into a large cavern. The stale air became fresh and cool, the moisture dissipating visibly. The darkness became bright, making it difficult for Sun to see the light spirits. Searching the cave, she saw the spirits of darkness. Most amazing of all the sparkling gems that lined the walls of the cavern was the gem that seemed to blossom out of the rocky ground in the center of the room.
Sun suddenly understood why it was called the Crystal Fire. The flower-like gem seemed to be made of crystal, for it was clear, practically transparent. Inside the crystal, a fire seemed to burn. It glowed red-orange and moved like fire. It looked like some sort of cross between the movement of water and of fire. Sun could tell that this incredible gem was the source of light in the cavern.
“All I have to do is grab it and make sure it touches the stone in my necklace,” she reminded herself in an inaudible whisper, unable to move. She stood in awe of the beautiful gem. In the back of her mind, she knew she should hurry, but her body would not obey.
“Hello, young one,” a voice echoed in the open space. It reminded Sun of honey. “Are you here for the Crystal Fire?”
Sun could only nod. She was more frightened now than she had been all day. She remembered what the village elders had once said: “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” The meaning of the proverb suddenly made sense.
A dark figure materialized between the Crystal Fire and Sun. “I am sorry, young one, but I cannot allow that.” The dark figure, for that was all it was, threw out what seemed to be an arm. Snake-like shapes streaked through the air. Sun only had time to wince before they crashed into her shield of spirits.
“Why did I get stuck with this job?”
.:Chapter Six:.
The birth of a child was a special occasion in the small village in the mountains. It was also a dangerous time. The demons in the surrounding forests liked nothing more than the soft flesh of a newborn human child. Often times, the smell of a birth was enough to convince demons to brave the area in the realm of the Crystal Fire. Warriors were placed on the edges of the village, nature shamans by their side. Their job was to ensure that no demons entered.
The birth of this young girl was no different. The protectors were in place and the newborn babe was washed clean. Her blonde hair gave way to joy and immense fear. The birth of a nature shaman attracted demons far more than the birth of a normal human. The protectors would have their hands full this day.
Shouts and screams confirmed this. The family of the new mother huddled together, the child in the center of the group. The sounds of battle were clearly heard through the feeble wooden shutters. The noise grew steadily louder until there was silence. The family held their collective breath as they awaited the signal that would tell them they were safe.
A bat demon flying through the window destroyed all hope for peace. The family nature shaman leapt to action, brandishing invisible swords. Battle was her specialty, but the attraction of an infant nature shaman was too great to allow an easy victory. After causing many wounds to the demon, the woman fell. The demon, barely keeping hold of its life, leaped toward the group of frightened women.
The father tried to protect his small family; however, a simple unarmed man could do little against a demon. A few quick swipes of its claws left the father dead in a pool of his own blood. Turning its hungry eyes on the wailing babe, the beast easily removed all bodies between itself and its target.
Just as the demon reached the baby girl, it hesitated, as though it knew something was wrong. Hunger drove away any semblance of thought the demon contained and it reached for the child. The babe was a nature shaman from birth, how she used her powers to repel the beast. The combination of the babe’s power and the wounds it had sustained to get this far was too much for the demon. It let out a screech and crumbled to the ground in a pile of ash, mingling with the blood on the ground.
The village elders entered the bloody scene, some crying, some wounded. The eldest found the crying infant, wrapping in her mother’s arms, covered in the blood of those around her.
“Why,” he asked, cooing and rocking the child. “Why must there be death like this when a new life enters the world?”
“Senpai,” another replied, picking up a small doll. A gift from the father. “We are not meant to understand everything about the world, as much as we wish we could.”
.:Chapter Seven:.
Sun squealed as she dove for cover. Stone shattered where she had been standing moments before. A shower of rock fragments rained down on her. She scrambled behind a small pile of stone. She swiped clumsily at a cut on her cheek.
“Not good, not good, not good!” she whispered. “These rocks won’t protect me from this crazy lady for long.”
“Oh, how right you are, young one.” Looking up, Sun saw the dark creature floating just above the ground before her. The creature reached out toward Sun. The small girl squeaked and threw up a net with the light spirits.
The demon’s fingers came in contact with the net, creating sparks. The creature quickly withdrew her hand. She hissed and leaped at the quaking figure before her. Sun rolled out of the way and ran as fast as she could away from the fiend.
“She’s big. She’s strong. She’s evil,” Sun muttered as she weaved among the rocks. “What could make this worse?” She skid to a halt and stared before her. “She’s fast, too. Hey, lady,” Sun shouted, hands on her hops. Her youthful attitude showed more than anyone would have expected from one with such a large duty. “Why have none of the other nature shamans that have had this job in the past mentioned anything about you?”
The demon laughed, a horrible grating sound. “You are the first I have ever challenged, young one.” She laughed again at the baffled look on Sun’s face. “Your predecessors showed no true potential to pose a threat to my plans. You are the only one to cause me concern.” She concluded the thought by slamming a large black fist into the ground Sun was standing on.
Sun coughed and waved her hands wildly at the cloud of dust. “You’re joking, right? Why would I make you—“ Sun looked around at what seemed to be the center of a crater. The demon above her seethed with anger. “I-I think I’m beginning to get it.”
.:Chapter Eight:.
“Come on,” she groaned. She hoped that the spirits would be able to withstand the barrage of attacks. The dark creature above her head had not stopped beating on her shield for some time now. Sun had been cornered and had thrown up a net of light spirits. Since then, she had experimented and modified it to create a solid wall between herself and the demon. Unfortunately, the shield was growing smaller and harder to keep in tact.
“Why do you insist on trying to resist?” the fiend asked glibly, taking a step back. “You have no hope of escaping here alive. Even if you somehow escape me, you will have to fight thousands of creatures on your way out of this cave. You don’t stand a chance!” The large creature landed a powerful blow on Sun’s shield for emphasis.
Sun winced and fell to her knees. The hand movements she needed to make to keep the shield in place fell away, leaving a meager net above her. The demon hissed gleefully and leaped forward at Sun.
All the young girl could do was grit her teeth and close her eyes. “I have failed. I have failed the village. I have failed Clover-sempai. I have failed Yori-sensei. I’ve failed everyone.” She thought in that moment about what her sensei had taught her. She thought about the day that she had been chosen for this duty. She thought about her life before that day, playing with other children.
Sun’s movements were unconscious. Her hands moved in formation, twisting and dancing in the air. She moved faster than she ever had. Opening her eyes slowly, she uncertainly slowed down. Looking up, she nearly stopped her hand movements.
Mere inches from her head was the demon. It was caught in the thick web Sub was creating. Sun smiled and continued her idea. She held the demon still in her cage, several inches off the ground. The demon floated down to the ground a fair distance away. She placed a shield around it, inverted it to keep it within the cage of light rather than keep it away from Sun.
Suddenly able to move, the demon tried to rush at Sun, only to be repelled painfully by the cage. Sun reduced the size of the prison. It made contact with its prisoner and created sparks. The demon shrank away from the dome. Sun closed her eyes and continued to reduce the size of the dome until she could no longer hear the creature within. Opening one eye, she saw her dome and a fairly large pile of greasy ash.
Sighing, she turned from the scene, letting her hand limply drop to her sides. She plodded to the Crystal Fire. Grasping the large stone carefully, she plucked te strange gem from its base. It was warm to the touch and sparkled like ice. She held the precious gem to her chest where her Flame Stone necklace was.
The Crystal Fire shattered on contact.
.:Chapter Nine:.
“Ah,” Sun gasped. She was covered in fine red and white powder.
“Ah,” she repeated, backing away from the small pile of dust.
“Wh—“ she wheezed. The remains of the Crystal Fire floated dully in the air.
Sun stopped trying to figure out what happened and ran. Summoning fire spirits to light her way, she raced back the path she had come. Far faster than she expected, she burst through the opening of the cave, emerging into the sunlight.
“Sun-chan?” Clove leaped to his feet and jumped in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as she sobbed into his big chest. “There, there, young one. Nothing could be worth all these tears. Tell me, what happened?” He carried the sobbing girl to the log that he had been sitting on beside the fire. Setting her on his knee, he watched her snuffle and wipe her tears away.
Still sniffling a good deal, Sun said quietly, “I broke it.” She laced her finges together and placed her folded hands on her lap.
“Broke what, young one? Did you break your torch? Is that why you came back so quickly?”
Sun silently shook her head, guilt forcing her body to hunch over. He did not think is possible that one so tiny could be any smaller.
“No, of course not. You would have summoned fire spirits to light your way.” He studied the child on his lap a moment. “What crime could such a young girl commit that would cause such guilt?” Clove wondered silently.
Sun had turned away from the big man. He could practically feel her fear in the air. Was she afraid of the punishment that would go along with her actions, or was she afraid of something else?
“Did you break your necklace, young one? I can fix it for you if you have all of it.”
Sun’s head jerked up suddenly. Her hands scrambled to her neck. Clumsy finger found the leather thong and followed it down to the precious stone it held. The Flame Stone was still in one piece.
“Sun-chan,” Clove said sternly, suddenly very concerned. “What did you break?”
The small body shuddered and the girl broke down and sobbed. “I broke the Crystal Fire, sempai! I broke it!”
Gleaming blue eyes looked into his dark green eyes, searching for help and forgiveness. The sight broke the large man’s heart. Scooping the crying child in his massive arms, he rocked her until she could do nothing but hiccup.
Clove silently placed Sun on her feet and helped her removed her pack. There was not much of it left; claws had torn it open, spilling its contents deep in the cave. He placed the remains of the girl’s pack in his own. Swinging it over his left shoulder, he placed Sun on his right and began down the path towards the village. They traveled in silence until the trees hid the cave from sight.
“Young one,” Clove began suddenly. “Can you tell me what happened?” Sun was silent a moment. Making up her mind, she launched into her story, explaining in childish detail everything that had happened. Not too long into the account, Clove stopped and sat down with her. The child’s eyes sparkled when she was excited about discovering the light spirits (Clove had thought Yori to be showing her old age when she mentioned them, though she had never seen them), glinted when she told about learning to create the wall, and turned a cloudy gray-blue when she discovered that she killed the demons with her nets. It was nearly nightfall when she concluded.
Clove did not speak during her tale, nor after she was done. He only lifted her back onto his shoulder and continued home at a rapid pace. “We mustn’t be out in the open air tonight, young one,” was all he said. “It will be dangerous.”
.:Chapter Ten:.
Torches burned bright in the village now that the sun had set. Sun could see silhouettes rushing back and forth from her seat at the window. Clove had taken her to Yori’s small home just outside the village. She had been welcomed coolly, as Yori greeted everyone. Clove had silently pulled out chairs and placed everyone in one. Sun had then explained what had happened in the cave.
Yori sat silently in a wooden chair during the retelling of Sun’s adventure. After the child was finished, Yori continued to sit in silence, staring at the fire in the hearth. Sun, as child are known to do, stared at the fire, then at the walls. She inspected the cuffs of her sleeves, then the arm of her chair. Clove sat in stoic silence, unmoving. Finally, it became too much for the small child to bear.
“Yori-sensei, what is going to happen? There is no way to protect the village for another fifty years!” Tears welled up in her large blue eyes. “I failed. We are all going to die, aren’t we, Yori-sensei?”
Yori laughed, then. She began suddenly and continued for several minutes. Her laugh was from the heart and sounded like a child whose voice was quite a bit lower than it should have been. Wiping a tear from her eye, Yori gasped. She then leaped from her seat and lifted the confused child into the air.
“Sun-kohai, you have no idea what you have done!” Yori laughed again and spun the bewildered girl in circles around the room.
Clove stopped the strange dance by placing a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “You should not be lifting things, Yori-chama. You might hurt your back.”
“Yes, yes, of course. Thank you,” Yori said, practically skipping to her seat. With Sun on her lap, she briefly explained the history of the demons, the Flame Stone, and the Crystal Fire. “The demon a’Snat came to this world many, many hundreds of years ago, near the creation of humans,” she began, shadows playing frightfully on her face. “With her came many legions of her followers. They inhabited the infant earth and thrived. The Three Spirits were upset that a’Snat had disobeyed their rules and come to earth. They also knew that a’Snat and her followers would fight and kill the humans. To help prevent this, the Three gave certain humans the power to control the spirits of nature to keep themselves safe. Under Their guidance, the empowered people, the nature shamans, were able to confine the demons to one section of the land. However, in order to keep them trapped there, the nature shamans had to live there so their powers would not weaken.”
“The nature shaman who went to that place were our ancestors?” Sun asked when Yori paused.
The old woman nodded and continued. “The Three Spirits gave our people the Flame Stone and Crystal Fire to keep us safe. Now, don’t start crying, again, Sun-kohai. I’m not done yet,” Yori scolded as she touched the end of the girl’s nose.
“Here is the reason I am so happy: when the Three made the Crystal Fire, they trapped a piece of a’Snat’s soul in it. That was the fire within it that you saw. When a’Snat was killed, the Crystal Fire would crumble.” Yori laughed at the look of shock on Sun’s face. “You destroyed a’Snat, Sun-knoai! You saved us from the demons!”
.:Chapter Eleven:.
Clove sat in a shadowed area in the village where he could watch without being seen. He preferred people not knowing he was at events such as these. He liked to watch the others dance around the fire. He preferred the smell of food over the taste of festival food. He enjoyed listening to the conversation that went on around him. Most of all, however, he hated dancing with these people. He would rather dance with others like him, but there were few left.
Clove sighed happily as he watched a blonde girl in pigtails dance joyfully in a new dress. The stones sewn into the material sparkled almost as much as her eyes did when he moved. After Yori had told Sun about a’Snat, Sun had practically fainting, causing the old woman to laugh. Clove had wanted to laugh, but he was too tired to do so. He wanted to laugh now, but he was growing wearier by the moment. It would not be long…
“Sempai!”
Clove rocked precariously on his seat a moment before regaining his balance. “Hello, young one,” he said softly, resting a hand on his attackers back. “Are you having fun?”
Sun smiled and nodded. “I am, but I wanted to tell Yori-sensei something. Why isn’t she here?”
Clove smiled at the child. “What did you want to tell her?” he asked instead of answering the question.
A mischievous look appeared on Sun’s face. “It’s a secret,” she said, taking up a defiant stance before him. She looked him in the eye and frowned. “Why aren’t you smiling? You face is right, but your eyes are sad. Why are you sad, Sempai?”
The big man closed his eyes and chuckled. This girl was indeed special. Instead of responding, he pulled a necklace out of his pocket and held it up for Sun to examine. She took a look a gasped.
“That’s Yori-sensei’s necklace! Why do you have it?” she demanded. The hurt and fearful expression on her face as almost enough to make him cry.
“Yori-chama wanted you to have this.” He put the necklace on Sun and smiled. “She said you would look good wearing it.”
Sun muttered “She did not,” and looked at her new necklace. It looked like a miniature Crystal Fire, but it was shaped like a snowflake and the fire within glowed blue.
“That necklace holds a bit of the Three Spirits within it. They gave one of these necklaces to each of the families of the nature shamans who died while fighting the demons in the early days of the earth. Yori-chama had no family and decided that you were the one who would get her family’s necklace.” Clove sighed and placed a hand on Sun’s head.
“She’s gone,” she said before Clove could figure out how to say it. “That’s why she’s not here. She went to be with our ancestors in the home of the Three Spirits.” Her head popped up and looked him in the eye. “We should be happy for because she gets to be with all of the Spirits, not just a part of them.”
Clove blinked back tears of astonishment. “Yes, I suppose we should, young one. We will be happy for her and for us; the demons are gone and we are safe.” He stood and held his hand out to her.
Together, in the light of the fire, they danced.
Another quick note: the world they are in is completely made up. I used random Japanese honorifics because I felt like it.
Yet another quick note: the ending kind of leaves room for a sequel or something. There were heavy implications of things to be explained later (particularly in Clove's case), but I have no intentions of writing more. If you want to write more, go for it. *shrug*
Also: FRIGGIN' HUGE POST!
.:Chapter One:.
"Sempai," Sun, a blonde six year old girl, began. "Sempai, why do I have to do this?" Her big blue eyes were moist, indicating a coming flood.
Clove sighed and rested his big hand on her head. "This is your duty, young one. It--"
"'It is a great honor,' I know," the small girl interrupted. "But I still don't like it." She lapsed into silence, the pack on her back seeming to become several times heavier, all at once.
Clove looked lovingly at his charge. Sun had been chosen from the young women and girls in their village to fetch the Chrystal Fire from the Dark Flame Caves. Every fifty years a young woman, occasionally a young girl like Sun, was chosen to enter the dark caves to retrieve the Crystal Fire. This special stone protected the village and surrounding farms from the demons that were so common during this age. This mysterious grew in the cave. It took fifty years for it to grow, and fifty years for the plucked stone to die and lose power. Of course, on its own, the Crystal Fire had no power. It only kept away the demons when it was in contact with the Flame Stone. A pedestal in the center of the village was made of this rare rock. Because there was no Flame Stone in the Dark Fire Caves, they were teeming with demons.
Clove sighed again. He would not be allowed to go with Sun. She would be left to her own powers to protect herself as she made her way to the Dark Fire Temple in the heart of the caves.
"Sempai," the small voice began again, disrupting his thoughts. "Sempai, are those the Dark Flame Caves?" Her small hand pointed at the cliffs ahead of them, her large sleeve dwarfing her already small hand.
"Yes, young one, that is your destination." Clove scanned the surrounding trees, hoping there was enough in the power left in the Crystal Fire in the village to keep the demons away this far from it. "The entrance is--"
"The hole in the rock in front of us?" Clove started and looked ahead. The cliffs, a ten minute's walk ten seconds ago, was now a gaping hole a mere ten steps away. Slowly, Clove was beginning to understand why such a young girl had been chosen by the Three Spirits to do such an enormous task. The part that scared him was that the girl bouncing on her toes beside him had no idea of her own power.
"This is as far as I can go with you protecting me, isn't it, Sempai?" She bit her lip and held back her tears.
Clove smiled sadly and knelt in front of her, his hands on her shoulders. "You are more than capable, young one. The weight on your shoulders may seem great, but you need not worry. You have been trained in how to fight the demons. Just remember, when you find the Crystal Fire, you must hold it to your body. The necklace you wear holds a fragment of the Flame Stone. When they touch, the demons will be driven away and your return will be much easier."
Sun looked at her feet as he said this to her. She took a swipe at her nose and a deep breath. She stiffened, straitened up, and looked the big man in the eye. "I was more worried about you than I was about me." The defiant posture and this bold statement made the man laugh a deep, hearty laugh.
"Then on you go." He straitened and watched the young girl march into the yawning gap in the stone before them. "Be careful, young one," he whispered as she disappeared from his sight.
.:Chapter Two:.
"Who knew it would be this dark?" Sun muttered as the sunlight faded into nothing. "Yori-sensei said that it would be dark, I suppose. She said to use the torch in my pack." Kneeling in the dust on the floor, she untied her pack and found the wooden stake that would serve as her light source. "Oh man," she muttered after a moment. She could not find her spark rocks.
Tapping her knees with her fingers, she considered what to do. Left with no other option, she held the unlit torch in her left hand and snapped her fingers with the right. A spark leapt to life and danced on the oil-soaked rag on the wood for a split second before bursting into light. Sun smiled, packed the rest of her items back in her pack, and continued further into the cave.
She traveled for some time without running into any trouble. There had been no demos or anything, not even a spider web. Sun was beginning to wonder if the stories of demons swelling in the caves were true when a screech echoed through the tunnel. Throwing herself to the ground, Sun narrowly escaped the claws of what seemed to be an oversized bat. Still on her stomach, she looked back, only to flatten herself again to avoid the creature's return.
Rising quickly, she prepared for its return. The creature was angry at her light for disturbing its rest. It thought that attacking it would make is go away. Sun released the torch, but it remained suspended in the air. Weaving quick symbols in the air, she put up an invisible net of thorns and vines. The creature returned with a screech and flew right into the net. Wrapping it around the demon, she captured it. She moved the net aside, retrieved her belongings, and continued on after sticking her tongue out at the large bat-demon.
When she was out of sight, the captured demon was crushed by the naïve girl's net, collapsing to the ground and crumbling to dust on the already dusty floor.
Pleased with her victory, Sun skipped along through the tunnel, torch in one hand, taiyaki in the other. “If I had known this would be so easy, I would have brought more snacks,” she said, blissfully unaware of her dangerous surroundings and her devastating power. “Oh, I know,” she said, stopping suddenly, a thoughtful look on her face. “When I go back, I’ll take that bat thing back to the village with me! Won’t Sempai be so surprised?”
Thoughts of her new pet fled her mind as she flew across the floor in a rather awkward manner. Snatching up her torch, she angrily turned to face the creature that had knocked her down.
All defiance followed her previous thoughts when she caught sight of her new opponents. There were three of them, all tall, clawed, and an ugly brown-black color resembling mud. Their red eyes glowed angrily in the half-light in which they stood. Growls echoed menacingly in the tunnel.
“Wh-what are you?” Sun stammered breathlessly as the creatures circled, hissing angrily.
.:Chapter Three:.
“The flame spirit is defeated by what?”
“The flame spirit is defeated by a net based on the flowing river, Yori-sensei.” The questions were getting easier, so Sun knew she was almost done with the final review for the day.
The village elders had chosen her for the retrieval of the Crystal Fire two years ago. Immediately following the announcement, she had been rushed to the small cottage just outside of town for training. Yori was the most powerful nature shaman alive. He had been trained by the previous master some fifty years earlier.
Nature shaman were women who had the ability to control the spirits of nature. They had the ability to form weapons, shields, devices, and many other things with these spirits. Often the form the nature shaman were able to create revolved around a particular skill. In the case of Sun, nets and webs were the form her powers connected to. Her master, Yori, created swords and knives using the spirits.
“Very good, Sun-kohai,” Yori, a middle-aged woman with bright red eyes, said. “You have learned much during your time here.”
In her youth, she had been chosen for the same task Sun had been. She, also, once had an unusual hair and eye color. Those in the village had dark hair—black and brown—and dark eyes – green, hazel, and brown. Yori had red hair as a youth, before it turned white from age; Sun’s hair was golden. Yori had red eyes; Sun, blue. This was the mark of a nature shaman. Not all women and girls had the power to control the spirits. Those who did were discovered not long after birth. They were trained to control their power as soon as they were able. It was, what seemed, a misfortune that the child that was chosen for the special mission, the child with the most potential, were three years of age at the time of her choosing.
“Yori-sensei,” Sun said, bowing as well as she could while sitting on her ankles. “Yori-sensei, may we take a break? My tummy is being noisy.”
Normally this question would be met with anger and an hour of training. Sun knew this, but asked anyway. She did not mind practicing and knew she stood a slight chance of a little extra sleep the next morning or an extra scoop of rice during supper.
Yori smiled slightly, an expression rarely used and was not seen by the small girl. “Tonight is your last night with me. You go to the Caves tomorrow morning.” Sun gasped quietly. “Hurry, child, wash up for supper.”
Sun ran from the room to fetch the rice she would need for their meal. Even though she had been told to wash up, it was her duty to cook the supper, as well. It was part of her training to use the spirits to cook and move the food.
Yori sat on her mat and listened to the young girl prepare. “She is much like you were, Yori-chama,” a man said from the shadows.
“She is full of spirit, that one,” Yori replied. “She does have quite a predicament set be for her, however. Her powers are better suited for housework and cleaning than they are for battle. Nets and webs, they can be formed into a defensive power, yet her control is not great enough to use it to it full advantage.”
Clove sat down beside the old woman. “You are afraid for her?”
A sly look on her face was the only emotion in her reply. “I fear that she could fail in her duty, only. That would be the doom of the world.”
.:Chapter Four:.
Sun was tired. She had started running from the strange creatures as soon as she could regain her feet. She had never heard of demons like what chased her now. Any chance she had of discovering how to defeat them lay in frightening them, which was the farthest thing from her frightened mind. She threw up nets of all kinds as she ran, none of which so much as slowed the creatures down.
“What do I do?” she gasped, turning a corner in the tunnel. “Nothing is working!” Tears began to cloud the small girl’s vision. “Fire, water, plant, earth, metal, rock, air – none of them—oof!”
Sun connected with the ground so hard that she saw stars. The three demons had her surrounded in the blink of an eye. Wincing as she sat up, Sun considered her situation. She did not have many options: fight or die.
Scopping up her torch, Sun thought through what she had to her. Summoning ice and lightning spirits, she created her nets and flung them both at one of the creatures. This was a more powerful net compared to a simple lightning net. The demon paused a moment, proof that it had worked, however, she did not have enough power to increase the nets strength to capture even one.
She leapt to her toes to dodge a swipe one of the beasts threw out. Sun looked around frantically, searching through the spirits only a nature shaman could see. They all shrank away from the demons, scaring Sun all the more. A fine mist appeared in the corner of her eye, but when she looked that direction, see saw only her torch.
Something whistled in the air and sharp pain erupted in her left arm. She screamed in agony and collapsed to her knees. The mist floated at the edges of her vision. This time, when she looked, however, it remained. In fact, it became clearer, becoming a shape she recognized. Smiling through the pain, she began to weave a net she had never thought of using before.
Flinging her new net at her foes, she hoped with all her might that her new allies were able to defeat the demons.
The nature spirit she had found was rare; few humans ever came in contact with them. They were spirits of light. Unique in their ability to hide within the light of the sun, torches, and fire, the only reason Sun had seen the spirits was the overwhelming darkness in the cave. Sun also discovered the spirits of darkness. The opposite of the light spirits in every way but their ability to hide from nature shamans.
Through the aid of her new allies, the demons were captured, erupting into clouds of dust practically on contact with the nets. Breathing deeply, Sun eased the pain of her wounds using various spirits and continued forward in a daze. Her danger and power were becoming ever more apparent as her journey continued.
.:Chapter Five:.
Sun found that the spirits of light were far more effective than the other elemental spirits, the deeper into the cave she traveled. The demons she encountered were becoming less and less like the demons she had learned about during her training. The creatures held traits of common demons, but seemed to be corrupted versions of what she was used to.
“I wonder why Yori-sensei never taught me about these black and light spirits,” Sun wondered. She had been horrified by the sight of the destruction of the demons she had captured. After using the nets for defense for so long, it was practically a reflex to create them when attacked. She could only steady herself by reminding herself that they were creatures of evil that would kill everyone in her village.
The tunnel was gradually becoming smaller; the air, wetter. The darkness, if at all possible, seemed to becoming deeper and more oppressive. The demons ceased to attack for the moment, for which Sun was thankful. Creating so many nets and manipulating so many spirits in rapid succession in such a short amount of time was tiring.
Quite suddenly, the tunnel opened into a large cavern. The stale air became fresh and cool, the moisture dissipating visibly. The darkness became bright, making it difficult for Sun to see the light spirits. Searching the cave, she saw the spirits of darkness. Most amazing of all the sparkling gems that lined the walls of the cavern was the gem that seemed to blossom out of the rocky ground in the center of the room.
Sun suddenly understood why it was called the Crystal Fire. The flower-like gem seemed to be made of crystal, for it was clear, practically transparent. Inside the crystal, a fire seemed to burn. It glowed red-orange and moved like fire. It looked like some sort of cross between the movement of water and of fire. Sun could tell that this incredible gem was the source of light in the cavern.
“All I have to do is grab it and make sure it touches the stone in my necklace,” she reminded herself in an inaudible whisper, unable to move. She stood in awe of the beautiful gem. In the back of her mind, she knew she should hurry, but her body would not obey.
“Hello, young one,” a voice echoed in the open space. It reminded Sun of honey. “Are you here for the Crystal Fire?”
Sun could only nod. She was more frightened now than she had been all day. She remembered what the village elders had once said: “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” The meaning of the proverb suddenly made sense.
A dark figure materialized between the Crystal Fire and Sun. “I am sorry, young one, but I cannot allow that.” The dark figure, for that was all it was, threw out what seemed to be an arm. Snake-like shapes streaked through the air. Sun only had time to wince before they crashed into her shield of spirits.
“Why did I get stuck with this job?”
.:Chapter Six:.
The birth of a child was a special occasion in the small village in the mountains. It was also a dangerous time. The demons in the surrounding forests liked nothing more than the soft flesh of a newborn human child. Often times, the smell of a birth was enough to convince demons to brave the area in the realm of the Crystal Fire. Warriors were placed on the edges of the village, nature shamans by their side. Their job was to ensure that no demons entered.
The birth of this young girl was no different. The protectors were in place and the newborn babe was washed clean. Her blonde hair gave way to joy and immense fear. The birth of a nature shaman attracted demons far more than the birth of a normal human. The protectors would have their hands full this day.
Shouts and screams confirmed this. The family of the new mother huddled together, the child in the center of the group. The sounds of battle were clearly heard through the feeble wooden shutters. The noise grew steadily louder until there was silence. The family held their collective breath as they awaited the signal that would tell them they were safe.
A bat demon flying through the window destroyed all hope for peace. The family nature shaman leapt to action, brandishing invisible swords. Battle was her specialty, but the attraction of an infant nature shaman was too great to allow an easy victory. After causing many wounds to the demon, the woman fell. The demon, barely keeping hold of its life, leaped toward the group of frightened women.
The father tried to protect his small family; however, a simple unarmed man could do little against a demon. A few quick swipes of its claws left the father dead in a pool of his own blood. Turning its hungry eyes on the wailing babe, the beast easily removed all bodies between itself and its target.
Just as the demon reached the baby girl, it hesitated, as though it knew something was wrong. Hunger drove away any semblance of thought the demon contained and it reached for the child. The babe was a nature shaman from birth, how she used her powers to repel the beast. The combination of the babe’s power and the wounds it had sustained to get this far was too much for the demon. It let out a screech and crumbled to the ground in a pile of ash, mingling with the blood on the ground.
The village elders entered the bloody scene, some crying, some wounded. The eldest found the crying infant, wrapping in her mother’s arms, covered in the blood of those around her.
“Why,” he asked, cooing and rocking the child. “Why must there be death like this when a new life enters the world?”
“Senpai,” another replied, picking up a small doll. A gift from the father. “We are not meant to understand everything about the world, as much as we wish we could.”
.:Chapter Seven:.
Sun squealed as she dove for cover. Stone shattered where she had been standing moments before. A shower of rock fragments rained down on her. She scrambled behind a small pile of stone. She swiped clumsily at a cut on her cheek.
“Not good, not good, not good!” she whispered. “These rocks won’t protect me from this crazy lady for long.”
“Oh, how right you are, young one.” Looking up, Sun saw the dark creature floating just above the ground before her. The creature reached out toward Sun. The small girl squeaked and threw up a net with the light spirits.
The demon’s fingers came in contact with the net, creating sparks. The creature quickly withdrew her hand. She hissed and leaped at the quaking figure before her. Sun rolled out of the way and ran as fast as she could away from the fiend.
“She’s big. She’s strong. She’s evil,” Sun muttered as she weaved among the rocks. “What could make this worse?” She skid to a halt and stared before her. “She’s fast, too. Hey, lady,” Sun shouted, hands on her hops. Her youthful attitude showed more than anyone would have expected from one with such a large duty. “Why have none of the other nature shamans that have had this job in the past mentioned anything about you?”
The demon laughed, a horrible grating sound. “You are the first I have ever challenged, young one.” She laughed again at the baffled look on Sun’s face. “Your predecessors showed no true potential to pose a threat to my plans. You are the only one to cause me concern.” She concluded the thought by slamming a large black fist into the ground Sun was standing on.
Sun coughed and waved her hands wildly at the cloud of dust. “You’re joking, right? Why would I make you—“ Sun looked around at what seemed to be the center of a crater. The demon above her seethed with anger. “I-I think I’m beginning to get it.”
.:Chapter Eight:.
“Come on,” she groaned. She hoped that the spirits would be able to withstand the barrage of attacks. The dark creature above her head had not stopped beating on her shield for some time now. Sun had been cornered and had thrown up a net of light spirits. Since then, she had experimented and modified it to create a solid wall between herself and the demon. Unfortunately, the shield was growing smaller and harder to keep in tact.
“Why do you insist on trying to resist?” the fiend asked glibly, taking a step back. “You have no hope of escaping here alive. Even if you somehow escape me, you will have to fight thousands of creatures on your way out of this cave. You don’t stand a chance!” The large creature landed a powerful blow on Sun’s shield for emphasis.
Sun winced and fell to her knees. The hand movements she needed to make to keep the shield in place fell away, leaving a meager net above her. The demon hissed gleefully and leaped forward at Sun.
All the young girl could do was grit her teeth and close her eyes. “I have failed. I have failed the village. I have failed Clover-sempai. I have failed Yori-sensei. I’ve failed everyone.” She thought in that moment about what her sensei had taught her. She thought about the day that she had been chosen for this duty. She thought about her life before that day, playing with other children.
Sun’s movements were unconscious. Her hands moved in formation, twisting and dancing in the air. She moved faster than she ever had. Opening her eyes slowly, she uncertainly slowed down. Looking up, she nearly stopped her hand movements.
Mere inches from her head was the demon. It was caught in the thick web Sub was creating. Sun smiled and continued her idea. She held the demon still in her cage, several inches off the ground. The demon floated down to the ground a fair distance away. She placed a shield around it, inverted it to keep it within the cage of light rather than keep it away from Sun.
Suddenly able to move, the demon tried to rush at Sun, only to be repelled painfully by the cage. Sun reduced the size of the prison. It made contact with its prisoner and created sparks. The demon shrank away from the dome. Sun closed her eyes and continued to reduce the size of the dome until she could no longer hear the creature within. Opening one eye, she saw her dome and a fairly large pile of greasy ash.
Sighing, she turned from the scene, letting her hand limply drop to her sides. She plodded to the Crystal Fire. Grasping the large stone carefully, she plucked te strange gem from its base. It was warm to the touch and sparkled like ice. She held the precious gem to her chest where her Flame Stone necklace was.
The Crystal Fire shattered on contact.
.:Chapter Nine:.
“Ah,” Sun gasped. She was covered in fine red and white powder.
“Ah,” she repeated, backing away from the small pile of dust.
“Wh—“ she wheezed. The remains of the Crystal Fire floated dully in the air.
Sun stopped trying to figure out what happened and ran. Summoning fire spirits to light her way, she raced back the path she had come. Far faster than she expected, she burst through the opening of the cave, emerging into the sunlight.
“Sun-chan?” Clove leaped to his feet and jumped in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as she sobbed into his big chest. “There, there, young one. Nothing could be worth all these tears. Tell me, what happened?” He carried the sobbing girl to the log that he had been sitting on beside the fire. Setting her on his knee, he watched her snuffle and wipe her tears away.
Still sniffling a good deal, Sun said quietly, “I broke it.” She laced her finges together and placed her folded hands on her lap.
“Broke what, young one? Did you break your torch? Is that why you came back so quickly?”
Sun silently shook her head, guilt forcing her body to hunch over. He did not think is possible that one so tiny could be any smaller.
“No, of course not. You would have summoned fire spirits to light your way.” He studied the child on his lap a moment. “What crime could such a young girl commit that would cause such guilt?” Clove wondered silently.
Sun had turned away from the big man. He could practically feel her fear in the air. Was she afraid of the punishment that would go along with her actions, or was she afraid of something else?
“Did you break your necklace, young one? I can fix it for you if you have all of it.”
Sun’s head jerked up suddenly. Her hands scrambled to her neck. Clumsy finger found the leather thong and followed it down to the precious stone it held. The Flame Stone was still in one piece.
“Sun-chan,” Clove said sternly, suddenly very concerned. “What did you break?”
The small body shuddered and the girl broke down and sobbed. “I broke the Crystal Fire, sempai! I broke it!”
Gleaming blue eyes looked into his dark green eyes, searching for help and forgiveness. The sight broke the large man’s heart. Scooping the crying child in his massive arms, he rocked her until she could do nothing but hiccup.
Clove silently placed Sun on her feet and helped her removed her pack. There was not much of it left; claws had torn it open, spilling its contents deep in the cave. He placed the remains of the girl’s pack in his own. Swinging it over his left shoulder, he placed Sun on his right and began down the path towards the village. They traveled in silence until the trees hid the cave from sight.
“Young one,” Clove began suddenly. “Can you tell me what happened?” Sun was silent a moment. Making up her mind, she launched into her story, explaining in childish detail everything that had happened. Not too long into the account, Clove stopped and sat down with her. The child’s eyes sparkled when she was excited about discovering the light spirits (Clove had thought Yori to be showing her old age when she mentioned them, though she had never seen them), glinted when she told about learning to create the wall, and turned a cloudy gray-blue when she discovered that she killed the demons with her nets. It was nearly nightfall when she concluded.
Clove did not speak during her tale, nor after she was done. He only lifted her back onto his shoulder and continued home at a rapid pace. “We mustn’t be out in the open air tonight, young one,” was all he said. “It will be dangerous.”
.:Chapter Ten:.
Torches burned bright in the village now that the sun had set. Sun could see silhouettes rushing back and forth from her seat at the window. Clove had taken her to Yori’s small home just outside the village. She had been welcomed coolly, as Yori greeted everyone. Clove had silently pulled out chairs and placed everyone in one. Sun had then explained what had happened in the cave.
Yori sat silently in a wooden chair during the retelling of Sun’s adventure. After the child was finished, Yori continued to sit in silence, staring at the fire in the hearth. Sun, as child are known to do, stared at the fire, then at the walls. She inspected the cuffs of her sleeves, then the arm of her chair. Clove sat in stoic silence, unmoving. Finally, it became too much for the small child to bear.
“Yori-sensei, what is going to happen? There is no way to protect the village for another fifty years!” Tears welled up in her large blue eyes. “I failed. We are all going to die, aren’t we, Yori-sensei?”
Yori laughed, then. She began suddenly and continued for several minutes. Her laugh was from the heart and sounded like a child whose voice was quite a bit lower than it should have been. Wiping a tear from her eye, Yori gasped. She then leaped from her seat and lifted the confused child into the air.
“Sun-kohai, you have no idea what you have done!” Yori laughed again and spun the bewildered girl in circles around the room.
Clove stopped the strange dance by placing a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “You should not be lifting things, Yori-chama. You might hurt your back.”
“Yes, yes, of course. Thank you,” Yori said, practically skipping to her seat. With Sun on her lap, she briefly explained the history of the demons, the Flame Stone, and the Crystal Fire. “The demon a’Snat came to this world many, many hundreds of years ago, near the creation of humans,” she began, shadows playing frightfully on her face. “With her came many legions of her followers. They inhabited the infant earth and thrived. The Three Spirits were upset that a’Snat had disobeyed their rules and come to earth. They also knew that a’Snat and her followers would fight and kill the humans. To help prevent this, the Three gave certain humans the power to control the spirits of nature to keep themselves safe. Under Their guidance, the empowered people, the nature shamans, were able to confine the demons to one section of the land. However, in order to keep them trapped there, the nature shamans had to live there so their powers would not weaken.”
“The nature shaman who went to that place were our ancestors?” Sun asked when Yori paused.
The old woman nodded and continued. “The Three Spirits gave our people the Flame Stone and Crystal Fire to keep us safe. Now, don’t start crying, again, Sun-kohai. I’m not done yet,” Yori scolded as she touched the end of the girl’s nose.
“Here is the reason I am so happy: when the Three made the Crystal Fire, they trapped a piece of a’Snat’s soul in it. That was the fire within it that you saw. When a’Snat was killed, the Crystal Fire would crumble.” Yori laughed at the look of shock on Sun’s face. “You destroyed a’Snat, Sun-knoai! You saved us from the demons!”
.:Chapter Eleven:.
Clove sat in a shadowed area in the village where he could watch without being seen. He preferred people not knowing he was at events such as these. He liked to watch the others dance around the fire. He preferred the smell of food over the taste of festival food. He enjoyed listening to the conversation that went on around him. Most of all, however, he hated dancing with these people. He would rather dance with others like him, but there were few left.
Clove sighed happily as he watched a blonde girl in pigtails dance joyfully in a new dress. The stones sewn into the material sparkled almost as much as her eyes did when he moved. After Yori had told Sun about a’Snat, Sun had practically fainting, causing the old woman to laugh. Clove had wanted to laugh, but he was too tired to do so. He wanted to laugh now, but he was growing wearier by the moment. It would not be long…
“Sempai!”
Clove rocked precariously on his seat a moment before regaining his balance. “Hello, young one,” he said softly, resting a hand on his attackers back. “Are you having fun?”
Sun smiled and nodded. “I am, but I wanted to tell Yori-sensei something. Why isn’t she here?”
Clove smiled at the child. “What did you want to tell her?” he asked instead of answering the question.
A mischievous look appeared on Sun’s face. “It’s a secret,” she said, taking up a defiant stance before him. She looked him in the eye and frowned. “Why aren’t you smiling? You face is right, but your eyes are sad. Why are you sad, Sempai?”
The big man closed his eyes and chuckled. This girl was indeed special. Instead of responding, he pulled a necklace out of his pocket and held it up for Sun to examine. She took a look a gasped.
“That’s Yori-sensei’s necklace! Why do you have it?” she demanded. The hurt and fearful expression on her face as almost enough to make him cry.
“Yori-chama wanted you to have this.” He put the necklace on Sun and smiled. “She said you would look good wearing it.”
Sun muttered “She did not,” and looked at her new necklace. It looked like a miniature Crystal Fire, but it was shaped like a snowflake and the fire within glowed blue.
“That necklace holds a bit of the Three Spirits within it. They gave one of these necklaces to each of the families of the nature shamans who died while fighting the demons in the early days of the earth. Yori-chama had no family and decided that you were the one who would get her family’s necklace.” Clove sighed and placed a hand on Sun’s head.
“She’s gone,” she said before Clove could figure out how to say it. “That’s why she’s not here. She went to be with our ancestors in the home of the Three Spirits.” Her head popped up and looked him in the eye. “We should be happy for because she gets to be with all of the Spirits, not just a part of them.”
Clove blinked back tears of astonishment. “Yes, I suppose we should, young one. We will be happy for her and for us; the demons are gone and we are safe.” He stood and held his hand out to her.
Together, in the light of the fire, they danced.
Toshiro~ ^_^ x3
