Two men appeared in the dark, their hands pointed at each others chest. Recognition flashed on their faces, and they slowly lowered their hands. The tallest, a man with balding brown hair. turned around around and began to walk into the forest, the other man followed.
'Why has the Oni summoned us?' asked the tall man.
'From what i heard, it has something to do with a Yajuu.' replied the other man.
'Really?' gasped Xi, the tall man.'With the amount that already exist in the world, you'd think there'd be no more.'
'Let's just hurry. The Oni will not be pleased if we arrive late.' said Youiku.
The lane was bordered on the left by wild, low-growing brambles, on the right by a high, neatly manicured hedge. The men's long cloaks flapped around their ankles as they marched. They turned right, into a wide driveway that led off the lane. The high hedge curved into them, running off into the distance beyond the pair of imposing wrought-iron gates barring the men’s way. Neither of them broke step: In silence both raised their left arms in a kind of salute and passed straight through, as though the dark metal was smoke.
The yew hedges muffled the sound of the men’s footsteps. There was a rustle
somewhere to their right: Xi raised his hand again pointing it over his companion’s
head, but the source of the noise proved to be nothing more than a pure-white peacock,
strutting majestically along the top of the hedge.
'The Oni always fancied peacocks.' chuckled Xi, lowering his hand.
A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive,
lights glinting in the diamond paned downstairs windows. Somewhere in the dark garden
beyond the hedge a fountain was playing. Gravel crackled beneath their feet as Xi and
Youiko sped toward the front door, which swung inward at their approach, though
nobody had visibly opened it.
The hallway was large, dimly lit, and sumptuously decorated, with a magnificent
carpet covering most of the stone floor. The eyes of a crow perched on the wall
followed Xi and Youiko as they strode past. The two men halted at a heavy wooden
door leading into the next room, hesitated for the space of a heartbeat, then Xi turned
the bronze handle.
The drawing room was full of silent people, sitting at a long and ornate table. The
room’s usual furniture had been pushed carelessly up against the walls. Illumination
came from a roaring fire beneath a handsome marble mantelpiece surmounted by a gilded
mirror. Xi and Youiko lingered for a moment on the threshold. As their eyes grew
accustomed to the lack of light, they were drawn upward to the strangest feature of the
scene: an apparently unconscious human figure hanging upside down over the table,
revolving slowly as if suspended by an invisible rope, and reflected in the mirror and in
the bare, polished surface of the table below.
'Ah...Xi, Youiko. Glad you could make it.' said a high, clear voice from the head of the table. 'Make your selves comfortable.'
YOU ARE READING
I AM THE BEAST.
Short StoryA WORLD WHERE MAN CONTROLS THE ELEMENTS. A WORLD THAT BRINGS OUT THE FIGHTER? KEN'S LIFE IS ALTERED WHEN HE FINDS OUT THAT A POWER IN HIM DETERMINES THE FATE OF THE ' WORLDS ' THE BEAST IS OUT!
