Butterfly's Curse

A Shadow's Whisper

After a while of following the path that Yugen had told to both of them, in the distance they could see red trees. This time the trees weren't of a bloody-red color, instead they are a scarlet-red, almost like autumn leaves. Within the multitude of red leaves, there are golden leaves shining through like a dim light trying to survive a dark night.

Behind the trees trunks, black shadows of children started to appear out of thin air, and just like before their eyes were fixed on them. Among those shadows is one who stood out more than the others, in fact it didn't look like a shadow, it looked more like a human child.

He has spiky pink hair styled in a undercut fashion, and relatively large light, brown eyes. His wearing a red T-shirt, dark blue shorts and red tennis.

That kid was probably one of the children the red butterfly has taken away, but why is he among those shadows?

Mifuyu called out to the kid to get away from them, but he only looked in his direction. Then after staring at Mifuyu and Satoru for a couple of seconds, he ran off, running deeper into the forest.

"Wait!" Mifuyu shouted at him, but he didn't stop running nor did he spare a single glance back.

He was going to go after him when Satoru grabbed his arm, stopping him from doing such reckless action. "Don't be reckless."

"But..." Mifuyu wanted to protest. "That kid is probably one of the children the red butterfly took away."

"That I'm aware of, but you just can't run after him like that, it could be dangerous," Satoru let go off Mifuyu's arm once he knew he wasn't going to ran off. "I know you are worried about that kid, but think before you try to run off after him, since it's not the first time you have done something so reckless. You could end up like before, and who knows if the next time you still come back alive," he mumbled the last few words.

"Don't think I didn't hear you." Mifuyu said, annoyed.

"That was the intention." Satoru mocked, trying to hide his worry.

Before Mifuyu could say anything more to Satoru, the voice of the shadows started to echo through the forest, like a whisper being carried away by the breeze. Some of them were laughing, while others of them were trying to say something.

Satoru and Mifuyu couldn't hear exactly what they were trying to say, because they were too far away from them. With every step they took, the voice of the children became louder and clearer. When they are finally a few steps away from entering the red Butterfly's Realm, both of them were able to hear clearly what they were trying to say.

"Go away!" One of them demanded. "You shouldn't be here."

The shadow kept repeating the same thing over and over again, until the others shadows started to say the same thing. Their voices were filled with hatred and contempt, that they could feel their evil wrath pouring out endlessly. Mifuyu now understood his grandpa's words of the difference between the light shadows living in the shadows' forest and the black shadows trapped inside this place.

It was clear that the children didn't want humans to be here, but Mifuyu and Satoru did not have any intention of backing down. Once they entered the realm, they felt the shift in the air. In a instant they were struck by a soulful, cold breeze and a familiar, evil presence: the presence of the red butterfly.

Feeling her presence, Mifuyu looked at his surroundings trying to find her, but she was nowhere to be seen. The place was filled with red chrysanthemum flowers, leaving only a small path to walk between them.

Taking in his surroundings, Mifuyu's eyes met a lonely, black butterfly perched on a tree branch. For some strange reason, he could feel the butterfly stare back at him, looking through his eyes; staring at his soul. Nevertheless, he couldn't take his eyes away from it.