The Fall of Eternity

The Tengu's Crippled Wings

She run through the mountains, golden eyes flickering upwards towards the setting sun, constantly trying to assure herself that she still had time. Hoping to get to the safety of her small home before the darkness creeped in. Short pants of breath came out of her dry lips, occasionally glancing around her to make sure that no monsters were lingering on the shade provided by the trees.

Hope glimmered on her golden eyes when she saw her home, pushing her aching legs to the limits, darting towards the broken door. She let out a small smile of relief as the door closed behind her securely, barely seeing the last speck of light in the sky as the darkness of the night settled in.

Before she could relax in her home, her small house rattled widely. Her eyes widened, quickly moving away from the door. Through the broken gaps of wood, she could see the monsters lurking outside. She scurried away, removing the blankets from her small cot, digging in beneath it to grasp the familiar fan that had always given her comfort, especially on dire situations.

The door shook once more, the monsters were trying to get in her home. She grasped the fan tightly to her chest, hearing the monsters hissing, as if they couldn't wait to devour her. Perhaps today was the day that they would finally come get her, eat her flesh like they so desired ever since she was left behind on this mountain. Her house wouldn't last another night, and so does she.

Was that the reason why she met the strange Oni today? Because it would be her last day.

Well...it wasn't that bad. She couldn't help but think. After all, after so many years, she had encountered another person who was not a monster for once.

And that person had the brightest smile she ever saw, she would never forget it.

She stood up on shaky feet, fluttering her wings, the pain on her shoulder blades made her wince, but nevertheless ignored it. She had to get out of her house, and presumably escape down the mountain. There was a village down there, hopefully, she could stay there for some time.

She quickly erased the thought. What was she thinking? She couldn't go down there on civilization with the monsters on her trail. She would be leading them straight to new flesh that they could devour and she was bound to destroy another village which she absolutely refuses to do so.

And besides...that boy was there.

She didn't want them in danger.

Her only option now was to go higher up the mountains, lose their trail and wish for the sun to come up faster than normal.

She flapped her wings, bolted up high into the broken ceiling, bracing herself with her arms as protection from the splinters. It hurt to fly, but she pushed on, flapping till she was flying up the mountains. The monsteres shrieked behind her, enraged that their prey had escaped them once again. Their dark aura loomed over her, causing her to shiver from the sinister presence.

But she could only go so far with her tired body and aching wings. Soon, the monsters had catched up to her, crawling at her feet, pulling her downwards. She let out a cry as she plummeted to the ground, various hands with the smell of death went to grab her. Shrieking in pain when one monstrous hand snapped her wing, preventing her from any further flight away from the creatures.

Her small hand tightened on her fan, with a flick of her wrist, a strong gush of wind caused them to fly away from her body. She didn't waste a second, quickly moving on her own feet, deathly gripping on her fan till her knuckles turned white, afraid that if she loosened for a second they would take away the last item she could protect herself with.

She flapped the fan once, two times, and many more till a sharp wind that could slice through anything pierce her enemies. They let out a monstrous cry that seemed to shake the forest when her slash hit their torsos, black liquid oozing out of their chest, trailing down their bodies. With a flick of her wrist she aimed at the trees, the wind cut through the bark sharply, causing it to fall on her enemies.