Way of the Wolf

Chapter 7 The fall of Paradise

I walked back to the hut, debating wether or not I should tell Wanderer about the youkai. I wasn't gonna tell Kirahana or Eito, that was for certain. Wanderer gave me a sad look when I walked in. She look like a neglected fawn, skinny and brown hair now beautifully combed, but she still looked sick.
"Why didn't you take me with you?" She wailed, looking put out at my "cruelty". I snorted, remembering her content little snores when I left the hut.
"You were asleep. You need to rest." I huff. Kirahana and Eito are no where in sight, so I proceed to tell Wanderer everything about what the boy had said. Her eyes grew bigger and bigger until they looked like pools of brownish green algae. She then proceeded to nag me, to take her up that very moment to see them. I push her flat back down onto her mat when she attempted to stand. She looked even more put out when I reprimanded her to get rest. Pretty soon we were tossing the pillows lain around the hut at each other, she whining that I was a spoilsport, and me ranting at her to go back to sleep or else she'd get a fever again. Then, an earthquake so large,the floor beneath us cracked into kilometre deep gorges.
"Oh My God!!!" Screamed Wanderer, arms failing everywhere like a physcopath. The entire hut crashed around us as I jumped forward lifting Wanderer into my arms. I crouch over her like a barrier as the wooden boards crashed around us. Then darkness.
I slice away the boards with my sword, still carrying an astonished and freaked out Wanderer. It is dark outside. The sky is blood red, and what was once fertile land rich with grass and flowers was now a barren wasteland of gorges and confused critters scurrying around. Wanderer scrambles out of my arms, and races towards a large boulder about 5 metres from the hut. Beneath it, a hand protrudes, with Kirahana's bracelet dangling from it. Wanderer looks shocked for tears, as she sees Eito leg from under the boulder too. She turns to me and whispers,
"So this is what he meant by an omen of sadness and death." Feelings of enragement fill my heart.
"It was an earthquake Wanderer. It's not your fault!!!" But a look of fear overcomes her face, and she backs away from me.
"Stay away from me Ashiato, please!" She starts to cry, her happy hazel eyes now burdened and terrified. "You are my friend, you have been so good to me! If you stay with me you'll-" she erupts, and I react. Swiftly walking to her, I hold her in my arms. She buries herself into my chest, howling and crying like a baby.
I stare around at the destruction, the chaos. This isn't Wanderer's fault, and whoever has done this, is gonna pay for making her cry.