Blood and Ash

Ash and Blood

Shamira spoke calmly to her son as he rested beneath his sheets awaiting the story his mother promised to tell him before bed. "now then Arou, are you ready?" Arou's eyes closed happily as he replied. "Yes mother!" Shamira slowly began her story, the title "Ash and Blood". "there is a story of a brave adventurer turned hero, a hero so great he had the power to defeat and seal away Deamon, the Demon King of destruction. a demon so powerful that whole army's fell beneath his great and terrible power. a power so vile and corrupted that the very land Deamon walked upon wilted, cracked and became tar. The hero joined several army's and after years of wars, battles, and one on one fights the hero was able to defeat the demon and seal him away inside a great tomb one so powerful that not even an Arch-Demon could escape its hold on their soul." Arou's eyes big and wide waited for the story to continue the anticipation slowly building to the climax of the story. Shamira looked at her eager son and continued to tell the story. "But they say that the seal is loosening and one day the Demon King of destruction will be released once again, and when he returns so will his corruption and decay. The End." Arou looked at his mother with disbelief. "Why did you stop there mom? I wanted to know what would happen next!" Shamira laughed slightly at her son's antics. "Maybe tomorrow night, but for now you need to get to sleep, it's bedtime." She said as she kissed her son's forehead and slowly walked out of his room blowing out the candle as she did so. Shamira closed her son's door quietly as she left slowly walking down the hall and to the living room to where her husband waited. Marrow looked up from his crouched position after noticing his wife walking in. "Is he asleep?" Marrow asked. "I do believe so, I just got done telling him part of the story you told me years ago." Shamira responded. Shamira and marrow quietly looked at one another until shamira spoke up. "marrow is the story true? The day you told me the whole story.. it was as if you lived through it." Marrow's eyes opened slightly wider until going back to normal. " I didn't live through it, my ancestor did. The story is very much true. I wanted to try and explain all that I remember getting told by my own family but never had the chance." Marrow said as his head hung lower than before. Shamira looked at her husband slightly confused. " Does this mean that the seal is loosening its hold on this terrible and frightening demon?" Shamira spoke in a soft whisper. Marrow looked at his wife's face seeing a small amount of fear in her eyes. "Yes, the seal was only a way to buy time for the hero to find a permanent solution but the hero died decades ago, he could of found a way to destroy Deamon but wasn't able to do so sense the demon was sealed away." Marrow spoke quietly whilst looking at the floor. "How much longer will the seal hold? Or do you not know..?" Shamira spoke fear laced into her words. "I'd say 10 to 15 more years give or take." Marrow's words were like and anvil on the chest to shamira, she walked outside hoping, wishing, wanting the seal to last but knew deep in her heart that her words would come down on empty ears. Marrow stood up and walked over to his wife. "I hired a swordsman and an archer to come train our boy in the ways of self defense. If he's not the hero then that's ok, he'll at least be safe." Marrow's words came as a relief until they didn't. "Hired? How? We're not rich we're rather poor, how was you able to hire a swordsman and a archer? Shamira's mind was flooded she didn't know how he did it and was fearing the worst. "I guess that I used the wrong word. I called in a favor, I got some buddies from my past and they agreed to train our boy, but there's a catch. He won't be here training, they have to take him to a special training school where he'll learn under their tutelage." Shamira's eyes widened. " Are you serious?! Your going to send our boy to an unknown place to him to learn swordsmanship and archery from people he doesn't know?!" Shamira's words, harsh and aggressive as she spoke to her husband, her boy, she didn't want her boy being taken from her when there is a destruction class demon on the verge of breaking their seal. Shamira stopped yelling at her husband and started to cry she cried over her boy being taken, over the demon on the verge of reviving, over her husband letting her boy being taken from her. She understood why he's doing it, why he's letting these people take her boy from her, but she couldn't accept that. Her boy is only 7 years old he's still a toddler in her eyes. Shamira spoke once again when her tears slowed. I want to meet these old friends of yours before they take my son. I won't budge on it. I want to meet them and confirm my son is safe in their hands." Shamira's words was quiet and broken from crying. "Ok, I'll send them a pigeon and ask them to come a few days earlier." Marrow said his voice also cracking from the tears he's trying to suppress. Shamira walked back inside her home and went to her and her husband's bedroom with her husband following close behind her. Laying down marrow spoke. " I won't let anything happen to our precious boy. He'll be safe, I'll make sure of it. So please don't worry yourself to death. He'll be safe, I'll make sure of it.

(1006 words)

(Pictures are mine)