The Birth of Madness

Chapter 1 - Awakening

The night was quiet in Jipon, and the ceiling fan gave a low hum as it spun in the out-of-the-way Chickadee Charms, a small but successful store full of bird symbolism. Part of the reason for its success was that it was among the only stores in the entirety of the city to stay open all night, meaning that anyone with a late night craving within several blocks really only had this one option.

Despite the length of the night, only one cashier was needed.

Currently, her head was in her arms, the only sign of her being aware of anything showing in the cat ears poking out of the top of her head, occasionally twitching when the fan's buzz changed pitch slightly; and the tail that hung off the chair and onto the floor, where it slowly brushed back and forth across the ground.

The jingle of the bell attached to the door gave its call, and her head lifted from where it lay, icy blue eyes blinking open. They focused immediately on the person who had entered, a young man who was dressed too barrenly for the icy weather.

The cashier leaned back and stretched out, releasing the kinks from her neck. The young man worked his way into the back of the store, before looping around to the desk, now carrying a package of gummy birds. He paid the appropriate amount, before making to leave.

She made to put her head on the counter again, ready to resume her nap, and for a moment it seemed like everything would remain normal.

The bell jingled as the door was slammed into the wall and her eyes darted up to see the young man retreating back into the store from two somehow even-less-dressed men. On their thin t-shirts was a blue triangle – gang members. From their stumbling to the fact they had intruded on the premises, they were also clearly inebriated.

The cashier sighed. Fortunately, even though she'd never actually had to deal with this kind of situation before, she was prepared. Reaching down under the counter, she felt the handle of her prized possession – a finely crafted rapier, that her father had always claimed was a gift from her mother. She pulled it out, briefly seeing her reflection in the clear gemstone inlaid near the top of the hilt, right under the guard.

"Hey, you two," she said, voice dry as ice, "no violence in the store."

The two intruders, who had managed to push the original man into the back wall, turned and leered at her. "And what will you do," one slurred, clearly not processing the weapon.

"Scratch us, probably!" his fellow guffawed, and they both laughed. Her ears twitched in irritation. Clearly, they were not going to be reasoned with.

The original man, seeing an opportunity, hurriedly started looping around the room. When the two oafs went to pursue, the cashier stepped in-between.

"Outta the way," one roared, rushing forward. The cashier ducked forward under his swing, and delivered a swift vertical cut deep through the body. The man stumbled back, and looked down at his now destroyed shirt, at the red growing, filling the blue triangle –

He fell to the floor.

The cashier looked at the man on the ground, and at the blood now running down the length of her blade. For a second, the world seemed to explode in color and sound. Nothing seemed real, and yet everything was more tangible than it had ever been before.

Suddenly, a heavy blow impacted the side of her face and she stumbled back, half-falling onto the floor. The second man was yelling something, his face red, but she couldn't hear it. The hum of the ceiling fan was roaring inside her mind, echoing.

As the man lunged forward again, she sidestepped his attempt to recreate the early hit and jabbed the rapier deep into his side. His momentum carried him forward to where he lay on the ground.