Winter Rain || Megumi x Sukuna || Sukufushi fanfic

Vae Victis part I

As the daybreak rises over land, a formidable figure descends down a mountain range. It's dark deep in the heart of the forest. Grey shadows spread a path for him over frozen stones and naked trees. Chilly air bites at the skin of his face. Lines of shadows slowly draw back before the bright winter sun, barely rising behind the hills. Its rays break over heavy coats of the year's first snow-covering trees. Their branches bend with a creaking sound threatening to snap.

No wolves howl, no birds sing, and no curse screeches.

A layer of snow crunches under his bare feet. His footprints are the only noticeable mark in an untouched nature. Clean white ends of his floor long robe slid over the ground after him. Front panels overlapped over one another with black straps at the seams. A long black sash keeps the garment belted in place. Its ends hung all to the ground.

A man holds his hands crossed before him, keeping them concealed in wide and long sleeves out of habit from the wicked faces of humans.

Cold air surrounds him, yet he does not shiver. With every breath taken, the flame within him reignites again.

He walks, tall among young trees of evergreen forest, while they are slanted down as fearful servants along his path.

The sun does not spoil him with its warmth as it greets him once he leaves the shadows of the forest behind and comes onto the vast glade, now covered with layers of snow. Just barely over the surface, snowflakes fly carried by the breeze.

Hues of peachy and light blue reflect over the land, creating a serene aura. In his path, all noise is silenced.

Snow dust dances around his feet as he makes his way over the snow desolation. The snow moves from side to side. Wind gives strength to snow dunes to walk over the glade. From the north winds take snow burdening trees far away to a distance and all that lays in the south under the root of the mountain range.

Man's eyes observe as nature reshapes its landscape. It's willing enough to change, strong enough to endure it.

And he finds himself being amused by that.

After all, he too could count himself as an unnatural phenomenon, the first of anomalies. If nature demands balance in the world he was the first dissonance in it.

Yet he enjoys it immensely. It's an undeniable pleasure knowing he is the sole reason for chaos, his presence causes distress in something bigger than him.

It's a vicious darkness that invades the senses of living. Energy vomiting from every pore of towering presence he bestows upon this cursed land suffocates all. It fills up the air with a thick aura. Every ounce of courage left in the hearts of animals or humans is stolen away.

Eyes like pyres which burn deep in the night, hold no warmth of flame. Coldly, the figure gazes in the distance. Two of the four eyes could already see his destination. They can envision lon sanctuary cloaked in the blue fog of the morning.

The other two at his side diligently wander over his surroundings.

He causesly makes his way over rocky parts. Shards of stone peak from the snowy blanket. They threaten with the pain of a slow death. Mountain alone is exhibiting unwelcoming likelihood to all. But he does not coward before it.

It's a path he has walked many times in the last few months, and hopefully, after today, not anymore.

He can almost sense it - the many human souls inhabiting the sanctuary. He can feel their cursed energies rising and falling as they train. He can also sense the one resting. But the one missing, and he hoped for it, was of an ever-watchful eye.