The Cursed Iris

Sprout 45: Atsuko's Test

Atsuko still flew around on her Raiya searching for the so called 'test' she was supposed to be taking, but she found nothing. The sun was beginning to set, the air began to chill, and her hair that was tied into a ponytail came loose so her hair billowed into the wind.

"Ugh this is annoying." Atsuko groaned.

Her Raiya chirped in agreement, "How about we take a break for today?" she asked as she gestured it to land in a clearing. She hopped off of it, "This is going to be a long month, isn't it?" she asked herself. The clearing she landed in was really beautiful; flowers seemed to have bloomed early, the sunlight refracted through the trees in an amazing fashion, almost like a painting.

She looked around, and she noticed something strange, "There's someone that's been following me," she noted. She couldn't think of someone actually sticking up with her while she was flying around on her Raiya, but then again she remembered that this entire world was just weird.

"I know you're there," she said.

The bushes rustled, then a little boy came from there. Atsuko stared at him as she took in the details about him. His body was covered in scratches, his hair had a leaves and branches in it, his eyes were puffy, his clothes were torn, and not only that he had the demeanor of someone who had just seen a beast.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked.

The boy flinched at her question, and Atsuko had to deactivate her Raiya because she thought that had been the reason why he'd flinch. "I'm sorry," she said in a soothing voice. Which seemed to calm the boy down just a little bit.

The boy looked behind him with a sense of urgency, "P-p-please ma'am you have to help me," the boy stuttered.

Atsuko was about to ask him what was wrong, and that's when she found out what he was running from. A black silhouette appeared behind the boy, "What is that?" she mumbled. She couldn't make out the details, but she knew this was bad news. The silhouette seemed to have opened its mouth; it gave her a really bad feeling. The creature then released a loud roar.

The creature's roar pierced her eardrums like a hot knife, she thought that she was going to faint. She winced in pain as she saw the boy had already fainted from the creature's roar. It ceased the noise as it raised its fists over the boy's unconscious body.

This is bad, Atsuko thought. Even though she knew she didn't have the energy to summon her Raiya again, she couldn't let this boy get hurt. In the next moment, her hair turned crimson, and the Raiya collided with the creature, knocking it to the ground. Atsuko's body went into autopilot, and she grabbed the boy as she ran. Her Raiya flew over, picked her up and flew into the air.

Atsuko looked back as the creature let out a loud roar again. "What the hell was that, and who the hell are you kid?"

I'll probably have to wait to until he wakes up to find out...

Atsuko found another clearing, but this time it was near a river. The sun had set, and the moon was beginning to rise higher into the sky. The boy was still unconscious. "Damn it, I may just go unconscious myself. I should get some rest."

Atsuko's Raiya disappeared, and she collapsed to the ground. Atsuko heard footsteps before she passed out, "Look at you Atsuko Tsukiyama," a distorted voice said to her.

She felt a warm touch to her face, like a campfire. The warmth felt like her mother's; that was someone she had missed the most. Sure her mother was brutish, but she was still one of the most amazing people Atsuko had in her life. All of them from back home were.

Hmm now that I think about it if I could have that life back without any of the craziness, then I probably wouldn't take it for granted. That'd be my one wish out of this entire situation