Age of Darkness

Chapter 6: The Promise

WARNING:

This is simply the sample of Age of Darkness. The full, edited, novel is published on Amazon. It is available in e-book and paperback versions! You can find it here:

https://www.amazon.com/Age-Darkness-Book-Brandon-Chen-ebook/dp/B00Q759S9Q

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Note: Some of the spacing might be off because of the pasting from my word document to wattpad.

 An endless darkness enclosed around Keimaro, trapping and grasping his very soul. Its tightening grip choked the life out of him, and soon he could hardly hear his own breath, only a choking sound that was made as his heart pounded in response to pure panic. Oh, how he dreaded the thought of death. His eyes were looking forward into the dark abyss that surrounded him, and he wondered what was grasping his throat. Then a pale, ghostly face came into view inches from his, and his eyes widened when he saw that it was his mother's, coated in impure blood. Her eyes lacked pupils, and all that he could see was a blank stare, one that brought him dread and miserable pain.

The young boy's eyes snapped open, and he found himself lying with his back on the ground staring up at the dark night. The stars themselves gleamed as if there were hope, their lights flashing in the blackness that coated the sky. His breath was heavy, and he no longer felt as if he were choking. He winced at the pain that was inflicted upon his body; his ribs might have been cracked, and his cheek was bruised. He turned to see his father standing there before a burning fire.

Keimaro could see that the fire was made from his mother's deformed corpse, which was being broken down into ashes and drifting off into the wind, scattering amongst the earth. He could see tears brimming in his father's eyes, gleaming salty tears that he had never witnessed before.

But the boy had no more tears to spare. All he could do was whimper at the sight of the woman who had been there all of his life as she was cast off into the world, something that he had ironically wished he could do. His eyes lowered, and he pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the aching pain that dragged out in his body. By now, Tobimaru and Junko had probably escaped. Had that been Mai walking with them, or was that merely a figment of his imagination? No, it had been her. He recognized her cries. Aika had probably been taken away as well. Yata was probably dead. His mother was dead. The rest of the village had been burned to the ground and was probably being devoured by the forest's creatures. Soon he would be next.

He wiped his eyes with a tired swipe of his sleeve. He trudged over and stood by his father. In the end, everything he had known was gone in the blink of an eye. Now he had nothing except for his father. His resentment for his father had diminished and had only redirected itself at the Bounts. The sound of the fire popping and crackling was the only thing to break the dead silence before his father finally spoke.

"I know what you're thinking," his father said, his eyes mesmerized by the soft flame before him as tears began to dry on his cheeks. "You think that I wish you and your mother would switch spots. That she was the one to survive and that you were the one to die. Is that what you're thinking?"

Keimaro was silent. It was exactly what he had been thinking—and he didn't mind the thought either. He now understood what Yata had felt when his mother was hanged. His mother hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, she had been the most pure woman that he had ever known. Why had she been the one to be slaughtered? What gods that watched over them would allow such an atrocity to occur? He turned to the fire and allowed the blazing flame to reflect into his dark eyes.