The Demon Sword: Sorataki

Chapter 25: The Faint Vaile

The wide bend of the river was connected by three cement bridges stationed at key parts of the main land. Off the shimmering, moon lit stream reflected the dim night lights of the wood and stone houses sat by the feet of the steep hill leading to the riverbed.  

With only a two story high makeshift brick wall being the only a blockade from the homes and the steep fall into the moving tides below. 

For upon this bending, encasement resided the town of Aqua falls. Its three main gates being the only way in and out stood at the end of the three evenly spaced bridges. Within the walls, inner rim stood a total of six guards, two men pear standing of the three gates. 

Their faces board, mundane but alert none the less. The town's people quietly go about their night lives, with many a shop already closed most of the residents had long resided to their homes. A peaceful ambience tinged the cool night air as it always did within the town of streams.

For it has never truly tested the terror of invasion from man or demon since its inception, no demon has been seen stepping in or around its lands for a hundred years. A feat none the world over could claim on having. It did not achieve this through it's walls, in the face of most other towns like it there walls were lacking in scale.

Their guards and defensive force who were not too shabby before have only dwindled over the peace filled years. Some say it's just dumb luck that's kept the dangers a world away from them for so long. Others say that it's the long pause before the storm, that soon this town will pay it's debt in full.

What most can agree on is this: That there is a kind of vibe that passes on through the town making for a calm living place, and that maybe those combined calm thoughts resonating off the locals, in turn, places a shroud over them from the unwanted.

Because of such beliefs the town's leaders are indirectly strict about their leeway with tourists and any other group of bodies that could alter or tip the energy of the town's people with their influence. The combat this by having strict closing hours on shops, market stands including bars food shops, this in turn keeps tourism to a stagnant crawl even for a town of its size.

Only hotels were exempt from this rule.

Having scouted around the town in search of information up until the last slighter of sunlight retreated beyond the horizon, Sophie found herself walking into the front door of a dimly lit hotel lounge for a place to retire. The soft ring of the doorbell chimed as she set foot onto the welcoming mat and out of the cold night air.

An elderly lady came walking out of the room behind the counter soon after Sophie covered the distance from the front door to the desk. She gave Sophie a welcoming nod before turning around to face the wall of keys labelled by numbers to her back.

"Room number sixty-two, correct?" the elderly lady's voice squeezed tiredly.

"Yes," Sophie replied.

Reaching up for the key she turned around and handed it to Sophie.

"Top floor on the right, second door up, it's got a great view of the town at this hour." The elderly lady smiled, her four missing front tooth now out on display. Mumbling thanks, Sophie walked onwards towards the staircase.

Although she was touched by the owner's hospitality her mind after today was in a sea of thought, an ocean of pondering with no clear surface in sight.

"Did you find out what you were looking for earlier?" the old lady prodded, a tinge of concern in her tired eyes.

Sophie comes to a stop on the stairs blinking at her. Recalling what she is likely referring to she sighs in realisation.