The Lost Shadow

Chapter 6 - What Is That?

"'Refinement of Soul Shadows'? What kind of book is this?" Hideaki was staring at the title blankly. These ancient letters seemed too complex, yet they felt so familiar. What kind of book was this? It says refinement, but what are soul shadows?

Hideaki stopped thinking about the title and flipped open to the first page. It was blank. He kept flipping the pages, but to his astonishment everything was blank. He turned it around to see if there were any clues in the back. It was just a black cover. Nothing unusual about it. Hideaki felt puzzled, what kind of book did the old man give him?

Not knowing what kind of book this was, Hideaki put it under the futon and went to sleep. He didn't want to think about it now. He might come up with something in the morning.

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Waking up the next morning, Hideaki got dressed quickly and sheltered the book in his robe. Even if he couldn't figure it out, he didn't want to leave the book alone. So he brought it with him.

Hideaki fed the horse with another portion of the food. He was running out so he might have to go and get some more later. He unleashed the horse and slowly walked towards the forest area. With an ax in one hand, he started to cut down some of the trees. He needed to make some fences and fix the house a little. These skills weren't that hard for Hideaki since as a samurai he had to get training in various fields that would help him survive longer. After chopping a tree, he and the horse dragged the tree back. This continued until he had 6 trees cut down. Next, he cut the wood into different shapes, some being square and others cylinder. The longer ones were used to make the fence that would protect the field from some danger. The flatter wood pieces were used to cover some holes in the house. Although, there was still some more to go, Hideaki stopped with that.

He took the hoe and other agriculture tools he got and started to walk to the field. He again tried to shape out the field and make it more even and better for planting. He took some wood pieces and started to mark different areas in the field. Some were for growing crops, while others for the herbs.

He needed the crops for the farmers, while the herbs were for flower shops and medicines. This way he could make a lot more money. After figuring out what goes where Hideaki continued evening out the field. This time he got another third done. The night was approaching quickly, so he decided to head over to the forest and grab some of the water there. He could use the water from the river to start planting in the finished areas.

He took his horse, Zot and went to the forest again. Other then the area where he cut the trees, Hideaki had never set foot in the forest. He saw a river from afar and so he went into that direction. He heard the sound of rushing water and thought that he was going the right way.

"AWOOO" From a distance Hideaki heard the sound of a howling beast. Zot, the horse started to lift up its front legs in the air and neighed. He seemed to be scared of the howl. Although, Isamu did say there was no danger, that didn't mean that it was true. The forest was far away from the village so it would never have threatened them.

Hideaki quickly got off the horse. He took out the blade that he always carried around, and held it in front of himself. Looking towards the direction where the howl came front, Hideaki heard the ruffle of the grass. The beast was getting closer.

In his mind, the beast was most likely a wolf or even a pack of wolves. But he was dead wrong. What came out was a creature that was as large as a bear. It looked like a wolf, but it had one eye, two very thick hind legs, and even a tail that had some sort of black fire at the end. This was not a normal beast. It looked too abnormal.

Suddenly the horse ran in the opposite direction, leaving Hideaki alone. "You damn horse! You get back here!" Hideaki yelled at the horse, but Zot didn't stop. It kept on running. Hideaki ignored the horse and looked straight at the beast. What was it? Was it a wolf? Hideaki didn't know what kind of existence this was.

The beast started to slowly walk towards Hideaki. There was no fear in its eyes, only desire. The bloodlust could be seen glinting in its eyes. Its mouth opened slightly as drool spilled out. The razor-sharp teeth looked like tens of knives pointing downwards. Its hide was dark but still had some white here and there. As it slowly crept closer Hideaki rushed towards it frantically.

The beast ran towards him as well. Its tongue moving with the rushing wind. It went for a bite towards Hideaki's throat. Ducking under it quickly, Hideaki stabbed its sword into its side. The blade-like claws cut Hideaki's shoulder, causing a deep wound to appear. The beast, on the other hand, was barely scratched. There was no blood whatsoever. "What kind of monster is this? My sword didn't even pierce through it." he was getting anxious. If he couldn't hurt the beast, how would he kill it? As the blood was seeping out of Hideaki's shoulder, it started to spill on the ground. The beast started to clamp its teeth over and over again. Showing that it was getting excited.

It pounced towards him. This time, Hideaki had no way to dodge. So it jumped right on top of him, pushing him to the ground. The drool fell onto Hideaki's face, and the pupils of the beast dilated. Hideaki was pinned, and he could not hurt the beast.

Hideaki struggling to push the sword into the belly, but still, it didn't pierce. All he could do now was push the beat with the sword and try to maintain a stalemate. He hoped that someone would come. He couldn't kill this beast, he needed some reinforcements.

"Hehehe! This is too funny. You cant even kill this rat?" Suddenly, Hideaki heard a raspy laughter from behind. When he slowly turned his head, still pushing the beat away, he noticed an old man. It's him again! It was the same old man that was in front of the gate and the one who gave him the mysterious book.

"You know, I can tell you how to beat this low life. It's actually pretty easy. You have to go berserk. That's the only way to do it." After saying that, the old man vanished. Berserk? What the heck does that mean? I can't just go crazy. And even if I did that, I won't be able to kill this beast. I'd just die quicker. Think, think! That old man said berserk, what does that mean? And where the hell did he go?

Hideaki then remembered the thugs from the village that was destroyed. Also remembered the two samurais that killed his comrades. He then thought of this beast attacking the village. Anger started to rise from his heart. Then...

His mind went blank.

The beast got agitated and pushed even harder, trying to get a bite out of Hideaki's face. Then suddenly it felt the blade that was touching its belly slowly pierce through. It leaped back, avoiding any more damage. It then looked at Hideaki, who was slowly standing up. There were white-black shadowy tendrils coming out of his body. They looked like long vines. The beast saw that Hideaki's face was masked by the tendrils, only showing his red pupils. The beast rushed towards Hideaki once again, howling madly. 

Hideaki, on the other hand, started to whisper something to himself, 'I will kill all evil. I will kill everything'. Then he rushed towards the beast.