The Lost Shadow

Chapter 7 - Amaya's Protector

"Owww" Laying on the ground, Hideaki looked around while holding his shoulder. 'Wasn't I going to be eaten by a beast?' Looking around, Hideaki noticed that the beast was lying in the corner by a tree. Its back was on the tree, and it looked like it was dead.

What scared Hideaki was that its death did not seem pleasant. Its internal organs were spilling out, while a blade was stabbed into its one big eye. Some of the razor-sharp teeth were missing. Taking a closer look, Hideaki quickly moved back. The missing teeth were stabbed all over its body.

"What happened? How did it die? Was it the old man?" Hideaki slowly stood up and walked towards the beast. When he got close, he pulled out the sword, but when touching the sword he quickly dropped it. Lifting up his right hand, he noticed that there were many cuts on it. Then a frightening thought came to Hideaki's mind. 'Did I kill this beast? Why can't I remember anything?' Hideaki's head started to pound ruthlessly. After trying to recall the incident for a while longer, Hideaki stopped. If he can't remember it now, then maybe he will later. Again, he grabbed the sword and pulled. Suddenly, Hideaki felt a burning feeling in robe. It felt like a hot pan. Quickly, he took off the top clothing, and out came the black book.

Although it was black, Hideaki noticed some red and white vine-like strips on the book. He never drew anything on the book, and the new colors looked like they were always there. Picking the hot book up, Hideaki noticed a drop of blood on the side, leaking into the pages. When he flipped it open, He saw that the pages weren't blank anymore. They were all filled. He kept on flipping through them and saw that every page was filled. The concerning part was that the writing was in that runic form again. The ancient text. He closed the book and looked at the front. The title appeared the same, however on the bottom left something else appeared. It was some type of insignia. It looked like a mask with 3 horns coming out the forehead. Other then that, the facial feature looked somewhat like Hideaki's, although it was hard to tell because of the blurriness.

"What is this? How did the book change? Did my blood trigger this? Or was it something else?" Hideaki could not make heads or tails of how this change occurred. But then he heard a snicker behind him. Turning around he saw the old man standing right in front of him. This old man had green pupils and a round face. There was white hair on his head, and his beard was white as well. His skin seemed to be leaking, yet wasn't. There were scars on his nose and under his eyes. He was pale like a ghost, yet didn't seem devoid of life.  

"What triggered this books change was your blood. Keep this book close to yourself, it is as important as your life. Hehehe!" The old man turned around and started to walk away. "Wait! Why did you give me this book? And why are you always following me?" Hideaki needed to know more about this book and why this old man would always appear before him.

"This book was yours, to begin with, I was just returning it. As for following you, I just needed to confirm some things." Returning it? Hideaki had never seen this book in his life. "Before you leave, at least tell me your name and why I can read these letters." Hideaki noticed that the old man was leaving so he quickly called out.

"Kaemon, Kaemon Seki. This is my name. As for why you can read those letters, again it's because it's your book. I can't even see them let alone read them." With that said, Kaemon disappeared. 'Seki? From the major Seki clan in the East?' Hideaki immediately thought of a major clan in the east of Acrica. This was a very large and terrifying clan. However, it was also very mysterious.

Hideaki chose to not dwell further into this. Right now he needed to go back home and recuperate from his injuries. When Hideaki was about to leave, he remembered the beast that was dismembered, by the tree. He decided to hide the body a little deeper in the forest. He didn't go too far, just behind a large tree. He then filled a bucket that he dropped while fighting, with water. When he walked out, he saw Zot standing outside waiting for him. "You damned horse! How dare you leave me!" Hideaki was enraged when he saw the horse waiting for him. But since he was injured, he quickly sat on the horse and left to go home. The sky was already dark, so he needed to sleep early.