Kaze No Stigma (fan-fiction)

Episode 2- An Evil Presence?

    "It's been a while since we got a good nights rest." I thought to myself. I looked over to Ayano and Ren. They were both still asleep. "I'll just let them sleep in a little longer." I got up and walked quietly downstairs. I didn't hear anything, so I assumed the old lady was still asleep as well. I walked into the main room. I stopped and watched the old lady as she swept. "Figures she's not asleep."

    "You're up early." she said, noticing me as soon as I walked into the room.

    "I'm used to getting up early." I replied, ignoring the fact that she kept on sweeping, without even looking at me to say good morning.  There was a moments pause. Then I asked her the question I knew she was waiting for. "I was wondering about what you were going to tell us yesterday. Are you still willing to tell me?"

   "If you want me to, gladly."

  "OK then. Go right ahead." I sat down in one the most comfortable chairs I've ever sat in, waiting for her to put the broom down and tell me.

  "It started about 3 months ago. Before that, we had a lot of people come through here. They would pass through this town to get to Hallow Town. Hallow Town is known for their celebration on Halloween. Hence the name Hallow Town. We would get tons of people throughout the year going to that town. Halloween was our most fruitful time. We'd get thousands of people coming through here to go to Hallow Town's Halloween Special. They'd throw the biggest party you've ever seen.

  "But then something happened. 3 months ago, on Halloween, the people came running back, screaming and panicking. They were screaming and yelling about something they saw. They said the ground ripped open, fire spewed out of it, and a demon emerged. They said it took a lot of people into the ground with it. They didn't even stop to rest here. They kept on running away. What they said frightened most of the residents here also. They packed everything they could carry, took their kids, and left."

   "Why didn't you leave?"

   "This is my home. I grew up here. I couldn't just leave it."

   "So, why do the buildings look all old and ancient on the outside, but grand and palace-like on the inside?"

   "I'm not quite sure. Something happened over time. I noticed everything starting to wither away outside, but the inside of everything was fine. It's like an evil presence floated over the village. But why it would only effect everything on the outside, I can't say."

   The old lady started to sweep again. She looked kind of weird, like she was holding something back and didn't want to tell me.

   "So, if everything outside was effected, why aren't you effected?"

  "Who says I'm not?" She turned around, and her face showed pure evil. Her eyes had turned red as blood. Her appearance was changing. She got taller and much bigger. Then I noticed her hair. It was like it was alive. It got much longer, and started to move, like each strand of her hair was an arm. "When the evil presence started reaching across this village, I noticed a change in me. Do you like it?"

   I looked at her with a sarcastic look in my eyes. "I think it's simply ridiculous. And ugly. I don't understand why anyone would want to look like that. It's just awfully hideous." She obviously didn't like that. Her hair launched at me. I quickly moved out of the way. Her hair went crashing into an antique vase, sending it smashing to the floor.

   "Stand still so I can squash you like a bug." she told me.

   "Yeah right. I'm not just going to stand here and let you beat me." I quickly evaded another of her attacks. 'I need to beat her without hurting her. It's just the evil presence that's doing this. She's still a little old lady.'  I sent a wave of wind magic toward her, cutting part of her hair. She screamed, sounding like a banshee.

    "What's going on down here?" I turned around and there stood Ayano and Ren. They were staring at the old lady with shocked expressions on their faces.

    "What happened to the old lady? Ayano asked, summoning Enraiha. Ren also had fire in his palms and was ready to go.

   "I'll explain later. Right now we need to focus on beating her without killing her." I told them. I turned back to the lady, who had stopped her banshee screaming.

  "How dare you, you little insect. I'm going to..." She didn't get to finish what she was saying. Ayano shot her with a ball of fire, burning all her hair off. The lady screamed in agony, then fell to the ground, unconscious.

    "Well, there you go." I said, looking at Ayano, who had a grin on her face.

   "That should take care of that. Now, don't we have a ghost town to visit? Ayano turned around and walked out the front door.

   "What's with her?" I asked Ren

  Ren shrugged. "Maybe she didn't get to finish her beauty sleep."

   "I heard that!" Ayano yelled from outside. Me and Ren went quiet and followed Ayano outside.

   "So, you want to tell me why that old lady went all berserk?" Ayano asked me.

   "Yeah, I guess I've got some explaining to do, huh?"

  "Well, the lady did just turn into a monster." Ren said.

  "Yeah, alright. Well, to begin, the town that we're headed to is called Hallow Town." I started.

   "Hallow Town?" Ayano asked, impatiently waiting for my answer.

    "I'm getting there. Sheesh. Give me time to answer." I replied.

     "Well, we're walking to a town at least 10 miles from here. You have plenty of time to explain. So you better start." Ayano said, once again irritated over nothing. I started explaining and told them everything the lady had told me.