燃焼[Burning]

Prologue I

Fire. Some say it's a good servant, but a bad master. The truth is, I've never cared much about fire, until it stole everything away from me.

I'm a Tsukumogami by the name of Hayabusa. I was named after my owner's liking for falconry (No, not Date Masamune). My first owner was a young girl around 20 years of age. She and her family looked after their family shrine deep in the retreats of Aokigahara. This shrine wasn't visible to a normal human.

Why?

Because it was never really there.

Her family worked to soothe the troubled spirits of those who passed through the forest. In those days, my owner and her family worked to ensure that the shrine's spiritual barrier was sustained. They ensured that the shrine remained well hidden from prying human eyes. For generations, they calmed even the most vicious spirits, safeguarding the safety of the humans who wandered in for fun.

My owner forged me herself, having been trained by her father, a man who created several spiritual blades to protect the spirits as they passed to the underworld. She named me and carried me wherever she went, be it to gather food or to take care of some rowdy spirits. Life with them was warm and tranquil. Nothing bad ever seemed to befall them.

Until they came.

I'd thought it was going to be another normal day when my owner grabbed me all of a sudden. But at the moment I opened my eyes, I could see the amber flames eating away the wooden supports. My owner jumped over a fallen beam, her silver eyes gleamed with the desperation of getting away. She dodged the falling embers, all the while gripping my sheath tightly. I could hear the shouts of the other humans in the shrine.

Then, something roared.

It sounded inhuman, feral and primal all at the same time. My owner drew my vessel as she skidded to a halt, her chest heaving with fear.

When it turned around the corner, everything seemed to fall apart.

Holding an ootachi, its menacing gaze fell upon my owner and me. Crazed crimson narrowed before it let out another roar, raising the blade. She stood her ground, brandishing my vessel no matter how much I screamed for her to run. She couldn't have heard me anyways. The monster brought the ootachi down with such vengeance and with such deadly accuracy that no one else could have hoped to dodge.

Her body fell, blood pouring out of the slash mark in her chest. I could only stand there, my mouth agape with the sudden realization that I'd lost her.

I'd lost my master.

I'd lost the person I cared about the most.

Everything blurred out after that, the flames surrounded the both of us. I felt... soulless. The gentle warmth of the household I cherished was now replaced by the harsh reality of the blaze that consumed the compound.

Not even a god can save us now.

I let myself rest next to her corpse, staring straight up at the embers.

'There's no hope in this world anymore. I can forget about ever being found.'

Then, something else happened.

The fire gradually disappeared, being put out by a fine mist that was descending on the property. I felt my vessel get picked up by someone, and when I opened my eyes, I saw men and women in black suits swarming the area. They seemed to assess the damage around before moving the bodies out. I turned away as my master's body was bagged up and taken away.

Before my vessel was taken away from my home, I sealed myself within, swearing to remain for all eternity.

I am a falcon without wings.

I will never fly again.