Woven

Kyo: Chapter 2

Woods. Darkness. Menacing noises. Kyo woke up to all of that. Naturally, his instinct was to run. Why did he run? He had no idea. He couldn't remember why. The only thing he could remember is waking up on his feet, afraid and in the dark. That and his name. And that this particular condition was called amnesia. And that it was a particularly overused plot device. How that was in his brain and not, say, an hour of his life, he had no idea. That was partially due to the scientific knowledge he felt was missing.

But anyway, he had woods, darkness, and menacing noises to run from in order to live. Having no time to examine his appearance, Kyo dashed for a small, orange point of light he saw. Perhaps a sunset?

As he got closer and realized it was flickering, he was disappointed. It was only a fire, though it appeared to be on the move. A torch, then. A torch meant another person, which meant civilization, which meant safety. Hearing a twig snap behind him, Kyo ran harder.

The torch was moving away from him, but slowly. Trying to get the bearer's attention, Kyo tried to yell, but couldn't find his voice. Somehow, though, the bearer of the torch seemed to hear him.

The torch stopped and soon enough, Kyo caught up to it. There was no bearer, the torch merely floated. He reached out cautiously, the nonsense of it screaming in his brain. The need for light was overwhelming, but he was wary of such a ready source. He pulled his hand back and kept running.

As he suspected, the light snuffed itself out and the eerie noises, which had faded before, resumed suddenly, crashing down upon him.

Kyo's fear consumed him, but he didn't scream. He couldn't. He only cried. And ran. And ran and ran and ran.

It was so dark, Kyo couldn't see anything, so when he ran into the tree at full force, he just collapsed, his head bleeding and throbbing worse than he'd ever felt, even though this was his first experience with pain.

Above him, two grotesque faces materialized, grinning upon his helpless figure. One, a human with the skin peeling off around his smile, threatened menacingly, "He would make a marvelous present for the Reaper."

The other, a vaguely canine head with large, decayed tusks, agreed with a hiss, "Yes, I can practically taste his Essence."

Kyo could sense the importance behind these words; the Reaper and this Essence were both new to him and familiar. And these... demons were wishing to sacrifice his Essence to the Reaper. That was never good. He knew he should get up and run, but he was paralyzed, but whether by fear or some sort of devilish magic, he didn't know. He could only lie in wait as the faces drew closer and their mouths opened wide.

The sound of a bow snapping rang out twice. Kyo could hear the arrows as they sang through the air and felt them as they clave through his would-be captors' skin and stopped just short of his own. Around him, the demons collapsed and dissolved and Kyo found he could move again.

Out of the darkness, from above in the trees and from ground level, two identical beings approached him. They joined to become one and it came to Kyo, reaching out its hand, "Well?" From the voice, Kyo decided it was a she, "Best not to take a nap in Nightmare."

He couldn't respond vocally, but Kyo took her hand and stood up. In the darkness, she almost seemed to glow. Her light brown hair resonated dimly and her young face produced its own light. She tilted her head to the side, "Stop staring; you might make some of the demons jealous."

Reflexively, Kyo starting waving his hands around intricately, but the girl just waved him off, "Don't worry, I won't bite. Y'know, much. Now come on."

And she took off. Not having anything better to do, Kyo followed, though just far enough away for her not to bite.

The demons had apparently given up all subtlety, since they attacked out of nowhere in a mad rage. Each time they appeared, Kyo's guide cut or shot them down, sometimes using her bow, others slashing with concealed knives on her forearms. Each time, she kept going without missing a beat, as if it were natural for her to take strolls in a purgatorial forest.

Kyo noticed the little things about her; her stride, the way she tensed before killing a demon, the little point on the side of her left ear, the important things like that. She looked like she was about twelve, but she ran like she was twenty, so Kyo could barely keep up.

Soon enough, however, her light started to become obsolete, as a new, much broader light source was becoming apparent; daylight. Simultaneously, the demons stopped their onslaught, either because such light was poisonous to them or the girl scared them. Kyo couldn't decide whether the latter would be better for him or not.

After so long in the dark, he had to squint for a bit until his eyes adjusted, which was pretty fast. All around him was red grass and sunlight. Behind him, in the forest Nightmare, the trees were all made of black wood and leaves, and the grass was dark brown, as if every organism in there hated light and boycotted it.

Ahead of Kyo, the girl was stretching and yawning, apparently unphased by the strenuous activity she just endured, "Nothing like running for your life to wake up in the morning!" She turned back to him and reached out her hand. Kyo flinched, expecting a sabre to jump into her fingers and threaten his carotid artery.

She laughed heartily, "Relax! I'm only a human. My name's Olivia, how 'bout yours?"

He shook her hand and opened his mouth to speak, but despite moving it to form his name, no sound came out.

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?"

Kyo started to move his hands this time, but this time he understood why; he knew perfect sign language, which meant this was how he was used to communicating. He tried to explain this to Olivia, but she wouldn't hear it. So to speak.

"Oh, I get it, you're mute! That's alright. And this hand-waving thing won't be necessary. Here." She reached up and touched the side of Kyo's head and began to concentrate.

A sharp pain hit him right where she touched him, but it receded quickly. She opened her eyes and looked at him directly, Now, is that better?

He blinked. Her voice had just rung in his head. Kyo knew it was telepathy, but with no mental voice, would it still work?

Olivia messaged him again, It's just telepathy, give it a try.

Tentatively, Kyo imagined his thoughts reaching her, My name's Kyo. He could hear his "voice", but it sounded artificial, like a robot that was trying to sound human.

She laughed out loud and spoke, "Well, Kyo, you're awfully easy to communicate with."

But how did you-

"Establish a telepathic link? I've had some practice. And your Essence is super easy to touch magically. No wonder those demons were having so much fun with you."

There was that word again, Essence. Kyo, wanting to use this new telepathy as much as possible, could only ask, What exactly is Essence? Is it, like, magic or something?

Olivia paused for a moment, "I guess you could say that."

And the demons mentioned something else. The Reaper? They said my Essence would be perfect to give to it. Do you know what it is?

Her expression became guarded, and this time, her mouth didn't move, You'd better come with me.

She turned away and began to walk. Not wanting to be alone, Kyo hurried to catch up. He looked ahead, but they were surrounded by hills, Where, exactly, are we going?

"A village. Apparently, there's a lot going on that needs to be explained. Why that information isn't just implanted into the new recruit's brains, I have no idea."

New recruits?

Olivia imitated a higher accent that he didn't know, "'All this and more will be explained if you just follow my instructions.' Ugh, she gets on my nerves."

Obviously, Kyo had no idea how to respond, so he didn't.

She continued to converse, despite the silence, "I'm going to take your silence as an 'umm'. Don't worry, once we eventually get there, we'll try to tell you what we can."

They trudged to the top of the hill in silence. Once they reached the top, Kyo collapsed, a migraine rupturing his skull.

Olivia's voice was full of concern, "What is it? What's wrong?"

He couldn't focus enough to respond telepathically, but he knew theanswer. He remembered something. The walled city, surrounded by a red forest.The city he grew up in. Kyo lived here. He lived in Dream.