UWA! The Path To Creating A Light Novel Is Riddled With Starlight And Honeycomb!

Chapter 5

I have to take care of some things in town, first. If I suddenly disappear, the townspeople might blame themselves or each other for it, and I can't leave them like that.

So I'm going to make a speech about finding some great knowledge or whatever, thank them for their help, and be on my merry way.

As I make my way to the elder's hut, to get him to call a village meeting, a young child runs up to me and tugs on my shirt. She points to the treeline, where a group of figures is emerging.

Even from this distance, I can tell from the glint of their spears, the blue of their scales. Mer.

I hear shouting, and footsteps. The village has surrounded me in seconds.

Suddenly I am back in Totally-Not-Tokyo. I can't see the Mer, and I can barely hear them over the blood rushing in my ears. I don't want this. I don't want this!

"Marisue Paragon, fugitive of Mer Wartime Law, you are ordered to present yourself to us by sundown, or else face the destruction of this village!"

"Who are you to take our friend?!" Someone demands. I can't place their name. I've been trying to avoid getting attached.

"Marisue Paragon is an important prisoner of war, and failure to relinquish her would be to declare war on the United Mer Front! Paragon! Be on shore at sundown, and the village shall be spared!"

They march back into the trees, and I am left clutching my head, surrounded by another human shield.

"You knew about this, didn't you." Fenris comes forward. Several people block his path. "You knew they would come for you." He's forcing his way through the crowd.

I swallow hard, my throat too tight. "I- I didn't know they would come for me." It's barely a whisper, but Fenris still hears me loud and clear.

"Liar!" He's standing above me now, fists clenched but held back. "You're going to let them die for you!"

I shake my head, tears blurring my vision. "I don't want-" I can't finish, I'm seeing the blood and the bodies again. Fenris's mother, who did nothing but care for me, taking a hit in the stomach with a spear. Dying in front of me to save me. Dying without a choice.

The villagers aren't about to let Fenris get away with making me cry. Not while they're under my curse. They've closed in on us.

"Hey, leave her alone!" No, I deserve this.

"She's one of us!" I'm not.

"We love her!" No you don't.

Fenris is silent in disbelief. He looks around at the people who are his friends, his family, suddenly turning on him.

"Can't you see she's manipulating you?!" They can't.

My voice won't work. It won't work, my throat has closed up. I can barely breathe. I'm trying but I can't. I can't!

His mother steps in front of me. Shielding me from the justice I deserve. I've stayed here far too long.

"That's enough, Fenris!" She scorns. "I won't have you upsetting our precious Marisue!"

He lost. They've turned on him.

He stares at me, and I can only stare back. "You." At first his voice is empty, but it gains anger with every step forward. "How could you?"

I struggle to stand up and step out from behind his mother. I finally manage to speak in a hoarse whisper. "Fenris, if you attack me, they'll kill you."

He knows it's true. And that's what drives him over the edge.

I realize what's going to happen a moment before it does. Fenris doubles over, and I witness the painful transformation firsthand.

His mother steps in front of me again.

I have to get out of here. I shout; "Scatter!" hoping a direct command will overwrite their desire to protect me.

Some villagers don't need to be told twice, but some follow me as I break for the trees. We make it into the woods but the wolf is already on our heels.

We won't escape. But what can I do?

I stop running. No more dying for me.

I can feel Fenris's breath on my neck before I turn around. He was always taller than me, but now he's double my height.

"They're afraid of you." I don't know what to say. I doubt I'm the one who can calm him down.

His mother steps forward. "Fen, don't hurt Marisue!"

His eyes flash, and he lunges forward, pinning her to the ground. She struggles, and others start to rush forward but I stop them.

"Fenris wait!"

"YOU DID THIS." He growls, not taking his attention from his captive. "YOU JUST TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME." He leans down. He's going to bite her. Because if she's cursed by him, she can't be cursed by me.

I'm between them before I know what happened, Fenris's jaws clamped on my forearm. It hurts. It burns. I can't stop from crying out. But I trust nee-san, I won't be cursed.

The villagers rush forward. "STOP!" I yell. "Don't move!" For once they listen.

Warm blood is dripping down my arm, spattering and sinking into his mother's clothes as she lays beneath me.

Fenris meets my gaze, and I see nothing but hate.

"Look at yourself! You were going to curse your own mother!" Something flickers in his eyes. Some sort of recognition, quickly giving way to horror. He lets go of my arm and scrambles back.

I nurse my wound, stepping over his mother so she can stand. "I'm leaving. I'm going with the Mer." I have no other choice. I can't escape, and I can't leave the village to die for me. "They're going to kill you."

Fenris shrinks down, halfway back to his original form. "If you really cared, you would fix this."

"This is beyond me. YOU attacked your own mother. THEY have been afraid of you since before I came here." I could still try, but something stops me. I am bitter from the pain in my arm. He bit me. I let him bite me. I caused this. I didn't want this.

I didn't want this.

I turn and start down to the beach. I can hear Fenris pleading behind me.

"I- I didn't mean-!"

"Monster!"

"Traitor!"

"Demon!"

"Mother, I'm sorry, I- I wasn't thinking-!"

"I didn't raise a beast, you are not my son."

He howls and I hear the pounding of paws on dirt as he races away.

Then it is quiet.

The beach is empty. I walk into the surf.

"I'm here!" I shout challengingly. "Take me!"

A wave sweeps over me, dousing my injured arm in salt. I open my mouth to scream in pain but it's filled with water.

I see the vague shapes of the Mer around me and wonder if they'll just stab me outright.

No. No I have to keep living. I can't let them take me.

I spring upward, breaking the surface. The Mer rise with me, intent on my every move.

"You're going to take me to Tokyo." I splutter, cold and determined. "And you're going to forget this island even exists."