Demon's Genesis

Chapter 13

A deep wheezy chuckle rumbled in Kai's throat, his shaky laugh accompanying all other sounds in the melodic morning forest.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad!"

"You— you call that— you call that a good joke?" He wheezed, stomping a paw on the ground in amusement.

"Yes, stop bullying me!"

"Mushrooms can't even speak!!"

"You can't even speak!"

He collapsed onto the forest floor, his chubby fluffy butt heaving with laughter. Driven by an itch to be mischievous and shut him up, I grabbed a paw full of leaves— or what was left of the mulch— from the forest floor and littered his beaming coat with them, sitting down with a triumphant beam.

He jumped to his paws, faster than I'd ever seen him move, an expression a cocktail of astonishment and mock offence plastered on his face.

"Why you little-" he shook his pelt before lunging at me, the momentum knocking me off my paws and sending the two of us tumbling down the slope and onto the grey rocky banks of Little River.

With a quick glance towards the water, a plan unfurled in my head like the petals of a flower on a sunny morning. I chuckled, throwing him off by using his own weight to my advantage and causing him to collapse with an 'oof'. Without another moment's hesitation, I was up on my paws and hurtling towards Little River, even without a back glance I knew he was right on my tail.

I plunged into the crystal clear water, spinning around to face the mulch covered tom. He dove in right after me, dragging us both out of our depth, the water wasn't flowing very fast so we were both able to float with ease.

Or me at least, I cackled, my brother's sodden fur made him clumsy and slow in the water, a polar opposite to me.

I took a breath and submerged, blinking in an attempt to focus, my eyes stinging from the chill in the freshwater. Any sound from the world outside the river became muffled, all my ears picked up was the busy rush of the river racing against its rocky bed like a crowded sidewalk. I looked up to see shattered light filtering through the water, just like it did through the branches, only more beautiful in a way I could never describe in words that I knew. And among all the calm and glittering sounds and sights, the blurred dark smudge of Kai's body.

Gotcha.

I let myself sink for a few seconds more until my belly touched the ground more graceful than a feather. I let myself coil up like a snake ready to strike and using all the strength my puny body could muster, launched myself upwards.

My force threw a cloud of bubbles in my wake, trailing behind me like a lost kit, and then, impact. I slammed into the clumsy orange and white oaf with a force that sent both of us reeling towards the shore, and churning the water behind us into a bubbly mess.

We both found our footing when we realised how close to shore we were and I began heaving with laughter, "you may be better than me on land but in the water, you're clumsier than a donkey."

He didn't respond, he just sat there staring at the water, his muscles twitching and trembling.

I stopped laughing. Something is not right.

"Kai?"

Still no response, not in words. Instead, his head snapped in my direction, eyes fixed on me, unblinking, emotionless, and as I looked closer I saw his irises ringed with crimson.

No.

Before I had a chance to say anything further his paw flew out of the water quicker than a fleeing bird, showering droplets that glimmered like jewels in the air. It made contact with my face and before I knew it, I was being plunged underwater.