Of Fallen Wings & The Six Tails

The Warning

Through a dark and winding forest, the rattles of his earrings echoed in the silence of the night as Sakuya walked towards his next destination. For creatures large, creatures small and even the spirits of time's past, hearing the jingling means as a way to warn them, to move away from the path that he walks so they won't be stepped on. Even if they did hear it, the sight of his ghostly white eyes through his red mask would be enough to make anything cower and run. He would hear all, from the sound of crickets and owls, to the restless voices of the lost but this time, it was silent as if the forest itself was dead. Even as he passed a few lost souls along the way, they watched him silently without a word or whisper....which was unnatural for him to say the least.

"Greetings...." a voice croaked as a dark figure suddenly manifested itself several meters away. The voice itself was haunting and sounded as if it were multiple whispers mimicking each other back to back like an echo in a cave. Even in the dark, he could see the figure's pale yet grimy skin and hollowed out eyes as he abruptly stopped in front of it. It was clad in an all black outfit and a tall black hat with a cylindrical rim that was typically seen by nobles of the area.

"Hello?" he answered even if he knew that it was of supernatural origin as he was.

"Sakuya of Mount Sakurajima. The one who tried to go beyond his mortal boundaries." it replied causing Sakuya's eyebrows to pull together in worry. Even through his mask, the figure could read his emotions as it smiled at him in a wide crooked grin.

"And whom may you be if I may ask?" Sakuya stiffened as he kept his ground. This presence in front of him didn't feel right at all and his entire body screamed to just take off and run.

"I have different names...many origins... but I am one ...and always one." the figure stated as it brought forth one slender hand with it's index finger pointed up. As he stared at it closer, he noticed that the figure's form was always distorted, in a way that it changed with every second. From bones to rotten flesh to misty fog to just a black oozing mass......it was all there but not there at all. If anything, it was just like his voice...an echo of each other that kept repeating itself. The unnatural movement from it just standing there sent chills down Sakuya's spine at its mere presence.

He tried to keep calm in the situation and lighten the dreadful mood as he spoke again. "Kekekekeke ...so this is how it feels to talk to someone who speaks in riddl-..........."

His voice cut off and a mysterious power filled all of his senses, stunning him as the figure slowly started to float towards the now worried man. Like a fly trapped in a spider web, Sakuya couldn't get away as he watched the figure get within 2 meters of him and finally stop. He was not scared of a lot of things but the figure before him made his blood run cold and tremble in fear.

"We've met once before under different circumstances and now we meet again Sakuya." the figure stated. Seeing it so close, he noticed that the hollowed portion of its eyes seemed like a vacuum that sucked his sight into it, no matter how hard he tried to pull away. Just looking into its bottomless void felt like suffocating so he turned away and shut his eyes closed for a moment to regain his composure. A few deep breaths later, he heard it spoke again.

"Are you still trying to run away?"

It took him a few moments but he opened his eyes once more to look at it and mustered up a few words. ".....run away from what?"

"The evitable."

The glow from the eyes of his red mask couldn't masque his fear as he questioned it. "Is that a warning?"

"A warning? No. Why should I warn someone who should already know their fate?"

"Just like the wind that guides me, fate can always be changed......and that's what I truly believe." Sakuya spat out, voice now witha hint of anger.