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0. BLOOD MOON AND WATCHFUL BIRDS
AUTUMN LEAVES CRUNCHED under the soles of their feet, the sound echoing within the dead silent holt, filtered moonlight seeping through the drying branches, casting a hefty silvery glow upon the mismatched group of travelers.
"I'm tellin' ya, I smelled dead people." A voice defended, clearly not jn the mood to have his senses put to doubt.
Another 一a female this time一 sighed, reassuring, "We're not questioning your youkai nose, it's just that the sun has long since set and we're tired."
A defeated grumble was heard before the topic was dropped completely, a vague sense of defeat radiating off of the male.
"Should we set camp?"
"At this hour we won't be able to find wood for a fire."
The conversation was cut shortly as a rustle of leaves alerted them of an unwanted presence, only for their fears to dissipate when the muffled croaking of multiple ravens chimed.
"The hell are so many birds doing in a single tree?"
True to his word, the leaf-less branches were filled with rows upon rows of birds with inky black feathers, their eyes glowing an eerie red in the darkness as they observed, watched and analysed.
"Why are they looking at us?"
It was a valid question if they had ever heard one because, indeed, the birds were following their every movement. It was unnerving, to be scrutinised by a flock of creatures known to be affiliated with death.
And then they stopped, their beady eyes directed to the sky and with series of loud craw's they took flight, wings flapping and coal feathers falling.
"That was... strange."
It was strange, so to speak and to put it mildly, because it wasn't every day that you get stared down by a bunch of birds.
And yet they did not question it, they did not follow the direction in which they flew, and ruled it out as yet another case of this era's weirdness.
They failed to hear the sound of music in the distance.
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THE SKY DARKENED and the moon hid behind a blanket of grey clouds, no stars appeared to be present and only a dome of pure black covered the heavens in a futile attempt to shield the earth of what was to follow.
