FOREVER IN ABYSS

CHAPTER 14 - THE PAST

Chinen stared at the man in front of him. The man flipped his cape as he walk. The man looked back as if beckoning Yuri to follow him. it was as if the man was conscious of Yuri's presence in his memory. The man continued walking. Yuri continued on following him. They were in a dark forest. Yuri could barely see the trail that he they were walking. The moon was shining brightly above. It was almost a full moon. The sky was very clear yet there was no stars to compete with the moon's beauty.

Yuri followed the man who stopped on the tracks and looked up and strained to listen to any noise. That was when Yuri noticed the details that he didn't notice immediately. There was no single noise. The air was still. The owls and bats were no where near. Though Yuri could  guess that it was the middle of spring, there were no sign of cicadas or a light coming from fire flies.

Yuri grabbed a short silver knife from the tool bag in his belt. He saw Sir Vermelli did the same. He held a long silver sword at the ready. They waited there for a long time and Yuri held his breath during that agonizing wait.

Yuri then snapped at a swish on the wind. Sir Vermelli immediately hid behind tall bushes beside the humungous roots of a gigantic tree. Yuri followed suit though he doubt that anybody would see him since this was just a mere memory.

More swishing sounds followed. They were sounds of wings scraping thhe leaves of the trees while fighting the silent wind.

Yuri's eyes strained as the wind past before his eyes and landed on the pile of dry leaves on the ground. It would ne a bit of an understatement if he say that he didn't feel disheartened when he saw those men land. There must be ten of them. All of them were wearing black cloaks with a hoody at the back. Yuri couldn't see their faces yet he know who they are. He flinched when he saw three of them holding three dangling bodies.

One of the bodies stirred and he could swear that he heard a tired growl from the body. It tossed its head thus he could see clearly that its a body of a girl as her long hair fell as her head hang limply on a vampire's arms.

Another vampire stepped in the middle of the circle. He checked the first girl who was also the one who stirred. He must have done something  that made the girl gasp and toss against the vampire who held her. She struggled wildly. Her captor probably got annoyed thus he tossed her angrily on the ground makingher groan in pain.

"Easy on the girl, master won't like it if he saw bruises on hos new dolls." The man who studied the girl said in a very deep voice but didn't do anything to console the girl who was now crouching on the ground.

"Please, let us go..." she pleaded and held on a foot of the vampire who examined her.

The man growled angrily at her and kicked her on the shin. "Bind her!" Her commanded the vampire who previously held her.

"No, please don't..." she pleaded. Her captor tugged at her hair and held her in place while another one stooped down and tied her hands on her back. She writhed in fear as the vampire pulled on her bound arm to make her stand. He unwilling dragged her as the group continued to walk down the path.

Sir Vermelli on his side stood up. Yuri did the same. Sir Vermelli quietly followed the vampires sneaking in the shadow. He followed them closely but not near enough for any of the vampire to smell a human flesh. He tried to mask his smell by deliberately hiding the tall bushes. The smell of wild blueberries enveloped the dark night.

Yuri followed the knight closely. The night air was nothing but chilly. The cold was searing into Yuri's bones. The man in front of him didn't seem to notice as he kept on trailing the vampires in front of them. Yuri looked around from the bushes they were. Aside from the eerie feeling je has for the woods they were currently in, it was somewhat too familiar to him in the sense that it gives him an unwelcome feeling.

Yuri felt the man beside him stopped and hid himself in a huge trunk. He was staring in front of him. Yuri looked at where the man was looking. The vampires stopped in front of a huge house. It was a huge one. Yuri tilted his head. Where did he see that house before?

The scene blurred. Yuri panicked. Then the view shifted. They were in a familiar room. It is the armory of the seiden. It looked the way Yuri remembers it. Huge silver armors were hanging on one side while the silver swords and knives in different sizes were directly facing them on the opposite walls. There were old guns and silver bullets. 

Two men were in front of a huge bronze shield. They were staring at it yet they seemed not to care about its presence.

Sir Vermelli glanced at his back seemingly aware of Yuri’s presence. The other man who was a bit shorter and thinner than Sir Vermelli looked at Yuri’s way. Yuri was sure that the man saw nothing since he looked inquiringly to Sir Vermelli who shook his head and resumed staring past the bronze shield.

The knight sighed. “You’ve been having these same dreams for quite a while.” He commented. “I wonder what it means.”

“I hope it means nothing.” The shorter man also resumed on staring at the shield before him.

Sir Vermelli looked at the shorter man as if assessing him. After a while, he sighed. “I hope not. Those monsters are at large. They couldn’t be stopped unless we think of a way to free their souls.”

“I don’t think they want to be freed, Sir.” The man replied without looking at him. “I don’t even think that they have a soul, sir.” He said. 

The knight chuckled. “Some nights, I think so, too.”

Chinen stared at the smaller man. He felt a stirring. So this is the first dreamer. So, he is my ancestor. He is also small like me.  He wanted to chuckle at the thoughts that were coming to his mind.