"So, what should we do?" Shinji asked meekly, cutting the silence as the boys contemplated their options.
"Nothing," responded Tatsuki after a moment of thought.
"We have to do something. What if we get caught up in this situation?"
"Relax. Just act like this never happened, and no one will be the wiser."
"Fine, but this isn't right! I mean, who could've seen this coming?" Shinji said, throwing his hands in the air.
"Calm down! Are you trying to get us caught, you idiot?" Tatsuki responded, clearly irritated by the man's behavior.
This went on for several minutes as both young men went back and forth about their unfortunate situation, before eventually both going silent.
Hours passed as the three boys made camp, while Master Dachi sat around the freshly made fire.
Tatsuki and Shinji made subtle eye contact with each other every so often as the night crept onward.
"We wake and start moving at first dawn, understood?" Mr. Dachi said to the boys before walking into his tent, his lumbering breath palpable with each heavy-footed step.
The young, dirty slave boy followed swiftly, walking over to a nearby rugged tent with a torn-up covering before collapsing from exhaustion.
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Hours passed into the radiant night, the moon shining brilliantly through the forest, casting monstrous shadows onto the camp from its all-encompassing glow.
But to Shinji, the night could not have been longer—his stomach consumed with an all-encompassing stress and disgust that threatened to make him throw up its contents.
His mind was racing with the possibilities of what might happen to him if Mr. Dachi found out about his tampering with the product.
Though as the hours passed and Shinji's adrenaline slowly dissipated, his mind slowly drifted into slumber.
He had always had a hard time sleeping—it was something that haunted him from birth—but he had learned ways to deal with it as he aged.
He would especially use a technique that his mother had told him about before her passing.
"When you feel the weight of this world on your shoulders, just let your ears focus on the sound of nature—from the birds to the shifting of the trees, let it all flow through you."
She would always tell him that in such a wonderful tone that only a mother could have.
So that's what he did. He let the sounds of nature overtake his mind.
He could hear the trees of the night shifting around in such a chaotic yet rhythmic way.
He could hear the insects chittering in their own world that he could never understand.
He could hear the twigs falling and snapping on the ground as they dropped from unseen heights.
And for just a moment, all the stress of the day released from Shinji's body—his muscles fully relaxing.
The image of his mother's wonderful violet eyes, which carried so much warmth, lingered in his mind.
But as soon as his mind went blank and Shinji let his guard down, a grotesque hand violently cupped his mouth.
The young man jolted up in a violent instinct of fear, but it was already too late as his throat was gorged open with one visceral strike.
The last thing Shinji saw was the putrid, demonic green eyes of a creature that overshadowed him.
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Ten minutes earlier…
Tatsuki sat motionless, contemplating his next move—each thought rejecting the previous one.
But in the end, he had made up his mind: he was going to steal a small portion of the cargo he was transporting.
It would be simple enough. He never had an issue changing his name and identity as he went from place to place.
It would be like he never existed—no one would find him.
He knew if he was smart about it, he would be just fine. He had done things like this in the past and made it out.
He couldn't—no, he wouldn't—pass up this opportunity.
With just a small satchel, he could make a six-month wage in a few weeks of selling it off.
So, with one final deep breath of conviction, Tatsuki left his tent, which barely protected him from the cold elements of the night.
It was a simple job as Tatsuki methodically walked past the ashen fire, which had flickered out hours ago.
It felt so strange to the young boy. It had taken him years to be able to feed himself and make a meager living.
And yet, without any struggle, he was about to walk into a small fortune with as little as a simple motion.
All his struggle and tribulations—for what?
And as the moonlight beamed down on the small encampment, Tatsuki unlatched and grabbed the small, well-wrapped satchel that had caused him so much terror mere hours ago.
Was it really that simple? was all he could think to himself in that moment as he looked upon the glorious gift the gods had given him.
So, as quickly as Tatsuki came, he left—like a fleeting shadow that hides from the light.
He had made it less than ten yards from the encampment with his things before he heard something that shook him to his core.
He heard a fleeting, muffled scream in the night—the sound of life's final embers withering out from a youth.
Tatsuki looked back from where he was standing, the sound echoing throughout the forest as he did so.
And that's when he first saw it.
Its putrid yellow, bumpy skin looked diseased and reptilian. Its disheveled, matted brown hair was covered in freshly dripping blood.
He had seen where the beast had come from—it was Shinji's tent.
And as quickly as it shifted into his sight, the creature vanished, its glowing eyes reappearing in front of Mr. Dachi's decadent tent.
The sounds of muffled screaming were quickly silenced as the tent's walls collapsed.
In the commotion of the night, the young slave boy awoke in terror and, by happenstance, ran toward the direction of Tatsuki.
"Help! Help me, please, Tatsuki!" the boy yelled in his high-pitched delirium.
Tatsuki, without hesitation, ran as far and as fast as his body could from the campsite.
The young boy followed suit after him, slowly catching up as Tatsuki's luggage weighed him down.
"Please don't leave me!" the boy's voice echoed throughout the trees, now less than a yard away.
But that was not what concerned Tatsuki at the time—he could hear the primal noise of the demonic creature gaining on them.
I'm not going to outrun this monster with all this luggage weighing me down, Tatsuki thought to himself in a panic.
But I can't leave it behind… I can't leave this fortune behind. I might never get another chance like this.
I need to slow this creature down.
I need to escape.
Tatsuki contemplated with himself like a scared deer running from a predator.
As the moments passed and the slave boy ran next to him, he knew what he had to do.
And without hesitation, Tatsuki struck the boy with all his might, sending his meek frame flying to the ground.
With a quiet grunt, the boy tried to get up—but before he could do so, the beast had already sunk its claws into his back.
"Come back! Please, pleas—" was all the young boy could get out as he desperately cried out for Tatsuki, even after his betrayal.
The demon feasted on the young boy gluttonously, tearing him limb from limb in mere seconds.
And before long, the demon continued the hunt for its final victim.
Tatsuki had made decent headway on the demon as he darted through the eternal forest, which looked endlessly identical.
But he could still hear the demon's primal shrill of happiness as it feasted on the boy's flesh.
And as minutes passed, Tatsuki could feel the demon's jaded eyes on his back.
"Boy… come back heere!" the sickly demon said hysterically, its booming voice echoing through the wind.
"You're not going to outrun me with all that weight carrying you down. Might as well stop running already and let me kill you," the creature slurred, its words mangled by its split tongue.
And true to its words, the creature quickly enveloped Tatsuki, its claws ripping into his shoulder, causing the straps of his equipment to fall to the ground.
"Ahh!" Tatsuki cried out in pain, his mind no longer worried about his worldly possessions—its only desire in that moment was survival.
And that was when he saw it.
A small light in the forest…
A salvation.
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"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16
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