• Chapter Six: Battle For Destiny

    tab I dropped into a fighting crouch as the clay monsters flooded in from all sides. They were filled with utter rage and seemed to be in some kind of frenzy. A deep growl escaped my throat. There was no way I could waist my time with these things!
    tab There were many kinds of clay monsters bellowing and raging around. Many were tan, but came in many different forms. Some were beating on drums, others with flute-like things. There were others that were black, and about three times bigger than me. A flicker of fear went through me, but I had to be brave. They most likely won’t let me escape, so I’ll have to fight my way out. How hard can it be to break a few pieces of clay, after all the training I’ve had with other monsters? Ten monsters jumped above me. I leaped into the air, knocking them down. All but one shattered upon the collision. It was easy to take care of the survivor, though. A larger group charged at me next. With swift strikes with fangs and claws, they were down in a matter of seconds. I looked around at the circle of endless enemies, my teeth revealed in a snarl. They seemed to be talking to each other. I watched closely as they turned to each other and murmured things in an unfamiliar language.
    tab My front paws shifted to move a step forward, but something stopped me by yanking hard on my tail. A pitiful yelp jumped out of my lungs followed by a loud growl. I turned around to face dozens of monsters closing in around me. When I leapt for them, others brought me down to the ground. I twisted around to push them back with my hind paws. Instantly, I leapt again, viciously attacking anything that came around me. Pieces of clay shattered and decayed to dust in every direction. My teeth gnashed and claws flailed as I spun around madly, trying to get the monsters out of my way. Fur was pulled free from my skin and blood oozed from countless wounds, but I fought on.
    tab Many hours must of passed before I finished off the wretched tan clay monsters. I panted breathlessly and began to limp towards the other cliff when tall shadows cast over me. Hundreds more monsters came up to me, the large, black ones that I had forgotten about during my fight with the smaller ones. These monsters could move faster than my eyes could see, striking life threatening blows at my already pummeled body. I howled faintly, lundging at the closest monster. I tackled it with full power, but my attack had barely left a scratch. “NO!” I screamed. There was no time for these stupid, well-armored, monsters! They closed in around me. In hatred and anger, I stared at them. They have to have some kind of weakness!
    tab The dark sky was being lit up by pink and orange sunlight. A few of the monsters began vibrating, then vanished. They appeared on the other side of me, after giving me horrible wounds. Blood gushed on the ground by my paws. My panting became harder and louder. I closed my eyes, calming myself down. Slowly, my panting stopped, and I focused on the fight.
    tab I bolted up to the monsters closest to me, and started tearing at them. It took a while, but the first three went down. I turned and began fighting the next batch, warding off any that interfered. The only way to defeat them was to pick them off one by one. That’s exactly what I did. It took many blows for each monster, but I eventually took the last one down.

    tab The next time I looked up at the sky, it was already darkening from the sunset. My panting picked up again, every bone ached with horrid pain. Everything around me began swirling and fading, until I collapsed in a pool of my own blood.

    tab When my eyes fluttered open, the moon shone directly above me. I pushed myself onto my paws. The rest seemed to heal me a little and restore my energy. I began walking to the cliff for the third time. There were slopes leading to the top, thankfully. The lake sparkled under the moonlight. My paws carried me down a slope and onto a sandy strip of land. There was a tall Torii Gate showing the way into a thinner strip of land. I followed the sand path up to a small cave. There was nothing inside, only a hole at the top with moonlight shining through onto a shrine built in the middle. Whatever had happened here before was over with; I had to go back to the battlefield. I sighed just before limping back to where I had fought for the whole day before.
    tab There was a path at my left that I hadn’t noticed during the fight. Cherry trees grew on either side, petals glowing under the night sky. I walked among them, hoping that the wolf would be at the end. With the though of fulfilling what I had to, my spirits lifted enough for me to run again.
    tab I came upon a small village with very few houses. Everyone was asleep by now, so I could easily pass through without being seen. Another cherry tree stood not to far away. It seemed like a likely place for a wolf to be, I don’t know why, though. Instead of going up to the tree, I went the opposite way first. There was a small pond and more blossoming trees. A deck made from wood jutted out the side of the hill I came on. There was a clear view of the central cherry tree from it, but I couldn’t see the wolf anywhere.
    tab Below the tree, something caught my eye. My ears pricked up and I turned around to go back the way I came. This time, I took the path up to the tree. Glowing petals rained down from the sky above me, even though the tree wasn’t much taller than me. The path led right up to a statue made of the strongest stone. I looked up to see what it was shaped to be. A wolf. Has the wolf I was supposed to look for turned to stone? No, a living thing couldn’t just turn to stone like that, could it?
    tab In panic, I turned around and started running around the village. I ran back up to the deck and looked out into the field, but there was no sign of any wolf. Tsukiyomi’s words ran through my head, “Your destiny is to find that wolf. Alive.” Alive. Was I too late? Did the wolf die fighting off the strange evil that came around every year? Tsukiyomi told me that my destiny was very important and I had to fulfill it. Have I failed? I didn’t even understand why I had to find the wolf, but it was all I had! This might have been my last chance to find out exactly who I was, and I blew it! If those monsters weren’t already dead, I’d go and kill them slowly and painfully right now!
    tab Sorrow and disappointment flowed into me. There was nothing I could do now. There was no point in living through this horrid confusion anymore. I slowly trudged through the village, angry at myself for wasting this chance. Through my own anger, I felt somebody else’s agony. I froze as I saw someone moving around in the darkness. A villager? Whoever it was, they were filled with self hate just like I was right now. But this person was even angrier than I was.
    tab I walked quietly past the person, but they noticed me anyway. I looked up to them, but began to slip away again, just so I wouldn’t be a bother. Through the moonlight, I could see that the person was a boy, probably around 16 years old. There was something strangely familiar about the boy’s eyes as he stared at me. He looked as if he recognized me, too. But we couldn’t tell who we reminded each other of. The strange recognition caused me to stop walking, but the boy turned and began walking away. One of his hands loosened its grip around a piece of wood, causing it to fall to the grass. The boy bent over to grab it, but I ran over and fastened my teeth around it first. Now that I was closer, I could tell that it was a flute, very well crafted with weird energy emitting from it. I lifted my head and dropped the flute into his hands. I caught a glimpse of surprise in his red eyes before we both went our silent, separate ways.
    tab There wasn’t any other destination for me, so I just headed back out to the field. When there was no sign of the wolf there or on either cliffs, the rest of my hope faded away. On the side of the river that didn’t fall into the giant lake, there was a cave that it flowed out of. I decided to go in and check for the wolf there, too.
    tab Inside, there was a beautiful field with cliffs and waterfalls. Healthy flowers and trees grew everywhere. I took in my surroundings as I walked across a bridge and deeper into the cave. A large painting of the sun and a sphere stained on of the walls in an enclosed part of the cave where light could not shine through. I walked along and came into a wide open room after awhile. The setting moon shone down from the top of the cave. A ring of water stood around a small, green sapling in the middle of the room. Up on top of a slope, a sphere filled with leaves balanced on top of a small water spout. The wolf was no where in this beautiful cave.
    tab With a sigh, I walked up to the sapling and curled up by it with my tail covering my nose. The wolf was dead, turned to stone. I was too late, and now there was no use for me in this world. It would just be painful for me to live with constant confusion. Slowly, my eyes closed and I fell into a deep slumber, in hope that I would never wake up.