Raen's fist struck the boar beast's jaw, sending it rolling across the burning street.
Before he could breathe, a shadow lunged from the smoke
WHAM!
A second beast, larger and faster, slammed into his ribs.
The world became white
Raen flew through a shattered door, hit the ground, and rolled until his shoulder cracked . His vision blured, three houses, five fires, a spinning sky?
He tried to get up
"Ahhhh"
Pain stabbed through his side like a spear.
No…. not now…. I can't fall yet…
His hand slipped on the dirt.
The beast roared, slamming the ground as it prepared to charge again.
Raen tried once more, but his legs buckled.
He collapsed to his knees.
He could see his own reflection in the beast's blood wet eyes
weak, injured, helpless
This time.… he might really die.
The monster lunged
And something blocked the blow
Not Kaien
Not Shirobane
The children
Three of them slammed their crude weapons forward in unison, forming a uneven barrier.
"What....?" Raen choked.
They were the very people who had once whispered curse, misfortune, monster.
Old Maru, who once made fun of Raen and bullied him.
Taro, who had cried when Raen's chakra disrupted him during the ceremony.
Mila, who used to cross the street to avoid him.
Now all three stood trembling, bleeding…
but unmoving.
Maru spat at the beast, gripping a broken spear.
"You jumped in to save one of us. Thought we'd let you die now, huh?"
Mila's hands shook around her, but her voice didn't.
"When someone weak tries to protect others… it makes the rest of us feel ashamed not to stand with him."
Taro wiped blood from his face.
"Yeah! You stood for us, so we're standing for you! We can't let you take all the coolness"
Raen's throat tightened
He had dreamed of this moment as a child...
someone stepping for him, someone believing in him.
But now… they were the ones shielding him.
The beast roared, shoving forward, pushing the villagers back inch by inch
Then a shadow dropped from the rooftops.
CRACK!
Kaien's staff slammed into the beast's skull, snapping its tusk in half.
Shirobane followed with a clean silver arc of her blade, slicing across the monster's neck. The beast collapsed in a trembling heap.
Shirobane flicked blood from her weapon.
"You run off alone again," she snapped, "and look what happened."
Raen tried to smile, coughing instead
"You followed me…"
"Of course I followed you. You attract trouble like flies to dung."
Kaien knelt beside Raen, gently flickering him up.
"You did well," Kaien murmured, voice low,"Reckless, but well. Next time, write a will before you leap into death."
Raen swallowed
"Those people… they protected me."
Kaien's gaze softened, just barely.
"People fear what they don't understand. But when they see you risk your life for them… understanding grows."
Shirobane glanced back at the villagers who still stood behind Raen, panting and shaken but proud.
"Looks like you gained more than a few bruises today," she said quietly.
Before Raen could answer
A scream echoed from the village square.
"The Chief! The Chief is gone!"
Raen's whole body went cold.
Chief… the man who assisted his test, who fed him when his father died… the only adult who treated him as a child, not a curse.
Raen staggered to his feet despite Kaien's protest, limping toward the square.
The shrine was half-collapsed
Blood covered the stone
A trail of heavy footprints, too large for any human led toward the eastern woods.
Kaien examined the prints grimly.
"He didn't run. He was taken."
"But why? He's not a fighter," Raen said, voice cracking.
Shirobane knelt near deeper claw marks.
"This wasn't a random attack. They were searching for something….. or someone."
Something shined near the broken shrine steps.
Raen froze
"My pendant.…"
He stumbled forward, snatching it from the dirt.
The black stone, the golden threads, his father's last gift
He clenched it tight, breath trembling
"It was in my old house…. Why is it here?"
Kaien took it gently, turning it under the faint glow of fire
Even Shirobane leaned closer
"Do you know what it is?" Raen asked
Kaien didn't answer immediately.
For the first time since Raen met him
Kaien looked uncertain
Hesitant
Even.… worried
"No," Kaien finally said, "Not the stone, not the design, not the energy. Even in the Flow Order…. I have never seen this."
Shirobane's eyes narrowed
"If Kaien doesn't know, that means it's ancient or dangerous or both."
Kaien pressed it back into Raen's hands.
"Keep it close. Whatever this pendant is… it is connected to your father, to you and likely.… to why the beasts came."
Raen's fingers tightened.
The pendant pulsed
a soft, almost heartbeat like beat
Raen inhaled shakily
"If the Chief is alive…. I'm not leaving him behind."
Kaien rested a hand on Raen's shoulder.
"Then we go together."
Shirobane lifted her blade, face hardening
"And we find whoever dared to take him."
Behind them, the villagers gathered
not to accuse Raen,
not to fear him,
but to watch him with hope in their eyes.
Hope for the boy they once rejected.
Raen turned toward the forest where the footprints ended.
The air was silent
Too silent
As though something was waiting
Something that knew the pendant was in Raen's hand.
Raen exhaled a trembling breath.
"I am coming," he whispered, not sure if he was speaking to the Chief…. or the thing that was waiting for him in the forest.