That night Tetsuno paced around in circles about his room in the inn. He couldn't get rid of this restless feeling he had. He could feel something cold and unsettling. He held the hilt of his katana in a death grip. He kept glancing out the window, then at the door, then back out the window. Outside was dark, almost pitch black, the only light being the dim glow of the moon behind the ghastly clouds.
"Damnit!" Tetsuno cursed, biting his lip, the taste of blood crossing his tongue as he strode to the door, swinging it open. He traveled the hall to the top of the stairs, which he then descended. When he entered the bar, he could hear the faint *clang* *clang* of Shayna working on his armor. Birgin had gone to bed, as had Kedo, so the bar was dark and lightless, the moonlight the only dim light casting through the window panes.
Tetsuno exited the inn and out into the cold night. The air was crisp and when he breathed in he felt his lungs shrink from the cold air. He could also feel the precipitation, cold and wet on his skin.
He stepped carefully down the stick stairs, trying not to slip, and stepped onto the ground. He looked down one direction, then the other. He could see nothing in the road, just darkness. He walked out to the center of the road and stood there, solitary in the sea of shadows. He was alone, but he could still feel eyes on him. He couldn't tell if it was just a feeling.. or if someone was really there.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he focused completely on his hearing, listening as intently as possible for any sounds that could be an enemy.
Dead silence.
But the silence was loud.
Then he heard a faint *snap* as a twig was broke somewhere in the distance, down the road. Tetsuno's eyes opened and he turned to face down the direction he had heard it. He began to walk in that direction, slowly and carefully, his hand on his katana.
Tetsuno came to the edge of the village, facing out to a yawning abyss of shadow ahead of him, forested areas on all sides of his path, the dark trees glowering down on him like giant phantoms. Then he heard a faint *ti-tic-tic* as something tapped his sandal. He looked down to see a rock resting against his foot. He looked into the woods at his side, the direction the rock had came from. As his eyes peered into the blackness of the forest, he felt as though he were falling into it, like it was going to consume him, as though it were drawing him into it.
He lifted his foot, moving it towards the void of the woods, then placed it back to the ground ahead of him. Then he lifted his other foot, carrying it over and forward, then shifted his weight onto it as he moved his other foot forward, rocks and pebbles crunching beneath his sandals. Then he pushed his way through the pines, thin needles poking at his skin as he forced his way through. And then he was surrounded by inky black shadows.
He drew his katana, the sound a cold metallic scraping. Even though he was the one doing it, the sound made him uneasy. He then flicked his wrist, the blade striking the ground and scratching a rock. With a hiss, flames engulfed his sword in a flash of light before then fading out. The stone embedded in either side of the blade had absorbed the flames' heat and now the black obsidian-like material gave off a light like that of glowing embers. The dim orange light casted across the area before him, lighting up the trees and ground faintly as he slowly crept forward, waving the blade like a torch.
Tetsuno moved like this for a long time, twigs and leaves crunching beneath his feet. He stoped suddenly. He could smell blood, but from where? He waved his katana about, looking around him. Then he felt something drip on his shoulder. At first he thought it was water from precipitation, but then it kept dripping. He looked up, holding his katana above his head. His eyes grew dark. Above him hung four men wrapped in the same cloaks as the men that had attacked with Zelden before. They were strung up by black phantom-like wires that were embedded through their bodies, impaling them. Their flesh was torn and ripped apart, organs hanging from them and blood soaking their cloaks. It was gruesome, morbid sight.
Now even more weary than before, Tetsuno began to observe the area around him. He imagined that the Golden Sin members he saw had come to investigate the disappearance of Zelden's group, but were killed by someone or something on the way. He tried to think of anything that could do anything like what he had seen. Some kind of beast maybe? He couldn't think of any who could do anything like that, not that he'd ever heard of or seen. And this cold feeling he felt... the image of vibrant flames and a black figure of death... He felt extremely uneasy now. He could feel a cold presence, something watching him from within the endless shadows.
Then a sudden wave of bitter frost fell over Tetsuno, putting out the light of his katana and making the only visible thing to him his own breath in the cold. He felt an intense sense of danger and death from behind him and, instinctually, he leapt to the side while spinning to face his attacker. As he did, he narrowly avoided being obliterated by a massive shockwave that exploded forward from something deep in the shadows. The shockwave blasted through the trees, going in and on as it obliterated and shredded them into nothing but dust and slivers of wood. As far as the eye could see, an entire section of the forest had been annihilated, in a straight line, nothing left in the shockwave's path. The pale light of the moon shone through the new opening in the woods, casting an eerie glow over Tetsuno and the path laid out by the blast.
Tetsuno's body was frozen. He was unable to move, unable to breathe, as though he were encased in ice, his lungs being wrung out, suffocating him. He felt helpless as fear overwhelmed him. He couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu as he sat there, staring into the shadows that seemed to watch him.
Then they began to move.