It was about 2 months after the Final Selection that the swords were finished and sent out. Along with a Crow who would give them orders. The demon slayers would be ready to exit for their first mission. The sunlight fell on Asumi's flower field, the flowers glowed their proud colours. She sat on a wooden chair, admiring the view. She was so close to dozing off.
"Asumi Dear…" Her mum tapped her on her shoulder. Asumi jumped at the sudden noise. She calmed down after she saw her Mum. With a rather cheeky smile on her face, Asumi looked back at the open door, the mail.
Asumi found a crow standing on top of the rather fashionable box which contained a silver sword. She covered her mouth, the crow tilted its head. As she opened the wooden box and grabbed the sword's blade, a pink colour bled through the sword, the sword changed colours, with subtle white stripes that went diagonal on the well-crafted blade. She couldn't help but be hypnotised by the sword that would be in her possession from now on. The crow looked up at her with a sparkle in its eye. Asumi looked back at her parents, and her Mum with tears flooding in her eyes. Her Dad was trying his best not to cry. After all, their daughter was about to embark on her dreams, and that was nothing to be sorrowful about. He failed and started to cry a river as Asumi smiled her bright and sweet smile.
They all hugged. "Stay safe dear, you can always come back, don't get hurt too much and don't…" Asumi's father said through tears. Asumi gulped as she felt her neck choke. The goodbye lasted for several minutes. She wished her family goodbye with one promise.
"I won't be dying anytime soon. Don't worry," she assured with a smile.
And just like that. She departed, walking down the path that led to outside of town. Making sure she didn't forget anything important. She looked back every 5 seconds, her parents didn't go back inside the house til she was out of sight.
The crow swooped down as she passed the vibrant flower field so dear to her heart. The crow alerted her of her first mission.
A band of demons that resided in a town. The crow also mentioned she would not be alone in this mission, and to expect company. She nodded and started to speed up a bit. The sun hung high in the sky, its light made the clouds around it an unimaginable white, adding shading to make them look like kernels of popcorn. The green grass was soon out of sight as Asumi sprinted into a thick forest. The cold settled in as the sunlight disappeared. Although, the cold was nothing compared to the mountains. Eira sat on her porch. It was rather warm for the time of year. The sunlight was barely peeking through the thick clouds above the mountain. Eira's face felt warmth as it was met by the rare sunlight. She heard an excited shout from her older brother. She jolted and ran to where he was, she saw an exhausted messenger holding out a box that was tied by a ribbon. An albino crow rested on the messenger's head, it hopped down to Eira's feet. She found it adorable.
Eira had the same shocked reaction as Asumi, both she and her brother shared that innocent excitement unravelling the box. As they saw the brand new sword, it was a very similar colour to their father's sword, yet unique at the same time. The soft and icy blue crawled up the sword as Eira's fingertips made contact with the sword's handle. Her brother shed a few tears seeing his dear sister enter a new chapter of her life.
"First mission huh? I know you're going to kill it out there. Make us proud, the whole family, I'm sure they're watching you up there" Her brother hugged her tightly. Eira couldn't help but have a mixture of emotions all turmoiling inside her, she squeezed her brother tightly. His words sunk deep.
"Even Dad?.." Eira whispered to her brother.
"Yeah… Even Dad." Her brother whispered back. He had a slight hesitation in his voice, Eira didn't bother noticing this and took a deep breath before breaking from the hug.
With a long hug and a tearful goodbye, Eira departed as well.
She held up the white snow of the mountains in her palm, who knew how long it would be till she saw snow again? She looked up at the peak of the mountain, the folktales she had heard since she was a child, they all told her that the Gods would watch over them, standing from the very top of the mountain. Their village was on a flat surface just 100 metres lower than the peak of the mountain, if someone really wanted to, they could climb to the top of the mountain there was a snowy path that spiralled around the mountain leading to the very top. However, everyone had it drilled into their head to not dare go anywhere near that path, if they did, the mountain gods would curse the climber with death. The elders made sure this fear the curse of death remained.
"How would you like it if someone climbed on your house? For the same reason, don't go anywhere near the mountain, even the river." They always told everyone. It was easy to avoid anyways, the path to go up the mountain was pretty far from the village, unless someone jumped across the wide flowing river that separated the path to the top of the mountain and village they wouldn't be able to go to the top of the mountain.
"Goodbye. Thank you for caring for me all these years. Thank you for caring for my family. Thank you for everything. I'll make sure to come back." She smiled as she wished the cold grey of the mountain goodbye. It was a bit emotional for her. Eira ran alongside her crow, which rested on her light blue sword hilt, which almost matched the light blue her sword had turned into. The crow was rather quiet, its light eyes staring forward. It spoke quietly but boldly. A mission far north, a joint mission with other people. A town that was infested and tormented by demons. Eira gulped and continued running down the white slopes of the mountain that led her to the very bottom of the mountain. Seeing the icy dirt turn into a warmer colour as she reached the base of the mountain in no time. She wondered who she would be grouped with.
"Maybe I'll see those two again. Asumi, and... that boy, Ali..." She sighed with the memory of Ali. She thought about him a lot in the past 2 months. Not because she was fond of him, but because he was strange, Eira's ability to feel people's feelings or aura, she could often tell how people were feeling, happy, sad, angry. She utilised it in a battle to predict an opponent's next move. But with Ali, it just... didn't work. The grey haunted her in some sense, the fact it had no emotion. No feeling, it never slipped out. It was an interesting experience. He definitely wasn't emotionless enough to be a grey aura.
Eira felt the atmosphere change as she ran towards the green fields a couple of kilometres away from the mountain. She felt good, until she felt the exhaustion kick in from running. In her excitement she had completely forgotten how physically enduring sprinting was on her, that was definitely a point she needed to train, her stamina would prove to be a major disadvantage in a fight. Eira slowed to a point and then stopped, huffing and puffing in exhaustion, she took a deep breath and continuing slowly running. It was a bit anti-climatic but the excitement still lingered in her heart.
Asumi and Eira both raced to the mission. As for Ali, chatter erupted in a silent forest, dark and gloomy. It was known for its cheap apartments as it was scary and most commoners didn't have the guts to go there. There was one person who did though.
"Aw man. I'm not going to lie. I'll miss this place." Ali laughs, he turns to the old lady who owned the complex. She just looked up at him with a rather neutral expression.
"Not much to miss anyways," she nods and waves. Ali laughed and said goodbye. He didn't really have anyone close to him left, his mentor, the Wind Hashira would always be on missions. As for his parents and relatives... They were long gone. Regardless, Ali continued to walk. He gritted his teeth in annoaynce, getting the sudden reminder of what had happened to his sword delivery. Ali was annoyed. Ali got no sword, instead a singular note from the sword maker saying it was still in progress. Ali sighed and walked on the dark path to his first mission. The one thing he did get though, was his crow. His crow was talkative like him, its squawky voice filling the silent void that the sound had been in for so long.
"Hey answer this for me though... why didn't I get my sword?!" Ali says frustrated. There had to be some other reason. Maybe the crow had thrown the sword into a river or something.
"No idea. Must be still making it. You have a regular sword? You can skip this mission if you want, you know?" The crow asked as it hops onto Ali's back. Ali cringes a bit and looks down at his wooden sword, scarred and old. Ali almost felt bad for the sword. He had owned it for two years now, with it never failing to do its job. He planned to keep it after he got his Nichirin one, he would keep the wooden one in some glass case, making sure it didn't get damaged any further.
"Just tell me where my mission is. I can get through," Ali sighed, the crow refused to tell Ali anything about the mission for some reason.
"Just walk and I'll say left or right." The crow was stubborn for no good reason.
Ali walked outside of the dull and gloomy forest after a few minutes, he took a big deep breath, the fresh air felt so refreshing. The blue sky stretched across the sky, it shone above each of the three demon slayers bright with hope. Their first mission was only hours away. As they all travelled to the same point, none of them were aware that they would meet each other again, instead only struck with a hope that they would. Eira sprinted from her mountain, Asumi slowly walked from her village, Ali cluelessly strolled hoping he was doing the right way, he didn't even know where the mission would be or what it was but he put trust into his crow. He believed that the crow must've been an expert at his job, he didn't even need a map or anything. How lucky that he got put with such a wise and insightful crow.
"Oh yeah, you were supposed to take a right 50 metres back." The crow suddenly remembered. Ali swore at the crow, taking back every positive thought he had. Regardless of how long it took, they were all on their way to their very first mission. As official Demon Slayers.