(Viewer Warning: This isn't really a warning, I just wanted to tell you to stay til the end of this chapter because there's some descriptions in Eira's flashback that I'm proud of.)
Ali almost immediately clasped his hand over his face, the very idea of taking Eira's brother hostage sounded insane. If he was going to uphold one moral, it would be to not fight crazy with more craziness.
The moon-lit treetops that lined the ground surrounding the mountains swayed gently, the dark green of the treetops and the shadows blended beautifully into an exemplary example of natural beauty. The calm and peaceful nature of the mountain was contrary to Ali's conflicted motivations. He wanted to discover why Eira was acting this way, why she had so much hate and aggression against him, more than anything, he wanted to know if she was ok.
He found himself asking the same questions with no resolution, the pinnacle of Ali's worry was a simple question.
"Are we still friends?"
His mind revisited the absurd plan he had thought about, he wondered how he could approach it in a way no one would be hurt. How could he break the justified yet severe stigma against demons and have a peaceful conversation with a human as a demon?
Ali's struggle with his identity as a demon had been resolved, yet he faced a new challenge. How could he show that he was a 'peaceful' demon? He stared at his skin, a colour unfamiliar to human pigment, the crescent markings a testament to his demon identity, and his eyes that read Lower Moon One only solidified his intimidating features. In a way, it was more sane to immediately attack a demon than attempt to communicate. Ali sighed and clenched his fist, he was solution-orientated towards a problem that was riddled with nothing but chaos.
Ali closed his eyes and wondered if it was even possible to restore the long-lost friendship.
"I hate this," Ali's brain erupted in frustration and he lashed out, he swung his fist at the air beside him. A harsh breeze erupted from his action, several trees rustled as if Ali's frustration affected them too.
Ali came to a final decision, he could worry about the procedure of his plan later. He needed to utilise the transient night hours to locate Eira's mountain and travel there.
The dojo's door slammed shut, and Ali swiftly leapt across the room to a desolate cabinet in the corner. He swung the door open, being met by the pile of books, neither he or Akaza were the 'reading for leisure' type, so the books were covered in dust.
He carefully studied the titles of the books, the spines faded to the point that some titles were barely readable, fortunately, Ali found the exact book that would provide assistance.
'Japan Atlas'
His rough fingertips caressed the book's edges, the blue colour of his fingers somewhat matched the faded blue of the aged book. Ali's memory only served as a fragmented source of information, he only knew key features of Eira's hometown that could potentially help identify it. The snow, its position on a mountain and the river that bordered the village.
Ali had doubts that a small village would even be documented, however, he continued to flip through pages eliminating regions and areas.
"I don't recall her saying it has a train station," Ali flipped through pages. Japan had an abundant amount of mountains, however, snow was more prevalent in the Northern regions, which was able to narrow down Ali's search. He limited his search to the Northern regions.
"Snow and a river…" Ali studied the different maps closely.
After an hour of research, Ali had exhaustingly narrowed the potential locations down to a small number of twelve. He held some maps of particular regions in his hand.
As he swung the dojo door open once again, the cold night air confronted his entire body. Ali inhaled deeply and stepped down onto the damp dirt. He had approximately eight hours til sunrise to explore the tagged locations.
Ali had already left a note for Akaza since he'd likely take a few days to get back. With no wasted time, Ali launched off the ground and went sliding down the slide of the mountain.
"See you soon, Eira" Ali leapt off the side of the mountain towards his first destination.
It had been ten hours since Ali's departure. The sun had risen to provide light and serve as an alarm to all diurnal creatures. The vibrant colours of the morning ran contrary in mood to the events that would unfold in the hours that followed.
Kaze inhaled deeply as he faced a training dummy, he raised his fists and began to strike with his fists. Even in his demon-slaying profession, he remained in practice with his beloved martial art, Motion of the Shadow. He began to strike faster and harder, effortlessly flowing one strike into another as if there was no time between the strikes. His muscles tensed every time they came into contact with the dummy, this was his tenth round with the dummy and he was reaching his limit. He finished with a final kick to the 'neck' of the dummy. He stepped backwards and panted heavily. His entire body radiated off heat. He began to unwrap the bandages off his fists and slowly took off his top in an attempt to cool down. He looked to his right, Asumi sat on a wooden chair, in her hands a newspaper.
"Are you going to train as well?" Kaze nodded to her and smiled as he stepped out of his fighting stance.
"I'm retired, remember?" Asumi reminded Kaze as she exhaled deeply and returned his smile. Kaze facepalmed as he remembered Asumi would be leaving the Demon Slayer Corps soon.
"Right, well, good to stay in practice right?" Kaze laughed, just as Asumi was about to start another conversation. A squawk alerted both of them.
A white crow had swooped down from the skies. The glistening sharp talons of the crow held an envelope.
"This is a letter for Eira, Ice Hashira, the Demon Slayer Corps received it four hours ago," The crow spoke eloquently, somehow it seemed uncanny, well, Asumi had always found Eira's crow a little unsettling. Nevertheless, Asumi nodded and took the letter from the crow and headed inside.
Asumi couldn't help but look at the front of the envelope out of curiosity. Her pink eyes widened in confusion as she saw who the letter had been sent from.
"To Eira, From Cadell"
Asumi hadn't heard that name before, regardless, she went to the room Eira was sleeping in and gently shook her.
Eira awoke quite startled. Her eyes were heavy with tiredness and her body ached with fatigue. She was met with Asumi who stood quite awkwardly.
"You got a letter from Cadell, any idea who that is?" Asumi spoke softly, Eira's ears perked up and her eyes widened at the sound of the name. She smiled as she gleefully took the letter from Asumi.
"That's my older brother's name, have I never told you?" Eira rubbed her eyes as she looked up at Asumi.
"Not that I remember, you mostly refer to him as 'my brother'" Asumi justified herself. She stepped back a bit to give Eira her privacy when opening the letter.
Eira stared at the letter, the familiar handwriting filled her with warmth, she was delighted that her brother was writing to her.
"Maybe it's a sign that I need to visit him," Eira giggled and stood up, she attempted to brush down her blonde bed hair as she skipped out of the room. This was a great start to her day, she hadn't spoken to her brother in a while and she was over the moon that he had sent a letter.
As Eira entered a room with more light, she left no time to waste and began to rip apart the envelope. She tugged out the piece of paper that was folded inside and unravelled it.
Asumi followed Eira with her own giggle, it was like watching a child open a Christmas gift, just joyful to watch.
Eira began to read and with every word she read her smile dropped further and further, her mood had escalated so high only to drop at an unmatched speed.
The letter read:
"Eira,
There is a demon in our town, it goes by Ali, it is asking that you come and speak with it alone. Please hurry, the townspeople are terrified. The demon isn't harming anyone but it's going to hold me in our house till you arrive. I am safe and am not in any harm, please come quickly.
Cadell"
Eira's hand began to shake, the slight tremble travelled to her entire body, she felt as if all the strength and energy were slowly being drained out of her. The letter escaped the grip of her hands and began to float down onto the wooden floorboards. Eira's heart pounded in her chest, her throat dried up and her knees felt weak.
"Eira? Are you ok?" Asumi expressed her worries and put a hand on Eira's shoulder.
Eira collapsed, her body hit the ground with a thud. Her breathing grew quicker as her paranoia took control of her mind. She was left in a dark void as her surroundings seemed to implode on themselves. Although her brother had clearly stated that he was safe and in no harm, the very topic of the letter evoked Eira's greatest fear. Losing another loved one.
"Please… Please don't.." Eira murmured and held her head. She could hear Asumi's worried voice, she could feel the pink aura attempting to reach her, but she had fallen too deep into a state of paranoia and anxiety. The abyss of fear consumed her as her mind grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her back into a distant, traumatic, gruesome memory.
Her heart pounded, tears flooded her eyes and she wanted to scream out as loud as she could.
She was a little girl hiding in her closet once again, mouth wide open, eyes red from not blinking as she watched her mother being viciously torn apart by a demon and consumed fibre by fibre. Nothing left but bones.
She had to blink. Blink. Blink. Blink.
Eira's eyes closed, she opened them again. She began to tremble as she watched the same scene unfold, in the same house, the same fireplace, the same blankets folded in the cabinet that never closed. The only difference was that after her blink, it was her brother's lifeless head that lay on the floor.
Even in a decapitated form, Cadell's eyes met Eira's, the blue eyes that they both inherited from their parents locked.
"There's a demon in our town," Cadell's mouth whispered. Cadell's eyes signalled to his left. Eira's trembling eyes slowly turned left. She began to let out a desperate groan of dismay and horror as her eyes were met with the rest of Cadell's disfigured body. His torso had an incision in the very centre, his ribcage pried open. His heart still beat morbidly.
Eira let out a blood-curdling shriek, tears streamed down her cheeks and her vocal cords strained with tension. She continued to hopelessly scream.
Then she went silent, she went silent as Cadell spoke again.
"It goes by Ali,"
Ali emerged from the shadows, his pale blue skin contrasted by the dried blood around his hands and mouth.
"I see you, Eira," Ali's teeth were sharp, stained with blood, his eyes pitch black with no sign of soul. He faced the closet, he began to take slow steps towards her hiding spot.
Eira's heart sank.