The intense heat of Titus burnt and bit relentlessly at Oiran's skin. She couldn't afford anything that could effectively protect her skin from this unbearable pain. She grits her teeth and keeps walking.
"Are you okay?"
She hadn't been looking where she was going and ran into someone. he stared at her with concern- but that concern slowly turned into fear as he looked closer.
She had fangs.
By the time that man had begun to scream for help, Oiran was out of sight. She took refuge in a nearby alley, covering her head in her arms as she cried. She cried just as she did every day- crying at the unfairness of this world.
The Kaibu were a race of demonic people that once lived in Titus peacefully along with humans, and another angelic race known as Diwa. Despite their appearance, the kaibu never meant any harm or ill will to any of the other races- but despite this, during a war 200 years ago, the king of Titus took advantage of the chaos to destroy and weaponize the race that he had never liked.
Nearly all of the existing Kaibu were hunted down and killed like dogs- and the rest were simply seen as weapons to be used at a whim. Those who managed to escape were doomed to a fate of never showing their face, or their wings- or anything that might set them apart from anyone else, lest they meet the same fate as 200 years ago.
"Hey,"
Oiran flinched at this noise, once again readying to sprint- but when she looked into this stranger's eyes, all she saw was kindness and worry. This was just like her. She bore fangs- but she didn't hide them like Oiran. She wore them with pride.
"Do you need help? Are you hungry?" She shuffled in her cloak for a bit, before pulling out a loaf of bread. Oiran snatched it out of her hands before she could say anything, and the girl laughed as Oiran noisily ate. "What's your name, street girl?"
Through a full mouth, Oiran spoke, "Oiran." before going right back to eating. The girl smiled. "I'm Cassia. Nice to meet you."
EIGHT YEARS LATER
Toafi walked along the street. Toafi had no family. Toafi had no will to live. He had just come out of a strip club because he thought it would fill the ever-growing dark pit in his soul that he knew deep down could never be mended-
"Um- excuse me, sir?"
The man turned to the source of the noise. It was a girl of about eighteen- and she was all alone. It bothered Toafi that she was alone. Toafi himself had a girl that age, and he hated the idea of her being alone at this hour.
Toafi responded. "Are you lost?" He couldn't fully see her face because of the jacket she wore. As he said this, the girl recoiled. "Wait. You're- not gonna mention the boobs?" she gestured to her chest. "I mean- if you feel like you're being rude, don't worry, even I think they're HUGE-"
"No, I'm just worried about you."
The girl sighs, looking over her shoulder. "I really don't want to mug this guy." A voice responded from seemingly nowhere. "Yeah... let's leave him be." Toafi flinched. "Mug? Who are you?" The girl laughed, leaning in close to his face, before lifting her hood, brandishing her sharp demonic teeth, smiling. "A monster!" The girl said, mockingly. Toafi screamed, running off, as Oiran did the same in the opposite direction as she laughed.
Cassia and Oiran laughed as they ran through the streets that they called home. They hadn't known anything but these streets, but that was fine with them as long as they had each other. Scaling a building, they eventually made it to the top. They gad no definite place of residence, but despite all of their shortcomings in life, they laughed and talked, mesmerized by the stars. They were the only friends either of them had ever had, and as far as they were concerned, they didn't need anyone else.
Oiran woke up to a jolt as she heard the pained sreams of Cassia beside her. Their house had been raided by the Royal Guard. They had found them. Oiran grabbed a knife on a nearby ledge, slashing through the neck of the guard that restrained Cassia. Oiran grabbed her by her sleeve. "We have to go!!" cassia was frozen with fear. Oiran shook her as hard as she could. "We have to run!! NOW!!" Cassia snapped out of her trance and followed behind Oiran as they ran through the streets of this malevolent city once again.
It wasn't even a minute before they ran into another group of guards. Oiran turned to go in the opposite direction, only to be met by more guards. There was nowhere they could go. "Dammit..." An angelic figure emerged from the swarm of guards. a Diwa. She spoke with a complete and definite tone. "I would advise you not to move. You might lose your heads, demons."
Oiran screamed at this Diwa as she and Cassia were quickly restrained. "YOU BITCH!! LET US GO!!" Despite her angelic appearance, the woman's face twisted in wretched pleasure. "I always LOVE it when we're able to find another one of you. The satisfaction I get from killing you is immeasurable!" Oiran screamed louder, her wings protruding from her back now, pushing back the guards that restrained her. Flames licked and immolated at the sides of her mouth as she stared at this woman with nothing but hate in her eyes.
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU-"
Oiran froze as something pierced her stomach, blood spraying from the wound. She scanned the group of guards. None of them had moved. She could barely think through all of this pain. There wasn't even a blade piercing her. The woman patted the head of a child next to her. "Good job, Shinji. You might even get dinner tonight." Shinji stared forward with malice in his eyes. "Thank you, Ma'am." Oiran's head became fuzzy as she began to lose consciousness.
"OIRAN!!" Cassia yelled, tears in her eyes. She attempted to escape as well but was hit with the hilt of a sword, falling unconscious. Oiran used what little power she had left trying to crawl toward Cassia, but she was far too fatigued and slipped out of consciousness.
"oiran..."
"Oiran."
"OIRAN!"
Oiran sat up groggily upon hearing her name. She looked around, and upon further inspection, she had no idea where she was- and even stranger, nobody else was in the room. She seemed to be in a jail cell, which didn't surprise her-
"OIRAN!!"
Oiran was completely dumbfounded, so she just decided to respond. "yeah..?" The voice sighed in relief. "It's me- it's Cassia!" Oiran's face lit up. "Where are you?!"
"I'm in the cell next to you," Cassia said.
"Where are WE? What is this place?" Oiran asked, looking around her barren concrete cell.
"The Valkyrie holding Facility." A voice cut in from out of sight. Oiran pressed up against the bars of her cell, trying to locate the source of the voice- but there seemed to be nobody. The voice laughed. "Let me take a wiiiiiiild guess. That bitch Aura got you, didn't she?"
A bead of sweat trickled down Oiran's face as she listened to this voice- the voice that sent chills down her spine. "Y-yeah. How did you know...?" the man laughed once more. "Kid, anything that goes on in this fuckin' city, I know about."
Cassia's voice piped up from her cell. "C-can you get us out?" Oiran could hear the fear in her voice as well. "Nah. Guards'll be here in about two minutes to make their rounds- 'sides, they'll know it was me." Oiran was puzzled. "How would they know it was you?" Oiran could practically hear the voice smile. "I have a pretty distinct way of doing things. Look, I can't get you out, but I can tell you how you can do it yourself. You'll be deployed to a battlefield in Yamagachi tomorrow, so if you can escape during the chaos, you'll be golden."
"Thanks...I guess." Oiran said. "No problem-"
"Wait," Cassia interjected. "Yeah?" The voice said. "What's your name? So I can thank you when- if we get out." Casia asked. The voice laughed again. He really laughs a lot. "The name's Jaakuna Zaruei. See ya' never." As the voice stopped talking, the overwhelming cold that the presence brought was lifted from Oiran as she exhaled deeply. She slumped down to the floor, before leaning against the wall that separated her from Cassia. "We'll be okay." Oiran whispered. "We'll be okay..."