Curdling Arms

Job Details:

It had only been a couple of years since Renji last saw Anmi Ray, his friend from (insert school name here). She was a cheerful lass that wasn’t afraid of anything, or so Renji believed. The memories they had felt like it was a long time ago, but her parents decided to move out from his hometown a couple of years ago. Still, after Renji had received a letter from Anmi, it was quite disturbing to say in the least. The fact that she was in danger was enough to spur Renji into action, but the added bit where she was bitten. Renji heard enough fairy tales and myths of what happens when something bites people. However he dashed those worries from his mind and focused on rescuing his friend from whatever peril she was in. It wasn’t directly involved in his desire to become a hero, or so he thought and made his way over to the Cursed Lands with no questions asked.

Upon his arrival to the Cursed Lands, everything looked bleak and devoid of life. Renji’s expression softened as he could feel the dry air like it barely contained life in it as well.

”This place… it feels so empty. Makes me wonder why would anyone decide to live here in the first place.” Renji muttered to himself as his amber eyes scanned the area around him. It was evening, so the lifeless husks of trees casted long shadows. It was practically eerie in a way, but with a stretched out hand. A flash of fire erupts from his hand, and from the fire is a beautiful tachi with a silver blade that acts like a mirror to the world. Fingers curled around the handle as it felt comfortable to hold and there wasn’t any strain to his wrist either. Light and sharp, just how Renji liked his weapons to be.

As the ground seemed deathly quiet with each step Renji took, the teen traveled through the Cursed Lands. Renji didn’t think it would be uneventful as Anmi mentioned that she was being chased by something, and that something bit her. The location that she had put in with the letter held the coordinates and Renji gauged he roughly had an hour worth of travel. The barren forest had an eerie vibe like the air was trying to weigh him down. Even as a breeze rolled through the trees, it felt like icy invisible fingers tugging at his coat.

After Renji traveled halfway over to the cabin when he started to hear something of raspy breathing. Confused, he turned his eyes to scan his surroundings, and while at first Renji didn’t see anything. Eventually his eyes landed on a small group of humans, two male and three female to be precise. Yet all of them had torn rotted flesh with bones protruding through their shoulders. Their glazed milky white eyes seemed to be focused on whatever was in front of them, but one of the males caught sight of Renji as he was literally like the red riding hood. There was a blood curdling screech from the ghoul’s mouth before all five of them charged towards Renji.

Renji flinched with the built up fear swelling inside of him, the fear that these ghouls were dead people, and these ghouls showed all the signs that they were after for his blood. Primal rage of hunger drove them, and no voice of reason could sway them. The grip on his sword trembled as Renji had half of a mind to simply run away. However, the memory of his friend being trapped in this awful place brought a surge of strength in willpower within him. Renji grits his teeth and gripped his tachi before Renji leapt up in the air over the lunging group of ghouls. Renji tilted his body so that his feet caught the trunk of a tree, and with a couple of leaps around the trees and confusing the ghouls. The teen swiftly came down with a swing of his tachi as the silver blade sliced through the rotted flesh and bone like a hot knife to butter. Renji leapt up before he briefly landed on top of a ghoul’s head and in a quick motion Renji decapitated the second male ghoul.

The teen was quick on his feet and sliced through the remaining ghouls with little effort. A soothing hymn continued to emit from the glowing orange feather at the bottom of his tachi, and probably the main thing that kept Renji from succumbing to fear. At the sight of the ghouls, Renji felt the churning sensation within the bowels of his stomach, and before he could stop it Renji doubled over and vomited. A reaction of not only seeing someone die, but killing them himself. The teen certainly didn’t have the stomach for this sort of thing as Renji had always incapacitated people. Undead such as the Revenants in a different job didn’t bother him either, but this was all too real.

After he recovered and regained his composure. Renji resumed his path to the cabin, and to his fortune nothing else came out to attack him. The cabin came into his vision, but it looked dark and cold inside. There wasn’t any light shining through the windows, and frankly there was a sense of dread settling onto his consciousness.

”She did mention that she was feeling feverish. I should hurry and give her some healing until we can get her to a proper healer.” Renji spoke to himself in an encouraging way as his torso flared in flames. Just as quickly as it came, the fire disappeared in a thin plume of smoke and covering his torso was a fiery red coat that had orange-blue feathers at the bottom. Renji’s brisk pace brought him up to the wooden door as he immediately knocked on it with his free hand.

[color=#cc0099”Anmi? Anmi, it’s me Renji. I’m here to get you out of this place.”[/color] Yet there were no words that could be heard from beyond the door. Rather, the only response Renji got was muffled groans and heavy breathing. Renji knocked on the door a bit harder this time before he called for her, but the response was the same. So the teen took a couple of steps back before he kicked down the wooden door. What awaited Renji was not what he was expecting. The cabin was dark and almost barren with a lone table covered in dust. Renji stepped into the darkness, and there wasn’t any sign of Anmi anywhere.

”Anmi?” Renji called after her once more as he snapped the fingers of his free hand to produce a candle-sized flame over his index finger. It shed some light in the cabin, and from the amount of dust in on the floor boards Renji could see the trail of footprints that led to a separate room with a closed door. The Sabertooth mage could hear the groans had grown louder as he approached the closed room, and so he reached to open the door after he set down his tachi on the table.

The door creaked as Renji pushed it open, and it appeared to be a bedroom once upon a time ago. Slumped on the ground in the far corner was a feminine figure with shoulder-length bronze colored hair who wore a pale blue hoodie, blue jeans, and hiking boots. On the right upper arm was torn fabric with dried blood, but Renji couldn’t shake off the growing sense of dread.

”Anmi? I took care of those creatures that were chasing after you. The way is clear, so we can get you to safety and…” Renji had walked into the room as he was talking to her, but in the light the girl slowly lifted her head. What Renji saw were bloodshot eyes that didn’t have a shred of humanity left. The kind of vibe the ghouls from before gave was the same with hers. Time felt like it grew still as a vision of memories in Renji’s past interactions with Anmi. All led to a single question of how in the world it came down to this?

In Renji’s daze, Anmi had stood up on her feet and let out a chilling screech that spoke of all the malice she held within her. It snapped the mage out of his trance, but not before Anmi lunged forward to slam Renji against the wall. She gnashed her teeth as she flailed her arms against his chest, and thankfully his coat was actually armor that protected his torso. Even so she strained to bite down at Renji, and the only reason why she hadn’t yet was because Renji was strongly pushing his hands against her chest as he struggled to keep her at bay. To his surprise, Anmi was incredibly strong if not as strong as he was. Yet despite how much this ghoul, this undead creature, really wanted to tear his throat out. Renji refused to believe that she was gone yet.

”Stop Anmi! Get ahold of yourself!” He protested, but with a deep growl Anmi lifted Renji off his feet and threw him out of the room. Renji’s back slammed against the wall as the wood groaned upon the impact of his fall to the ground. Before he could fully recover from the impact, Anmi rushed him and successfully chomped down against his neck. Renji cried out as magic power flowed to his right hand, and as he slammed it against her side Renji released a ball of fire that blasted through her hoodie and into her skin. Anmi howled as she was thrown off from him. Renji’s left hand reached up to cover the wound on his neck that was bleeding profusely as he quickly stood up to his feet. One of the feathers plucked itself from his coat and poked him on the neck as a soothing green light washed over him. The bleeding stopped and the wound was closing up.

Renji rushed over to the table and snatched his tachi. However Anmi’s recovery was remarkable as she slammed against him and both tumbled over the table. Both of them landed on the floor and Renji lost his grip on his tachi as it skidded across the floor. This time as Anmi pounced on him, Renji made sure to pull his legs up to stomp against her stomach and threw Anmi to burst through the wall to outside. Renji crawled over to grab his tachi once more, and by spinning he stood up with his sword raised to strike. Yet strangely nothing came, and so Renji cautiously approached the hole in the wall.

Apparently the kick dazed the fresh ghoul as she was sluggish on getting up to her feet. Yet once her bloodshot eyes met his, Renji is faced with the same sense of dread and sorrow. The sorrow of the realization that she is gone, and this was simply a feral husk of her body.

”You’re not giving me much of a choice… are you?” Renji didn’t expect Anmi to honestly answer as his tachi lowered, and the sword fell out of his hand. He felt his eyes stinging as tears started to flow down his cheek. It was a hard pill to swallow, but with a deep breath Renji stepped forward as Anmi charged forward. Renji met her charge with a mighty lateral kick against her sternum, and she went down like a sack of potatoes. The mage followed up by putting his childhood friend into a headlock who chomps into the leather sleeve of his coat. Renji knew what he must do, but he won’t cut his friend into pieces or beat her face beyond recognition. As she gnawed on his sleeve, not getting through the leather as he maintained his hold.

”I’m sorry Anmi… May your spirit rest in peace.” Renji whispered, and then with a jerk came the sickening crack as Anmi’s body suddenly went limp. Honestly he didn’t know which hurt the worse, seeing Anmi attacking like a feral beast or becoming her killer. Though Renji relaxed his grip, he lets Anmi’s head rest against his shoulder as his arm cradled her. His amber eyes continued to sting as the tears came down with less restraint to his chin. With his other hand, Renji closed her lifeless eyes, and for a few minutes he hasn’t said anything nor moved a muscle. Time once more felt like it had frozen as his mind took the time to process that his friend, whom he had grown up with and was practically family, was dead. In the end, Renji blamed himself for not getting there sooner, and for his incapability of curing whatever ailment that caused her to go into a frenzy.

After several minutes had gone by, Renji took a deep breath before he got up and gently lays Anmi’s body on the ground. He then proceeded to spend however much time needed to build a pyre. Where Renji will place Anmi’s body on top of, and as he reaches in his pocket, he brings out a deck of cards from an old card game they always played. Renji never had the time to play the game, and it was so outdated that nobody really played to his knowledge. Even so, Renji placed his deck of cards on her chest before he ceremoniously crossed her arms over her chest. Then with a ball of fire, Renji ignited the pyre as dusk was setting on the horizon. The sky was painted red that evening, but Renji’s eyes weren’t looking up that evening.

It wasn’t until Anmi’s body was reduced to ash, a funeral that her body won’t be defiled any longer by this curse, and night had fallen as well. There was movement in the shadows from what Renji heard, and another group of ghouls rushed the depressed mage. Yet as he heard their scream, anger flared up as he called forth his jian of blue damascus and turned his body to face the ghouls. A loud explosion of fire erupted from the jian as flames snuffed the ghouls’ bodies and scattered off into the wind. In his trance of anger and grief, Renji retrieved his Ashrune from the cabin and began to return to the station. That night, Renji slew undead wolves and another pack of ghouls as anger raged in his heart. By the time he exited the Cursed Lands, dawn had broken the dark skies as the exhausted Renji made way to the Ace of Spades. A place that he called home.

Along the way home, Renji’s mind dug up some better memories of when Anmi and he were younger. Their laughter echoed in his thoughts as they played in any kind of game no matter where they went. Yet he bitterly remembers in flash images of her blood stained lips with her menacing scream of pain and anger. He needed something to distract himself with, but the long train ride back home wasn’t helping either.

WC: 2514
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