Vengeance Upon Fate - Chapter 34

(Am I… dead..?)

{Thud…Thud…Thud}

Kurogane’s slow heartbeats resonated clamorously through his ears, deafening his already blurred senses.

Shortly after regaining consciousness, Kurogane noticed that his arms were chained against a brick wall.

“Where.. am I? Is anyone there?”

Everything before him was pitch black. All he could see was the wall behind him and the chains bound tightly to his wrists.

Kurogane gazed upon the dark abyss before him; suddenly, within a blink of an eye, a figure appeared inches away from his face – hanging upside down from above.

It was one of them – the ones who had killed Taro and Hiroki, although Kurogane could discern that it wasn’t the same killer he had confronted earlier. Its expression was utterly terrifying, with a large, tattered smile surrounding its sharp, heinous teeth.

All Kurogane could do was yearn to scream for help, but the words refused to come out of his mouth.

Gasping heavily, he realized he had awoken from another nightmare.

He was drenched in sweat and had long bandage wraps all over his head and abdomen, followed by a few smaller ones on his face.

He appeared to be lying down on a bed in a small, wooden room with a curtained glass window against the wall and a lamp hung next to it.

Kurogane quickly realized that he could not move a muscle. His body was trembling, sweating, and his escalated heart rate caused him to breathe rapidly.

“Just a dream.. nothing more than a dream.”

After calming down, his mind finally started to clear as the blood began to rush back into his fingertips.

“Where did I end up? Who’s house is this? Are they an enemy? Or did guards end up capturing me for interrogation?”

He attempted to sit up, but felt immense, unbearable pain shooting through his body and layed back down.

{Urghhh…}

( How am I.. even alive?)

Kurogane was struck with a terrible headache after remembering what had happened to his dear friends, and had the urge to place his hand on his forehead.

(That pugilist.. It was the same one I saw in my dream..)

…..

(But that doesn’t matter now… I failed again when they trusted me with all they had.. I let them die a horrible death… and their blood… now lies on my hands.)

This guilt stirred up an fervid rage inside Kurogane, and, as if guided by pure instinct, he clenched his bandaged fist and smashed an ornate wooden table right beside his bed, causing it to shake and rumble.

This sudden reaction caused a small, framed photo with a kickstand to fall over.

Kurogane, now realizing his actions, caught it by surprise and delicately examined it.

(A father and his daughter?)

There appeared to be a slightly dark skinned, built man with a dark brown, curly buzz cut and a short stubble beard topped with a small goatee on his chin.

A small girl, supposedly his daughter, sat on his lap. She looked as if she were six years old or so, having lighter skin than her father and luminously long, teal colored hair. She was grabbing onto his goatee, the two of them smiling happily at each other.

Suddenly, the door at the corner of the room creaked open. Kurogane, startled at the sudden noise, held on to the wooden frame as his last resort weapon as he prepared to confront whatever would emerge from the door.

A head slowly peeped in. It looked like a girl in her late teens, who had the same brightly long, teal hair as the girl in the picture.

As soon as she realized Kurogane noticed her, she gently closed the door and scurried off, her delicate footsteps reverberating the wooden flooring inside Kurogane’s room.

“Hmh..? Who was that?” Kurogane thought to himself, as he lowered down the picture frame.

He could hear her run over to a different room and speak in a hushed voice to someone else, as the house was fairly quiet.

“Huh? Really? Wait… I left that on the table? Hah, darn, let’s check it out then.”

A man seemed to reply to her, eventually got up, and walked over to the door and opened it.

It surely was the same people from the picture Kurogane was looking at. Both looked much older, especially the girl with her taller and more mature appearance.

The man had a tan, short sleeved t-shirt and brown work pants with heavy duty, studded rosewood boots. He appeared to have a utility belt as well with various tools attached to it. He gave off quite a wholesome vibe overall, which was a relief to Kurogane.

“So the sleeping beauty finally decides to wake up huh? How ya feelin?”

“O-Oh.. uhm, alright I guess. Just really sore all over.”

The man grabbed a pair of chairs, set them down and sat down on one. The girl did the same on the other.

She wore a black hair band with a white lotus attached to the side followed by a loose fit, dark blue robe. Her long skirt had a similar color and went a little before her ankles. This was topped with a white, pocketed apron and her finely crafted, indigo house slippers. She seemed quite shy, adding to her virtuous, innocent expression.

“Yeah, so you’ll be like that for a while. Your abdomen was completely gashed when I found you.”

“You found me? Where was I at the time?”

“Well, I was coming back from a late night hunting trip two days ago until I saw a bright, light blue glow from the other side of a hill. I cut the main path and ran above it only to see you lying flat on your chest on the roadway and bleeding like crazy. Your bag and weapon was there too… luckily, we were near the city gate, so I ran and carried you over to my place with your stuff.”

“I see… I can hardly believe I’m alive right now. How can I ever thank you for all of your help?”

The man let out a warm grin upon hearing Kurogane’s sincere gratitude.

“Don’t be bothered, I had to do my part by saving a handsome man in distress y’know? But honestly, you should be thanking her as well.”

The man, using his thumb, pointed to the girl sitting next to him.

“Dad, stop…”

The girl turned her face away and lightly blushed.

“You don’t have to thank me if you don’t want to, it’s no big deal really.”

“Ahah, still a shy one as usual, aren’t ya?” Said the man, patting her head with his hand.

She froze at first then frowned with a pouting expression.

“In case you didn’t notice, this is my daughter Ayumi. I know, a beautiful babe right? You can call me Yukito while you’re at it. The Tsukuda family is at your service!”

“I go by Tamashiro Kurogane.”

“Interesting name, I can tell she got excited just by hearing that.”

Yukito lightly elbowed Ayumi to annoy her further.

“Did not!”

“Hehehe, just messin with yer guts gurl.”

With her face nearly as read as a tomato, Ayumi was blushing a lot more than before. Kurogane looked away, as he felt awkwardly intrusive in this family’s home. To ease Ayumi’s growing embarrassment, Kurogane turned his head back and asked a few questions to change the subject.

“So how did I manage to survive?”

“Well you see, my daughter here is blessed with the element of nature and has a business here at our house, which is near the curb at a busy intersection in this city. We make our living by gathering ingredients and creating potions and medicine. We used one of our expensive, higher tiered potions to get rid of the deep wounds and major blood loss within you.”

(So the potions alone helped me regain blood and sealed my major wounds… I can’t imagine how difficult it is to make and how high they sell for.)

“I have to make it up to you both somehow. You must have worked hard on those potions.”

“Well it’s not as bad when I’m around. I’m no good when it comes to using my elemental powers but my experience in medicine allows me to help my daughter finish her makings quicker.” Wuxiaworld for visiting.

“I see.”

“Hey, I got a bit sidetracked before, but how did you end up so badly hurt? Was it a beast you encountered?”

“I … did encounter a beast actually. A malevolent monster. It was one of the strongest creatures I’ve ever fought.”

“Malevolent?” Said Ayumi in shock.

“Dear lord… how did you escape it?”

“I used a special orb I got from a friend, and it teleported me to the nearest city with my belongings.”

“Ah, that makes sense now. Never knew they had such a useful item. So you’re a traveler I’m assuming?”

(I can’t tell them the full truth. If I bring up the details I could potentially end up getting them involved… I can’t bear to lose more people like this.)

These thoughts made Kurogane grasp the bedsheets out of conflicting emotions.

“Hey, you alright there bud?”

“Oh! Well, yes.. I’m just stopping by different places for sightseeing and adventure – something good for a change I guess…”

Kurogane mustered out a fake, light chuckle in order to play off his previous reaction. Though, he was sure that his attempt wouldn’t avail as expected, as he hardly ever expressed such an emotion in general.

Ayumi gave a straight look upon hearing the response, but Yukito got up from his seat and looked at Kurogane for a few seconds.

(Damn, I keep zoning out at the worst times.. They’re going to suspect me for something now.)

To his surprise, Yukito grinned and replied kindly.

“Good to see you’re exploring. Just remember that you won’t always be lucky like this, so be more cautious. Alright?”

Kurogane looked down solemnly and nodded.

“Anyways, I’ll be heading to the bathroom for a bit. We’ll get you some dinner right after… since it’s getting pretty late.”

“Alright.”