𝒮𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓉𝑒𝒶

❥𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙵𝙸𝙵𝚃𝚈-𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴

Warnings: Violence, blood, language, death

It had taken (Y/N) over an hour to travel down the mountain and get to the nearest village, the journey long enough that they were forced to take a few breaks before getting to their destination.

The soles of their shoes were smothered in dirt as they traveled along the forest path, the glow of the blue flowers guiding them along to find the exit.

Miko had asked for them to submit some manuscripts she had written to the Yae publishing house, uncaring on how adamant (Y/N) was on not wanting to go. After all, they were quite literally a wanted person, so going out when they could be seen by anyone instead of remaining in the comfort of the shrine was risky.

Miko was not having it however and complained how the deadline was soon but she had other things to work on and wouldn't be able to make it in time, so reluctantly, (Y/N) decided they would accept. However, they chose to just hire the first person they saw in the nearest village to take it on their behalf— of course without Miko's knowledge.

They quickly found a village once they stepped out from the lush forest that curved around in the direction they were walking, releasing a breath of relief as they saw the top of the houses lined with wood and stones. Buildings became clearer the further they walked and luckily there were no guards on patrol, which they thought was unusual at first, but decided that they were probably on a break or something.

They were going to keep walking to enter the village and find some random civilian, but a glint in the corner of their eye grabbed their attention and stopped them from walking.

Turning their head fully in its direction to get a better view, they noticed that a little ways from the village sitting against a large orange-leafed tree laid a spear, the end pressed against the ground while the tip leaned against the bark. The glint came off from the silver metal and the pole arm looked standard to a Tenryou commission soldier's weapon with the three sharp spikes, the one in the middle longer than the outer two.

Instead of going into the village, they were lured towards this out of place object, a tilt to their head and a puzzled expression as they wondered why someone would leave that there.

There was this odd sensation in the air, one forewarning misfortune, however they ignored it as every tense step they took crushed the flowers and grass below their feet.

Once they reached the weapon, they extended their hand outwards and pressed their finger along the flat of the blade, fingers trailing sideways to feel how it curved and felt under their touch. Their hand kept lowering as they felt up the tool until they reached the long handle, the well used weapon having a worn but sturdy grip around it that prevented its users from hurting their hands.

They felt the texture of the wrapping and curled their fingers around it so that it was in their grasp, though they quickly retracted their hand once they heard what they thought were the sound of someone's footsteps.

Leaves and twigs crunched beneath someone's foot that (Y/N) heard only subtly when holding their breathe in anticipation to see who was there, but the person either was ignoring them or didn't know they could hear them.

Backing up slightly from the weapon, they looked around the edge of the lush terrain to see if they could locate where the sound emerged from. Curiosity beckoning them forward, they walked past the tree, and the sight before them made their blood run cold.

With their hand still pressed against the bark of the tree as they steadied themself from falling over in shock, the palms of their hands began to feel clammy and the initial shock caused sweat to form on their neck.