Inner Demon: The Dark Bloods - Book I ✓

Chapter 14 - Lullabies of the Forgotten

14.

Lullabies of the Forgotten

It was all fiction, like from a movie or a book. In fact, it was form a book! Reality –boring, repetitive, known reality– apparently held secrets, and they began to spew from Amon’s lips.

“This book,” he said and placed a hand on it, “contains the chronicles of the Watanabe Clan’s experiences throughout their genesis. Battles, marriages, deaths, births, and demons slayings litter these pages, all told by someone from the clan. Each generation has a voice. A designated writer so to say that records the clan’s involvements and activities. That’s why it’s written so oddly. Sometimes like a history book, other times like a diary. I don’t know when they started this tradition, but I have read it multiple times, and from it, I have deduced an origin story.

“This world was once bleeding with demons,” Amon’s thick voice vibrated through the room, “When it was young and mankind had not yet established itself as diligently, a harsh battle erupted between the humans and invading demons. From the chaos, three people appeared, two men and a woman. They were armed with the power of spiritual Magika –or Mahou as the book calls it. They were the ones who helped save mankind and emerged as the heroes of the war. They helped kill off a majority of the demons that plagued their lands. Lands I believe to have been located in present day Japan.

“The demons had not completely left, of course, and it was believed that stronger ones existed and were yet to show themselves. These three individuals parted ways and married. They had families and most of their children were born with Magika. It was soon discovered that two people with Magika usually gave birth to Magika filled children. Even if one of the parent was not spiritually blessed, if the other parent had strong enough Magika, it could be passed down to their child. The three families evolved into clans, searching for people with Magika to train and add to their family in hopes of expanding and strengthening mankind for the next imminent demonic attack.

“The three main clans branched others. One of them being the Watanabe Clan. The one you have been reading about. The book itself is obviously not the original. It’s a translation, amateurly bound and printed multiple decades ago. Have you finished reading it all?”

Reyna sluggishly shook her head. Her face was pale, her eyes glossy. Then she spoke, something dawning on her, “How was Ayame able to write about her battle and her own death?”

Amon sighed. “That I do not know. I can only guess someone else wrote it for her, but how that person could know about her and her battle is also an unknown to me.”

“Oh.”

“Finish reading it,” he said and gently patted her hand with his cracked and calloused one. “See how the clan died and how you–”

Reyna twitched at his sudden hesitation.

He continued as if nothing had happened. “Just read it, Reyna.”

She blinked. The action waving some color back into her face. “No, that can’t be it. Just read it? No.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said this isn’t the original. What happened to it, then? How did you end up with this book?” Reyna suddenly sat up straighter on her bed, pulling her hand away from Amon’s. “You have powers. This Magika. I know it! What is it that you have? Why can’t you just tell me all of that now?”

Amon studied the apprehensive look on his niece’s face and sighed. “It is true, I do possess a form of Magika. I have Sight. Although I can not physically see with both my eyes, I can See things of beyond. I can See things happening down the street. See where things are hidden. I can probe and block out your senses. I give subtle cues to help them believe certain things. A type of mental hypnotism.”