Era's of Oni

Chapter 3: Oni Escapee

The next morning, the sun was bright in Akashi's eyes. It was a beautiful morning though. She could feel the warmth of the sun. It shone right through the leaves of the trees, making patches of light on the ground. The leaves on the trees were bright and green. Their color showed through the light. Akashi smiled at the sight. It was so bright.

She got up, opened her bag, and took out an apple. She ate the whole thing at once. Since she was bigger than most things, the apple was a little small for her. Since she didn't pack a whole lot of food she could only have one. She packed up her sleeping bag into her bag. She hung the bag on her shoulders, took out her blade, and went on her way in the same direction as she had gone before.

Cutting down leaves on her way again creepy crawlers continued to squirm away. Finally, she got out of the forest. It was a small beach. The only way to escape the island now was to travel by sea. With the factor that Oni's are very strong, Akashi would be able to build herself a boat.

With the sword that Akashi had brought she spent a whole day in the hot sun creating the best miniature boat she could make. While not having much experience in constructing things like some other Oni in Okemia, she still had her strength.

Akashi cut down wood from the forest trees to make planks. She placed them in order of how she wanted them to come out. She made sure that there were frames, bulkheads, and a hull on top. This is what Akashi knew she had to start with to make a boat.

Next, she had to figure out how to pull them all together. To keep the boat stable.

Making nails would be hard. Making a whole different design would be a waste. Possibly making a hole in all the planks, and then sticking a stick in those holes throughout all the planks could keep them together if you thought about it. Of course, Akashi would try anything possible to get away from the island so that's exactly what she did. She spent more time measuring and creating sticks, just to test it in the water and fail.

The boat almost immediately started filling with water and sinking.

Akashi sighed. "How am I going to get out of here?"

A ship's horn could be heard from a nearby distance. Akashi hid in the forest, thinking it was a scouting ship. Though it was a merchant ship. Finally, a good idea came to Akashi.

Today was the day that the merchant ship would be leaving. If Akashi was right, the ship would be leaving in about 10 minutes. She immediately ran in the direction of the ship.

She went through the forest, dodging the branches on the trees and going through all the bushes in her path. Before leaving the forest she transformed into her human form.

Akashi would always feel tired after being in her human form for too long. However, she would have to spend a few days in her human form on the ship if she wanted to successfully leave the island. Though that was only if she could get on the ship.

Running out on the beach towards the docks of the ships, she sneakily boarded the ship leaving in, now, 2 minutes. Somehow she stayed unnoticed when entering the storage dock, where big male Oni's could be seen loading more merchandise. She hid behind some already loaded merchandise at the back corner of the door, facing the left of the loading door and right of the entering door from the top deck. It was directly below the dining room of the ship so she knew she would be bothered by footsteps but she had to get out of the island. It was the only way.

She spent 5 days out at sea after that. Listening to the neverending loud footsteps of the crewmen walking and pacing around. The sounds of the ocean smacking against the sides of the ship. The sound of the motor room was located even below the storage deck. However, what was good about being in the storage room was that nobody was checking to see if the merchandise was still there. Because where could it possibly go?

Akashi found food in the storage dock as well. So though she spent 5 days there, she wasn't starving.

Finally, the ship had ended its trip and Akashi had to make a run for it. She picked up her bag and listened patiently while she heard someone opening the loading door to the ship. She felt her heart pounding. This was a do it or leave it and lose her freedom. She did not want that. Once one of the crewmates opened it, Akashi ran out, pushing the crewmate aside as he fell with a loud splash into the sea. She felt bad for doing it, but this was the freedom we were talking about.

"Hey! Come back here!" A man said.

More men could be heard yelling in the distance, but they could never hope to reach Akashi. Akashi ran and ran farther and farther till she could not see the sea anymore. She stopped to breathe. She'd never run for that long and that far before. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest. It almost hurt. Almost.

She looked up. Her face lit up with awe as she saw a beautiful bright green field with multiple beautiful horses scattered around. Akashi went up to the horses to pet them. Most horses ran away as they saw Akashi. Few stood still and accepted Akashi as not a predator but as a mutual.

A beautiful horse with shining black fur accepted Akashi as she petted him.

"Maybe you can help me," Akashi spoke to the horse.

"You see, I'm trying to find a kingdom. Not a specific one. Just a kingdom."

The horse looked Akashi in the eyes as she spoke as if he understood her. He looked into her soul and she would do the same. They stood there as the wind blew through their hair. The breeze gave Akashi the chills.

"Do you think I could ride you to a kingdom? I promise I have some apples." Akashi said

The horse continued to eat the grass, ignoring Akashi completely. This annoyed Akashi but she understood. So she continued.

"Right. You can't understand me" She attempted to mount the horse but the horse moved away. "Why won't you let me ride you?"

Then she finally realized. She was almost twice the size of the horse.

Oni were able to change the way they looked. So naturally, Akashi took the size and looks of a human being. Now she could ride the horse. She attempted again to mount the horse. It was harder to mount the horse because of how short she was. This time the horse understood Akashi and kneeled. She was finally able to mount the horse with ease.

"Now then, Let's go that way." She pointed to the direction that she was heading before but the horse didn't move. "Would you move if I gave you an apple?"

The horse's ear twitched as if it understood her. She took another apple out of her bag and held it in front of the horse's face without getting off. The horse started eating the apple from her hand. When the horse was finally done, she attempted to make the horse move again.

"Go that way." She pointed in the direction again.

The horse already started running in the direction that she pointed in.

The horse moved so fast that she almost fell off. She hugged the horse's neck, making sure not to hurt it. She'd never ridden a horse before so she didn't know the right way to direct the horse. Though it seemed the horse and the Oni had an understanding of each other. The horse trusted her.

She was headed Southwest.

Word count: 1348