A Broken, Once Supposed Fairytale

𓆩𐤙𓆪

FW: A bit of violence and pain mentioned.

The cursed spirit gave an even louder groan and another disturbing crack. It started to shake violently, making all of the flowers fall off of its bark and disintegrate. But even so, new flowers started to bloom at once.

"The flowers indicate how much energy it has," explained Geto. "Once its entire bark is covered, be very careful."

He backed away, leaving Jiyuu and the cursed spirit there. Jiyuu looked back at it. It didn't seem to have a face. It was a tree, after all.

Suddenly, she felt something graze the top of her head, and she ducked as fast as she could. The cursed spirit, or Hanajuhi, had taken a swipe at her with one of its branch-whips and barely missed.

Jiyuu focused on the Hanajuhi's cursed energy and cancelled out the surrounding energy. Then it happened again. It wasn't as strong as Geto and Haru, but she could feel the cursed energy seeping out from the Hanajuhi.

Now that she could sense its cursed energy, Jiyuu could dodge it with more precision. She used the new speed she had acquired during the last fight with a cursed spirit to hop around, avoiding its attacks. It was going quite well until—

"Ouch!" yelled Jiyuu in pain. The Hanajuhi had grown a new branch-whip and reached out to grab her from behind, therefore catching her off guard. As it gripped her with bone-crushing force, it brought it closer to itself. Only now did she notice that the bark was completely covered in beautiful, blooming flowers.

I'm so stupid, she thought. She'd completely forgotten about Geto's advice in her certainty of victory.

As it dragged her closer, the flowers on its bark turned black and crumbled away. Jiyuu screamed as its trunk split in half, revealing its stump— but it was hollow and filled with sharp, terrifying teeth. Then she saw a bright flower growing on the top of the tree, obscured by its bare branches. It was glowing and pulsing like a heart, and Jiyuu immediately knew that she had to destroy it.

But she was still bound by the Hanajuhi's branch, and she was about to be thrown into the stump and killed. She tried using her legs to kick the branch, but they were too short. She started to tremble hard in panic as she drew closer to the tooth-filled stump, and then—

Her left eye burned.

It burned like it was on fire; it hurt as if a white-hot stoker had been pressed to it, and Jiyuu had never in her whole life experienced such excruciating pain. She shrieked in agony; her eyes watered, and she thought she heard the Hanajuhi yell too.

Without thinking, she sank her teeth into the branch constricting her to relieve her pain. She felt a liquid slide down her canine teeth as she bit on the hard wood, and she didn't care what it was, for it made the Hanajuhi's grip on her slacken, and she fell to the ground with a sickening crunch.

Jiyuu gritted her teeth and opened her right eye. To her horror, the Hanajuhi was twitching and shaking violently, as if it were possessed by a demon. She accidentally opened her left eye as well, and it stung even harder. She squeezed her eyes shut and curled up in pain.

"E̴͇͖̙̯̜̮̦͚͇͒̑̐̓̄̎͆̂̎͒́̕͝w̵̨̢̧̡̞̯̭̝͕̹̼̟̻͍̰̩̹͚̻͙͍͖͖̎͆͗̓̎͑̈́̀̑̀̅͌͜͜͜͠͝a̸̛̯̗̥̋̑͌̾̿̊̀̀͛̍͛̎͐̉̑̀̾̌̑̕̚͜͠͠ͅ..."

The Hanajuhi was supposed to be groaning, but Jiyuu swore she could hear it growling something. Then it stopped. Everything went quiet. Then something broke. It cracked, crumbled, and disintegrated, and its ashes blew across her face as she passed out.