Chapter Text
The journey, similarly to the previous, is surprisingly uneventful. The most riveting thing that occurred was loosing some of the coins Chiyo had shoved into your hands to buy food, and getting the dog to sniff it out.
Speaking of the dog, you had yet to figure out it’s real name, instead, literally calling it ‘dog’. Though you had found it was a boy, and that he loved scratches behind the ears. He was a happy dog, floating around as if he didn’t have a potentially gruesome job, however you suppose it would be that different to a modern day mountain rescue dog from your universe.
Before the evening came, you haggled with a food stall owner for some scrapped chicken bones, which ‘dog’ happily chewed on, whilst you sipped on a hearty soup that made you insides warm.
‘Dog’ had gotten you up with a bark when the next dawn came, and you continued to follow the walking cloud before coming across a derelict looking entrance to a bunch of buildings. It takes you a few moments to register your furry friend snarling at nothing in particular.
“I’ll take it that this is it, then.” You mumble, cautiously unsheathing your (again, Chiyo’s) blade, “Are you gonna come, or…?”
‘Dog’ simply sits down with a tilt of his head and you take that as a no.
You suppose it makes sense, If you died, you’d need someone to send the message - but can’t help but think a crow would be faster to do that as well. Not to mention he stuck out like a sore thumb.
You leave the animal behind as you enter the village. It was definitely small, you can imagine it being a tightly knit community before the attack. You notice a building seems to have been set on fire - and swear you notice smoke still rising from the wood. You (unfortunately) don’t miss the wet splash of dark red coating the grass, along with a swarm of flies and smell of iron and something… sweet.
You push your suspicions aside as you move forward.
Wet blood, smoke coming from a burnt building.
This attack was recent - you must’ve been sent on this mission as soon as the corp was made aware of it.
However, the absence of bodies unsettled you. A demon had certainly had a large meal, a meal that would increase its strength exponentially. A strength that surpasses that needed to wipe out an entire village.
As you enter a building that was more or less intact, you catch the scent of something sweet again, and it causes your nose to scrunch in response, it makes you feel sick.
You push through the feeling, only to hear the deep rumble of buzzing behind a sliding door. You swallow thickly, something in your gut telling you to turn back and never return, but Chiyo was right, you did sign up for this - beg for it actually.
As you hook a hand into the doors panel and slide it open as quietly as you can physically bring yourself to, you feel something warm coat your fingers. You hesitate to look down, but can’t help yourself.
You nearly throw up on the spot at the thick red that coats it, and as you go to pull your hand from the door, you find you can’t.
You feel panic rush through your veins as you struggle against the hot blood seemingly gluing you to the door you had opened. And as an absentminded hum, followed by an airy chuckle and the buzzing getting louder, you feel your heart jump out of your body.
“It seems we missed one, how silly of us…” it (they?) muses, “You really couldn’t help yourself, could you? You humans always come back for more, we're flattered!”
A voice, or rather, voices, emerge from the darkness. They sound as though they come from every corner of the room, whilst simultaneously coming together as one. How many were there in this room? We? Was this some sort of cult of demons? A pack? What was this sticky substance that stuck you to this damn door like a rat to a rat trap? Blood? Why couldn't you get out of it?
“we've seen those clothes before... you’re not from around here are you?” The voices creeps closer, the sweet scent you caught earlier comes back - it makes you feel sick to your core as soon as it invades your senses, you feel your free arm become clammy as your mind becomes a little hazier - as though you were inflicted with a fever.
“Little demon slayers like you always find their way back to us, no matter how far I go - are we that hard to resist?” It giggles and you grit your teeth. This thing - whatever it may be, had killed before, but it hadn’t just killed innocent civilians, it had killed enough demon slayers to know about the organisation.
“Though… you seem to be holding up quite well,” it says, you can make out the pout, “We wonder, how much will you be able to take?”