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m0n0visi0n · 28 days

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[NAMIKO'S ONE REGRET]

The forest was where Namiko felt most comfortable. Perhaps it was an instinctual thing brought upon her by her demonic nature, the heavy air filled with dread draping over her like a heavy blanket, putting her mind at ease after a long day. It didn’t matter too much to her, though. It was her second home, where there was no fighting, no tears, just calm and darkness.

That was, until her sister was born.

Cassie was a small little thing, always curious and asking questions about the smallest of things. With her plain yellow complexion, long brown hair that lay limp across her shoulders, and wide green eyes that always seemed locked onto her big sisters, Namiko rarely ever thought of her.

Cassie had no horns, no thin tail, no claws, she was painfully human. She couldn’t handle going into the ancient forest like Namiko or her twin, Lotus, could.

So why on Earth would she think it would be a good idea to bring the seven-year-old with her?

“Don’tcha think we’re going too far?” Cassie looked over her shoulders, stumbling over every root and rock as she tried to keep up with her sister.

Namiko didn’t look behind her, instead carving a mark into a tree trunk with her black claws. “No,” she answered simply.

The sky had been bright before the sisters had entered the forest, rarely a cloud in sight. Almost as soon as Namiko led the younger into the forest, everything grayed over, thick black clouds swirling in the sky as moisture filled the air, getting ready to rain.

“I think we should head home,” Cassie urged, finally making her way next to the albino teen. “Mommy always said to stay away from here.”

“Mommy is legally insane.”

Cassie’s eyebrows were furrowed, a pout making its way to her pale, thin lips. “What about Lotus? She also warns me about this forest.”

Namiko rolled her eyes, finally turning to face her younger sister. Something about the confused and worried look in her eyes just… irked Namiko. It made her fingers twitch as something sour filled her heart, dark claws reaching up and squeezing. “They only say that because you’re a human,” she explained, bending down to be face to face with Cassie. Something in her protested this action. “Humans are often considered to be vulnerable in here.”

If anything, Cassie looked more confused. “Why?”

Namiko sighed. She began walking again, hearing the leaves crunching behind her as Cassie tried to catch up. “Let me tell you a story.”

“Long ago, in the times of old, when monsters and humans roamed the Earth in harmony, there was a demon,”

“Like you!” Cassie interrupted.

Namiko nodded slightly, a tad bit annoyed at the interruption. “Yes, a demon like me. His name was Jasper. He was young, only nineteen, and he was insufferable.”

“What does insufferable mean?”

“A bitch.”

“What does a bitch mean?”

“What Lotus is.”

“Oh!”

Namiko cleared her throat, resuming the story. “Trouble would follow Jasper wherever he went, pranks gone wrong, poisoning the village’s water supply, and scaring all the little changelings. Soon enough, everyone started calling him a curse, a failure. Jasper didn’t mind though. He liked the criticism, he thrived on it.” She paused. “And one day, he went into the forest, where he found his true love.”

“Aw,” Cassie crooned.

“She was a beautiful woman, with long brown hair that fell into luscious waves that framed her delicate face, and enchanting green eyes filled with mystery and intrigue.”

“Like me!”

“Jasper was captivated by this girl, even more so when she showed the same amount of interest in him. But there was one problem. She was a human.”

“Why would that be a problem?” Cassie tilted her head quizzically. “Weren’t humans and monsters friends back then?”

Namiko sighed, shaking her head before ducking underneath a low hanging branch, her dark red horns scraping against the soft bark. A small drop of water fell in front of her, getting absorbed into the ground immediately. “No, things had been very tense between the human and monster rulers at the time. Jasper didn’t care though. His darling was just so lovely, he had to have her. And so, he walked to the demon kingdom, his lover in hand as he walked her through the streets, keeping her away from curious eyes. He knew that the monster ruler would never allow them to wed, it was just impossible. So, he gave her a cloak and a string. He tied the string around her waist, a thin red line that trailed behind her and swayed with each moment, and he put the cloak around her shoulders, raising the hood and covering her head. He had disguised her as a demon.

“And their plan worked. She was able to walk amongst the demons, eat their food, participate in their rituals, make friends. And so, they got wed. They married and had three kids.”

“Did anybody from the human village wonder where she was?”

“Of course they did. Her parents wept and sobbed, praying to their gods for her safe return. But soon, it was just assumed that she had wondered into the woods, killed by wolves.”

Cassie frowned. “Why didn’t they keep looking?”

“Sometimes, it’s just easier to accept that those you love are dead. That there’s… no way they’ll ever be coming back. They had to accept that their daughter was likely dead, now at peace deep in the woods.”

Cassie had nothing to say to that, only looking at her untied shoes now as more drops of water fell around them. Namiko paused for a second to leave a mark on a nearby tree, its growth stunted.

“… Nothing good lasts forever. After years of blending in with demons, the woman got angry at Jasper. She was annoyed by his constant pranks that put her, a weak and fragile human, at risk. So, one day, she followed Jasper into the woods, noticing that the demon had boxful of fireworks. She confronted him, and the two soon got into a fight. The woman threatened to leave him, causing him to throw the box of fireworks on the ground as sparks flew off him.”

“Sparks?”

Namiko nodded, raising her hands, and rubbing them together. “Demons used to be able to summon fires. As they became more evolved with fire starters and ovens, they lost the need to create fires at a whim, so the ability slowly started to disappear. But, if you try hard enough-“ A spark flew out from between her pale hands, quickly being extinguished by the slow falling rain. “-you can create little sparks.”

“As I was saying, Jasper was really, really angry. Sparks flew from him as he took a step towards his love, and one landed on the cast aside box of fireworks. They were startled out of their argument by the sound of fireworks going off, one lighting the other, flying out of the box and towards the dry trees. The forest caught on fire. In a panic, Jasper took off, accidentally leaving his wife surrounded by growing flames. It was only until he reemerged from the forest did he realize that she hadn’t followed him. He ran back into the forest, ignoring the flames as they reached for him.” Namiko ignored Cassie’s saddened gasps, stopping for just a second to drag her claws across another tree. “By now, the thick and heavy smoke had drawn attention from both the humans and the monsters, multiple groups being sent out to stop it from spreading. The fire raged on for hours, only being fully put out as midnight fell upon them. The groups soon made it to the middle of the forest, seeing scorched trees all around them, and a sobbing demon hunched over the charred remains of a human.

“Almost immediately, the humans and the monsters began fighting over the scene before them, the humans claiming that Jasper had lured a human out there with the intent of murder on his mind. The monsters tried their best to refute these accusations, but they didn’t even believe themselves. Multiple monsters had gotten injured over Jasper’s pranks, who’s to say that he wouldn’t snap one day and murder someone.”

Namiko couldn’t bear to look at Cassie’s crestfallen face, no doubt with tears welling in her eyes as her puffy cheeks were flushed pink. The rain started falling harder.

“Jasper kept quiet while they were fighting, just staring at the charred flesh and bones of his lover. He kept quiet as they escorted him to the human ruler. He kept quiet as the monster and human ruler agreed on banishing the demon. And for once, as everyone called him a curse and a failure, Jasper felt… guilty. He felt ashamed of himself, ashamed of the name he was given by everyone. And so, he went into the forest his lover had burned in, and with her bones, he carved a spell into the burnt trees. No longer were humans able to enter the forest. This spell had weakened over time, without any blood sacrificed to make it permanent. So now, all humans get is a constant sense of danger and fear looming over them. Some have been driven to madness due to the paranoia, mainly travelers with no knowledge of what happened all those years ago.”

Cassie remained silent for a moment, and while Namiko was somewhat pleased by the silence, something akin to concern laid beneath the surface. She tried to convince herself that it was because Cassie would tell their mom and she would get in trouble for telling such a dark story to her.

After a few minutes of walking and scratching marks on the trees, Cassie looked at Namiko with confusion. “Why did you bring me here?”

For that, Namiko had no answer. She kept her eyes forward, ignoring the way her hands shook. Why was she worried?

Seeing as she wasn’t going to get an answer, Cassie asked something else. “Why do you scratch marks into the trees?”

Namiko scrunched her eyebrows together, looking down at her claws that indeed did have bark stuck underneath them. Her mouth opened to answer, words involuntarily slipping from her lips. “I didn’t notice them. If I noticed, you would still be here.”

The sound of leaves crunching behind her soon ceased. “… I didn’t notice the scratches in the bark,” she whispered, a stone sinking in her gut. “I should have noticed.”

She looked over her shoulder, looking down to see a pair of small, untied sneakers laying in the leaves, moss and lichen growing on them. “Cassie?” She hated how small her voice sound. “Cassie, where are you?”

“I’m sorry.”

Gin peeled open her eyes, still half asleep as the lights of her bedroom turned on. “Namiko?” her words were slurred from sleep as she rubbed her eyes, her dusty pink hair falling in front of her face.

The albino woman wordlessly approached Gin before promptly collapsing on her bed, her thin red tail limp behind her. Gin sighed, pulling Namiko over to her lap as she soothingly rubbed the base of her horns. “You had a nightmare about her?” Namiko nodded, burring her face between the blanket.

“It’s okay, you both were just kids. You didn’t know any better.”

“… I never saw her body.” Namiko quietly murmured, her monotone voice muffled by the soft cotton.

Bending down, Gin planted a reassuring kiss on the back of Namiko’s head. “Oh, I know, I know, little mouse. But you searched, didn’t you?” Namiko nodded once more. “And that’s all you could do.”

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