Rei sat in an office across the continent, a pile of paperwork in front of her, paired with scrolls related to making the Bargain Bin Sect a member of Heaven's Alliance. That was a no. In most of the world, demons can get away with living in human society. The orthodox alliance was full of Xenophobic hicks. Burning down villages for harboring a demon, or committing atrocities in the name of the pure white heavens. The second they joined such an alliance, half of their sect would be branded demonic cultivators and hunted down.
Rei tossed those scrolls into a fireplace. She would not go down a path of vengeance when it could be avoided.
The next pile to go to the fire was marriage requests. Much to her surprise, a cleaned-up Fonta seemingly attracted quite a few eyes, and his meteoric growth, paired with feats of strength, has caused many eyes to be on him. She would need to find a way to get him off campus for a while and have it seem like his idea.
“Really mother. An exchange program with my school? Is this a checkup or a heavy handed attempt to remove an unknown person from the picture?”
“Neither. Your father seems to see Fonta as a wild beast, while I’m curious as to why you picked him.”
“Father shouldn’t have to worry. Fonta is a battle maniac. I doubt he’ll join this house anytime soon. Or at all.”
“We’re aware but Reina, we just want the best for you and your other siblings. You’re only 37 and in this life 16. You shouldn't be making long term decisions without us.”
“Which is why I see myself as a human. I don’t get who determined our kind aren’t adults until I’m practically ancient.”
“Maybe we should send him to that old man first. Get him introduced to that part of our family before you scrape up old trauma.”
“My bro… Eli is a bit abrasive and aggressive. Are you trying to scare him away?”
“That may be for the best.” Rei sighed as the golem she was piloting took a seat, and she reminisced.
An older bald man stood atop a pit of spears, his arms hidden behind a cloak, with a wooden foot. From his head to his chest, he was covered in old scars and disfigured features. A cross had been burned onto his right cheek. He stood with perfect balance and grace despite his many scars.
Redbirds flew above in a V formation while the plants around seemed to be wild and in disarray. Behind the bit was a ramshackle cabin big enough for two people. The area would not have been out of the ordinary had it not been on a mountaintop far away from civilization.
Standing across from the older man, gracefully standing on another spearpoint, was a girl with dark green hair and burning red eyes. She did not have the same degree of control over her body and had begun to wobble.
“Dad, help!” She said as her balance slipped and partially fell, managing to hold herself just a hair's breadth away from piercing her neck with one of the points.
“I'm not your dad. You are no small child. You have everything you need to get out alive. You will always have that for as long as you live.” The old man stood unmoving.
“Don’t I have you then?” She asked
“What did I tell you about talking back?” The man raised his right arm, revealing a metal gauntlet, and flicked a finger to the side, causing the spear to go down for a moment before shooting up at a diagonal, leaving a thin cut on her cheek.
“THere I wasted both of out time helping. That's what happens when you rely on others to help you. Don’t rely on anyone, don’t trust anyone, and don’t belong to anyone. That's the only way for our kind to live. Now get up Brat.”
“That isn’t my name?”
“It isn’t? Do you know what it is then? Only thing I’ve called you was Brat. Or are you getting ideas? If you really can’t get out then I’ll feed your portion of dinner to the dogs again.”
“You can’t cook.”
“Then I’ll have you cook and then feed your portion to the dogs.”The man rephrased.
The girl who couldn’t be older than eleven roared as she pulled herself back up and then jumped down.
“Go to hell!”
“Been there a few times. 3/10 would not be recommended. The hot springs were nice, though a little molten. The torture rooms were worse than you’d think as well. The only painful thing was waiting form my turn. Sigh.” The old man cracked his neck. “Now get back up!”
“I’m done! I quit! I don’t want to be here. And you’re crazy, who says sigh when they sigh.”
“Oh, has the Brat grown a backbone? Fine. Walk down the mountain if you come back, then you must do as I say for 4 more years.”
“I’m done listening to you.” The green-haired girl did not go straight down in rage. She tried to enter the shack only to find the door was locked.
“You go as you are, or you stand back on the spears.”
“I am done!” The Brat turned.
The old man sighed.”Fine, I’ll pack your bags, but we’ll change the rules slightly. If you don’t make it off the mountain by nightfall. I’ll come after you and bring you back. Then you must train for a week before attempting to do so again.” He backpedaled in surprise; he thought it was bluster, but if she was truly ready, then he would increase her training. It had been a long time since he’d been her age. It was all hazy.
“I really need a weapon. So fine lets do that.”
The brat packed her bags and began to make her way down the mountain.
Going down the mountain was harder than she expected as the environment suddenly became steep after leaving the area she knew. Oddly enough her father did all the hunting and farming, so she didn’t know how hard it was to bring food back here.
“He knew about this. Its impos… No, I have everything I need. I just need to think.” Digging through her bag, the Brat pulled out various items. Namely, jerky, water, rope, clothes, and a bedroll. She didn’t want to overpack and knew that if she went back now, she’d have to stay back.
Sighing the brat put her items back in her bag and tried to climb down. It took half an hour to safely get down far enough she could stand and looked around. Then she heard a crackng sound and the next thing she knew the ground had gave way and she was in freefall.
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The way down involved hitting nearly every rock, boulder, and tree, eventually stopping in a battered and beaten state, her left arm broken and her body covered in bruises. Still, she was stubborn, and the pain was temporary. Getting to her feet, she continued down as the sun began to set. She immediately realized she’d been duped from the start.
The brat looked around, eventually coming across a cave, which she entered, not noticing the claw marks on the trees outside. She entered, realizing that she could not see in the dark, too late.
Still, since she had to hide she continued forward only to hear a roar from behind her fo followed by two softer ones deeper inside the cave.
Turing the brat rolled to the side as claws passed by where her head had just been, leaving a gash on the girl's arm. She ran towards the light, only for the monster to pounce on her. Biting down on her left arm.
In response, the brat fell to the ground and withdrew a knife, which she began to drive into the creature's eyes and face over and over until the biting stopped and the animal went completely still. Getting to her feet, she noticed that the bite wound wasn’t as deep as she thought, and the gash was also shallow, which seemed odd to her. She had thought the fight would be harder, but aside from a few scrapes, she wasn’t hurt. Sighing, she dragged the corpse out of the cave only to see that it belonged to a large orange cat with black stripes.
Closer inspection told her that it was female, and the death hadn’t been clean; she had been covered in the animal's blood. The sun had disappeared in the time it took for the girl to bandage her wounds and tie up her broken and mangled left arm.
A voice spoke from deep inside the cave, its tone a familiar condescension. “Congratulations, Brat, you killed something. And a mother of all things. So technically, you killed three creatures today, one mother and her two cubs, since your intervention in nature will lead to the deaths of these little cuties. A shame, I should put them down now so that they don’t suffer from starvation. That isn’t a fun way to go, you lose weight, lose energy, then eventually die a shell of your former self, slowly as your stomach eats itself. I am so proud of you.” The tone had quite a bit of sarcasm and venom in it as the old man lit a campfire in the cave and then held up two unconscious tiger cubs with his metal right hand. He held the duo over the flame, which had begun to turn blue. His face was disturbing, as this was just another day.
“Stop!”
“Shhh. If you wake them they’ll panic. And I'll have to chase them. My back is too bad for that. Have some compassion.”
“I I’ll take care of them?”
“That's a death sentence. You’re twelve, you can barely take care of yourself. But fine. I’ll let you tame them if you start heading back home now.”
“You want me to climb with a broken arm?”
“What broken arm?” The old man asked.
The brat looked down at the limb that had just been hurting and removed the wrap. It was covered in dry blood, but the limb hadn’t been scarred in the least.
“What is this?”
“A mystery, now then four years of training if you want me to keep them otherwise I’ll kill them then take you back up.”
“Fine, you evil heartless bastard.”
“Hey, I resent that. I know exactly who my father was and I was born into a somewhat stable house. You’ll understand one day. Also, I had two hearts today, they were delicious. The evil thing is a bit of an insult. I have never purposefully killed a human out of malice or anger."
“I don’t want to know what goes on in that twisted head of yours.”
“Hey, you're the one who orphaned these adorable kittens.” The old man said as he dangled one a little too close to the flame causing blue flames to cover the creature burning it alive. At least that's what it seemed, when the flames left the creature it’s orange fur had turned a stark white.
“What's wrong with you?”
The old man clicked his tongue.“Nothing terminal yet.”
“Ugh. So I climb the mountain,or you kill the cubs.”
“That’s right. But I’ll take you partway down twice a week to get you used to hunting.”
It took the brat until sunrise to get to the top of the mountain, the old man having already made it to the top with both cubs and his expression passive as he examined the injuries.
“The spears are waiting.”
“But I'm tired!”
“No you aren’t but if you were then you should go to sleep at night.”
“I just climbed up the mountain.”
“Get back to the spears, and show me your form. Then you may sleep.”
The brat hopped atop the spears without protest and after some initial wobbling she managed to stand perfectly still. He balances somewhat serene.
The old man threw an apple by her head, causing her to shift and wobble, then begin to fall, cutting her arms and legs on the way down.
“Almost there. Maybe by the end of the year we can move on from this stage.”
Four years passed in the blink of an eye, and the brat had evolved into a teenage brat with more rebellious notions and other issues that the mad old man shouldn’t have been equipped to deal with. She had carried the cubs on her back up and down the mountain for two years when they practiced hunting. After that, she began to have to carry boulders up and down to build strength. Then she would spend hours standing on the spear points meditating and cycling chi while the old man occasionally tossed things at her or engaged in light sparring while she was cultivating.
The last bit of training had been practicing two styles, one where their arms seemed to circle another as if controlling wind, and using the momentum and quick punches towards the center of the body. The second appears more familiar to the old man and involves exploiting openings and creating them with feints, flourishes, and attacks at odd angles as if fighting a bird in the air. The old man took to the air, occasionally getting carried away during their sessions.
The tigers grew old enough to hunt on their own and establish territories in different caves on the mountain. Though on occasion, they would leave tribute to their former homes.
Things had been going well until today. When the first outsiders in 15 years climbed to the mountain top.
“Teen Brat, get in the house now. Stay hidden.”
“I’m practically an adult. But fine, because I want to.”
The old man rolled his one crimson eye.
A group of four made it to the top of the mountain, the tallest of them was a seven-foot-tall blond man with a staff on one side and a shield on the other, his visible body unmarred, with his brown eyes. Next to him was a shorter man with black hair and orange eyes. He carried a shortsword and whip at his side.
The third was a woman in white robes with black hair, she looked somewhat similar to the man, a short staff on her back. The fourth was a woman in a maid uniform with tied back blond hair and an emotionless expression as she looked over the area.
“Greetings hidden master!”
“I’m just an old cripple. What do you want?” the old man revealed both of his wooden legs and then leaned on a shovel.
“Still, we’re on a quest to save this world from the vile demons. We need all the help we can get.”
“I can’t fight with you. I’m not as young as I used to. Also, demons aren’t the issue in this world. Did something happen recently?” The old man asked.
“Demonic cultivators conquered the Flame Citadel.”
“Oh, now that’s interesting.”
“How so?”
“Demonic cultivators built the Flame Citadel, when did they lose it?”
“That's old news, it's been over fifteen years since the royals came.” The black haired woman stated.
“Dont be rude we need his help.”
“I don’t fight in wars.”
“We’re not asking you to. We discovered a precursor tomb that could hold what we need to end those demonic cultivations.”
“Such a place would be quite deadly. I wouldn’t be much use.”
“Sir, people say that you are a precursor, a real one.”
“Bollocks. I am not one of those monsters. Now go, I need to tend to my garden.”
“I’ll go if my father won’t.” The brat stated.
“Is this true. Is she yours?”
“Some idiot left her in a basket at the bottom of the mountain. Do I look like I can have kids at this age?” The old man redirected.
“Oh. Well If you can fight we’ll gladly welcome you to the team.”
“Can I go father?”
“If you can make it down the mountain in one day, I won’t stop you, but I don’t recommend going just yet.” The old man said with crossed arms. She had managed to get close to the end during their last little game of tag, so as far as he was concerned, she was mostly ready.
“You’ll just give us your daughter?”
The old man looked at the other four for a long moment. “Sure, she can take care of herself. If she dies well I know what you all look like.”
“Was that a threat?” The maid took a step forward.
“I don't deal in threats, I'm someone who deals in promises. Now go before it gets too dark.”
“Too dark?”
“The protectors like to come out at night.”
“Anthony is a playful boy, so I suggest you hurry on.”
“Wait, how does he get a name but I don't?”
“Anthony was a good boy. You are a brat. Maybe when you get back from the picnic.”
“What does a picnic have to do with names?” The large man seemed confused.
The group of five began to go down the mountain.
“See you soon Rain. Stay Safe.” The old man said as his body vanished into the wind. A straw scarecrow fell to the ground where he had previously been.
