The sound of sickles
arcs through the harvest.
The hunters come
with their dogs.
The light of the world goes black
from human sin.
A dying star
blesses the unfortunate world.
The Fire Hunters sweep through
the blackened forest...
A golden arc sliced through the air in a shower of a thousand sparks. One moment, the sparks flashed, but the next, they vanished into the forest gloom.
All was still.
Then the sounds of the forest at night resumed. Insects crawled and chirped. It was unclear how long they’d stayed still and trembling, but nothing seemed to perturb the insects now.
Touko was flat on her back. She’d fallen down and was looking up at a man standing over her. She didn’t know who the man was. This was their first meeting.
The man wore Fire Hunter clothing; in style, it resembled the uniforms of historical samurai warriors. His chin was covered by a thick beard. The sickle he held was slicing downward, but it stopped short of cutting Touko. He stood still and did not move.
The dog at the Fire Hunter’s side stuck his tongue out and gazed up at his master with interest. The gold-gleaming edge of his sickle’s blade was stained black with some gummy, sticky substance.
He’d slain a Fire Fiend, and his weapon was now black with its blood. When the sickle had sliced through a vital spot on the Fire Fiend, golden light had leaked from the creature, bringing with it a torrent of dark blood.
“Kanata,” the man said to the stunned Touko. His breathing was ragged from exertion. “The dog’s name is Kanata.”
The dog howled as if he was giving his own name.
Touko noticed that the Fire Hunter was wounded. Score marks gouged his chest. His own blood soaked through his clothes.
The Fire Hunter’s voice was gruff and deep, but when the dog howled, he broke into a happy grin. Then he collapsed on the ground like a deer brought down by buckshot. He wasn’t breathing.
The dog licked the Fire Hunter’s face with feverish devotion, but not forever. When the dog understood that his master’s work was done, he took his golden sickle in his mouth, then faced Touko.
The dog was wounded, too. The Fire Fiend had clawed open the poor beast’s side, but the dog seemed content to ignore the injury for the moment. The dog’s black eyes fixed on Touko.
The Fire Hunter was dead, and only his sickle and his dog were left behind.
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