"If only you could kill yourself, child... I can't do it myself thanks to the world laws (1). I didn't want to give birth to the child of that monster... Furthermore, I needed to free myself from the pregnancy pains. You should have died in my stomach... or have been born two months ago with your twin sister, then, he... would have taken you with him. I don't want to look at your face, it disgusts me; stop laughing! You're a newborn, you should be crying! Does my agony look that amusing to you?! Devilish thing!"
A soft husky voice carrying a British accent to the Kanji echoed in a ghost-quiet alleyway filled dreadful sounds of mice squeaking. Akane, a trembling red-haired-maiden, sat, watching her baby roll down her legs made slick by blood and sweat. Taking a seesaw of breaths, she looks at half moon, yowling in her heart.
With no money or time to go to a clinic, Akane had to deliver the child herself. People tried to help, but it was to no avail thanks to how impetuous she was. Ultimately, they let her suffer the price of having a man in this New Age.
During the process, Akane was in a world of grinding pain. At one point, she hallucinated crows picking what came out of her. However, with such judgement day torture, it was hard to know if that was really the product of her mind.
Sliding like a snake against the wall, the 18-year-old stands, wrapping the baby with a piece of her haori. Wary of the onlookers, she didn't leave the baby, planning to keep it for a few days without food.
Much to her understanding, the child didn't die after three years, subsisting only on water. Subsequently, Akane was terrified of what the boy would become, given her special origin. She knew, she had to dispose of him, but inadvertently grew attached to the tiny, tender monster.
Soon, she found herself accepting him, promising to cherish the child like a gem that fell from heaven into her heart, hoping to see him grow into a fine young man.
At that point, she named him Lucien Derniere Etoile —names from the "removed" language of French, translating to Last Star's Light in reverse. To her, he is the only star in her heart, mind, body and spirit —with him, she needs no other.
When Lucien turned eight, however, Akane began to feel the influence of the spirit left in her by his father. She found herself craving human blood and flesh; the cravings grew stronger by each day, spurring her world to darkened again.
***
Now, Lucien, about to turn 18 tomorrow, leans his back on one of the wooden thatched building walls he was born. Ignoring the strong stench of blood, he listens to the rustling of paper lanterns mixed with his heavy breaths.
With tree barks forming on his forehead, he bites one end of his lip, changing the words about to come from his mouth.
"Mama, why don't you kill yourself?"
Some call it karma; others, go back to sender! That child Akane wanted murder was returning the favor.
As the old monks say, 'everything has its origin. If you shower someone with love first, they will always act compassionate to you, no matter how you hurt then. They will always look for excuses to justify your actions. Simultaneously, If you show them hate first, in the end, that hate is going to return no matter how you love them.'
Well... that isn't the case in this story. Lucien didn't show his mother hatred, even once —maybe, Akane is right, food has a strong impact on his brain.
Releasing raindrops, Lucien stares lifelessly at the silver hammer in his hand, its surface reflecting the ghostly moon. Meanwhile, Akane wore a pained smile on her heart-shaped face, taking a short glance at the horrifying meat paste between them.
"We tried to ask for help from the ones you thought could achieve anything in this world, but look at what happened. I killed them, Lucy! I killed them!"
Tears stream down Lucy's face. Looking at his mother, his mouth moved up and down several times. After a short period, a weak voice escapes his thin lips:
"Mama, I won't do it... Why can't we just find this 'father' of mine and force him to save you? You said I have a twin sister, right? Why not ask her to put in a good word for us?"
Pressing her hands on the ground, Akane stands up in her kimono soaked with blood from head to toe. Her gaze slowly moves up to the night sky. 'They're no stars: It's time for me to leave Lucy.' She didn't bother with trifles, convincing her son:
"Lucy, I've committed a great sin —killing Tama-Artists. If you don't kill me, the people after me will kill you too, without reason."
—They are two origins about Tama-Artists: most believe that Tamaism existed since the beginning, and few believe that the art of practicing Tamaism started with the Legendary Villain Rehabilitator in the year 2030 —in the reader's world which they now call fabricated. Despite these contrasting origins, they are facts that match.
—Tama-Artists are a group of individuals who have opened a mysterious place called the primordial space. Furthermore, in this space, they are able to store Rei —an assortment of spirits—, and Tama —mystical jewels that come in various shapes and sizes.
—Moreover, if Rei is infused into a Tama, Tama-Artists are able to perform miraculous abilities that place them at the top of humanity such as changing a body part into fire, shooting lighting arrows from the surrounding space, mind control, necromancy, etc.
That said, in Kurenai Village, one thing Lucien knew is that for mortals like them, killing a Tama-Artist is an invitation to death. Nonetheless, he didn't care.
His gaze piercing through his mother's beautiful facial features, he obtests:
"Mama... can I stay with you for one more day?"
All he could do is hope that things would get better at some point. However, this side of existence is cruel, and the more he grew, the more he realized that hope gives birth to despair.
Concurrently, Akane begins to sob uncontrollably. To her, Lucy is still a baby; she deeply wants to spend more time with him in preparation for things he has to do, as her 'son', no matter what. Furthermore, she wishes for him to grow up and find happiness, perhaps with the girl he secretly loved... not the wicked one he fornicated with a few days ago.
However, she could only wish, as her human life was like that.
Her family banished her from the inner districts after failing to be a Tama-Artist, and she promised herself to never have children. However, incidents happen; she ended up meeting someone who left her pregnant.
Now, the past is set in stone, and she feared the kyuketsuki (2) taking over, but worse her baby's cold-cold fate, he couldn't escape even after leaving the earth. However, she kept it to herself, smiling for the last time.
"Lucy, you've been asking for the same thing for the past month; look where it has led us. I've killed over a thousand people. You've become the child of a monster!"
Lucy's face twists in pain.
"I don't care about that! I just want to be with you! Who cares about what anyone thinks?"
Akane sighs at her boy, walking over to him: "You've always been like that, Lucy. When other children called you a ghost, you didn't care. When they called you a jade monkey because of your red hair and amber eyes, you didn't care. When your cousins laughed at you for being illiterate, you didn't care. I like that about you."
Akane wipes Lucy's tears with her thumb, slowly moving her hand to his nape. Her touch was gentle, but it couldn't hide the bloodlust growing in her eyes, tainting the irises black.
"You!"
Lucien shrieked, his amber pupils shrinking at the sight of his mother's transformation. Her hair, now silver, cascaded down her back like a waterfall. Furthermore, fangs sprouted from her lips; her skin seemed to grow paler, more translucent.
"I like everything about you, Lucy, except that ugly face of yours." Akane's lips moved, but the voice was that of an old man, "Why does it have to look like his? Tell me why you resemble that person?"
Lucien trembles in terror, as the kyuketsuki's grip on his neck tighten, her growing claws dipping into his skin.
"Akane won't be able to take over this body again. With all her secrets and wisdom, I'll be unstoppable! I'll get that dreaded father of yours for using me like this!"
The red hair with pale skin didn't listen to its words, holding back his tears. With a surge of adrenaline, he brought the silver hammer in his hand down on his mother's head, striking her again, and again until she fell to the ground.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Showing no mercy to the body snatcher, Lucy percusses the kyuketsuki's head more to make sure. With each knock, however, cracks appeared on the sky.
Bang!
As the sound of the last hit echoed, parts of the sky shatter apart like glass, turning the moon hot pink.
----
1 ——World Laws:
—Law 1: No killing someone under the age of 16.
—Law 2: Nothing sexual by someone under the age of 16.
—So far, these are the only World Laws known to the people, others may exist, but it's unknown.
—The World Laws date back to the creation of the world, and they are more effective against those who are spiritual —this includes Tama-Artists, and those have a belief in the spirit, which means everyone now since Tamaism is known to all.
—In the earlier days, they brought bad luck, since people were oblivious about their spiritual needs.
2 — kyuketsuki: in Japanese culture, they're vampires. However, here, they're spirits which possess someone to feed on human flesh and blood before taking the body. Also, unlike Rei —a collection of spirits— which can either enter the body or primordial space, they can only enter the body.
____[A.N.]_______
Sorry to the old readers, but we had to change the plot and concepts. Nonetheless, we promise, we won't do that again; and this one is more dope than the previous one.