"I'm sorry, Ren," a man the height of an average samurai pleaded to a boy no older than six year old.
The boy's sparkling blue eyes stared back at him. Not blinking.
Everyone outside the clan's building was dressed in black kimono. The common Japanese long robe tied with a sash. Usually over pleated trousers. Filled carriages and caravans waited behind, guarded by the clan's samurais.
The steady clop of horse hooves carried through the air.
The man stretched a black-sheathed sword towards Ren. And he said, rough lines stretching across his forehead,
"We can't take you along on this journey. You have to survive here on your own. So, take this with you just in case."
Without a flicker of anything necessarily emotional, Ren took the sword. He bowed to the clan leader afterwards.
"Thanks." He raised his gaze. "May the Moon Goddess guide your path, my lord."
Then, he turned to leave.
Ren could hear murmurs from the clan members behind him as he moved on. He expected that. At one moment, the clan leader's voice shrieked out loud.
Ren stopped, looked back, and maintained a respectful stance.
"Yes, Lord Shin."
The clan leader inquired.
"You didn't ask why you were being left behind."
Ren didn't falter.
"I'm too weak. That's why."
A slight smile of satisfaction spread across the leader's face. He nodded his head.
"I appreciate your understanding, Ren. You're the same age as Aiko, but…"
Ren cut in slowly.
"She's your daughter, so you have to protect her. I understand so well, clan leader."
Lord Shin nodded back, hands clasped behind him.
"Go on then, lad. May Amaterasu's light guide your path."
Ren bowed, turned, and walked down the stony pathway. After a few minutes, wheels started groaning behind him. Horses grunted, and footsteps danced in the air. When he looked back, he locked eyes with Aiko.
The clan leader's only daughter, the same age as he was.
But she looked away almost immediately. Now, he was left to watch everyone's vanishing image.
The wind brushed gently against his cheeks. In the next second, he looked forward and proceeded down his separate path.
…
The market area was naturally as crowded and noisy as it always was. Different scents emanated from different directions, like that of cooking materials. Traditional detergents. And even prepared foods from nearby restaurants built from red wood. The kind usually imported from the neighbouring kingdom.
Ren looked at no one's eyes. Because he knew what awaited him there.
Looks of fear.
Icy glares.
Squint of disgust.
Not their fault. People simply hate what they do not consider human.
Everyone moves out of his way as he gets near. So, he made it through the market in no time.
A few more steps and he was already gazing at the seaside in the distance. The air instantly changed from being fairly warm to cold.
Ren couldn't tell for sure where he was headed. But his belief was that he could find shelter in the area some miles away from the seaside. It would have saved him the trouble if Lord Shin hadn't sold the clan building either.
But sadly, he did.
Ren intentionally jumped over a stick on the ground instead of just stepping over it. He tends to be more playful when alone.
Shifting his gaze forward, the ocean expanse stared back at him. But it would have been a better view if the villagers hadn't resorted to dumping waste in it some years ago.
Everywhere reeked no differently from slop.
A senior from the clan told him just some months ago. That the kingdom's law and order weakened after the Emperor's downfall from an unknown disease. He wouldn't die nor live. Likewise, the kingdom wouldn't elect a new, capable Emperor…
"Oi, idiot… Watch where you're going."
Ren glanced up to see a group of boys gathering in his way. He stopped.
The shortest one in the group, positioned at the front, mocked:
"You're not with that girl today. I bet the clan has expelled you or something…"
Ren's eyes focused on him.
"... I mean, who wants to keep living with a demon's son?"
The statement surfaced in Ren's heart. But it wasn't enough as an insult when it was all he had heard his whole life.
They said his father was one of the evil spirits… demons that once threatened the kingdom.
Maybe.
Ren responded,
"Maybe."
But the kids won't stop.
He didn't expect them to, either. As another one with dirty, raven hair spat on his face.
Ren shut his eyes with a gentle breath and rubbed the thick saliva off.
"Know your place, you bastard. My parents can't move freely at night without panicking because of the likes of you. So you really don't have the right to talk back to us just like any normal person would."
A third kid took it on.
"Yes, I agree! Look at those devilish eyes. He just won't stop glaring."
The first short kid pointed at the dirt-filled ocean metres to the left.
"There… that's where you belong, damned idiot. If you'd like a drink, the water is there for you. If you want clothes, there are plenty of rags dumped there! Live like the disgusting being you are. And stop using the available human resources when they're not even enough!"
… Ren sighed quietly. He looked at them one by one, finally counting them to be five. They were missing a number today.
"Is it a fight you want again?"
His question spread through the air.
"Come at me if you want. Stay out of my way if otherwise."
But they won't learn. Even after losing every time.
As the kids attempted to approach him, Ren bent and fetched a hefty amount of sand in his hand. He threw it in the air, causing the stone dust to get into the kids' eyes.
They yelled in anger and irritation. Ren began to sprint into their midst…
A faint "uu…uwaa…" suddenly broke through the atmosphere.
The air ran cold. The ocean tide groaned as though it had a mouth.
Ren froze in his steps immediately and turned towards the source of the cry. A forest facing the ocean.
'A baby?'
But nothing was there. Nothing came until…
A child's cry cascaded from the forest again. Gentle at first, but it became more persistent by the second. Then, it slowly lost its natural tone.
"Mama… mama…"
Still a cry. But not anything like a baby's anymore.
The voice was too deep for that. As a matter of fact, Ren could hear faint water drops coming from nowhere. His chest heaved.
The kids by his side started to murmur too. They glanced around…. At each other. Especially when the sky started to get darker during the day…
"MAMA…"
Ren took a step back immediately.
"It's getting nearer!"
He won't take his eyes off the front.
A kid who didn't care to look at his face asked,
"What is?!"
But Ren couldn't answer. He needed to concentrate.
That was when an accusation resounded in his ears:
"I know you're doing this. Stop before the whole kingdom has to exterminate you together, monster!"
Ren furrowed his brow in disbelief and glanced left.
It was the short kid again.
"Seriously…?"
… PHROOM!
Ren's senses sharpened as he heard the incoming sound. He ducked instantly, his eyes wide with fear.
The next thing he heard was a loud cry. Only to look up then forward to see an elongated, fleshy hand dragging the short kid into the forest.
"HELP!!!"
Ren gasped. His eyes were wide, as a figure crept out from the forest. The owner of the abnormally long hand that had taken someone just now.
… It appeared to be a woman in a tattered kimono, her face half-hidden by long, dirty hair.
"MAMA… MAMA…"
Thunder cracked across the sky.
Ren's jaw dropped as the woman made the noise again.
Not about anything other than him realising the danger they were in.
A shabby woman who keeps crying in an unnatural baby voice - he had heard the story before. It was from one of the kingdom's folklores!
A folklore about ghosts. Demons. Or… Kaidans.
'We're doomed! She's the Weeping Mother Kaidan.'