Dance of the blades

Chapter 32 Fractured Dreams

Many years ago, a family of farmers resided in a broken abode. The youngest of children was a cheerful lad with big dreams extending beyond his humble village.

One day when he was out harvesting the corps, a group of dancers had passed by the fields with loud, joyful tunes trailing close behind. What caught the boy's eye was not the parade of alluring women swinging back and froth in their colourful gowns but the lone old man beating the drums. His moves were erratic following an invisible path, each slam to his drum creating a powerful blast. 

The boy watched in awe as the dancers follow the beat of the man's drums, like puppets on strings guided by his bruised hands. And just like puppets with their strings cut, the dancers abruptly stopped once the man had ceased his tune. 

'One day..' the boy thought as he held the basket of corps. He'll be just like him! Traveling from town to town with just a pair of drums. A dream to soar to the skies, free from the earthly shackles that bind him to this poverty stricken town. One day he promised to himself, patiently waiting until that time comes.

"Xin Ai Lun how many times must I tell you to not buy useless toys! I've sent you to buy me a chicken or a cow and this is what you've bring!" the boy's mother screamed, snatching away Xin Ai Lun's newly acquired treasures. He held his tears in as he watched his mother throwing out his dreams like litter. She just didn't understand! Those were worth more than any old chicken or cow!

Heedless to any of the boy's protests, the woman continued on with her ramble. She took out a stick and whacked the boy's knees.

"I'll have no more of your silly games! Now what are you standing there for? Off to the fields you go" she shooed the boy away.

The boy angered and hurt, stomped his feet and mumbled

"Ai Lun stop spewing about useless dreams... Ai Lun stop playing with your toy drums and get back to work..."

"Ai Lun this, Ai Lun that! Ha I'll show her! One day I'll move out of this place and then we'll see who's right!"

And so days turns to months and then to years until finally something had change. Xin Ai Lun had moved out from his mother's cramped shack, into a larger house in the village. There he started his career as a musician, writing songs after songs to impress the crowd. 

The small house he stood on became larger than all the rest. Just like his dreams, he travelled from place to place, gaining fame as he so wished. But all good things come to an end when finally his luck ran out. The crowds of people whom would watch him perform slowly dwindled, no one wishes to see a singular man performing the same old routine anymore.

It wasn't long before Xin Ai Lun found himself trapped within a never ending cycle, desperately trying to stay in relevancy in people's minds while living off of the short lasting fame. More and more his time was divided to spending it locked up in his workshop, tirelessly writing manuscript after manuscript to satisfy his fans. He neither ate nor slept during that time his only relief was the aroma of food left by his doorsteps from his mysterious neighbors. 

As the seasons rapidly change, Xin Ai Lun found himself sinking deeper and deeper into the madness his own conscious had created for him. Some days he would find himself on his dirty ragged bed, cursing himself and his mother's name. And on some days when the snow settled in, he starts to question his will to continue this career, its once bright path now a rocky, narrow bridge shrouded in his own uncertainty. 

And on days such as this, Xin Ai Lun would scream, he screamed until his voice cracked, until he could finally feel numb to the pain and left his throat ached. To no one's surprise that one fateful day, his screams had halted to a deafening silence and not a single soul knew what had transpired that day. But soon the story of the lone house on the hill spread throughout the town.

As more and more of this stories spread, people had started to pack their bags and left. And to this day you will always be warned not stray too far into the woods a field away. For if do not heed their desperate pleas, the lone man will come to steal you away.

Xin Ai Lun's skin felt increasingly irritated as he continued fighting the pesky intruder invading his workshop, he had thought that demon slayers wouldn't noticed his house due to its secluded nature. Who would had known a few missing humans those other demons had dragged in would warrant them to sent in a whole squad!

Xin Ai Lun was once a man proud of many things, his stature, his talent in music and he status as a Lower Moon, or rather his past status of a Lower Moon. Now he was only a reject, cast aside by his master like a broken puppet with no strings. He had thought that by consuming the flesh of the boy with rare blood he could be welcomed to the Lower Moons again but the other two had caught on and fought him over the boy, letting him escape.

Xin Ai Lun realized he must have been mumbling his thoughts aloud as Lan Sizhui had paused in his movements, his face had morphing into a confused expression. The young demon slayer's query was soon answered by his bird companion, squeezing through the gap in the windows and cawing out an explanation. Its irritating voice stopped when it met the demon's glaze, before abruptly fleeing back through the windows.

As the fight carried on, an invisible shift in their dynamic had changed. Although Xin Ai Lun still had the upper hand with his control of his surroundings, the young demon slayer had seemed to gain the ability to predict his movements. Though the boy's pace could not keep up with his speed, Xin Ai Lun found it harder and harder to land an attack on the boy as he dodged them perfectly.

To his surprise, both of them had silently fallen into an invisible rhythm. It was like Xin Ai Lun was the lead and Lan Sizhui was the dancer, performing a performance that only privy to them. Xin Ai Lun let his face slip out an expression of awe when Lan Sizhui perfectly avoided stepping on the fallen manuscripts each time the room moved.

As the room rotated again, the sound of the sword swishing against its intended target, landing the finishing blow and finally ending this performance. Xin Ai Lun found himself facing the boy's feet, the cold fleeing feeling of the metal blade fresh in his memory. And as he took his final breath he couldn't help but ponder this final query to  the boy.

"Before I die can you answer this? Tell me what do you think of my music?" 

The only answer Xin Ai Lun received a quiet 'hmm', it sound barely above a whisper. He looked up to find the boy's silver orbs facing him with a simmer in them, before following its wandering gaze to his old manuscripts.

"Ah so that's how you knew" the demon stated with recognition in his eyes. He had truly lost at his own game didn't he? Perhaps his mother was right, he should have just sticked with farming for corps. Ha, he laughed as remembered the taste of mother's cooking, he wondered how she would view him now. Would she be disappointed or wear a smug look on her face for being right?

But as his body faded, a memory he had long forgotten arise back to his mind. The savoury taste of her soup and her loud voice, guiding him back to reality when he trapped himself in his own home. Her usually stern voice, layered with a pinch of concerned poorly masked by her loud yelling. 

Sometimes Xin Ai Lun had wondered would it have all change if he had opened the door for her? Would he had ended up as what he was today? What was even the point of becoming an Upper Moon he wondered.

When he had voiced the exact same questions to the boy, he responded in mock silenced before his eyes turning large, recognizing the crossed out number on his eye. Xin Ai Lun watched in amusement as the boy mouthed something closed to a curse before retrieve a needle from his bag and pierced the arm of his severed body. Xin Ai Lun peacefully fell to oblivion as his head slowly dissipated from existence.