You Illuminate My Path

Chapter 2: Glowing talisman

My body is laying sprawled out on the floor, my head hurts, and I'm pretty sure that if I stay here with him any longer, I might not be able to live on.

"What do you mean by: 'you came back'?"
I ask raising an eyebrow.

Tomoe smirks as he cups my face in his hand.

"You came back, even though I told you that I might take your life next time I see you."

My eyes widen to the point that it hurts. Since when did he tell me that?

"Y-you never said anything like that!
And I'm not here on my own free will either ya' know!"

I try to stand up properly. Tomoe stands up as well. He is about a head taller than me when he's standing up straight, and not all up in my face!

"Oh, I thought I passed that information onto you before you left."

He licks his lips and slowly walks closer to me. For every step he takes, I step back.

"Now, what should I do to you?" he thinks to himself, as he pins me to the wall by putting an arm on each side of my head, blocking any possible escape.
I start to feel scared.
What if he decides to set me on fire?

I saw what he did to the goblin, and the rose. What if that happens to me?
That might possibly be the worst kind of death. To be set on fire, and not being able to put it out. How terrible...

"You-you could let me go?" I say nervously, and yet trying to sound tough at the same time.

"Let you go? Haha..! How cute. You think that you would be able to stand a chance, even if I give you a few seconds to run?"

He continues to laugh at me as I slid down the wall in humiliation, until Tomoe gets interrupted by some weird looking creature.

"Master Tomoe!" it calls.

Tomoe takes a last glance at me before walking out.
To my luck, the creature—perhaps another yōkai— didn't notice that I'm here.

My eyes scan the shelter for any kind of escape, any kind! And found one!
There is a hole in the corner of the shelter, that just seems my size.

I crawl out, and while doing so, Tomoe and the other yōkai can be heard speaking.

"Have you seen any young women around here? I can only find old hags,"
the voice says.

There is a pause before Tomoe answers:
"No."

My eyes widen in shock. Why would he lie? Is this for my sake, or his own?
Before I run off, I catch a glimpse of Tomoe who glances into the shelter.

He's wearing an expression that seems...hurt, and yet not.
I feel bad for him....but that doesn't mean that I want to die!

I run into the forrest, and keep running, afraid to look back. It starts to rain, and the earth becomes muddy and slippery under my feet.

As I keep running, I take a quick glance behind me, just to make sure that no one's following me. I mean to just look for a second, but when I turn back my foot slips because of the mud, and so I fall into the darkness.

"You can't get away from me, (Y/n)

***

I gasp for air as my eyes open.
That dream was....well, different.

I feel something rough in my hand; turns out to be that bookmark I had found.

Why the heck do I keep calling it a bookmark? It's a talisman.

The letters on the talisman that spells out 'Moon' starts to glow silver/blue.
It slips out of my grasp and into the air.
As it soars through my house, I follow it closely.

At some point, it slips underneath the main door, and into the garden.
I hesitate for a moment, but with abnormal things like this happening, I can't help it but being curious.

The door opens and I go out in the night, in my pajamas...

A cold breeze sweeps through my (h/c) hair and leaves it flying around my face.
The talisman lands in the corner of the garden, just in front of a mini-memorial I made for my mother.

Her picture is surrounded by her favorite flower—lavender.

Curious, I go to the memorial.
The talisman lands right in front of my mothers smiling image.

The word 'Moon' glows brighter and brighter, until the point where I have to look away.
Soon the glowing stops, and I can finally see again.

The talisman turns into dust, and gets swiped  away by the wind. What now? I sit on my knees and lightly touch the area of where the talisman—or as I like to call it, bookmark— had vanished.

I feel a light bump, thinking it might just be earth, but when I brush the dirt away, I find myself starring at a crystal blue stone.

It's glowing faintly, and it really makes me want to pick it up, but...what if it's dangerous? Damn, that thing your parents tell you about not to touch things you don't know about, really gets to you. If my mother didn't teach me that, then I would've already held the stone in my hands.

I think about covering it up with dirt again and just leave it, and pretend as if I knew nothing.

"(Y/n), take it, please. I left this stone for you. You're seventeen, it's time."

My mother appears in a long white dress. Silver flowers decorate her hair.

She smiled and gestures towards the glowing stone, before disappearing into the thin air.

.....

Should I take it? What does she mean by: 'it's time'? Huh, whatever it is, I will find out.

My hands embrace the mysterious stone.
As soon as my fingers touch the smooth surface, everything goes black.

***

Yes! Second chapter is out! ^^ I hope you like the story so far!