"The damage is infectious, and all that can be done is purge it all and start from scratch."
If life is a series of choices, then perhaps that just means that life is a game? To Akazawa Saki, that's all life really is. She refutes the existence of G...
اوووه! هذه الصورة لا تتبع إرشادات المحتوى الخاصة بنا. لمتابعة النشر، يرجى إزالتها أو تحميل صورة أخرى.
Spirits dance down the line of humanity, balancing precariously between life and death. With no cause for concern, souls wander aimlessly along preordained lines speckled with trials and tribulations. Toe the line and you'll get by. Step out of line, and the ground will give way beneath you.
Down and down into the depths below, where the worlds beneath will devour the soul and corrupt the heart.
At least, that was what a man had told her many years ago.
For Akazawa Saki, she honestly didn't care about the depths of such philosophical thoughts and theories. She had more important things she needed to do.
The fall air was cool against the flesh as she made her way through underbrush and over twisting tree roots. The light was pleasant against the oranging foliage of forest trees overhanging, speckling the landscape in earthen hues. The lands seemed to almost glow as winter's reaches grew closer to fruition.
Birds sounded their musical calls, leaves rustled and twigs snapped underfoot, as was the flow of life in the forest.
And as Saki silently scaled the large mass of tree roots at the top of a hill, she looked around to take in her surroundings.
Grey eyes scanned the landscape, set in a tanned face framed by long tresses of raven hair left loose to sway in the breeze. While otherwise mild in appearances for a swinging twenty-something woman, Saki's ensemble of earthen hued linen pants, leather boots, gloves and black turtle-necked shirt had her blend in with the fall hues of the forest remarkably well. A simple steel longbow hung from Saki's grip as she turned her head towards the faint sounds of a bird's chirping in the distance, and the quiver of steel-tipped arrows rattled briefly as she continued her journey onwards.
Saki peered down at a lone piece of parchment in her free hand, with ink lines depicting the visage of a rare parrot with long tail feathers and an ornately crafted gemstone clasp secured around it's right leg. Her gaze shifted back towards a shuddering bush a few meters up ahead, where a particular, musical chirping escaped a creature from within its foliage.
The flittering of scarlet feathers caught in the morning light, glistening with the specks of dew through the foliage.
Saki's steps crept ever closer, soundless against the forest floor. Her breath shallowed until it had ceased entirely, where she stood on the balls of her feet and coiled herself into a crouch. Her bow was gently set on the ground, along with the parchment as she readied herself to pounce.
Another musical chirp mixed with the forest air, combined with the final glimpse of an amethyst stone set in gold.
It was her sign, and within an instance, Saki threw herself forward to catch her target before it could react.
Panicked screeches and the lashing of talons rung through the forest as Saki gently lifted a scarlet bird matching the one of her parchment sketch in every detail from within the foliage. It's distraught state was understandable, but for Saki she merely rearranged her hold of the bird so that one hand gently held its wings tucked away. The bird was small enough that if she tried, she could wrap her hand around its middle, and her fingers would meet.
