Tsuki ✔️COMPLETE

Chapter 26: The Enemy

Everyone had frozen in place, even Sama cowering under Kai's arm. He looked confused. His demon was monitoring the outside of the barn, what could have distracted him? All night, not even an owl had landed on the roof. Something had happened to him.

Unbeknownst to the others, Kai could not even feel him nearby.

Rubi eyed the exit. The light under the door beckoned her over, like it offered safety. It was the only way out. She had not taken that into account when they set up camp inside. She had been so concerned with warmth and shelter.

She should have been more cautious. How could they escape the building, where would they go-

Like a bellow of an angry god, a rush of icy air slammed open the shutters as if a blizzard had hit the barn. It screamed past the wooden frames with an earsplitting, eerie howl and a force like a herd of wild horses. Snow, ice, wind. It knocked Rubi to the floor, shocking her system and leeching any heat from the air.

She covered her face, the gust sharp and cruel on her skin. She heard Sama scream but the white storm blinded her.

"Everybody, out!" Rubi yelled.

She reached out blindly, grabbing for her coat with the hope she could find it and not freeze to death outside. Instead, she found Take'Ichi's arm and grabbed her blanket from her bed. She dragged him to the door, trying to cover them from the blasting wind.

She stepped into the eye of the storm and a moment of clear air washed over her. She saw Kai in the centre, his arms outstretched and face stony. He was pushing back the snow. Of course. It was made of water.

Sama struggled with the door, trying to open it against the wind. Rubi grabbed the handle and pulled, only half sure the door opened into the room rather than outwards. It refused to move. She pushed it firmly. Nothing.

Were they sealed in somehow? Were they being funneled out or trapped in place?

Rubi threw her weight against the door. It was stuck fast.

"Captain, move please." said Mimi from behind her.

Mimi kicked the door full force. The wood split under the pressure, the panels breaking away from the nails. Rubi grabbed a board and yanked it free, trying to widen the hole. It was dimly lit outside, perhaps sunrise. There was a hope of sunlight.

Then, the darkness swept in, like the snuffing of a candle. Rubi's world was engulfed in darkness. Now, it was everywhere. It had worked. They had been drawn to the light like moths, tempted like all people afraid of the unknown dark would be, desperate for its safety.

She reached into the air, thick, rancid and blacker than any night. Her hand met something foreign outside the door. Smooth and hard like ivory or...

Bones. Bones as tall as she was and as thick as her waist were blocking the door, holding it shut.

"Mimi, what-"

Mimi struck the spire of bone with the flat of her hand. It crumbled, bursting dust into the air.

"Everyone, out!" Rubi barked.

"Stay together!" Kai added loudly. "Something got past my demon! I... I don't feel him anymore."

He looked scared, so much more than he ever had before.

Rubi ushered her friends out first. There was no time to grab anything. She squeezed through the break in the door and stumbled out into the open air.

Darkness. The barn was wrapped in an undulating blanket of inky black mist thicker than smoke. The sky was gone. Bones broke through the frozen earth in curving spikes all around them. It was like they were in the teeth of a monster.