A/N
My apologies for putting my authors note at the beginning of the chapter, but please read!
I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has given this book of mine a chance and helped it grow to what it is today.
Roughly 5 months ago, I created this story with no expectations except to get rid of my sudden urge to write my own story about Kimetsu No Yaiba/Demon Slayer.
But after four/five chapters (all about 1000 words each), all posted in one day from a freak writing session, it gained a great amount of traction and took off running with no sign of stopping.
It was a thrilling, yet confusing, moment for me since I believed that my story would only be interesting to just a small group of people.
But look where it is now.
100,000 reads and counting.
It's absolutely insane to me at how large of a crowd my story has attracted. And you best believe that I am grateful to have such an amazing and dedicated audience that is always leaving feedback that not only brings me joy but also points out my weaknesses. And this applies to those who have fallen out of my story also (it happens to the best of us haha!)!
But to keep my thank you note short and sweet, thank you, everyone, for continuously reading and leaving feedback on my story. Thank you for putting in your own time and energy to immerse yourself into my story line or just to follow along with a character named (Y/N). Thank you for not brushing off my story and giving it a chance. Thank you for your patience on my writing.
Thank you.
I hope that I continue to meet all of your expectations with my future chapters and maybe even surpass them with writing that is driven by exciting and undying emotion.
Thank you all once more, and I hope you all have a wonderful whateverthetimeisforyourightnow.
Previously!
With a hellish scream suddenly in the air, Aika now yelled with haste. "Grab Aiko now! And get the fuck out!" Obeying the sudden commands and Aika quickly grabbing your own mother, Aika and Akara now carried your mother and Aiko in their arms as they flee'd the house. Running down the same hill that you had climbed when you arrived back home from the selection, only the blood-curdling shrill could be heard as the walls of your once beloved home came crashing down with a violent power.
No one knew of what had suddenly just happened.
No one knew of what had suddenly came into their home.
And no one knew of what was to come.
On to Chapter 49!
With the warm sun kissing your skin as your excited and awe-dripping eyes watched your father balance a double-edged knife on his index finger, he spoke with care as the knife slowly bounced back and forth. "Father! Father! It's balancing!" You excitedly yelled as you shook his arm, causing the knife to become unbalanced. With your father laughing whole-heartedly and gently stopping your shaking with his other hand, the balance was obtained. With the knife now not moving, your father spoke as he kept his eyes on the blade, "(Y/N), I want you to remember something as you practice the Breath of Destruction from now on." Your excited eyes darted to the side of your fathers face, his smile delicate and never-constrained. "The Breathe, or Art, of Destruction lies delicately with creation; destruction and creation both exist in the same moment. Creation can sometimes leave destruction behind, such as the ninth form, Summers Arrival." You tilted your head as he continued.
"Even though the arrival of summer welcomes warmth and new growth, the melting of the snow can wash away planned seeds, flood poor homes, or even drown unfortunate animals in their burrows. And it's the same with destruction; even though it can seem like it's leaving chaos behind, such as Eternal Forest Fire, it fertilizes the ground with the burned plants in order to make way for the growth of future ones." He now tilted his finger to let the knife drip from one side to the other. "Of course, sometimes one overpowers the other. Creation can sometimes overpower destruction, leaving only new life and fortune in it's path." Now dripping to the other side, "But sometimes, destruction overpowers creation, leaving only damage and discourse in it's path." Now grabbing your fathers arm, which resulted in the knife falling to the ground, you spoke with question. "Then does that mean we can also use our breath style to create things?" Laughing now, "Not in the way that you're thinking my dear. When we use creation, it manifests itself into our forms that are inspired by others and nature itself. But to have a form that is entirely dedicated to creation, I'm afraid not." Now sitting on the deck with your father beside you, you remained quiet for a moment. "Then what about just destruction?" You had suddenly blurted.
With your vision slowly beginning to change into third perspective, you now watched your memory like it was a film. With your father, and teacher, placing a hand on your head with a gifted smile, "A form purely made for destruction is a form that is created by violent, and raw emotions. Forms created just for destruction leave nothing but horror and discord in it's wake." Now scooping you up from your spot which made you erupt in giggles as he placed you in his lap, "That's why I'm teaching you forms that are created for both destruction and creation; giving both sides ground to stand on. I don't want you to fight with such violent emotions." Craning your neck to look up at your father now, "What does it feel like to fight with that type of form then?" A cocky, yet restrained grin, was now plastered on his face. "Fighting with the mindset of releasing destruction into the world is a feeling that just cant be described. It's a thrilling, yet disturbing, emotion that only comes when you you are determined to win with every fiber of your body and only having destruction in your mind. It only comes when you are truly ready to release absolute chaos into the world." The rest of the conversation had suddenly gone mute as you asked your father another question.
For a moment, everything had turned black. But for only a brief second, a second memory had appeared.
Standing behind the sliding door with (e/c) eyes filled with curiosity and worry, you watched as one individual was being scolded by your father. Violently you saw your father yelling at the younger girl as she kept her eyes forward with her brows knitted. But nothing could be made out except the mumbled and echoing words of your father. But before your father could scold the individual any more, they caught sight of you. With eyes that resembled your mothers, except both being a violent yellow, angrily she walked up to the door and slammed it shut, cutting you off from the scene. Now shifting into third perspective once more, barely could you hear your younger self murmur a name.
'Asumi? That name barely rings a bell..." Your unanswered questions continued to drift as splotches of black replaced the memory. 'What was even going on that day? Who even was she?' Slowly, warm colors began to paint the black void in front of you, 'Why was she in my memories?'
After your final question, you had suddenly found yourself standing near the edge of a cliff in your gear as the back of your father faced you. "Father?" You called out with worry as you saw clouds of smoke forming in front of him. Turning with a stoic face but eyes that screamed in worry, he spoke. "Save them, (Y/N)." Adrenaline and worry had suddenly found themselves in your blood stream. "W-What?! Save who?!" Now pointing behind himself, you ran up to him and froze as you realized what was in front of you.
Your entire town had suddenly been set ablaze by greedy orange and yellow light as screams of horror stained the air. With eyes dilating and heart rate increasing, your father placed a hand on your shoulder, "Time is running out, (Y/N). You have to wake up. You have to save them." You couldn't move, you felt as if you were binded to where you stood. With sudden force suddenly slamming itself on your shoulders, you were forced to turn around by your father. With eyes beginning to prick with tears in your eyes, your father yelled at you, "Wake up (Y/N)! Save them!"
With a crashing wave of darkness overcoming your father and only the words, "I'll guide you whenever I can," lingering in the black, you slowly began to wake.
And with the sudden dream ending and your frame shooting up with your body high on alert, you sat there for a moment before realizing that what you dreamt was a warning; a warning to return to your hometown. Hastily getting out of the provided futon by Hisa and changing into your clothes and only grabbing your sword and haori, you made haste towards your town. Using the trunks of the trees to help propel yourself forward with great speed, you made your way to the same spot that you and your father were standing.
And upon arrival, there was your town. Covering your moth in disbelief and horror, the raging fires that you had seen in your dreams were there right before your eyes, consuming homes and corpses. With your town now a sudden bonfire that coughed out blotches of smoke into the consuming night sky, you fell to the ground with the edge of your sword driven into the soil. "Oh my god..." Your voice quivered now.
"Akara..." The thought of your eldest sister being found lifeless on the ground terrified you.
"Aiko..." The thought of your bubbly older sister burnt to a crisp from failing to escape a fire tore your heart apart.
"Aika..." The thought of being unable to be there to help your aggressive older sister from being cornered made your entire being throb.
"Mother..." The thought of being unable to save your own mother from this sudden attack made your mind become torn into two.
And they were all there, in the burning town that you once called home. But remembering that this was no time to mourn, you rose to your feet as tears of disbelief threatened to roll down your cheeks. A new feeling heroism had awaken in your heart. Taking out your sword from the deep grasp of the soil and it's fern green coloring shimmering from the ominous glow of the raging fires, only one thing rested in your mind now,
"SAVE THEM!"