Blood

Nalan watched her younger self join a group of jubilant girls around six years. As soon as young Nalan got to the group, two chubby arms darted out and held her hands. With a slight tug , they pulled her into their circle, and skipped out of the garden.

Joyous voices rang out, as the group entered the village. Able men were returning back home from their respective jobs. The mothers were getting dinner ready, while their kids were playing around. Elder men conversed happily while sharing a jar of wine. The atmosphere was euphoric.

The group happily walked forward, exchanging words among themselves, which led to angelic laughter.

Nalan looked around the village in the meantime. It had been a long time since she had seen it, and her memory of it was fading as the years went by.

The beauty of nature can be experienced in the village, as it is surrounded by flowers, trees, streams, ocean, farmlands and mountains. The sound of boisterous laughter, unrestrained, noisily, jolly coupled with the surrounding nature had a calming effect.

A fascinating scene, as the sun sets, casting illuminous shadows. Nalan stared longingly at the surroundings with a sad smile. This was where she grew up. A peaceful environment, away from the problems of the world.

Currently it wasn't easy to find a place like this in the world, but it had existed. And as long Nalan still lives, it would continue to exist within her.

She trotted behind the group for a while , stopping once in a while as the group paid respect to the elderly ones, before continuing on their journey.

Soon they arrived in front of the ocean. They all rolled up their sleeves and ran towards the ocean, laughing out happily as they picked up the washed up shells.

They had a competitive spirit, as they hurriedly picked up the shells. Young Nalan had a handful of colorful shells stacked in her arms. Feeling it's enough she turned around to leave, when she caught sight of a glistening stone.

The more she stared at it, the more curious she got. Attracted by its brightness she walked up to it, dropped the shells beside her , since they occupied her hands and arms, and picked up the stone.

It was small and round in shape, emitting a white light. Young Nalan looked at it from every angle but couldn't decipher what it was. Seemingly lost, she decided to show it to someone who would know about it. She carefully placed it in the folds of her gown around the chest area, and picked up the shells she had dropped .

She turned around, but didn't see her friends. She thought they already left her , since it was a competition for picking shells and taking them to the village chief's wife. She hurriedly ran forward towards the village. It wasn't the matter of who arrived first alone, but also about the one whose shells were precious.

At the moment younger Nalan ran forward, older Nalan had a look of horror on . She knew what was going to happen next, because this was a repeat of an event she didn't want to remember again.

She tried stopping her younger self, but as always, her words fell onto deaf ears, her hands passed through the body of younger Nalan , and her own body had developed a consciousness of its own.

The smell of burning hit their nostrils as they arrived at the entrance of the village. The village was burning, as an abomination of who knows what devoured the village. Disgustingly looking things commiting all sorts of atrocities.

Their minds were blank as they watched the murder of the people they had grown up with . Their thinking faculty was down, and they could only watch with wide eyes.

Unknown to them, one of the abominations had walked up behind them. It had a giant body , large mouth with sharp long and large incisors, bulging belly with layers of fat, round head with a red eye. Its feet were large, and made earth shaking sounds, but they were deaf to all the sounds.

" A-lan ! Run!!! Ack..!" The ear piercing voice of a woman rang out. Her shout was like the power for their brain to boot up.

They slowly turned around, to see a heart wrenching scene. A woman in her mid thirties with a round stomach had a large brown fat arm with disgusting fingers out of her chest still holding her beating heart. Her eyes were wide open in fear, as she spoke out with difficulty

" R-u….n.."

They were stuck in place, their eyes with unshed tears , their mouths trembling as they called out "Mad...am Ch..en. "

The abomination crushed the heart, spraying hot blood onto her face. As the liquid touched her face, young Nalan dropped the shells in her arms on the ground, and watched Madam Chen drop onto the floor like a heap of clothes.

Tears fell from their eyes, and they fell onto the ground, their eyes on the woman. Fear, despair, hate…these emotions were etched on their faces. They felt fear because they saw a mutilated dead body for the first time. Despair…because they were afraid of what would happen to them. And lastly hate… they hated the thing that took the life of their loved one.

The abomination slowly approached, its steps creating tremors. They looked up at the advancing monstrosity with indifferent teary faces. Even if they died, they wouldn't give their killer the Joy of seeing their true emotions.

Their indifferent faces seemed to rile up the monster as it suddenly roared and leaped towards them from a distance. They watched without a shred of emotion.

Just as it was about to reach them , its outstretched arm was diced into pieces.

" Rarghhh….!!!!" It roared in pain . Blue blood pooled out of its shoulder . It looked furiously looked towards the one who dared.

Standing Infront of it was a woman who had lustrous goldilocks hair draped over her shoulders, as piercing blue eyes stared at it coldly. She was wearing a black joined top and tight with high knee heels, and was holding blue twin blades emitting icy aura.

Without a moment to spare, she threw one of her blades forward, which moved with the speed of light, and cleanly cleaved its neck off its shoulders. The blade returned swiftly back to its owner. Everything happened so fast that they weren't able to see it properly.

The horrible sound of pain of the deceased abomination attracted its peers. They were already closing on to them.

" Sweetheart…Run. " The woman said unemotionally.

Emotions returned to their faces, as they looked up to the woman Infront of them. " Mum…my.."

" Leave…Now!!!" Her mother bellowed out loudly, gripping her blades tightly, as she watched the monsters closing in.

Hearing the cold time of her mother, They picked themselves up , and clumsily ran . They turned back in between to see another side of their mother.

Their mother stood amidst swirling blaze as it consumed everything in its paths. The number of abominations were more than a hundred, but her mother was unfazed. She stared back coldly at the monsters, different sorts of colors circled around her body , creating a rainbow. Its speed of circulation was slow at first, before gaining momentum.

It swirled crazily around her, almost swallowing her up , and created a pair of multicolored giant butterfly wings. She dashed forward, and moved as fast as a shooting star. Bodies of the abominations dropped one after the other. During her fight, she turned around and gave her daughter a warning glare.

Receiving her mother's gaze, they freezed up , and ran out. Tears fell down their faces, blurring their sights as they ran .

" Ugh!" They cried out in pain as they fell down on sharp stones, inflicting wounds on her body. The pain that shot through cleared her head.

They stood up with difficulty, and ran back the way they came.

The village was gone, replaced by a molten blaze of death and despair, only the wails of burning bodies and houses resonated through the village.

Seeing the empty village without their mother, and the choked smell sent them into unconsciousness.

' Tonight as you sprinkled your rainbow dust dazzling my eyes. For the first time, I saw your vulgarness not of the living, your demands not from needs. Tonight, when you opened your pallet of magic, I escaped. Seeing all I saw, the colors fade and change. I understand now… Everyone has a secret, and they have many reasons for not telling anyone. And so do you, Mummy…'