Crimson Oni

Yet, his cries were in vain, as no one answered. Looking around more, he realized that he seemed to be in… a forest of some sort, the ground covered in dense foliage and lush grass, while the trees stretched overhead, forming a beautiful, dense canopy that blotted out most of the sky. Birds chirped and the song of insects could be heard, making it truly quite serene.

Walking further into the forest, prying away thick branches and dense leaves, he managed to find a clearing. A crystal clear pool, glimmering as a few of the sun's rays managed to shine through. Spotting it, he immediately felt an almost uncontrollable urge to drink. Sky felt as if he hadn't drank anything in years!

Bending over slightly, he gazed upon the still water and his visage that was reflected back at him akin to a mirror, before unceremoniously letting his head drop into the water, where he immediately felt the cool, wet sensation of the water upon his face. 'How refreshing!' Sky thought to himself, as he greedily gulped the clear liquid.

As he opened his eyes slightly while submerged, he was amazed. The water was teeming with life! Schools of fish, their multi-colored scales shimmering, seagrasses swaying slightly, rooted to the sandy bottom. Reluctantly, Sky resurfaced, inhaling some air before once more admiring the pure, untarnished view.

Suddenly, a dark figure suddenly appeared in Sky's view, blocking his view of the fish, headed straight towards Sky. It suddenly seemed to shoot forward, propelling itself towards Sky with almost unthinkable speed, its' maw open, teeth glinting cruelly as it torpedoed towards Sky. Seeing this, Sky immediately retracted his head from the water, scrambling backwards to the safety of land.

"W-what the hell?!" He exclaimed, "What was that?!" The creature seemed all too happy to answer Sky's question, as the water's surface seemed to rupture, spraying white froth into the air as a massive creature, almost the size of two Sky's combined, leapt out of the water, its tail furiously beating from side to side.

The closest thing Sky could compare it to would be a shark, yet that would be doing it an injustice. Its open mouth revealed row after row after row of serrated teeth, seemingly all too happy to tear Sky apart, on top of its feral glowing eyes that stared unnervingly at Sky.

Not to mention, that along the creature's spine, it had bones literally protruding out of it, much like a shark's fin. But Sky didn't have much time to observe the creature. To his horror, the creature suddenly shot forward, shooting out pressurized water from its… behind… launching itself towards Sky while it flailed midair, growling, its mouth salivating at the thought of eating its prey.

Sky tensed slightly, desperately trying to dodge out of the creature's path but it was seemingly moving too fast and he wouldn't be able to make it without sustaining some injury. Yet once again, another blur flashed in front of Sky's eyes and before he knew it, the creature was suddenly on the ground, its eyes glazed over. It was clearly dead. Looking at the blur who managed to take out the creature, Sky braced himself for the worst.

Slowly turning his head upwards, he saw… a woman?! Or was it… Furrowing his eyebrows, he completely forgot for a moment about how she just killed that creature with ease and freely ogled her. With one hand slightly brushing her long platinum blonde hair that flowed down her back and was tied into two tassels, clipped by simplistic wooden beads, bright yellow eyes, plump lips and a toothy grin, she was definitely beautiful.

Outfitted in what could only be best described as a modified kimono that exposed her voluptuous chest and toned abs, it ended in a golden skirt, revealing her muscular legs and sandaled feet, with her outfit all held together by a thick red rope tied into a bow at the end. Sky would be entranced, that is… If she was a normal human…

With a blood red skin color and most noticeably a protruding pair of ivory-colored horns coming out of her forehead, she was positively an… oni. 'Thanks for Japanese Mythology Class!' Sky thought sarcastically.

"You. Runt. Come with me. You're our prey now." She grinned, showing her sharp teeth as she dragged him along. 'Great. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.' Sky sighed resignedly as he let himself be dragged along by his savior-turned-enemy. Eventually, he felt that he wasn't moving anymore, so he opened his eyes, to be met with a primitive village, full of wooden shacks with thatched roofs, covered in dried grass, presumably to block the winds and rain.

He was then tossed unceremoniously on his rump to presumably the center of the village, where a growing crowd of oni gathered around him, whispering excitedly, some looking at him in a predatory light. "That's right! For centuries our kind hasn't feasted upon human flesh, but today, we have been fortunate enough, praise the Goddess, to taste this human's flesh!" The red-skinned oni who dragged him here, stood behind him announcing to the crowd. "Now, with you all as my witness, I, Gushiken Ino, Leader of the Crimson Oni, will now perform the Ritual!" The crowd cheered raucously, with intermittent cries of "When can we eat him?" mixed in. Sky could only gulp nervously. He had only recently escaped the void, then the creature, and now this?! How bad could his luck be?!!