Chapter 9(Demon hunter V)

A girl with long, gleaming black curly hair sat on a man's shoulder, clutching a paper fan, as he led her through a lovely garden. They both had the same features, especially their oceanic blue eyes, which stood out.

The girl was beaming with happiness as she watched her fan rotate to the tune of the wind. As they worked towards her mother, who was sitting on a mat unpacking the food from the basket, the girl gripped her father's hair with her free hand. She had a bright smile on her face that could sham the sun, as she watched her daughter's smiling face.

Her father gently carried the little girl off his neck, placing her on the mat. He removed his shoes and sat down on the mat with his daughter and his wife.

The woman was very beautiful. "Have fun, my little prince," she said, pulling her daughter into a big hug. She had long black hair that reached her waist, beautiful big brown eyes, and milky skin, which were accompanied by her soft and delicate features.

"Yes, mummy, dad made me this paper fan that rotates as the wind blows, and he also braided my hair and promised me a horse ride when we get inside," she said, smiling as she looked at her father, who had a proud look on his face.

"I can't believe that your father has already replaced me in just one day." She pursed her cherry lips, making a sad face.

"No, mommy," the little girl said, looking at both her parents. She came closer to her mother's ear and whispered, "You'll always be my favorite," she said, as both ladies giggled.

"I heard that sweat heart," her father said making a sad face. They all laughed as they enjoyed their meals.

After eating, her father pulled out a box from his pocket. He opened it as if he were about to propose for the second time. He brought out a chain that had a beautiful obsidian stone attached to it that shone under the sun. "Happy 10th birthday, Mira; come over here; let me put this around your neck."

Mira came forward, standing in front of her father as he put the chain around her slender neck. She looked at the pendant in awe as it shone in the sunlight. "Thank you, daddy; thank you, Mummy," Mira said, not able to contain her happiness.

"That was a gift from my grandmother to my mother; my mother gave it to me for my tenth birthday, and now I'm giving it to you; make sure you don't remove this chain no matter what." Her mother's face became a little serious as she said the last sentence.

"I will; I promise I won't remove this chain from my neck no matter what," Mira promised.

"That's my girl," her father said, ruffling her hair and pulling her into a big hug. Mira hugged her father back, but something caught her attention in the most unpleasant way possible. Behind her father were the hideous creatures that she normally sees in her dreams, and, as always, they were staring right at her.

She pointed in the direction of the demons in horror. Seeing his daughter horrified expression he quickly pushed Mir toward her mother protectively. He turned around with a different expression from the one he had before. His aura had become dangerously dark and deadly.

But as his eyes fell on the monsters, his dark aura dissolved, and he held their gaze for ten whole seconds as if they were communicating with each other through their minds.

Mira, who was hugging her mother, lifted her gaze to ask her all the unanswered questions that were running through her mind, but instead, she caught an emotion that was quick to disappear from her mother's eyes. It was as if it wasn't even there in the first place.

Her mother instantly pasted a smile on her face, placing a gentle kiss on Mira's forehead. "Mira, let's go inside." Your cake is waiting for you."

Mira would have been dancing and screaming with happiness, but today didn't feel right. She still remembered the horrified look in her mother's eyes. Seeing how hesitant Mira was, her father carried her and flashed a big, loving smile at her.

"Come on, Mira, let's go inside." It's time to open your gift and don't forget that I promised you a horse ride"

Looking back to where the demons stood moments ago, she couldn't find them anywhere, and that made her uneasy and frightened to the core.

The remaining hours passed by in the blink of an eye. Mira wouldn't say that today was the best birthday she had ever had because now she was able to see the monsters from her dreams in reality.

She had told her parents about them, but she explained that she was in a phase that she would soon outgrow; she drew the monsters she saw in her dreams just to show her parents, but they always dismissed the matter as unimportant and distracted her with games or new things, but as she grew older, her curiosity grew as well.

She was sitting on her bed in her room, looking at all the gifts her parents had given her, from toys to dresses, shoes, books, ornaments, and everything else, but what she really wanted was to see the outside world for the first time in her life.

Mira went to her open window, leaning on it and allowing the cold air to touch her skin as she watched the clear night sky that held all the stars in it. She loved how calm it was.

Now that the birds had started retreating to their nest with their families, she wished to be able to be as free as the birds, to be able to see the entire world, and never be restricted from going anywhere.

She wanted to know if there were people who looked like her and if there was life outside her home. She had never seen anything outside her home, and it bordered her

Her house wasn't big; it was just a small and comfortable family house that was located on a hilltop that was surrounded by thick forest.

As Mira admired the stars in the sky and the birds, she saw the monsters again, but this time they weren't looking at her. They were just standing outside the house. She noticed some of them coming out of her house.

She wanted to smash the window immediately in fear, but she didn't; her curiosity got the better of her. Why were these monsters coming out of her house? She noticed as they disappeared one by one, and in less than a minute, most of them had gone, leaving another kind of monster that looked even scarier.

As one of them turned towards Mira, she quickly closed her windows, jumped onto her bed, and covered herself with her blanket, shivering frantically. She didn't mind that her lights were still on; she wanted to go to her parent's room, but she was too scared to do so.

She prayed to herself for a while before drifting off to sleep.

Later that night, the once-clear sky had now been covered by dark clouds. The rain fell heavily as lightning struck, making the atmosphere feel ominous.

Mira worked up suddenly due to the thunderstorm that was happening outside. She noticed that it was dark. The storm must have affected the light.

With a heavy heart, she managed to get her flashlight, a blanket she used to wrap herself in, and a pillow in her other hand before heading out to her parents' room for comfort. As she walked through the corridor, feeling skeptical due to the ominous atmosphere, she heard sounds coming from the living room. This made her run as fast as she could to her parent's room.

Mira arrived at her parents' room door, trembling like a leaf. She opened the door as fast as she could without knocking, jumping on their bed.

But she realized that her parents weren't in bed. In fact, the bed was cold. Instantly, fear began creeping into her. She removed the blanket that was covering her body, picked up the torchlight, and headed out of the room.

"Mom, dad,"

She walked slowly, calling out for her parents while holding the chain that was around her neck, praying for a response, but there was no response. As she walked into the sitting room, her torchlight fell to the floor as a scream tore through the quiet room.

Before her was the body of her mother, which was lying and covered with her blood, and before her body were two figures holding a long silver dagger that shone in the dark. The figures turned around now and were looking at her with murderous intentions.

Mira's body was frozen to the cold floor where her parents lay, unable to run.

"Mira RUN,"

Her supposed dead mother screamed with all her might, telling her child to run, that she and her father wouldn't be able to save her this time, and that she was sorry for her unkept promises. Mira could hear each and every pain that was laced in her mother's voice and the love that shined in her eyes—that alone broke her heart into a million pieces.

But her eyes were finally dead as one of those monsters used their dagger to stab her through her neck. Instantly, the only thing that was left of her was dust, and at that moment, Miras' feet got free and she started to run without any concept of the brain.

The men didn't chase her immediately; they just stood there watching the girl's retreating figure.

Mira ran under the heavy downpour with tears in her eyes and pain in her heart. Her mind was still trying to process the situation she was in.

She couldn't believe that her parents were gone and she would never see them again; she would never hear her father's voice ever again; she would never feel her mother's kisses and her comforting hug; she would never hold her father again; she would never hear her mother's voice, and everything happened on her birthday.

Her legs suddenly became weak, and she fell to the ground, bursting into tears. She was all alone in this world, in a world she didn't know how big it was. Would she survive?

She sat on the floor, bringing her knees close to her chest as she cried. She. She couldn't believe that her birthday, the happiest day of her life, would one day become the deathday of both her parents.

The weather was cold, but she felt something even colder but also very hot on her skin that burned her.

Slowly she lifted her head, and behold, the man who had ended her mother's life was looking right at her with eyes full of evil cruelty; the lightning that stuck behind him made him look like the devil himself.

She stumbled back, shaking in fear, as the man took slow but long steps towards her.

She hit something hard behind her as her hand touched something, and hesitantly she slowly looked down, praying that what her gut was telling her was not true. But today the universe was not on her side.

At that point, no one needed to tell her who the owner of those shoes was.

Her once-tried and weak legs gained the strength to run away; her heart was pounding so fast and so hard that she started to feel pain in her chest.

Mira ran without turning around, not even once, but this time she had no other option but to stop when she got caught in a bear trap.

"Ahhhh!!,"

She screamed her lungs out in pain as she fell to the ground.

She could feel the teeth of the trap breaking her bones. desperately wanted to remove it, but every movement caused her intense pain.

"Tsk-tsk, it's like the little girl got caught," one of the men said in a pitiful tone.

"Look at her trying to remove the trap all by herself," he said as if he were looking at something adorable.

"But, sadly, she can't," the other said, disappointed.

"Very soon her leg would be divided in two, in the most painful way possible," he said, folding his hands in front of his chest as he shook his head.

"Hey, why don't we help her?" He spoke as if he had just had the most brilliant idea ever.

"I agree, let's put her out of her misery."

Mira couldn't listen to what they were saying due to the intense pain she felt, but one thing she understood for sure was that she was in danger and that she needed to survive, if not for herself but for her parents, who risked their lives for her.

But Mira's vision had started to become foggy due to her loss of blood, the pain she felt, and the things that were happening to her.

The men were progressing toward her, but she couldn't move back without feeling pain in her leg. The only thing she could do was pray to God and plead with the men.

But before she could plead, one of the men grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground. She struggled to break free, but she couldn't; the trap was now dangling from her leg, tearing her wound even more.

She could feel her soul leave her body, but she was going down without a fight. Mira did the only thing that came to her mind, and that was to bite the shite out of the man.

Her bit may not do much damage, but she prays that it gets her out of his tight hold.

She bit him with all her strength, pouring all her frustration, sadness, pain, and anger into that one bit, and thankfully he let go. Mira fell to the ground hard, making her cry in pain.

"You brat, I swear I'm going to kill you."

But that wasn't a victory, and even though it was, it didn't last long as the person in front of her stepped on the trap, adding pressure to her leg...

She knew that he wasn't putting his full weight on her leg because her legs were still intact. She cried out in agony, praying for a miracle to happen.

Mira felt her body become hot all of a sudden as if something had awakened in her; her voice had become raspy due to all her screaming.

She didn't even notice that the man's feet were no longer on hers because she felt pain with or without it...

"I'll make sure to deliver you to your parents soon."

Her eyes felt heavy due to tiredness and pain. She felt a pair of strong hands grab her by the neck once again, and this time his hold on her was deadly. Mira wanted to beg for her life, but no word could come out of her mouth.

"P-pl- ease,"

She wanted to hold onto something, anything; she wanted to fight. She didn't want to die just like that, and not on her birthday.

She managed to get hold of his shirt, and at that moment, a huge explosion happened, with blood splattered everywhere.