Kurama and the Grace of a Girl | Job |

What rested behind the thick expanse of wood-land and rocky sidelines of mountain paths - was an excitement that sickly rumbled within the facade of bone and flesh. A girl, to be precise. Or rather, a girl who really didn't know who she was. There was a hidden quest and a thrumming heart that clammered against her chest, and with each willing thought - discouraged or not - the swarming flutter of life consistently was born from the ashes over and over again. With each tiring step - a wash of soreness and exhaust - sweat glazed over her pale fore-head and covered back, knees barely able to hold her own ground as the semblance of magical energy radiated a source of aid within every various rest. It had taken days to reach her destination. And although the splinter of lightning was an option, the girl, did not want to be so openly noticed.

For if she rode like lightning, she would crash like thunder. And although crashing seemed to be her most solid talent as of now, there was an option that ticked at the back of her mind, saying - "let us not look like such a fool today". She may of been confident with her ownself, but the actions she made physically, and not by the motion of her lips, was of much more value to her than anything else. Aside from the "blood-relative" known as brother, and the hidden door to the way back home, there couldn't of ever been anything else. For everything that had been thrown in her pathway of future and present, would always desolate her to walk alone in the end. And that. Was possibly her most greatest fear. The first real job. Lives were on the hand, and a mystery was to be solved. She may of been drained of her energy, but her mentality was submerged in an endless flood of excitement.

Beanstalk Village was as it said it was. As soon as the hooded-girl had approached the opening of the woods that faded out into the fields of rotten vegetables, she could see the large root that vanished against the peak of clouds - huts constructed carefully around its bottom veins that feasted along the dampen ground. There weren't any people outside. No life was seen at all actually, and she was questioning herself if anybody was even here anymore. The things she had heard about the beautiful, and blossoming village, had been reduced to a patch of lifeless terrain. She could almost see it as similiar to Sin, but, disregarding the consistent appearance of beasts.

At first, she did not call out into the lifeless village. The radius around her was mild, but she felt a chill crawl along her spine at the weird sensation that lingered along this land. There was some form of life, the crackle of recent flames had been reduced to blazing ambers that brought warmth to her hands as she held them there briefly. Instead of seeking for people, she instead was called out by an old woman, which eventually became a small or rather, somewhat large group of people - likely the ones that all lived here. Some were old, some very young. They looked hungry and tired, as if they had been trying to bring the green and the day back onto their crops once again. The childrens eyes were slightly puffy, and she could tell they had been crying as they hid behind the adults - uneased with her sudden presence. Albeit, she did not expose any emotion to the people of Beanstalk, and instead, shifted her also tired eyes back towards the woman who seemed to motion this village into the sway of her words and twirl of her fingers.

"I've travelled very far to come here and grant your request, people of Beanstalk." she paused, glancing down at her hands that were dirty. It would've been nice to shower, to feel clean. But, she doubted that would be on her mind for very long. After all, there was a peculair composing of pity that flooded into her emotions as she looked at the emblem on her hand, and raised it for the people to see. The children seemed to grow curious, as if they recognized the marking on her hand. The adults on the other hand quietly gasped to themselves while the elder woman had a gesture of awe in her eyes that briefly subsided to a small smile. She calmly approached her, and took her raised hand into her wrinkly ones. "Welcome, Mage of Sabertooth. Please come this way, I'll explain to you everything that has happened to us." there was a faint tone of delight to her voice, yet, urgency, and she lightly tugged on her hand before wandering over to a nearby hut. Askr followed at an even pace behind her.

The hut was much more warmer than the outside, and only a few of the people also entered the small sized hut which was made by the skin of animals and the branches of trees. She took her seat across the woman, whome handed her a small bowl of fruit, "We have very little, but, I'm sure you're hungry and tired." she remarked, her beady eyes watching her carefully as the girl peered down at the bowl with an almost confused look in her eyes. It was a simple treat. Just a cut up apple. But, the gesture made her happy, and instead of expressing her gratitude, she ate the snack up so quickly, that in the mer blink of an eye, it seemed to be gone. "Getting to the issue at hand. We think it may be a curse." at the mention of curse, her chewing on the last slice of apple halted for a moment, her attention focused onto the old lady again. "You think?" Askr questioned, placing her hands into her lap. The woman merely nodded in return and continued to speak, "We have had a few mages come by here before. They said that there was a strange aura that radiated over them; some sort of magical presence to be exact. Most of the mages were focused on healing, but, whenever they used magic, the crops reacted, strange human like shapes took place in them, and attacked the mages." she paused, "After that, they were either gravely injured, or they left. We haven't been able to grow anything, and we are no longer of help to Fiore." the woman lowered her head, "I prayed that at least one more would come this way, and hopefully help us. I just hope, that my prayers are answered." her eyes met the pinkish red ones, and Askr narrowed her lids to the old lady.

As she fathomed a sentence within her mind, ready to be motioned by the sway of her tongue, a sudden comotion from outside the hut drew their attention away as the old woman quickly staggered past Askr with a scowl on her face. There was a clatter of what sounded like pots, and she pursued casually behind the people who exited the tent to see what they had all swarmed around. To her surprise, at first, it looked like nothing more than a small animal-like figure, messing around with the food as the children threw small rocks at it. The old-woman though, scolded the children, who eventually stopped by the word of their parents but seemed tempted, and somewhat frightened by the "animal" that ignored them all. "Demon! I've told you, you are not welcome here!" she yelled. An expression of shock crossed over her features for a few moments as she stood at a distance from what was going on. If things got out of hand, she'd step in. But, the random appearance of a demon, that, seemed apparently common, had her questioning if the curse was related to this creature.

"Shut up old woman. You think I care?" it was a male voice, and at last, the demon raised its head from the pot. It took on a fox like figure, although, it definitely was not a fox. She could tell by the way its ears were shaped, and the nine-tails that swayed out behind it's rear. Also, the obvious way it had telepathically spoken to everyone around it, was not something a regular fox could do. Her eyes narrowed again, and she folded her arms infront of her chest. The hood of her cloak was still up and over her head, slightly shading her face, and she watched carefully as the small demon bared its fangs towards the woman who seemed fearless. "Leave now!" she pulled out a small pouch that was full with something, and the fox demon flinched just barely at the containment before abruptly lunging forward to grasp onto her wrinkly hand with its flawlessly sharp teeth. But, although the old-woman was not fast, Askr was much faster. And instead of using violence, she replaced her own hand as the fangs tore into the flesh of her hand, blood tumbling from her palm and the maw of the fox demon as the pouch fell from the woman's grasp and salt came rolling out.

Everyone was surprised, and she merely kept her gaze on the demon as he to seemed shocked as-well by such a random replacement. Regardless, he tightened his teeth against her hand, and she tensed slightly against the pain - frowning down as he frowned up at her in return. "Stupid humans! I hate you all!" he growled, and after a few seconds a smirk crawled across her lips as she whispered in a low voice - not audible to the people of Beanstalk, "Not everything is as it seems." his jaw loosened against her hand at that moment, but, with the shock of magic, a static of lightening immediately crossed over the demon, and his body fell limply to the ground - unconscious. She stretched her hand out, and watched as the wound began to rapidly heal, the woman approaching her with worry as she went to examine her hand - albiet she quickly pulled it away. "I'm fine. Please, do not worry." Askr said softly, hiding it beneath her cloak. Everyone glanced down at the fox before looking up at her, "I will remove the curse from your land."

She had managed to persuade the woman to watch over the demon-fox, but, of course, not harm him - as she promised to also take away the trouble he had been causing them. The children were fascinated by what she had done, and actually, seemed to take quite a liking to her as she defeated the "terrible" and "deadly" demon-fox that they all apparently feared. But, Askr knew the foul-mouthed being was no harm to them. Aside from having animal-like capabilities, it seemed that it had somehow lost its power. It was as if his once full cup, had been completely drained - cracked and damaged and just waiting to be fixed and submerged once again. There was a curiousity as to why he hadn't gotten his power back, or, to what this demon was even capable of doing aside from biting and snapping insults at others. But, that was not the issue as of now. At the moment, she stood before a patch of rotten plant-life - corn fields, tomatoes and broccoli - everything was curled up against the ground and horribly covered in an evident shade of rotting. Although, to her surprise, she had not noticed any semblance of a "curse" along the land, but rather a feeling. It was as if somebody or perhaps something was watching her from a distance, and instead of carefully peering along the terrain of Beanstalk, she faked a casually movement as she walked along and examined everything.

But, despite the act of seeming calm, there had been a previous mistake that had already caused her to be caught by the one who did this. As she took a step forward, her whole leg went weak, as if it had been reduced to no more than jelly. Falling to the ground, her arms trembled against the surface, endeavouring to push herself up. Her legs though, had no strength in them, she couldn't even move them - the task of using her own arms was even a struggle as the feeling in them gradually began to numb out. "Wha-" as she tried to speak to herself, her voice was halted by the croak of her throat, and she only found herself able to breath, and unable to form words. "I thought I had scared all you pesky mages off." a voice said just a few feet infront of her - opticals of pinkish red hesitantly glancing out to the figure. It was an old man, dressed in dark robes with a long silver beard, there was an angry and somewhat insane look to the expression that painted his face. As much as she wanted to counter, or do anything she could not. Most of her body was paralyzed, alongside the ability to speak. Currently, her position was hopeless, and she doubted that she would not get out of this unscathed. Or at least, pain-free. "You seem different than the others though. I sensed your magical power earlier, its element is lightening is it not?" he approached her with a pause, a laugh playing at his throat, "Oh right, I forgot, you cannot speak can you? Haha, excuse my manners." he raised his foot and pressed it onto the side of her face, forcing her to painfully be pushed against the ground as he grinded his heel against her.

"This time, I guess I'll have to leave a dead body for those stupid people so they won't bother me anymore." there was a tired way he spoke, and Askr could only let out pained groans as her hands weakly tried to remove his foot from the side of her face. "At least you'll die knowing why I'm doing this though! I'm sure you've seen that fox in the village? It's been there for awhile ever since the curse showed up, and it stays in the center of the place, never going close to the crops. I've been trying to capture him for awhile. Aside from taking away his powers, if I finally have that demon in my grasp, I can lastly rule the world!" he laughed maniacally, and an expression of i-knew-it briefly met her features before a bolt of lightening ran over her body and shocked the old-man off of her, allowing her to shakily lean up as a comfortable distance composed between them.

When she looked up at the old-man though, it was not the old-man. To her, utter suprise, it was someone she had once ignored and now longed to see again. Her dear brother, Illia. He looked at her void of all emotion, and his flawlessly indigio locks twinkled in many shades of purple against the dimly lit area - blocked by the clouds along the skies. Askr could not believe what she was seeing, and she still could not stand but merely lean up as a silence ran past them both. No words could escape her lips, not that she couldn't speak. For some reason, she felt as though she could. "Illia.. What are you doing here?" she whispered, as if this sentence was a secret and people were crowded around to hear. Her voice was so quiet that it couldn't of been audible to anybody. But, it seemed her "brother" had heard it, and he lowered his head, "What? Aren't you happy to see me? I sorta assumed you probably wouldn't be, like usual, you reject my very existence." as he spoke, she felt a shiver crawl up her spine. It was a mixture of fear, and turmoil. As though this time he were to be the one that would reject her. And that was one thing she feared. Even though his timid deameanour made him stray away from her colder one, he still had always loved her regardless of everything. But, perhaps something had changed? Had the angels and her father gotten so involved with his mentality enough for him to finally hate her? Wasn't that what she wanted though? She had always put up this behaviour just so others would dislike her strongly. But, it couldn't of worked on Illia, right?

"I hate you, sister. Do not bother trying to come home." a pause, "Everyone was glad you had disappeared. If you show up again, you will just be rejected. After all. You are no longer welcome in Nayug." at his words, she felt a lump form in her throat, and a swelling urge to cry itch at her eyes. But, she rejected that, and instead, called out to him as he started to turn and walk away, "Wait! Illia! Please don't go!" she tried to crawl upward towards him, and only staggered forward continuously to land by the support of her forearms. Her crown pressed into the ground in frustration, and she let out shaky breaths, forcing herself not to look so pathetic infront of him, "I don't care!" she hollered, causing him to finally stop, "I don't care, if you, and Father, and all the angels continue to reject me! I will find my way back to Nayug, and I will prove to all of you that I'm just as worthy to be looked upon as a child of Corenglaw!" as soon as she said this, Illia turned around, and started to laugh. He laughed so much that it was frightening, and she wondered if this was really her brother. Her brother had never acted like this. Cold. Blunt. Insane. The way he looked at her made her lips tighten together in unease as he folded his arms infront of his chest and said, "Nayug, huh? That's something you don't hear very often." the voice had changed, and she recognized it immedietely. She had not been talking to her brother. She had been talking to a fake, an illusion. She had been talking to the old-man.

The image of her brother did not fade, but she felt toyed with, used and worst of all, humiliated. Her coming from Nayug was supposed to be a huge secret. Nobody was allowed to know of it, especially some insane old-man who used the villagers land to try and get what he wanted. An anger swelled up within her, and her fists clenched against the ground. She had never felt so angry in her life, and it reminded her of the time in her old home world, how enraged the angels and her father could make her most of the time. It was a familiar feeling that actually irritated her. She didn't like this feeling. But, it wasn't like she could help it. "Child of Corenglaw. Thats a God, isn't it? What are you? Somebody important? I mean, I felt your power earlier but it was not even close to somebody who could've came from Nayug." he smirked, and placed his hands onto his hips, looking down at her mockingly, "Nobody even knows if that world exists. A place where all Gods are at home, where all divinity is kept in place." he paused, running a hand through his "purple" hair. She was till submerged in so much hatred over the fact that he was continuing to fool around in the form of her brother. "Nayug is no more than a tale - a story. But now that I've gathered the facts, it seems I've really hit the jackpot. Kurama, one of the tailed-beasts and a child of Corenglaw." he started to laugh once again, and she gritted her teeth together, letting him continue on, "What strange fate I have that such valuable beings have crossed my path!" as he raised his arms slightly, as if praising some imaginary God, it was finally her turn to speak. And this time, she was not going lean up over the dirt and look up at him like some hopeless fool. This time she would stand.

"How annoying." a sudden bolt of lightening ran out again, engulfting the area in a brief stir of dust as the illusion disappeared and she stood to her feet, forcing the curse out of her system. The old-man seemed surprised, but he laughed it off, impressed by her power, "A God Slayer, huh? How interesting." his comment was nothing to her, and instead, in the blink of an eye, she appeared infront of him, another minor explosion of darkened bolts directly piercing into him - over and over and over again. He staggered, blood falling past the corner of his lips and nose as he looked at her, not willing to cease that arrogant smile. Even for somebody of his age, he still seemed to have so much energy. Askr glared at him in return though, drained of her energy even after hitting him so many times. How come he had not fallen yet? She knew he was more powerful than her, but still.. she had sort of assumed after awhile, this battle would've already ended.

But, as she was about to attack once more, a loud and familiar voice called out from a distance. She had heard it only a few moments ago, back in the village. Turning over, she could see the angry orange fox running towards them both, although, it seemed it was charging straight in her direction, rather than at the old-man. A look of worry crossed over her expression as she glanced at the man who seemed exciteded, his hands raising in a gesture for a spell that was evidently going to be advanced towards Kurama. The name he had spoken of earlier. But, before he could, she stood in the direction of his spell, stopping most of it with the bolts of lightening that flew out wildly and caused Kurama to stumble in his path in surprise as the spell hit her instead, her body shielding him. The cursed magic caused her body to shiver in a mixture of pain, a feeling of being stabbed multiple times releasing a loud cry past her lips as she made sure it never once reached the demon. A demon! The beings of Nayug would certainly loathe her even more than they did now if they found out she had committed such an act. "Are you stupid!?" Kurama growled, but her sudden pained glare caused him to flinch, "Are you stupid!? Who runs out in the middle of a battle!? You idiot!" her sentence caused her to breath heavily, and she leaned up, getting off of the fox who looked at her surprised.

She peered back to look at the old-man, but, he had fallen over and was not moving. Had she hit him while trying to hold back his own spell? Or perhaps that spell had been to much for him to handle. This was normal to assume. For as she approached him, his eyes were rolled back, exposing nothing but a sheet of white, and his mouth was parted. He was as lifeless as the crops. Or.. that wouldn't make sense. She noticed by the corner of her eyes the green that began to sprout, and how the vegetables rised, uplifting themselves to the sudden exposure of sunlight. The soil unraveled alongside her feet, and the familiar flowers raised upward once more. Kurama blinked at what was happening around them, but he seemed fascinated by the alluring flowers that had randomly ground perfectly beneath her figure. It was all so strange to him. It wasn't anything human-like. "Kurama. Your free now." she suddenly said, startling him. He frowned up at her just barely, his ears flattened against his crown. He didn't want to just leave like that. I mean, he did earlier before. But, now, after meeting this strange girl, there was an odd connection that tugged at him. One that said "follow her" or "make her take you with her!". A somewhat poutish look crossed his canine features, and he looked away from her. Askr blinked at him with a bit of confusion. She had finished this job, but, it seemed she as-well was already curious.

"The people of Beanstalk are not that welcoming to a demon.. But, you're welcome to come with me." holding out her hand, the one he had originally bitten, his stunned red eyes pet a pair of pinkish ones, and the smile that played at her lips, gentle and warming, formed the beginning of a new friendship. One that would last, for a life time.