Reborn Financier-Chapter 26: Hunter’s Game

As the guards, heavily armed, chased after the little boy Kaidën, who had escaped into the thick forest surrounding the house, one forest that people would wish to run from rather than enter, especially when the sun had set.

The late night sky spelled danger, not just for Kaidën, who was wandering through an unknown forest while being chased by heavily armed, merciless men, but also for the men who were doing the chasing.

As Kaidën, whose hands were tired not literally but figuratively, as he was unable to intervene in the presence of key figures in this world, but now it was different, having the moonlight plus the thick trees covering his trails, this time, it was spelled doom for the men doing the hunting, as the hunters were now the hunted.

****

"Find him; he mustn’t escape. Find him if you don’t want to lose your life today," Paul said as he wandered through the forest with the search team looking for the child.

A sudden scream of pain was let out "Ahhhhhhhhh!" It was so loud that even people at the abandoned house couldn’t hear it perfectly.

"What’s happening? What’s taking them so long to look for a little kid? Aren’t they supposed to be skilled men, the best in their field? I can’t afford him escaping and alarming the king..." Lord Ravenswood said, tensed by the atmosphere plus the sudden scream coming from the forest.

THWACK! 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"...This is all your fault, sister. If you had just behaved well, none of this would be happening. But no, you refuse to listen and yet you keep misbehaving. You know I love you; why are you making life so difficult for me?" Lord Ravenswood said in a mix of emotions as he landed a massive slap on top of the face of his sister, Queen Charlotte.

"Fuck you, you crazy fucker. I would personally kill you. It’s just a matter of time before Kaidën escapes completely from here and reaches the capital. By then, do you think you would survive? You know how Edward can be when he’s angry. I’m pretty sure he won’t spare you in any way..."

THWACK!

Lord Ravenswood slapped his sister again in anger as she lamented.

"You don’t have to worry about Edward. I’m pretty sure he has so many things on his plate with the Horsen Empire’s attack," Lord Ravenswood said as anger lit up, changing to a sadistic smile.

"Wait, what do you mean by the Horsen Empire’s attack? What do you mean, Nicolas? Explain yourself," Queen Charlotte said as she and the remaining kids were dragged into another cell by the guards.

****

At the same time in the forest, as the scream was let out, all guards immediately went on high alert.

"What was that?" Paul said, hauling his pursuit. "That didn’t sound like a young boy screaming; it sounded like one of ours."

"Everyone, don’t move alone, and if you’re alone, try finding a teammate. The sun has set, so the forest is at its most dangerous. Move cautiously," Paul said loudly to inform the other guards in the forest.

"Hahahaha, quite quick-witted of him. Looks like he’s not the best thief for nothing," Kaidën said, covered with the blood of a dead man lying right on the floor beside him. It seemed to be one of the guards after him.

"Things are about to get increasingly fun," Kaidën said with a freakish smile on his face as he faded back into the forest.

****

The forest was no longer silent. Monster and animals awoke from their slumber. Twisted groans echoed through the canopy, and the wind no longer whispered; it howled like a beast hungry, hungry for flesh.

Paul’s team was already fracturing. Ten men entered with him, clad in black tactical gear, each armed to the teeth. But the forest did not care for steel. It cared for blood. They knew what they where facing, when challenging the forest at night, survival why near to impossible, but if killing or capturing the kid was possible, their sacrifice would not be forgotten.

Deep in the underbrush, Kaidën watched his eyes emotionless, silent, inhuman movements. His feets where quick, his movement where sharp. It was as if he was one with nature, moving through the forest as his playground. This was no boy. The child was gone. His place was occupied by something darker, something older. Something not right, something sending chills down the spine of everything in the forest.

One of the guards walked away from the others, grumbling curses. "This crap. He’s a kid—he’s probably—"

There was a sickening crack and he was gone. There was no scream. No shot. There was merely a wet, splintering sound, like something had punched a skull with its bare fist.

"Shit! We lost Morales!" one of the guards cried.

Flashlights cut wildly through mist where there was none. There was no trace of Kaidën, however. There was a bloody path off the road.

Daniel, another guard,, whirled around, his rifle shaking in fear, no knowing what was happening, and who was hunting them. His ability to reason was clouded completely by the fear for the unknown. "He was right behind me—what in the world happened to him?!"

No single answer.

Above them, unseen in the shadows, Kaidën moved. The trees acceptep him. He was not hunted. He was in his playground where he controlled the flow of everything.

After moving above them for a while, he dropped.

The sound of flesh tearing was overpowered by the screams. Daniels fell, throat ripped out, eyes wide, frozen in terror. Kaidën didn’t stop—his body twisted unnaturally as he launched himself into another man, talons, extending from his fingers, slicing into the man’s chest like knives through meat.

Two down.

A roar echoed, not Kaidën’s, but something louder. One of the guards turned and fired into the woods, muzzle flash lighting up the blackness. Something moved, an eight-foot figure, bone white, ribcage gaping like a cage. The forest had birthed a nightmare.

It pounced.

Three more guards were slaughtered. Screams filled the air, gurgled and choked. One of them fired up a flare into the sky, red light blazing through cover—and for one instant they could see Kaidën standing in its light

Drenched in blood, his head tilted slightly with a smile that didn’t belong on a child.

And then the light went out, the darkness returned..

Another man tried to run for his life, "at least living to fight another day is better than dying, am not going to die today" he taught to himself running out of the forest, but unlucky for him, the forest had other plans as the roots themselves seemed to move, tripping him, dragging him toward a black pool at the base of a dying tree. Kaidën didn’t waste time—he walked past, hand dragging across the man’s face. Skin peeled away like paper.

Paul stood still, shocked by what he had witnessed, his few surviving men in disarray. "Fall back! Regroup! We have to—"

A spear of bone burst through a man’s chest. Not Kaidën’s doing. One of the monsters. The forest which had seem quiet was now beginning to attack.

Goddamn, why the hell isn’t he dead?

"HE’S NOT A BOY!" one of the last guards screamed, spinning in place, back to back with Paul. "HE’S A FUCKING DEMON!"

They were right.

He was followed closely by Kaïdën.

He did not so much as turn around. His throat had been sliced open with surgical beauty, and his head remained upright for only a moment longer than it should have. Then it rolled, eyes still blinking.

Paul was by himself.

Takes a deep breath. Shakes hands on gun. "Alright, you little demon."

He fired wildly into the darkness but nothing occurred, it was just a waste of bullets. But Paul did give up, as he begins he assault for the second time. Yet, nothing, nothing happened, but this time bullet was all gone, wasted without any results.

Kaidën who was following right behind him lunched out an all out attack on Paul. As Paul turned, looking behind him, Kaïdën stood right by his side, almost touching, dwarfed by Paul’s armor, But the eyes of kaiden... they weren’t eyes. They were voids. Deep, bottomless hunger.

Paul came swinging with his rifle, butt first. Kaïdën parried him with one hand.

SNAP!

The weapon broke in two.

Paul backed up and fumbled for his knife. "What the fuck are you?". Kaïdën remained unresponsive. His hand deep in Paul’s belly—not slashing. Slipping in. Fingers gliding through muscle and bone, up into the rib cage.

Paul screamed saying, "How do you manage to be so strong... for a child...?". Kaïd nodded his head and he pulled. Paul’s scream was muffled as his chest was torn wide open and his beating heart was grasped tightly in a small, bloody fist.

Silence returned to the forest.

Kaïdën stood still for a moment, bathed in death, the trees quiet, the beasts quiet, sated by the slaughter. He turned, heart still in hand, and dropped it without care and then he stepped backward into the shadows, disappearing like smoke, like he was never there.

Kaïdën was gone, but where did he go.

To be continued...