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A loud, thunderous crash sounded down the hallway, exploding the monastery with booms and crashes.
The sudden sound jolted Arin awake from his deep sleep, his senses on high alert as his heart began to pound out of his chest. Turning his head abruptly towards where Sora was sleeping near him, he couldn’t help but snigger as he noticed the girl unaffected by the noise. Nothing could wake Sora from her power naps.
The noises not silencing, Arin turned his attention away from Sora, and towards the hallway where the tumult was sounding from. He listened intently, noticing unstable sounds of footsteps echoing throughout the monastery, resonating mainly from the kitchen area. The fear of the unknown consumed him, yet Arin was stubborn. Wanting to be a ninja his entire life dictated the fact that he couldn’t be scared - terror couldn’t envelope him if he wanted to succeed.
Arin’s mind suddenly switched towards the other member of the building - Lloyd. He honestly doubted that Lloyd, as a ninja master, despite denying it, would not be woken by such a noise. Sure, Arin is woken up by less than a pin drop, but that noise was loud enough to physically cause him to jump. It was very unlikely Lloyd wasn’t awake, but Arin heard a lack of voices to indicate there was any confrontation happening. Arin also knew that Lloyd was hellbent on his sleep schedule, and wouldn’t randomly get up in the middle of the night unless it was necessary.
So, naturally, Arin assumed that there was a psychotic serial killer in the monastery, planning to kill them all.
Creeping out of his sheets, he slipped on part of his duvet that was sprawled on the floor, face planting into it. “Ouch!” He hissed, rubbing his chin from his spot on the ground. Catching sight of Sora, she still slept soundly, and Arin began to worry if she was even breathing before he saw her chest rise. Releasing a sigh of relief, he jumped to his feet, rolling his shoulders back to adjust to the sudden movement.
Approaching the door, he slowly nudged it open, shoving his face through the crack before it was even wide enough to fit his nose. Impulsively, he shoved the door open with haste, freezing with regret as he now realised he was completely exposed to whatever threat there may be. Worried, but determined, he leapt out into the hallway, shouting an unthreatening ‘yah!’ as he raised his hands in a defensive pose.
Small, pained grunts echoed through the halls, sounding rather animalistic to Arin; he began to wonder if this was a human intruder after all. Living within the crossroads for years now, he’d come across many new species, some that scared him, others that he simply found humorous. Still, not all of them had good intentions. He’d learnt that abruptly after meeting Riyu and Lloyd - being forced to fight many people who he once saw as good. People do crazy stuff for their own benefit and power.
Creeping down the hallway, the noises grew louder as the space between him and the kitchen closed off. Eventually, he was at the arch of the kitchen, pressing himself up against the wall with caution. Ears on full alert, he listened for any signs of what kind of realm creature may be in the room, panicking as the noises grew quieter and quieter.
Bracing himself, his fear was palpable as he took a shaky breath, gritting his teeth and leaping in front of the door.
There was nothing. Absolutely nothing .
He wasn’t underwhelmed, no, he was disappointed. Riling himself up just to be faced with open air was the last thing he expected. In a way, he was hoping for some action, his body begging for movement and competition. The emptiness of the room made Arin automatically think he was overreacting; the monastery was old , he probably heard a rat, or something equally as unharmful. Nevertheless, the threat had depleted, leaving Arin to uselessly stand in the kitchen, looking at nothing.
Arin laughed, rolling his eyes. Eyeing the fridge deviously, he made his way over, opening it with vigour and joy. Sure, maybe he woke up because he was overthinking the situation, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get a snack, right? Scanning each shelf, he noted to remind Lloyd that they needed food, the lack of sustenance making him cringe. Grabbing a cup of yogurt, he ripped the lid off, sighing with content as he found a spoon and plunged it in. With the fridge being the only light in the entire building, it took Arin considerable effort to decipher the cup from the air, his spoon missing the yogurt multiple times.
He smiled to himself, happy that he wasn’t fighting some serial killer-beast figure.
That was when a growl echoed throughout the room.
The noise was so ear-splitting that Arin dropped his cup, the substance scattering all over the floor in messy heaps. Within a moment, all of his senses switched to high alert, his eyes darting in several directions as he attempted to locate the source of the sound. Yet again, he saw nothing, making his spine chill as he realised that there must have been someone in the room the entire time. Unnerved, he froze, feeling a cold, icy breath trail down his neck.
It was freezing, a simple exhale causing his body to tense as he swore it stabbed thousands of tiny daggers into his skin. Sensing the presence of somebody behind him, the entire atmosphere of the room turned bitter, raw particles kissing his skin and numbing his throat. In a moment of utter panic, Arin fled, running out of the kitchen and down the hallway.
The next thing he knew, he was on the floor, the animal straddling him with anger.
“Lloyd!” He screamed, “Lloyd, Sora! Anyone, wake u-” He pleaded, his voice drowning in fear. Begs cut off as the assailant hit his head, knocking it on the wooden floor, he released a strained whimper. His inability to defend himself along with the lack of answer caused his heart to hurt, trapped under the embrace of the intruder as they attempted to pierce his skin.
He was helpless.
Accepting that nobody was coming to help, Arin squinted his eyes, determined to beat this trespasser as he vowed to moments before. With all the strength he had, he forced his body to roll to the side, subsequently knocking the person with him. Two loud thumps rocked the building as they hit the ground, and Arin scrambled to his feet, stumbling back. Disorientated, he gripped the wall for support, feeling for each door as he traversed the hallway. Eventually, he felt the recognisable grandness of Lloyd’s bedroom door, barging in with no courtesy at all.
“Lloyd, you gotta help me!” He cried, unable to see where he was going from the darkness of the room. “There’s something chasing me, I don’t know what it is!”
Dashing towards the light switch, he hit it with haste before limping towards the bed, only to find - yet again - nothing. The room was as empty just as the kitchen was before, only holding Lloyd’s unmade bed, and more importantly, missing the presence of Lloyd himself.
Lloyd wasn’t in bed. Lloyd was gone. Lloyd was-
A shadow enveloped the room, darkening the area menacingly as the doorway that Arin once stood under was taken up by another familiar figure. Arin’s thoughts scrambled through his head, causing him to part his lips slightly in confusion.
Lloyd was missing from his bed - likely missing from the monastery altogether due to his lack of help towards Arin, and he was never missing from his bed. Lloyd wouldn’t miss a wink of sleep unless it was imperative he had to, and even so, he wouldn’t leave without informing the two kids under his care. And now, to make matters worse, there was something cornering him in a small space. The shadow grew larger as it approached, and Arin didn’t dare to turn around, not wanting to face his foe. Slowly, as it began to hiss at Arin, a thought came to his mind. He began to put the pieces together; its devilish growls, the hissing, the speed, the anger and severity of its attacks. This was an Oni. Arin had learnt a lot about Oni’s throughout his time fanboying over the ninja, researching Lloyd's background intensely. He couldn’t miss one if his life depended on it.
Now, Lloyd was gone, and instead, there was an Oni left in his room-
Oh. Oh.
Arin spun around, facing the Oni in the doorway and confirming his suspicions; it was Lloyd. He looked insanely different, scary in a way, yet it was still Lloyd . His skin was deathly pale, a stark match to the white wallpaper of the room, accompanied by dark scales enveloping his neck to his cheekbones, blending nicely. His eyes, on the other hand, were a dark purple, staring straight into Arin’s soul as he approached. If it wasn’t for his blonde hair, Lloyd likely would’ve been unrecognisable, but the main features of his look supported Arin in identifying him.
The black horns penetrating from his forehead did put him off slightly, though.
“No way.”
He would’ve been lying if he said he wasn’t in slight awe. Sure, Lloyd looked as if he wanted to rip Arin apart, but this was Arin’s first time ever seeing an Oni, and that Oni being his ninja master was even cooler .
“Look, man,” Arin raised his hands in the air, trying to appease the creature. “You don't wanna kill me, I’m not tasty! I haven’t showered in like… four days.”
Lloyd ignored his unfunny humour, not understanding it either way. Instead, he charged towards the boy, causing Arin to shriek and duck, running under the Oni’s arm and towards the hallway once more. In a state of impulse, he grabbed the first item he saw, conveniently being an awfully heavy lamp.
“Okay, okay,” Arin whispered, hyping himself up. “You can do this, Arin, just remember what he taught you!”
Unfortunately, he couldn’t recall being taught how to fight an Oni.
“FSM,” He groaned, gripping the lamp tightly and waiting for the Oni to round the corner. Forming a plan in his mind, he wasn’t sure of the success rate, but narrowed it down to being rather high seeing as it was the only idea he had.
A snarl sounded, followed by heavy footsteps rushing out of the room. Immediately, Arin jumped forwards, lifting the lamp into the air, and bringing it down onto the Oni’s head. Within seconds, he collapsed, becoming an unconscious heap on the floor next to Arin’s feet. Panicked, he reached down, detecting a strong pulse before running a hand through his own curled hair in stress.
Arin staggered back, utterly flabbergasted by the fact his plan worked. “I thought you guys were supposed to be strong!” He complained, grabbing Lloyd’s scaly hands before dragging him back to the bed.
Discarding Lloyd's unconscious body back into his room, Arin stood for a moment in shock, unsure of what to do. Would Lloyd remember this? Would he have to tell Lloyd? Should he tell Lloyd? The likely outcome of doing so would be him freaking out, splashing Arin with thousands of apologies. Lloyd seemed like the sort of guy to chain himself to his bed to avoid sleepwalking, and Arin really didn’t want to be the one to unlock him every morning.
After a few minutes of silent thought, he concluded he’d keep it to himself. He was sure it'd be an interesting discussion topic in ten years around the dinner table. Was this dumb? Yes. Did he care? No.
As he returned back to his bed, he gasped at the fact Sora was still asleep, acknowledging the fact her dream must have been really entertaining by the way she was so unwilling to wake up. Shutting his eyes, he frowned with guilt, torn between the dilemma of whether he was making the correct choice or not.
He knew that some things were better to keep to himself; the outcome just wasn't worth the hassle, and this was one of those things.
Arin couldn’t remember falling asleep, but when he was soon woken up by another loud noise in the kitchen, the source wasn’t at all what he expected it to be from:
“Who the hell dropped yogurt all over the kitchen?!”