Ran found herself in a small and shabby hut. The hut was poorly made with a firepce in the middle. During rainy seasons water would soak through the ragged roof and the floor left much to be desired either. At the very least it did a good job of shielding the poor family from wind and cold. Ran used to live in this very hut. Nostalgic feeling started to settle in as she ran her hand along the dry surface of the wood. Her everyday life seemed like a distant memory after her experiences in the byrinth of the Beast Pace.

  The family would sleep around the firepce. Alternatively, if it was cold enough, Ran would sleep in the embrace of her mother. Thinking of the past made Ran look down in embarrassment. Ran was always overly dependent on her mother; however, she would never acknowledge this fact out .

  Things weren’t always like this. There were times when Ran wasn’t afraid to leave her mother’s side. Times when she used to run around the house, hunt lizards, frogs, beetles and snakes. Ran would run all over the surrounding mountain, climbing trees and showing Lin around.

  Thinking about her sister, Ran’s mood soured, with it gone were the warmth of the wooden structure, which made Ran gnce in the way of the firepce. Ran was caught in surprise. There Ran’s mother sat, as If frozen in time.

  Ran’s mother was a warm and kind person, she would always give Ran food out of her own pte, saying something along ‘You should eat some more!’ as she watched Ran eat. But Ran knew better. It’s hard to say when, but Ran noticed something she shouldn’t have. Though her mother always wore a smile on her lips, her smile rarely reached her eyes. Her deep bck eyes.

  As for food, they usually couldn’t afford anything fancy, at most, stale bread and some vegetables for vegetable soup. Ran smiled. The hut was filled with the aroma of her mother’s cooking. It might have been a simple vegetable soup, but to Ran it was her everything. It was everything she knew. It signified the meaning of home.

  Standing before the closed door, Ran finally finished her walk through her home. It was time to leave. She was painfully aware of this being a dream, which meant she didn’t want to stay for long. She wanted to leave before any of the nightmares awoke.

  The door suddenly groaned and wheezed under the heavy blows. As if an invisible force was trying to pry them open. The source of her worries came across Ran’s mind.

  It was Ran’s father, who was a violent drunkard. The door forcefully opened and there he stood. Ran never liked him, even a long time ago, she could recollect, she would avoid his presence or attention, mostly because he always reeked of alcohol and couldn’t stop compining.

  He would often harass and beat Ran for little things. Sometimes just to vent his anger. If Mother tried to protect Ran, she would just end up beaten too. Leaning against the thin wooden wall Ran smiled. Once her father had hit her so hard, she flipped head over heels in the air before crashing to the floor.

  And yet although Ran disliked her father, she didn’t hate him. Looking down at her hands, the serenity of the situation made her think. She didn’t understand it. What was she supposed to feel?

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Ran woke up underneath the colpsed shrine. Her body burned in fever. At first, all she could focus on was the encompassing coldness. Her body shivered uncontrolbly. Then, the spinning world.

  She groaned and wheezed at the feeling of her body meeting with the freezing air. The cold was rendering her powerless. That’s when she felt it. Something brushed against her skin. It was almost unnoticeable, so soft and gentle was the touch of the warm invisible current. The current got stronger and embraced Ran like mother would embrace her offspring. ‘Pathetic little thing’ a female voice whispered joyfully ‘so meagre and delicate. Like a flower!’ the voice ughed mockingly at Ran’s torment.

  Ran felt a pleasant warmth touch her cheek. It was hard to expin, but it seemed to be guiding her towards the cauldron in the center of the room. The cauldron was now burning yellow, heat distorted the air around it. The light along with heat radiating off the cauldron made it hard to look at. ‘Come!’ the voice commanded. Driven by pure instincts she started to crawl towards the cauldron.

  Unbeknownst to even her, leaving a trail of dark red blood behind. Through her efforts her elbows and knees bled from scraping on the rough stone floor. From time to time, she even lost her bearings and hit her head on the floor. She was losing consciousness fast. The surrounding walls and shrines started resonating with a whispering voice, reciting some sort of mantra. The chant was just at the edge of her hearing. She heard it but couldn’t make out a single word or its meaning.

  With great effort she grasped at the ground pushing herself forward. ‘Boring…So boring to perish in such a pce, wouldn’t you say?’ the chamber seemed to tremble under the cheerful voice ‘So struggle and make it more interesting!’

  When within a touching distance of the cauldron Ran hesitated. The searing heat of the cauldron pleasantly flowing through her body. She could feel darkness approaching at the corners of her eyes. Her consciousness started to fade. In the heat of the moment, she grabbed the edge of the cauldron, which surprisingly wasn’t hot to touch, and pulled one shoulder beyond the edge, reaching into the cauldron’s depths. Unable to even look into the cauldron, she moved her hand around in a desperate attempt to grab the smooth pebbles.

  As she lost her strength and fell to the side of the cauldron, her spirits were uplifted by a feeling of warmth in her grasp. She desperately pushed the pebble into her chest, trying to warm herself, but it wouldn’t be enough. With cold the shivers returned and as she was losing the st strands of her consciousness without thinking in a desperate attempt to save her own life, she did the first thing that came to mind. She threw the pebble into her mouth and just as she swallowed darkness cimed her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Ran immediately recognized the pce she found herself in. It was the very same hut she used to live in with her parents. It was raining outside. The rain shed at the thatched roof. Ran’s heart dropped. She clenched her chest; it became hard to breathe. Warm tears flew down her cheeks. She recognized this setting.

  Terrible memories arised to the forefront of her mind. Panicked she looked in the direction of the entrance, to find there was none. She ran to the doorless wall, looking for a purchase with her hands.

  Suddenly, a child’s ugh erupted in the room. Her younger self sitting there cross-legged with her younger sister, Lin, in her p. Her sister a foot shorter than her. They were giggling as her mother tied Ran’s hair in a bun, putting two wooden bun sticks in it. Their voices were muffled and incoherent. Her mother’s and sister’s faces swallowed in darkness. In panic, Ran couldn’t recollect faces of her loved ones. Her heart rate increased.

  Ran knew what would follow. At the sound of their father grunting behind the closed door, Lin would sprint out to greet him. Lin seemed to adore their father, which was the exact opposite of how Ran felt about him. Ran hated almost everything her father represented. His greasy and unkept hair, which clung to his face like greasy tendrils. The way he smelled, either the smell of alcohol or the pungent and malodorous smell, which clung to him and his clothes. Their whole family was rather poorly kept and usually dirty, but their father seemed a level above in this regard.

  Just as father opened the door, both Ran and her younger self averted their gazes in the distaste for the man, also in the anticipation of what would come next. Lin would by mistake stumble on the leg of the small cauldron over the firepce, toppling it over and spilling its contents into the fire. Their drunk father would hurry over murmuring and groaning. Something along the lines of: ‘What have you done, you stupid mutt. I work day and night and this is what I get?!’ the usual. Lin would fidget in pce, embarrassingly.

  This was the moment Ran wanted to look away from. She desperately wanted to avert her gaze but couldn’t. Why do I even care? Ran thought. By this time, she had had countless nightmares of this exact memory and was tired of it. But the way Lin gave their father an innocent smile, completely oblivious to the consequences of her actions. ‘Oh gods, she is just a kid’ Ran fell to her knees, csping her face in her palms, begging ‘please, stop, just stop…please’ tears running down her cheeks.

  Their mother didn’t even have time to react. Father raised his hand and struck Lin with his big palm almost enveloping Lin’s whole head. ‘What are you ughing at?‘ father bellowed. The strike wasn’t particurly strong, and yet, Lin fell to the side like a puppet with its strings cut.

  Father just walked past, grunting ‘What’s she pying at?’ Ran’s mother rushing over to the father bickering ‘Why would you do that? She didn’t mean to do it…’ their voices pushed to the background as Ran slowly walked to the motionless Lin. She just couldn’t stop. One step, two steps and another. Her breathing quickened. ‘Stop, please. Stop, just stop. I can’t…please’ she begged.

  Looking at the corpse of her sister awoke something deep within Ran. When this event occurred in the past, Ran felt as thou her world crumbled, she lost all will and motivation. She was robbed of her hope and dreams. Was this the moment her childhood came to an end? Now, however, all Ran felt was… RAGE?

  Ran grabbed her hair. Thrashing around, hitting her head on the floor ‘Why? Why are you doing this to me? Why?’ she cried out. Everything in this world would crumble. It would always disappear; she would be robbed of every little thing. The faceless shadow, the Beast Pace and…. Her father. They would rob her of everything she held dear.

  At first, as she banged her head on the floor, the room filled with Ran’s giggles, eventually transforming into maniacal ughter. It was ughable, really. No matter what she did, it didn’t matter what, why or when. As if the sadistic gods enjoyed watching her suffer.

  If that be so, she would deny them this entertainment. If they wanted to see her beg and cry, ugh at her misery and pain. She would deny them this joy; she would do the smallest of things allowed to her. She would fight back. Yes, she would fight back!

  Ran could literally feel the small embers of anger slowly flow and circle in her core. Seering through her body as If following her deepest desires. The pain slowly seeping into the background giving way to… madness. She no longer felt fear, hate or rage.

  All Ran comprehended was hunger. Hunger for the things she was denied. The world took from her, so in turn she would take from the world. It was so simple, yet so effective. She would devour and consume what they took from her. She would take their will, shatter their hopes and destroy their dreams.

  With thin lines like a broken mirror the world started to crumble around Ran, merging dreams with reality. She could see the beast statue, the ruin of the beast shrine, but at the same time, she could see her parents inside of her home.

  At the strange feeling covering her whole being, Ran looked down at her hands. Her skin started to crack and peel like a dried-up leaves under carts wheels. Ran watched her skin peel and scatter in the invisible currents of the wind. Her skin revealing tough spasming muscle. Stretching her hands revealed her digits elongated and grew long metallic cws. Devoid of any emotion she watched her transformation.

  A sudden pain in her gut made Ran keel over. Grasping at the ground, at the though unyielding ground, which now parted undeath Ran’s digits like she was grasping at mud or rd. The feeling of strength consumed her mind. She could feel her muscles stretch and bulge. She could feel the stoney floor give way, crumble and crack. Yes, this was it. This was what she needed in order to right this world.

  ‘Boooring!’ the female voice snapped.

  For but a moment Ran was overrun by a feeling of hopelessness and despair as she was pushed to the ground by unseen force. The pressure disappeared just as quickly though. Only now as the presence vanished did Ran realize a giant entity, a monstrous presence was looming over her this entire time.

  This moment of crity of mind gave her a chance to recount the couple of past events. At the recollection of her body transforming, Ran looked down at her hands and body. She was caught by surprise by… nothing, really. What was surprising was the fact her wounds healed, leaving behind light scars and nothing more.

  She felt clear headed. She was better than ever before. Nothing hurt, all her injuries healed. The only thing marring the state of perfection was her missing pinky.

  Her bck hair, previously, a dirty mess barely reaching her shoulders, now reached past her shoulder ptes, even attaining a darker hue. Stretching, she noticed how her muscles flexed, not only was there more meat on her bones, but the outline of her veins was also visible through her skin.

  Ran took a deep breath and relished the feeling of reinvigoration. She could smell rot, wood, stale water, moss and blood, her senses greatly enhanced. She looked around taking all the new sensations in.

  She noticed small clouds or wisps of light flowing in currents around her. Despite its stillness, they permeated the entire chamber collecting and flowing into the statue and the cauldron. They were small, almost imperceptible, like dust particles. With her gaze she followed the currents of energy seeping into the outline on the wall. That’s when she noticed obvious outlines of the stone gate, previously hidden by numerous runes, scribbles and depictions of beasts on the walls.

  With unsure steps due to the changes to her body, she made a couple quick steps towards the door. To her surprise, tho with some effort, she managed to push the heavy gate open. Nothing but darkness y beyond.

  Before leaving, however, she didn’t forget to stuff her pockets with the healing pebbles. When she was about to enter the darkness beyond the gate, she caught herself in surprise, she felt determined, and joy danced somewhere at the edge of her mind. It was strange really. Not a moment ago she was about to die a pathetic dog’s death, and now, she was about to walk into even more danger.

  Yet she wasn’t afraid, she felt strong, stronger than ever. Tho there was death lurking in the darkness ahead, there were opportunities to get stronger as well. And those opportunities filled her with excitement at what changes and what powers she could attain in the future. The only thing that caused Ran to hesitate was the memory of that monstrous presence. In her mind she even cked the proper words to describe the feeling. Perhaps the way an ant feels before a man, or a man could feel before a God. Insignificant.