“Let’s go,” I say, quickly jumping up and sprinting towards the direction of the chi. 

"Wait, Hana…,” Kris mutters quietly. I pause mid-run. “Don’t you think that something’s… off?”

I whirl around and face him. “What do you mean, off? There’s a Kado in the area, of course it’ll be off-,”

“No!” Kris narrows his eyes at his mark. “The chi feels different this time.”

I close my eyes and concentrate on the pulsing source of chi.

Wait… Kris is right. The force that is pulling us doesn’t feel like a normal Kado monster. It’s something different but similar at the same time, like the sensation of cold water verses hot water. Does this mean we're facing a more powerful monster?

“We better check it out,” Kris mutters, heading towards the monster's location. I'm right on his heels, bracing myself to run a long distance to find the monster.

However, we only sprint about 500 yards or so before we reach a giant hulking figure, so tall that it towers over the oak trees. With a cry it raises its head and I see that this is an eagle. A giant bald eagle. Its dark brown feathers are the size of a tennis racket. I cringe at the sight of its enormous clawed feet. Great.

I gulp in nervousness and back up a little. On the other hand, Kris immediately whips out his sword and charges towards the monster.

“Back me up!” he commands me, and I snap out of my frightened state and quickly follow along. While he runs to the front of the bird I head to the rear, nimbly making my way up a tree and then jumping off the topmost branch to land on the smooth back of the giant bird. Quickly channeling chi into my hands I stick onto the monster.

Strangely, the bird doesn’t look interested in fighting us. It shrieks a few times and abruptly unfolds its wings, causing me to lose balance and slide to the ground with a thud!.

I roll over in the grass a few times, wincing in pain. “Ow, that hurt…,” I groan, and then I take a closer look at what is right in front of me.

Blood. Spattering amongst the green shoots like spilt Kool-Aid. Amongst the reddish plasma sits an assortment of bones. Judging by their color and state, they’re freshly scoured.

I scream in fear and scramble up, running to Kris.

“What? What’s wrong?” he asks, alarmed.

“Back there… th-there are-,”

Suddenly, the eagle monster lets out a loud squawk and flies away.

That’s when the area it was sitting on was uncovered.

Human beings lay flattened on the grass, oozing bodiliy fluids onto the ground. Their faces are grotesquely mangled, their limbs either torn off or dislocated.

It is repulsive. Sickening. Shocking.

They are dead. They were crushed by the giant eagle.

Kris and I don’t say anything.

I sink to the ground, my knees hitting the floor. A small burst of pain travels up my body but I am too numb to truly feel it.

Finally Kris exhales slowly and whispers, “We… should examine the bodies. To see who the people were. Tell their families… that they were…,”

“Killed,” I finish his sentence for him. Standing up, I walk to his side and follow him to the bodies. “Do we have to search their bodies?”

“Unfotunately,” Kris grimaces.

The two of us push up our sleeves and gingerly feel around the victims’ pockets for any form of identification. It hits me: these people could have families waiting for them back home. They could have friends who loved their company. But now they're gone. They've left their family, they've left their friends.

They're never stepping foot on this Earth again.

Tears glide down my face.

And then I feel a small bulge in one of the pockets of the crushed people.

Could it be something important?

Bracing myself, I reach my hand in and pull out the bulge. It’s an amulet. The design is simple; a red garnet shaped like a square, with gold lines framing it. A small hollow circle is carved in the middle. For some reason my body seems to repel it. It takes a surprising amount of effort to hold the thing.

“Kris, I found an amulet,” I tell him, carefully passing the talisman over to him. His eyes widen and he drops the amulet to the grass.

“Whoa, whoa, what?” Kris exclaims. “Where did you find this?!”

“In the pocket of one of those guys,” I reply. “Why, what is it?”

“This is a Kado amulet. You can tell by the markings, and the force on the object. Which means… these people... they were part of the Kado.”

My jaw drops. “Wait… if they were part of the Kado, why would… a monster… attack them...,”

I’m beginning to realize it. By the look on Kris’ face, he's figured it out too.

“That monster wasn’t a part of the Kado.” he concludes quietly. “It’s a monster working for the Hado.”

“I thought the Hado didn’t have monsters?" I question. "They’re the good side of this whole conflict, right? So they don’t utilize demons! Right?” Kris has a grim look on his face.

This is unbelievable. All along, the Hado were pushing pure intentions and fighting only to eliminate Kado if they were threatening humans’ lives or our lives. If that was the case, then why would they make demons murder other members of the Kado on purpose?

What if Kris and I end up like that one day? Torn to pieces, rotting on the ground because a monster finally got the best of us. This could be us. 

“We’re no better than the Kado,” Kris rasps.

He’s right.

A/N: Aaand the plot thickens....