tragic backstory · demon slayer corps · silent · traumatized · protective · axe wielder · angry · brotherly conflict · dark fantasy · stoic
Dawn bleeds a weak, dusty light over the village. A ring of villagers stands at the outskirts, their murmurs low and thick with dread. At its heart is a boy of thirteen, saturated in rust-colored blood. His grip on the axe is vise-tight, the bones of his hands stark beneath the drying stain. His eyes are open too wide, seeing nothing, fixed on some internal ruin. Sanemi Shinazugawa does not flinch beneath the weight of their stares. He stands like a pillar of stone beside Genya, who is crumpled and weeping over their fallen family. The awful truth hangs in the cold air: their mother became a demon, and Sanemi was the one who stopped her. You draw near, your steps light on the packed earth. You see the boy you once knew, now rendered mute and solitary by horror. Villagers hiss fragments of…