Kaidans have coexisted with humans since the beginning of time. Humans call them demons, evil spirits, or, in their most basic form, ghosts. Each Kaidan carries a story of grief — a reason it returns to the human world.
Japan's storytellers have told about many of them over the decades, even till today. One of these Kaidans is Kodomo-naki (The Weeping Mother of the Woods). Legends have it that long ago, when Japan's feudal system was still dominant, a woman was chased into the forest in pursuit of her young boy.
Because the Emperor needed a child that met certain requirements to use as a sacrificial lamb for the kingdom's cleansing of other Kaidans.
But the woman wouldn't hand over her son in fear, unlike every other woman in the kingdom. She prayed to the Moon Goddess Amaterasu to save her child. Her prayer was answered, but with a twist.
The little boy vanished without a trace. In despair, she wandered the forest until she starved to death. Her spirit then awoke, and it is said that she lures and kidnaps little kids around the age of her son. Swallowing them alive as if that were a form of protection from the danger in the outside world.
***
Ren's eyes shot wide as he recognised the twisting figure. A shabby woman with features not so different from those of a complete monster. It matches the Weeping Mother's description from folklore!
"We're doomed!"
HELP!
The kids started to run for their lives. But they wouldn't even have made a sound if they had known what was good for them.
Ren instantly pinned his palms to his mouth and nose so tightly he couldn't breathe.
The Kaidan's creepily long hand travelled with a gust of wind towards each kid. It drew them through her wide maws with the sickening squelch of blood. The cracking sound of bone being munched under pressure!
Ren struggled not to pant either. Even though his heart hammered against his chest.
Silence settled thereafter. All the kids have disappeared. Only remaining as flesh splatters and blood stains around the Kaidan's maw.
…
'Don't make a sound!'
Ren warned himself.
The ocean waves flowed gently. A pluck of dry leaves rolled and slapped the side of Ren's straw sandals…
He bit down on his lips.
The Weeping Mother has hollow, blind eyes. But her hearing was said to be so sharp that she picks up on the tiniest of sounds.
As Ren feared, the creature froze and twisted her head towards his direction. His breathing stalled. Has he been uncovered?
'It can't be…!'
The Kaidan's unnatural baby voice rang out,
"You are there. Right there."
The statement slapped Ren in the face.
He didn't know whether to be scared any more or to be curious. Why does it seem like the Kaidan's reaction changed all of a sudden?
Even after showing that she had found him, she didn't make a move to get him.
"Leave. You aren't worthy of being my child."
The Weeping Mother then glided back into the forest, her tattered kimono trailing behind her.
Ren's eyes remained wide. His hands slowly dropped from his mouth.
He raised his gaze and stared at the Kaidan's disembarking figure.
'What?'
Even a monster sees him differently?
The Weeping Mother never rejects any male kid. She kidnaps all of them and consumes them. To die by the maws of this thing would have at least proven that Ren was just like any kid as well.
Ren slowly rose to his feet.
He said nothing. Retrieved his black sword and kept walking.
Yet, the statement won't stop hammering the weakest part of his head.
Ren stopped and glanced at the Kaidan. She was almost fully gone into the bamboo forest. Meanwhile, Ren's legs refused to continue down the shore.
Instead…
FWOOSH!
He started to sprint straight towards the forest. His steps sent heavy stomps into the air.
He yelled,
"If you're leaving, then devour me too!"
His voice hit against the trees towering high in the forest.
The Kaidan's neck rotated back towards him without her turning her whole body. Ren sprinted and climbed the heap of sand into the forest immediately.
Just as he took a couple more steps, the Kaidan's voice shrieked out loud.
"Misfortune…"
Ren abruptly stopped. He pant lightly.
The creature's hand elongated all of a sudden and rushed towards Ren. He gritted his teeth, jerking backwards.
"... It reeks all over you!"
WHAM!
The hand slammed hard against his side, driving his back hard against a bamboo tree. Ren yelped upon impact. The tree's stem rattled.
Ren held his breath as the ghost loomed over him.
He dug his nails into the ground as he stared back at those hollow eyes. A slight hint of tears trickled down his face.
KRA-KOOM!!
Thunder ran across the sky once.
Then again.
"Leave."
The Kaidan warned.
Ren breathed heavily.
"Stay away."
Fear cracked through her voice.
"YOU WILL HURT MY CHILD IF YOU DON'T!"
With a sudden uproar of frustration, she swept Ren into the full-standing trees. They cracked and fell one after the other, as the boy's body travelled fast through them.
"Gu-ahh!"
Ren spat blood when he could finally stop.
He heard a cracking sound above. He glanced towards the sky to see a tree falling right over him.
"AH!"
He cried.
… Across the shattered tree ruins, the Kaidan's brows suddenly furrowed. Her shoulders sluggishly dropped and her hollow eyes scanned around with caution.
The sound came again:
Tok… tok… tok…
Like someone was sneaking through the forest…
The sound grew clearer—a rushed rhythm of sandals crushing against dry leaves.
A sharp black light ran across the air just when the tree was about to fall on Ren. It got halved, each falling as far away from Ren as possible.
The boy gasped.
'What's that?'
He turned over the stony ground and glanced straight towards the Kaidan.
But someone was blocking the view, standing between him and the ghost.
A tall, composed man wrapped in a black kimono, clasping a sword to his side… with a wide straw jingasa hat worn over his head.
If Ren knew something, it was that this person was a Samurai.
A knight.
The Kaidan hissed.
"You… you can't take my child again!"
The samurai responded, neither too cold nor too kind.
"Rest, Kodomo-naki. You have caused enough trouble."
The Kaidan hesitated in surprise.
"How do you know my name?"
"It is written on your grief."
The Weeping Mother let out an ear-splitting scream. That tore through the trees like thunder itself.
KRA-KOOM!
Lightning cracked through the cloud, lighting up the samurai's face for an instant. His eyes glowed like hardened steel.
"I shall send you off then."
The samurai's thumb gently flicked his blade from its sheath. Just enough for light to catch the edge. In one swift motion, a sharp slice ran across the forest - shff!
Ren blinked in the distance.
The wailing stopped. The air flowed gently.
Ren saw the samurai stand tall, back-to-back with the Kaidan. Who, for some reason, won't move. Then it clicked - the samurai had already sliced through her neck in that single move.
His eyes widened.
"How…?"
The Kaidan's head rolled off the body. She collapsed to her knees, whispering one final word—
".... my child…"
Her body dissolved into black mist, vanishing into the twilight.
Ren lay stunned, staring at the figure before him.
"What… clan are you from? That was incredible!"
Ren only saw a part of the man's face when he glanced at him over his shoulder. But he had a feeling something about his reaction was off.
As a matter of fact, the samurai's grip around his sword tightened even more.
Ren retreated a little in fear.
"Why…?"
The samurai warned in a loud voice.
"Stay down!"
…
TWISH!
Dark tendrils came rushing into the space out of nowhere. From different directions. The samurai managed to slice most and dodge being caught. But the tendrils travelled so fast he ended up getting tied up.
The tendrils lifted him some metres off the ground. They wrapped firmly around his hands and legs, then tied themselves to bamboo trees around.
The samurai's sword fell to the ground.
Ren's eyes were wide. Before he could rise from the floor, a voice cascaded from behind him.
"Thou child of misfortune!"
The sky darkened, and thunder cracked loudly.
Ren looked back, only to meet the dark, hollow eyes. His breathing stalled. It was the face of the Weeping Mother staring back at him, in proximity. He felt nausea gathering in his throat.
Thus, the Weeping Mother cursed:
"I prayed once for my child to live. Now I pray for you to suffer in his place. May every step you take echo with the cries of the lost. May your heart never find peace. Bear the weight of both our sins until the sun and moon share the same sky."
Ren was left agape until he heard the samurai's cry from behind…
"STOP! He's just a little kid."