Fire-breathing Rooster Story
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Imagine walking through a quiet bamboo forest at midnight. Suddenly, a massive shadow blocks your path, and an eerie, bluish-red flame erupts in the darkness. But strangely, you feel no heat against your skin. What would you do if the giant, terrifying monster making this fire vanished into thin air the very moment you blinked?
It was late autumn in a small, isolated village nestled deep within the valleys of Iyo Province. The harvest had been collected, and the nights were growing significantly longer and colder. Kenji, a young man with a sturdy build and a reliable demeanor, had drawn the short straw for the village night watch. Armed with nothing but a wooden clapper to signal the hours and a small paper lantern that provided a pitiful, flickering circle of warm light, he walked the narrow dirt paths connecting the thatched-roof houses. The village was completely silent, swallowed by the suffocating darkness of the Edo period night. The only company Kenji had was the biting wind that periodically swept down from the mountains, shaking the tall stalks of the nearby bamboo grove. He pulled his thick woven coat tighter around his shoulders, his breath pluming in the crisp air. It was a night so quiet that you could hear a pine needle drop, a night when the boundary between the world of humans and the realm of shadows felt perilously thin.
As Kenji approached the edge of the village, near the dense thicket of bamboo that marked the start of the untamed mountain, he stopped dead in his tracks. A sound broke the silence. It wasn't the rhythmic tapping of the wind against the bamboo, nor was it the quick, light scurrying of a wild fox. It was a heavy, deliberate sound.
'Basa... basa... basa...'
It sounded like massive, coarse leaves being dragged across the gravel path, or the rustling of impossibly large wings. The sound was slow and rhythmic, matching the pace of a giant creature taking a leisurely midnight stroll. Kenji's heart began to hammer violently against his ribs. The sensible part of his brain told him it was just a wild boar rooting for bamboo shoots, but the hairs standing up on the back of his neck told a different story. The heavy rustling grew louder, moving out from the cover of the bamboo and onto the main village path. Whatever it was, it was heading straight toward the village square. Gripping his lantern tightly, Kenji forced his trembling legs to move forward, creeping silently behind the cover of a stone storehouse to get a look at the intruder.
Kenji peered around the cold stone corner and had to bite his lip to suppress a terrified scream. Standing in the middle of the path was a bird. But this was no ordinary fowl. It was monstrously huge, easily standing taller than Kenji himself. Its feathers were a messy, terrifying blend of pitch black and muddy brown, but its most horrifying feature was the massive, blood-red comb that pulsed atop its head like a crown of fresh meat. It looked like a demonic rooster dragged up from the underworld.
Before Kenji could even process the sheer size of the creature, the bird suddenly threw its head back. Its throat swelled, and with a guttural hiss, it exhaled a massive torrent of fire. The flames were a sickly, spectral blue, mixed with streaks of unnatural crimson. The fire washed over the wooden fences and the dried grass of the pathway. Kenji squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the crackle of burning wood and the searing heat of a village-destroying inferno.
But the heat never came.
He opened his eyes in disbelief. The eerie flames licked at the dry thatch of a nearby roof, yet nothing caught fire. There was no smoke, no smell of burning ash. It was a phantom fire, cold as the winter wind itself. The giant bird stood amidst the harmless inferno, shaking its massive body, producing that terrifying 'basa-basa' sound once more.
Realizing the fire wasn't spreading, a sudden surge of adrenaline—or perhaps foolish bravery—overtook Kenji. He couldn't let this monster wander among the sleeping villagers. With a yell that cracked nervously in the middle, Kenji leaped out from behind the storehouse, swinging his glowing paper lantern in a wide arc.
'Get away! Be gone from here!' he shouted.
He expected the beast to turn its demonic eyes upon him, to charge and tear him apart with its massive beak. But the moment the light of Kenji's lantern fell upon the creature, and the moment it registered his presence, the giant bird did something entirely unexpected. It let out a pathetic, startled squawk. In the blink of an eye, the majestic, terrifying monster, along with its spectral flames, simply evaporated. It didn't fly away, it didn't run. It just vanished into the cold night air, leaving Kenji standing alone in the pitch black, his heart pounding in the absolute silence. Had he imagined it all? What exactly was the nature of the phantom bird that terrified with cold fire, only to flee from a simple night watchman?