Rebirth of The Demon Slayer

The world seemed to have gone mad. It was a normal Tuesday evening in midtown New York City. The sky was clear, not even the faintest hint of clouds floated in the air.

Ethan Hansley, 60 years old and retired, had just finished his daily commute from Manhattan to his apartment down the street.

But then ... bump!

Someone who passed him bumped into his shoulder, causing Ethan to stagger backward. To make matters worse, the person just sounded apologized half-heartedly. "Sorry," said the girl who bumped into him, hurriedly.

Ethan shook his head and only could grumble, 'Tsk ... such a classic millennial.' But he still managed to stare at the girl closely before finally being let go.

Suddenly, a loud explosion broke into the silence of the crowd, followed closely by a deafening crash of shattering glass. It sounded more like gunfire compared to whatever else might be going on around him.

Someone was shooting something that led to an explosion. It was too bright, way too close. Ethan ducked behind a car, then he kept walking to hide behind the concrete wall he was leaning on. He was terrified.

It had been so quiet for several minutes after the explosion. Felt like the world moved in slow motion. Everything in front of Ethan's eyes became like in a movie, debris was floating aimlessly around in the air, and people were screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs. But, nothing was moving. And it felt so wrong.

Ethan's ears rang and the ringing made everything sound muffled. Like he was underwater and was hearing things through water. It didn't feel real.

Then another sound was heard. He didn't understand how it had become so loud again. A voice screaming his name over and over again.

"What?! Who is that?" thought the old man.

The fear that seized Ethan was palpable as if all of the chaos were right in front of him. It took all his strength to hold himself together. He knew he couldn't hide forever.

There was a guy named similar to him who was called by his friend. He believed that sooner or later, someone would come looking for him too. Ethan thought, he'd be found eventually, and he wouldn't be able to escape anymore, either by the good or bad guy in this chaotic situation.

The man witnessed how people who were running and screaming were dragged down suddenly to the ground by an unknown force. His heart started beating faster and quicker as he watched helplessly that some people, were being pulled down into the streets and disappeared from his sight.

Ethan stood there, not quite comprehending what just happened. He closed his eyes tightly shut, arranging his breathing to steady gradually.

There was a flash of movement in front of him. A big man, standing tall with a gun pointing at where he just hid moments ago. Then he turned his head. He was staring directly at Ethan, his expression twisted into an angry scowl.

Ethan was frozen until footsteps approached him from behind. Then, an arm reached out from inside an alleyway, gripping his shoulder, and pulling him to safety.

“Are you okay?” The hand was warm against his skin. Even too warm. The grip was gentle.

The stranger who surprised Ethan was the girl who bumped into him earlier. Her fingers curled tightly around Ethan's sleeve, pulling it closer to her. When Ethan looked carefully, he saw a face that he could recognize. The old man gasped, "Oooh, you?!" He remembered the girl who bumped into him earlier.

“Are you alright?” She repeated. “We need to move. We've gotta get to somewhere safe!” The girl seemed she didn't realize she had met Ethan before.

Ethan nodded shakily, allowing her to help him stand upright, supporting him as he wobbled tremendously.

“Where are we supposed to go?” His voice trembled uncontrollably. Even though Ethan thought he was prepared for whatever would happen next, reality hit him like a train.

The man was scared. His knees started to buckle under the weight of it all.

“Please just follow me!” answered the strange girl.

Ethan let her lead the way, trusting her judgment, and following her lead blindly. The world suddenly felt far off, as if everything was happening to someone else's nightmare rather than his. And he was just a cameo roaming around for the exit to wake up in his fluffy bed. He didn't care that the ground felt like swayed beneath him, he simply wanted to escape.

He had been holding his headache since the last explosion made his ears ring. And all of the sudden, the pain in his head intensified. His vision darkened slightly. For a moment, the pain completely blinded him, giving way to a dull throbbing sensation; almost like someone had taken his pulse.

After a few minutes of that strange body's reaction, the world slowly started coming back into focus, but everything still looked hazy, the buildings blurred. Colors faded into darkness and shadows danced across his vision. Everything was spinning.

His thoughts went haywire, all he could think of was finding a place to take a rest, a shelter. As much as Ethan wanted to trust her – to believe that everything was okay – something about this girl just didn't feel right.

“I know what you're thinking!” She turned sharply to look at him, her hand reaching out to grab onto his arm.

“What?” He blinked a couple of times, trying to clear the dark spots from his vision.

“You're thinking I'll leave you to fend for yourself, once I realized that you are not useful to me?” asked the girl straight to the point.

His eyes widened in shock. 'What? How did she know that? Did she see everything beneath my mind? And why did she care about me so much?' thought Ethan.

“Don't worry!” She flashed a smile. “I'm not going anywhere, but we should keep moving. I have a feeling that we aren't going to make it very far if we stay here any longer.”

His mind whirled faster than ever before, trying to make sense of it all. How did this girl care so much about him? About everything? Why did she seem so sure of it? Had she seen everything? Could she hear what he said in his head?

Questions bombarded Ethan's brain. They swarmed his mouth, demanding answers that he couldn't give. He opened his mouth once, twice … but nothing came out, and soon enough, he gave up, deciding against asking any questions. They ran silently through the chaotic streets.

The whole ordeal reminded him of when Ethan was little. The times when he was running from bullies. Only the difference was this time, he didn't know exactly who he was running from.

Ethan didn't know for certain who caused the terror in midtown New York. But he knew that he was running away from the chaos.

All the while, the man was afraid of getting lost. Afraid to get separated from the girl who just saved him. If that happened, he was dead meat. 'Yeah ... a weak old man like me will be easily dead for sure,' thought Ethan.

To support his belief, the old man felt his body weaken, his head heavy, and his vision blurred. Ethan had given up himself on the girl who could also kill him, but since he saw that the girl didn't carry a gun like the men terrorizing the midtown earlier, he felt safer.

They arrived at even a smaller alleyway. He looked around to both sides. Nothing seemed dangerous. Ethan sighed with relief.

Eventually