Quiet. It didn’t speak. It just stood there looking at her, like she had interrupted something sacred. Light blue, she could see the bushes moving in the wind on the other side of its translucent body. It didn’t have any defined features, it felt like the outline of a human, what someone would use to sculpt a man. It had long hair, which swayed back and forth as if it was blowing in the wind. There was a ghostly hatchet on its hip, and a bow of the same description slung over its left shoulder. Still quiet. Could it speak?

This had to be a Nun’ne’hi, that was the only thing she could be sure of based off the events that had transpired since the previous night. Just as the tribe's elders had described them, it was beautiful. It walked up onto the rock outcropping where she was standing, and looked directly at her. Eyes that were just orbs of energy, no iris, no pupil, no whites. The Nun’ne’hi took the bow off of its shoulder, and its hand slowly reached for the quiver hanging off its waist. Elegantly it put the ghostly arrow into the translucent blue bow, aimed its shot, and let go. The etherial arrow flew through the air, little particles of blue light following in its wake. cutting its way through the sky it started to fall into the trees of the forest below, it was headed directly toward the plume of smoke emanating from her destroyed village.

Its shot fired, a message that needed no explanation sent, the Nun’ne’hi put the bow back over its shoulder. It stood there for a second, looking out at and seemingly admiring the beautiful forest in its domain below. It turned around, and started to walk back into the trees behind her. Moving towards the bushes from where it had come, the Nun’ne’hi became increasingly more transparent until it became invisible entirely. It was gone.

This was obviously a sign, the Nun’ne’hi wanted her to return to the village, but for what reason she did not know. The sun continued to rise high into the sky above her, and it cast beautiful golden rays down over the skeleton trees around her. It almost made them seem alive. Finally a moment of peace, she cherished it.

Eventually she started floating back down the mountain. Traversing the hunters paths that led back to her village she longed to feel the cold. Winter was her favorite season. It was a break from the scorching heat of spring and summer, and there were no bugs around to pester for a sip of her blood. Birdsong rang out from every direction of the forest, with sudden interludes of almost complete silence. This was winter, the most peaceful time of year in the most peaceful place in the world, why did it have to be broken by a slaughter?

As the paths widened she could tell that she was nearing the village, she didn’t want to see it, she wouldn’t be able to bear seeing the corpses of her dead friends and family again. She had got so excited and empowered by the Nun’ne’hi’s message, but now she just wanted to run far far away. The collapsed timbers of the hunter’s huts started to make their way into her view. She wanted to cry, but could not feel tears forming. This new ghostly form started to present itself more as a curse than a blessing. Why couldn’t she have died like everyone else?

As she floated past all of the destroyed huts she found herself habitually making her way back to the fire pit, her favorite place in the village. The fire pit finally came into her light of sight, and the ghostly arrow was lodged right in the heart of a bonfire that never got to be lit. There was also a man next to the pile of logs and kindling, he tried to grab the arrow, but his hand kept on phasing through it. She had never seen anyone like him before. Skin as pale as snow topped of with a head of yellow hair. He wore a jet black cloak, earthy colored bottoms, and a deep orange backpack. His head swiveled In her direction, his pale blue eyes a color of which she had never seen stared directly at her. “Hello?” The word left his mouth slowly with a tone of mixed concern and confusion “What are you?”