“MOM! NO! LET’S RUN AWAY TOGETHER,” screamed Mika.

“Mika please… I’ve been running all my life. I found peace here. Peace inside you. I want you to live.”

“Mom. Please don’t do this…” She clasped her mom’s robe, reluctant to let go, balling her eyes with tears. “I don’t want to lose you—”

“Mika. Look! You were my only hope. It can’t let that end like this. Remember what I said?” 

Mika nodded. “Never flee and always hope for the best?” 

Akemi handed Mika her amulet that she adored. “Take this. You are not fleeing now! You are moving on with your life, okay? Things change…. Promise that you will live on.”

“Mom! I beg you… Let’s leave together,” the kid clasped her hands together, tears and sweat coating her face. The footsteps near them.

“THERE!” A loud voice echoed in their direction. Akemi gasped and swiftly picked Mika in her arms and limped away from the bandits. An arrow sprang out of the cloud of smoke, piercing the lady’s back, straight at her very spine. She dropped to the ground, coughing blood on her kid’s neck, yet shielding the little flower bud.

Mika froze—holding Akemi’s shoulder, shaking it back and forth, whimpering while her mother laid lifelessly. “Mom! MOM!! Wake up…. Please—look at me! TALK TO ME, MA!” 

Akemi’s eyes shot back open with more blood coughs, bleeding her gums out, unable to move.

“I’m so so sorry, Mika. I—I love you…” She crawled forward with her flower in hand—who was clutching onto her mother's life. “Live on for me…”

Akemi slowly dropped her down into a pit-blind, dug for hunting. Deep enough to keep her hidden. “I lastly hope that…” Her coughs interrupted her. “Is that you live on… Run. Mika.” She reached for her sword, stabbed the ground with it and pulled herself up, using it for support.

BANG! The sky crackled to life behind her with lightning. Rain poured down on her—washing the red from her face. She yelled to grasp the attention of the bandits. Rogue men sprinted towards her. With swords in their hand, lust in the eyes, and a blood thirst in mind. Akemi took the fight into the village by limping right into these men, evading the risk of her daughter getting caught.

Mika laid inside the pit, holding her screams back by biting down on her palms and yet weeping—her face covered with sweat, tears and sand. Disabled, tired, and unable to do anything while her mom ran back into the village just to save her life. She could hear the bandits’ screams and her mom moaning in pain. Yet she could do nothing other than flinch. Something clanged out of her pocket—it was the watch that the merchant gave her. It was 12AM. It was her birthday. Ten years ago, today was the day when Akemi was told that she had lost her husband. She lost hope. But Mika was there to fill her void—and now she was about to lose her mother... with no one to fill her void... Her thoughts made her eyes water—mind filled with rage. She gritted her teeth, slamming the ground repeatedly with her fists clenched. Her body gave up, pulling her to sleep. 

A girl that lost her childhood to responsibilities, lost her mom to rogues, lost her identity to a ruthless world, lost her mind in rage and pain. Lost in disarray at the thoughts of how she spent her last moments with her mom—turning her back on her mom when she was worried about her. A girl that was lost in the system of plans for something greater. Greater than anything she had seen till now. But hope was not lost… Because it always came back. A hand reached down to her, pulling the fainted soul out of the pit. Which triggered the end of the tale. The end of the very beginning. The beginning of a tale about a flawed hero. A hero of times.