The girl found herself awestruck. Who was this woman? Why did she appear so suddenly? Where even they? All three questions spun around in Kuroshi’s mind.
“Be the light that banishes the darkness.” The woman’s voice seemed to echo powerfully in all directions, though it wasn’t aggressive or stern in any sense. In fact, the ethereal figure had a very calm and gentle demeanor. Her voice was soothing despite how it reverberated.
Kuroshi awoke the next morning as the summer sun came peering through her windows. It had to have been up at least a few hours already, and she didn’t want to sleep the day away. Today would probably be a good one to go to the market. With that decided, she sat up, stretched her arms outward, and rolled out of bed.
As the birthday girl worked on tidying herself up, her mind returned to the dream she had last night. Could it have had some special sort of meaning? She shook her head at the thought, attempting to clear her head. Dreams weren’t supposed to make sense.
Kuroshi threw on a simple white dress, typical of a commoner. Over top, she laced up a black bodice. Next, she tried to brush her hair, but no matter what she did, a few strands ran wild. She blamed her misfortunes on the humidity with a sigh, a bit vexed by the situation, and slid on a white hairband to make the stray hairs less obvious.
Just as the young woman finished getting dressed, she heard a knock on the door. An unannounced visitor? She quickly made her way to see who it was.
At the doorway stood a young girl—roughly Kuroshi’s own age—with light brown hair braided off into pigtails that were tied with yellow ribbons, a chartreuse dress upon her body. The girl smiled as the door opened and her brown eyes gleamed. “Hey there, birthday girl!”
“Oh, Nicole! What a pleasant surprise.”
“What? Did you think I wasn’t going to drop by and wish you a Happy Birthday? How’s it feel to turn the big one-six anyway?”
“Honestly? I don’t feel much different than I did before.”
Nicole frowned at this. “That’s no good! Come on, let’s go see everyone and make you really feel special.”
“Outside? But it’s so hot today…”
“It’s not going to be any less hot inside, silly. Who wants to be cooped up in a stuffy house on their special day anyhow? That sounds boring.”
The persistent girl grabbed Kuroshi by the arm, practically dragging her out of the house. Before they got very far, they were greeted by a broad-faced man with blond hair and blue eyes dressed in a simple gray tunic.
“Kuroshi! Nicole! What are you girls up to today?”
“You do know what today is, right?” Nicole asked.
“Uh… Gunesdi?”
“Not the day of the week!”
“The thirtieth of Quintillis?”
“And that is…?”
“You got me.”
Nicole angrily threw her hands at her sides. “Ugh! I can’t believe you forgot Kuroshi’s birthday, Arthur!”
He rubbed the back of his head upon hearing this. “Oh, is that today? I’m sorry! Well, happy birthday, Kuroshi.”
“Thank you.” It wasn’t that big of a deal for the purple-haired girl. She didn’t expect people to keep track of her birthday.
“I haven’t even seen you in a while. When was the last time? Oh yeah! It was at the funeral-” The realization of what he just said hit him like a punch in the gut. “S-sorry!”
“How can you be so insensitive, you jerk?” Nicole growled.
“No, it’s okay. Really.” Kuroshi waved her hand in an attempt to dismiss any thoughts this bothered her. That was a good three months ago. She couldn’t dwell on Wakana’s passing forever.
The brown-haired girl put her hands on her hips. “Well, it’s settled then. Arthur’s paying for today’s meal to make up for it!”
“Hey!”
“It’s not like I have money anyway. I’m just a girl. You at least have a job.”
“I’m just a farmhand, though…”
“Better than me!”
The pig-tailed girl skipped off to find a place to convene. The other two took a moment before they followed her.
Eventually, the blond man decided to make some small talk. “So, Kuroshi… you’re sixteen now?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Any thoughts about what you’re going to do with your life?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know… any dreams of plans? Something you’d like to do?”
Nicole nudged the birthday girl with her elbow. “Or a guy you want to marry?”
“I’ve never really thought about that sort of thing. I’ve just been going through life as it comes to me, to be honest.”
Arthur nodded. “Yeah, I get what you mean. I just work the farm because that’s what my dad does. I never gave any thought to what I wanted to do.”
Nicole skipped ahead a few steps, spun around to face the other two, and leaned forward with a playful grin. “You two are hopeless! No aspirations at all!”
“What do you want to do then, Nicole?”
She clasped her hands together and batted her eyelids. “I hope to catch the eye of one of our kingdom’s brave knights. He’ll be enthralled by my beauty and want to sweep me off my feet!”
“You just don’t want to live a commoner’s life any longer,” Arthur concluded.
“Oh shush, you! It would be so much easier if I was gifted with magic, though. That would give me more reason to hang around the knights.”
“Gifted with magic…? You know that’s not how that works, right? It takes years of practice and devotion. That’s why they have whole schools dedicated to teaching people how to do it.”
“I know… but studying that stuff is boring!”
As Nicole grumbled, Kuroshi gave the question some serious thought. What would she like to do?
“It might be nice to travel the world.”
Both her friends stopped and looked at her, stunned.
“I know I give you a hard time for not getting out enough, but that’s a bit extreme.”
“Well, maybe not the whole world. Seidak is pretty big but it would be nice if I got to at least see Yuan someday.”
The trio’s attention would soon be stolen by three men running into town from the west. They seemed frantic, panicking.
“What do you think their deal is?” Arthur asked.
“They seem terrified of something,” Nicole pointed out.
The two speculated for a brief moment until they realized Kuroshi was walking in the direction from whence the men came.
“Hey, Kuroshi! Where are you going? It could be dangerous!”
Nicole’s concern fell on deaf ears. Kuroshi simply kept walking toward the edge of town.
“We can’t just go after her. Let’s tell one of the guards and see what they can do.”
“You go do that and I’ll see if I can learn what happened from those guys,” Arthur suggested.
The two nodded in agreement and ran off to do as they planned with Kuroshi left to wander the road leading out of town.
Before the young woman knew it, she was no longer in Penshaw. She stopped upon realizing this, her heart now racing. In truth, she was terrified of what may lie down the road ahead, yet morbidly curious at the same time. She could not understand why, but something compelled her to investigate. She clenched her fists as she mustered up her courage to walk again.
The outbound road was clear and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Everything was so deathly still with no sign of what could have scared those men. What could have caused their reactions? She became fixated on that question as she trudged along the beaten path. Was it wise to leave home like this? The girl hadn't even prepared for travel. What if something dangerous was out there? After all, with how those men were acting just moments ago, it was likely very foolish to approach whatever was out there.
Kuroshi kept looking over her shoulder as she went, searching for any signs of what rattled the travelers. She found herself growing considerably more anxious the longer she went without answers.
She walked nearly half an hour before seeing a man lying on the ground. He was dressed in black, except for a red cloak draped around his body. It was unlikely that he would be taking a nap in the middle of the road, so she assumed some ill fate had befallen him. Could whatever had happened to this man be the cause of the panic? She sprinted over towards him in distress, kneeling beside him to find out whether he was even still alive.
The man had a pulse, a sign that brought the girl relief. By appearance, he seemed to be no older than thirty with short, black, spiky hair. His face was covered with dirt and scratches, and his eyes were closed. It did not appear as though he was conscious. The young woman did not notice it at first due to his clothing: In fact, it wasn’t until she felt something wet on his right side that she realized he was bleeding. Upon closer inspection, she found a fairly deep gash just below his ribcage. She quickly got out a piece of cloth and wrapped it around him, hoping to stop the bleeding and allow the wound to close.
As the purple-haired girl patched the man up, she couldn’t help but wonder what happened to him to leave him in such a state. Was he attacked by bandits or something worse? Soon, he began to groan and stir, eventually lifting his head and opening his eyes. She peered at him, her face wrought with concern. In response, however; the man threw out his hand, smacking her in the sternum and knocking her away with a surprisingly powerful blow.
The sudden attack launched the young woman a good meter before she crashed onto her back with a thud. She gasped and coughed, clutching her midsection. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she tried to sit back up, a perplexed look on her face.
As the black-haired man stood, Kuroshi could sense a dark aura about him. Something was not right. Maybe he mistook her for an assailant or looter. She had to assure him that she wasn’t trying to hurt him.
“W-wait… I’m trying to help you. You shouldn’t be moving so suddenly. Your wounds will reopen.”
The man cackled as though she said something hilariously absurd. “Help me? That’s rich! Where was the help when I really needed it? You people only feign sympathy to feel better about yourselves and trample over others when that’s more convenient. No, good-for-nothing humans only serve one purpose: to be slaughtered!”
With that, he leaped at her. The girl closed her eyes, recoiling in fear as she held her hands up in front of herself.
Then it happened.
A bright white light emitted from her palms, stopping the crazed man in his tracks. He flinched back, yelling out in anguish.
Kuroshi’s eyes opened again, bewildered. She had no clue what was happening right now. The man backed away, turned on his heels, and fled. This left the girl to slowly get back to her feet as she tried to process all these events. As hard as she tried to make sense of what just occurred, she found it impossible. This was beyond her comprehension.
Who was that man? Why did he try to attack her? What stopped him? All these questions, she wondered while staring at her hands. She knew she would not find her answers here. Though still very much shaken up, the girl took a deep breath to gather her resolve and decided to head onward in the direction the man escaped. Maybe if she followed him, she would solve at least one of the queries swirling around in her head.
The confused girl walked for another hour before deciding to stop and take a break. She wasn't used to traveling and hadn't prepared for it either. In fact, she realized she had nothing on her save her coin purse. Should she turn back? She looked east, in the direction of Penshaw. It would take her just as long to return home as it would to reach the capital at this point. The thought sounded tiring.
For the first time since the chaos began, the girl took time to reflect upon her decisions. Why was she so adamant about pressing on? The experience she just faced was terrifying. Running away would be the easiest and most convenient thing for her to do. She knew she wouldn't be satisfied if she let herself give in to the fear, though. There were too many things happening at the same time that were doubtfully coincidences. Strange dreams, people, powers… These all began to emerge now. Could they all be connected? Perhaps something was calling her down this path.
After a moment of resting, the purple-haired girl realized she hadn't eaten since breakfast and did not bring any rations with her. She would have to forage for something to fill her belly. She spent some time getting her nourishment before she decided to continue her journey.
Comments (0)
See all