A girl about 18 years old ran through a dark forest. It was night and there was no sound except for the occasional owl cry. She ran among the bare trees, all their leaves lying peacefully on the ground. Her long black hair flew behind her in the wind and her Japanese princess clothes dragged over the leaves of the dry forest floor. From her ebony colored eyes tears ran down her white delicate skin and then flew into the air never to be seen again. Dark shadows followed after her, some on horses and some on foot. Desperately she continued running deeper into the forest in hope of in some way losing her chasers.
She suddenly arrived at a clearing and soon after she stopped in front of a pond that was placed in the middle. The pond was filled with beautiful blooming white and pink lotuses, as it was currently autumn it is a wonder that they bloomed so off season. Its water shone with a light blue light as if it wanted to lure her in.
Being chased and knowing it would only be a matter of time until she was caught she took a brief breath and decided. Since her noble parents who had tried to protect her had already died by hands of those chasing her she’d rather die than to land in their hand. She would probably only be kept like a bird in a cage ordered to occasionally sing with her beautiful voice and show of her beauty.
She took her step into the pond and walked deeper and deeper into it. Behind her she heard the hooves of a horse nearing a man's voice shouting at her to stop, the voice of the man who ordered her parents death, the man who sees her as a trophy in his greedy collection of women and invaluable things.
On the contrary to what the man had shouted the girl still continued to wanted deeper into the pond until her head was submerged. The man arrived at the lake one step after she had been completely submerged. His dark brown eyes were filled with anger and his black hair was as messy as a crow's nest after being roughed up by the forest trees branches and the speedy wind. The japanese noble clothes of his were ripped and on his left leg one can see a cut that was oozing out blood. He looked like he was in his mid twenties and had a sharp face filled with stubbornness and greed.
He jumped off his black steed running into the pond in hope of getting the girl out of the water as soon as possible. His accompany arrived right after and quickly stopped the young man of running into the water.
They feared that he, who couldn’t swim, would die drowning in this magically shining blue pond. He, as stubborn and proud as his personality was, first tried to fight out of their grasps in anger but in the end he gave up and quickly gave order to the two best swimmers in his accompany to drag her up. He couldn’t lose such a girl, such a trophy.
His heart had been touched by her beautiful voice as he coincidentally heard it one day when he was out playing with women in town. And when he looked for the owner of such a voice his heart bounced in his chest when he saw her beauty as she sang with a smile to her parents sitting on a bench in front of her, holding hands and smiling proudly.
He didn’t barge in on them and went home, it wasn’t the right time for him. But the week after that he came and demanded for the daughter to be given to him, to marry him. Her father knew who he was and had heard many horrible rumors about the young man. The young man was a noble but so was he and he didn’t let that hinder him but he firmly denied the young man’s demand. In the Young man’s anger he firmly ordered the girl’s parents to be killed and the girl to be taken into custody but somehow the girl had already managed to flee their mansion, alone. In the end the situation ended up to her drowning herself in the pond and he still persistently trying to take her alive.
The ones who went into the pond to get the girl couldn’t find her, the blue shine of the pond temporarily blinded their eyes and didn’t let them venture further in. After trying to search for the girl for about 20 minutes they gave up, there was no way that she was still alive.
While the young noble was desperately trying to get her out of the lake and while the men, who entered the pond to find her, searched she fell into complete darkness. All of a sudden a singing voice was heard in the darkness. It didn’t take the girl a long time to realize that this voice and that the song it sang was a lullaby her mother had sung to her her when she was still an infant.
The girl decided to start to sing along with the mysterious copy of her voice and beautiful song spread through the darkness. A light flickered before her and both the girl and the mysterious voice copy stopped singing. The voice started to speak, and the light flickered as if it was the one speaking, still with the same voice as the girl. It said to the girl that she had committed a grave sin of doing suicide and as punishment the girl has to guard the pond as a spirit until she has found something special. The light also mentioned to the girl that the actual reason as to why she has to guard the pond is because no gods or spirits have any time to spare and that the pond must have a guardian because it is a really important pond to the gods.
After it had told the girl that the punishment the light faded away and it turned dark again. In this darkness the girl felt that she was changing. Above her the same blue light that was emitted from the pond slowly appeared. The girl reached towards it and burst into song.
At that moment on the surface the young noble and his accompany, who had given up hope on finding her, heard her song. They saw as a head with hair that was the same color as the ponds blue light. The face could be seen and it was the same beautiful face as the girl. The skin was the same color as before but her eyes had also turned light blue. Slowly but surely her body began to appear wearing a kimono showing some of her beautiful curves. But as soon as she noticed them she quit singing and disappeared back into the water and after she disappeared the water that had been shining all this time turned into ordinary none shining water.
Many of those who accompanied the young man began to show fear on their faces and prepared to run away. Others just stood still in utter shock, including the young man, but when he noticed some of those who accompanied him starting to run away he took action and shouted at them to stop and stay where they are. He told them what might have happened before them might as well be something that would mostly only exist in stories of fantasy. What they had just seen was a spirit, and not only that but a spirit turned human.
After a while the young man and his accompany left the area around the pond but he came back a few days later. And with him we're carts filled with wood and stone and a bigger accompany than what he had when he chased her. With him we're now not only soldiers but also carpenters and other type of craftsmen.
To get to the lake with those carriages they had cut down many trees and make a road. The pond spirit girl saw how they came with the loads of wood and stone and immediately noticed what they were about to do. And though she wanted to stop them she didn't know what kind of powers she might have since she turned into a spirit and she didn't know how to use them either. She didn't want to risk killing someone off and as long as the pond was fine it didn't matter to her what they did.
A few months later the young nobleman’s work was completed and now surrounding the lake stood a big mighty castle. The castle was made of brown wood and stone and the form of it was like a mix of Japanese and Chinese castles.
The young nobleman swiftly moved in and every evening he would sit and look upon the lake with the desire of seeing her beautiful figure again. Once a week he would hear her song sounding through his ears and heart. Her song had created many rumors throughout the land of a bit pond guarded by a beautiful magical spirit with a beautiful singing voice.
Time passed and in the blink of an eye the young man wasn't young anymore, he wasn't unmarried anymore too. He quickly grew older and around 40 years after that magical night when she turned he, sick with an incurable illness, finally released his last breath calling her name.
By this time the spirit girl had mastered almost all of her powers and had found a ability that made her able to turn into her old human form, she could also teleport. But there was a catch, she could only move in 20 km radius from the lake any farther than that and she would be met with a barrier and if the lake would be in danger she would be immediately summoned back by the lake.
She had not used these powers when the nobleman was alive because it would give big risks. The reason she even dared to sing was to let the people of the castle know that she was there, guarding the pond.
The nobleman had a son, but unlike his father the son had the bearing of a true nobleman and he didn't care about her in the least. Sure he had heard her song once a week in the evening but he had never seen her rumored beauty. She hadn't shown herself since the night she turned, if she had maybe even he would be bewitched by her beauty just like his father.
Thus she, who had not many people who were familiar on how she used to look left, dared to finally occasionally visit her hometown that was about 16 km away from the castle.
In the around 40 years she had been away much had changed. The town was bigger and more bustling and there was more tourist shops and restaurants. All around the town unusual people with blond and light brown hair colors were walking around dressed in some weird unfamiliar clothes.
The house she had lived in was now a restaurant and it was bustling with many people laughing and joking. Shocked by the strong feeling of unfamiliarity she quickly returned to her pond.
Since it would be weird if a non-aging person went to town a lot she only went around 1-2 times a year and if it happens that someone made a note of her face then she would wait between 5 and 10 years until she visited again. And that's how 300 years passed by, with her singing once in a week on the evening and going to town once or twice a year.
In these 300 there had been many generations of the nobleman's family and now it was down to the 10th generation. The family had been developed into a family of businessmen selling all kinds of commodities.
One day when she went to town, which had changed a lot again since she visited 300 years ago, it was now more of a city that a town and the streetlights which used to be made up of fire was now made using something called electricity. The boxy carts that used to be dragged by humans had been replaced with beautifully designed carriages painted in different colors to the liking of the owner. The roads had fewer people to the middle and most people walked on the sides.
She walked along the roads looking into the shopping windows in and looking admiringly at the dresses with foreign design. Dresses with long puffy skirts, many of them decorated with laces or ribbons or maybe even both. The colors varied between the dresses and in a way it would feel like one was in a toy shop with all those colors around.
Suddenly she heard a shout behind her and she turned her head towards it. In the middle of the road was a little girl holding a doll in a tight hug and going towards her was a carriage in full speed. The spirit girl wouldn't make it in time unless she used her teleport ability but it's not like she could use it among all these people and reveal herself to the world. Instead of teleporting she decided to at least try to run out and save the girl but before she had the chance to take a step the figure of a young man had appeared out of the crowd on the opposite side of the street. His blond hair shimmered in the sunlight as the caught the girl and jumped onto the same side of the street that the spirit girl was, bumping into her.
The blond man apologized to the spirit girl and then asked the little girl if she was okay, the little girl nodded, thanked him and then ran over to her mom on the opposite side of the street. He looked up at the spirit girl again to once again apologize. But before he had the chance to open his mouth he froze.
When he apologized before he didn't take a notice of her face or body build but now that he looked at her more carefully his pupils turned large.
She was a beauty, she still had the same beauty she had 340 years ago, she still had the long flowing black hair in her human form and it had totally charmed him. He took himself out of the frozen state but as he was about to open his mouth again another man, who apparently was his friend, dragged him away.
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