Chapter 1
The Nest
Cold, wet and dazed...Akina rose and rubbed her throbbing head.
"What happened?"
She looked around to see where she was and once she saw the bodies of her friends and family, she knew...she was still at the battlefield. She tried to stand but could not get her legs to move. Again she looked around for survivors, but found only bodies. Cold, lifeless bodies, of her friends and family...then she looked beside her and found the body of Dareo, her love.
"Dareo! Tell me your alive, tell me your just resting. Open your eyes so you can see I'm alive too...Dareo...Dareo..."
But He didn't speak, move or open his eyes. He was dead, and Akina knew it...she knew it from the start. She shivered and rubbed her hands together. She noticed she was wet...but there was nothing but snow and blood on the ground. She looked at her garments and saw that they were blood stained, but whose? Then she remembered...
"Akina!! Get down!!"
"No! I won't let you get killed!!"
Her memory flashed before her eyes. She saw what happened...Dareo covered her and died protecting her from the attack...she felt sick to her stomach. Akina stood and ran, ran as for as she could. Ran from the battle and the dead. As soon as she reached The Forest of Light she tripped on a tree root and tumbled to the ground. Crying, she stayed there for the night, not moving.
By mornings first light, she awoke. Her hair was a mess of tangles and the blood on her clothing had dried and stained her shirt. A flame, a single flame still danced in the pile of ashes, but she never made a fire. Akina looked at it and watched it sway in the wind till it was blown out. Looking around and shivering, she started to stand then walk back to her hometown. Along the way she sang and hummed a song Dareo had written for her...
"Little dove, don't you cry. Stand up and face your darkest fears. Little dove, don't be afraid. I'm always here, to guide you..."
Her feet where numb from the cold but she didn't mind, hearing Dareo's voice in her mind put her in a kind of trance. She wandered aimlessly through the forest till she came to a clearing...she gasped and fell to the ground.
She saw her town...dark, alone, no one was seen...or heard. She tried to get up to run but her legs wouldn't move. She sat there crying, crying for her friends and family. Even her sister was killed in this horrible battle.
After so time past, she got up and went looking for her family's' bodies and the body of Dareo. She gathered them and held her own funeral. After she was done saying her prayers for them, she dug graves and put up stones as markers. That day, her old life died...she now had a reason for becoming a sword master. She gathered her things and some food, and got on her horse, Crystal. She left that life behind...but not her heart.
Chapter 2
The Journy
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