~ Chapter Two ~

“Lilica,” someone calls.
It sends a shiver down my spine. I turn and see that it is still dark outside. Both the gold and silver moons still hang high in the sky. Midnight has just past us. My Mother and her companions should be at Ever Lake by now, gathering the moss.
Something in the air feels off. The air around me feels cold, despite it being mid-summer. Then there was that voice calling to me. I slide out of bed, into my slippers.
Pulling on my robes, I begin my search of our home. There are not too many places to search in our small dwelling. There is only the bathroom, my mother’s tiny room, and the room we keep the wagon. I sleep in a small closet between my mother room and the bathroom.
Each room I enter, I see nothing and leave. The ill feeling in my gut only gets worse. I’m not sure what I should be looking for or what my the spirits are trying to tell me.
“Mom…” I mumble.
I run back to my space and grab my small dagger, my fire starter, and my boots. I make sure all the windows are appropriately locked and head to the wagon room. It the back of the wagon, I rummage through our supply of healing potions.
Behind me, glass shatters, and I freeze. The bottles raddle against each other for a few seconds before it is silent again. Looking down, I do not see any glass near my feet. The sound came from somewhere else in the house.
I listen as one of our windows is pushed open, they use to much force sending it into a wall. The rest of the glass shatters. My mother never liked that ill made swinging window.
“Run…” the voice says, as someone else in the house scream ‘damn.’
Without a second thought, I rush towards the large double doors and unhook them. I push them open and rush out. As soon as I leave, I almost rush back in, I notice multiple strangers lurking around our village tonight. I realize I can’t go back in and shut the wagon rooms doors behind me. I lower myself to my knees and crawl for the back of my house.
Just behind my house sits the entrance to the forest, that I know so well. Everything in me tells me to enter and leave my fate to the darkness and trees. Inches from the trees I stop.
I turn and look back at the village. Deep down I know the bandits are going to kill everyone and turn this into a bandit town. As much as I’ve grown tired of this village, I don’t want to think about all the needless deaths and horrors the bandits will cause.
Breathing deeply, focus on my body. Every cell in me is throbbing; it like each cell is expanding. My whole body feels light. I open my eyes and see that I’m floating just above my house. I see my shadow on the roof.
Forward I chat to myself, my body slowly listens, and I begin moving toward the center of town. From where I am I see that many men are in the city, some have already started enter homes like mine. I land on a familiar roof and watch a few men walk across the town square.
There is no way I will make it to the mayor’s house and alert him and the guard of the danger. There is to much light out there. If I fly my shadow will be seen, and if they have arrows, they will shot me down. I’m not fast enough yet to dodge projectiles.
Feeling around my pockets for something useful, I find my fire starter. Looking around the square, I see a wagon full of hay. With little time, I stand and open the fire starter. A small red flame comes to life, I shut it and toss it. I pray the cheap device opens on impact with the wagon.
The fire starter hits the wagon, and the hay burst into flames. Next, to it, a barrel catches fire, the barrel explodes, and I realize it likely was full of fermenting liquor.
The explosion sends a warm wave of air my way. It pushes me back slightly. Around the town, lights come to life and men begin exiting their homes. The Mayor guard exit the manor.
I inhale and scream, “Bandits! Bandits in the town.”
I turn and turn run. My heart is in my ears, I’ve done all I can for them, and it is up to the town’s defenders to figure out the rest. I leap and begin running through the sky. Little purple orbs of light act as pedestals for my escape.
Behind me, I hear arrows whistle through the night, and one even passes inches away from my face. Ignoring it, I keep focused on the trees.
“Run, just keep running,” I say.
Feet from the forest I stop, at eye level I see Eden’s demon in the tree. He is at least seven foot tall, with blue-black scales covering his body. He has long green hair falls around him, coming to his waist. His eyes are the color of blood and his claws. They look like daggers.
My whole body is shaking, and I know I cannot go that way. If the rumors are accurate, he will not leave this forest. The columns of purple light I was standing on give way, and I drop a good ten feet to the ground.
My ankle pops, and I’m on the ground screaming. Behind me, I hear the screams of war, the clash of metal, and the beating of drums. I turn over and watch yellow fireworks light the sky. The guard is alerting nearby towns of the bandits. Reinforcement will likely arrive in minutes.
I listen as footsteps stop just shot of my head. I look up and see long wheat blonde hair, pale yellow eyes, and fair skin, just before I pass out from the pain.

~ Chapter One ~

“Did you hear, there are bandits in Eden’s Forest,” I say.
Mother continues to her work. Mixing potions is not an easy task for someone not blessed by the spirits. She has to focus all her energy into the job. Even though I have offered to make the supplies of potions we sale, she refuses my off and insists that we rotate chores. It doesn’t make sense to me, for I can make ten times the amount she can make in a single hour.
The spirits blessed my father. He could travel through the shadows and darkness was his ally. We don’t speak about him much if people found out he could manipulate shadows they would come for us. He left us long ago. I believe I was four when he went away. Since he left us, we scrape by mixing and selling potions. Our business does okay. We make enough stock to live comfortably; with a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. Now and then we can afford a new dress or coat.
“Don’t worry about the bandits, just stay away from the forest,” she says.
Easier said than done. Recently, I have become aware of the night around me. I find myself wanting to be out at night and learning more about my strange powers. Powers my father likely had and should be teaching me how to use. Abilities that allow me levitation, night vision, and visions of the future. The forest calls to me, promising to tell me all the secrets I want to know about myself and more.
Mother picks up a towel and pats her head dry. She looks over at me.
“Lilica,” she says. “You won’t go near the forest will you.”
“N-no,” I say. “Not without out you, we have to gather the luminescence blue moss for the potions tomorrow. Under the full moon.”
She sighs and shakes her head, “I forgot about that…you stay here. I’ll get it myself.”
Now I frown, “you want to go out there by yourself, what if the dragon man comes to get you or you run into the bandits.”
“I’ll hire some of the young men in the town to come with me,” she says. “That will set us back, but I’ll trade you some potion days so we can make it back up.”
“Why don’t you want me coming with you?” I ask.
She begins labeling the bottles of potions she created. Her back is to me. Her long curly black hair bounces as she transfers the containers to the crates.
“You’re my daughter. I don’t want you out there with bandits walking about,” she says. “I was once a champion sword fighter you know.”
“I wish you would teach me,” I mumble.
“You don’t have to learn those skills, and you’re going to live a normal life,” she says. “Normal. You’ll marry a merchant’s sons. Start a small shipping business. You will give me at least three grandchildren.”
She looks back at me, smiling. Her coca brown skin flawless, it is hard to believe she is in her forties.
“Stop thinking about my future,” I say. “I won’t meet any good man around here. We would need to move to the city.”
She takes the crate and places on our wagon — the little bottle clink against each other before settling in their new spot.
“Don’t start that again,” Mother says. “We are not moving to a big city. We would have to compete with other more experienced mixers, and we don’t have established business relations there.”
She is right, and I hate it. The only thing this town offers is an early grave — cause of death boredom or demon attack. The capital offers a school for individuals blessed by the spirits. There is also one for the individuals who aren’t blessed but yearn to become scholars. There are far more opportunities in the capital. I long to travel there and set up shop. If we do well, I could be in school before I’m seventeen. It wouldn’t matter which school, I want to learn.
“We can talk about this later, but you will not be going into the woods,” Mother says. “That is final.”
I huff and put down my needlework. My stitching is uneven. I will have to start over tomorrow if I want to make a shirt that will fetch a reasonable price.

The Beginning.

“We are not letting you walk alone in a place like that,” Lady Umiko states.

Raindrops pelt against our skin as the drizzle stretches out over the forest.  The content downpour makes it difficult to make out any out sounds around use.  The smell of wet soil has followed us for miles but my sense of smell has not adjusted to the smell.

“Euphemia,” Lady Umiko stays again.

“I can’t bring you with me,” I say.  “And you have to get back to my father’s villa so the guard doesn’t suspect you for assisting me.”

“Euphemia…” she mutters.

I touch her cheek, “Umiko you are my eyes.  You must return. I will be fine.”

I lower myself from her horse with ease.  I walk to the head of the horse.  Its mane is wet and her black eyes are low.  She shakes her head as if to try to stay awake.  I pet her nose.

“I don’t have a choice,”  I say, without looking at Umiko.  We both knew this when we galloped off into the night together.   She is making our enviable parting longer and hard then it must be.

“We can go home now, you can live with your father’s ideals.” She says.  “You don’t have to take the risk or trying to rally a dishonored bandit.”

I’m not sure what would come out of returning to a man that my country as dishonored, by asking him to go against his morals to suit their king’s ideals.  And reward him for his family’s loyalty by outlawing him and labeling him as a threat against the crown.  I don’t know what he would do the daughter of that king.

But what choice do I have?  What choice does anyone have, my father, Akane, or I really have?  The cards have been dealt and we must play with the hand we have received.  That is all there is to it.

“He will destroy us all,” I say.  I’m not sure she can hear me at this point.  The rain has picked up from it slow pitter patter to a heavy downpour.

“Don’t die.” She says.

She removes her my staff from her back and lowers it to.   I walk to the walk to the side of the horse and untie the large cloth package.  I slight it over my shoulder with ease.  I move to the edge of the cliff and look down.  The trees are thick and I can’t see the bottom.  I’m not sure how far the bottom is on from that.

“Sea of Trees,” I mutter.  “It’s fitting.”

I step off the edge and descend into the darkness of the forest.