The sounds of chirping birds filled the small room in which a little girl slept. Upon a straw mat she lay, the bedsheets disheveled just as her blond hair.
She stirred gently, the covers shifting. Her light brown skin met the sunlight, turning gold.
The morning sunlight bathed the room through a small window above. Curious little birds were perched upon a branch of a tree outside the window. They watched the girl as she slept, their pitch-black eyes darting across her.
The girl opened her eyes slowly. She squinted; the bright light stinging her eyes. Blinking intermittently, she opened them once more.
Amber eyes shimmered with an indescribable beauty.
Strands of her tussled hair fell upon her face, glowing in the yellow light.
She stretched, giving a wide yawn. A tear rolled down her face. She sighed.
Staring at her white covers, her mind was suddenly drawn to the man sitting a little away from her.
Draped in a brown cloak, his blue eyes defeated the glare of the sun.
Immaculate and powerful.
Small metallic projections stood upon his scalp, linking to one another like braids. Veined with yellow, they reflected the sunlight.
The girl stared at them, a grin breaking across her face.
"Q-Quantum…" she said softly.
The blue eyes graced her countenance.
"You look way too different with that," she said, her grin widening.
"Nhea, you know just as well as I do; I never asked for this," Quantum said, almost tired.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Really?" she teased.
Her grin shot out into muffled laughter.
Quantum stared at her, trying his best to hide his annoyance.
"Your serious faces just aren't serious anymore," she laughed.
Her yellow hair bopped with her laughter.
Quantum sighed.
"You have made me painfully aware of that fact for the past three years." he retorted.
Nhea laughed all the more.
Ending her laughter, she spoke cheerily.
"Good morning, Quantum."
Quantum responded, "Good morning, Nhea."
The cluster of birds watched as they greeted one another cheerily.
They suddenly flew off, leaving a disturbed branch in their wake.
Nhea removed the old linen shirt she wore to sleep, putting on her usual garments.
She wore her dull brown cropped shirt, and a skirt that covered dark leggings.
Stepping outside, her world was greeted with the full grace of the sun's light.
Tall trees lined the clearing in which their little house sat.
In the distance, hazy hills stood, clouds draped upon them. The sun had peeked above these hills, its light still blinding. Nhea smiled as the light bathed her skin.
Little drops of water clung to the blades of grass. Her leather boots trudged through them, the water coating their vamps.
The beauty would be short-lived however.
It was the last day she would be seeing such a sight.
Quantum stepped out behind her, the wooden door creaking behind him. In his hands was a wooden bow, and a quiver containing a few arrows.
"Let's go," he called.
Nhea nodded, running towards him. Her skirt danced with her movements.
The two walked past the tree line, breaking into the forest.
Birds crossed in the skies above, calling to one another.
Stepping across the curled roots of evergreen trees, their boots pressed into the soft earth.
They moved slowly, the earth crunching gently against their weight.
Branches shook gently, their leaves hanging low with the weight of dewdrops.
The land sloped down becoming steeper as they progressed.
Soon, they came across one.
Its horns were long and prominent, as though they carried the forest. It carried a bulky frame, its legs like pillars. Standing next to an isolated tree, it grazed in a clearing.
Quantum and Nhea stood a distance off, upwind. They were crouched upon a small ridge, in good view of the lone nyala.
"I'll leave this one to you. Remember, if you fail, you're the one who's going to be chewing greenery, not me." Quantum whispered.
Nhea gulped.
Quantum handed the hunting equipment to her. She marked it expertly.
"Be careful; anything could happen out there…" Quantum warned.
"Oh, come on. Even in the off-chance that I get thrown into a near death situation, I'm sure I'll be able to handle it," She responded, beaming with confidence. "Don't you trust me?" she asked.
Sighing, Quantum nodded.
With a deep breath, she set herself down from the ledge, moving downhill.
She neared the clearing, her steps like the still air.
The grass was taller in the clearing, but not too much.
She had to be like the air, if she hoped to land a shot.
Step after careful step she approached the beast. Calculated and critical, she stepped where the grass would swish the least, and where her footsteps would be muffled the most.
Breezes broke her movement.
She froze the moment she sensed it. Any less from her, and she'd have an empty plate.
Soon the nyala was about a stone's throw from her.
It hadn't noticed her.
"All right, nice and slow…," she breathed.
She raised herself slightly, nocking the bow.
A slight breeze passed through the clearing.
The nyala raised its head.
Nhea froze.
Its pitch-black eyes scanned her direction. It sniffed the air, suspicious.
Nhea's heart raced. Under the morning sun, sweat streaked down her face.
She couldn't miss.
After what seemed like an eternity, the nyala continued its grazing, moving slowly through the grass.
Judging from the horns, it was a juvenile male.
Basically, big meat.
Nhea drew the bow, her fingernail touching her cheek. Raising it, she aimed, tasting the wind's current.
Her swirling mind focused to a single point; right beneath its foreleg.
She stalled as another breeze blew. She neither had the heart nor legs to chase after an antelope that large.
Quantum watched quietly from the ridge. He was almost a kilometer away, yet it was as though he was there himself.
The breeze passed. Nhea swallowed a huge breath from the very tail of the breeze.
The world shook, as the string thwacked.
There was a dull noise. Metal pierced flesh.
The nyala fell.
Nhea gave a loud sigh of relief. Her heart took a breather.
She approached the kill.
The grass graced about her leggings.
A silence like cold death, filled the clearing.
Nhea's movement slowed with the march of time.
She felt each muscle within her body twitch.
The large mass of antelope lay only a few meters away.
Tearing through the silence, a creature pounced.
Nhea didn't have time to draw the bow.
She watched as its jaws opened, heading for her neck.
Its powerful paws were drawn to her, each fitted with sharp claws.
They shone in the sunlight. Eyes filled with ravenous hunger locked onto her jugular.
Nhea breathed, bracing herself.
Pushing her to the ground, its teeth almost sank into her neck.
Both of her feet on its belly, she kicked it back.
She rolled back through the grass, nocking her bow once more.
Drawing it quickly she aimed low.
Looking up, it had lunged once more.
Just as she had expected.
Nhea released the arrow.
A lifeless carcass slumped into her.
The breeze resumed, shifting the grass.
Two beasts lay motionless.
Predator and prey.
The nocks of two arrows glinted in the light of the sun.
Quantum laughed.
Nhea pushed the heavy leopard of her, raising her gaze to the man standing at the edge of the clearing.
Nhea glared at Quantum, brushing a bit of blood of her cheek.
His laughs echoed through the clearing.
She seethed.
"How in the world can you be laughing! I almost died!" she yelled, throwing her arms violently in the air.
Quantum approached, brushing a tear from his right eye.
"How was that for 'near-death'?" he teased.
Nhea remembered her words, slapping her forehead.
Quantum reached her side.
He rustled her hair, his voice like a calm surge.
"Now you know. Always expect the worst, Nhea. The world doesn't like you. It's always looking for a way to get rid of you. So, you need to be prepared for everything."
Nhea looked down, her eyes meeting the earth.
"I'm sorry," she whimpered.
Quantum smiled.
"You don't need to apologize. The important thing is to learn from your blunder."
Brushing her cheek, he said, "You're lucky all you got away with was a small cut."
"Why didn't you step in? I could've died," she said, almost amused.
"You told me to trust you…or don't you want me to?"
Nhea's mouth hung open in a deep awe.
She didn't realize how seriously Quantum took her words.
"That one will make some fine pelt." He added, pointing at the leopard.
"True," Nhea observed.
"We should take it back."
Nhea retrieved her arrows, cleaning the blood off their points.
Quantum hauled the two large carcasses, and they began their trek back home.
His raw strength never ceased to amaze her. Even after spending three whole years with him.
Time had simply rushed past.
As they went along, the memories flashed in her mind.
"Hey, do you remember the first time I fired an arrow?"
The haul on Quantum's shoulders bobbed with each step. On top of everything, they were heading uphill.
"Of course I remember. It feels like yesterday."
He laughed.
"The bowstring cut back and lashed your hand. You cried like for hours."
Nhea frowned.
"Suddenly, I don't feel very nostalgic anymore," she said, kicking a pebble.
"Oh, 'nostalgic'. Now that's a big word. You've gotten good at using them, haven't you?" Quantum teased.
Nhea's frown tightened.
"And you've gotten a bit better with your informality…"
Quantum's laugh ceased.
"I believe so…" he said.
They both laughed.
Nhea looked down at her right hand.
The scar from the bowstring was faint, but present.
It had taken a lot of hard training for her to get to the level she was.
And it was all thanks to Quantum.
Reaching their little cove, the two got to work, cutting their game.
Hours passed, and they finished preparing the skins.
They hung from racks, the evening air blowing past them.
Nhea admired their work, looking at the beautiful pelt they had obtained.
However, her stomach was drawn to the mouth-watering aroma that steamed from out back.
In front of the cove, Quantum sat next to a small fire, a steaming utensil frothing upon it.
The fire crackled as wood snapped.
Nhea took her seat next to Quantum.
"Is it ready? Is it ready?" she jittered.
"Calm down," Quantum snapped.
In a few minutes, the meal was ready.
Quantum served Nhea, a hot soup of wild vegetables and the best part; chunks of tender antelope meat.
She grabbed the wooden bowl. Her stomach growled.
Quantum giggled.
"Cut it out," she said sharply.
"You'd understand if you even had a stomach," she added.
Quantum turned to her.
"I do. I just choose not to use it."
A smug smile formed on his face.
Nhea looked away, her focus back on her meal.
She took some of it, making sure to fish out the largest chunk of meat.
Blowing fiercely, she stuffed it into her little mouth.
She quickly swallowed it, the heat coursing through her body.
A gasp of relief escaped her lips. She happily continued with her meal.
In a matter of minutes, she was done eating. The two lounged under the starry night sky.
Nhea observed with awe, her eyes filled with the lights of millions of stars.
"I'll miss this," she said.
There was a hint of dismay in her voice.
"Me too," Quantum supported.
The chirping and croaking of frogs and crickets filled the night air. A silence formed between them.
"Where do you think sister Nekea is now?"
Her voice was laced with concern. It had been bothering her for a while.
Quantum's gaze fell onto the stars above.
"I do not know," he replied, gently.
Another silence brewed between them.
"Regardless, she is alive. I hear her voice. Her ragged breathing. Her slow-beating heart. She is scared. Broken. Weakened. However, she lives."
A warm hope poured into Nhea's heart. Dismay covered it once more.
"What about Roe'nika?"
A fear grew within her, countering the hope that had just been built.
Quantum's silence was unsettling.
"I doubt."
The two words carried the weight of the hills in the distance, draped in darkness.
Switching his tone quickly, Quantum added.
"Tomorrow we head to Sae'l. It will be an arduous journey. However, the real work starts when we get there."
Nhea listened attentively.
"We will dismantle whatever darkness creeps there. And by so doing we will take one step closer to defeating the chaos upon this empire."
Quantum's voice rode upon the wind. His blue eyes burned with a heat comparable to the flame Nhea sat close to.
She smiled.
Everything was about to be tested.
Far away, deep in the catacombs of a dark castle, a lone woman sat chained.
Her crimson eyes burned bright.