Chapter One—the Beginning (Jessie)
"We are so lost. I mean, we are lost." I said aloud as me and my companion, and best friend, Golem were crossing the same river again with the surrounding forest, the blaring sun on our backs, and the creatures that made their usual scattering and what not. Damn, it was hot, but we needed to find a place to hide and seek shelter for the night ahead of us. The sun was just settling east of us, along the horizon and behind the snowy-top mountains. Boy, it was beautiful; I've never seen such beauty out of just a simple landscape in my life. I guess being stuck on a planet will do that to you unless you're on Earth, which where I'm at…at least, I think I am. The creatures weren't afraid of my goblin friend and were not the typical animals you would see in a forest. Some had horns, more than two eyes (a squirrel—I think—had four eyes looking at me), and a few had more than two arms and legs. I was wondering if they were all mutated by some disease or were not in Kansas anymore. Who the fuck knows?
Golem was dragging himself behind me. His bulky, huge body made it hard for him to be quiet and plus he wasn't a very good navigator. Goblin demons aren't known for their navigation skills, but they are reliable warriors and have the strength of a thousand men to do the job. But then again, he was a bit of a clumsy fellow; he didn't know his own strength too well. He spoke up after a few minutes of silence, "Jimmy, you're right; we are lost! Gosh, darn it! If only I had my compass, we wouldn't be in this mess! I'm sorry!" He cried out so loudly that the trees shook with the sound of his blaring voice. I had to cover my ears just so I wouldn't lose an eardrum.
I uncovered them and responded to him calmly, "Don't worry about it. We'll figure out another way to get out of these woods. I'm sure we're close to the place, but we just got sidetracked." He was sniffling, about to cry a river of tears. Oh dear, not again. "Okay, calm down. Let's not get emotional right now. I mean, I'm sure we'll—" I was interrupted by a low whaling of tears. Great, we're really gonna get caught. By who? That I wasn't sure, but we had to find shelter soon before it got really bad. "Come on, Golem, let's just make a campfire right here and we'll head out first thing in the morning, okay?" I told him in a reassuring manner.
He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and nodded, "Okay, Jimmy. Let's make a home." I smiled; I gave the big guy a hug and he gave one back nearly squeezing the breath out of me. I choked a bit, "Okay, Golem, dude, let go. I think that's enough." Realizing that, he dropped me on the ground with a loud thump. I rubbed my butt, that was gonna hurt in the morning. "Sorry, sorry!" He cried out. I gave him a soft smile, "It's okay, Golem. I'll all get a nice bruise." We both laughed and then began to set up our spot for the night. It was growing darker by the minute so we had to hurry quickly. We put down our gear and laid out the sleeping mats, pillows, some food (berries, bread from a local village, and some blueberry jam). Golem got some big logs for our fire, and place them in stacks, like Jenga, expect if the tower falls it won't matter. It's just for a fire.
The fire was roaring with heat and it was quite relaxing to watch them dance. Little fire sprites dancing in the flames, creating a story about love, fear, and the desire to be free from the flames and move onto other ventures. But was it enough for them to be saved? Their belief that they could save from this world; the world of fear—ha, it was all too impossible. They were just beings of flame; they could not separate from their fire. They were stuck for an eternity.
Oh dear, there I go again being…and Golem's snoring logs again. My word, he can be loud, but it's understandable. He's a big guy. Guess I'll have to get used to it. I yawn; I'm growing very weary and extremely exhausted by our long journey. I lay on my mat, look up at the stars, and then I feel my eyes getting heavier and heavier by the minute, and I'm off in dreamland. Hope they'll be good dreams…maybe.
Brother! Brother! Where are you? James!
I see a boy in the distance, standing tall in front of me, with eyes burning red with anger. He screams out at me with the most forceful anger that I have ever heard, "You bitch! You left me alone! Alone to die! Why? Don't you care about me anymore? I hope you rot in hell!" I was shocked to hear those words, but then…my heart was pounding; I'm scared of what he's going to do. Why does he hate me?
"Brother, please! Why are you doing this? What have I done for you to hate me so much?" I cried out, but it doesn't go through. He charged at me with his sword, aiming straight for my heart, threatening to pierce my soul without remorse. I just stood there, frozen letting him come at me with full force. I close my eyes; accepting my fate…
His screams are piercing through the slience; I hear his rage, hurt, and anger—I'm still not sure why, but I just have to accept it. I can't remember why he's this angry. I can't remember anything….
Now I'm awake. My eyes fly open and all I see is daylight. The blue sky stares down at me with the clouds floating over me. Wait, is it afternoon? Morning? What the hell? I sit up to see that Golem's still asleep and drooling all over himself. His mat must be soaked from all of that drool. I look at the surroundings and see the strange little animals doing their daily work and roaming around, gathering food for whatever their needs are. I get up off slowly from my mat, careful not to wake up Sleeping Goblin Beauty, as I make my way into the woods with a water pitcher in hand to find a river that I heard nearby. Anything with a watery, rushing sound has to be a river, or a small creek, that would be a great source of water. I'm dying of thirst. It's already getting hot; the sun is beating on me pretty hard and wearing this black and white outfit doesn't help much.
I placed my canteen into the water to gather as much needed for our journey. Me and Golem have been on this mission for weeks, trying to find this demon—this thief of the night, as they called him. I wasn't so sure; it didn't sound like much of a threat to me when they spoke of him. The Emperor—whose name was impossible to pronounce-hired us was a homely, solemn type of guy. He was always very nonchalant about things; he took everything in consideration before making any final decisions, but then again he never really showed it in his face, just in his voice.
Anyways, he was a particular guy and was willing to offer us a lot of money if we captured him and his stolen goods. Golem mentioned that this would be great to start our own ramen business or something. That would be nice, but I prefer a different sort of business. Maybe something with clothing like making kimonos, fancy dresses, and the like. That would be fun to do, but I can't think about such things right now; I need to focus on my mission.
My canteen is filled and head off towards our campsite to where, still, my sleeping friend is dreaming away of food. He mumbles a lot when he dreams about food. It's so cute, but it does remind me: when was the last we ate anything? Anything decent? I grab my sack and look inside. There's nothing edible. We need to hunt for food soon or we'll strive, but where? All I have is my magic and dagger. He would be helpful if he was awake. I sigh and shake the goblon, "Hey, Golem, time to rise and shine. We need to hunt for food."
He heard me and shot up like a bottle rocket, "Food?! Where?" I shook my head, "I said we need to hunt for food, not that we have any."
"Darn it, Jimmy. I don't wanna go huntin'. The woods are scary." He replied, pouting.
"It's daylight; you can see everything. Even so, we have to face our fears and savage for some food, alright?" I told him firmly. He nodded and we gathered our belongings and headed out for our first hunt. Golem, being as big as he is, carried most of the load while I had my knapsack and my dagger snugged on my hip. I offered to carry some load, but he refused saying, "Oh no, Jimmy, I couldn't let you do that. That would be wrong of me."
I sighed and gave in, "Alright, if you insist. Let me know if you need any help." He smiled but didn't say anything. We strugged on until we both saw a deer, a young fawn; possibly…it would be hard to kill it since it's so young, but we're both starving we don't have much of a choice. Golem ran up to the deer screaming with all of his might like a gorllia on steroids. I shook my head, but then I noticed he had already killed it with his bare hands.
How did he kill it so quick is beyond me. His brute strength does get the best of him, but for now, it's for the greater good—and our stomachs. He carried the deer in his arms, feeling sad for what he had done. He cried. Tears were running down his face as he spoke, "I didn't mean to, Jimmy. I didn't mean to kill him."
I gave a heavy sigh, "I know, Golem. But out in the world it's a part of surviving and that's what we're trying to do on top of our mission. Yes, it does look bad, but that's just how it is." He set down the deer on the ground and turned away as I began to cut up the deer for our meal. After a few minutes, I cook up the slices on a skillet. I looked at my companion. He was really torn about killing the deer and Golem loves animals to death. He's an animal worshiper, practically. But doing something like this hurts him a lot and he stays like for a couple of days until he gets distracted by another situation or occasion.
But, right now, I had to focus on cooking our meal. I've always wonder what venison tasted like and I'm about to find out. After the meat was cooked, I served it on two large cloths that we used as plates and began tearing into it. I was so hungry that I shallow it whole and Golem, being the big guy that he is, ate two large pieces in big gulps and was done. Sometimes I wondered on how he doesn't even give a stomachache, but then again he's Golem; he's practically a vacuum when it comes to food. I giggled for a second and then gave a solemn look towards him and asked, "So ready to go on?"
He nodded and patted his stomach. "Golem happy now." He replied and we both packed our things once again and forge on. It was incredible on how much energy so much meat had given us because we were running, sprinting, and so alive. We've been so tired to the point of exhaustion that we weren't sure when we were ever going to get a meal, and now that we did, we're happy. Very happy.
As we trailed through the forest and talked of random things (birds, what trees were surrounding us, etc.), I noticed in the corner of my eye a sliver flash. At first, I thought I was just seeing things, but it happened again. I stopped my friend and put a finger to my lips ordering him to be silent. He gave a nod and looked in my direction. The sliver flash was passing through trees as if it was…dancing. It was making graceful yet careful moments as it passed and then it stopped. My eyes focused in on the thing…or rather, demon.
He was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. The sunlight reflected off of him like a mirror. His long sliver hair, bright golden eyes just stared into my soul, and his white cloth attire covered his entire body. He gave a smile towards me and greeted me and Golem with a wave of a hand and then took off into the deep part of the forest. There goes the sliver flash.
"Golem, we have to catch up to him. He might be the guy we're looking forward." I said. Golem nervously replied, "But…Jimmy, I'm scared of foxes." I sighed, "Well, you don't have to fight him; I will. You can be in the back for support in case I really do need help."
We took off towards the area where the fox disappeared. He had to be the guy. He had to be Yoko Kurama, the thief. It fit the description so well…too well, in fact.
What was he after? What did he want?
All of these questions running through my head didn't help the looking part. I got distracted and Golem bumped hard into me from behind and said loudly, "Sorry, Jimmy! I didn't know!"
"It's alright, Golem. I'm fine." I reassured him, and we continued off into the distance. We had to be getting closer; there was no two ways about it. We had to be. At least, I hope we are.