A/N: Hey guys! I'm posting this first chapter to see if I get any interest. It doesn't have any of our favourite characters in it yet but I felt I needed to build up the backstory for the main character, Inari, first. Hope you like it! And I'm hoping to have the second character (with our favourite characters from the movies!) up within a week of the first. Just so you know this will be following the extended edition movies, not the regular ones, and sadly, not the books. I thought it would be more relatable if I kept it in line with the movies, however I may add a little here and there from the books too, but so that everyone knows what's going on it will follow the movie's plot. Enjoy! ~Aer Ohtar
The sun shone down through the trees, a light breeze causing the leaves to sway and dappled light to dance across the ground. Two figures walked under the canopy, as the wind caused their hair to swirl like fire and darkness. The figure with the dark brown waves seemed stooped, almost as if carrying a large weight, while the figure with the fiery red curls seemed almost to hover around the first, as if afraid she would crumble at any minute. The first figure turned to the fiery one with a small smile playing across her lips. "Sarah, you really know exactly what I need. Thank you." The dark haired girl lifted her had to gaze at the canopy and sighed, seeming to lose some of her heavy burden. The red head, Sarah smiled a relieved smile, "You know you're always welcome Inari, I worry about you." The chocolate haired Inari smiled wryly, "Well I haven't exactly had the best of weeks." Sarah snorted and nodded in agreement. "I just can't believe that the whole company folded! It seemed like it was doing so well." Inari nodded, "I had no clue, not until too late otherwise I would have started looking for another job months ago. But what has happened, has happened, and no matter how stressed I am about it right now, I guess I'm going to just have to move on and hope that I get a job soon." Despite Inari's confident words Sarah could tell that she was still deeply worried. She knew that Inari had bills and rent to pay and with her mother dead and no knowledge of who her father was, she had to support until she found a job. It also didn't help that at the moment, with the financial crisis the world was going through, getting jobs was hard, let alone one in the environmental science field. That was competitive at the best of times and currently the jobs available in that field were all but nonexistent. Sarah shook her head, and put on a smile, "Come on Inari, I can't wait to show you the waterfall at the bottom of the gorge!" Inari's smile widened a little. "I can't wait."
By the time Sarah and Inari returned to the car the sun was low in the sky casting orange and pink hues on the scattered clouds. Inari had finally relaxed after the long trek and as soon as she was seated in the passenger's seat she felt a wave of exhaustion settle on her. It seemed that all the stress and worry of the past week was catching up on her now that she had finally let down her guard. Sarah smiled and started the engine, switching the cd to one playing gentle music hoping to coax Inari to finally sleep. Sarah's plan worked perfectly and within ten minutes of the drive Inari was fast asleep, her head lolling to one side and her hair gently lying across her face.
…
The next morning Inari rose as the sunlight crept through the crack in her curtains and onto her face. She had not felt this refreshed in the morning since she was informed of her redundancy. Inari knew she was lucky to have a friend like Sarah and yesterday just proved it. Inari smiled at that thought as she stumbled out of bed and into her clothes. Wiping the sleep out of her eyes she made her way downstairs relishing the feel of the carpet between her toes. Today was also the first morning that she did not wake up freaking out that she was late for work because her alarm hadn't gone off only to realise that she no longer had a job. It was a terribly depressing feeling after getting half your work clothes on to suddenly realise that you had nowhere to go in them. After the sixth day of doing this she had binned her work shirts, taking joy in shredding each one and depositing them in the outside bin. Inari smiled at the memory. It had been a feeling of absolute relish when she had thrown the last one into the smelly bin. Inari gave a little snort of laughter as she wondered into the kitchen. Although now that she had so much free time it was hard to decide what to do with it. The first few days she had just moped around at home and the fourth and fifth days she had spend online applying for every job she could find. Yesterday she had been dragged out by Sarah almost as soon as she had woken up so today was really the first day she had to think what to do with herself. She mulled over her options as she poured the milk onto her bowl of cereal. A truly free day. She hadn't had one of those in years. Inari sighed and nibbled on her lip as she thought. She didn't feel like going to the beach today, she'd have to go by herself as Sarah still had to work, nor did she want to go for a walk again… well that wasn't strictly true; she'd love to but in this day and age going by herself wasn't really an option. Not on the long hikes she liked to do. Karate wasn't until 6pm tonight so that wasn't exactly going to fill her day although there was always the possibility of archery. Inari loved archery and had done it since she was little. She loved how it required you to relax and concentrate on what you were doing. It was a nice distraction from everything else. Yes, Inari decided, archery would be the perfect thing. Besides it was a Wednesday and during the day time the range would be practically deserted so it would be the perfect time to go.
Having finally made up her mind Inari quickly finished her breakfast, gulped down her cup of tea and quickly grabbed her archery bag. It was designed to hold her recurve, a beautiful wooden one that was stained in hues of brown, some matching her dark hair and others a lighter more golden colour like her eyes. It had been her 21st birthday present from Sarah. She had been horrified to think how much it would have cost her but it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen and could hardly refuse it. Inari grabbed her armguard and finger tab off of the shelf nearby and shoved them into the bag. She gently placed her hip quiver and arrows in it before grabbing her belt. She decided to quickly change, figuring that jeans and a t shit would be better suited to doing the field course. As a last minute decision she added a jumper to her bag and rushed out the door, grabbing her hiking boots from yesterday, unable to be bothered hunting for her sneakers.
…
It usually took around 45 minutes to reach the 'local' archery range but as it was so early in the morning there was little traffic around and Inari managed to make it in a record 35 minutes. She pulled into the drive flanked by old oaks and slowly made her way down the dirt road to the parking lot. There she strung her bow and put on her arm guard, quiver and finger tab and stuffed her arrows in her quiver. As it was so early the only person around was the gardener, an old man called Abe. Inari called to him letting him know she was going to do the field course so that he wouldn't accidentally wonder in front of a target and headed into the trail. Field courses were always Inari's favourite. The 3D plastic animals were frequently moved around so you would never know where they were situated, helping to train your eye and it was almost like real hunting, only without hurting anything, and as Inari had no intention of eating what she caught she would not go hunting for real. That and she wasn't sure she could kill an animal, even if they were pests like rabbits and boars. Inari made her way along the path, the light decreasing the further away from the entrance she got until it almost looked like twilight. The canopy was thick in this forest, it being an old remnant of the native rainforest, and there were still big old thick trees. Suddenly Inari spotted her first target, a fake doe. She quickly nocked her arrow, aimed, breathing out as she looked down the arrow, and fired, hitting the doe in the kill spot, right where the heart would have been. Inari smiled. She was getting faster! She smiled, retrieved her arrow and continued on further into the forest.
Inari shivered. She looked up wondering at the sudden change in temperature. Through the gaps in the canpoy she could see dark clouds gathering. Inari quickly put on her jumper and once again looked up at the clouds, trying to judge if they were going to rain on her or not. She'd been wandering around the field course for around half an hour and knew she'd be nearing the end, but she wasn't sure if she should continue shooting or just hurry up and make her way back. A sudden rumble of thunder quickly made up her mind. She unnocked her arrow and put it back into her quiver. It seemed about time to call it quits. She didn't want to be stuck out here in the middle of a storm as it was a very thick forest and getting lost would be quite easy if it was raining heavily. Inari continued down the trail at a brisk pace but didn't make it more than fifty meters before another rumble of thunder sounded and the heavens opened up. Even though she was protected by the thick canopy, Inari still managed to become drenched within a minute. She sighed, pulling her hood over her head and hunching her shoulders, trying to keep some warmth in. She also quickened her pace, striding through the puddles and little streams forming around her boots, hoping to make it back to the office before she was soaked through. Staring at her feet she trudged on.
After about ten minutes of squelching along the path Inari looked up. Usually she would have made it back by now. A clap of thunder caused her to jump and as she looked around she noticed that the trees had changed. No longer were they the rainforest trees she was used to seeing, but now she was surrounded by an odd assortment of what she assumed were English trees. She frowned, worried that she'd taken a wrong turn or missed the path completely. She couldn't even see how she'd gotten where she was… she wasn't standing on a path at all and she could have sworn that she was just following one. Scouring the area around her Inari tried to search for any sign that would help her find her way back; signs, buildings, old paths, even the sun, but to no avail. Her gaze was only met by rain, lightning and more of the odd trees. That and she noticed a mist beginning to creep through the forest. Great. That was just what she needed. She was lost enough already without completely losing any ability to see! Suddenly Inari caught a glimpse of a light flickering ahead of her. Hope flickered in her heart and she quickly started off towards it figuring that she couldn't get any more lost; at least light usually meant people. With water dripping off her hood and into her eyes Inari continued on hoping that the mist didn't get any worse. The rain combined with the dark of the forest and the added darkness of the storm clouds she couldn't see that well anyway, but after a short time Inari noticed that the mist was getting thicker and thicker and that the light ahead was becoming harder and harder to see. Squinting to try and see through the haze, Inari picked up the pace in the direction of the light. She couldn't get lost now! She needed to get to the light before she couldn't see altogether! Inari started running, gripping her bow tighter and beginning to panic. But it was to no avail, the mists closed in and the light disappeared. Her breathing began to get ragged as panic set in. She was lost. She knew it and in her head she knew she should stop and stay where she was but she just couldn't make her body follow her brain. She kept running frantically until suddenly her stomach dropped when her foot failed to make contact with the ground. Inari screamed and tried to drop into a roll, her karate training kicking in, but being unable to see anything around her she felt herself tumbling ungracefully, skidding on rocks before feeling a sickening crunch to her head and seeing the misty white world go black.