Gishma ran away as the strange creatures chased her. She had heard the strangers at the pub call them "heartless". She had thought they were drunk. Speaking of beings made from corrupted hearts. If only she had listened. But she did not fear these strange shadows, for she knew these woods better than her own home. But as she was just about to leap over another fallen log, a heartless sprung out of the ground. She turned to continue running, only to come face to face with more of the strange shadows. Surrounded, she instinctively pulled out her sword and went into a fighting stance. But her efforts were in vain. She tried to fight the heartless, only to have more and more to fight off. Slowly, she was swallowed up by the blackness…
Skyfa woke in her bed after the strange dream. It had happened before, and it always ended the same way. She wondered why she was always having the dream about Gishma. Of course it was no mystery who Gishma was. There was not a soul in her world who didn't know. She had been the one who led the revolution against the former leaders of the Taurine Forest, the Royals. She had stopped the fighting between her people and the people of her former enemy, Bir. She was leader of the Astrix. A people that had the power to shape-shift into their soul animal. She had been a cat, just like her best friend, Jeppa. Of course you could always tell who an Astrix was. The obvious one was that they had the ears and/or tail of their animal. Another one was that they stopped aging at the age of 12, and because of their high metabolism, they weren't very big.
Skyfa slowly got out of bed. At six A.M., she wasn't a much of a morning person. She put her house coat with the frog-fairies on it and walked to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she found her breakfast: a green Monster. She quickly grabbed it, tapped the top twice before opening it, then quickly took two gulps of the bitter-sweet liquid. She walked out to grab a copy of the news paper. She read that today was going to be sunny, and that there was another disappearance. For weeks now, it had all been so quiet. There had been several mysterious disappearances before, but never on this side of the forest, which was divided by a huge mountain range running from one side of the coast, to the other. Skyfa swished her tail while contemplating this, then thought that it was better not to get involved in affairs that had nothing to do with her.
She gulped down the rest of her Monster, stretched, and went to get dressed. Like all other Astrix, she only had two outfits. One for summer, and one for winter. Because this was fall, she decided to wear the winter one, despite the heat in the pub she worked at. Her outfit was simple enough, with a black top that crossed her chest and tied together, had sleeves that went to her elbows and flared out. Her pants were long and loose fitting that flared out, and at started black at the top, and faded to white at the bottom. And like all Astrix, she carried a weapon, a long sword in a black sheath. Tying it to a string attached to her pants, she set out. The sword was not used often, but being an Astrix, people might try to attack her… stupid people of course! Astrix like her were natural born acrobats and fighters. She was a cat after all. And like all cats, she built her small home in a tall Blackwood tree. Strong, with leaves that were warm to the touch, and surprisingly, inflammable. Looking down at the far away ground, anyone else would have probably fallen out. But skyfa wasn't just anybody. With great skill she leapt from branch to branch till she was at the bottom of the leaf covered ground.
Before she headed to the Blackwood Tavern, the pub she worked at, she walked to the tree next to hers. "Hey!" she called up at the home that was built there. "You coming or do I have to come up there and drag you out of bed?" out of nowhere a head popped out from the front door. The
young fox Astrix looked down at skyfa and just smiled. "There's no need for you to come up and waste that energy! And besides, you'd never be able to get passed the front door!" Syfka just looked at her friend and smiled. Tuy had always been proud of her fortress of a home. She was a bit paranoid, so she built her home with extra thick walls and one of the strongest locks in the forest. She was also the only fox to build her home in the trees. Tuy jumped down to greet her friend more properly, only to misjudge Syfka's position, and almost squish her. "You know, you should be more careful about where you're standing." Her friend teased. "Oh yes! God forbid you not pay attention to where you're jumping!" she replied, her sentence dripping in sarcasm.
Making their way to the town of O'Neil, the two friends talked, poking fun at each other, and abusing one another as all good friends do. About half way to town, the pair was greeted by Koth. A Crow that made his home with a small community of Crow's that lived about half a mile from there. "Hey Tuy, zucchini." "It's pronounced 'skyfa'" she countered. "Yeah, whatever, pickle." "SKYFA!" "Gee, calm down. It's too early to get antsy. Not everyone had a monster for breakfast". Tuy said, trying to ease the hyper Astrix. Skyfa had never enjoyed it when people made fun of her name. Especially when the one's who did it never understood why it hurt so much. For you see, Syfka couldn't remember her real name. Either it be amnesia, or age, she couldn't remember. Sometimes she wondered whether she ever had a name, which was of course absurd, because all Astrix names were simply the first thing that came out of their mouths. Like Jeppa, or Zari, or Tuy. What made it worse was that she couldn't remember half her life. Most of it was a blur. But despite this, or because of it, Skyfa became independent and somewhat successful.
The bar that Skyfa worked at was mostly made of wood with a stone floor. There were about thirteen tables, six of which were closer to the ground than others. This was because the Astrix that came through here never sat on the chairs. Always on the tables. Why? Because it's just their habit, that's why. Skyfa went to the counter and hopped over it. She was greeted by her boss, a tall (compared to her) crow whose name was Garm. "Well, look who's here. You know, if you'd just buy a house here in town, you'd never be late!" of course skyfa was not late, but right on time. Garm was a crow from the time before the revolution, and he still had some rather unfriendly feelings towards Astrix. Skyfa just sighed and put her sword behind the counter. "And why are you always caring that sword around?! Nothin' gonna happen in town dumbass!" syfka simply ignored the crow and got back to her daily ritual. First she grabbed the broom and swept the floor. Then she took the chairs off from the tables and onto the floor. Just another day skyfa sighed in her head.
To be continued…