Prologue:
The Peace Façade
I sat up and released a heavy yawn. My night's sleep left me feeling regenerated and ready for the day. I slowly turned my head to see an empty side of the bed. Yuki had already risen. She was an extremely light sleeper. As soon as the sun was up so was she.
She was a blue-eyed, light-red-headed girl and the love of my life. Her long hair swayed in the breeze like it perfectly molded with nature. She loved the outdoors. Her freckles attested to it. She always wanted to go for walks out in the fields where no one else was around.
"Arashi." She would say. "Can you feel it?" "Feel what?" I would ask, lightly smiling. "Life." She would reply, staring into the sky with her mouth slightly open taking in the fresh air.
I never knew what she meant. She was so much more alive than I. Sometimes I wondered how we ever married, then I remembered.
We were thirteen when we married. At the time I felt much more alive. Our marriage was arranged. My parents were wealthy farm owners and were looking to appease the local mayor. In our society it was deemed more honorable to offer a son than a daughter. It meant offering a life to the daughter.
We saw it completely different. The marriage for us meant co-existing with someone else. Our marriage meant we would always have someone to rely on when life got us down. We barely knew each other when we were married. It didn't take long for us to learn to love each other, however.
She would smile at me on occasion, telling me that our parents would want us to consummate our marriage eventually. We both made satirical disgusted faces and laughed. Neither of us wanted anything like that. We just enjoyed being together.
We were both twenty-two now and still virgins. Life was simpler that way, we felt.
"One day." She would say, "Just not now."
I was completely okay with it. Just being there with her made everything seem alright. I knew there was more to life than just being with a person, but for now everything felt right.
Nonetheless we still weren't content with our upbringing. Our parents expected too much from us. We weren't children to them, we were property to bind two families that could profit from one another. So at the age of sixteen, we ran away from home. We packed enough to make the journey last a week, and came across another village within five days.
The journey there was quite enjoyable. We learned more about each other in that five day period than most would learn of each other in a life time. She liked to create anything she could think of. She loved to draw everything she saw and carve figures out of wood.
I preferred observing people in action, learning what I could about my surroundings. She loved to talk to people. My preference was staying quiet.
I learned at a young age that people will dislike you if you're a boy who talks a lot. Unless you're a salesman of course.
When we reached the new town they greeted us with open arms. Not many people traveled. There was no need for it. Towns were self-sufficient and relied on one another for everything. Everyone had specific jobs to tend to, and they all supplied one another with whatever they needed. There was no wanting, for there was more than enough of everything for everyone. Because of this the townspeople were ecstatic to hear the news of new people.
"They're so kind!" Yuki told me. "I'll admit…" She said as she laughed, "I was a little afraid they wouldn't accept us at first."
I wasn't. I knew that anywhere we went her warm smile and bubbly demeanor would grant us equal treatment. They would accept us for her attitude and keep us for my hard work. That's exactly what happened.
I apprenticed as a blacksmith, though we rarely needed weapons aside from hunting. Most of what we made were various equipment for people who held other professions. My trainer, Takeshi, was a big, kind, burly man. He held a serious face as he pounded away at the metal. Yuki always had a look of awe and wonder when she visited the workshop.
"Everything is so bright! It looks as though you're using the sun to craft creations!" She was positive about everything, even the heat in the workshop. "I've never felt so warm in my life! The fire fills me with happiness!"
Her duty was gathering fruits and vegetables in the fields maintained by the local farmers. She was tasked with gathering and bringing them to the town storehouse.
There were a group of people assigned to managing and distributing the food as well. Everything in the town was run in a delicate, sensible manner. There was no reason to fight, therefore no one did.
Six years later and here we are, in the same town without a worry in our minds. I leaped out of bed with great enthusiasm. As I grabbed my clothes I could hear clucking in the distance. It seems Mrs. Mizuki may have accidentally let free the chickens again. I giggled as I heard her shouting also in the distance.
"I'll be there in a moment!" I yelled, pulling the cloth pants up my legs.
As I walked toward the door the breeze hit me like an icicle, sending a sharp, tingling sensation through my back. I reached for my coat, as I did daily. It was cow leather, with a stuffed, dark-red dyed wolf fur stitched to the neck portion. Most people said it complimented my shaggy, shoulder-length, jet-black hair. I would laugh as I only wore it for practical reasons.
Walking through the door, I saw Mrs. Mizuki struggling with one of the chickens.
"Would you like a hand?" I inquired. "Oh would you?" She returned with a smile. "It would be my pleasure." I said, darting toward one of the escaping chickens.
When we were finished, Mrs. Mizuki rewarded me with some of her freshly baked cinnamon bread. It was the prize of the town. I had never tasted anything so delicious in my home town.
I thanked Mrs. Mizuki and began walking toward the field in which I knew Yuki would currently reside. Walking toward the field, I looked down at the cinnamon bread. I knew Yuki would love it. She always loved when I brought her goodies. Approaching the field, I saw her sitting down with her feet forward. She was propped up by her arms which laid behind her. As usual, she was looking toward the forest.
"Anything interesting today?" I jested. "Nothing out of the ordinary. All to behold is beautiful mystery." She said quietly.
"What do you suppose is beyond the forest?" I questioned. "Something awful." She said. "Doctor Yeager preaches regularly of the dangers of the forest." She continued.
"So I've heard. Perhaps there are creatures there no one here has seen save for Doctor Yeager." I offered. "Maybe there are dragons!" She said, growing excited.
"Dragons? Those creatures are only of fantasy books." I said, meeting her eyes. "Ha! If we've never seen beyond the forest, then the beyond the forest IS fantasy!" She replied.
I could come up with no argument for that. She always had a way of taking nonsensical ideas and making them seem perfectly legitimate.
"I helped Misses Mizuki catch her chickens again today." I said, holding the cinnamon bread carefully hidden behind my back. "How sweet!" She said, offering me a warm, loving smile.
"In return she gave me…" "SOME CINNAMON BREAD!" She yelled, jumping up from where she was sitting as she saw me pull the bread from behind my back.
"It's freshly baked." I told her, as I broke off a piece. She gratefully took the offering and began to nibble sweetly on it.
I tore into the chunk that was left, filling my mouth with the wonderful sensation. She giggled as she watched me gorge myself on the bread.
"I'm starting to think you like it more than I do!" She said, cocking her head to the side. "It…. would seem… so…" I managed to say between bites.
As she finished her bread she peered back toward the forest.
"We should go there one day." She whispered with longing eyes.
As I gulped the rest of the bread I had left, I replied: "Maybe one day. But for now we should return to town and begin our chores for the day."
She looked up at me with intimate eyes. "Do you promise?" She asked with a small hint of a smile. "I promise." I said. "Now let's go. You know how Takeshi gets when I'm late."