I stir from my deep slumber to the sound of the people shrieking and the smell of flame lingering in the air. I hear the clanging of swords and pikes clashing, I quickly rise without any time to dress properly. I exit my tent and was greeted by the cold night air that is typical in the dead of night. I hear the anguish of my people, the powerful Yggdarrian tribe, outside trying to valiantly fend off the invaders. You see we aren't warriors, we are simply hunters and fear in their eyes is evident. I cannot bear to see them in pain. But then I see their leader head to my family's tent...¨Shit! Mamá. Mamá are you alright!¨ I screech over the sound of the chaos.
My heart plummeted as I rip through the tent to see their Davinar slit my Mamás throat. That was when I feel a ripple through my entire body, I feel my skin tighten, I can taste the blood in my mouth. I take my spear and attempted to strike its head. Unfortunately, I missed by a significant amount. Instead he whips his head around and hissed through his teeth. This is not good. He is a Drakhña! Half dragon and half human! He divulges his sharp, pointy teeth and his snake tongue as he strikes back. He unveiled his wand and starts to rapidly fire an array of spells. ´What is this weapon? I have never seen anything like this'. As soon as the spell hit the ground a compact sand creature sprout up from the ground and got into a battle stance.
"You see this little girl?" He snarls as he shoves his weapon an inch towards my face. I snarl at him and spit on his face. " You unrefined heathens! Do you know who we are! We are the Negasi tribes best warriors and we are backed by the Holy Rizntain Empire. You should have converted to the light side and bow your head to the rightful God, then all this wouldn't have happened to you and your people. If you convert now then maybe, I'll consider having you serve me...personally" He continues as he devours my body with lust clouding his small beady eyes. "You think I would bow down to a nonexistent God. You must be fucking with me!" I laugh. "I have listened to enough. You will die by my hand, and I will destroy your pitiful little hovel for what you have done to my tribe. To this I vow on this night in front of the sparkling Gods above" I roared, shattering all the swords, spears, and daggers in my village. Then I catch a glimpse of his scaly back facing me, I plunged my sword into his back. His armour shattered and I immediately pulled out and continuously stab him until I see the life in his eyes fade out. The second before he took his last breath I ripped out his beating heart and threw it out for the crows to feast on.
I run out still hungry for blood, and the sound of horses neighing fill my ears. I run into the many tents trying to find other survivors. Then I make out a woman's cry for help and I charge at the man. Who wasn't much of a challenge anyway and stab the man in the back, and his blood imbued my torso. Looking down I see the woman looking relieved, I offer her my hand and order her to,¨Take as much food,water, and medical supplies you can and go join the other survivors past the bridge of the Mimas river... GO!¨ In the wake of everything, I am unblinded by the coat smoke that has finally been lifted from my tribe and see the limbs of my fallen brethren scattered across my village. They all fought valiantly against these savages. I dig pile and one by one all of their bodies were put together, and I poured some salt of the Mimas river, kiss each and every one of them and felt a surge of power enter through me as the passing of strength has been processed through every fiber of my being. Through me these brave and noble people can rest easy as I sing for their souls to reach their next great adventure. As time went on I feel my power slowly wane as I continue to try and find the survivors that fled from this horrific event.
I give a hard, long look around my home, the bright star above has finally shown his face. As the light shined across the field I could see the dozens of bodies lying motionless on the ground. I slowly walk towards the front gate about to leave when I hear a soft angelic voice. I swing my head around and shout to the shadows, "Who goes there? Come out now and you might survive" But there was no one there. Not even a shadow of a person could be seen as far as the naked eye can see. However, I felt like the spirit of Nadía the Goddess of Wisdom, pass through my earthly vessel. With her by my side, I determinedly roam through the black forest. After what seemed to be a fortnight as well as, many moons, I start to see legs amputated from the bodies. Bodies linked to their limbs by only a string of their skin. Pieces of skin removed to uncover the bones still coated with thick remnants of dry blood. The gore evident from a fresh kill from the attack splattered sporadically on the green skin of the cacti, and the brightly orange pricks of the cactus. The formerly white sand that used to shine with its clean sheen, has been dyed a dark maroon. Then I catch the sound of a cactus branch snapping. I whip my head around and see that I'm surrounded by the survivors. I examine my surroundings and see Zhila Mokrii. "You survived? But how?" I questioned shock evident on my face.
" My dear, we simply took the dead and gave them some of our clothing and cast a minor illusion spell" Zhila responded.
I looked at her suspiciously, but then I saw her tattoos. I saw everyone with their tattoos. They truly are my tribesmen. Because our tattoos are blessed by the Goddess of the crossroads, Mimas. It is proof that they are who they say they are with these tattoos.
" I'm just happy that you all are safe, however, where is Abba?"
"He has been captured by the Negasi, Corona"
"What? We must go get him Zhila what are we waiting for?"
"Doll, I eat your liver! We aren't warriors we are huntsmen trained to kill our next meal. Not to kill other men"
"We'll see about that" I reply with a smirk plastered on my face.
Zhila leads me to a basin and whispers a bunch of gibberish and a very bright glow followed almost instantly after she finished. A hidden civilization appeared right before my eyes.
"Where has this been?" I asked Zhila.
"Sweetie, it has been here since the Prince descended from Anglia"
" Is that so? Then who are we waiting for? Lets go!"
Zhila escorted me through the hot desert, straight into the heart of Yggdar. I look around in awe and hear chatter and lively music. Out on the streets of this city I see Gbuna Anayiri battles happening near the city square. "Why did we leave from here?" I asked Zhila.
She slowly turned her old, gaunt, wrinkly face and opened her mouth to reveal her snaggletooth, "You see my child. Our tribe broke up after the death of the Dariush. He left his two sons who both decided that they deserved to be on the throne. So your fore-baba and uncle fought to do bloody death to see who was the rightful heir to the throne and unfortunately, your fore-baba died with a stab wound to the heart. So those that swore fealty to your fore-baba was forced to leave this tribe, that includes your fore-mamán and her infant sons. So she gathered all her husband's followers and created a tribe on the outskirts of Yggdar. They wandered through the desert for many summers until they saw the only other animal they can find and followed it. Then Zenith saw this eagle as a sign. She saw it as the symbol the Gods have sent and when it landed on a cactus she decided that this was the location that they were going to live from now on, and it was from that day forward going to be called Tenochtitlán.¨
¨ Will they accept us back?"
"My dear there is no heir to the current Darii of the city of Náuhtl. You are the youngest of the powerful Anglican royal descendant of the fifth son when descended from the heavens. Not to mention, your cousin is infertile and growing up there in age."
As we walked around the beautiful city of the sun, the people in tents all lined up in rows with colorful fruits, vegetables, and animals hanging from the roof of their tents. Children on the streets selling flowers for money, or working construction on the side. I see soldiers whipping these poorly fed men to the bone if they don't work. I walk towards the bejeweled, crystallized, castle that my cousin lives at, and see that the stairs looked like they ascended to the heavens. Zhila and I start our long journey up the ivory, large stairs. After what felt like eons, we finally made it to the top of the staircase and peered inside to see the red splendor of the building. "Its a lot smaller than I thought it would be" I whispered under my breath. I see Zhila give me a look that seemed to say, 'Don't be rude'.
"Who dares enter" We hear a sharp voice shriek from the other side of the room. We spin around to see a short, mocha skinned, black long hair, and noticeably have only one tattoo on his cheek that represents the noble family of Zakapur that all members of my family have to identify all of its members. It appears the moment we take our first breath. He eyes my entire being, when he stops on my cheek. I analyze the small man in front of me turn red with rage. "Get out of here you traitor. We won the throne fair and square! I don't want to see another of your deceitful, backstabbing side of the family" he screeches at the top of his lungs.
"Look Darii, Corona is in your blood, as well as, one of the best warriors out there. If you allow all of us to stay, then she can help protect the city. If you're still not satisfied, then send away to fight to demonstrate her skill with the blade. If she wins you help us. If she loses, then she'll die" Zhila counters.
"Prove it to me. Prove me your loyalty. Prove me your warrior capabilities by squashing those Negasi nuisances towards the west" He replies with a smug smile crept on his face.
"Will I get any support for this? Will I get any reward for this? Even you must know that the Negasi are stronger than us cousin" I step forward determined not to lose against them.
"Very well. You may take forty-five of my best warriors to take with you. If you win I'll rebuild that small village for you. Actually, I'll rebuild your home while your fighting this battle and I want you to return there as soon as it's built. Is that a good enough deal for you" He cackles.
"Forty-five men are hardly enough to use to fight an army of 200 Negasi's" I yell realizing that this would be a suicide mission.
"Is it a deal or not?" he repeats.
I close my eyes, picturing the faces of my people and my Abba. Remembering the shameful and gruesome acts they have done to my mamán. Now all I have to do is take my revenge.
The sun started to rise from the east casting its light upon the world. I feel the black stallion beneath I trot to the outside border of Náuhtl. My men stationed behind me were risking their lives to defeat these murderers. But I only have forty-five men what can I do with that many warriors against 200 of their men? Think Corona, think. Then my eyes lit up, I have a plan. It's going to be called the bull horns formation. I see the warriors beside me and roar at the top of my lungs to assemble before me. Each and every one of them lined up in front of me. I assessed the body type of each man and lead them to one of five groups. I had nine warriors in each section. I still need more people, so I venture back in town and see a ton of of homeless people venturing through the streets. I continue to the main square and start going to the nearest person who seemed to be in need of a better life, and kept offering a position in my army. By the end of the month I had close to over 150 fighting men and women. With this I am now close to 200 people to go into battle with me.
We travelled for what feels like an eternity under the hot Yggdarrian sun. My skin stings, red, and my face are hard to express. After a short while I have the bull horn formation start. I have the right and the left horn of my squadron stay behind as I have my skirmishers sneak in through the woods. That is when they are going to quietly kill off as many of their guards as possible. Then I hear the signal. I let out a mighty roar, and charged the second regime. After I'm through with them, they are going to regret for ever showing their dirty, disgusting, dishonorable faces. I entered through the tall, thick, wooden gates and immediately see my archers shoot a rain of arrows. At this time only the Darii, Darii's daughters, and all of the Davinaars are the only ones to survive. Then out of the corner of my eye my Abba is brought to me, passed out. I look at his tired, gaunt face that used to breathe life, but now simply looks lifeless. I hear him breathe softly. I decide to let him rest in a carriage that we have stolen from the Negasi, and instead pick up a blunt axe stuck on a piece of wood and start chopping the heads of these generals. All nine of them, as well as, the Darii himself. " Where is he?! Where is that mamáfucker! Where is Afridi?!" I blow up in front of the eldest daughters face. My spit flying into her face. The shear image of her face infuriated me. She tried to back away but all of my soldiers move closer to her.
" I don't know where he is, Corona, why are you doing this?"
"Why am I doing this?" I scoff. "You backstabbing, hopeless waste of space. I was set to marry Afridi and finally bring peace between our peoples. But that wasn't enough for you? Was it? No, you just wanted us weak and in turn you murder my mamá. Slitting her throat in her sleep?"
"What happened to the Holy Rizntain empire?"
"Oh sweetheart, they never came. But you shouldn't worry about them. You should start worrying about yourself because this is just the beginning. You know I was originally on giving you a sweet, long, lasting torture. Cut you limb from limb. Quarter you, or maybe stretch you to death. But I think I'll keep you alive for now. You see that crate? That crate is filled with the bodies of your family members decapitated. You should have an up close look" I sneer picking up her sweaty face and force her face into the crate.
After pillaging this forsaken place we leave with the sun kissing our skin. The rays hugging our body and preparing us for a safe journey home.
I finally arrived at home around nightfall. I know that once I get home, I'm fucking going straight to Zhila Mokrii and get myself yet another tattoo. Mostly because we fucking attacked the weakest link in the south. The pigs of the Negasi. I fucking captured these fucking whores from the Negasi tribe, so that they may pleasure my hard working warriors.
Personally, I hope they suffer because they have been grating my ears for far too long, and if they don't stop this whining, I'll just give them to the horses afterwards for them to fuck. They are the ugliest girls I have ever seen, but the prettiest bunch from that forsaken tribe. They have the age of adults, but the maturity of children: they do not understand the basics of war. All I did was remove the heads of their fathers and brothers; That's what happens in war! They make me wonder how our village has not captured their tribe sooner. Looking down I sneer at those disgusting creatures. I can smell the fear exude in massive waves from those mutts. The tear-stricken, snot covered, and whimpering little mutts. This is the fucking life!
I ride up to my village, from the east side of the forest of lost souls near the gateway of the spiked heads of our enemies. I ride into the settlement and see my father standing in front of my people. When I hear my old man's voice boom "Daughter Corona how many heads have you brought this time?" I gestured over to the crate full of decapitated bodies. I looked up to my father and saw a glimmer of approval in his stone cold face. "I have brought you another ten heads of our enemies. May our enemies blood give us the strength to fight some more." I say with a smirk on my face.
"Daughter, if you go on like this then, I fear that your clothes may no longer look red, but black." He chuckled.
"Even better Arash. I also bring these whores from that fucking pathetic excuse of a tribe. Oh and some heads," I gesture to the quivering girls and another crate of heads. The heads were cut open, others had teeth or eyes missing.
"You make me proud, daughter. Everyone, gather around, my daughter has brought us another victory against those Negasi pigs. Let us feast on our victory and bathe in the blood of our enemies! We leave now to go hunting for our feast tonight. Whoever brings back the most meat will light the fire for the games to start." He then turns back to me as the crowd begins to leave, " Not you Corona. I'm sorry, but this is a chance for the children to learn the ways of the hunt. They cannot do that with you taking all the prey" he replied.
What? I always go on the hunt! My blood boils, I am the fucking beast in these woods. ME. The one who has brought back to the village ten enemies just today! The one who is the greatest warrior our village has ever seen. The one who owns the wilderness. Fine, I suppose I should let them play, let them take joy in fantasizing the idea of possessing such skill that only I have. I aimlessly walk around and recognize the sound of my precious baby, my only friend a ferocious animal that are commonly known around here as an Anayiri Gbuna; who is a huge, black, bear-shaped animal, with teeth as plentiful as a shark, and thick fangs that protrude from the bottom and top of the mouth. I watch as she devours another deer.
As she eats, I scratch her ears. I hear her make a gesture of approval. I look around my home and see the usual dull brown tents splattered in dark red blood, and huts with golden hay and the crooked wooden structure. I will remember to pray to the wind spirits that the huts don't collapse this year. I peek at the other side of some nearby tents and see young boys fighting each other wearing the skin of the tigers they have slain, and the shadows, young girls helping their mothers tend to the cooking of the great beasts the men have brought back home. I look around and sigh with a smile, the familiar scent of blood and decaying bodies that have always energized me. Then I see the one they call the wise Zhila Mokrii.
Zhila is the oldest and most skilled tattoo artist in the Yggdar tribe. She has tattooed all of the best warriors for the last couple hundred years, she has tattooed my father, his father, and his father before him. Legend says that she was born of the Goddess of Fortune and fell in love with one of our warriors, and ever since then she has given us the strength to destroy our enemies. It is also said that she is the last wielder of the power from the old Anglican magic that used to rule the realm.
I will finally be fucking blessed with the power of a thousand men, and it's about fucking time they see how amazing I truly am, and if the legends are true, then I may even grab the power of eternal life. I look back up towards the sky and I see the moon peeking through the clouds, the victory ceremony will soon commence; and when it does I will be opening the tattoo ceremony. At this time I hear the ceremonial horn and I quickly run past the blacksmith and the herd of sheep straight towards the black forest. I follow the smell of lilacs and burning leaves. I hear the pounding of drums in the background and the chanting of my tribesmen. I hear the stream clashing against the rocks and the wind howling in the background.
In the distance I overhear my old man saying some mundane ceremonial words that I just drown out and I quickly stand in front of my people. They bring out all the bodies and their separated heads on spikes. They piled all of my kills together and poured the sacred salt of the Mimas river all over the aligned bodies. I walk towards the bodies and take the ceremonial dagger, and one by one I slice open their chests, getting sprayed by their liquid life source, and grab each and every one of their disgusting hearts. I pour their blood into the bowl. Then Zhila came up with her blue bamboo needle and a branch of the ancient Wagdasi tree. I sat down with my legs crossed as she starts drawing the lines from the blood of our enemies and dips the needle in the bowl with the blood of our enemies.
Then she started beating the needle on my skin. She continuously beats the needle more than a thousand times in the same place. I suppress the urge to cry: I won't look weak in front of my people. They must see that I am strong, proud and that nothing can stop me from honoring the sacred vow my family made all those years ago. This damn woman keeps hitting the same place. My skin felt as hot as the sun on the hottest day of the seventh month. I see that my skin has angry blotches from the nonstop abuse caused by Zhila that has erupted all over my body. The lines continue to circle around my breasts and continue down to my abdomen. She has already given me a centipede on my wrists to symbolize good fortune, a ferocious panther on my back to represent strength and beauty, a bet on both of my shoulders to represent death and rebirth, and lastly a pomegranate on my abdomen to represent fertility. I look up at the moon with tears welling up in my eyes, but I was determined to see this through with the same vigour I had many times before. I glare at the moon with my own tears betraying me, but it will not defeat me. I can do this all night if I have to, and it shall be the moon that will forfeit.
This must be how the first Yggdarii warrior must have felt during his ceremony. It's said that he was the fifth son of the Anglia royal family that ruled the land in the sky.
He and his brothers descended and founded their own kingdoms after their parents died. The eldest stayed above to rule the Empire. My ancestor was Prince Tigran the Savage, he was the mightiest of all the warriors and he created Yggdar in his image. Our history says that he ate his enemies hearts, and that is what gave him the strength to fight. Which I indubitably believe, especially, after hearing of his ruthlessness. After a couple of centuries, he returns to Yggdar with a mistress from each of the eight kingdoms: Negasi, Pietiye, Adraes, Phyrigia, The Holy Rizentain Empire, Calais, and Anglia. All of these women were all vying for his attention, to become his bride. Of course, none of them succeeded and he married a strong woman from Yggdar; which I descend from . The other products made by the mistresses serve as my personal warriors and fight alongside me in battle. My mother, on the other hand, is said to descend from the vicious warrior queen south from the southernmost sea. Not much can be said about them except for the fact that on their end of the sea, they are mighty warriors like us who only fight to protect their people. Now it falls onto my shoulders to continue my family's legacy, however, my father says that I am too valuable to marry off to someone weak peasant. You see, before my mother's death, she signed a marriage treaty between our tribe and the Negasi, in hopes to secure an alliance. Instead, these pigs murder her and my newborn brother and pillage our land while we were grieving for our lost brethren. It is my duty to take from them what they have taken and make them rue the day they went against the mighty Yggdariian tribe. I cannot believe the chief's son of the Negasi tribe, Afridi, betrayed me. I thought he was my friend! We grew up together. We played together. We fought alongside each other. Our mothers were best of friends.
But instead he savagely murders my people in hopes to gain recognition with the other kingdoms. He will soon discover the unmatched force of my people. Beware you Negasi mutts, we are coming for you, and when I do, I will raze your puny tribe to the ground, and dance as your corpses burn to ash.
I stare at the moon with an intense gaze, and see a swirl of different illumencent colors swarm me. It picks me up and I feel an intense heat overtake my body. It gets so hot that I feel like I'm freezing. Head to toe the tattoos begin to glow, I feel my bones shatter and rebuilding themselves to be lighter, stronger, and magically enhanced. My bones regenerated and, I had more callused skin. I felt the tattoos flare each time the wind crashed into them. I can tell that the moon is staring at me mockingly. I still refuse to give in and show weakness. I remember where I am. Suddenly I could feel the stares of my people, I look back to see that they are slowly disappearing one by one. After what feels like an eternity of pain and suffering, the leaves strong roar begins to soften, and winds calm and I hear the dark, seducing voice of the wind, the intense feeling of excruciating pain, which moved at snails pace faded away. I lay on the cold ground and stare that the night, I feel the chill from my cold sweat roll down my spine and the brutally cold air against the fresh new skin on my body. My body begins to adjust to the night, I feel the mossy green grass soaked with blood underneath me, and the bright gods above me show themselves to me. Unable to stand, still soaked in my enemies' blood, I lay tired. I can feel it suck into my newborn body like a sponge is to water. That night I was reborn as the undefeated Anayiri Gbuna of Yggdar. I begin to feel how tired I truly am and I instinctively close my eyes.
I wake up to the sound of people cheering and playing their drums. I feel the stone-cold altar I have been placed on and I still cannot move. I see Zhila rub Oleaginous oil all over my body and rubbing it deep into my skin. I swear if she is rubbing shit and piss onto my skin I'll make her eat it. I don't care how honored she is, this is ridiculous. I started to slowly move my fingers and toes, after a while I can move the rest of my body. My stomach growls, I sit up and I tried to stand, I see my people drop everything, the birds stopped their singing, the little critters stopped moving, even the trees stopped swaying. I stand up, held my head up high and walked to the nearest stream. As I bowed my head down at the stream I glanced down and what I saw took my breath away, a strange face looked back at me. She has long black hair, pale mocha skin, the tattoos stood out against her skin. But the most shocking to me was the vibrant emerald eyes. I have dull brown eyes. Stringy, short black hair, and dirty brown skin. I look around and I can hear the wind whispering in my ears, the sun caress my skin, and the grass soothes the bottom of my feet. I look at the sun rising in the distance: victory. The young new emerald eyes blinked from lethargic into eyes vibrant with new life as a new day begins.