I'm going to put this one up as my tenth FanFiction. It'll be my one true oneshot so far. I once searched for any fic with Ashunera labeled as a main character. There was only one and, I must say, it was quite good. Either way, I've decided that it's time that Ashunera gets a little more popularity. Not as much as she deserves as, in my personal opinion, she's really fascinating, but I want to help in any small way. Well, here I go ranting about nothing again. ^_^; Anyway, enjoy!
Where the girl came from, she had no idea. Just, one day, she opened her eyes to the brilliant orange glow of dawn, around her nothing. The girl had no memories, no plans, no clue as to the reason of her existence, but she felt something in her. Something telling her that she had a job in this barren, rocky landscape, coloured only by the sun's daily path of gold, closely followed by the moon's silver one. So she started to walk.
She wandered after the sun, though she never expected to reach it. Behind her, in her footsteps, things began to grow. She was intrigued by these things and, as she walked, began to name them. The frail green stalks under her feet she called grass. The tall brown trunks reaching to the heavens with leafy arms she called trees. The beautiful, scented petals that grew on flimsy stalks she called flowers. The large patches of leaves that grew close to the ground she called bushes. And there were more.
Gradually, the plants started to change and transform, almost before her dawn-coloured eyes. They began separating themselves into different groups within the species she had originally named. She named each of these new kinds as well and remembered every one. She found some of the plants growing in her footprints useful. The trees and bushes grew fruits and berries which she ate. Some of the bushes and grasses she could weave into clothing with her nimble fingers. She used the brilliant colours of the flowers to dye those clothes. The trees she could sit in the shade of when the sun burned too hot or shelter under when the sky turned grey and rain fell from it.
In her wandering, though, she met places that would not grow in her wake. Tall peaks that reached the sky were too cold and hard for her precious plants to take hold save for the hardiest. She named those places mountains. Large expanses of sand covered some places. Sand that burned her feet while the sun overhead blistered her pale skin. All the plants could not find enough water there in the heat to live until she stayed there with them, nurturing them, for a long while until they became something different yet again. She named those places deserts. The sea she found the most interesting. The water tasted of salt, unlike the springs, rivers, and lakes that flowed around the land. But, underwater, she planted a strange grass that survived life-long immersion in water and they gradually grew a tolerance to all the salt.
The patches of trees that, from high up, looked almost as if one giant, wide tree grew there, she called forests. The seas of grass that could stretch from horizon to horizon she called plains.
The girl was pleased with how the Earth looked now. She was pleased with how her work had blossomed before her and became something different from what it originally was. She was pleased with how she could so easily live off this land. But she felt something was missing. The only time she saw anything move other than herself was when the unruly winds whipped across the land. She was the only thing putting the wonderful plants to use. She was the only one here to enjoy it.
So, one day when the sun was touching the western horizon and the full moon was about ready to come out, she set to work. From the land she started making something different from the leafy things that burst up on their own. She was trying to create something that could move and think for itself. For almost a full cycle of the moon, she worked. And the whole time, she sang. She didn't know why, but the same thing that told her to walk was telling her that now was the time to sing. The song had no words. Only a throbbing tune that matched the beat of her heart.
Finally, when the moon was full once more, she laid down her work and watched it with wonder. Using spindly reeds from the lakes, she made legs. From the long, delicate leaves of the willow, she made feathers that covered the creature's whole body. Using pointed rocks, she made a sort of long mouth. Using some bright, round, black berries, she gave the creature eyes. The creature blinked at her with those intelligent eyes. It took an unsteady step towards her with its stilt legs. Its long neck craned in the air and its beak nearly touched her face. She reached out, unsure, at the creature. It didn't move as her hand rested on its back. "Heron," she breathed and it shook it's wings open.
She continued experimenting with many different techniques and soon she had a large variety of animals. Fish she made using small stones she found in rivers. Tigers had the long fur made from grasses. Deer had hooves of stone and antlers of wood. Lizards came from the sand in the desert. Dragons were formed from the flaming rays of sun and enclosed in a tight hide of tough, dark leaves. All the birds she made with leaves of differing colours.
Finally, she felt she was finished. The animals she had created had spread far over the land, populating places unused to life. The whole world thrived in sound and colour. The animals changed too, much as the plants had, until there were many species of them as well. From tigers came also cats and lions. The birds became everything from the raven and the hawk to the sparrow and the lark. The fish erupted into so many kinds, she almost lost count. The one that remained mostly the same were the dragons though they became three distinctive kinds: black, red, and white.
All the animals, which she called decided to call Zumana, were constantly aware of her and loved her, always bringing her presents of berries, fruit, or some strange new plant they had discovered. They started calling her Ashunera. She was even more pleased with the Earth now. Happy with the things that grew and lived there. Proud of how everything had taken her design and changed it to best suit them. But now she felt something she never had before. Loneliness.
The Zumana sensed that, and tried to comfort her with gifts and their company, but she wished for a creature who shared her ability to speak. Yes, all of the new animals could make their own unique sounds and they sang with her every day, but none of their mouths were designed to make the same complicated array of sounds that so easily rolled off her tongue.
The sun had gone through a whole cycle since her first heron when she decided to wander once again. She loved her animals and the trees and the deep lakes and rivers. But she was still lonely. She felt that somewhere out there had to be someone that would ease that strange sensation.
When she started to leave, some of her creatures tried to follow her, but she told them to stay behind. That it was too dangerous to leave. She succeeded with most of the animals except two. Following her from high in the sky was a young black dragon that constantly shaded her though she begged him to go. On the ground there was a small dark heron who stayed right behind her the whole time, never making any attempt to waver from her path. They both aroused her curiosity and she wondered that if one day, the two of them could become like her. But she couldn't take them with her to find out. So, one day, she called the dragon down from the clouds and pulled the small heron into her arms. She explained to them that she didn't know where she was going or if she'd even get back. The heron let out it's wailing call and the dragon roared sadness. She promised that she'd always try to find her way back here. As long as they stayed where it was safe. They grudgingly agreed.
She started to leave once again, but the tiny black heron followed her one last begging step. "No," she told him softly. She then got an idea. She was the only being that had its own name. It would make it easier to find these two creatures if she had something to call them by. So she gave them names. "Lehran." She stroked the heron's long neck. "Dheginsea." She laid a hand on the dragon's scale-covered side. They both cried out to her again. She told them that she would return as soon as she could and ran off over the land.
She continued running for a very long time over flat lands. The moon cycled many times. The sun cycled a few full times as well. And everywhere she ran, she met more of her creatures, evolved into things she could have never dreamed. Eventually, she found the sea again.
She went into the sea this time, curious as to how it was so different from everywhere else. Under there, she met vibrant fish that swam in huge, dazzling schools. Turtles that lazily followed her from time to time, turning circle after circle above her. Playful dolphins and huge whales that still had to go to the air to breath but played around her like she was one of their own. In the deepest reaches, there was no light other than that produced by the strange animals that lived there. She didn't spend long in that dark, cold place. Shelled animals dug through the soft sand under her feet. She saw tiny animals which made a colourful rock-like skin in which they lived by the thousands. She was amazed by how different these salt-water animals were from the ones she were used to.
She eventually made it to another land across the sea where animals similar to, but slightly different from, her animals. She wondered whether these animals had gotten there on their own from her land or whether a being like her had created them. But she missed her old home.
So she left the sea and ran again. She continued to run for a very long time until she ran into a place that looked so familiar and so like where she used to live. But it couldn't be. There were strange new animals now living there. Some of them had wings. Some had tails and beast-like ears. Some had odd coloured markings on their face. Some appeared to have nothing about them at all. But all of them looked like her now. They had hair and legs and arms and hands. All of them walked upright and spoke the same sounds she did. Suddenly, a male with black wings and black hair that reached all the way down his back and another with shorter, dark green hair and a red face-marking over his left ear came up to her.
"You came back," the man with wings said.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"It's not a surprise you don't recognize us," responded the other. Unexpectedly, both of them disappeared in a brilliant flash of light. The light faded to reveal the black heron and dragon from so long ago.
"Lehran? Dheginsea?" They disappeared again and reappeared in their new forms. "What has happened to everyone?"
The explained to her, in turns, how when they got back home, they shared her promise to one day come back to everyone. Most of them, the fish and some of the smaller birds and lizards and such, were content with that and continued as they were. But everyone else felt her loneliness and didn't want her to be alone when she came back. So they all changed yet again. They smoothed their skin and learned to use their fingers and to walk upright. The remembered the things she told them about making things and made tools and clothes of their own. They taught themselves to make the same sounds she did. At first, they feared they were stuck in their new form, but the ones that kept parts of their old body discovered they could still change back into their old form and the birds could even still fly in their new one. Some of them that were stuck the way they had changed instead concentrated their time by making things with their skilled hands and quick fingers.
They took her to a large stone building they said they started living in. Inside were many people working, laughing, and talking together. But they stopped when she entered. They stared at her, amazement and wonder on all their faces. Then they broke out cheering. They all came towards her, showing her their new bodies and what they had made with their hands. Then a sound rose form outside that made her heart feel like singing. By the lake shore bird people with wings ranging from pure, snowy white to brilliant gold to white shot through with spots of grey or black stood there singing, pure joy radiating from their face. Lehran took her hand and pulled her out to them.
"These are the heron people," he explained. "We wanted to sing like you. We loved how you used to sing for us and practiced for you to listen to us now." She noticed that Lehran was the only one with black wings.
She was happy once again. But it was different. She felt her world was perfect. Everything was in harmony. The world was working in ways no one could have dreamed of. The new Zumana built her a large stone temple on top of a hill overlooking the lake and brought her offerings of food and tools every day. The herons came and sang to her every day as well. She taught them new songs as well, songs that resounded deep within her heart and could change the world around them. The people named these special songs galdrar.
The one source of discontent was the two types of people. The ones that could change into animals and ones that couldn't bickered a lot, though she couldn't figure out why. She loved them both and they both had wonderful skills that made them unique from each other, though she discovered that, oddly, the human ones had a drastically shortened lifespan. She tried giving them different names, the half-animals laguz and the completely human beorc, but that didn't help. The bickering started to escalate to the point the beorc started making weapons using things they found in the earth and the laguz would use their animal forms to fight. Eventually, she was forced to separate them into different parts of the land and traveled between them regularly.
One day, when she was with the laguz, Lehran came to her.
"Ashunera, you know this fighting will only get worse overtime."
"Oh! But it mustn't! These people have so much to live for!"
"They are beginning to take these things you have created and taught them for granted. I fear they may one day start to forget what you wanted for them."
"We cannot let that happen," she said stubbornly. "I won't let it happen."
"Then I will help you all I can." He took her hand, staring at her firmly with his forest green eyes.
"As will I. I don't want this land lost by our selfish fighting," Dheginsea said, joining them.
"Neither do I." Lehran nodded firmly. "I promise to you, Goddess Ashunera, I will always remember what you wanted for us and to work all I can to make sure these people stay as peaceful as possible."
"And I promise that I will always follow the will of our goddess," Dheginsea said solemnly.
"And I promise to guide you all as best as I can." She smiled at them then turned to the eastern sky. The sun had just begun to reflect her eyes and the sky her hair.