"It's not too tight, isn't it?" asked Taka.
She and Sora were standing outside on the street in front of the orphanage. The early morning was still
dark, but the sun could be seen peeping from the mountains.
Sora was wearing her new green jacket with brass buttons and thick hood. She wore a black, long sleeved
shirt underneath her coat and had warm white gloves. She had dark, jean shorts along with black
stockings that went up to her thighs. She carried a brown back pack stuffed with all her supplies.
Sora shook her head to answer Taka's question. No, it's fine.
Taka clasped her hand around Sora's arm to say with a commanding tone
"Now, be aware this country is in chaos. War is constantly being fought everywhere between the
warlords. Keep your wits about you, you hear?"
Sora suddenly took Taka into her arms and embraced her tightly, wishing she could plead to stay.
"Good bye, Sora," Taka softly sobbed "I hope you find what you're looking for".
Sora smiled as she touched Taka's face, her way of saying good bye to a loved one. The young girl then
slowly ripped herself away from Taka's gaze and turned to leave.
Taka watched Sora walk down the quiet streets alone, looking closely at her lean neck. She caught
glances of the mark in shape of a disk, the exact one described from the prophecy. Taka prayed no one
would bother to take a closer look at it or, even better, not know what it meant.
Sora, be careful.
For the whole day, Sora only stopped to drink and eat. She was too excited, she never traveled by herself,
but she learned from travelers, who stop by in her village, on how to survive. Sora's plan was to keep
keep on the road until she reaches a village and rest there to think up another plan.
Sora enjoyed walking through the endless sea of grass under the warm sun while taking in the
breathtaking sceneries of mountains and rivers. Once or twice, she passed by other travelers who greeted
a friendly hello and Sora returned their greeting with a wave.
Her mind was free of worries until she crossed a familiar river that everyone in her village warned about.
She had just entered from her sate into Kai. This was dangerous territory, a battle between Kai and Uesugi
raged like fire here. Neither has ever attacked her state, it wasn't considered aggressive. But that didn't
mean the warlords would be friendly to trespassers. Sora had to be cautious.
As the sun retreated from the dominating night, Sora thought she should find a place to camp for the
evening. She heard the soft gurgling of a creek close by and was heading towards the sound when she
heard a train of hooves pounding the ground, not that far behind her.
Sora didn't waste a moment longer. She dashed into a forest across the creek, away from the incoming
army. She didn't care who it was. It was too dangerous to be seen, so she had to hide.
Sora was a quick runner and reached the forest's edge just in time. She kept sprinting deeper into the
bowels of the forest until she was certain she was safe and unseen in the thickness of trees. She halted at
a thick log and sat on its rotting bark. She took the time to catch her breath and slow her beating
heart to an acceptable rate. It wasn't good to exhaust herself of energy needed to travel great distances.
Sora took her backpack off her shoulders as she slid to the ground to lean her head against the log. She
had hoped to avoid camping in forests but it seemed she had no choice. The army she just heard was close
by and are probably making camp beside the creek. Sora would just have to wait here until the next
afternoon, and hopefully by then the army would leave for battle.
It was obvious she would not light a campfire. It would attract the soldiers like wolves to a bleeding
fawn.
Sora shivered from the chilling air and turned to grab her blankets from her pack when her eyes met the
green, furious eyes of a giant mountain lion that spat in her face to hiss. Sora instantly froze at the sight
of the cat's mouth full of sharp teeth and turned her gaze away from the lion's eyes.
The lion growled at the girl in front of it, furious at this daring traveler to cross its territory.
Sora tried to stay frozen like a statue, but it was only buying time. The cat was already angry and will
attack her at any moment. She did have an option, but it was not going to be easy.
Run.
She spun around from the lion and sprinted off in the other direction. Sora kept her eyes forward while
hearing the lion growl after her. She zigzagged to try to shake off the lion, but it
followed her with ease and was not tiring at all.
Sora was tiring already and she had no chance in fighting a two ton lion. The big cat was catching up to
her and Sora cried silently at the thought of her painful death of teeth and claws when she cliff ahead of
her
She forced her legs to run faster to the cliff, and when she reached its grassy edge, she jumped without
hesitation and for a second, she felt the lion's paw nicking her heel. Sora saw a pond below her as she fell,
relived to be falling on water than on jagged rocks.
But, in a blink of an eye, something caught her just before she touched the water. Sora's shoulders and
legs were held by two lean arms. She felt her side press against a solid body and quickly looked up to see
her captor was a man.
The man jumped from one rock to another in an instant and then flew into the trees to leap from branch
to branch like a monkey.
Ninja! she thought with a startled look.
He was young but had wise eyes with a hint of amusement. His light brown, stocky hair flew from under
his metal head band. He wore a cameo patterned parka over a black shirt and a green pair of trousers.
The ninja spoke through the wind rushing past them
"Phew! That was close! I got you before you hit the water! I'm not sure if you noticed but that pond was
incredibly shallow. If I hadn't caught you, you would've of hit your head on a rock, little spy."
Sora shook her head in rejection. I'm not a spy!
The ninja grinned mischievously.
"We'll see about that." he said "Once my Lord Takeda takes a look at you, he'll decide what you are.
Until then, you're coming with me, little spy."
Sora gritted her teeth at the snickering ninja. She did not want to meet any warlord, they're bad news. It's
like meeting a death god before entering the underworld.
Even if Sora was somehow able to communicate with the ninja, he seemed prone on taking her to his
lord.
As the ninja leapt through the trees at an unnatural speed, Sora was getting sick from the bumpy ride. She
has never flown before and this was a sickening experience. The ninja made a sudden movement and
Sora's hand flew to the ninja's chest to steady herself.
When she touched him, a dark glow appeared under her hand. The ninja felt an odd sensation and looked
down to his passenger to see her moving her hand away to show a dark glowing symbol right above his
heart, a symbol that only Sora could read.
The ninja was awed by the light, but demanded in a panicked tone
"What are you doing! What is that...?"
The light on his chest dimmed and the strange symbol itself soon disappeared from existence. The ninja
was now spooked.
"Girl! What the hell did you do to me!" he yelled" Speak up!"
Sora cringed from the ninja's fury and bowed her head to say sorry. The ninja noticed something about
her and calmed at once.
"Are you mute? Is that why you can't answer?"
Sora nodded, but wished she could explain to him what's happening. He has every right to be frightened
by something he doesn't understand.
She was glad the ninja believed her, but after all, a ninja wasn't a ninja if he couldn't see through
deception and she was not pretending.
"I think my Lord knows something about this," pondered the ninja.
Sora knew what the glowing symbol meant. It was what she was looking for, what started her quest.
It was one of her seven pieces. This ninja was her Piece of Shadow.
