Sometimes it's hard for her to remember a time before her new life. The sunny skies, and gentle waves leeched away at the memories of everything else, until all that remained was a faint feeling of deja vu.
In one life she was someone else, a good daughter with two loving parents in a stable household. She was an older sister, and a friend. Her life had been good, and above all normal.
But that life and that girl was gone. Now she was Eliana of Olympus.
In her new life she grew up on an island. Her days were filled with exploring reefs and sunbathing under a bright sun. She knew all the names of the plants and animals in the forest, which berries and fruit were safe to eat, how to avoid poisonous animals, and the names of the countless stars that would fill the canvas of the night sky.
She embraced the knowledge and threw herself into the new experiences. The few times she ever paused and let herself be caught up in the tide of melancholy that filled her heart the old life would come seeping back, suffocating her and driving the newfound happiness far away. So she learned endlessly, asked questions and explored, forgetting the old life she'd led before.
And if in her search for adventure she ceated goat stampedes, or set off a few explosions, that was no concern but her own.
Besides her new mother always smiled and laughed at her antics.
"That's my Elia," She'd say with gentle amuesment when the villagers complained about her latest adventure into the forest that had ended in a small fire and the destruction of the fountain in town, "My little light, just wants to see and do everything."
Elia loved her mother. That was probably the only thing she held with certainty in this new life, everything else was subject to the questioning that arose from the lingering feeling that there was more to the world. Memories of seeing the fluffy clouds in the sky right outside a small oval window, and watching black roads traversed by thousands of loud humming metal machines convinced her that there was always more to explain, more to learn.
Olympus was a good place to do just that. It was a small island in the New World, a place she learned was the second half of a region of the ocean called the Grand Line. It was sheltered though, surrounded by sea-kings, whirlpools and constant storms that it was near impossible to contact the rest of the world.
Most of her knowledge of the sea around them came from books centuries old, or washed up from the occasional shipwreck.
It was a good place to live. Everyone on the island knew eachother by name, due to generations having grown up unchanged by the lack of visitors to the island. And that tight knit community meant she could roam the forests and coves to her heart's content, observing the unique flora and fauna that lived in harmony with the people.
Today was another day for adventure. Her light and airy dress brushed against her ankles as she flew through the streets of the town. Elia laughed waving her arms in greeting as she passed by her neigbours who looked at her with varying degrees of fond annoyance.
Her sandals smacked lightly upon the white stone of the road, and a breeze swirled through the air cooling the whole town to a nice warm temperature instead of it's typical scorching summer heat.
She stopped breathless, at a litttle bakery off the road. The sign above bore the image of a majestic golden ram. It's fleece weathered with time was peeling off in small golden flecks, a few patches left were the only hint of its old shimmering glory.
"Where are you off to today little Elia?" Della the owner of the Golden Fleece, smiled knowingly as she rung up her purchases for the day.
"I'm going to see the ruins," she beamed in answer bouncing up and down in her excitement. "Mom said that in old days it used to be a huge kingdom blessed by the gods."
Della laughed, shaking silvery threads of hair out of its loosely tied bun. The wrinkles on her face deepened with the wide smile on her lips, "Your mother is a very smart lady. Most of the young'uns these day think the gods are just stories." Della scoffed disdainfully at the very idea.
"You mean the gods are real?" She gasped in awe.
Many people living in Olympus spoke of and worshipped gods through temple visits and holidays, but they were distant figures held more as myths and legends than reality.
"Of course they are!" Della exclaimed slamming a fist down on to the counter, face fixed in a furious scowl, "Olympus used to be the home of the gods, before they left this earth for the heavens above. They lived here in harmony with our ancestors, blessing them with unimaginable wealth and power."
Della looked around cautiously before leaning forward motioning for her to do the same. She was close enough, that Elia could feel the heat of the older woman's breath against her ear.
"Some say that the gods fell in love with humans and that divine blood still runs through some of us today." Della whispered, winking at her conspiratedly as she drew away.
"That sounds like a fairy tale Della."
She remembered a life where logic and science had dictated the rules of the world, so she couldn't help but question the tale. It was ironic, though, considering that her current existence contradicted that very logic and science.
Della laughed, "Cheeky little thing. Just because it sounds like a story, doesn't mean it's not true."
"I don't know. Seems pretty hard to prove."
"Is it though?" Della arched a brow lips twitching in a faint smile, "Hasn't your mother ever told you about your bloodline."
Intrest picqued, she shook her head in denial.
"Your Mother's bloodline is descendant from the Emperors and Empresses of Takamagahara, Who were said to have the blood of Amaterasu Queen of the Old Gods running through their veins."
Her eyes widened. Her mother had never mentioned such a thing before, and frankly from the way they lived now she would never had guessed they'd descended from royalty.
She didn't have a dad here, though she still remembered faint moments of warm hugs and loud laughs from the life before. They helped to fill in the gap left by the father in her new life.
It was harder to remember her mother. The new one in this life was warm and friendly, kind and loving, and shamefullly she found it rare to have to call up the memories of her mother from before. Her current mother worked as a weaver, a taxing job that afforded them a small house on the edge of town. They weren't exactly poor, but she was pretty sure they weren't living comfortably enough to be related to the Gods themselves.
"You better not be pulling my leg Della." She scowled causing the old baker to let out a barking laugh.
"Rararara, what do I know little one. I'm just a crazy old woman."
Della leaned down and ruffled her hair.
"Now don't you have some ruins to explore
She nodded clutching her bag of pastries in her hands. "Thanks Della!" She called out waving in goodbye as she left the store. Following a familiar path she turned down an alley to her left and then made a right knocking upon a small wooden black door along the side of that road. Above her head, lines filled with drying laundry fluttered above her head like playful butteflies in the wind.
The door opened with a slow creak to reveal a pale looking boy. He was dressed very casually and his shirt was well worn obvious by the hole in it at his left shoulder. His eyes were tired and accentuated by dark bags underneath them, but they brightened a little when he caught sight of her prmpting him to quickly open the door all the way. She beamed at her friend.
"Good Morning!" She chirped.
"Morning Elia." Zag replied tiredly with a small smile of his own.
"You ready for another adventure?"
"I guess." Zag stepped outside of the house closing the door softly behind them, "Mother's asleep right now, but I left her a note."
"Alright!" She cheered grabbing her friend's hand, "Let's go!"
The two of them ran through the town not stopping when the houses and roads transitioned into tall towering trees and dirt.
Occasionaly she glanced behind at Zag who always gave her a small smile in response. By now he knew better than to ask where the two of them were going.
As a child she found her desire for adventure and strange habits had an unfortunate tendency of driving other children away. She often found herself in dangerous and bizarre situations like the time that she'd managed to anger every chicken on the island causing them to follow her through the village streets in an angry stampede of loud clucks and white feathers. The other children were scared of her rambuctious and quirky behaviour and usually left her alone.
Everyone that is, except for Zag.
Zag's family was disriminated upon due to his fathers and his own potential Auxil.
Many years ago Zag's father had used his Auxil to terrorize the island. He had been corrupted by his Auxil's power that he had tried to seize a title as the island king slaughtering those in his path before he had been subdued. It was the darkest tragedy in the recent history of Olympus.
But it didn't matter that Zag's father had died many years ago the villagers still feared what Zag could become, and looked at him as if he was the Devil himself..
That had never really made sense to Elia, who could only see the sweet shy boy that wanted the best for everyone.
Finally arriving at their destination she let herself catch her breath an take in the view. The ruins of the old kingdom of Takamagahara sat upon the top of a cliff. It was on the east side of the island while the village of Olympus sat to the west closer to the only cove on the island. In comparison to the small houses of the village, Takamagahara was grand.
It was laid out like the cities from her memory with incredibly wide stone roads and neatly ordered rows of buildings.
"It's amazing." She whispered in awe bouding forward to the very first archway, hands tracing over the faded carvings of a dragon etched into the stone.
Behind her Zag stared upon it in awe, "It's so big." He said breathlessly moving to stand beside her.
"I know right!" Elia continued forward gaping at the huge multistoried buildings. Their white walls that once must have made the city shine, were cracked and overgrown with vines, but were still no less imposing.
"Come on lets go check out the castle. Last one there is a rotten egg!" She whooped taking off running.
"What!? Elia wait up!"
The two raced through the ruins, speed and agility far beyond the average human let them clear fallen obstacles in a single jump.
She used her hands to vault over a particularly large chunk of the castle's broken wall. Planting on the other side she raised her hands in victory "I win!"
Zag landed besides her in a crouch. "You cheated." He said plainly, shooting her an annoyed look.
"Sorry." Elia singsonged with no remorse, walking forwards into the castle.
The inside of the castle was huge. Shattered chunks of stone littered across the floor, and most of the walls were cracked and filled with holes, but the intricate veins of gold that ran throught the white stone of the high arching ceilings were unlike anything she'd ever seen in this life.
Passing by a column she trailed her fingers over the carving of the large mythic creatures engraved around it's base. She was particularly enamored, by the image of a large Fox that towered protectively over a human warrior. Unlike a typical fox this creature sported multiple tails that furled out behind it elegantly in the cold stone.
"Elia come look at this."
She made her way over towards the section of the wall that Zag had found himself by. The wall here was different, the marble transitioning from white to a dark midnight blue that almost looked black from a certain angle.
Upon the darker stone sat curving symbols that were similar to pictographs. Her eyes narrowed, startling slightly when the symbols shifted until they began to form more recognizable words.
"What language is that?" She asked Zag who was squinting at the stone.
"I don't know."
His lips moved silently reading the words aloud under his breath. Elia turned back to the stone straining her own eyes to read.
"It's a story."
She turned towards Zag bewildered by his observation.
"About what?"
"About some Empress of this kingdom 800 years ago. Empress Suiko, daughter of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, united the warring kingdoms of the gods, ayakashi, and humans on this island to create the kingdom of Takamagahara using the power of an ancient weapon." Zag read
The letters swam even more until Elia was able to read the same story Zag had just reccounted.
"What weapon?" She asked as the words started to clear into more understandable sentences.
"All it says is that it was called Solaris and that Suiko hid the weapon after the war," Zag pointed to a section of squiggly writing.
She followed his finger to the line and read it for herself.
"It says she hid it in the realm of the gods." Elia read out loud.
Zag hummed before freezing eyes widening in a delighted sort of surprise.
"Elia, look here!" her friend reached up to touch his hand to the stone, "It says the gods rewarded her for her achievements and gave her gifts of unimaginable power, blessing the people that lived in her land. Do you think that's where Auxils came from?"
Just like Della's story Elia observed biting her lip at the uncanny resemblance. And according to Della's tale Elia was Empress Suiko's descendant.
"I wish that we could read all of this some of it stilll looks like gibberish, Hey Elia, you okay?" Zag's concern snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Just fine Zaggy!" She chirped, "C'mon let's keep exploring."
-o-
"Do you ever wonder what's out there?" She kicked her legs back in forth staring out across the sea, stained orange and red by the setting sun.
Besides her Zag was eating the honey bun she'd bought from The Golden Fleece. The two of them had managed to climb to the secondfloor of the ruined castle, the walls of which had long since crumbled, leaving behind a view that overlooked the entire cliffside.
"I guess." He shrugged, "Never really thought about it."
"Really? But don't you want to explore? See what's beyond just this tiny little island."
"Well… It might be nice to get to the leave the village." The sad look on Zag's face broke her heart.
She loved the village, the people there had been kind to her, had given her home, but she couldn't forgive them for how they treated her best friend. No child ever deserved to be shunned for forces outside their control.
She jumped to her feet, "Then we'll do it."
She grinned at the bewildered look on Zag's face.
"We'll leave this island when were older. See everything on this sea! I've always wanted to know if the stories I'd read were true." Elia announced proudly, anticipation making her smile grow wider.
"B-but how would- the village would never let us leave!"
She puffed out her cheeks indignantly, "Of course they won't, but that doesn't matter I'll just make them."
"Pfff-hahaha!"
Much to her shock Zag dissolved into laughter. Clutching at his side he continued to laugh the smile brightening his usually gloomy face.
"Mou, Zag! I'm being serious. They're not the boss of me!"
Zag wiped away at the tear coming out of the corner of his eye, "Of course Princess." He teased causing her to scowl. "And what happens if they ignore your orders."
"Than you'll save me! Right hero?" She said back with the same teasing tone.
"Yeah, I would." The seriousness in the statement startled her, and she glanced back at her friend's face. Zag's eyes were filled with an unreadable emotion, and he looked at her with a strangely content smile, like there was no where else he'd rather be than by her side.
She felt her cheeks grow warm, and her eyes started to burn as the genuine feeling of gratiude she had towards her friend grew even stronger. Sitting back down she wrapped her arms around him.
"Elia?"
She ignored the question in his voice sniffling into his shoulder, "You're the best friend ever." Her voice wavered as she tightened their hug. Zag's arms lifted up slowly to hug back.
"So are you." He whispered back.
"I don't care what anyone in the village says. Zagreus Angelis is the bestest coolest, person ever and nothing could ever change that."
She declared stubbornly sniffling back at tears. Part of her that had reached an age that tears were rare was embarrassed by the emotional breakdown, but the six year old she was now justt cried even harder.
Zag tightened the hug further burying his head into her shoulder. The two of them sat their long after the sun had set. Lost in their own world, filled with dreams of adventure and the sight of the open ocean that'd they'd face together.
Hi Everyone!
Here I am again with another One Piece story. This year has been kind of hectic with college applications, but now that I'm in the second half of senior year I have a bit more time to devote to writing. This story has been bouncing around my head for a couple years and I was really inspired to write this after reading Marshmellowtime's Memoirs of a Suicidal Pirate. Honestly I love all of Marshmellowtime's works, and I was so excited when she wrote an OC story for One Piece. Which, let me tell you, is amazing so if you haven't read it check it out.
Anyways I hope you enjoy my new story.
-Y.H Night