"Hiromi! Masako! Rie!" The words are unfamiliar, an odd accent to them. Still it was stupid. Stupid to call out like that in a place like this. I can only assume they are names of people this little slip of a girl knows.
I'm tightly gripping the branch of the tree I'm standing in. A swirl of emotions as confusing as the swirl the seers see when they look at my future is churning inside of me. I'm looking at what should be the Awakening. There's the golden moss that she arrived on, under the largest tree of the Sea of Trees. I know I arrived at the right place because she wasn't there moments before. I know that, because she doesn't believe she is there, here in this world.
Her dress is short, only coming to her knees, but it isn't a dress of my world. Her socks and shoes aren't either, nor is the strange bag she carries, clenched in her fist that is trembling with a fear greater than mine. Her dark brown hair is straight like mine, and only comes down to her shoulders.
I can only think to myself, I'm supposed to kill that? And under that is a complete disbelief that this could be the Awakening foretold. How could a weak girl from another place entirely change me so much as to turn me into Destruction? She's the sort of person I'm paid to protect. Clueless, city born and bred, weak, defenseless.
She so obviously has no idea where she is, how she got here, or anything about any prophecy she might be a major participant in. She proves it again as she arrives in the center of the corridor around the bed of moss and cries out at the top of her lungs for people she knows - a different set this time - begging for anything she does know, any part of her normal life to appear to her eyes again. I can't help but feel sympathy. I sometimes wish my childhood innocence could come back like that.
But, that was even more stupid than the former. Now she has called the flower insects to her. There are so many, they're quite willing to come be what she doesn't want to see at all. The rest of the animal residents of the trees above her are fleeing, not wanting to be what called the flower insect. They run past her, but she's frozen. Her fear is palatable even to me. I should let the flower insects eat her. It will likely save us both a lot of trouble in the end.
Within the swirl of chaotic emotions inside me is despair that I can't kill the Awakening. I can't kill what my heart protects, what I feel compassion for. I should let the flower insects do it for me, since I can't. A wild part of me cries out for someone other than me to protect her, to be here, but if they were they wouldn't be protecting her. They would be stealing her away to turn me into what I don't want to be. I made sure I was the first to arrive, to kill this, the Awakening, only a girl. No one else is here.
I'm moving towards her now, the instinct moving me. I know the flower insect is too close. It lands near her, eating a small creature that was slow. She's still frozen, petrified and likely wouldn't know what to do anyway. She most definitely doesn't want to get eaten, regardless, but then no one would.
Ah, I've drawn my sword and don't know how I got here. That happens sometimes, too. My deep desire and drive to protect instead of destroy makes me act to do so before I've quite made up my mind, and I get involved in things I perhaps didn't want to. Usually I can back out if it was a bad idea. I've got a sense that's not going to work this time, but it's already too late.
The flower insect lunges. It still can't sense me. It's going for the girl, who's behind me now. Putting my power behind the swing, I slice at the flower insect and the front part is sliced off entirely and flies past me.
I barely get turned around in time, again my instinct warning me that all is not well behind me. "Aaah!" Ooof. I'm being held very tightly about the middle by a screeching Awakening. I'm not very pleased at all, actually. Not only does the fearful screeching hurt my ears, I'm sure it's calling even more flower insects. I really should have let the one eat her. This is going to be far more trouble than I want. Of course, they'll come just because I cut the one. The smell of the blood will call them, too.
I sigh to myself. I can understand her fear, the fear of the unknown and frightening. Most of my city clients cower in fear when I have to protect them from monsters, and not a few cry out as well. They usually don't hang on to me, though, and I'd rather she wasn't. If the flower insects show up while she's doing that, it will be hard to defend us both. Not to mention I don't know anything about how she's supposed to turn me into what I don't want to be. Still, as long as she's completely panicked like this, there isn't much I can do anyway. Except stab her in the back.
...And I'm back around to my compassion telling me that I can't do that. That I need to patiently wait until she can calm down. I'm suddenly as irritated with my compassionate self as everything else. I don't want to become the Sky Demon of Destruction. Am I to give myself up to that just because the Awakening somehow ended up being something I can't kill? That isn't what I want. I don't want this, not any more than she does. I'd send her back if I knew how, and immediately, so that I could escape the Sea of Trees and we could all go on about our normal lives like we'd far rather.
It's going to be reluctant allies. The flower insects are too close. I'm relieved she's finally calm enough to look up at me - with an expression of complete embarrassment at her behavior. At least she has some sense of propriety. Even that's missing from a lot of people around here these days.
I push her away and clean off my sword with a hard swing and put it away. We'll run for now. I'd rather fight fewer than more flower insects, and they're headed here. She apologizes, her foreign words strange to my ear, but the tone is rather obvious, given her expression. I don't look at her, but the apology helps - a little.
I pick up my bag, dropped where I left her, and sling it over my shoulder, then pick up hers. It is very stiff, rectangular and surprisingly heavy, although that's a small thing to me. I turn to her and say, "I don't understand the language you are speaking." That gets her mouth closed and I shove her bag at her. She can at least carry that.
"This isn't what I had planned," I complain more to myself than her. I already know she can't understand me either. Confusion is written all over her face, and a bit more of the fear of being in a completely new and strange place.
There are snaps above us and I can hear faint voices. I'm no longer the only one who's come. The other seers have seen it and have told their employers, and others are now coming. Coming to take the Awakening so they can own me. I scowl slightly, trying to not take it out on her, since she has no idea.
She's heard some of the noise though and has gone stiff with fright again. I grab her arm. "Quickly. This way." She comes with me, not really having a choice. I can pull oxen with one hand, although I'm being gentle with her. She really is rather small.
And then the flower insects arrive. "Run!" I slip my hand down from her arm to hold her hand, shivering slightly as I do so. She's human and human contact is something that I find very difficult to deal with. But now isn't the time. From everywhere the flower insects appear and we're running. Sigh. She's also so slow. Short legs, and likely not much physical activity. And I'm fast when I want to be. This isn't going to work.
I draw my sword and stop running. I just need to make an opening. Without paying any attention, I drag the Awakening into my chest so that she and I seem as one and the flower insects come for me, since they're coming for her. I kill the ones who reach us first, then pick her up, putting her over my shoulder. I can't climb the trees with her. She'll likely fall out and break her neck. Maybe I should... and then I get scolded by my heart again. Sigh. The wind brings the scent of water to me, as I ask it for which way is our way to freedom.
I run towards where I smell the water from. I have to jump over four flower insects. The landing is hard on her, my shoulder in her stomach, but I can't do any better at the moment. Survival comes first, and I need my sword for that. I run for the place I smell the water from. It's an underground cave system. I can tell that by smell as well. It will have to do. If we go up, the other seekers on their flying creatures will see us and find out who I am, what she is.
"Eek!" and I'm swinging at the flower insect that got too close. At least she was quiet until now and only warned me. It would have been a lot more difficult to know how to protect us if she'd been screaming this whole time. It wasn't enough to alert the men above us, either, who are now behind us since they stayed near the main tree. I look down through the tree roots. The opening is wide enough.
I leap us through the opening and we are falling down towards a broad rock riverbank. This sort of thing is easy for me. My power is a shield that won't let us get hurt and that slows the fall. We still have to land, though. I shift the Awakening so she's in both of my arms. I'd rather not have her land on my shoulder from this high a fall. There's a thud behind me just as I land and I look back. One of the flower insects fell through the hole with us, but it flops down to lie still.
Since they terrify her, I decide to explain now, before she can scream again. "They've quit chasing us. They get their strength from the trees, and there are no trees here. You don't have to worry about this since it has no affect on the human body." I add the last part since sometimes people get in their heads strange things.
I've put her down now and look back at her. Not like she could understand any of it anyway. Maybe she got the message, though. She isn't screaming. Instead, she's looking at me with wide innocent and trusting eyes. Damn.
Irritated, I stand and walk off. There aren't trees down here, but there are tree roots, seeking the water of this cave. There isn't anything other than this rock ledge and the river. We'll have to go by water. That means even more work, and we've left a trail of dead flower insects behind us. When those other men arrive, they'll follow our path. We need to be gone before they do. I'm glad for my speed today. I hope I won't be pushed too far. I'm not ready for the Awakening to see me as the monster the rest of the world does.
I use my sword and the least amount of power possible to cut tree roots into logs to build a raft, moving as fast as I can and still maintain control. I need to conserve as much as possible for now. We may still have to fight men later. I don't know how far we can get before we're found. The farther we are from the Sea of Trees, the less likely anyone will think we're the Awakening and Sky Demon. That's how I've survived this long. No one really believes the Sky Demon is just one of them.
Angry at that thought, like usual, I hack at a root a little harder, but as I about let go of the log to toss it into the pile I'm collecting, my body restrains the throw. I look over my shoulder in surprise. The Awakening has walked over to the pile of logs and is straining to pull one out of the pile. The one I'm holding lands closer to me and I have to stare, then turn to not laugh. She is trying so hard. If she wants to feel useful, to having something to do to distract her from her loss of her world, who am I to stop her?
I scowl at the roots again, but I'm careful where I place them after that. What crazy being made it so that I had to be the Sky Demon? So she had to be the Awakening, torn from her likely peaceful world? Can I kill that thing instead? I'd rather, like I'd rather send the Awakening home. Why do I have to be doing this?
It's all questions I've asked before, only now I've got another person to take care of. I don't want to do that, either, but I can't afford to let her be captured any more than I can afford to be captured. I'm pretty sure she'd be just as unhappy to be used against me, although I don't know that yet.
That makes me cautious. She's clueless, but that doesn't mean anything really. I've protected clueless people who were dangerous. I try not to be hired by that kind, but sometimes I need coin and food, and that's all the work I can find. With a sigh, I put my sword away. That's enough logs.
I turn to see the Awakening has put four logs into a square and she is just dropping the end of one. It's far too heavy for her to lift. But it means she's intelligent enough to understand what I was doing, and what's next. That worries me, coming on the tail end of my last thought. "Move," I push her out of the way, trying to not be harsh in my worry, the fear that rises up so easily.
I pull out rope from my bag. It will likely all be used up by this project. As fast as I can, keeping my ears open to sounds from above us, I put logs on the base and tie them on. I try not to pay attention to the Awakening, but she's still being helpful, rolling logs over so I don't have to walk to the pile and back.
Again my emotions are conflicted. I appreciate she wants to help. I'm worried, and keep trying to remind myself that she doesn't know why I'm in a hurry, why she should be helping me make this work go faster. I just want to be out of here so I can relax and think straight; figure out what I'm going to do about this situation I've found myself in. I don't need this kind of confusion added to the confusion I already have about my life and what's going to happen.
With a deep breath, I cut the excess rope and put my knife away into its sheath at the back of my belt. That used up more than I should have, in my stress and need to get out of this place. I slump down on the finished raft and rest a bit, letting out a sigh. There haven't been any noises from above yet, and the wind tells me that only flower insects, dead and living, are above us. I have a little bit of time to recover.
Not moving, though, and the smells on the wind, remind me that the Awakening has been watching me. I can feel my face warm a little, and I'm glad it's hidden by my hair. This isn't going to be easy, traveling with a girl for who knows how long. How am I even going to explain it to anyone? She obviously hasn't paid me to guard her. One look at her says that. She doesn't even look like any race I've seen so far in my travels. At least she isn't obviously different. It's minor, mostly softer features of face, but then all girls are like that compared to men, I suppose.
And if she had been obviously different - ugly, a different kind of creature, anything - I would have killed her. I sit up and groan to myself slightly. That really would have been better and met my expectations more handily. Who or whatever is doing this to me: why? Why did you have to make it the one thing I can't get rid of? I don't want to be the Sky Demon!
That gets me up and I push the raft so that half of it hangs over the river. The Awakening has already moved towards our bags. She looks back up at the hole above us, towards the place she came into this world from. I can see her trembling again. She doesn't want to go away, she wants to go back, but back is worse than forward, now.
"Let's go," I say to get her moving. I turn away before she is looking at me. I'm sure she doesn't want me to see her tears again, and I don't want to see them either. It's not my fault she's here, except I was born to be what she brings to destruction. She climbs on the raft and I use my utter frustration to push us off into the river. Can I still fight it, now that she is here?
