To Walk the Paths of Destiny
I've always been a sucker for fantasy stories, and to combine the allure of magic with the unique qualities of each Chosen Child and their Guardian, well, one cannot ask for a better story. I pray that you enjoy this, the beginning of a tale of enchantment and one girl's faith in those she loves.
We are all connected. We share a bond of deep trust and love that cannot be severed, no matter how sharp the blade. For many of us, words do not need to convey feelings, for we have our own unspoken language that can utter the same message lips and tongues can. Thirty-one souls all linked together.
I have known many hardships in my life. I was very ill as an infant, and would continue to suffer from such violent battles with sickness for most of my childhood. Two younger sisters with tongues as sharp as my own to pierce my fragile emotions, made even more fragile during the rocky course of adolescence. But I could always find solace in stories. I loved the written word with a passion. My thirst for respite from the bonds of my mortal world could only be slaked through pages upon pages of tales with magic and romance interwoven like fabric on a loom. But my life, marked by studious learning and high academics for as long as I can remember, is not the living nightmare one may think it to be. On the contrary, I am blessed with the most wonderful gifts. I have twenty-eight good friends I love like siblings, a guardian who would rather die than to see any harm come to me, and a young man who is the very center of my universe, a bright star in the sky that holds my heart.
~*~
We are called the Chosen Children, and it is our duty to protect our home world and one parallel to our own, one that causes our world to pale in comparison. This, the Digital World, was home to fantastical creatures, and the guardians with which each of our number is paired with. My story begins in this world, on a day like no other. The fifteen Chosen Children sat on a hill, where the grass glimmered with color no verdant blade had ever experienced on our own earth. The sky was a periwinkle blue marred by a few fat, fluffy clouds like sheep dotting the horizon. Our hill was surrounded on one side by a vast stretch of ocean, the waves licking at the sandy shore below. On the other side, a dark and ominous forest crept out across the landscape; home to trees of every clime, and with trunks so thick the fifteen of us could link hands and still not reach all the way around. We were positioned in a circle, with our guardians sitting slightly behind us, and if one were to look down at us from the sky we would have appeared to be interwoven rings of varying hues.
Each one of us is a unique individual with qualities that make us who we are. Tai is the courageous one, a bit too headstrong and at times foolish, but he's a leader we can trust in. Sora is our nurturer; a caring, mothering girl who goes out of her way to make everyone feel loved. Izzy is intelligent to a fault, and it's his curiosity and intellect that we count on for strategies and explanations. Joe can always be relied on, he comes prepared for any element and has grown from a hyperventilating worrywart to a serious med student. Mimi is slightly ditzy but she's incredibly sincere, although sometimes too sincere. T.K. is our optimist, a bright ray of sunshine in our lives, and a fine young man. Kari, Tai's younger sister, can find no faults in any living thing, can see only the good. Davis is Tai's protégé and tries very hard to impress him by being fiercely brave at times. Yolei is almost as boy-crazy as Mimi is, and knows how to speak her mind and that can be a strength and a weakness at times. Cody is very serious, and it's rare that you see him smile. It's hard to believe he's the youngest of us. Ken is quiet and very reserved, his intense violet-blue eyes full of mystery, like him. Willis is cheerful and youthful, and quite a flirt. He's made all of us blush at least once. Nicki can be hyper and fun, but lately she's been a dark cloud, moody and withdrawn from the group. We suspect that she may leave our ranks soon. And then there's Matt, our wild wolf. Sharp and fierce as the fairy tales say, yet my lover is truly compassionate, loyal, and fragile, easily hurt and slow to forgive or forget. And that leaves me, Lia. I'm a little of everyone here, but I'm also incredibly sensitive and an imaginative dreamer.
My wild wolf glanced at me with his intense sapphire eyes, his chin-length golden hair a bright halo around his handsome face. I laid a small pale hand over his strong one, my thin fingers lacing around his knuckles. We had no need for voice, we had such a bond we could actually read each other's thoughts if we chose to. We all could.
You have that distant look in your eyes, my Lia. Where
are you?
Somewhere beautiful and serene, somewhere with you.
I wish it could come true, but you have to get back to
reality now. Tai's looking quite cross.
All right, I'll stay focused this time Matt.
"What is this warped void Izzy?" Kari inquired, drawing her knees to her chest.
"It's like a portal between worlds, but it's between this world and a much darker one. This portal was forced open by something evil and powerful, and I have a feeling our foe will make its presence known to us in due time," the intelligent redhead explained.
"We can fight it, no problem! We can do anything!" Davis rallied, winking at Ken, his boyfriend. Davis and Ken were the only ones of our group that preferred the same sex, and specifically, each other. But it mattered little to any of us, least of all me. They were no different than the rest of us, and we were certainly not going to shun them because of their sexual preferences.
"The only problem is that none of you have dealt with something that can warp the landscape with a gesture, that can pervert your body into an unrecognizable form with a mere glance, a creature that has magic flowing through its very being," Wizardmon stated quietly. My guardian seemed the most concerned of all, and his serious emerald eyes failed to mask traces of fear.
"But you know magic, Wizardmon. Surely you can…" Sora began. My digimon raised a gloved hand to silence her, shaking his hair so his long straw-colored hair, which he tied back loosely from his covered face, bounced slightly.
"I know not enough to combat a force of this magnitude. I doubt Gennai or even the Four Digital Gods could possess that much power. This creature, I'm not even sure if it's a digimon, is pure hellfire."
"And it's looking for us?" Willis queried. Willis's two digimon, twin brothers Lopmon and Terriermon, nodded solemnly.
"You cannot know how dangerous it is for all of you here. This…whatever it is…knows you and hates you and will do anything to kill you," Gabumon stated somberly.
Trepidation washed over all of our hearts, numbing our senses. A storm was brewing in our Digital World, and the thunder that rumbled low over the horizon was just the preview of the tempest of evil that was yet to come.
~*~
We had a short walk ahead of us, down the hill to the nearest portal to return us to our own world. Our guardians walked behind us, so we could quietly converse with our lovers and friends. Matt offered me his hand, rough fingers from many nights of playing his bass guitar. But if you think I judge people by how coarse their hands are, then you must think me to be shallow, which I am most certainly not. I'm as deep as an ocean, wild as the wind, and as unpredictable as a lightning storm…or so says Wizardmon.
I could catch snippets of the others' conversations blowing past my ear on the breeze, and each one was concerning the same thing: the evil that was at our doorsteps.
What are you thinking about, my Lia?
The same thing everyone's thinking about, this dark
hellspawn.
I'll protect you from it; as long as I have breath in me
I'll protect you.
Hmm, you're sounding like Wizardmon. Maybe you should be
the one with the pointy hat.
Matt's reply to my wry remark was to send his fingers dancing over my sides until I convulsed with laughter, my sobbing gasps and shrieks easing the tension that cut through the air. My peerage smiled a little, masking their worry for now, at least.
And then, we saw her. A woman of such intense beauty it was sickening, standing in front of our portal. Her long, flaxen hair was several shades darker than Matt's or his younger brother's, braided in sections here and there, with feathery flowers none of us could recognize interwoven in the plaits. Her eyes were the color of pale jade, a mystery in them. Winglike eyebrows arched up her brow. Her thin aquiline nose even seemed perfect. The dress she wore clung close to her body, a deep shade of something close to black, perhaps blue or purple. She smiled with glossy lips the color of Mimi's hair, a Pepto-Bismol pink.
"Dear, sweet children," she said in a honeyed voice, "I have lost my way. Can you help me, please sweet children?"
I don't trust her; Tai's voice rang in my mind, in everyone's minds.
We should at least do the polite thing and help her, Cody pointed out.
Sure, if you want to be a brass kettle for the rest of your life, go right ahead, Nicki snapped. Shadowmon looked up at her in slight disgust.
What if she's really one of the Digital Gods or a representative of them trying to test us? Ken suggested.
"Not to sound impolite, but just who are you, anyway?" Joe's partner Gomamon inquired. The beautiful woman smiled again.
"I am Caelamon, and I am a good friend of your Azulongmon. Please guide me to the west, where I can be reunited with my dear friend."
"The west?" T.K repeated.
Azulongmon guards the east!
Lia, run! Matt's sharp cry pierced my mind as the woman struck with a blow of power. I stepped back, watching in mute horror as my dear friends and my lover writhed in pain.
Run, love, run and don't stop until you're far from here. Don't look back.
My senses returned, and I found myself
bolting for the forest, tripping over clumsy feet, hands and arms scored by
bramble and bracken as I entered the verdant sanctuary. I ran deeper and deeper
in, my legs burning with pain as my muscles screamed for oxygen, my heart
pumping furiously in my breast, my body aching to breathe. I stopped only when
I was positive there was no chance for that hideously beautiful creature to
follow me. My hands and wrists bled with many shallow cuts, but the pain that
throbbed through my body couldn't compare to the pain of my soul. Thirty
innocent creatures shrieking in unanimous pain, and I did nothing to save them,
the coward I was. I could feel Matt's presence in my mind, but it was fading.
Run my Lia, run, I cried to her. She looked so scared, a deer in the
headlights. The woman is that dark thing we feared, and we were foolish and our
guard was down. Our bodies are being warped, altered, perverted into something
she will never recognize. The woman laughs as my hands become no more. The
hands my Lia loves. "Foolish Chosen Ones, you will never win this fight. But
there is one missing. Your lover, young Ishida? Well, no matter, I will hunt
her down, and when she is exhausted and broken, I will torment her further. I
will throw her to the burning faggots and watch her be reduced to ash and
bone." Don't cry, my Lia, we still love you. We are connected by love. We are
connected. We are…
And they were gone. All of them gone. I
fell to my knees, cupping my face in my hands and sobbing. Hot bitter tears ran
down my cheeks, my nose ran, and I wept the mournful wail of a woman who has
lost everything in the blink of an eye.
~*~
Well? This was just the beginning, so don't worry. I got
the idea from the book Daughter of the Forest and I kind of ripped it
off a little. But it's not mine, so I can't take credit. What did you think? I
want to know! Oh, I just thought I'd point out that this is my 50th
Fanfic! I haven't even been here a full year and I've written 50 fanfics! I
feel so proud! Here's to another fifty really soon! ~Lia