Prologue
Once upon a time is how all good fairy tales begin. Happily ever after is how they end. What if I told you I had a fairy tale that wasn't like the ones you always hear? What if I told you I had a story for you that was completely true, though many of our people today believe it to be fiction?
Yes, children, I'm bringing you this story. One that has cultivated over the last seventy years or so? Hang on to your seat belts little ones, we are about to embark on a journey you'll never forget. Join me in the tale of Jai Olos, Remnant's greatest Huntress to ever live.
Jai woke up in the wee hours of the morning, shivering after encountering the dream again. It had been the same one, every night for a week now. She didn't like this dream, it scared her. Though she didn't have a fear of heights, Jai always found this dream creepy and off color.
It began in a forest, on the top of a cliff. A man was giving some sort of speech behind a line of teenagers. Suddenly, Jai fell over the edge of the cliff (or had she been pushed?) and started hurtling through the air at the line of trees below. A teenage girl was in the air next to Jai, and she would always laugh at Jai, screaming for her mother.
"Isn't this what you signed up for?" She would yell, grinning like the smug older kid she was.
Jai would pause her screaming for a moment to yell, "I didn't sign up for anything!" back at the girl.
Just before Jai smacked her face on a tree, she would wake up, panting and clenching her blankets.
Jai glanced over at the clock that sat beside her bed. 5:35 am. Darci, Jai's older brother would be getting up soon to get ready for his job.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Jai heard Darci's footsteps padding down the stairs, trying to be quiet so he wouldn't wake anybody.
Jai nudged the covers off of her body and got out of bed. She tiptoed down the stairs into the kitchen, where she found Darci fixing himself some breakfast. Hearing her come in, Darci looked up from buttering his toast.
"Well if it isn't little J," he said softly with a smile. "What's got you up so early?"
Jai quietly pulled one of the chairs away from the dining room table and sat down in it, shifting until she felt comfortable. "I had a bad dream."
Darci poured her a glass of orange juice and slid it across the table to her. "I'm sorry to hear that. Dreams aren't anything real though, kiddo. Be happy it isn't something that can actually hurt you." He shook some cinnamon out onto his toast. "You want to tell me what happened though? I could try to make you less scared of whatever it is."
Jai quickly recounted the dream, talking with her hands so much, Darci had to reach over and steady her juice glass with one of his fingers.
After she was finished, Darci leaned back in his seat with a hum. "In your dream, did it feel real? Like the things around you were actually happening in real time?"
Jai nodded, sipping on her juice.
Darci sighed. "I've had that type of dream before. They can be pretty scary, even if you know they aren't real."
"Yeah," Jai murmured into her juice.
Darci glanced down and his watch and flinched. "I have to get going. Be good for mom," he slung his backpack over one shoulder and jogged out of the kitchen, leaning Jai sitting at the table. He popped his head back in the doorway, making Jai jump a little. "Oh yeah, and don't worry about the dream. I'm sure it doesn't mean anything."
Little did Darci Olos know how that dream was going to effect Jai's life.
Across Remnant, in Vaccuo, another girl was waking up to a similar dream. Wenara Rojas threw off the thin sheet that she slept in. Grabbing a sketchbook off of her rickety side table, she crunched through the sand in the hallway to her parent's room. Pulling aside the cloth that acted as their door, she nudged her father awake.
"Daddy? Could you draw someone for me?"
"Now?" Her father, Mr. Rojas groaned. "It's like 2 am!"
"I won't remember her as well in the morning!"
Mr. Rojas sighed and tossed his covers onto his wife. "I'm coming, Wen. Go to my chair, I'll be there in a minute."
Wenara nodded once, crunching back across the sand to their living room, consisting of an old rug, a small table and a worn-out chair. She sat down in front of the chair that her father and brother argued over.
Her father came out of his bedroom, having thrown his raggedy old robe and slippers, trying to be as quiet as he could so he wouldn't wake Mrs. Rojas up. "What character is so important that you have to wake me up at two am for?" He grumbled, sitting down heavily on the chair. "I don't see why we couldn't wait until morning."
"I told you," Wenara passed him the sketchbook. "I won't remember her as well in the morning."
"So this is a dream you had?"
Wenara nodded. "You ready to draw her?"
"I suppose."
Wenara smiled up at him. "Okay, so she's a teenager. Probably sixteen or seventeen. Long, dark hair with purple tips. She's tall and she has a devil-may-care attitude with a smile that never leaves her face." Wenara paused. "It's kind of annoying though. The way she smiles so much, I mean. Her arms curve like mamma's, pretty muscle-y. She has a long coat that flies around her in the air like magic."
"Like this?" Mr. Rojas flipped the book around for his daughter to see.
"Her eyes are sharper." Wenara declared after studying her father's picture.
Mr. Rojas flipped the sketchbook around again and adjusted the girl's eyes. He was pretty good at drawing people as long as he had someone dictating to him what the person looked like. Before he was married with two kids, he worked with the Vaccuan police as a sketch artist. Now he worked as a freelance Huntsman with his wife. "How's this?" he asked Wenara, showing her the drawing once more.
Wenara beamed up at him. "That's her!" She gave him a peck on his cheek and took the sketchbook out of his hands. "Thank you daddy! Night night!" She walked triumphantly back down the hallway to her bedroom.
Mr. Rojas leaned his face against his hand, watching her go. He shook his head, a small smile flitting over his face. "Her brother never woke me up this early when he was little. What's the difference in between him and Wen?"
"For one thing," Mr. Rojas jumped ten feet in the air when his son's voice came from behind his chair. "I'm a boy, she's a girl. I'm the oldest, she's the youngest. She isn't as good at slipping out of her room as I am."
"You about gave me a heart attack, Ax!" Mr. Rojas scolded the boy. "What are you doing out here?"
"Feeling your age, old man?" Ax joked good-naturally. "I got tired hearing the same nightmare from Wenara every night when she woke up. Is there any chance I could have my own bedroom in the foreseeable future?"
"Not right now, kiddo," Mr. Rojas sighed. "I'm sorry, but we-"
Ax put up his hands, interrupting his father. "I know, I know. I leave for Battle-school in two years and you and mom need to save money so I can actually 'have a good time'. It was my weak attempt at making a joke in a grim situation."
"'Grim?'" Mr. Rojas repeated. "How is the situation grim?"
Ax pressed his lips together. "Her dream? She's had the same one for the past week, down to the very last details. Sounds suspiciously like that creepy boss of yours and mom's," Ax leaned closer to his dad. "What does that guy want with us? It's like he's always there, shadowing over everything we do. Why would he waste his Semblance on Wen? I mean, I love her and all, but what would he want with a scrawny six year old?"
Mr. Rojas shut his eyes. "He pays us better than anyone else we work for. He's actually a nice guy once you work with him a couple times. I'm sure you're just reading the signs wrong."
Ax frowned. "What if I'm right, dad? What if he's bad news for our family? He gives me the creeps."
"We'll keep an eye out, mkay?" Mr. Rojas rubbed his tired eyes. "You don't have to try to keep us safe, Ax. That's me and your mom's job."
"Okay, I guess," Ax said, trying to stifle a yawn.
"Try to sleep," Mr. Rojas grinned over at Ax. "That's an order, cadet."
"Aye aye captain!" Ax saluted, getting to his feet and walking back to his and Wenara's shared room. "Later pops."
Mr. Rojas flicked off the lamp and sat in the darkness of the living room. He had the same concerns about his boss, but he wasn't going to let his son see that. Hopefully, he and Mrs. Rojas could handle him. If not, Ax was going to be in for a rough few years...
