Disclaimer: I don't owe The Vision of Escaflowne or any of its characters!!!!
AN: Second chapter!! Hope you enjoy it!!!
The Tempest
The azure blue sky was turning a slight pink as the sun slowly set. Long shadows ran through the streets and people were on their way home after a long day's work.
It had been a wounderful day in the glorious kingdom of Fanelia. Although Fanelia was small it had a respected reputation all around Gaea. The kingdom was famous for its resources, traditions and for its beauty. Fanelia was nested in a mountain bed with thick forests and clear rivers, where dragons, unicorns and other fantastic creatures lived hidden from the eyes.
Moreover Fanelia's rulers were well known for their wise and kind ruling. If there were differences between other countries Fanelia negotiated between them to bring peace again.
The people in Fanelia were happy and looked up at the castle towering over the kingdom with respect and love.
The now red sun light washed over the city. The soldiers at the outpost watched the main street leading into Fanelia lazily. Their tired eyes flew over the farmers' houses clustered together outside the gates.
A guard stifled a yawn as he once again turned his eyes at the main road. But this time his eyes opened wide and waves of fear and shock ran through his body. He was not able to move nor say something, he just stood there his body shaking with terror.
The man next to him laughed, "Seen a ghost again, Davill?" But as his gaze followed the other man's his laughter died and his face palled.
An army was coming their way, directly to the city. It must have been thousands, a never ending sea of black and blue uniforms. But what made his blood run cold were not the soldiers but the dragons.
Everywhere in between the rows of men were huge beasts. Their massive bodies were dark green with stone like scales and deadly blue spikes. Every stomp of their clawed feet made the ground shake and the low growling from deep within their armoured chests made every men's blood freeze. The dragons' faces were broad with wild yellow eyes, darting around. Their mouths hung open and saliva fell in big, sticky drops to the ground. In their mouths were rows of terrifying long and sharp teeth, ready to snap a man in half. And deep down their throat was a burning fire that could destroy all life. On the dragons' backs sat men, they were so small and fragile compared to the beast. It seemed almost ridiculous to think that such powerful creatures would let a tiny man lead the way.
The army was coming faster and faster, not once did they stop. Houses and even people that were in their way were run over, with no sign of remorse. The families, living in front of the gate were trying to flee, but they were lost.
Cold sweat ran down the guard's face and finally he was able to tear his eyes way from the deadly army approaching. Hastily he ran to the warning bell hanging from the ceiling of the post. The way seemed to last an eternity and he tried to run faster. As if he was in a trance he rang the bell and screamed with all his might,
"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!! ATTACK!!! ATTACK!!!"
At that moment life in the city seemed to stop. Silence was lying upon Fanelia, bathed in the blood red light of the dying sun. Only the screams and shouts from the gate broke the quiet atmosphere.
But suddenly a loud bang shattered the silence, dust and stones filled the air and fire flared up into the sky.
A woman dropped her basket with fruits and ran away screaming. Other people followed, panic took hold of them. They were running through the street, trying desperately to save their lives. Lost children hid crying behind houses and wagons, people tried to reach the forests or the castle to find shelter, mothers were searching for their children or other loved ones and between all of that the Fanelian army hopelessly fought the enemy.
Fire broke free and more and more soldiers entered the city through the broken gate. The massive stone wall had fallen like a house of cards, not withstanding the strength of the opponents.
A terror filled scream was in the air as the first dragon entered the city. Its massive tail destroyed a house in one motion and a burning fireball flew from its throat, the flames taking hold of another house.
At that moment a blood red dragon flew over the doomed city. He had a slim, but strong body, and his leathery wings held him high in the sky. The black eyes of the dragon were filled with a cold fire as he shot a fireball down into the streets of Fanelia.
A maniac laugh echoed over the land. The silver haired master of the dragon directed him down into the city to bring even more death, his laughter mixing with the screams and shouts of the dying city.
Fanelia went up in flames and nothing was there to save it.
Fine sunbeams fell through the curtains. The morning sun caressed Hitomi's sleeping form. Lazily, Hitomi opened her green eyes : "Ahh, another bright day", she tiredly stretched her muscles and got out of her bed to get ready for the first morning meeting.
It had been almost two weeks since her disturbing dream, but she didn't give another thought about it. She hadn't had another nightmare like that and wouldn't have one again. Maybe she had just eaten too much that night.
Putting her white robe on, she left for the assembly room, on her way she met many other students, they were all chatting happily and laughter filled the hallways.
Quickly she reached the wide gardens of the temple, they were beautifully green and had thousands of exotic flowers blooming, which filled the air with the sweetest fragrances. Hitomi walked over to an old cherry tree, it was in bloom too and wore hundreds of white flowers and gave a fragrance like nothing else. She loved this old tree, in summer time she would eat its sweet fruit, and now in spring she would spend hours sitting beneath it, just enjoying the beauty of nature.
Lost in thoughts she didn't hear the person approaching, "Hitomi, you don't want to come too late to the meeting ,do you?"
As if stung by a bee, Hitomi turned around. She knew that voice all too well, butterflies were forming in her stomach and a red hew adorned her face, "A-Amano...I...I was lost in thoughts, I think. Thank you." She smiled up at him and felt like melting away under his friendly gaze and ,oh, so handsome smile.
"Come on, we'd better go, or we will be the last ones arriving and you don't want to get into trouble, do you?"
Still smiling, Hitomi nodded and they walked off to a building on the other side of the gardens. The building was white with marble columns decorating the entrance.
As the two friends entered almost all the other students were already seated on the floor, silently chatting with one another. Among the crowd Hitomi spotted Yukari waving frantically. She grabbed Amano's arm and led him over to Yukari.
"You are almost too late! Did you sleep in again? I should have woken you up with that water spell!! This meeting is very important, unless you have forgotten the announcement!", Yukari crossed her arms and sat down.
Giggling Hitomi sat down next to her, Amano following. "Don't be too harsh to her, Yukari! We made it in time."
But before Yukari was able to reply the whole room went silent. And all eyes were directed to the entrance of the room.
Slowly an elderly woman entered, her white robe fell over her ankles and touched the ground. She walked to the middle of the group and kindly smiled down to her young students, "Good morning." Her voice was melodic and had something youthful in it, not common for a woman her age.
The youths bowed their heads and greeted her in union, "Good morning, Great Priestess."
Again, her deep purple eyes watched the crowd, not a single word was said.
"My dear students, I called you here today because I have a serious matter to discuss with you. Some of my students already know what I am going to tell you. Two weeks ago I asked some of you to accompany me on a walk. I told them about the Great Gaean War. I ordered them not to talk about what they heard until I could be sure that it was really happening, but now the time has come. Fifteen nights ago, I had a vision, it was the vision about war. A terrible war falling over Gaea. I didn't want to tell all of you until I could be really sure that it was the future I saw, but unfortunately it was. The Great Gaean War has begun again, this time even deadlier than before."
A wave of murmurs went through the room, some people looked shocked, others confused and a few had fear in their eyes.
Hitomi watched the high priestess of the temple, her breathing got shorter. Her dream came back into her mind, the fire, the screams and the death. Now she was sure, it was no dream, it was a vision, a vision of the first victims of the war. Her heart began to beat faster and she felt sick.
The woman held her arms into the air and the room went silent once again, "I know that this is a shock for all of you and not everybody knows the story of the war many years ago, but the other students will tell you later. Now we don't have time for that, right this moment we fill our storage houses, and some people from the nearby villages come here to seek shelter. Tomorrow we will put mighty spells over the temple to protect us from the war. You will not be able to leave, everybody will stay here until the war is over. We have enough food, water and everything else we need for many months. So, don't worry. Nothing will harm you!"
A servant came walking in and bowed, "High Priestess, one hundred people are inside, but there are more waiting. What shall we do? Let them in?"
"No", that moment her words were like ice, "Send them away, we don't have any room." The servant nodded and walked off.
"So my children, don't worry, just live on, like nothing happens. This is a holy place, a place like paradise. I will see you tomorrow."
But before she was able to go Hitomi jumped up, "Wait, you can't be serious! We will all just stay here, behind the temple walls and live like nothing happens?! We can't do that ... and you can't send those people away! They will die out there, they need our help!", memories of her vision filled her mind and her heart felt heavy, "We can't let them die! Here are some of the most powerful sorcerers of all Gaea, we can fight the enemy and protect the people, we don't need to hide like cowards!", she remembered one night when her mother had told her the tale about the war, she never thought it would come true, not now. But it had, and they all wanted to hide, anger was rising in her.
The Priestess looked her right into the eyes, "My dear child, Hitomi, we don't hide like cowards, we just protect ourselves. We could try to fight them, but so many would die. You don't know how much pain and destruction is out there. War doesn't only leave physical scars, it leaves deep mental gashes, sometimes, which are even deadlier than the ones you can see. I don't want any of you to experience that. You are all so close to my heart. And the villages, I don't want to send them away, but we don't have enough room and food to take care of all of them. I'm sorry. But don't be sad, you will understand and thank me. We have nothing to fear behind these walls."
"But-But...", desperately Hitomi looked at the other students in the room for help, but nobody returned her gaze. They were all staring at the ground, uncomfortable expressions on their faces. Hitomi turned to her best friend Yukari with pleading eyes, "Yukari, please..."
Hesitating, Yukari met her friend's gaze, "I-I'm sorry, forgive me." Quickly she lowered her head again.
Hitomi looked around again, resentment clearly visible in her deep green eyes, "Why- Why...This is not right! Please! You can't..."
Tears were burning in her eyes, she couldn't believe this. She thought the temple would do everything to protect people from harm. They should never, never hide, letting innocent women, children and men die! Everything she had believed in fell apart in front of her eyes. Not even Yukari had stood up next to her!
She couldn't take it anymore, she ran as fast as she could out of the hall and away from the people she had thought of as her family.
Darkness had settled over the lands, the mystic moon and its child stood high up in the sky and millions of stars lighted the black night. The whole temple was asleep and comfortable silence engulfed the world.
Hitomi stood at her window, watching the stars. She wore dark brown boots with suiting pants, her shirt was a dark, forest green and her hands were covered with black leather gloves. Next to her were two leather bags, the small one filled with some money, the other one with some of her few belongings and some food and drinks. A dark cape lay on her bed and next to it was an artfully carved bow and two long, silver daggers.
It is time, with a sigh she pushed herself away from the window – sill. Skilfully she put her long hair into a bun and walked over to her bed. Quickly she pulled the cape over and placed the daggers underneath it against her belt. The bow, she placed on her back. She hadn't had arrows yet, she would need to get some later on. At last she strapped the large bag across her shoulders and the small one on her belt.
Swiftly she climbed onto the window-sill and with one small jump she landed lithely on the grass. For once she was glad that her room lay on the first floor and not like the rooms of some of her fellow students on the second or third.
Quietly like a cat she ran over to the small stables of the temple. She met nobody on her way, everything was quite, not even the animals in the stables disturbed the peaceful night.
In one movement she opened the stable door, immediately warm air enveloped her and the pleasant smell of the horses filled her nostrils. Although it was dark ,and the only light that came into the stables was from the cracks in the wood, Hitomi knew exactly were she had to go. Her horse stood in one of the boxes, already awaiting her. Hitomi smiled at her beloved horse, Avard. He was strong and underneath his shining white fur his muscles were clearly visible. Avard was a proud and beautiful animal, one of the fastest in the region.
Hitomi had fallen in love with him four years ago, she had seen him on a market and couldn't tear her eyes away from the young horse. The priestess didn't want to give her her own horse, but she had been crying and stubbornly insisting on buying him.
A smile played on her lips as she hugged the horse's neck. She had been so childish that day, she had never done anything like that before, she had acted like a pampered brat that day, but it was the only way to get Avard. And she did! Of course she worked hard to give the money back the priestess had paid and she worked for his food and shelter, but she loved it. Avard was worth all the hard days.
She let her fingers glide over his short fur, "Are you ready ,Avard? You will come with me, right?" As if he wanted to answer, he nodded his head.
A small laughter escaped her lips, "I knew that, so come on." She quickly got Avard ready and lead him to the temple gates. Gracefully, she got on to the saddle and turned Avard around one last time.
Her green eyes flew over the peaceful temple and its lands. She absorbed everything in this silent moment, her heart felt heavy, but she needed to go. She would try to help and fight the rising evil. She couldn't stay here and hide, although a small part of her wanted to. This part wanted her to turn around and go back to her room, and keep on living her protected life and not go out into the world.
She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts.
This may be the last time she would see her home, she sighed, but her lips formed into a smile. The wind carried her whispered words, "Fare well my friends, I hope we will met again."
With that she turned Avard around and dashed away into the night, not looking back. She left the temple and her sheltered life behind and was on her way to an unimaginable adventure.
A/N.: Hope you liked it, this is like a second introduction. Next chapters will be longer and the real adventure will begin. AND she will meet Van!!! Jumps up and Down. Later on in the story, I'm going to tell more about the Fanelian attack. Van is going to tell it, but that was enough of the preview
Please leave a review!!! I Love (!!!!!!!) reviews,
See you next time,
Little Fairy