A/N: Shout out to AnimeAngel111 and Aqui for following this story. You guys rock! Virtual hugs!
"Aeris come help me feed the goats!" Her father's voice rang out across the fields, his deep baritone was easily carried to were the young girl sat under a tree reading a book.
"Coming Papa!" She used a cucco feather to mark her place and hurried to her father. He handed her a bucket of grain, She noticed that it was only half full.
she smiled up at her father who gave her a wink, "When you're done with that go find your mother," He turned and resumed gathering hay into a wheelbarrow, leaving Aeris to her task.
The rest of her day was spent doing various chores and helping her mother with laundry, until it was time for lunch. She helped her mother make sandwiches before heading to the barn to meet her father.
They ate lunch as a family under the tree Aeris had been reading under. Her parents laughed when a curious cucco chased the small girl trying to take a slice of bread she had been eating. After several laps around the tree and several painful pecks to the backs of her legs Aeris dropped the now smooshed piece of bread, relinquishing her prize to the feathered evil spawn.
She retreated back to the shade of the tree with tears in her eyes, she slipped easily into her mother's outstretched arms hiccuping lightly as her mother ran her fingers through her hair. Her father leaned over and kissed her mother lightly then kissed Aeris on her forehead before getting to head back to work.
She felt safe in her mother's warm embarrassed, her heartbeat was steady in her ears like a drum lulling her into ease. Her mother began singing softly, and Aeris felt herself drifting away, cucco long forgotten.
Green eyes fluttered open and were met with gold.
Sand she was laying in a pile of sand.
She bolted upright, sending sand flying. Her eyes darted around searching frantically for her mother, but she found only sand.
She called out but her voice was swallowed by the sand.
Golden sand against a clear azure sky spread for miles in every direction until it faded into the horizon
She tried calling out again only to have the void of the desert swallow her voice again.
A light breeze caressed her skin as she rose to her feet, she wrapped her arms around herself shivering lightly and realized that vast amounts of her skin were uncovered. She looked down and was met with the body of a grown woman, startled she brought her hands to her face to inspect them. her fingers were long and slender, much like her mother's, no longer the slightly pudgy fingers of a ten year old.
She cast her gaze to the rest of her body. She wore a dress of sorts, it was a crisp white with crimson accents at the hems, it left her shoulders and midriff bare. Flowing sleeves caressed her arms, the left went to her shoulder and was secured there by a small golden pauldron and a thin crimson band just above her elbow, the right stopped at the band.
The skirt sat low on her hips and was open on both sides while a pair of tight red shorts kept her modesty, a red sash was wrapped around her hips, bunched at either side and held a golden belt in place. One tendril of the sash flowed down the front of the white skirt, like blood against snow, and a pair of simple leather sandals adorned her feet and wrapped around her calves.
She brought her hands to the weight at her throat, a medal collar sat there, her fingers danced across a large gem at the base. If she had to guess the collar was gold and the gem was red, a ruby perhaps. Her hands traveled further up to her head and found a circlet, it came to a point between her brows, she could feel several gems embedded in its surface. Her black hair fell in loose curls well past her shoulders and brushed the backs of her knees.
With her change in appearance taken in Aeris concluded that this was in fact a dream, but it felt more real than any dream she had ever had, and lacked the normal whimsical notes her dreams possessed.
Another light breeze blew across the sands and with it came a voice. Feminine and as harshly beautiful as the desert, "Come to me child," Aeris turned toward the voice and began walking. She walked for what felt like hours and miles toward the empty horizon until a rock face slowly emerged from beyond.
As she drew closer, she could see a colossal woman carved in the stone, her legs crossed with her hands resting on her knees, a mighty cobra wound around her body and rested its head against hers.
Aeris stared in awe at the statue's serenely beautiful face, amazed at how lifelike the stone looked, when it moved. Aeris stumbled back several steps nearly falling backward into the sand.
"Do not fear me child," The Colossus spoke in the voice from before, like sand blowing across the dessert.
"Why am I here?" So many questions plagued her mind
"You will change everything," This only left Aeris with more questions than answers
What do you mean?" What will I change?" The Colossus leaned forward, stone moving in ways that defied logic
"You will change fate, child. Fate will bow to your whims yet you remain it's slave," A scream rang out across the sands.
Was that her mother?
"You will face many hardships but you are the key factor to an ancient cycle coming to an end." The smell of smoke filled her nose and lungs. Where was it coming from?
"Go child. Your destiny lies before you,"
"May the goddesses have mercy on you,"
Aeris bolted up right in her bed. Her mother must have moved her at some point. It was dark outside her window but there was an odd orange glow coming from somewhere. The smell of smoke hit her like a wall and her blood ran cold.
Something was terribly wrong.
A crash came from down stairs followed by her mother screaming. Aeris sat frozen as footsteps thundered up the stairs toward her room. A sob escaped her when her mother burst through her door, her face smeared with blood and soot, eyes wide with fear. Aeris cried as she watched her mother knock over her bookshelf to barricade the door, not understanding what was happening.
She shrieked when something crashed against the door with enough force to crack the frame.
"Mama?" Aeris was openly sobbing now
Her mother rushed to her and wrapped her in a backbreaking embrace. Aeris felt something wet drip onto her head, whether it was blood or tears she didn't know. "Aeris, Honey I need you to listen to me," The door shook again several voices shouted on the other side. Her mother hurriedly placed something in Aeris' hands.
The Gerudo slip
"Take this and run. Don't look back and don't wait for me. I'll be right behind you," Her mother's arms left her and the woman rushed to the window, she hoisted it open. She motioned for Aeris to come to her and the young girl complied. Ahia grabbed Aeris and all but shoved her out of the window onto the roof.
"Mama what's happening?" Aeris tried desperately to cling to her mother, the barn was on fire. Why was the barn on fire?
"Aeris I need you to be strong for me baby," Her mother gripped either side of her face and kissed her forehead. "Know that your father and I love you. The Gerudo will keep you safe until we can catch up with you, but I need you to run now," Ahia's green eyes filled with tears as she shoved her daughter hard enough to send her tumbling down the slope of the roof to the ground.
The drop wasn't enough to hurt Aeris but it was enough to knock the breath from her. As she laid there she heard the door to her room shatter and her mother scream. That was all she needed to prompt her to take off into the night toward the desert. The Gerudo slip gripped tightly to her chest and her home burning brightly behind her.
A/N: We're getting into to story now! Just a few more chapters and we should be in the meat of things so stick around and let me know what you guys think and check out my DeviantArt for a look at the outfit Aeris wears in her dream, just search for QuizzyDovah (InquisitorDovah was taken)
As always comments are always welcome and constructive criticism is appreciated