Reunited

By: biacebaolck

She awoke, yawned and stretched her arms. Backlash, daughter of the late Selena and the late Lash, rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She looked at the position of the sun, which was just rising.

Hopping off the boulder where she had slept the night before, Backlash, checked to make sure that her sling pouch was still there, with the dirk. It was.

She touched her footpaws and stretched her legs. After doing the splits to test her flexibility, Backlash stood up and ran her usual morning run to the cottage. She arrived in a couple of minutes, and opened the door quietly and stepped in. This time, she managed to close the door without having it squeak.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she walked softly to her Aunt's room. "Aunt Rhia?" she whispered. Her aunt looked up from the scroll of parchment, on which she was writing on with an inked quill.

"Yes? Is this about Death's Gate? You know you don't have to go."

"But, it's like- Aunt Rhia, this is about Death's Gate and I have to go. It's like, I have to, or else…"

"Ok, but before you go, look at this." Her aunt opened a hidden drawer and took out a glowing green orb and handed it to her. "Take a close look at it and tell me what you see."

Backlash obeyed, but couldn't see anything. Then, she saw something. And more. It was… "A forest?" she asked. Her aunt smiled a knowing smile.

She watched awestruck as the forest's beasts, fish and the plants, acted as though they were not in the forest, but out here, where you and I are right now, in the outside world. Her aunt smiled a knowing smile.

"If you can see it, it means you're destined to keep it and use it."

"How am I supposed to use a sphere?"

"You'll know when it's time." Rhia simply said and looked into her eyes. "Make sure you guard it with your life. Nobeast except you must use it. And you can't show it to them before it's time, do you understand?"

"I understand, but why? And when's it time?"

"You'll know when you need to." Answered Rhia. Backlash sighed, defeated.

"It's just like the old saying: Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer." She muttered.

"Oh, I wouldn't say it's a stupid question or even a stupid answer. You think it's stupid because you don't know what it means. It's all right; beasts other than you have done that. There are 3 more orbs like this but when you look at them, they aren't a forest. There are 4 orbs in total.

"You have the earth one in your paws. The water orb shows a large water fountain. The fire orb shows lava pits and the air orb shows well, air. You must look very hard to see the air in that orb. But I know you can find them all." Rhia smiled. "And about that dirk-"

"It's ok, Aunt Rhia. It's yours. I'll buy one when I get to town." She interrupted.

"But I was going to give you mine." Rhia frowned. Backlash, shook her head, giving her aunt back the dirk

"Keep it, you'll need it. What if vermin come while I'm gone? Besides, Uncle Emrys can't always protect you."

"As if I need him to protect me," Laughed her aunt. Her laugh was beautiful and sounded exactly like Selena's, but not as unique as Backlash's. "I'm able to care for myself, you know."

"I know. So can we spar one last time?" asked Backlash. Rhia took out a tray of daggers and dirks from the drawer.

"Take your pick." Backlash chose a dagger. "Are you sure, Backlash? A dagger is a lot shorter than a dirk."

"I know," she said, touching the tip to her paw. A trickle of blood shed and she nodded, satisfied. It was sharp, exactly what would be useful in a spar. "That's what makes it fun."

The two walked outside, quietly, trying not to awaken Emrys. Well, Backlash was. Rhia only walked normally, which was pretty quietly. She closed the door behind her and they walked to nearby field, about 25 paces away from the cottage.

Rhia assumed a fighting position and Backlash did likewise, only assuming the fighting position her late Master, Master Kagroo, had taught her to fight in. Silently, Backlash counted to 4 before charging. Rhia, noticing the direction she was headed, blocked her attack.

She pushed her niece back with the dirk and assumed a ready position. The two were exactly 3 paces from each other. Rhia stepped forward and attacked. Backlash went to a defense position and blocked all her attacks.

Her eyes watched every movement her aunt made. Her body moved by itself, almost automatically, as her mind concentrated on her aunt's movements.

Rhia feinted a left encounter but Backlash saw right through it. With a few quick strides forward to the right, she managed to block her aunt's dirk. They both breathed heavily as they both struggled to disarm the other.

"It's hard to believe you just learned to use a dirk just yesterday. A dirk takes about a few months to master, and a dagger takes a lot longer, and this is your first time with a dagger."

"Thanks for the compliment, I learned by watching you spar with Uncle Emrys visually." Her niece replied. Backlash pulled back suddenly, and Rhia, who had been leaning forward on the dirk, lost her footing and stumbled forward.

This was all Backlash needed. She disarmed Rhia with in a quick motion with her dagger, and the dirk went up, up, up and away. But, like the old saying goes: What goes up must come down. The dirk fell back down after a while and Backlash caught it in her right paw. She was left pawed (left handed) you see.

Rhia stared dumbly at the dirk that had been in her paw and at the dirk in Backlash's right paw and back again. She did this several times. "You're very quick." She said at last.

This earned a smile from Backlash. "What can I say? You and Uncle Emrys are the best teachers to learn from."

"I thank you for the compliment." Both of them whipped around. Emrys stood, smiling and holding Backlash's haversack and the green orb. "I think 'tis yours, young 'un." Backlash looked taken aback.

"But the orb isn't mine-" she began but Rhia cut her off.

"You could see what was inside, while other beasts can't. And a Torquoi law states that, if you can see what is inside any one of the Elemental orbs, you're destined to gather all of them."

"If that much is true…. What do I do once I've gathered them all?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Said Rhia and Emrys in unison. Backlash stayed quiet for a few minutes, obviously thinking. Emrys sat down, obviously tired.

"And…. What's a Torquoi?" she asked at last.

"Well, put it this way. Have you ever been able to do things that other beasts couldn't?"

"Does that count being able to withstand whippings and being slashed by a cutlass?"

"YOU WERE WHIPPED AND SLASHED, YOUNG 'UN?" exclaimed Emrys, jumping up from the ground on which he had been sitting on.

"Calm down, dear." Rhia said, pulling him back down. She too was sitting down on the ground. In fact, they all were. "What's this about you being whipped and slashed?" she asked.

"Nothing much. Master Kagroo used to whip me or slash me if I didn't get a job done quick enough."

"What's this about a Master?" asked Emrys. "Were you a slave?"

"Yep." She then noticed her uncle tense. "It's ok, Uncle. I barely feel whips or cutlasses anymore. Besides, whether I was a slave or a student or both, I learned how to fight. That's how I learn fast. When Master Kagroo used to teach me how to use weapons, he always brought out his whip and cutlass so I always hurried to learn."

"Where is this Master of yours?"

"There's no point in hunting him down, Uncle Emrys. He's dead."

"He's what?"

"He's dead." She repeated. "When I came back after meeting a mountain hare, he had already been slain. I don't know how he died, and that's one of the reasons I'm going to Death's Gate. There's bound to be a seer around Death's Gate who can tell me what happened. Seers are very common near Death's Gate. Didn't you tell me that before, Aunt Rhia?"

"I can't deny that." Said Rhia, making a face. "But I wish I'd never told you in the first place. But, before you go, you must februare yourself."

"I need to purify myself again?" exclaimed Backlash. "I did that before I learned to throw slings as well as Uncle!"

"And that proves that you'll do even better than you would've if you hadn't februare yourself, young 'un. Now, meditate, time's a' wasting! If'n you want te go early, you must meditate earlier! Young 'un, you'll find out that if you februare yourself, you'll be more likely to succeed in what you want to do!" said Emrys, putting the orb in her haversack and handing it to her.

She only took it and nodded, closing her eyes, and breathing in and out, meditating on what she wanted to do. If what her uncle said was true, then she'd have better meditate well, or else she'd never succeed at her task!

If she remembered correctly from her uncle, she needed to aperire her mind, and search for something that would help keep her going. Why did she need to open her mind? Well, that's what meditation is for, is it not?

She thought to the time Aunt Rhia told her about Earth, the founder of the 4 Torquoi tribes. Earth had been known as Gaea back then. Gaea had been treated badly, just because her father stood up for what he thought was right and was put in jail. Her mother and her became outcasts in their village and were beaten. They left in the midst of night, hoping to get away.

They did, but in the outskirts of their village was a slaver. Gaea, watched, horrified, as her mother was chained before her very eyes. When a fox whipped her mother, she tackled him and unchained her mother before he could regain unconsciousness.

Her mother died before Gaea's very eyes after she had given up all hope. After burying her mother, Gaea vowed never to give up, no matter what the circumstances. She met a wounded hare on her journey back to the village where she once lived. She tended to him. When he was fully healed, he asked her name.

"My name is Earth." She replied, not wanting to give out her true name in case a beast from her village came to hear the name and roused up everybeast to cast her out again. He offered to go with her to her village and she accepted. She felt a strange attraction towards him.

When they arrived at the village, it was deserted. Not sure why, the two searched for an answer, but the answer came to them. An evil wildcat controlled the 4 elements into attacking them, but somehow, Gaea managed to seal all the elements into 4 orbs so that they would never harm anybeast again. The wildcat ran away, vowing revenge on them.

"My descendants will hunt you down!" he howled. "And your descendants will tremble whenever they hear the name, Scarfang!"

Gaea and Mark, the hare's name, lived in the village, protecting it from any vermin. When the numbers of vermin became overwhelming, for they (the vermin) were in search of the 4 Elemental orbs for their master, the wildcat that Gaea and Mars had defeated together, Gaea scattered the orbs around the world by sending them (she was a physic) in their elements.

But… Gaea never gave up. Even though she had to scatter the orbs across the world, she managed to keep going, and never giving up. Backlash would be just like her, never to give up. Her eyes snapped open as she silently vowed never to give up, just like Gaea.

Her Uncle and Aunt were…frozen? She waved a paw in front of each of their faces. Nothing. No emotion shown. She sighed. 'I guess this is one of those crazy Torquoi laws.' She thought. Getting up, she gave them both a stern look.

"Don't let anybeast raid my sketchbook drawer like last time." She muttered, turned and walked away. She felt a little better saying that. Like after saying that, she was sure they wouldn't allow anybeast raid her sketchbook drawer.

Her sketchbook drawer contained all her sketchbooks, from the old ones, to the current ones. It seemed she had a new talent, and Uncle Emrys and Aunt Rhia knew that she wanted to keep this a secret. A warrior who was an artist… What kind of fighter was that? That was the type of fighter she didn't want to be. She couldn't stand being mocked.

When she was about half-a-days walk from where she had left her Aunt and Uncle, she looked back at the forest she had come out of. "I'll miss you all," she whispered. And she truly meant it.

Somehow, now, more than ever, Backlash felt more reunited with her ancestor, Gaea more than ever. Now, she felt the sadness Gaea felt when she had to leave her village, her home. But she wouldn't give up, and Backlash wouldn't either.

Further on her journey, she met Bucko Bigbones, who, coincidently was on his morning jog. Mistaking her for a boy, he asked if she would join on the journey to defeat Ugnatt Trunn.

Knowing this could be an opportunity to increase her strength, she said, in her low voice, that made her sound like a boy, "Count me in."

But when she saw Bucko smile at this, she couldn't help but feel glad she agreed. Bucko didn't know it, but he was now reunited with the haremaid he had met. Unknown to either beast, this new journey was going to change her destiny in a very big way. And so starts the real beginning of, Backlash's Story