Forgotten Bonds
Reply With QuoteChapter 1
Warm sunlight flooded my little hut... damn, was it morning already? My sleep seemed to have lasted mere seconds. I got off my bamboo bed and looked around for a bit. My hut was... in all senses, an ordinary hut. Basic living necessities and a river just nearby that we could bathe in. The only thing out of the ordinary was probably the longsword hung on the wall - a family heirloom passed down through the generations.
My silvery brown hair blew over my shoulder on the wind blowing in through the open window. It settled in two long locks reaching down my slender and busty figure and to my waist. I was tall for a 14-year old girl - around 1.6 metres.
The wind blew again, and I started to shiver a little. I realized I was pretty much half-naked here - only my panties were on. I scrambled over to my closet and put on a light white robe that seemed to flow around my shapely body in the wind, accentuating its gentle curves. I admired myself for a few moments before scrambling over to the bed on the other side of the hut. There, a girl with brown hair like mine lay asleep. Hers reached until her shoulders, and her body hadn't started developing yet. My sister, Mayla was only 11 years old - not surprising.
"May, wake up!" I jostled her.
"Few more... minutes..." she only rolled over under her blanket.
I groaned and grabbed a wooden bucket from the side of the door. It took me seconds to reach the river and fill the bucket with cool water. Another few seconds to get back to the hut, and one second to dump the bucket on my little sister's head.
"What was that... for!?" she woke up instantly, spluttering.
"Don't sleep in! We have work to do!"
The two of us were the only girls that did any real work on the island. Because we were the daughters of the chief, we were tasked with keeping the sacred shrine in the middle of the island clean and tidy. Other girls only had to clean up huts and wash things. It was very hard work - the shrine was big. And we had to work every single day, so we had very little personal time. The only consolation was that we didn't have to attend the morning classes like the other children - the power of the god of the shrine granted us knowledge, wisdom, strength, beauty and eternal youth. It felt like we were living in a dream sometimes...
"Don't wake me up like that!" Mayla complained as she walked over to the closet.
"You were so cute though... haha!" I laughed, walking over to join her.
"Say any more, and I'll punch you in the face."
"Okay, okay."
We changed into our ceremonial attire - short white robes open at the top with blue lines lining it. In a way, it symbolized our purity, a trait which was needed for our job. It actually wasn't needed at the shrine - we only wore it to show that we were the shrine maidens in public, but we went into the shrine itself bare naked, again, as a sign of purity. The shrine was inside a mountain cave, so it was rather chilly at times, but we had learnt to endure it. Rather, we were immune to the cold. Like the shrine maidens before us..
The power of the shrine actually made us age faster - a good example would be me. Although I was actually 14, my body was that of an 18 year old. The accelerated aging started at 12, and further aging completely stopped when our bodies had completely developed into that of a young adult. It wasn't just physical aging - it was mental aging too.
I slung the family longsword around my torso, allowing the strap to rest in my bosom. It was tradition for the oldest child in the family to carry it... but if it was a girl, the longsword would be passed to the husband upon marriage.
"If we don't hurry up, we'll be late!" I called, running on ahead of Mayla.
"Slow down!" she shouted, struggling to even catch up. She was just a little bit slower than me because her legs weren't as long.
The cool sea breeze blew at us as we ran up the slope leading to the shrine. Our daily duties included carrying water from the river at the bottom of the mountain up to the shrine to use for washing. It was one of the reasons we didn't get tired easily, the other being our work inside it. Every day, strange black spots appeared inside the shrine, and we had to clean them off. Problem was... there were more and more black spots each day. I suspected that there was something happening to the shrine, but I had no way to tell what.
The spots also got harder and harder to clean off each time. A year ago, we could wipe them off with cloth, but now the only way to get them off was to scrub them hard. Even then, it took minutes to get an entire patch off. But... we had to do it. No one else could - only the shrine maidens could enter the shrine. Others only hung around outside.
It took us barely 10 minutes to get all the way up. The air up at this altitude was incredibly chilly - no normal person could endure it in the kind of clothing we were wearing. On the other hand, we had a very nice view of the whole island from up here. I took a deep breath as I gazed down the side slope. The mountain was on the very edge of a corner of the island, with an almost vertical slope down the side. It was a pretty long way down, but the sea would be there to catch us if we fell. I always thought of it that way...
"Let's go!" I cheered, walking towards the cave where the shrine was located. It was dark inside, but our eyes could adjust to it.
On the way, I went over to a small stone pillar placed at the entrance to the cave. After performing a little ceremonial dance, I stripped off my robe and laid it at the foot of the pillar. Mayla did the same thing, and then our underwear followed. We did a different dance before heading into the cave.
"Is this... supposed to happen?" I gasped. The... entire shrine was covered in those black spots. Even the statue that was the centerpiece of the shrine itself...
"I think we should just clean it... We don't have a choice, right?" Mayla sighed. A bucket of leftover water from yesterday sat in a corner, and she picked it up and brought it over to the statue in the middle of the cave. I followed cautiously, a hand on the grip of my family longsword. It was the only other item permitted inside the shrine, and I had often held it in my hands to help me gather my courage... but now, it didn't seem to work. The entire shrine was giving off a strange aura, one that I had never felt before...
"I guess so..." I walked over to the statue and took a scrub out of the bucket.
Paying my respects to the statue, I kneeled in front of it and started scrubbing. "Nnngh!" I gasped as a black bolt of strange energy shot out of the statue and hit my arm. It hurt... but it didn't leave a mark... "Mayla! Something's wrong! I think we'd better go get the elders!" I retreated cautiously. My little sister nodded and backed off from the statue - she had just been about to start scrubbing.
All of a sudden... there was a rumbling sound, followed by a quake that sent the both of us reeling. We regained our footing quickly once it faded and rushed to the entrance... only to find that it was blocked by several small creatures... "What are... these?" I took several steps back. The creatures advanced slowly... Mayla ran to hide behind me as I stared at them. Pointed noses and ears... green skin... goblins? I thought they were only legends!
I gathered up my courage and pointed my palm at the creatures. My senses immediately expanded, allowing me to sense the mana in the air and control it. The ancient art of magic... passed down by our shrine maidens from generations to generations. It was the sacred art of manipulating mana in the air to use offensively, defensively or to support others... and I never thought I would be forced to use it in a situation like this. Goblins were bringers of evil... and their presence was no doubt influenced by something else.
Most probably... the dark energy radiating from the shrine. Now I recognized it - this was evil energy.
I manipulated the mana in the air into the form of a magic circle in front of me. This one was one basic spell I had known since I was a child... it was one of the fundamental spells a shrine maiden should know. "Cleansing Fire!" I shouted, forcing more mana through the circle. It came out as a white fireball that exploded in the middle of the goblin horde.
Some died instantly, while others were knocked unconscious and some were only stunned. I took the chance, grabbed Mayla and ran through the hole I had opened. I was reluctant to use the longsword - though I was well-trained in the way of the sword... It just... didn't feel right.
"Sis!" Mayla shouted. I turned around. The goblins were chasing after us... and the sky over the mountain was turning dark. What was going on? Why was this happening? "Don't bother with the robes! We'll die if we go back!" I said, casting a long glance at the pillar at which we had left our clothes... If we made it out of this alive, Father was going to grill us bad...
"Watch where you're going!" Mayla cried out. Her voice shook me out of my thoughts about what could possibly happen to us... and alerted me to the fact that we were cornered. At the edge of a cliff. This cliff in particular... was where our people went to pray in times of need... how ironic. The goblins were following up behind us, and they were closing in very fast... "Sorry, Mayla... the seas will catch us, right?" I stared at my little sister. She nodded. Just before the goblins reached us, I lifted Mayla up and made sure that the strap of the family longsword was tight before making the jump.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The school cafeteria was nice and lively - the air was filled with heated discussion. Some about the hot student somewhere nearby and some about the big piles of homework the teachers had chosen to dump on the students. Typical day... I sighed as I sat down at an enclosed area of the room reserved for the teachers. Just a typical day... in a typical school. At least, it would be if it were not for the...
*BOOM!*
The explosion startled most of the people in the cafeteria - some dropped entire trays filled with food. Loud shouting ensued from outside. This had been going on for... what? 6 hours? All I knew was that it was coming from the fleet assembled on the outskirts of the island's waters, and they were not firing at us. Rather... I heard they were just doing all this showy cannon fire to pay respect to one of their nation's ambassadors that was visiting the island. And they were making a poor show of it - their cannon fire was WAY too loud.
"Damned if we do, damned if we don't," one of my colleagues sighed, taking a seat beside me.
"You mean?"
"That cannon fire of course. We can't complain about it, or we'll be on their shit list. And if this continues, the people aren't gonna be happy."
"I guess..."
"You know how many of my periods got interrupted? All 4 periods before recess. All 4 of 'em, and now I can't even teach because the students are distracted by all the noise! I envy those music rooms and their soundproof walls."
"There's only one though, and we can't use it without permission from the principal."
"Uhuh. I heard he himself is using it to get away from all the noise."
"Cheap."
"You got that right."
I was just about to take a bite out of a burger when the cannons sounded again. More shouting. "If you keep eating those, you'll get fat," my colleague chided. "Hey, no worries, I get plenty of exercise," I returned, laughing. Still, I set the burger down. Maybe sometime else. "It's no wonder your body's like that," she shook her head. I blushed a bit - it was embarrassing to have people talk about me like that, though it was a fact I couldn't deny.
It was pretty much the ideal body any woman would want - wide bust, narrow waist, wide hips, long legs and smooth skin... uhuh. My hair was a glossy silver that emitted a faint radiance. I tried not to think about my body too much when I was teaching, but my mind kept flicking back to the old times... the turbulent times that had given me this body. I shook my head and gazed at my burger. Fighting wasn't for me anymore - I had given up on it since my partner's death. Plus, no one else even knew what happened then. The administration had covered it all up so that the citizens wouldn't panic. The official cause of death for my partner now was 'eaten by predators'. Seriously... they should've been more imaginative. Maybe something like 'died an honourable death after a valiant fight'...
So now... my fighting days were over. No more demons, no more nothing. That had been... what, 15 years ago? I still wondered if that demon would ever return in my time... though I was sure that my seal would hold out for at least another hundred years, until people were strong enough to beat it. Hopefully.
"You know most of the boys like to watch when you're teaching swimming?" my colleague said.
"No surprise. The teachers' swimsuit the school gave me just barely fits, and of all kinds, it HAD to be a two-piece."
"That, and you're so curvy."
"Don't mention it... please!"
"What's there to be shy about? At least you attract more guys!"
I went silent as I thought back to my partner. His last words still lingered in my mind...
"Almena, sorry. I forgot."
"It's fine... I've long gotten over it."
I sighed and picked up the burger to stare at it. Suddenly my appetite seemed that much less. More cannon fire rocked the school, and more shouting ensued. Someone should have told off the commander of that foreign fleet...
"We'd better head back to the staffroom and start doing some work. You're free for another 2 periods, right?"
"Yeah. I only teach a few subjects after all."
"Lucky you. Let's go. Are you going to eat that burger or what?"
"Later," I looked around my clothes for somewhere to put the burger and found none, so I just decided to wrap it back up and take it back to the staffroom in my hand. Besides, my bag was there.
We were just about to get up when the sound of another volley of cannon fire rang through the school. "They seriously need to shut up," my colleague sighed. I nodded in silent agreement as we made our way through the corridors.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Where... was I?
I slowly turned around onto my back... the sound of the sea washing up onto the beach filled my ears, and the waters reached up to my bare legs. As my senses came back to me, I became aware of a strap around my body and looked. It was a longsword in a sheath on my back. Where had I gotten it? I tried to recall, but my memories seemed to be getting more and more distant each passing second. The only thing I could remember was my name - Ceila, and that wasn't much to go around by.
The sea breeze blew, making me feel a little cold... yet it didn't seem to register in my mind. I climbed to my feet and looked around. The blue, cloudless sky above me seemed to beckon, though I knew I couldn't fly. The sea too... both invoked a strange sense of nostalgia. I gripped the grip of the longsword tight, and found that it instilled a sense of courage in me. Slightly braver now, I walked up the beach to the dense jungle lining the shore.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I had two more periods of swimming lessons later on, so I went to the bathroom connected to the staff room to change. The swimsuit the school provided for its teachers was a bikini - but mine was at least one sizes smaller than it should be. I had repeatedly asked the school to issue another one, but they didn't stock my size. So... I had to make do. Mine was stretched tight enough that one would think it could burst any second, but at least I could move around in it. Though the bottom part was the right size, the top part showed my cleavage and part of my underbust. No wonder the guys in the school liked staring at me.
My swimming prowess was one of the many skills I had acquired several years back, during the training that had gotten my body into the shape it was in now. As the sole daughter of one of the world's most renowned archers, I was forced to train myself well. My dad was dead now - killed by a demon during the Varelia War 15 years ago. The Varelia War was named after the island from which that demon originated, that demon that had... killed my partner. It didn't stop me from training, in fact, I went at it even more vigorously than before.
The only thing that protected us archers was not armour, but mobility. Dodging was always better than blocking, and my dad had trained me well in that aspect. Dodging his arrows was no easy task, but I somehow managed... was it because of his archer's blood that ran in me? Training up on mobility meant I had to develop an incredibly large reserve of stamina, and I also had to excel in moving around, no matter where I was. In the water, I could probably outstrip most professional swimmers within seconds of starting out. I always held back in school, since I didn't want to stand out too much.
With my dad gone, I started shifting my focus to close quarters combat. It was only natural - I often found myself engaging at close range in narrow places, like small tunnels or inside buildings. Plus, it was very hard for me to improve my reflexes alone. And I lived alone. Being in quiet places helped me to remember my dead partner better... tears leaked down my cheek as I reminisced about my past.
I quickly tied the last knot behind me and put on a T-shirt before heading off to the swimming pool behind the school. There would be time to think about the past sometime else.
When I reached the swimming pool, my class was already there. It was a relatively small class - only 20 people. 10 boys and 10 girls, all changed and ready to go. The girls were in the standard one-piece school swimsuit, and the guys had swimming trunks. I was pleased that no one had made any modifications... mmm. Yup.
I took attendance before I had everyone warm up beside the pool. This was the class that was best at PE in the school. This school split their classes differently - anybody who was good in one particular subject got into one particular class. Those who were good at more than 3 subjects were put into a special class. The system sort-of eliminated the need to form clubs, since each class was almost like a club by itself.
"Okay, boys will take that side of the pool and girls will take this side. Do 10 laps around your section each. You don't finish, you stay back. Got it?" I looked around. The pool was split into 4 parts using floating chains of balls, each section the same size. Even then, each section was quite big. The entire class cheered and went to their respective sections. 10 laps was nothing to these guys... but I was going to give them a little free time after all.
I sighed and sat down on a chair nearby. The sky was blue and cloudless, but I could see traces of a storm coming in from the west. No normal person could see at that distance, but I could vaguely see a few black clouds there, slowly floating over. I estimated about an hour before they got here, which was just about time school ended. I needed to let the students go back early...
