Chapter 2 : Crossing Lives at the Dugald Aisle
Things now in this world.... They have fallen to the Formors. Villages, towns, and cities are all crumbling within themselves, as the kingdoms make wise and false decisions. Morrihgan, the Goddess of Light, has chosen two separate people; which both have different beliefs, different lives. One is a young woman, one that seems like a frail mortal that wouldn't be much of help to a Goddess such as Morrihgan herself. Then the other is a young man, whose heart doesn't seem to know any boundaries and yet he is the stronger of the two..... or so it seems. These two unlikely people have yet to meet. But soon their paths will now cross, and time itself will slowly change...
The sky was gray and dim; however rain did not seem to fall despite the clouds demand to let it fall. Yoko continued down the dirt roads, her eyes seemed to dart back and forth along the horizon in search of any other travelers... or worse, Formors. If you knew her, or stumbled across her, you would not expect someone such as this to attempt a battle or escape from a single Formor let alone a pack or mob. As the winds blew from behind her small frame, seeming to push her along, her Traveler's skirt and hat wavered as the breeze continued to push her onward. Just four to five miles ahead of her towards the south the archer, Shinji Iwakura, walked up north with his sack and quiver slung over his shoulder and his bow in hand. The rings under his eyes weren't going to disappear in a matter of hours. Since the nightmare from the night before, he could hardly even walk in a straight line. "Damn.... This wasn't a good idea..." a gloved hand ran through his hair, soon rubbing the lump on his skull from Arawen's form of discipline. "Ow...!" he jerked his hand away, his face was scrunched up from the startling sting from the sore. "Why does she always seemed to hit me upside the skull, and not the other guys..?!" Shinji mumbled angrily as he trudged onwards towards Tir Chonaill. It had been about three hours of walking and resting since Yoko had left the village. The logging camp shouldn't be far by now, and hopefully Casey, the workman that lived in the area, would be nice enough to let her stay around there for the night if it got too dark. Sure itwas only 1:00 P.M. in the afternoon, but walking like this was tiring. Walking on a few more steps, the exhausted body slumped up against a rock near by; the girl was extremely irritated by not making much progress. Due to her frail-stature, it was very hard to travel by the means of walking for lengths at a time. 'Come on, you nitwit... You've been through harder stuff than this right..? May Lymilark haunt me if I can't get through a simple hike to the logging camp.' Yoko thought to herself in annoyance, getting up again and grabbing her satchel. Picking up the pace, Shinji wasn't having as much trouble has Yoko was up north. In a way it was funny, and in a way it wasn't. "Man, if I had known sooner, I would have come up north a long time ago!" the boy ran up the path way a ways, laughing to himself.
Here in the Dugald Isle Paths, the air was cleaner and it was a bit more peaceful along this road more so than the bustling town of Dunbarton and the busy little village of Tir. The air in Dunbarton was slightly poluted due to the many shops, animals, different people, and even now, Formors that passed through or lived around there. In Tir, the air wasn't as bad, but it still had the remains of the smell of farmland, and dust from the windmill. Although Formors were found any where, Shinji and Yoko both had yet to run into one down the Dugald Path. There were a few wolves and probably one or two bears, but nothing major. Back down south, Shinji kept tossing his bow from one hand to the other in boredom as he walked. "Man... what a boring way to spend the day..." the boy mumbled, slowing to a casual walk. He was headed to the logging camp that was located towards the center of the two paths: Dugald Isle North and Dugald Isle South. It was a usual stopping point to chit-chat with Casey who lived there, or some would just pass by and continue on their way depending on other things. Shinji, for sure, would stop by and rest for a while. As Arawen had told him many times before, or rather forced into his hardhead : "Take your time, rest when you can. A fighter will never know when his given chance to rest will be his last." Taking this frequently said quote to his mind, the archer decided it was best to rest while he could; he also knew that running into the one that the Goddess had spoken of wasn't fortold, he had to be on guard if that ever happened soon.
Back towards the north, Yoko had just made it to the logging camp, speaking with Casey in the mean time. "So, you've grown quite a bit, Missy." Missy was the only name the old, rough'n'tough man seemed to use whenever Yoko was around. "You haven't changed at all, Case." the girl sat down on a bench, watching her friend work. Casey's job was to cut down trees, carve out furniture, send lumber to both Dunbarton and Tir and then get back home to rest and start all over again in one day's worth. This was a hard job for most people, but it was a living for this man. "Is there anything I could do to help you?" the girl got up from the bench and walked over to the man, he on the other hand was busy chopping wood. "How 'bout you go and get rid of those Formors?" he looked up and nodded his head towards a shed. And sure enough there was a small group of Formor wolves. They had been watching them for sometime; Yoko in particular. "Right!" the girl ran to her bag and grabbed her little dagger, hearding towards the pack, "I know you can take care of'em, Missy!" Casey shouted to her as she ran off, shaking his head without worry. Shinji, coming up the hillside road, over hears the man shouting. He soon comes running over, "What's going on? Is there an attack?!" the boy's red but fierce set of eyes darted back and forth which soon landed on Yoko, who just seemed like a normal villager to his eyes. Seeing the girl running towards Formor wolves, a pack at that, was dangerous! "Hey!! You'll get killed! HEY!!!" Grabbing his bow tightly in one hand, dropping his sack, and grabbing an arrow from his quiver, Shinji once again bounds into action without thinking; self instict I guess you could call it. Casey tried to stop the boy from running off, but then he was late by a mere second. He only laughed though, 'Oh well, tried to stop him... Besides, Missy can take care of herself. I know this for certain...' The older man's brown eyes grew serious, this in fact was rare, and a proud but subtle smile was on his face as he watched the two young kids fight the beasts. "HEY STOP!!!" Yoko skidded to a halt, just a few feet away from the Formor pack. The sudden shout had startled her; the pair of innocent-looking blue eyes met with the fierce but also protective red ones. "What? I was fine till you shouted." the girl stated, glancing back and forth from the pack and then towards the boy. The lad on the other hand only spat, "You can't fight them! You'll get yourself killed!!" he stepped forward, in between her and the Formor-wolves. The glowing eyes of the Formor's glimmered with the bloodlust that all of these wretched, damned beasts had. This was a sign of an attack. "Get out of here and just hide! I'll take care of 'em!" Shinji turned his head slightly to motion her to run. However, Yoko stood there, defiant of the demand. "There's no way I'm leaving! You can forget it!" she stepped up next to him and pulled out her dagger, her eyes never leaving the Formor's. "Whatever, if you get killed, I'm not going to be held responsible!" The boy pulled out his arrow and readied for a Magnum Shot; despite being told down by someone younger than him, a girl at that, annoyed him but he knew he didn't have a choice but to cooperate. The Formors gave out loud and terrible barks, actually more like roaring due to the monster that lived inside their souls. "Get ready...." Shinji propped up his bow, aiming for the farthest one. "....." Yoko said nothing, turning to stand back to back with the young man beside her. After a moment or two of silence and waiting, the first Formor attacked without hesitation! To them, mortals were prey, and other Formors were allies; even their natural sources of prey such as Formor birds, smaller mammals and even larger ones wouldn't be considered food; only the mortals and anything that wasn't a Formor was. "Prepare to taste Hell!!" The Magnum Shot was fired at a rapid rate, as the first Formor was down. The lad's face was prideful, but he hadn't had time to celebrate. "....!!" Yoko had just slain a wolf that had attempted to pounce him while his back was turned, "And you told me to watch it." she stated back at the boy, smiling in a rather joking manner. Shinji only laughed, firing more arrows as the wolves continued to come at them. Yoko merely giggled to herself, as she also fought with that small dagger of hers. These two, although different in many ways, were good fighters Casey thought. The whole time, he was standing against a tree, sipping a jar of water. This was a great form of entertainment if all you did was chop at a stump all day I assure you. He could tell they both had experience in the skill of combat. The boy, that was a stranger to him, was probably from Dunbarton and was taught in the ways of archery and long-range combat. Then there was little Yoko, also called Missy, who was better at the close-range combat with her little dagger. "Interesting...." Casey rubbed his goatee of a beard as the two kids fought off the last of the Formor pack and were heading up the path back to the camp. They both didn't have bad wounds; they were merely dirty from the fighting, dodging, and shoving that the little dilemna had caused. The brown eyes of the workman studied both children for a moment and then closed as he gave out a low chuckle. The lad was strong, very strong for his age; quick-thinking too although his form of offense was staying in the background rather than up in their faces like Missy. His decision to jump in, however, to help Yoko actually was a smart decision. She probably couldn't have beaten them without being harmed if by herself. But since he had jumped in, they both fought and came back unharmed without a scratch on their face. Yoko, on the other hand, didn't think things through and just leaped before she looked. But she was small, which meant she was very fast and was harder to actually hit despite the close-range of offense. "You two did good!" Casey, removing his thoughts, and walking up to them. Patting the young man on the back and messing up Yoko's hat with a pat on the head, Casey led them to a fire pit for them to rest.
Several hours of introductions, eating, drinking, and now stargazing had passed them by. The fight had taken about an hour, and now after three hours of talking it was dark and getting late. At this rate, the two couldn't travel in the dark and had to wait till morning. "So, Shinji,-" Yoko turned towards him while eating a slice of bread, "-where are you from?" Shinji sat back on a stool while chomping down on his own piece of bread, "Dunbarton!" he stated, mouth-full. Laughing, the young girl nodded her head, "Oh I see. I'm from Tir, north of here." she motioned her head in the general direction. The two were quiet and silence filled the air. But then it was cut off by the occasional snoring that was heard from Casey's tent that wasn't too far off. "Hell, if that man stops snoring, I bet that he just got up and died." Shinji laughed quietly and sipped a jar of water. Giggling lightly, Yoko nodded her head and couldn't help but agree with him. Once again there was a moment of silence between the two. "Why is someone like you doing all the way out here...?" Shijni set down his jar and finished his piece of bread. Yoko merely answered, "I was called out by the Goddess. And also well, I'm just lying low due to the Formors running about." This statement caught the boy's attention. "Lying low...? Goddess calling to you?" the red eyes soon fell towards the ground in thought. "What's wrong?" The girl got up and sat next to him, patting his shoulder. The young man nodded his head, "I'm fine." Yoko wasn't the brightest so it didn't hit her right away like it had for Shinji. It all made sense. The Goddess had told him that he had to find someone who was hiding from something, someone that he would eventually meet. And today's events wasn't just a mere accident.... or at least that's what it appeared to be. "The Goddess called me too..." he finally said, glancing at her then back to the ground. Yoko's blue eyes widened, the information sinking it. "You're an archer... and we met today... you were called on by the Goddess so that must mean..."
Tonight, and today the two had met, their paths have crossed. Meeting like the Goddess had said and actually fighting with one another showed them both their strengths and weaknesses. This was leading them towards a journey that would change their lives forever, but not only that, but the world itself.
Next - Chapter 3 : Unfolding the Truth
