• Make sure to read the Prolog first! mrgreen

    “Donar, why did you bring me on this? You don’t need any help on your mail delivery.” A young woman wined to the man next to her. She was probably about twenty-one years of age. The man, Donar looked about the same age.
    “I told you before Aurora, there’s a large delivery coming from Kanan that I needed help carrying. Now will you stop complaining?” Donar asked sounding frustrated.
    “Fine, but you owe me for this, big time.” Aurora pouted, jutting her bottom lip out pointedly. Donar sighed in relief at the silence, but it didn’t last long thanks to Aurora. “Are we almost their already? We’ve been walking all day.” He cringed, biting his lip to stop himself from yelling.
    “Aurora, you’ll know when we’re there because we’ll be able to see it. You’re my sister and I love you, but sometimes you can be such a pain in the a-” Donar stopped abruptly.
    “What’s wrong?” Aurora asked concerned.
    “The village, it isn’t there! We should be able to see the lookout tower by now, but nothings there.” Donar’s face went pale. He dropped his bags and ran into the trees.
    “Donar wait.” Aurora called after him. “Damn it, I hate it when he runs off like that.” She rushed after him grabbing his bag. When she came through to the clearing the only thing she saw was the burned remains of the village. She had only seen it once before, but now it was completely unrecognizable. Everything was black. “Donar, where are you?” She called. His face appeared around the corner of a far building.
    “I’m over here.” Donar called. “Everyone seems to be dead. See if you can find any survivors.” The urgency in his voice was prominent. Aurora nodded and started to run to the opposite end of town. “Oh Aurora,” She turned to see his head had appeared around the corner again. “Be careful, whoever attacked might still be around.” With that he ran off again.
    Donar ran around desperately, he couldn’t find anyone alive. He looked everywhere through the carnage, calling out for any sign of life. He darted to the town square, skidding to a halt. It looked like an ice storm had gone through, but it was only the town square that had been hit. “How can this be possible? It’s the middle of summer.” Looking closer he saw that the ice seemed to radiate from a group of bodies in the centre of the clearing. “Aurora! Come here! I’m in the town square!”
    Aurora who had been searching in the town hall ran around the corner. “What happened? Did you find someone?” Her eyes opened wide with shock. “What is this?” Donar was kneeling by a group of people surrounded by ice and snow.
    “I don’t know, but this girl is till alive.” Donar said. He had put his jacket over top of the girl. She had long blond hair. “She must only be five, six years old.” Aurora walked up, tears starting to form in her eyes.
    “It looks like these are her parent’s. Poor thing, it looks like she’s the only survivor. What should we do?” Aurora asked. She kneeled down with Donar. She reached over and touched the girl’s forehead. She gasped in surprise. “We have to get her off this ice. She’s really sick.” Donar nodded and picked up her tiny body. He was surprised at how little she weighed. He lay her down in a less gruesome area of the town.
    “We can take her back to Bien.” He looked over to Aurora.
    “Will we be able to get there in time?” Aurora asked. It would take one day to walk back to Bien.
    “I wont, but you will. I found a barn in the south end of town that wasn’t burned. There was a horse in there already saddled up and ready to go.” Donar explained wrapping the girl up in his jacket. “I’ll stay here and look for more survivors.” Aurora nodded to show that she understood. She would have to work fast. Donar picked up the girl and handed her to Aurora.
    They easily found the barn and the horse; it didn’t seem injured or spooked. It would be safe to ride. Donar took hold of the child again as she clamored up onto the horses high back. He placed the bundled up girl in front of Aurora. “Be careful. Whoever attacked the town might still be close by. I’ll come back as soon as I can.” Donar explain. He led the horse out of the barn and to the spot that they had first entered the town. “Send help as soon as you take her to a doctor.” He gestured to the girl.
    “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. I’ll make sure she is safe. That’s my first priority.” Donar smiled at her confidence.
    “Okay, get going.” He pointed her off in the right direction. Aurora tightened her grip on the rains and dug her heals in the get the horse running.
    *****
    All Naiya could see was red. The deep rich red of blood, it was everywhere she looked. The smell of fire and ash filled the air, burning her nose like acid. And inside she felt so alone. Always alone, there was never anyone else there. It was just her floating through empty space, like the last leaf falling off a tree. Her body felt cold like ice, frozen to the core. Why couldn’t she move? Why couldn’t she get away from this emptiness she felt? “I don’t want to be alone anymore.” She cried pleading over and over again. Alone, cold and empty, these were the only things she felt as she hung in suspended space.
    “Your not alone.” A kind disembodied voice said. It was a woman’s voice, soft and warm.
    “It’s so cold here. I can’t even move. And the blood, the blood is everywhere.” Naiya explained to the voice. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.” She didn’t know why she was talking to the voice. It had to belong to someone, but she hadn’t a clue whom that someone was or where they were.
    “Don’t worry, your safe now. The blood is gone. Your safe.” The voice cooed softly. Naiya didn’t know why but she felt so safe when she heard it.
    “Where are my Mommy and Daddy?” Naiya asked, starting to feel safe again. But there was not reply, only silence. Dread planted it’s terrible seed in her heart. Slowly she slipped back into the blood, the cold, and the emptiness. She tried to stop herself, she didn’t want to go back, but the weight of dread in her heart seemed to great. She could stay above it much longer. She struggled to stay out of the dark, not wanting to lose the momentary warmth that the voice had created. Her grip was starting to fail, the red growing more vivid by the second. “Help me.” She quietly pleaded. The warmth returned, but not in words this time. She felt the embrace of a hug, the comfort like a mothers protection. She slowly became more aware of her body. Her body was sore all over, stiff and unwilling to move. Eyelids heavy as lead, like she had been sleeping for too long. She tried to force them open. Slowly the lids began to move, on the other side was a brightly lit room. The sunlight was streaming in from a large window. The walls were a pale blue, like the colour of a robins egg.
    “There you are. Welcome back to the world of the living.” A warm face looked down on Naiya. The woman’s light brown hair was falling over her shoulders. She released her from the hug, laying her gently back onto the soft bed. How had see gotten there? It felt nice all the same.
    “Where am I?” Naiya enquired. The room around was unfamiliar. Not only the way it looked but the smell in the air. It smelt like salt.
    “Your in my house. We found you passed out in the forest around Kanan” Naiya could easily hear the lie in the woman’s voice. The seed of dread sprouted at the name of her hometown, growing fast into a huge tree. It threatened to over take her again, trying to pull her back into the darkness. Memories of running through her burning home flooded back into her mind. The men that had chased her, seeing her dead parent’s lying on the ground. Then nothing, it just seemed to stop. Like a wall was blocking the way to the rest of or memories. She had to talk or the tree’s vine would pull her under completely.
    “Who are you?” A simple question, but it seemed to please the women so much. Why did it have such an effect? She had only asked who the woman was.
    “My name is Aurora. Donar is the one that saved you. He’s should be back soon, he had to tell the mayor what happened. What is your name?” The smile on her face was so inviting, it would have been hard not to answer. But she was so tired that it didn’t seem to matter.
    “Naiya.” She whispered in a weak voice, but still smiling. She could help but do so; the woman’s eyes were so warm.
    “What a pretty name. Is there anything I can get you?” Concern past her warm features. Naiya thought for a moment, she couldn’t think of anything. She shook her head.
    “Then why don’t you get some rest? I have to go see Donar to make sure everything is all right, but I won’t be gone long. The servant’s will be here if you really need anything.” She stood up, brushing her hand through Naiya’s hair before walking out of the room. Naiya rolled over, wrapping herself tightly in the blankets. She had no intention of sleeping in fear of the darkness coming back. Her back and ribs stunk as she moved. On examination she found that she had bandages all around her torso. Parts of her arms were also bandaged up. The dark colour of blood could be seen seeping through. She forced her eyes to stay open. However, the battle was pointless. Soon a dreamless sleep crept over her, dragging her eyes shut once again.
    *****
    Aurora walked into the warm office. It’s dark wood paneled walls giving it a homey sort of feeling. Donar was sitting in a chair across from the mayor Faunus. “She finally woke up. Though she doesn’t seem to remember what happened exactly.” Aurora sat down in the armchair next to Donar’s.
    “Why do you mean by that? Didn’t you ask?” Donar criticized.
    “Well, not really. I couldn’t ask her right then and there. She’s a five-year or child. What was a supposed to say? Oh, I’m sorry to tell you but parents are dead. Could you tell me if you saw them murdered?” Her words were thick with sarcasm. Donar wasn’t affected by the words. He was accustomed to her sarcastic nature. That was part of why he loved her so much. But his love for her was the reason that telling her the next part would be so much harder.
    “No, I didn’t mean it in that way. I’m sorry Aurora.” Donar said closing his eyes a smirk crossing his face. However, it soon vanished and was replaced with a serious face.
    “You didn’t find anyone else did you.” It was more of a statement than a question because she already knew the answer. Donar shook his head. Faunus took the silence as an opportunity to speak.
    “There is no use being upset about it right now. We need to do what we can to protect Bien. For all we know it might be next. Who knows, maybe they had a specific reason for attacking Kanan. We have no way of knowing right now.” Faunus looked intently at the two people positioned in front of him. “Has the girl said anything yet? Anything that would give us any clues to what happened.” His gaze settled on Aurora as he asked.
    “She was talking in her sleep. Babbling on about the blood. Saying that it was everywhere. Saying that she didn’t want to be alone. Pleading for help. It was so hard to watch and not be able to do anything. When she finally woke up she seemed very confused, like she couldn’t remember what had happened. All she could remember was blood and the feeling of being alone and cold. She asked where she was. I lied and said we found her in the forest outside of Kanan. She seemed to remember something when I said Kanan, probably saw right through my lie. That’s why I said s didn’t seem to remember what happened exactly. There was still confusion in her eyes.” Aurora paused for a while. Trying to think of what else could be useful information. Then she remembered the colour of Naiya’s eyes. “Her eyes are so strange though.”
    “In what way?” Donar and Faunus asked at the same time.
    “One has a gold colour to it. But that colour usually only shows up in the eyes of Royals or Nobles. That’s not the most unusual part though. Her right eye is green.” It didn’t take Aurora explaining that for the two men to understand why it was so odd. A person with green eyes, especially the pure green that Naiya’s were, was a very rare thing indeed. The thing was it was rare for a Lunar. Green eyes never showed up in a Solar. It would contradict with the internal magic all Solars had. It was the fact that she had one golden eye and one green eye that made it even more fascinating. Aurora wondered what sort of person Naiya would grow up to be?”
    “Did she say what her name was?” The distant voice of Donar brought Aurora back from the midst of her thought. The words didn’t register in her mind.
    “Pardon?”
    “Did. She. Say. What. Her. Name. Was?” Donar repeated enunciating each words like they were each a separate sentence. Aurora glared at him. She opened her mouth to retort back but remembered that they were still in the mayor’s office.
    “She said her name was Naiya.” She said shortly not trusting herself to hold her tongue if she continued to speak.
    “Naiya huh.” Donar spoke to himself now. “It will be interesting to see how all this plays out don’t you think?”
    *****
    Naiya woke from her dreamless sleep. She looked around to see if Aurora or the Donar person were back yet. She contemplated going back to sleep but decided against it. She couldn’t stay still any longer. She lifted the blankets off of herself and shifted into a sitting position. The light was still streaming in through the huge open window. Naiya looked down to see that all she had on was the bandages around her chest and a pair of pajama pants. Looking around she saw that a set of clothing had been placed on the dresser on the other side of the room.
    Testing her feet on the floor first to make sure she could still walk, Naiya gingerly got off the bed. Careful not to move to fast so that her back didn’t hurt from the bruises. The clothes on the dresser were a long sleeve white shirt and a blue spaghetti strap sundress. The colours were not to far from that of the room she stood in. Sliding into her new clothes she went to go explore the town. She slid through the house, not noticed by any of the cleaning staff that walked through the halls.
    It was a warm day out. Looking up there was not a cloud in the sky. This was going to be fun.