Chapter 2: Choices and Trials

Ashra treaded quietly down the gently sloping hills. It was quiet among the trees and he found it easy to ponder his options in the steadily warming air. Here he was, relatively safe in the wilderness where there were no people to judge or cower from him because of his supposed fate. Somehow he was contented by these thoughts. Though he was alone, there wouldn’t be any hunters to trail him and it was easy to lose an enemy in the dense woods. He kicked a stone and watched it roll a little ways before stopping. He kicked it again absentmindedly as he walked, still deep in his thoughts.

Then again, if he stayed here, safe and sound, that would be all there was to life. Gathering food, finding shelter: those things would be about all his life amounted too. Frankly it sounded rather boring.

However if he left this safety, there was a chance, albeit an extremely small chance, that he could find his brother, his twin. He could find his other half. He was deeply curious about what that would be like. After all, throughout his whole life he’d been the disaster, the walking time bomb. It would be interesting to find someone exactly opposite…How would they be different? Would they be different at all?

He suddenly came to realization about something as he pondered these things about his brother: Akira didn’t know their mom. It was a sad fact. Mom had said that she had taken Ashra at a very young age from the rest of society so that she could save him. That meant that Akira had never known their mom. He smiled a little as he thought how he’d have to tell his brother what a wonderful woman she was. That could be a small something that brought them together. He was suddenly grateful that he’d known her at all. Surely if it hadn’t been for their mom he wouldn’t even be where he right now.

With an appreciative sigh he kept walking. It wasn’t long before he could see the village below him. He peeked at the people meandering about the town from behind his forest shield. He’d have to go down there eventually if he wanted to move forward. Frankly he dreaded the idea.

He turned from sight and reclined against the tree he hid behind. “What to do now?” he thought to himself. How would he get to where Akira could be…?

Thinking about it, he wondered if he could get a map. That would be the first thing to do. He lived in Satiran and needed to get to Yukito…how far apart were the two? He’d have to think about ways to get there depending on the distance…and he’d have to know which direction to head in. After all it wouldn’t do to merely wander about aimlessly. But now that he decided he needed a map, he wondered how in the world he would ever get it…He couldn’t very well just march up to someone and ask them for it. It was a well known fact he wasn’t very well liked there.

The town was just now recovering from the attack months ago. He knew no one would just welcome him into their town. In fact he’d without a doubt be slaughtered if he was seen. He’d have to think of a way to go undetected. Even if they didn’t know his face, it was enough that his hair and eyes were black. One sight of him and people would either attack or run. He couldn’t take the risk of being killed now that he’d made up his mind to find his brother.

Ashra jumped as the bushes beside him rustled with movement. He backed away warily waiting for something to pop out. Shortly a raccoon rolled out wrestling with a snare tied around his hand. Ashra felt somewhat silly now that his heart rate had increased because of such a little animal. He drew closer to the creature and it became abnormally still. Knowing that it was just frightened like he was, they looked at each other for some time, staring down the other and wondering what to do next. Slowly Ashra tried to move an open hand toward the raccoon. Gradually with its free hand the raccoon grabbed an outstretched finger and sniffed the boy with fading apprehension. Ashra was somewhat confused with the weird way the animal acted like this, but he didn’t pull away. He had to admit he was a little entertained by being so close to the fuzzy little creature. Seconds later the raccoon sat on its haunches and let Ashra untie its trapped paw. After being freed, the animal sped a few feet away before turning to look back at the bemused boy. It went again into the bushes and disappeared completely a few moments later. Ashra looked at the wire snare in his hand and went to undo the other end from the brush.

He hated hunters of any sort he thought irritably as he untangled the branches and disabled the trap. All they did was cause trouble. He uncovered some ground and buried the wire where it wouldn’t hurt anything again. But the raccoon had given him an idea…

He knew it was a kind of farfetched for a plan, but what if he could wear a mask of some sort like a raccoon…? Could he somehow cloak his features and walk through undetected? He really didn’t relish the thought of doing anything like this he realized dejectedly. Everything in him told him that this was a ludicrous plan of action. But he had to do this if he ever hoped to meet his brother…That was the only thought that kept him from walking back to his cave immediately and forgetting this whole ordeal.

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Eheh…Chapter 2. I think I could have made it longer, but I know I’ve already had people waiting forever. Sorry. This chapter’s really rather lame. The next chapter I hope will have some action. Comment anyway! XD -is shot-