The horizon was painted with the colors of pink and yellow turning the hollow woods to a bright shade of green. I stood in front of the woods feeling lonely and regretted. I wanted an adventure.

My name is Aira, one which most people from my hometown feared. With the appearance of a goddess, and the personality of a lioness, I roamed the town. There was a reason behind such behavior, my mother being a tramp, and my father leaving me at a young age. I never felt loved; I didn’t feel like I had a reason to live. Who could blame me?

My mom beckoned me to her, as she calls me from inside our wooden cottage. Turning around I looked straight at her, her brown long hair like mine loosely blowing in the wind, and her piercing grey eyes burning into mine. The one thing I didn’t have of my moms: her eyes, hers were grey, mine a bright green; my dads eyes. She was soiled from head to toe in grime and dirt; you could tell she’d just woken up.

Sighing I walked up to her, she looked furious. She screamed murderously, “I’m heading into town, and you haven’t bothered to wash my clothes young lady. How do you expect to go with me looking filthy?”

“I know mam,” I mumbled.

Not once was I able to call her mother, even as a child. As demanding as the night is dark, who could love that? Though she could put on a good act if she put her mind to it, lying with her foul tongue every chance she got. Pulling men into a trance they didn’t know they’d gotten into. Her beauty dazzled them. They couldn’t help themselves.

I was angry with her; she would date man after man, never settling down. That’s why my father left, why he didn’t bring me I wondered.

Hurrying inside I brought her outfit to a small tub, immediately pumping in some soapy water. My hands burned from the soap, but did my mom care? Of course not! All she wanted was to look perfect for leaving; it didn’t matter if I looked like trash.

The one thing settling me down was a calm soothing tone in my head, it relaxed me. Soon I found myself singing it with my own words, that was until my mom came and told me to run her a bath. Could she do anything herself?

Nope, and there wasn’t any point whining about it. This only brought fury, and more chores. Heading to the bathroom, I set a few pots of water over the fire, so there would be hot water in the tub, which was the only way she liked baths. It was either hot, or I had to re-boil the water. Even when it was the way she liked it she found something to whine about.

My mom walked in and told me to leave. I had no problem with that, I just left quietly and continued to scrub her clothes with my soapy hands.

Finally with the clothes cleaned and dried, my mother bathed, and my looking trashy, we left the house in our horse buggy. My mom looked elegant in her long luxurious ruby red dress, if she only had a personality as much as her appearance.

“Aira, stop here,” she demanded angrily.

I pulled the horses to a stop right in front of a quaint little wooden store. Lending out my hand to help her out, she walked down the stairs into the store. In there was a man I’d never seen before, I knew my mom was going to turn on the charm.

“Hello, could you show me where the flour and sugar are?” she asked flirtatiously.

“Certainly mam,” he answered as he walked out from behind the counter and led her into one of the corners.

Taking this as my chance to sneak away, I tip-toed out and hid behind the nearby store. Knowing my mom she wouldn’t notice I was gone unless there was something I needed to do. I noticed nearby a bunch of boys, about my age, 17 or 18 maybe. They all were throwing stones at a black haired boy. His hair was parted mostly to one side with a pale complexion. Though he was being hit he looked hysterical, not afraid, I still decided to help him.

From behind the building I ran out and yelled, “You leave him alone you mean awful boys!”

“We can do whatever we want to our friend you trash bag. My father could behead you if I asked him to, I’d watch yourself if I were you,” a gangly blonde one remarked.

“Oh wow I’m so not scared,” I snarled.

Immediately each of them turned their attention and were throwing the stones at me. The black haired boy stood there doing nothing, just watching.

Screaming, I ran off as far as I could. Once they were out of sight I caught my breath. I can’t believe after I’d helped the black-haired boy in the brown tunic he didn’t stick up for me, but I shouldn’t think too much into it. He was probably just trying to be cool, like all his other friends.

Suddenly an arrow whizzed past my head. They’d found me again, I scurried off without hesitation. Noticing a horse somewhere nearby I jumped on it and gave a gentle kick so he would go forward.

The boys stayed back furiously shooting their arrows, but soon enough I’d gotten so far ahead they couldn’t reach me anymore. Eventually I reached my house, and I got off the horse, stroking its neck gently. He actually didn’t seem too afraid of me, especially since I was definitely not the horse’s owner.

“At least somebody likes me,” I whispered softly.

The horse neighed affectionately. Maybe he was as I was, unloved except for when work was to be done. I brushed his mane and spoke to him, even if he couldn’t hear me it made me feel good to get everything out of my system.

“You know you need a name!” I announced, “I like Thunder. What do you think?”

Neighing, the horse galloped around me and I laughed, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh in so long Aira.”

I spun around and before me I saw a tall man with blonde shaggy hair. There was something about his eyes, they were a bright green: my eyes!

“Dad?” I stuttered.

“Yes, I came back to take you with me. I’ve seen how your mother treats you, and I’m sorry I left you here. Tomorrow morning before your mom wakes, come into the woods. I’ll take the horse with me, and then we can ride off as quickly as possible before your taken captive by somebody,” he explained.

Just as I was about to say something he vanished. Was I hallucinating?

One way or another I was going to leave this place tomorrow. I was tired of being treated like dirt, I was more than just a servant, I was a human and I deserved to be treated kindly. Walking inside the house I packed up my most precious possessions into a small little bag along with a few pieces of fruit. Deciding to go to sleep a little earlier today, I went and lay on my bed. Soon I’d fallen asleep.

Early the next morning: I got up, grabbed the fur pouch with my belongings, and hurried outside. Soon I’d reached the woods in which my father told me to go into, but just as I moved forward to enter its deep hollowness I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around, and felt somebody punch me in the face, knocking me down to the floor.

Tears were rushing down my face, I was hurting so much. My scream wasn’t heard for miles, I was alone with these demons of destruction, with no escape. Around me were the boys I’d encountered the day before along with the man my mother had met in that poor little store. I felt numb to my very bones.

“You thought you could get away from us?” the gangly blonde one asked.

“Duh, she’s a girl! She’s stupid, all girls are. What did you expect Mlon?” the shaggy brown-haired one to his left laughed.

My circle of rivals laughed at this, each holding a bow and arrow, thinking I wouldn’t want to attempt escaping. They were wrong, I was going to try.

Ripping apart the ropes that bound me I grabbed a dagger inside my pocket and murdered the brown-haired boy in one fierce stab. This left a small space in the circle for me to run through, so I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I could feel them closing in behind me already, my speed wasn’t nearly as much as theirs. Once again they held me captive, this time torturing me.

It took a fair few of them to carry me into the depths of the mountain caves. I wasn’t going to die without a fight that is if they were intending on killing me, but one thing was for sure: they tried doing it before, they weren’t afraid of murder.

Still shocked about the fact I’d killed someone, I stared blankly at the caves walls. My mind was racing, and my heart was pounding in my chest. I was so scared that I could barely breathe, I was only 17, I couldn’t die now; I hadn’t yet lived my life.

As they carried me down the torch-lit caves they laughed and cut little slits into my legs. Pain was searing throughout my legs, it was a slow torture, one that I wasn’t capable of defeating. It wasn’t that I was weak, for I’d trained myself to defend myself, but I hadn’t actually gotten into such a situation before that I knew how to get out of it. Not once did I think I’d cried so much before.

Finally they reached their destination, but what I didn’t expect was what was waiting for me: my “mother”. She was in on this?

“Karima, we have brought your daughter here as you requested,” a redhead announced.

“Thank-you Jerome. Aira where’s your father?” she yelled ferociously.

“My father?” I asked.

“Don’t play stupid Aira, Mlon saw you with him yesterday.”

I looked at Mlon, who had a stupid smirk on his face. My anger was increasing quickly, and my will to escape was flourishing.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

“You lie!” she screamed as she stood up and threw a goblet at me.

Now! I screamed inside my head. Once again ripping apart the ropes I ran off again, and I could hear Karima shrieking, “Find her you insolent fools. Before I hang you!”

Adrenaline pumping and heart pounding, I ran as quickly as I could. Just then I noticed I’d run down a dead end. I stopped and looked for any way to get away, but it seemed hopeless. But just as I was to give up and wait for a painful torture I noticed a small slit in the ceiling with a familiar face peering through it. It was the 18 year old I’d stuck up for! His hand was reaching down, I grabbed his hands and he pulled me up.

Before I knew it I’d started crying. I knew I was making him uncomfortable; he was sitting there biting his lip.

“We must leave before they come find us. Quickly now,” he explained as he grabbed my arm and we ran down the new tunnel.

He obviously knew his way around here, because each time we would reach more than one tunnel he wouldn’t hesitate to go down a certain path. Finally we’d reached the innermost top of the mountain where one of the caves led to outside. I peered outside, but I noticed it had a very steep, rocky side, so we couldn’t go down.

We could hear them scurrying up to our tunnel. He whispered, “Go onto that ledge just below the cave. They won’t find you there, just don’t look up.”

I obeyed him and lowered myself onto the one ledge on the rocky side. Then I remembered he was going to have to fight them all by himself. He was risking his life for me; that was the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.

I had to help him, no matter how much he said not to; at the least I was going to watch until he got to a point where he wasn’t going to make it. Poking my head up through the hole I watched as Mlon, Jerome, and some big, fat guy crawled up into the tunnel and ran towards my rescuer. At first it looked like he wasn’t going to fight, but then they noticed me hiding and advanced on me. I screamed and huddled back onto the ledge, but I never was hit. The black-haired boy had taken on all three of them, but he was already starting to look tired.

Jumping off the ledge I took on the bigger guy, who was going to bang him over the head. Quickly I ran into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him, making him double over. As he was weak I pushed him off the edge of the mountain, watching him tumble to his death. Breathless I turned to the black-haired boy to see how he was doing. He too had killed the other boys, but he was lying on the ground, exhausted.

At that point I don’t know what was running through my mind, but I knelt down behind his head and kissed him. Soon I felt him kissing me back, and it was as if my body had been taken over for someone else because I felt like I couldn’t stop. I don’t know how long we were kissing, but when it finally ended I felt as light as a helium air balloon.

He lay there looking more refreshed then before, but a little surprised. Looking into his eyes I said, “My name is Aira.”

“Mine…is…Erizon,” he responded breathlessly with a big grin on his face. His pale blue eyes twinkling.

And that is how it all started.