Chapter 1

The sky was unusually clear. The air wasn't as heavy as the day before, but still felt a bit eerie and a bit dark. The drizzle that continued until midnight had disappeared leaving no sign of ever happening. The sun would rise in an hour or so, but for now, it was still mostly dark. There was only one thing, one place that lit the night ablaze. The townspeople either slept or gathered to see, as the manor house of the rich Sun family was burning to the ground. They knew, of course, that tragedy had struck the family, but no one had dared to come close for fear of their own lives. Who didn't know at first, by now had learnt that there had been a betrayal. Rumors had started: some said that the warriors had been bandits in disguise aiming for the man's wealth, and true enough the most valuable riches had been stolen; others said there had been a disagreement which led to the attack; there were even those that said the Suns must have done wrong and this was heaven's retribution. No knew the truth and everybody expected it to remain buried with the corpses of the family and so they talked lightly, carelessly, because they thought there was none to listen. But they were wrong.

Not far from the place, there was a small figure wearing clothes that were clearly a bit big for its build and a hat that almost covered its whole face. It looked like a small boy, but looks could be deceiving. Truth be told, it was a small girl, no more than six years alive. Her name was Sun Siha. She had once lived inside the walls of the burning manor, and used to be the young lady and sole child of the wealthy family. When her parents were alive, they used to tell her she was more mature than other children; that or she had grown up the wrong way, with a grandmother as strict as stone, a father that wanted a boy and gifted her weapons and swords every birthday, and a mother that had a hard time showing love or any other type of emotion.

Siha didn't think of herself as mature. She knew she just had seen a bit more than your average child. She met first-hand a deadly illness that almost claimed her life at the age of three, surviving by a miraculous turn of fate. She had sneaked out of the house with the town's children only to find a cruel massacre hidden in a back alley. She had seen even how the guards of her own house had tortured a poor man to death, only to laugh at it later. By hiding inside a brothel to escape some thugs, she had witnessed the naked matters between a man and a woman, though she didn't really understand them. The child wasn't mature, she really and simply had grown the wrong way, seeing what she shouldn't have seen, learning what she shouldn't have learnt. At the age she had been, there was no place for trauma, only the empty space inside the mind that absorbs everything she sees. She was a monster that way, though no one knew.

Her two small hands grabbed the hat and pulled it a bit lower. She fixed the cloth bag over her shoulder slightly and, unwaveringly, turned her back to everything she knew with a simple goal in mind: strength. No matter what, she had loved her family and she had their love for six long years. But she had been told she shouldn't linger, she knew she shouldn't linger.

With slow steady steps the girl made her way outside of town. Located far from the center of the country, the town had always been a bit detached from its matters, however young boys would leave every time to join the army for the fights against empires, with the hopes they would achieve greatness amidst the wars and deaths. The country itself, holding the name Dramnan, was not the strongest, but it still could stand its ground in a fight, as every of its soldiers was given harsh training and was stronger than the normal warrior. That was her goal: that harsh training which would make her stronger. True, there might have been other ways, but that was something she had decided on. Whether she would survive until she reached the capital where the army's headquarters were situated, that was a thing for the future to see.

…

The road was… well, long. Only a day later, Siha found out she couldn't advance by much with the rhythm she had begun her journey. Her limit of walking normally was a measly two hours before she started to breathe with difficulty. If she forced herself she could go for three, after that she had to rest.

It was again night time. She was looking at a map under the light of the moon, with a bit of confusion. Her knowledge of map reading included only the pieces and bits her father taught her when he had time. It wasn't bad, but it could only be considered a 'well enough' or 'barely passable', not good either. As she looked at the map with a slight frown, she was starting to worry if she had taken a wrong turn or had simply been so slow she had yet to reach the forest. Convincing herself it was the latter, she folded the piece of old parchment neatly and put it in her cloth bag, instead of it, taking out something to munch on.

She ate while standing, and at the same time she searched for a place to get a short nap. Setting her sights on a big tree she neared it and sat under its shadow for concealment. Breathing in the night air, the girl looked at her surroundings with cautious eyes. The only things in sight were the shadows of few scarce trees in the distance and a thin layer of grass in the ground. Not many wild animals lived on this plain, as truth be told it wasn't a very appealing place, only a few night birds and some insects were heard. It didn't seem very dangerous so, just for a while, the girl closed her eyes. In silent whispers she sang a song she had learnt from a travelling beggar.

"Blood, blood…" 

Her lips moved softly but she made sure no sound came out as she sang, and soon enough she was engulfed by the darkness of sleep.

…

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She was awoken in the middle of the night. Not quite sure what it was that awoke her, she knew for sure only one thing: whatever it was, it was dangerous. Everywhere around her was a deep silence, the earlier life not present anymore. The moon still high in the sky was almost covered by clouds. A bit thankful for the dark that could hide her, she looked around. Right now running blindly was a dangerous choice, she knew that instinctively. Hiding was impossible in the middle of a plain.

She felt her heartbeat rising and she hurried for the only choice that came to mind, hoping it wouldn't lead to her death. She climbed the tree she was under, and tried to hide herself amidst the thick branches and dark green leaves. After the climb, the girl tried to concentrate in calming her wildly beating heart.

Not long after, she heard a noise. The immediate moment after she heard it, she held her breath not daring to release it, also not willing to experiment whether they'll hear her or not. The earlier noise was soon followed by more, clearer and louder ones. She saw a four-legged beast approaching with high speed. It was a wild greywolf with two eyes that shone green in the dark and slightly glowing fur. The moment she saw that, the girl knew the monster was a qi enhanced beast. She had seen one before, when a group of people had been passing through the town. That day she had learned of the energy called qi that strong people and beasts are able to use. She knew that none of father's hired guards was able to use it, but she didn't know what the results would be if those people and those guards were to fight. While looking at the speed the wolf was approaching with, she was now sure normal warriors wouldn't stand a chance.

She swallowed slowly, because of a sudden itch on her throat and kept on staring at the wolf, while hidden on the tree. In the middle of her awed state, it took her awhile to notice that a few feet behind the wolf there was another beast that looked like a gigantic red lizard. The lizard also had a faint hue of light surrounding it, and it was closely following behind the wolf, actually getting closer with every step. Before long, the lizard reached and immediately attacked the wolf from behind with the intention to trip it. The wolf, however, fell while spinning and was able to recover fast, as it turned to face its opponent with a fierce growl.

The lizard seemingly didn't hold the wolf in high regard, as it almost snorted at the furry animal. Without bothering itself with the other beast's threatening growl, it swiftly swung its tail at the wolf. The furry beast dodged just as swift and with a bare of its teeth, it dashed forward to bite the tail. The lizard moved its tail fast, not realizing the wolf had stopped its fanged attack and had instead changed it for a set of claws towards the scaly one's neck and, if it was able to get its way, the throat.

Even though it took it a while to realize, the lizard was still faster than the wolf, so it was able to save itself with only one shallow wound. This attack had clearly angered it, as it no longer looked at the furry beast as indifferently as before. If Mother Nature allows, the wolf was definitely grinning smugly right now, but not for one moment did it lose its caution and concentration because it knew the enemy could kill him in that moment of carelessness.

Sure enough, the angry lizard was starting to concentrate its qi at its tail. It didn't want to swing anymore; it had the intention to cruelly pierce through the opponent.

Siha noticed this change and noted it in her memory. She looked at the fight with a strange stare, without even blinking. She saw the wolf notice the change too, as it grew a bit tense but nevertheless still maintained concentration. Not a moment later, the lizard began to use its tail as a piercing weapon, and in an unimaginable speed, it launched one attack after the other towards the wolf, almost leaving afterimages after every attack. The grey wolf became startled. When the first attack started, it already knew it couldn't cope with its opponent's speed, so it chose the second best option it had except dodging, protecting its vitals, and finding a way for the enemy to fall before itself.

Every attack forced the wolf a step back and added a hole in its blood stained fur. It wanted to run but the scaled thing was faster. Knowing it didn't have time, the furry beast could only try to trick the enemy, to create an opening. Fortunately enough, the lizard race wasn't very smart, if you excluded its draconic ancestors. Thinking like this, the wolf suddenly jumped upwards, startling and making the lizard hesitate and almost stop its tail-y attacks. In a desperate attempt, the wolf overcame the limits of his speed for a short moment, allowing its claws to sink in the scaled skin, and its teeth to bite deeply into its neck and crush it, until the enemy stopped moving.

"It tricked it." A soft voice was suddenly heard, startling the bleeding wolf. It didn't have time to rejoice its victory, as it became wary again and wanted to move, but the multiple holes in its body and that fight had made it too weary to continue. It took only a few steps towards the voice before finally falling in the ground and almost closing its eyes.

Siha had seen everything and absorbed that fight like a sponge. She hadn't seen many fights, witnessing mostly only the aftermath of one. This, however, was different. Without realizing it, she had started to plan the outcome, and even though she wasn't really able to keep up with most of the movements, the girl was still able to see enough to understand, and along the way she was actually thinking of ways for the weaker wolf to win, since she didn't like the arrogant lizard at all. She had also talked without realizing. She had known that qi enhanced beasts were smarter than the average animals, but what the girl had seen in this fight was an almost human way of thinking. Being so immersed in their fight she had completely forgotten she was supposed to be hiding and had talked aloud making the victorious beast wary. She had immediately slapped her mouth with her hand and held her breath, but the beast had already clearly heard her. Fortunately it had been too tired and wounded to continue fighting.

Looking at the wolf now, Siha didn't move from the tree. Who knew, the furry animal might have been trying to fool her too. After some time with no action from both sides, the girl decided to make the first move. Slowly, she climbed down branch by branch, eyeing the wolf cautiously. The moment her feet touched the ground, she stopped breathing and bore holes into the other from far away. The beast still had its eyes a bit open and also looked her way. For a moment it tried to stand up, but seeing its bleeding get worse it stopped.

Siha swallowed silently, and started to slowly walk towards the wolf. The beast growled fiercely at her, but what she had set her mind to do, the girl would definitely do. She neared with big but very slow steps. The closer she got, the more threatening became the wolf's growls, and at some point it even forced itself in its feet looking ready to attack. At that moment, Siha was around ten feet away from it and right in that place she stopped. By now, she was close enough to do what she wanted. The wolf continued to growl but seeing the stopped approach it hesitatingly sat again. Ignoring the loud threats that pierced into the night, the girl studied its wounds with interest. She had no intention of getting any closer than she already was, but it's not every day one gets to see a wounded qi enhanced beast. To her shock the wounds showed visible signs of closing, they were actually healing at such an alarming rate, they would probably be completely healed by tomorrow noon. Realizing this scary truth, she knew she had better leave not a moment sooner or this beast might just attack her. Growing a bit frantic, the girl turned back and started heading to the tree to get her things. Seeing her leave the wolf stopped growling but it may have stopped just a moment too soon. Before she had made five steps, Siha turned abruptly, and stared very seriously at the wolf which looked back surprised and confused. She stared for a few seconds and then bowed deeply to the wolf, before running to the tree, then taking her things and then setting off quickly in another direction.

…And only a more confused wolf was left behind that night.