A bleak and painful present tainted by a tragic and dreadful past and up ahead, a dark future which seemed just as bleak, if not more so, as the present, that was the reality Ibaeran came from and had know for as long as she could remember.
“I’ll be back and once I become the Su Baera I promise you our lives will be better”, a man said to his little girl before leaving her alone.
She waited and hoped, and then hoped so more, that one her father would come, soaring through the skies with a pair of steel wings on his back, to save and whisk her away high up in to the sky to a better life along with her people just like he promised. She waited and waited, and as time pasted days turned into weeks, weeks to months, and eventually a year had pasted and soon it was time for another tournament to be held. The little girl then had to face the bitter and grim truth that had father, along with her dream and hope, was gone and would never come back.
The little, all alone, without there by her side, had to find away to survive so how but with each passing day, the simple task of surviving grew harder and harder. She was a slave, just like the rest of her people, and without her father there, she had to work to provide for herself. On the open fields toiled away, working day and night, in the freezing cold and blazing sun, all just to survive. And as time passed little girl spirit began to fade away, growing numb and lifeless from within, as she began pondering to herself if her fate shared by the rest of her people was really so bleak and hopeless. Recalling her father along with the hope that died with him she couldn’t help but ponder even more, if she along with her people where just born to suffer and serve the Uha Tamunarans for the rest of their lives, was there truly no one out there who could save them, and was it foolish for her to believe there was. The girl, after working so long and hard, felt her body ache and cry out in pain, but still continued, pushing herself more and more, not caring about the immense pain her body was in because it didn’t really matter to her any more, nothing really did, because she just a slave, meant to simply serve and obey, that was her purpose, that was what she was meant to be and who she was.
A lonely slave meant to only meant to only serve and obey until the day she died, that was the depressing and dreadful fate she had believed for as far as she could remember. And for the longest of time it felt as though with each and every breath she took her body grew more numb and cold as though she was slowly dying from within and slowly even the urge to wake up and continue accursed cycle of work, torment, and misery, began to fade away, and soon she began to that one day she could simply stay asleep and not wake up. The little girl, had given up on any hope for a better life and with it, the will to live, and so one day, while working on the fields, simply collapsed on the ground.
She not dead but then again, in that state she was in, she couldn’t say she was live either. The girl simply gazed at the sky above her head, her was sore, covered in blisters and ached in pain but she didn’t really, having gotten so accustomed to the pain that the sensation became next to nonexistent to her and like a breath of fresh air she felt absolutely nothing from it. She was tired and exhausted, and looking at the sky above her head, yarned for nothing more than the opportunity to lie on one of the clouds up above and sleep forever and never have to wake up to the cruel world she lived but just as she was about to close her eyes, she heard a voice call out to her.
It was a girl about her age and a slave her. She rushed to the girl who her had collapsed on the floor and then asked if she was alright. The girl was taken aback by her concern as the other slaves didn’t typically show that much concern for other as their main concern was often working to serve and please their masters just so they could survive. The girl though shocked by the other slaves concern for her choose to ignore her remain there lying on the floor and even when the girl mention that their masters would not be pleased to that she was not working as at the point she didn’t really care about anything and neither the threat of her masters or what they would do to her mattered to her at that moment, she simply want to rest and sleep forever.
She expected the other slave to leave after awhile but for some reason the girl couldn’t bring herself to understand, she didn’t, no, the other slave chose to stay by her side and even decided to lie on the ground next to her knowing fully well what the Uha Tamunarans would do to them both if they found them lying on the floor instead of doing their work. The girl at first, chose to ignore the other girl and continued lying down, thinking that she would get up eventually but she didn’t and continued lying down there on the ground next to her until the Uha Tamunarans found them.
The Uha Tamunaran were enraged upon seeing that their two slaves were just lying about on the floor instead of doing their work so they beat them as though they were nothing more stubborn cattle, even caring that not caring that were young, covering their bodies with bleeding wounds. And then, after enduring such a beating, the girl was beyond shock to see the slave girl that laid on the floor by her side joking and laughing as though nothing had happened. The sight was beyond baffling to behold and the girl it hard to believe that the girl could still laugh after taking such a beating, and at a point she even pondered to herself on whether or not the girl was insane.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked the girl, fed up with the fact that slave girl could crack jokes and laugh after being beaten up by the Uha Tamunarans.
The slave girl upon hearing what the girl said simply smiled playfully before saying jokingly, “Nothing, what’s wrong with you”.
The girl was taken aback by her reply causing the other girl giggle.
“Stop that” that girl yelled out with red cheeks slightly embarrassed.
“Stop what?” the other girl asked jokingly.
“Forget about it, I have to get back to work before the Uha Tamunarans come back” said the girl out of frustration before leaving the other girl, internally deeming her insane before walking away to get back to work.
The other girl then followed her, much to her annoyance, working on the fields along sided on the field. The girl at first chose to ignore her and focus on her work but then she started talking and then cracked about one of their Uha Tamunaran master, a fat Uha Tamunaran man whose body looked like the unholy union between a man and a pig.
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“…hey you *grunt* get *grunt* *grunt* back to *grunt* work *grunt*” was hilarious impression of their pig faced Uha Tamunaran master that always pestered them, yelled at them, and occasionally beat them if he found them not working.
The girl, upon hearing what the other girl said couldn’t stop herself giggling slight and an action that the other girl didn’t fail to notice, causing her to stare at her.
“Er…why are you looking at me like that”, the girl said, noticing the way the other girl was staring at her.
The other girl then came closer to the girl, taken aback for a moment with her gaze still look on to hers before saying, “Beautiful”.
“What?” said the girl with a slight blush forming on her face upon hearing what the other girl said.
“You’re beautiful when you smile like that so do my eyes a favor and never stop smiling”, the other girl said with a playful smile on her face.
The girl then felt her cheeks began to heat up and turn even redder than before upon hearing what the other girl.
“Would you stop spew rubbish out of your mouth and start working, if the masters find us…” the girl’s sentence was cut short by the other girl saying, “they’ll do what, beat us again”.
The girl looked at the other girl with a look of confusion and bewilderment, wondering if she crazy or was she truly not afraid of incurring the wrath of the Uha Tamunarans.
“You’re a little worry wot you know that. Haven’t heard the saying, if the world is on fire and you can’t but out the flames, you might as well learn to dance in flames”, said the other girl with the same playful smile plastered on her face.
The saying had to be the most bizarre saying the girl had ever heard but upon saying other girl’s smile warmly without seemly a care in the world, the girl couldn’t help but smile ever so slightly her and upon doing so, her she heard the words leave the other girl’s lips once more, “beautiful” causing her cheeks to turn red once more before grunting out in embarrassment, “Let’s just get back to work”.
And that was how something truly beautiful was born, a bond deep that the two of them would share…
Lying on the plain open fields, drenched from head to toe in sweat, with aching bodies, the two girl haven grown slightly as a few years had passed looked at each other before bursting out in to laughter.
“I feel like every single part of my body is crying right now”, said the girl.
“Yeah, I’m swore in place I didn’t even know could feel swore”, said the other girl as she let out a small chuckle.
The two of them then shifted their gazes up in to the sky, seeing it a mix of orange, red, and blue as the evening slowly descended on them.
“This brings back memories” said the other girls.
“What kind of memories?” asked the girl.
The other girl then smiled a little before saying, “You know, how awhile back I saw a certain girl collapse on the floor, when up to check if she was alright. Thankful she wasn’t dead but she didn’t want to get up either, so I figured that the ground was so comfy that the girl simply refused to get up and my back was starting to hurt after hours of nonstop labor, so I decided to join her on the floor”.
The girl upon hearing the other’s girl recount of the day they met couldn’t help to laugh a little.
“By the way, there’s been something that’s been bothering me since that day, something I’ve been meaning to ask you. Why did you lie on the floor next to me”, asked the girl while turn to the other girl.
The other girl, upon hearing what the girl said, laughed a little before saying, “It’s a bit silly”.
“Really, how so?” asked the girl.
The other girl then let out a say before saying, “In a way, it was more of an act of desperation and selfishness, than it was an act of kindness. When I saw you lying on the ground looking at the eye with dead lifeless eyes, I saw an opportunity”.
“An opportunity?” the girl asked, wondering what she meant when she said she saw an opportunity.
“You were alone, hurt, and had just lost someone you cared about, just like me. My father fought in the tournament to calm the power of the Su Baera and well…*sigh* and as for my mother, she died in the hands of an Uha Tamunaran who claimed she had disrespected him in some way” tears dripped down from the girl’s face as she told her tale.
“I’ve been alone for as long as I could remember with the only thing I have of my family just a few wise old sayings my father used to tell me when I was younger. And when I saw you alone with those lifeless and hurt eyes, I saw a chance to escape from my own lose and pain, and I took it”, said the other girl with a mix of sadness and a little bit of shame in her voice as she spoke.
The other girl then giggled a little as a small tear made its way down from her eyes before saying, “I’m pretty twisted aren’t I, using you to escape my pain”.
The girl lying down next to her then let out a deep sigh before saying, “Forget twisted, you’re completely insane. You risked taking from our masters and lied on the floor next to make, knowing consequence all so you wouldn’t be alone. If that isn’t the definition of insanity I don’t know what is”.
The other girl then giggled a little before saying, “Yeah, I guess I’m pretty insane”.
“Yeah you psycho” the girl spoke jokingly before bursting out in laugher causing the other girl to laugh as well.
After a few moments laughter had pasted the girl turned to the other girl and said, “Thank you for making that insane and selfish decision because if you hadn’t, I would have never had you in my life”.
The other girl upon hearing what girl said just smiled at her before placing a hand on the side of her cheek and said, “Beautiful”.
…until one of them eventually took their last breath and depart from the realm of the living and on to the place of death, leaving behind only a promise for her other half to keep, “Promise Ibaeran that you’ll at least try”.
And that promise was what the girl had been trying her best to keep, it fueled, drove, and pushed her to journey through a path no one had walked for decades, to accept a burden, responsible, and a cross for too heavy for anyone else to carry, to fight a battle that seemed impossible. That promise had been was the spark that lighted an ember in her heart that pushed her to do incredible, unbelievable, and outright impossible things.
And even then, at that moment, as she hovered in the air face to face with another simply impossible huddle before her, a colossal monster that stood tall above the entirety of the Kiri Dumo, towering far beyond the sky and reaching the world’s edge, made of roots and living flesh, formed out of the ashes of the island that once stood below her feet and with the Dumo Stone at the center holding it all together. Ibaeran looked upon the colossus before, her gaze fixed firmly on it, her heart pounding with fear and dread but yet she refused to allow herself to submit to it. Hearing the voice of her departed friend echoing from with her, reminding her of the promise she had made to her during her final moments, Ibaeran found the strength she needed to ignore her fears.
Crushing and clenching her hand tightly, feeling the power of the Su Baera flowing through her tight fist before feeling the power began to take form and slowly morph in to a blade made of light. She then raised her blade up before pointing it at the massive beast before her. Staring at it with a look of fury, rage, and madness before charging straight for it, and as she approach the colossal beast a single thought formed in her mind, ’Looks like you’re not the only one that’s insane”.