It was a few hours after midnight on the 22nd of March, in the year of X770. A young child, around the age of three, kneeled next to her parents, the hems of her dress darkened with tears. She gripped the dress of her mother, the woman laying motionless on the ground. Her brownish amber eyes eyes gazed onwards, glassy and glazed over; they had no light of life inside them anymore. The man slumped over a chair, seeming as if he was trying to get to the two females.
A woman who had dark curls cascading to her hips bent down next to the hiccuping girl. “There, there.” She murmured, petting her hair. The girl looked up, and her big, doe like golden flecked green eyes gazed into the woman’s warm, golden eyes.
“W-who are you, ma’am?” The girl whimpered, her eyes cast back down to her mother’s cold hand. “A-Are you my mother?” She asks softly, looking back at her. The woman shakes her head, her eyes saddened by the girl’s innocence.
“No, child. I am Gaea. You will be my student.” She states with a smile, and helps the girl up. Holding her in her arms, she wiped away her tears that dripped from her cheeks. “Sh...child. You mustn’t cry. Move forward. Otherwise you will get engulfed in the past.” She soothes her, and pries the young child’s fingers away from her mother’s hand and shirt.
“B-But I have to wake them up! I have to say bye bye…” The girl cried harder, starting to bawl. The woman shook her head, letting out a sigh.
“They’ll always be with you on our journey, no need to worry.” Gaea cooed, and the earth started to wrap around their frames, though it was reluctant with the man’s figure. Eventually, they disappeared from the girl’s eyes, and she let out a cry, slipping from the woman’s grasp and collapsing next to the mounds of earth that replaced her parents.
“Papa!! Mama!” She cries, and starts to bawl on the ground. The woman sighed, kneeling down next to the girl, softly petting her hair and soothing her. The girl hiccuped and started to drift off, until her figure fell to the side, against the woman’s thighs, her head in Gaea’s lap.
She picked up the sleeping child, and starts towards the doorway to the goddesses’ sanctuary.
When the child woke up, about a few hours later, she yawned and started to stretch, not knowing why her parents didn’t wake her up. Then the sick truth barreled in: Her parents were dead. She would never be able to hug them again, nor would she be able to feel their arms around her. She wouldn’t be able to sit down with them and play games, or be able to cuddle with her mother when she was scared. She wasn’t able to get her back washed by her parents, and she couldn’t be nagged about dressing herself in the right clothing or be able to have her father teach her how to ride the horse that the neighbors owned; Eva.
She started to cry again, until her shoulders were shaking. The woman bent down in front of her, gently touching her head. “You will be alright, child.” The toga clad woman stated softly, kissing her head. “Your parents are alright. Would you like to visit them?”
The girl nodded, and the woman took her hand, leading her deeper into the sanctuary.
After a year of training with the goddess, the young girl quickly matured- a child whose childhood was taken away far too soon. Gaea looked after her, raising her to be the most powerful, yet to have a pure heart. One day, the young girl found a wounded cat, whose fur was matted around the throat with blood sticking to it.
“Sensei! Sensei!” The girl called, stumbling along the tree roots and softened grass, her dark curls bouncing behind her and her vine-made ribbons on her legs starting to go undone. She held the cat against her chest, one hand pressed against its throat. She gasped for breath, tripping over her feet and landing on her front, scraping her knees and bruising her shoulders as she tried to shield the cat. She whimpered, and got up, staggering to the garden.
Gaea perked up, hearing her student’s whimper and stumbling feet shuffling around the sanctuary. “Child, you won’t be able to use much magic if the enemy knows where you are.” She chides, and the child trips over her feet, collapsing on her bum next to her.
“Sensei, I found her lying on my window sill and she’s wounded badly…” The four year-old cried, laying the wheezing cat on the huge leaf that was like a coat of warmth. “Please help her, Sensei!” She started to sniffle, her eyes filling with tears. The girl didn’t want anyone else to die in front of her. She didn’t want people to get hurt. She wished it could all be different.
Gaea’s eyes softened, and she placed her hands over the child’s. “Use your magic.” She suggested, and the girl nodded.
“Thank you, Sensei.” The girl started to concentrate. “Earth God’s….Cleansing!” She called, and the vines started to grow from her hands, wrapping around the cat’s throat like a collar, glowing faintly until crumbling off like soil. The girl fell to her side, her head nestled in the lap of the woman. Gaea smiled a little, and picked up the cat, setting it down next to the exhausted child.
“Well done, Natsuki.”
