Six Years Before, Gay Ever After

Chapter 1

"Ba...," little 12 year old Raya whimpered, after seeing the horrifying scene of her father, the chief of Heart, turn in stone.

As the waves slowly pushed her away from the bridge, Raya tried to keep her head above the water to breathe. Sure, she knows how to swim, but in this kind of strong, stormy waves? It's ten times the current. Clutching onto the chunk of broken Dragon gem, she pulled herself out of the water, onto land.

It was dark, late at night. And this young girl, father lost, her trust shattered into a million pieces.

Because of that binturi. Raya thought, trying not to let tears run down her face again. Looking around, she realised she was in a forest. Raya isn't scared of it, she knew the map of her land very well. Trying her best to think clearly, she trudged toward the darkness, heart filled with a sense of loss.

Suddenly, the Druun roared in front of her. Raya screamed but raised her left hand, using the Gem's power to protect her. The Druun shrieked, disappearing into a cloud of purple dust. Exhausted, Raya fell to her knees, crying.

"Why?! Why did you do this to me Ba? Why did I even trust that binturi?!" Raya screamed to the darkness. But no answer came. She buried her face in her legs, with her father's Kris sword slung on her shoulder, cried herself to sleep. If I ever see that binturi again, I'll punch the heck out of her. I'll never say her name again.

The next day, Raya got up and finally got out that forest, which was now filled with sunshine. Everything looked the same, but now that places are infested with Druun, it wasn't so safe anymore. Raya looked up, staring at the damaged temple on the top of the mountain, and swallowed her anger. That was here it all happened, that was the place where she thought a friend, betrayed her by kicking her at the back.

She went in the castle, fending off Druun that were still lurking around in the rooms. She was on her own, the palace guards, cooks, servants, were all turned into stone.

Finding her room, she cried with happiness when she saw tiny Tuk tuk curled up at the corner, shivering with fear. Hearing Raya's voice, Tuk tuk instantly squealed and rolled to her, Raya picked him up, rubbing his furry face against her cheek.

"Oh Tuk tuk, I thought you were gone! Guess it's just the two of us now huh," she asked sadly, Tuk tuk's face drooped. Raya sighed, she was still very glad, she still has someone, to accompany her.

"Okay, so... Um... I guess we got some stuff to start packing," Raya muttered to herself, running to get her sling bag. Tuk tuk gave her a questioning look.

"Look Tuk, we can't be sitting in this palace of ruins forever, and I want my ba back, so I must find the last dragon. Only Sisu can fix all this, she was the one who made the Dragon Gem anyway, and we gotta go find her," she explained, throwing a shirt and dhoti/sampot pants into the bag. "I don't know where to find her, but...,"she paused, and frowned, "Do you even think that legend is true Tuk? You know, when she said Sisu floated to some random river's end after she made the gem?"

Tuk tuk remembered what young Namaari had said a day ago, it seems true to him, because it is a Fang legend, but if it isn't true, they'll just be wasting their time finding every river.

"I guess, we can try that right?" Raya replied, trying to smile. The thought of believing Fang just made her mad, how can she ever trust that land again? She took out a piece of paper and a pen, being a left-hander, she write down the essential things to bring.

1) Food 2) Clothes 3) Hygiene stuff

Is there even enough space to put everything inside?? Raya doubted it as she looked at her bag, but if she's going on a mission, she needed to bring a bag that is light, and less-bulky. Food's gonna take up quite some space if they are going out for days to look for Sisu, clothes she can just bring one set, showering things is going to be a problem. Even if she brought two tiny bottles there would be no space to squeeze them in.

She sighed. This is gonna be a big problem. Unless she didn't shower, she can still shower, but she won't have soap.

"Okay fine," Raya grumbled to her thoughts as she threw out the two bottles. She didn't really like to be clean, but the least she could do is shower twice a week from now onwards.

Heading to the kitchen, she saw the soup she shared with her Ba yesterday, a lump formed in her throat. Swallowing it down, she walked to the fridge. Inside, there was a few dragonfruit, pineapples, and mangosteens. There was a bunch of bananas hanging. She didn't really think of living on fruits for the journey, so she jut took some. I'll come back if I need more, she thought, but she doubted the fruits would still stay this way. Tuk tuk looked at her, as if asking if he could have something to bring too.

"Of course you can! What would you like, furbug?" Raya laughed and picked him up, showing him a basket of berries. Tuk tuk squealed and wiggled to get free to eat.

"Nope, no eating, you can carry your food though, my bag is about to explode."

Raya took a red silk cloth, took a handful of berries and put them inside, then folded it closed, she looked around for a band, looped it around Tuk tuk's tummy, and balanced the bag on top.

"That'll test how much you can resist your hunger," Raya teased as she watched her pet walk carefully to the basket to eat the rest of the remaining berries.

She stood up and looked at the gates, it was time to go, she opened a map of Kumandra, or the broken Kumandra, and looked at Heart, there were 6 different river ends to search. Fang has 7, Spine has 8, Talon has 6, like Heart, and Tail has 11. That is 38 rivers to search.

That's a loooooong way to go, Raya sighed.

"Come on Tuk, luckily we are still in Heart, so we can come back here anytime," Raya said, when a thought suddenly came back to her. Oh no. How is she going to look for a dragon, especially when it is hidden. So that meant she needed to do some research on her culture on how to summon a spirit of a dragon.

"URGH...," Raya groaned and flopped onto the floor, Tuk tuk giving her a confused look. Raya told him what she just remembered, and Tuk tuk had to roll his eyes. None of them knew how to pray to gods and stuff like that. All Raya knew was what happens when one becomes a Guardian of the Dragon Gem. The water flowing towards the Dragon gem is poured on one's head to let the water recognise the new guardian, before flowing towards the Dragon gem.

That was what happened to her three days ago.

So anyways, Raya ran to the royal library, which was luckily not in ruins, and searched high and low for a book that the monks use for praying.

She couldn't find anything, but she found a book on the history of Kumandra, so she headed to the temple, with Tuk tuk rolling behind her.