Michi Ni Sotte

Part 1

"Wake up.
Kaori, wake up!"
I woke up feeling firm hands around my shoulders. My best friend Kitsun, the only one on this goddamn ship, I thought, was standing above me, panic flooding his normally positive face. He had his sword already in a hilt on his waist. I sat up to talk to him, dropping my legs over the side of the bed.
"They're here."
"No."
"We've gotta hurry, some of the crew are already up there.", he spoke urgently.
             I stood up and reached a hand under the wooden bed frame to pull out my my bow and some daggers, tossing on the quill over my pajamas, not caring that I was still in them. Kitsun had already climbed a rope ladder leading to the main deck. I followed hastily after, ignoring the tiredness tugging my body back. I heaved myself up through the hole in between the decks, being met with a wave of heat, blinding sun, and complete chaos. I squinted and glanced over to see that everyone had engaged in battle with separate people from a group of government cronies, referred to as the Recusare by us "pirates". We were caught in our worst nightmare like a fish tangled in a net, one everyone on the ship had been dreading and subconsciously prepared for. I was noticed by a soul-dead, like the rest of them, Recusare He was perhaps in about in his late 30s, with black eyes and no emotion but hatred for the world. So an average one, I thought. He scoffed at me, saying "They're recruiting teenagers for the resistance now? They're running out of people to conver-" Thwock. My hand felt foreign, having wasted no time flinging a dagger into his ribs, fighting on instinct and not thought. I zoned out, fighting without thinking, moving on to battle more and more s, feeling no sensation but the sun's heat beating down on me and light engulfing me and occasional splashes of blood. I subconsciously threw and dodged blows and blades as memories flashed before me about what had happened and how I had gotten here. I had only vague memories of my parents, both bestial deer wood elves like me, their death by hunters accidentally shooting us, who had only seen our antlers. I was the only one who had survived. The arrowhead in my shoulder from that day stung, a constant reminder. I had continued living in the woods in a small den, hunting for food, until I eventually decided to venture into a large city called Qual. There I met Kitsun, a foxperson who had become my best friend, possibly more. He had gotten me to join the ashen "pirate" crew, which was one of many bands of nonhuman creatures resisting the tyrannical king that the Recusare worked for. We were called pirates by him, just another way to keep the public away from us. We had embraced the name, trying to rise above, apparently falling back down because they had found us, they were here, taking us down, and I couldn't-
           "KAORI!" I snapped back to reality, clearing my head of all the memories, and looked to Kitsun. We were the remaining 2 on the ship, along with 2 Rec's. Kitsun was battling one, losing, and so was I. A burning, aching rage exploded in my heart as Kitsun was impaled and killed by the other Recusare. It felt like a bond snapped in my mind. The only friend I had since I had left the forest, was dead. Red seeping into my vision, I threw my last dagger across the deck to end the life of Kitsun's murderer. The one that I was fighting took advantage of of my moment of distraction, and swung a battle axe towards me. I jumped back to dodge it, but I hadn't realized how close to the edge and the chopping waves I was. In one swift movement, the Recusare had shoved me off the edge. I was falling closer and closer to the water, but it felt like I was moving in slow motion. I reached an arm for my bow and an arrow, shooting him in the neck as I fell. Several feet away from the water, feeling the spray of the waves, I started to panic. My heart started beating faster, my chest felt tight, and I couldn't think straight. I thought through the haze of my mind, I'm dying, I am gonna die here, and-

               I hit the water, barely feeling the sudden, thudding impact of the landing against my back.
I sank into the water, the burning of my skin beginning to cool as I sank into the water, letting it engulf me.
               For a moment, everything was calm and the panic dissolved as my vision hazed more and more with black and all I could hear was the washing of the waves