The Beginning

Chapter 1

Yang looks down from the cliff she is currently perched on, her blonde hair blowing in the wind. She can see the fires of the village flickering below her in the shadows of the night. She smiles, she's almost home after months of being on the road, gathering medical ingredients needed to replenish her stores.

"Yang! Come on, it's getting dark!"

She can hear her sister yelling at her from the other side of the cliff. Yang knows that Ruby is anxious to return home, having left her fiancee behind to come with her, so she quickly stands and easily climbs over the rocks until she's standing on the lip of the cliff on the other side. She looks down and sees Ruby standing below her, hands on her hips, shaking her head

"Come on, if we move fast we can make it back before daybreak tomorrow"

Yang laughs and steps off the cliff's edge, falling the 15 feet gracefully and landing as if there was no distance between them at all.

"You're just cranky because it's been four months since you've gotten any"

Ruby rolls her eyes, "Can you please, just..." Ruby lets her sentence trail off while gesturing towards Yang's horse.

Yang laughs and swings into her saddle. The two of them start back towards their village, following the path between the mountain and the Balikin Forest. They had been riding for a few hours, and night had fallen, when Yang heard something coming from within the forest. She slows her horse to a stop and turns to look at Ruby.

"Did you hear that?"

Ruby frowns and shakes her head, she hadn't heard anything. Yang slides off her saddle and draws her bow, nocking an arrow in the process. She looked out towards where she knew the forest and tree line started, but couldn't see anything in the dark. She closed her eyes and focused on listening to the sounds of the forest. She could hear the leaves of the trees rustling in the wind, crickets chirping, she could hear water flowing in a creak nearby.

SNAP

Yang's eyes flew open just in time to see a silver tail come flying towards her head

"SHIT!"

Yang rolled to her right, just missing the tail as it flew overhead the sound of it slicing through the air. She came out of her roll, resting on one knee and let loose an arrow. For a second all Yang and Ruby could hear was the wizzing of the arrow as it flew through the air toward the forest. Yang risked taking a look to see if Ruby was okay, she was. Standing to Yang's left, Scythe out, knees bent ready to attack. Yang could feel the corner of her mouth tilt up into a small smile. Ruby had grown up a lot in the last few months, and it showed. Ruby turned to look at her and opened her mouth to say something, but her words were forgotten thanks to the most deafing roar either sister had ever heard. Both girls ducked their heads and grabbed their ears.

Yang slowly brought her hands down and picked up her bow that she had dropped.

"What the hell was that!?"

Ruby just shrugged her shoulders, tighting her grip on Crescent Rose

"I'm not sure...but something doesn't feel right"

Yang nodded her agreement, she had an uneasy feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. She started to calm her breathing while looking around, her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness...well the moonlight was definitely giving her a hand. She could better see the tree line, granted it still wasn't much better than it was before.

It was that moment that the horses started to shift nervously and whine. Yang barely had a second to move as she noticed two sets of blood red eyes charging towards Ruby. Yang nocked another arrow and shot it towards the closest set of red eyes. Aiming to hit whatever it was between the eyes. She watched the yellow tipped arrow fly true. Then she watched it hit her target and bounce off with a metallic tang ringing out. The creature didn't even slow down, it just let out a displeased hiss and continued its course towards Ruby.