Saki awoke to the sound of angry call of a crow. She stumbled, trying to stand up. Where was she? A minute ago, she was... She was doing what, exactly?
The sunlight sifted through the trees, a faded orange glow haunting her gaze. A crow was at her feet, looking at her through its squinted eyes. Was it dusk, she wondered, or was it dawn? She had no idea.
The crow squawked at her, jumping around. Looking through it's expression, Saki glimpsed something spark in her mind. A memory? Her thoughts tried to grasp it. But, at the sound of heavy footsteps trampling through the underbrush, the crow took flight, a feather landing at Saki's feet.
She didn't have time to contemplate what had happened. Something- no, someone- dangerous was coming. Her hands went to her knives. Wait, she had knives? She glanced down. They were knives alright, but without a handle to grab onto.
Instinct swept over her. She didn't need a handle. With a cast of her arm and closing her fist, two of the blades thrust forward, slicing through the humid air, towards the source of the footsteps.
She didn't touch the knives. How did they fly? How did they...
The scream shook away her thoughts. A young man stumbled forward through the brush into Saki's line of sight. A silver blade was embedded deep into his thigh, crimson blood dripping from the wound and staining his black trousers.
"Who..." he whimpered. Confusion and terror clouded his eyes.
Saki's heart skipped a beat at the sight of this man. He was barely older than her- wait, how old was she again?
But her instincts ignored her bubbling emotions. Her hand moved on its own, and the blades ripped upwards, tearing into his abdomen.
The man's screams echoed throughout the forest as his blood let loose, spilling onto the ground and foliage below him. He fell onto his knees before collapsing on the ground, writhing in agony.
Saki rushed over. What had she done? But, she realized that she had no sympathy for the man that was bleeding out in front of her.
She raised her hand. Her bloodied knives slid out of the man's body, hovering in the air.
"What..." Saki said. Blood dripped off of the levitating knives.
Behind her, she heard a strange cackling of brush, followed by a sickening smell of smoke.
Saki whipped around. She was face to face wity a young woman in crimson dancer's clothes, her face veiled. Her long, ebony hair was tucked into an unruly braid. But that wasn't what Saki noticed.
Her arms were covered in flames, shining brightly, her skin untouched by their blazing heat that Saki felt even from afar.
"Who..." Both girls stammered at the same time.
But the dancer wasn't confused for long. "Oh, well who cares? You're on our side apparently. We'll talk later. Right now, we need to get out of here before that guy's friends come."
The flames leapt around her skin, but she was unfazed. Saki's eyes widened in a mix of fear and sheer confusion.
"What, you've never seen a Fireling before?" the dancer scoffed. "Well, stay here if you want. You can fend for yourself, apparently."
Suddenly, the forest erupted into angry shouts and a flurry of footsteps.
"I think we're surrounded," the fire girl sighed. She muttered a phrase under her breath that Saki didn't understand, but she assumed it was a swear. "Well, let's not kill flies!"
Saki paused at the unfamiliar idiom.
"Urgh! Just help me fight them off. I'm not the one who killed a soldier and foolishly let him scream."
Saki understood. She pulled her knives back to her as the footsteps closed in on the two.
Out of the bushes, a woman emerged. Her rough tunic was stained with dried blood that was not her own. At her waist, a sheathed sword, its hilt smudged with dull crimson.
The dancer beside Saki stiffened up for a heartbeat before regaining her composure.
"We meet again, Parisa." The woman sneered.
Four male soldiers circled the clearing, surrounding Saki and her newfound ally.
The girl next to Saki hissed, "You have no right to say my name!" The flames she emitted even more suffocating heat as the two met each other's gazes.
The woman laughed. She glanced down, as if she only now noticed her comrade's dead body. She nudged it with her foot.
"Who's your friend? Some talented Metalling, I see."
"You're going down!" Parisa looked like she was about to strike, but something held her back.
"Sweetie, you're outnumbered five to two. Try to make this interesting. Men, take the Fireling alive. Do whatever you want with the other girl, I don't care."
Parisa lunged towards the woman. Saki didn't think. She turned to the remaining soldiers and horizontally cut her hand through the air like it was butter.
Her knives clanked against the soldiers' iron armor.
"Some Metalling!" One of the men laughed. "Get her, boys!"
Saki desperately wanted to glance over at Parisa to see how she was fairing, but with four opponents there was no opportunity. Saki didn't know exactly what she was doing. One of the soldiers came at her head on. She dodged to the right, grabbed his arm and used his own momentum to flip him onto his back.
As if she had done this hundreds of times before, she threw her hands forward. The man catapulted through the air and landed on the trunk of a tree with a loud thud. He crumpled to the ground, his neck twisted in a deathly manner.
The other soldiers stopped dead in their tracks. "Guaiwu!" One shouted. His voice was so wrought with emotion that the tones were barely recognizable. It took a second for Saki to understand the word for witch.
Out of the corner of her eye, Saki witnessed the battle between Parisa and the swordswoman. Despite Parisa's flames, the swordswoman was dodging her fiery attacks and poking at her with her sword.
At the man's shout, the swordswoman turned her attention to her comrades. Her lapse in concentration only lasted a heartbeat, but it was enough for Parisa to move in. Fire leapt from her arms to the swordswoman, eliciting a loud shriek as the flames burned through her tunic and sizzled against the bare skin of her arm.
"Ahh!" The swordswoman screamed.
"That's no Metalling, that's a witch!" One of the remaining soldiers shouted.
Saki was just as confused as they were, but she knew that it wasn't the time to ponder whatever the hell had just happened.
It was Parisa's turn to be distracted. The swordswoman pushed back, cutting into her arm with a quick blow. Parisa stumbled back. Her flames flickered and dimmed.
The swordswoman kept up her barrage of swings. Parisa was on the defensive, stepping back further and further. She stumbled on a large tree root. Her aggressor raised her sword, prepping for the final blow.
Saki flicked her wrist. The sword flew out of the woman's hands, clattering against the forest's leafy floor.
The swordswoman turned towards Saki. "Who the hell are you?"
"Retreat, men!" The swordswoman shouted. "We have to report this!"
The three remaining soldiers disappeared into the dense foliage.
"This isn't over, Parisa!" The woman shouted.
Saki reached for her knives, ready to strike as the woman fled.
"No!" Parisa yelled, struggling to her feet. The swordswoman disappeared into the shadows of the forest.
"Striking her while fleeing... There is no honor in that," the dancer murmured. "And I want to be the one to deliver that final blow."
Parisa's demeanor changed in an instant. She smiled, and the flames dissipated. "What a hell of an introduction. I'm Parisa."
"Saki, but..."
"That's Hinazawan, right?" Parisa interrupted. "I'm from Mitra, but that's kinda obvious."
Saki had no idea what those foreign words were.
"Can we talk about your Blessing for a minute? I've never seen someone with such an aptitude for Metal."
"Um..."
"Are you from the outskirts of the city of Bianyuan? We're pretty far out from them, though."
"I... I don't know."
"Whatcha mean, you don't know?" Parisa's friendliness had turned sour. She took a step back, readying herself for a possible fight.
"I woke up here, and I don't know what I was doing or even where I am now. I woke up and that soldier discovered me and I panicked and..."
Saki noticed the ebony feather at her feet. Her brief encounter with the crow came to mind. She picked it up. It had remained unscathed, no blood, no signs of ash..
Parisa paused, her dark and muddy eyes brimming with distrust and uncertainty.
"I'll take you to our base. We'll sort it out there." She adjusted her veil and glanced over her dancer's garb. "Rundi ka bacha!" she cursed. "Mei told me these clothes were fireproof, but no, they've got scorch marks! Urgh. Anyways, you can't be a bad person, right? The militia attacked you, after all. And you did this, and they were, like, totally surprised!" Parisa mimicked Saki's arm movements.
"Um..." Saki felt her cheeks turn a faint shade of red at Parisa's imitation. Did she really look that dumb?
"Oh, walk in front of me, Saki," Parisa said. "Sorry, but a girl's gotta be careful."
"Um, sure. Just tell me where we're going."
"Alright." Parisa pulled out a strange circular device. Noticing Saki's curiosity, she explained further. "A compass. Pretty cool thing, right? It's all the rage in the capital city. You can tell which way is south, and by extension, the other directions! It's really helpful in these dang forests, because you can't see the sun very well."
The two made their way through the underbrush. As they kept walking, Saki wondered if this was really a good idea. She was following a girl whose arms had been lit with flames mere minutes ago. But, what choice did she have? Those soldiers obviously wanted her head. Then again, that would be preferable than being burned alive by this girl.
But, Parisa seemed nice enough. She didn't seem like she was leading Saki into a trap.
Before Saki could make up her mind if following a stranger deeper into the woods was wise, she glimpsed a cabin through a patch of bamboo.
"Through here!" Parisa darted ahead, and revealed a narrow path through the stalks.
As they made their way through the bamboo, light filtered down from above. Like when she woke up, Saki admired the beauty.
"There's a Hinazawan word for the sunlight through the trees. Komorebi. I don't know if there's a separate word for light for bamboo. I should ask Kantou," Parisa commented.
Komorebi. Saki knew that word. Just like the light shone over the leaf covered forest floor, it shone over her heart. The feeling of warmth spread throughout her body and Saki smiled. But as much as she tried to remember, nothing came to her.
Who was she? What was this mysterious power she possessed?
Saki and Parisa stepped out from underneath the shadows of the bamboo.
A young boy greeted them. He couldn't have been older than thirteen.
"Taoyun!" Parisa called out.
The boy turned around, initially smiling to greet her. But when he noticed Saki, his expression and stance changed. "Who are you?"
"This is Saki. She's a... Friend. We need to have a meeting. Are the others here?"
Taoyun nodded. "Go right inside. And tell Mei it's her turn for sentry duty."
"Yeah, but Mei's not a Woodling, and we need to keep the bamboo up. Stay here."
"Hey, that's not fai... Wait a second, where's the food from the market?"
"Tell ya later. Saki, follow me inside."
"I'm ba-ack!" Parisa lengthened the syllable. "And I bring a friend."
Two men were kneeling on the ground, a go board between them. One was only a little older than Saki, but the other was old enough to be her dad. Wait, did she even have a father, Saki wondered to herself.
A young woman was setting out rice dishes for the two men. She looked up. Her hair was neatly tied into two braids, wearing a simplistic hanfu. Her skin was a deep tan, and her eyes round. "Where's the food from the market?" she asked, looking quite annoyed. She completely ignored Saki. "We're almost out."
"Uh... Things happened," Parisa shrugged.
The younger man moved a piece on the go board. "I got you this time, Kantou!" His opponent sighed, and moved another piece. The young man slumped back in defeat.
"You still have a lot to learn. Put the board away. Welcome back, Parisa. Who is your friend?" He turned towards Saki, and she immediately noticed his eye patch, and jagged scar etched into his cheek.
"She didn't bring home food! Like she was supposed to," the girl scoffed.
"This is Saki," Parisa introduced. "Our new recruit."
"Recruit?" Saki blurted.
"She helped me fight off some of the militia-"
"You mean you fought the militia?" the girl interrupted. "Really, Parisa?"
"It's not MY fault that market prices are absurd, since of the famine in the southern plains. So I kinda helped myself, but I may or may not have gotten caught."
"Parisa," the older man chastised. "You have to be more careful."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't need you lecturing me. Anyways, you have to see Saki's Blessing! Show them!"
Saki cast her hand forward, and the go board that had just been put on the shelf lifted a few inches in the air.
Dead silence.
"Huh? But you're a Metalling, right?"
"That board has no metal in it, dummy," the girl scoffed. "It's wood. So she's obviously a Woodling, like Taoyun."
"But... Saki, show them your knives!"
"Uh..." she stammered. Saki didn't like this attention. But she pulled the knives out of her satchel. "Like this?" She levitated them in the air.
The stranger's faces dropped.
"Um... Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry!" Saki dropped her knives back in the satchel and bowed her head.
The older man bowed down, his torso almost perpendicular. "You have been touched by the gods with your gifts. I am Kantou Ryuusuke. I pledge my blade to you."
The girl shuffled uncomfortable. "My name is Mei, daughter of Baatbaayur. I'm pretty good with the bow, and I will NOT be outshone by you."
The younger man smiled. "I am Angsui Shou. With your help, we can change the world."
Parisa smiled, and put her arm around Saki's shoulder. "And I'm Parisa- do I need a formal introduction? The kid outside is Taoyun."
"Wait..."
"Saki has amnesia," Parisa explained. "And apparently, she can control all manner of objects with her Blessing. We're the Bianyuan cell of the Silver Blade Resistance. We're an underground rebellion trying to overthrow the Empress."
"Um..."
Parisa turned to her. "You don't have any place to go, do you?"
Saki shook her head.
"And the militia saw you kill one of them, so you can't exactly go strolling through Bianyuan. We could use your help. And you could use ours. If there is someone looking for you, we'll find them. We have contacts all throughout Bianyuan- even all through Laika."
Bewilderment spread across Saki's face. What choice did she have, really? Parisa had a point. She had no idea where she was, and after the events that had transpired, she couldn't exactly go door to door in the nearest city trying to find someone who recognized her. She had a target on her back. Maybe there was a mother, a father, even a husband looking desperately for her.
Saki nodded, and bowed once more. "Thank you for having me."
Parisa smiled. "Welcome. We're going to change this world... together."
And Saki swore on her heart she heard a crow in the distance.
Author's Note: Thank you so much for checking out my new story! If you liked it, please consider leaving a vote. If you have any comments or critiques, I would love to hear them, too!