Content Warning: A little profanity

Sorry for not releasing a chapter yesterday i had a midterm today so studying was prioritized. Anyways, for depriving you of a chapter yesterday i am going to release two today. Here's the first, enjoy.

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The wind caressed her face as Anthiros galloped across the field. After riding Anthiros for the entire morning and through lunch, Ruki finally decided to take a break from riding. She rode Anthiros back to the stable, dismounted and then proceeded to put him back in his stall. She took the reigns and saddle off of him and placed them on the pegs outside the stall. Grabbing a pile bag of feed she poured it into the trough on the stall door.

“I’ll be back later today to feed you again okay” she said as she pet Anthiros.

She then left the stable smiling and in a very good mood. She made her way to the house while humming a song that her mom used to sing to her. She walked up the porch steps, cleaned her shoes on the mat and went inside.

As she entered the house she smelled the sweet aroma of her mom's famous peace bread. It was known around the neighboring villages in Dysi that her mother, Irema, made the best food. She was often told that her bread was so good that it could stop a war, hence the name “peace” bread. Ruki followed the smell into the kitchen and saw her mother kneading some dough.

“Hi mother, do you need any help baking?”

“Actually yes, can you go down by the lake and pick some aquadills for me please?” Irema replied.

“Okay mom.”

“Thanks sweetie.”

Ruki then went and got a basket and left the house. It was already a little past noon and she had yet to eat lunch so she walked quickly down to the lake east of their farm. The lake was right past a tree line at the end of the farms eastern most pasture. As she reached the tree line she made her way down a worn path that her and her brothers used to use when they were little. While walking along the worn path she couldn’t help but think of her brother Red. A hint of sadness swept across her as she made her way down to the end of the path and to the lakeside.

Aquadills were aquatic plants that were similar to cattails but had fuzzy-like balls at the top of their stalks. These balls were composed of small flowers that could be used for many things; her mom often mixed these flowers with hot water to help the yeast in her bread rise to a certain fluff when baked. Ruki saw a patch of aquadills rising up out of the water beside the grassy bank so she walked over to the edge of the bank to pick them.

As she picked the flowers she sang a song that her mom had often sung to her when she was sick or distraught. It was the same song that she was humming earlier. “The petals on the flower were flowing in the wind. Staring at the bright sky, often wondering what lies beyond the sky looking at the sun, thinking of a dream where they can learn to fly. After a summer rain, darkness then descends, the petals all huddle together, sheltered from the wind, but one lonely petal drifts away from them, that petal then whispers to itself that its probably the end, as it soars through the sky higher than its ever been. Then, emerging from the clouds leaving the dark behind, it sees the bright sun ahead and then it starts to fly, forgetting all about the darkness and about its friends, because it finally starts a journey, that’s how it begins. First it’s the darkness, then it’s the light, leading to a path unknown. But the petal continues on passing countless suns, trying to find the sun that it can call its home, finally reaching the bright light in the sky that it can call the one.” Ruki kept singing as she picked the flowers on the edge of the bank.

“Oops.”

A flower fell out of her hand as she went to put it into her basket and landed atop the long green grass on the bank. She went to pick it up with her free hand when all of a sudden she saw a green flash and felt a sharp pain in her hand. It happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to scream out in surprise. She quickly withdrew her hand as she stepped back, unsure of what just happened.

‘What was that? All I saw wash a flash of green and then felt pain.’ She looked at her hand and saw two bloody marks that had a clear liquid flowing out of them. ‘I was bit! What just bit me?!’ As she looked around for the culprit she started to feel woozy. She tried to move her feet but they didn’t respond to her demands and she stumbled onto the grass. She felt a burn on her hand where the bite was and waves of numbness took over her body. As she started to drift in and out of consciousness she struggled to make a sound. “Help…Hel….p” is all she managed to say quietly as she lost all consciousness.

***

(Li's POV)

Walking through the pastures of the farm, Li made his way to the tree line and stepped into the forest beyond it. ‘I want to explore a bit more but I don’t know anything about the land or wildlife around here. Hmmm, I wont be going too far into the forest so it should be fine.’ Li looked at the forest before him and mapped out a path that would give him the least trouble.

He walked through the forest listening to the distant chirps of birds and the occasional sound of animals moving through the brush. After walking for a while his legs started to tire and he looked around for a place to rest. In the distance, through the tall trees Li saw an opening and made his way towards it. Walking between the tall trees he was able to see a small lake before him. ‘Whoah.’ Li let out a surprised exclaim in his mind as he took in the view before him. The sun shone over the sapphire blue lake making it glisten like a rare gem. Across the lake Li admired the view of distant snow-filled mountains over the tree line.

Li made his way down to the lake’s grassy bank and admired the beautiful view of nature. Finding a nice grassy place beside the water Li sat down to enjoy the view. After enjoying the view for a while Li laid his back onto the grass and closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the sounds of nature. ‘Ah, now this is relaxation.’

“The petals on the flower were flowing in the wind…”

As Li was lying on the bank of the lake staring up at the sun in the sky, he heard a beautiful and gentle voice singing so he looked in the direction the voice was coming from. The voice was coming from behind a bunch of plants off to his right further down the bank of the lake. Li closed his eyes, laid his head back down and listened to the soft, soothing voice sing.

“Staring at the bright sky, often wondering what lies beyond the sky looking at the sun, thinking of a dream where they can learn to fly. After a summer rain, darkness then descends, the petals all huddle together, sheltered from the wind, but one lonely petal drifts away from them, that petal then whispers to itself that its probably the end, as it soars through the sky higher than its ever been. Then, emerging from the clouds leaving the dark behind, it sees the bright sun ahead and then it starts to fly, forgetting all about the darkness and about its friends, because it finally starts a journey, that’s how it begins. First it’s the darkness, then it’s the light, leading to a path unknown. But the petal continues on passing countless suns, trying to find the sun that it can call its home, finally reaching the bright light in the sky that it can call the one.”

As Li listened to this song he thought about his current predicament. ‘I wonder if anyone is looking for me. What if I have no one to look for me, then all of my efforts in order to find out who I am will be in vain.’ He then shook his head. ‘No I can’t think like that, there has to be answers. There has to be answers.’ He repeated this thought in his head in order to reassure himself.

After regaining his thoughts Li realized that he no longer heard the beautiful voice. He looked back over at the lake plants that separated him and the singer. He sat up and wondered why the singing had stopped. ‘Maybe they got tired of singing. But then again it sounded like they were mid verse.’ Li decided to go seek out the singer so he got up and walked down the bank and over behind the lake grass. As he walked around the bend he saw that there lying on the bank was the girl he had seen riding the white horse in what seemed like a dream.

Her chestnut-brown hair was flowing gently in the wind across her pink blouse as if it were one of the stalks of the lake grass. She was lying softly on the grass with her eyes closed and a basket full of flowers beside her had been knocked over. Its contents were strewn all about. Li then noticed movement beside the girl; it was a small green snake that blended in with the grass. As it noticed Li’s presence it slithered away, off of the bank and submerged into the lake.

After realizing what had happened Li rushed over to the girls side.

“Hey are you okay?!” he shouted.

He saw some blood on her hand and saw two holes that clearly indicated that the snake bit her. The two wounds had a clear liquid oozing from them. Li looked around not knowing what to do. ‘Okay, she’s unconscious so that snake was probably venomous. Should I suck out the venom, but what if it is paralytic? Shit, what should I do.’ Li struggled for a moment, thinking about what to do. ‘The more time I take the lower the chances are that she survives.’

“Alright lets get you out of here” Li finally said.

He gently picked up the girl and started to run back to the homestead of the farm. He thought to himself ‘Don’t die on me, Im going to get you to the farm and Irema will know what to do.’ As he ran with her, the girl opened her eyes slightly, seeing Li’s face while he grimaced with fatigue from running all the way from the lake. She softly said “light” and then re-lost consciousness. Li looked down at the girl and saw that her face was snow white.

“Hey, its going to be okay, we can make it, don’t die on me” Li said as he ran through the field.

Breathing loudly as he finally reached the homestead, he shouted for help as he ran up the steps. Irema rushed out from the house looking at Li and the girl in his hands. Li knelt down and laid the unconscious girl on the porch.

“This girl was down by the lake and a small green snake bit her, I ran back as fast as I could.”

Right after he had finished saying that a green snake bit her Irema’s face turned pale and rushed over to the girl.

“Ruki! Ruki! Come on sweetie, it’ll be okay stay conscious” Irema was frantic.

Rall came rushing over to see what the commotion was. As soon as he saw Irema shouting Ruki’s name he knew that it couldn’t be good. He ran up to Irema but she yelled at him “Go get your father now!”

Rall turned and ran as fast as he could to the west fields where Rex was working.

“Li I want you to go into the house, in the room to the left of yours there’s a bed, under the bed is a small gray box. Go get that box for me, hurry!” Irema said frantically.

Li immediately rushed into the house at full speed. He ran through the front room and down the hall past his room. He rushed into the room to the left of his room and hurriedly searched for a small gray box under the bed. He fumbled with some other boxes and clothes but he finally saw the small gray box and grabbed it. He dashed back down the hall to the front room and out the door. When he arrived outside he saw in the distance two figures coming towards him. He then looked where he left the girl and saw that Irema and another lady were looking at the wound on the girls hand.

Li rushed to Irema’s side and handed the small gray box to her. Irema quickly opened the gray box and pulled out a round vial that had a purple liquid in it. Irema opened the vial and poured some of it into her own mouth. Li watched as Irema swished it around in her mouth. She then took the girls hand and started to suck the venom out of the wound. Just as she did this Rex and Rall finally arrived. Rall asked what was going on. Li explained what happened at the lake. After hearing Li’s explanation Rex looked down at the unconscious Ruki and began running towards the stable.

“Rall keep your sisters body upright” Irema said.

Rall hurriedly knelt down and lifted the girl’s body. The other woman had already put a strap around the bicep of the girl in order to stop the bloodflow. Li watched as the previously beautiful goddess of the pasture grew paler and paler in a fight for her life. ‘Was I too late. Is this girl going to die because I took too long’ he thought as he looked down at the unconscious girl.