The Woods of Hilgaria,
Four years before the Quest
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She wandered the vast forest, a young girl not meant to be alone. Skylar had wandered away from her home, a calm feeling taking the place of the fear in her heart.
It was strangely quiet, making her feel at peace, away from the bustling business of the small village where she belonged.
Skylar found a boulder near a stream and sat down, watching the rippling water racing over the stones in a quiet hum.
She saw her reflection in the water, her hair in a braid as it fell over her shoulder, nearly reaching her waist. It was getting longer, she thought, having never cut it. Papa always said it was so beautiful.
At the thought of her father, Skylar then became overwhelmed with emotions, tears welling in her yellow eyes, blurring her vision as she stared at the reflection, a girl who once was happy. But not anymore.
She immediately covered her eyes, trying to calm herself down again. She couldn't be crying right now. She needed to be strong. Her brother was strong. Her papa was strong.
A crack of twigs made Skylar jump, looking around to see where the noise had come from. Her hand went for her bo-staff, but she realized it was not near her. She'd left it back home.
The crack repeated, along with a rustling of leaves. Skylar frantically turned around, tentatively calling, "Wh-who's there?"
The rustling stopped as a deer ran into a clearing ahead of her, the sun shining down on it as it turned, staring at her.
Its eyes were so dark, staring into the depths of her soul. Its ear twitched, nostrils flaring for a moment. It was so peaceful, so innocent. Why was the deer running? Skylar thought.
The rustles of the leaves happened again, and Skylar ducked behind the boulder, hiding from whatever was out there.
She heard somebody running through the forest, and the deer scampered off. Skylar heard someone panting, and peeked above the boulder to see a young boy standing there, out of breath.
His hair was the color of a sandy beach, tousled and messy. His skin was tanned from the sun, darker than Skylar who hardly ever stepped into the sunshine. He wore a jacket that was too big, often falling over his hands, and a sword that looked too big at his side.
Skylar stared at this boy, curious as she looked at him. He looked so different from the people with Skylar. He had lighter hair, darker skin, and freckles peppered his face.
A low groan broke Skylar away from what she was thinking.
"Ugh..." the boy muttered, "I'm never going to catch anything," he sunk to his knees, a hand running through his hair as he began to sniffle.
"Why did this happen to me, God?" He looked up at the sky, and Skylar wondered what he was looking at. "Why can't I just-" He buried his face in his hands, his body shaking as he cried. Skylar felt the need to go over there. To talk to him. To help him.
But...she didn't. He was different. Who knew if he was a danger? What if she comforted him and then he followed her back to her home and…
She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't be seen.
He groaned again, this time shuffling over to the stream. Skylar ducked behind the boulder again, letting out a breath of relief as she heard him begin to sip. She peeked over the side of the boulder, making sure she still wasn't seen.
He cupped his hands as he lowered them into the stream, then raised them to his mouth and thirstily sipped. Even the way he drank from a water source was different. Skylar would just bring out her canteen and refill it. What he was doing could be dangerous, especially if he was away from a water source for hours at a time.
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Skylar felt her canteen on her belt and thought about throwing it over to him. No, that was a bad idea. She couldn't be seen. He couldn't know she was there.
The boy sighed, then looked to the sky again. "Daddy, I'm sorry. I can't do this. I just-I can't with you...gone."
So he was sad about his father too? Skylar craned her neck to get a better look at the boy.
"Mommy hasn't gotten better. She still sits in her room and cries all day long. Or when she doesn't, she just stares and doesn't talk to anyone. I don't know what to do," he cried, "Without you, we can't get food. So I tried to get food, but I'm too young to have a job. And Mommy can't work because she can't do anything without thinking about you. I just-" his breathing became more rapid as he cried, "I need your help."
Skylar stared at the ground as tears filled her own eyes. He lost someone too. And he was having trouble. She could understand how he felt. Maybe if…
The boy gasped. Skylar looked up and saw that he was staring at her. Panicked, Skylar hid behind the boulder again, panic gripping her heart. He saw her.
"Wh-who's there?" He asked, and Skylar could tell he was trying to find her behind the boulder that hid her from view. "I know you're out there," he added, trying to sound brave.
Skylar stayed silent, praying he would just forget that he ever saw her.
"Please," the boy admitted, "I just-I don't want to be alone."
Skylar didn't want to be alone either. She wanted so badly to have somebody to talk to, someone who understood her fully. Who wouldn't pity her but instead listen to her? To talk to her. To just think of her as usual, rather than what happened with her family.
But she couldn't.
She ran away from the stream without a second thought, ignoring the boy's pleas for her to come back.
She stumbled through the woods, now realizing how lost she really was. She had no idea how to get back to the stream, much less her home.
She finally leaned against the trunk of a tree, slumping to the ground as the day faded to night. Before she drifted off to sleep, Skylar thought of how she didn't want to return home. She just needed to be alone.
The morning light greeted her with someone she didn't want to see.
"Skye!" he said in relief as he hugged her close, holding her in his strong arms. "I didn't know what happened to you, you just ran away and disappeared. We looked all night, but I finally found you. I found you," he said it all so fast, then let go of her as he stared into her eyes. "Why did you run? Why didn't you come back? Why...why can't you just be-"
"Happy?" Skylar finished, then pushed him away. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because when you and Papa went off on your own the worst thing in my life happened? Now everyone thinks of me as the one who's being raised by her older brother!"
"And what's wrong with that?" He threw his hands in the air, "I've been trying so hard right now to keep everything together and you're making things worse! You can't just run away like that! Who knows what could happen to you?"
Skylar crossed her arms, not daring to look at her brother. "Maybe I wanted to be lost," she muttered.
"What?"
"I said, maybe I wanted to get away from everything! Maybe I wanted to be lost!"
He looked taken aback. "I see. You...you didn't want to be around...me." His face fell, and he turned away from Skylar as tears filled his yellow eyes.
"Chris..." Skylar pulled her brother into a hug, feeling him shake with sobs as she herself began to cry. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you. I just...felt so hurt myself I didn't want to see anyone. I guess...I was afraid that being with you...would hurt me more."
"I know it's hard," Chris said as he wrapped his arms around her, "I'm having trouble, too. But-but you can't just...run away. You can't just leave me alone. I know that you feel alone, but when you run...it leaves me alone too." His voice broke, and he hugged her closer to him.
"I guess we both feel alone," Skylar buried her face into his chest.
"Yeah," Chris agreed, "I guess we are."
Skylar hiccuped a little. "Can-can we promise not to run away from each other? Can we promise not to...leave the other alone again?"
She felt him nodding. "Yeah, promise not to run away again?"
"Promise."
"And uh..." Chris sighed, "If you ever need to talk to me, please do. He was my Papa, too."
"Mhm."
They finally released the hug and began to walk away from the tree, away from the stream, and away from the guilt and sadness Skylar had carried throughout her journey in the forest. She had not been lost in the woods, but lost in her emotions, trapped in the cage she had created with the passing of her father.
A year later, Skylar had started border duty. Every day, she would sit in the high branches of a tree, watching to make sure that the border was secure. She wanted to prove to Chris and her father that she was strong. She was a Verlice.
But every day, nothing happened. Every day, the forest was silent. There were no threats. She wanted desperately to join the guard like Chris, but there were some obstacles that stood in her way.
Little by little, the siblings grew apart. They saw each other less. They talked to each other less. Even with the promise, they were growing more and more alone. But where Chris had a whole group of friends, Skylar had none.
She would sit on the high branches of a tree every day alone. With no one to talk to, no one to share her feelings. Nothing happened. She learned how to become at peace. To become focused.
And it was so quiet. Just like the day she was lost, Skylar could hear every silent thing that not many others could. While others were busy in the bustling and loud world, Skylar listened to the stories of nature, noticing every detail of the forest and of others.
Until one day.
One day, as she sat on that tree branch looking at the ground below, a boy her age walked into the clearing. 313Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKKAYCLDex
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