|
|
|
There is a great legend that has been passed down through the generations among my family. It originally came from a small village in a faraway land. But the specifics were lost in great journeys from different lands. It eventually came to the great free land of America, still unheeded by the masses. It was kept alive through the power of its words alone until one day, when it would finally be told by the last person who is able to recall it, namely me. And I want to spread it to the whole world. For it has a message that is worth listening to. Personally I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I know that it’s worth listening to.
It is a great tale of a little bit of heroism and in some places lots of violence and lots of stupidity. But there are some things that need to be clarified before the story begins. This story is not some stupid little fairy tale about a young Prince Charming going to save his beloved princess bride and ending up saving the day along the way while learning some ridiculous lesson that he should’ve known already if he had not been such a downright moron to begin with. In this story the guys are idiots and the girls are too, just not as much for the understandable reasons. This is a story about what would happen if five misfits were stuck together and someone told them to go save the world. In this story there is one “illiterate tomboy, psychopathic, cross-dressing, semi-demon, criminal/hero”, one “guy who can’t figure out what he likes, girls or guys”, one “serious gay gardener”, one “thinks he’s a messed up teenager” and one “where’s the kitchen kind of guy.”
But it’s mostly about a girl named Raye Tani who followed her dreams in her own peculiar way, to try to find her place in the world and found what she least expected and most needed. It is about her struggles to keep her secret, to keep a promise while trying to save the world and her friends and to search for the answers she’d been looking for her whole life. This isn’t precisely an adventure story but rather more of a misadventure story. It goes a little something like this:
There once was a kingdom called Gaselu and in that realm there was a small village near the Great Lenor Mountain Range. That village was called Shano and it was surrounded by an enchanted forest known as The Sataru. The Sataru was the dwelling place for a multitude of mysterious creatures, most of which were incredibly evil. The worst was The Vile Demon King named Darak, who reigned over the kingdom of Gaselu. He was cruel to all of his subjects and so one day the humans under his control decided that they would no longer suffer within his evil clutches so they took up arms and revolted. They were barely able to fight back against Darak’s limitless legions of hell creatures. The strongest men from Shano rose quickly through the militia ranks, as it became the headquarters of Gaselu’s rebellion. The Rebel Army had few supplies and was without food, shelter, water, medicine and weapons. They were outnumbered and out gunned. Despite that, they fought a valiant war for their independence, and then they lost. Darak and his army won the first revolt but it wouldn’t be over so easily. The humans of Gaselu continued to battle for their freedom with great hope. Their hope rested in an ancient prophecy called The Prophecy of Ratené. The Prophecy said thus:
One day, there shall come from the city of the rebels one who shall be called Ratené. Ratené will face many hardships and bring death to the demon oppressors of Gaselu. Ratené will kill their evil leaders and human rule will finally come to the country as Ratené will usher in a new era of peace.
“We humans of Gaselu have never lost our heart and thus we continue to strive for our freedom and that’s why we fight today,” said the teacher. She was a thin and rather idiotic woman. She was very tall and had long, straight blonde hair. She was wearing a simple, knee-length light green dress with a white collar.
“It’s too bad the leaders of the army are close-minded, pig-headed, stubborn, chauvinistic, egotistical men,” said a girl in the class angrily. She was short and thin, some would even call her scrawny just not to her face. She didn’t look it at first glance but she was very strong. She was wearing a dark tank top that did nothing to hide a strange, crescent moon-shaped birthmark on her upper right arm. She was very tan and had dark brown hair that was almost black and deep hazel, pain-filled eyes. She didn’t have any unique features on her face expect for a small scar on her chin.
What made her face remarkable was the fact that it was strong and brilliant. It showed signs of the hardships that she’d already overcome in her short life. She radiated the essence of being a great fighter; she’d been fighting her whole life. She knew that she was going to have keep fighting in order to survive. She wanted the world to know it too.
She was Raye Tani and she wasn’t a feminine girl in the least and ever since she’d been a child she’d been fighting for her own independence as a girl. She barely even looked like a girl as it was. She always strove to prove that she could do anything that boys could do. She could take anyone in a fight; she’d even beaten a good number of demons in her time. Those had been hard fights; demons were strong and fearless. It was a bad combination, one that she also possessed. She fought and she wanted to fight. That’s why she wanted nothing more than to join the war but no one would let her because she was a woman and it wasn’t her place. According to the people of Gaselu, a woman’s place was to sew, cook and clean. Raye wasn’t good at doing any of that nor did she have any interest in learning how to do those things.
“Please Raye,” said the teacher, in a voice that was apparently supposed to calm her down, “Keep your personal feelings at the door. Tomorrow we will study the Prophecy of Ratené in greater detail. Class dismissed.” Raye got up, grabbed her books and walked out the door angrily. Her books were unused yet they were damaged. They were torn, cut, burned and had been bled on. She’d never read a single page but she could use a single page to kill a man.
A young man raced up to her. He was a little bit pale, weak and very smart. He had short blonde hair that refused to do anything other than stick up at very odd angles. He thought it made his look messy but Raye always said it was endearing and made him look sweet. His misty pale blue eyes revealed his seemingly infinite wisdom along with his adolescent hopes. His name was Kuto Manto and he was Raye’s best friend, they were almost like brother and sister they were so close. And technically they were brother and sister. Raye was an orphan and almost ten years ago his parents had legally adopted her. She didn’t live with them but she was like a daughter to them. Kuto was also the absolute worst fighter in Shano.
Kuto and Raye had a very balanced relationship. She protected him from the criminals and thugs of Shano and he tutored her in school. Kuto was practically a genius and Raye didn’t know how to read. He tried to teach her but she just hadn’t caught on and therefore remained illiterate. She had a small thing for explosives that worried most of the people who knew her and Kuto would faint when he saw a bomb. They were opposites but they balanced each other out. That was just how things were. He was book smart; she was street smart. Kuto could tell anyone who cared exactly what it took to make a sword but if anyone actually needed a sword they had to go see Raye. On their first day of school Kuto had taken unbelievable detailed notes. Raye had spent the entire class throwing rocks at the teacher. Kuto had told her “To knock it off” and she responded with “I’m trying to.” She threw her last rock and knocked the teacher over.
Some of the things that Raye protected Kuto from were what had made her such a good fighter. Shano was plagued by an endless stream of gangs and mobs, intent on taking over the village. Although none them seemed to have actually been able to conquer it. Mostly they started out strong but they always ended up fading into the society. The most famous gang was the Blood Black Bandanas. Its members were ruthless but not as much as their mysterious leader. He had allegedly taken down forty men from another gang in one night on his own. He never left any survivors to give descriptions of him.
The majority of the would-be invaders came from nearby countries or other villages within Gaselu. The people of Shano had strange way of dealing with these constant attempts at being overthrown. They actually welcomed these groups into their village but being a nearly complete anarchy this forced the would-be invaders to assimilate into Shano and end up as small gangs with only a specialized graffiti to separate them from the others. Therefore Shano had thousands of gangs. One of the gangs, The Origin of Pain, was the only one that allowed women in their gang. That’s only because they were an all girl gang. Their turf was just south of Raye’s house. They’d tried to get her to join them because she was such a good fighter but Raye only cared about joining the war.
The government in Shano was a feudal system and ruled by the head a Noble Clan. Eventually the village became so vast that two of these clans were formed to govern the city. The two clans hated each other but the system had worked since the beginning of the war. And the system worked better than those of other human villages, which was a reason why it had grown so much since the start of the war. And the system would’ve probably continued to work had not one of the two clans had been brutally and entirely massacred ten years ago. Ever since then there was a new level of chaos within the city. Such crime and suffering had not been seen since the start of the war a thousand years ago. The war refused to end. The humans were at disadvantage against the demons who lived so long. Darak was said to have been over a thousand years old. But despite this the humans never stopped fighting.
“Hey Raye,” said Kuto. He had a nice calm voice that made her relax after her angry rant about the war. He was wearing a pair of grubby, loose-fitting pants and a long sleeved shirt with the sleeves lazily rolled up to his elbows and halfway unbuttoned. He was carrying a large stack of books in his arms as he walked over to her. Kuto always had at least one book with him. It was just another they didn’t have in common. Kuto loved to learn and Raye loved to fight.
“Hey,” said Raye grumpily.
“Raye, you should learn to control your temper better. People think you’re crazy.” He was right; the people who’d heard of her had also heard that she was completely and utterly insane. She’d even been arrested several of times for various crimes. Only the people who really knew her, which were considerably few, knew why she’d done the things that she’d done. She could be a very single-minded girl sometimes; she would stop at nothing to save even a single person’s life, whoever they might be. She would do whatever it took to do the right thing, even if it meant doing some wrong things in the process. She never really cared about rules.
“So what if they do, I don’t care,” said Raye as she shoved her hands into her pockets, “School’s sucks, I wish I didn’t have to go.”
“You don’t.”
“Yes I do.”
“It has to do with that promise doesn’t it?”
“Correct.”
“And you going to keep every part of that promise, aren’t you?”
“Correct.”
“And you’re not going to tell me what the promise is, are you?”
“Correct, again. No wonder you’re the smart one.”
“So what’s up? What are you going to do tonight?”
“I don’t know. Just sitting around my house I guess. I’ll probably end up sharpening some blades. I have a couple that could use some serious work.”
“Why don’t you come over to my house? My mom is making meatloaf.” He stressed the word “meatloaf” because it was his favorite meal. His mother made it in the shape of the circle not in the shape of a loaf, which was the normal way. Raye preferred rice balls because they were easy to make, they were portable and went with anything.
“Sure. I’ll be there at sundown.”
“And by ‘at sundown’, you mean many, many hours after sundown?”
“You know me. Punctuality isn’t one of my skills.”
“Well, I guess I’ll see you then,” said Kuto and they parted ways to go to their homes. Raye was much more nonchalant than Kuto was. The only emotion she ever showed was anger and when she did it was intense. He could get excited at anything and nothing. Some people thought it was cool how she kept such good control over her emotions. Other people feared her because of it; they said her heart was made of ice. She wasn’t very popular because she was, by all definitions, strange. Other girls her age were getting married. Raye wasn’t even looking for love. She could never really see the point of it. As a child when other girls had dreamed of being princesses, Raye had dreamed of being a solider in the Rebel Army, just like her father. She wasn’t lady, she was a warrior. That was just what was in her heart.
Her house was unique in the fact that it had once been essentially the epicenter of gang grounds. That meant the gangs of the village were consistently fighting on her lawn for their turf. That didn’t happen anymore because one day Raye’d been fed up so she’d attacked the leaders of almost every gang in Shano at once. After she’d won, they’d left her alone. No one fought on her lawn anymore because they thought she was insane, which she was, a little bit.
The house itself was nothing impressive. It was small, consisting of barely four rooms: her room was just large enough to fit her bed, next to that was the sad excuse for a bathroom; then there was the kitchen but since she didn’t cook it was essentially just a space to store food in; lastly there was the living room with no room to live in due to the overwhelming amount of clutter and mess in it. The living room had a beaten up couch, she sometimes just slept on that when she was just too exhausted to make it to her room after fighting in the streets all night. Scattered all over the floor were pieces of metal and strange devices. Raye might not be the best student but when it came to working with her hands she could do anything. She built things, some of which were bombs. And it was because of this that she had gotten a job as mechanic despite the fact that she was a girl.
Shano had once been a relatively small village but it’d grown tremendously since the beginning of the war. It’d grown in a sort of sponge-like effect, slowly taking control of nearby land. Shano had spread out like strange blob. The final effect was that it looked similar a large series of bubbles forced together. Most people lived on the otter edges of Shano, called New Shano, refusing to travel inwards. That was because, within the confines of the original Shano, or Old Shano, there was nothing but criminals, monsters and those who couldn’t leave. That was probably why Raye loved it there so much; there was always something to fight.
Raye walked into the Manto house without even knocking. She didn’t have to because she was always welcome there. They didn’t mind if she was just randomly there, they loved her. At least that was what they told her, but she thought that they secretly were either afraid of her or for her. Raye had concluded that people either felt sorry for her or they were afraid of her. In her experience she felt that there was no longer any love left in Gaselu, at least not for her. They’d once told her that they felt safer with her around; a fighter in Old Shano was worth a lot of money. There were a lot people who wanted protection yet being a fighter-for-hire was considered despicable even in the darkest streets. Unfortunately for Raye, the better the fighter she was the more powerful the enemy coming after her was. A few years ago she’d resorted to lowest, she’d become a fighter-for-hire. There were few people who would even talk to her anymore. So the Mantos were, in reality, less safe with her near them and so she couldn’t understand why they always cared about her.
Dinner at the Manto was always delicious. Mrs. Manto was probably the best cook in all of Gaselu and she’d tried to teach Raye how to cook a few years ago but Raye’d strongly refused to learn anything feminine. Everyone said that that was because of her up bringing. Her mother had died giving birth to her so it’d been just her and her dad for a really long time. So she was more masculine than feminine. But that wasn’t the reason at all. Her father was in the war and had died over ten years ago so it’d just been her for most of her life. But she was okay because she was strong. She was never scared because when she was little she made a promise to her dad and she intended keep that for her whole life, even if she died in the promise.
She couldn’t remember her father all that well anymore and she’d never even met her mother. All she had to remember them by was a small, golden locket. Her father had opened it up and shown it to her once. It held a picture of her mother on one side and her father on the other. They were in their wedding clothes; they looked young, beautiful, happily in love and most importantly, alive. When her father had left for the war he’d given it to her. He’d told her, “Love unlocks the locket.” She didn’t know what that meant but she’d never been able to open it. She wasn’t the type to wear any kind of jewelry yet it was always around her neck.
The dinner that night was meatloaf only it was in the shape circle and Raye ate it happily. Since she couldn’t cook, she mostly ate junk food so it was nice to get a good meal every now and then. Kuto was sitting next to her and his parents sat on each end of the table. Across from them sat Enari, Kuto’s little brother. He was absolutely adorable; he looked like a smaller version of Kuto. He had shorter hair that was much smoother and little bit lighter. He was paler than Kuto but nowhere near as smart, yet he was smarter than Raye when it came to school. She’d been teaching him how to fight for the past two years. He was just such a cutey. There was a knock on the door, interrupting their enjoyable dinner.
“I got it,” said Raye and she went to go get the door.
“Don’t bother,“ said Mrs. Manto, “Someone’s been knocking on the door everyday this week but no one’s ever there.” Raye ignored her and got the door. When she opened it she saw a solider of the Rebel Army and he handed her a letter. He was wearing a simple uniform, consisting of a black t-shirt and green pants. He was thin, most likely a runner. She looked at the cover and saw that it was addressed to Kuto. She looked in on the dinning room and saw them sitting happily. She took the letter and walked back into the dinning room.
“What is it Raye?” asked Mr. Manto. Mr. Manto was clearly a kind man as his face was full of permanent laugh lines, which made him look older than he was.
“Nothing,” said Raye as she smoothly hid the letter in her back pocket.
“Weird,” said Kuto.
“I’ll be right back,” said Raye and she went into the bathroom. She sat there and just stared at the letter before she got up the courage to open the letter. She read as best as she could; her reading level was below that of an average child but she knew a few words: “Kuto,” “War,” “Draft,” and “Report.” Her worst fears had just been realized; Kuto’d been drafted for the war. He was the worst fighter in Shano and he wouldn’t last long; he would surely die. She thought her heart would stop beating for a moment. If she was ever the one to cry, now would be the time. Kuto was her best friend; he was her only friend; she couldn’t let him die.
She remembered her promise to her father and looked in the mirror. She made a choice, a very rash and heart filled choice, and she pulled out a knife she’d hidden in her left boot. She had many knifes hidden on her body. She looked like a girl and if she was going to protect Kuto, and Shano, that would have to stop. She grabbed her hair and sliced. Her hair fell to the ground in a slow and almost poetic dance. She took a deep breath and pressed the blade against her left cheek and cut. She held back a scream of pain. Blood poured from her face, which felt like it was on fire and ice at the same time.
After recovering she cut across her forehead and lastly over her lips from the top to the bottom. Her face was covered in blood and it hurt. Her breathing was already becoming harsh and shallow from the pain. She mopped up as much blood as she could. It had hurt but it was worth it. She had to have a less feminine face if she was going to pull this off. When people saw her they would take something away from her face and this way it would be that it was scared not that it belonged on a girl. Then she went into Kuto’s room and stole some of his clothes. Then she quickly scribbled down a letter for Kuto. She grabbed the only possession that she had, her horse, and rode towards where Kuto was supposed to go.
Kuto found the letter she’d left for him when he went into the bathroom looking for Raye, who’d been gone a long time. He picked it up and read it. He had to read it repeatedly to decipher what she meant; Raye was uneducated and therefore really needed to learn how to spell. She couldn’t read or write but at least she knew her letters which was how she’d gotten as far as she had in school.
Deer Kuto,
Im soree but ther was a letur handud to me wen I opeened the dooor toonite. It was for u. Yuv been draftud and I no that yu canot surve this war so Im sorta takin yur place. Tel none or they will hunt me dun and kill me for preetenduhin to bee a guy. As you have ahsoomud gesed by now, this dos hav to do with mye pramice to my dad. Do not worry bot me kay? ‘Cus you no that would bug a lot. Have fayth in me kay? Thes is a gud thing. Thes way I can sav you and fuullfyell do my dream. Im joing the war and Im doin it as yu. Gud luck see yu soon.
~ Raye
P.S. I took a bunch of your clos. Also there’s a lot of blood in yur baythrooom that you shud clean up before it stars to smell.
“Raye Tani, you stubborn, psychopathic, little girl!” yelled Kuto. Kuto couldn’t believe what he’d just read and so he read it over and over again. All that he knew was that Raye was gone and he couldn’t tell anyone. Because if he did she would be killed and maybe even he would be too. He couldn’t believe she’d just done that. She hadn’t even talked it over with him first. Whenever they were in danger she would come up with some crazy plan and they would talk it over to make sure that it would work before she put into action. That was how it worked with them. But of course she’d done this without thinking it through and she’d never talk it over with him because she’d known that there was no way that he’d let her do it. And when she was determined to do something she did it and didn’t care what anyone else said or thought. That usually caused problems and Kuto knew that this would cause problems.
Raye woke up and looked around. Haza was still asleep so she didn’t get ready to ride again yet. Haza was a very beautiful horse. He had mostly light brown fur. But he had this one darker spot right between his eyes. Haza had been her father’s horse and she’d known him since he’d been a colt and she was a little kid. They’d basically grown up together. She’d learned how to ride on Haza and they’d never been apart except when he went to war with her father, now he was doing the same with her. Haza was a very smart horse and the sweetest animal in the word. He was loyal to her with all of his heart and to others it would seem strange that they could carry on a full conversation.
She stood up and walked around. She had to make sure that she walked exactly like a guy. Raye didn’t understand why girls and guys had to carry themselves so differently. Lucky for her that her training as fighter had conditioned her body that she pretty much already walked and carried herself like a man. As she walked she also practiced her voice. She forced it to go deeper. As she spoke Haza stirred.
“Good morning sleepy head,” said Raye cheerfully.
“Hnn,” said Haza, it completely portrayed his utter annoyance at being woken up.
“Oh don’t be like that.”
“Hnn?” It meant “What are you doing?”
“Practicing. Check it out.” She walked around.
“Hnn.” That meant “Talk.”
“Hello, my name is Kuto Manto.”
“Hn Hn Hn Hn,” laughed Haza
“Shut up!” yelled Raye as she started to saddle him up and he continued to laughed at her, “Oh, like you could do any better then?” She petted his mane softly as she spoke. She loved this dumb horse.
“Hnn.” “Sorry.” He put his head down.
“Now do you have legitimate complaints?”
“Hnn.”
“Huh?”
“Hnn.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, stop mumbling.” Haza was being deliberately vague and undistinguishable. It was almost as if he was being bashful.
“Hnn,” said Haza again and he gently tapped her between the legs. Sudden understanding swept across her face. She swallowed and let out a small squeak.
“Is it that obvious?”
“Hnn.” Haza nodded and looked away. Raye tried not panic. She had to think of plan. She looked around, trying to find a solution. She saw her clothes lying on the ground and thought for a minute. When she was done she rushed over to the bundle of clothes and pulled out a pair of socks. She rolled them up and looked at it for just a second before she shoved them down her pants. She did some final adjustments before she presented herself to Haza. She looked more like a guy then she had before she left. On the ride she’d fixed the hack job she’d done on her hair. She’d also managed a sufficient way to tape down her breasts. She’d also discovered, after some strange yet hard work, that girls could in fact go to the bathroom upright. Before she’d entered the forest she’d even stolen a shaving kit and dulled down the blade so that she could pretend to shave. There were still some things that she’d to work out but she was getting good at it.
“Better?”
“Hnn!” “Yes!” It was amazing what she could do when she put her mind at work. She’d left on a whim but before she would get to the training camp she would’ve put a lot of effort into pretending to be Kuto Manto. She just had to remember to be Kuto at all times and never let it slip who she really was.
The next day when she woke up she was in no mood to practice so she just laid down and looked at the sky. She could do that for hours if no one stopped her. In fact she did it all the time. Kuto would tease her about it but she loved to do it. Especially at night, she loved to look at the stars but during the day it was all about clouds. It was so warm out. If she wasn’t in such a hurry she would’ve probably fallen right back asleep.
“Come on Haza,” said Raye as she got up off the ground, “We’ll be there soon, I promise. There’s not much farther to go now.” The horse grunted in response. She let out her own groan and stretched. Haza had been her father’s horse. He was very loyal to her and to those she considered her friends, which was basically Kuto and a girl named Hala. She jumped onto Haza’s back and they rode forward. She was tired but she couldn’t allow herself much rest. The Sataru forest that lay between Shano and her campsite was full of Darak’s demonic minions. She had to stay alert or she might not live to make it to camp.
After sometime of riding she was attacked. Out of nowhere a demon jumped out of the bushes. It was an ugly demon and that was saying something. She’d seen a lot of demons, but none like this one. Its skin was green and it looked almost as if it was rotting from the inside. It had three horns that must have been once long but had since been broken and chipped away. The worst was its eyes, which had brown worms coming out the sockets. Haza bucked his front legs in the air and Raye flew off him. She landed on her right arm and she heard it pop out of socket. She screamed in agony. She struggled to her feet, her arm felt like it weighed as much as Haza. She looked up just in time to see the demon come crashing down on her. She felt her head crash against the ground and felt her skin break. The demon stood over her and pulled out a knife.
“You’re mine now,” said the demon and it went to stab her but she instinctively blocked it with her right arm, which she felt erupt in even more pain than there had been before and she barely had time to see the blood from the wound before she had to respond. She flipped over swiftly, knocking the demon over. She got up as fast as she could; it just wasn’t fast enough. When she got up the demon was already on its feet, so she drew a knife. She threw it at the demon and it stuck it in the gut. With her good arm she pulled herself back onto Haza.
“Go Haza, go!” yelled Raye and she kicked her horse to get it moving and they rode off the path to hide in the trees, where they were less likely to be followed. She didn’t look behind her to see if the demon was dead or not. She just had to get away. She saw all of the blood and nearly passed out. She was bleeding pretty badly. She almost fell off Haza as she tried to stop the bleeding. He’d cut a twisted line straight down her arm. It was extremely repugnant. She haphazardly tied one Kuto’s shirts around her arm in panic and pressed it down as hard as she could to stop the bleeding. She’d live.
 Zegwarian310 · Thu Aug 02, 2007 @ 04:22pm · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
