And we're off

E

Elyd

Guest
Original poster
Running and running, Mwandu lost all sense of time and direction. As long as he was getting away from Shingul Village, away from the fires, away from the burning lights, away from the cries and chaos and the reek of the singed bodies. He had been asleep that morning when the invasion descended on his village, and he had woken up by shouts and screams. The huge weapons came out of the sky and landed on houses and in the stream and shot light at the villagers running around. Mwandu leapt out of bed, saw his parents lying dead in the doorway, and ran for the hills.

He'd been running for a long time, and was starting to huff and puff, but wouldn't stop until he got into the forest. The forest was usually a half day's journey away. Mwandu could still hear the screams and things exploding in the village. Or was it his mind playing tricks on him? He was running on pure adrenaline. He wasn't seeing where he was going. He tripped on a branch, fell, and before even realizing that he was deep into the forest, he lost consciousness.
 
The large floating device made of unknown metal terrified the villager for few meeger minutes. It hovered there docile for a moment, as it to catch it's breath. But it was watching, seeing if anyone was hiding, trying to survive. It was certain it would not allow any of that.

The sight of this creature was confusing to the eyes of someone from a primitive time. Large bouts of fire shot out from it's spine and moved faster than any horse could run without rider. They could tell it was made of metal, but as to what was type was unknown. The ones who weren't scared and agile enough to fight back threw what they could. They tried their best to throw weighted roped around it's neck and arms to drag it down. But the attempt turned from heroic to tragic. Their hands and arms either torn off from the force of the rope being ripped away. Some went flying into the air like little toy planes.

A small maiden dropped her basket of small fruits in fear of seeing the young male fall. She caught him in her arms and frowned at dropping her fruits all over the ground. The bugs would most likely get to them before the man was to wake again. The soft folds of her sleeve were tightened around her wrist and she gently dabbed away the sweat. His neck and face were soaked. She supported his head, not setting it on the ground until his panting stopped.
 
Mwandu came to a few hours later, blinking his eyes a few times. He had trouble focusing his eyes and thinking clearly. At least he was laying on his back. He rubbed his eyes and pulled himself up. Looked around. Saw some fruit scattered on the ground near him. Mwandu blinked one more time and realized a maiden was seated near him. He tried to figure out what time it was, but it was really dark in the forest. Squinting and feeling embarrassed at being caught witless, he coughed lightly and spoke to the girl. "Hello," Mwandu began. "I, uh... thank you for watching over me."

He started to remember the fire and the fright from earlier, and rubbed his temples. "I was running. That's why I'm here in the forest. I was running from the fires and the weapon in the sky. What happened? Is Shingul all right? Do you even know what I'm talking about?" Mwandu suddenly took in the fruits and the maiden's sleeve tightened around her wrist and realized that she had probably been in the forest picking berries the whole time. "Did you see it? The disaster?"
 
When the creature was satisfied with the devastation it caused, it moved on. It just blinked away like a stone into a pond. It was lapped up into the salty blues around it, leaving behind smoke and ripples in the sky. It was a planned attack, and probably not the last attack. They were up to no good and were about to change something that they figured was going to fix their home. Or it was all just a sick sport and the ringmaster was profiting big off the tickets he sold. What ever the reason a lot of people were in danger.

The maiden had let him come to his senses as she started to pick her fruits back up. She set the basket down and blinked at his nonsense.
"What could you be going on about? You didn't hit your head, did you?" Her voice was soft but blank. She didn't know what to make of him. She chose to pull him closer in attempt to calm him down. Her cool hands placed on his head, she didn't feel anything strange.


She reached into her basket and held out the fruit to feed it to him. She was oblivious to how intimate of a scene she had created between them. "Come on, you must eat something..." She sighed
 
Mwandu closed his eyes and leaned back against the maiden's arm as she pulled him closer. Maybe the last day had just been a figment of his imagination. But if it were, why was he here? Why didn't anyone stop him during his wild run? There must have been something for him to run from, after all. He opened his eyes to find himself closer to her. He blushed as he noticed her pretty skin and how close she was pulling him to her. He could be delirious, he supposed. But it was also clear that he was far from home, and he didn't know where he was or what happened, really. His stomach grumbled, so as she picked up some of the fruit to feed to him he didn't struggle, but opened his mouth and blushed some more.
 
Gently, Zhen provided nourishment from the berries to the man's parted lips. She saw only innocence and kindness in this nature. After she felt he may have enough sugar in his system to get him going she spoke with the wind blowing around their laps.

"Do you think you can stand?" The scent of her was brought up to his nose and swirled with the berries on his breath. The wind was getting ever stronger and pulled at her hair. It ripped had away all sweetness of the moment. Her heart started to pick up in pace as well. She could the panic of a storm run through the ground. It irked her. "If you can, I'll welcome you to stay at my village with me. At least until you get your barrings. Maybe I can ask others where Shengul is..."

Zhen was quick to snatch up her basket as she eased the man to his feet. "Come..." Her sleeve lightly tugged on him.
 
Mwandu gulped the berries and nodded shyly at the maiden. "I can stand." He heaved himself to his feet, muscles a bit shaky from his run from the village. The wind picking up smacked him in the face. "What is going on?" Mwandu asked, mildly panicked after his long day. "First run out of my village by fire, next blown over by wind." It took a moment for the words the maiden said to sink in to Mwandu. "You're... not from Shengul? You're from another village?" He was nearly blown over again by the wind. He changed his mind about inquiring further. "We should get to shelter. I'm fine to walk by myself. Please, if you would offer me your hospitality, I would gratefully accept." Mwandu bowed to the young maiden. "Will you show me the way to your village?"
 
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