The Hawk

Out of time, out of place

'It happened. Yes!' in the first burst of excitement he nearly forgot that he wasn't alone in the tunnel.

'Oh no. No, no, no, no,' Daichi thought of Risa (and Haru, but it wasn't that important, since she clearly didn't like him) trying to find his glasses, blinded by the light. He heard unfamiliar sounds and voices: screams and clangs. He desperately tried to feel his glasses with both of his palms. Something heavy just fell near him. He freaked out and crawled further in desperate need of seeing what is going on around him.

When he finally reached his glasses and put them on his nose, the only thing he could do is to gape in awe. It was a battleground. He was in the middle of a fight. His blood froze in his veins when he felt the ever-present smell of death, dirt, and blood. He tried to capture as many details of his current situation, as possible.

He only managed to see that the warriors use swords, and wear suits of armor. Some of them had faces hidden behind helmets. Once in a while, something exploded in the background, but for now, Daichi wasn't sure what kind of technology was it. He heard a weak sound somewhere behind him. As he turned around he spotted a wounded man lying where he previously heard something heavy falling on the ground.

He didn't have any second thoughts. He immediately tore a part of his T-shirt to put it on the wound. The Daichi went on to perform CPR, as he observed he is going to lose him.

'Hey, don't die on me here, buddy,' said Daichi even though he hadn't the faintest idea that he is currently saving a king's life. He only managed to see that the man had a huge serpent tattoo on his forearm. Suddenly, the ground beneath the battleground collapsed.

*** Almost two years later ***

'Ngh,' murmured Haru, trying to raise from the ground. She had a strange dream. Shivers ran down her spine, as she tried to recall anything. She felt cold.

Some unfamiliar energy seemed to swallow her and her friends. When she collapsed, she dreamt of a foreign, frozen land, untouched by human beings. There was a huge blue crystal, which resembled ice. She remembered that it was strangely captivating. Its cold beauty was otherworldly. She remembered she wanted to touch it almost desperately. In her dream, Haru didn't feel the fear she felt in the metro tunnel back then. As if now she was safe.

When she tried to touch the crystal in her dream, suddenly her feet were off the ground and she felt a cold, strangely comforting embrace of some unknown power. As if she was frozen in time. As if the ice was slowly consuming her being, which surprisingly didn't scare her to death. As if she finally were in the right place. Frozen forever.

'Oh my...' she mumbled checking her head for any injuries. It hurt. The cold comfort was just a dream. For some reason, it annoyed her. The cold of the place she woke up was incomparably worse than the ice from her dream.

She dared to take a look around her. It was some kind of cave - dark, unpleasant, and humid. She put her arms around her to keep rests of warmth. She was hurt, but she wasn't bleeding anywhere. Hopefully, she would have to deal only with some bruises later. For now, she needed to get out of here, find Daichi and Risa, and go back home. Haru was a hundred percent sure she is still in that tunnel or some kind of cave nearby.

In her bag, she found a jack-knife, which seemed useful right now. Haru looked up to make herself familiar with the surroundings. It seemed the exit was quite high above, but hopefully, the way was narrow enough to have many places to catch and pull, to bump from, and to climb out of here more or less safely.

Without hesitation, she started climbing. Her determined mind was focused on finding her friends, and getting out of here. Her bruises didn't make the climb any easier, but he was sure, she can manage. Once or twice her foot slipped from the rock resulting in another bruise or cut.

Imagine her disappointment, when she finally stuck her head from the cave and found absolutely nothing. She was surrounded by a dark forest. It was like a blast. For the first time in her life, she felt an overwhelming fear. Fear of the unknown place, of not finding her friends, of being alone in the darkness. And what was even more terrifying, was the sound of male voices nearby. She didn't manage to hide.

'Well, well, what do we have here,' said the man and Haru immediately realized, she doesn't understand a word. It sounded like Japanese, but she wasn't sure. Apart from the name and looks she didn't get much from her Japanese father. The men were strangely dressed and had ominous looks on their faces. Were they rogues of some kind?

'What is going on there?' shouted another man, looking like a leader of the pack. His face was stern, and one could tell he was a strict commander. His eyes, one of them bearing an awful scar, focused on Haru for a short while. And as much as he was surprised by the presence of a strange-looking woman (she wore trousers?) with a funny little knife, he couldn't afford to tell his men to leave her alone, especially when she saw their pack hiding in the forest. The support of his men was vital at that point and absolutely nobody could know about their whereabouts. 

'You can take her. Just make sure she doesn't scream too loud. I need some sleep,' the commander said and Haru suddenly felt even more in danger. She didn't know what they were talking about, but her mind screamed "RUN!".

And so she did. She ran at full speed, suddenly regretting slacking off on her training. Hearing their angry voices only made her adrenaline level go up. She didn't pay attention to branches smacking her face. The only important thing was to get away. Somehow.

She didn't know the surroundings and it had immediately shown its consequences. Suddenly she didn't feel the ground beneath her feet and realized that she is going to fall and roll down the hill. As if she wasn't bruised and hurting enough. Haru got up and looked around. Before her there was quite a narrow valley, finishing with some light. Probably exit from the forest. The small glimmer of hope was put out by the arrow cutting the air just next to her ear. She started to run again, but she felt a sharp pain in her ankle.

'Damn it!' she cursed under her breath, too tired to scream. She didn't even have the time to analyze her current situation, to think of what really had happened back there in the tunnel. She put her last efforts to reach the light of fire (or so she hoped) right at the border of the forest. Haru ran hobbling and rubbing tears off her eyes. When she faced the promising light, everything happened at the same time.

A group of warriors suddenly looked at the figure emerging from the forest. She was bruised, dirty, and wounded. They reached for their weapons just in case and looked at their king. He focused his dark gaze at the woman and made a calming gesture. She didn't know why, but she thought he looked like a volcano, ready to erupt with violence. He was intimidating. Suddenly, all of them heard loud voices of rogues and they stood up to fight, including the king.

Haru was terrified. She hoped to find anybody, who wasn't pointing a weapon towards her, but it seemed the plan failed since she now was between two groups of men with swords. In an instant, she felt a cold breath of death behind her back. Just before the first rogue could pierce her with his sword, she turned around. Some strange force made her extend her hand. She felt a familiar cold running through her veins.

'No!' Haru screamed and everybody immediately froze. King's soldiers did so because they couldn't believe their own eyes, while the rogues because... well, because of the ice that appeared from nowhere, keeping them in one place. Some of them were even pierced with icicles and were now lying dead on the ground. 

King's soldiers rushed to the rogues, while the king himself caught Haru, who had lost all her strength in an instant. She felt a strange warmth on her skin. It was a powerful feeling. Burning and comforting at the same time. Haru tried to look at him, but she was so weak, she could only take a look at the pattern on his robes. She raised her hand and touched the wings embroidered on his clothing.

'Funny, same as my tattoos' she thought out of nothing, just before fainting, feeling the tiredness taking her into the comforting darkness. She once again heard someone speaking in a language that was foreign to her.

'My Lord, is she...?' asked the king's right hand. His eyes went even darker and his expression was unreadable.

'Take her to the palace,' he ordered to his men and they put the unconscious girl on the horse. He then focused his gaze on the rogues.

'And those, who remained alive... Welcome to my dungeons,' said the king, opening his arms as if he wanted to welcome rogues in the cells. A ruthless smile creeped up on his face. Dying here was probably a better option.