Kno-Ki, Shrd: Chapter 1

                                                      Chapter 1:
                                                    So It Begins...

        Neku woke suddenly, her sheets soaked in her sweat. The crisp morning air rushed into her room to greet her, but she was too disturbed to think about the day ahead. Sitting up, she had to shield her eyes from the sun's gleaming light. "Damn! My head hurts!" she whispered. She just wished she could remember what scared her to cause her to wake so suddenly. Usually she slept like a baby until one of her sisters had to wake her. Well, only a good headache remedy would be able to make her think more clearly.
      Throwing her covers off, Neku got up out of bed. She walked up to her oak desk and sat down. She brushed out her short thick black hair, then opened one of the drawers. She knew she was not the most organized elf around, but she loved her room. Rustling through the drawer, she soon found her flute. The flute, made with aspen, was hand crafted by her great grand mother, who also had a talent in playing. Its beautifully crafted design held the crest of the Shrd family, and had been passed down through the generations.
      As she closed the drawer, one of her sisters bursts into the room. "Neku! Why aren't you dressed yet! You are to accompany us to Woodland Stock! Remember!?  To begin your magic combat schooling, if you have forgotten! And I, for one, don't want to be late! This is my second year. I'm to get my Ankár this year! So hurry!" Neku never got a chance to reply before her sister shut the door and left.
    Woodland Stock was an elven school for young elves whose families felt were ready to learn about magic and forest combat, as well as climate safety. When an elf is ready to attend Woodland Stock, it also meant that he or she was ready to receive their Ankár, an animal companion who is much more than an elf's guardian, but also their eyes and ears.
      Neku began throwing clothes everywhere, trying to find a suitable outfit. She tossed fur tank tops, leather shorts, and other such outfits. "Oh, what to wear?" she said to herself as she threw a silk skirt that was given to her by her fashion plate older sister, Korlynn. Neku did not like shirts or dresses, the whole ‘girly' image sent shivers down her spine and Korlynn always tried to tell Neku what was in fashion and what was not, by giving her clothing that she later just throws out.
      She finally finds a suitable outfit; a green short sleeved cotton shirt that she handmade herself and a pair of elk hide pants, that she also put together. The shirt had blue trimmings around the neck and arm area. For the pants, it had tooken her three days to get the hide to the softness that she was comfortable with before she start even forming it into a pair of pants. Actually, it was enough to make several pairs of clothing, which she did. To add to the outfit, Neku grabs her favorite blue belt and head band and puts them on. She was, indeed, impressed with herself, but the only thing missing was what to take with her. She already had her flute, ‘but what else?' she wondered.
      She looked around her room, not really seeing it, but to determine if there was anything she needed. There was her bow in the corner that was just gathering dust. Out of all the elven weapons, the bow was her weapon of choice, she did not know why, there was just something about the feel of pulling the string back and releasing, watching the arrow hit its mark. She loved it! She picked up the bow from the corner and quickly dusts it off. She had her bow and array of arrows, which she strapped to her back. She looks around the room again. Nothing else she could think of, except her bag, which she had her flute in as well as a picture of her and her family, a comb, and other stuff that she could not recall at the moment. Everything else she that she might need could be required either in the forest or in her part of sub-space.
      Elves, at birth, are given a personal block of sub-space so that when they travel they do not need to hull so much with them. It was quick useful for warriors, explorers, and any other elf that may be on long trips and may not be around civilization for a while. Because most things can be found in the forest, most elves usually only use sub-space to hold any extra set of clothing, weapons or money.
        Neku went to the mirror once more to make sure that everything is in order and she did not look goofy, or Korlynn would make fun of her. Satisfied, she slipped on a pair of brown leather hiking boots and left her room to join her older sisters in the dining room.

                                                            ***

            Kelsa and Korlynn sat at the dining table. Both girls chewed on a piece of dried peach. Their mother, Taragras, stood over the wood stove stirring a pan of stew for the girls when they come home later. "Now Korlynn, I know I have told you many times, but I'm going to say it again. When you quest for your Ankár, you don't go looking for him or her, they choose you," Kelsa explained. "I had to spend two weeks on my quest before I was chosen. Right, Inferno?" She asked her Ankár, a red falcon.
    Right Kelsa. In fact, I had been watching her for most of her journey, before flying down from a nearby branch and introducing myself. I am sure an Ankár with much dignity and love would choose you, Inferno said using just mere thought, from his perch in a nearby window.
    "Has anyone seen Neku? She usually isn't this late for breakfast," Taragras said, wiping her hands on her apron after placing some carrots in the stew. The two sisters looked at each other.
    "I told Ne..." Korlynn started, but was interrupted when Neku burst into the room.
    "Morning Mother!" Neku said coming into the room and kissing her mother on the cheek.
    "Good morning, dear," Taragras replied returning the gesture. "Are you excited about your first year of Woodland Stock?"
    "Of course I am. Elves chosen to attend Woodland Stock are honored among the elfin community," Neku said, taking her seat next to her sisters. She placed her hair behind her pointed ears so that it would not fall into her eyes. 
    As she reached for a dry peach strip, Kelsa placed her hand over Neku's. "Are you sure you understand the rules and regulations of Woodland Stock? I wouldn't want my baby sister to be in trouble on her first day." Neku really did not need this. She just wished that her oldest sister did not take her ‘oldest' sister role so seriously.
      With a heavy sigh, she replied. "Yes, I studied the rules and regulations. But I don't understand the regulation that states..." She gets a small booklet out of one of her pockets and turns to a page that she had marked. "' No interacting with elves of other clans. For example, a woods elf can not interact with a desert elf.' I don't get it. What's with that regulation? It sounds more like segregation, then anything else. What were the people thinking when then wrote this? " Neku asked as she placed the book back into the pocket from which it came.
      "I was confused at first, my self, Neku, but I guess they have had problems with the clans before. As far as I know, they do not want it to spread to the school. However, elves, secretly, have made friends with elves from other clans. As a matter of fact, I have a friend that is a dark elf," Kelsa explains. Neku was only able to understand a fraction of what Kelsa was saying.
    "I too have had problems when it came to that rule," Korlynn said, running her fingers through her long blond hair. "But like Kelsa, I have made friends from other clans. I have some friends from the swamp, desert, dark, and sky clans," Korlynn added. "Its almost like they put that rule there in hopes that we would disobey it. I have never heard of anyone getting in trouble from being friends with an elf from a clan other than their own." Korlynn drifted off into her own little world.
    Neku shook her head in annoyance. That was just like her sister, Korlynn. She would always drift off into deep thought after almost anything. Neku wondered if she really was related to Korlynn or if her mother just felt sorry for some lost orphan. She really did not look like any of the other Shrd's, but her mother reassured them that Korlynn was indeed her daughter and their sister. She tried again to take a peach strip. Taking one, she bit into the dry crispy fruit.
    Neku looked over the table at her two older sisters. Kelsa, being the oldest, made sure that Korlynn and Neku did their chores and that they did not get into fights, which they often did. She was more of a mother to Neku and Korlynn than their own mother was. Being eighty-two, though appearing to be only twenty-one, Kelsa has acquired many skills; she could create anything by just drawing it and signing her name, a skill unique amongst elves. She was a very graceful dancer as well.
    Being two years younger than Kelsa, Korlynn often complained about the difficulties of being the middle child. She loved to make herself look beautiful. Neku often referred to her as the ‘fashion plate' and wondered how Korlynn managed to get so much junk.
    Neku let out a sigh. "Mother, why are you cooking up such a huge pot of stew? We aren't going to be back until year's end." Neku knew that her mother was used to making large dinners for the four of them over the summers, and she guessed that having her daughters go away for the year had slipped her mind, at least Neku thought so. She watched as her mother's arm came to a halt from stirring.
    "Oh, I forgot all about that. I'm sorry." Taragras thought for a moment. "Maybe I could invite some of the neighbors over to help me eat this." Taragras turned to face her daughters. "I'm going to miss you girls. It's going to get awfully lonely around here with no one to help me with the chores or tend the gardens."
    Neku felt a little guilty just leaving her mother alone here with hardly anyone to talk to. However, she knew that eventually she would have to leave her mother and go on with life, even if it is for only a time being.
      She gets out of her chair and walks up to her mom. "I'm going to miss you, Mother!" Neku threw her arms around her mother and held her tightly.
    Taragras strokes Neku's black hair. "I'm going to miss you too, my Little Playful One." She gently pushes Neku away. "I'm going to miss you all. May the light of the past Shrds guide and watch over you, my daughters." Tears began to form in Taragras's eyes.
    Oh, I hate to break up this tearful moment, but its time that we head off. Don't want to be late to Woodland Stock, now would we? Inferno states, his red feathers glimmered in the sun. Using his beak, he groomed his chest feathers.
    "I agree with Inferno. It is time that we depart. Neku?" Kelsa said. Neku nods.
    She looked once more at the home that she was raised in, the home that she will not see again for some time. Her eyes glanced at the scene before her. The window on the far corner that Inferno was perched on, still remained slanted, its frame in dire need of replacement from the years of elemental abuse. It had been repaired twice, but seeming to have a mind of its own, kept slanting. Neku wondered if it would ever behave itself and stay straight.
    She moved her eyes away from the window as she viewed the room, in order to get a memorized picture of what she saw. Her eyes came upon the white shelves that still had the scent of fresh paint on them when she and her sisters painted the shelf doors. They got more paint on themselves than on the shelves and had spent days trying to clean themselves and everything else that was not supposed to have been painted. She recalled her mother's face when she saw the scene; she never laughed so hard before. Neku was glad to see her mom smile one last time before she and her sisters left. She knew that there were going to be many memories she was going to leave behind.
    Her eyes then came to the picture of her father. Human raiders killed JaNár as they tried to take Neku and her sisters when they were just kids, fifty years ago. They planned to sell them into slavery, but JaNár had stood in the way as Taragras hid the girls in the basement of their cottage.
    Neku could still hear the sound of metal clashing into metal as her father fought bravely to protect them. Then, the terrifying sound of metal piercing through flesh. She had hoped that her father won, but in her heart, she knew that her father had lost and lay dead on the floor. She and her sister had waited for the raiders to find them and pull them from their mother. When no sound could be heard, they slowly came out of their hiding place to find that all of the raiders laid dead. JaNár was lying in the blood of his last victim and that of his own. Neku knew that her father, though taking many injuries, would not allow anyone to take away his family. He had fought until every one of the raiders was dead and himself too weak to fight on...
    Neku felt someone squeeze her shoulder. Turning her head, she looked into the emerald eyes of her oldest sister. Kelsa grinned sadly and nodded her head as if she, too, was reliving the same memories.
    "Come, my sister. We have a long journey ahead of us. The way to Woodland Stock is a traitorous one and there is still much that you need to learn."
      The three girls turned to their mother. Smiling at them, she walked up to them. "Kelsa, Take care of your sisters like you always have been, and make sure little Neku has a good year," Taragras told her oldest daughter as they were still in an embrace.
    Letting go, she turned to Korlynn and hugged her. "Korlynn, be nice to Neku, its hard enough for her. I need you to be strong and I look forward to hear which great animal has chosen you." Taragras let go of Korlynn and turned to her youngest.
    "Neku, my little playful one. You have always been full of energy. I hope you have fun your first year and that you enjoy yourself." Taragras let go of Neku who now was in the break of tears. "May the light of the Shrds of the past guide you all, my daughters."
      "I'm going to miss you Mommy," Neku whimpered, still in tears. She could hear her sister, Korlynn, sigh, and mumble something about being a little mommy's girl, but she chose to ignore it. She and her sisters left the cottage and started their journey towards Woodland Stock.

                                                              ***

      Taragras watched as her daughters left; there was so much that she was going to miss. She had gotten used to her two oldest girls leaving each year, but to have her little ‘Playful One' leave to Woodland Stock was unbearable. Taragras knew that it would happen eventually, she was just going to have to get used to it. She stood by the window until the girls were out of view before shutting the blinds. Tears ran down the elven woman's cheeks. "Good bye, my dear ones. I hope this next year you come back with much knowledge," she whispered.
      She walked back to the stove to check on the stew, the inviting aroma tickling her nose. However, it did not cure the stream of tears that kept flowing down her cheeks. She had lost her husband, and she feared for the lives of her daughters as well. "How can I live with myself if I were to lose them too?" she asked herself, the tears coming ever faster.
        "My dear, dry your tears, there is no need to cry, nothing is going to happen to your children, I promise you that," said a voice from behind Taragras.
        Light surrounded the elfin woman. She turned around and shielded her eyes from the blinding light, trying to make out who had just spoken. ‘Oh Terra, Goddess of Earth, please let it be you,' she prayed to herself. Soon the light became a horrible darkness; Taragras gasped in fright knowing that it was a dark power that was calling to her, not her beloved goddess. ‘Why? Why has ‘She' come?' she asked herself, knowing who it was. She knew that if the Queen of Evil and Deception was here, then something horrific was going to happen.
        She found herself back in her cottage, but now a woman dressed in red and black stood in front of her. The woman's black hair was up in a ponytail. She had a cat-like appearance to her. "My, is that how you welcome a guest, Taragras? I would have thought an elf would have more manners, but I guess what I have heard from my dear sister was all wrong," the Queen of Evil and Deception shrugged.
        "Sister? You mean Terra, right? What would she have to say to slime like you, Sinality?" Taragras asked in rage. She knew she should be more afraid of someone with as much power as Sinality, but for some reason, she did not, just intense rage.
      Sinality took a seat at the table and took a peach strip that still sat at the table. "Surprising isn't it? My sister is none other then the Earth Goddess Terra. Did you know that in some places she is known as Gea? No? Not surprising, since only this side of the planet calls her that. She likes both names, didn't you know? I..."
      "Why are you here? You said something about my girls. Why do they interest you, Sinality? Why would any child of Terra interest you, for that matter?" Taragras asked. She got goosebumps just thinking about having the Queen of Evil and Deception in her house.
      Sinality swallowed the piece of peach that she was chewing on, placed that rest back on the table and leaned back. "Ah yes, that! Well, I'm not the only one that is interested in the Shrd Sisters. My sister wanted to be here, but she is preoccupied with other matters. All of us gods and apparitions have some interest in those three, cause believe it or not, your beloved daughters hold the ‘Key,'" Sinality explained. She closed her ruby eyes as if she was exhausted, but Taragras knew better, gods do not get exhausted.
      However, she was curious. It might not hurt to ask. "What is this ‘Key' that you speak of and how are my daughters related?" she asked, hoping that she had not offended the queen.
    Sinality opened her eyes, sat up, and looked at Taragras. "That will be known to the world soon enough, but what I will tell you is that an outside power is trying to take over Kno-ki. My siblings and I have yet to identify its origins, but it threatens our very existence and only with the help of you mortals, do we stand a chance against this threat."
    "But I still don't know how my daughters are involved," Taragras said, a look of confusion on her face.
    "Again, I can not say, for even I don't know. However, the far-seer, Emera, said ‘Darkness will come from a place unknown even to the gods. The shards of three mortals will either banish this outside threat or strengthen it without even knowing.' There was more to it, but that is all I can recall. I left for a party soon after. I was getting rather bored," Sinality said with a yawn.
    "How can I trust you...." Taragras started, but was interrupted by the goddess again.
    "It's up to you if you believe me or not. I may be known as the Queen of Evil and Deception, but right now, I have nothing to gain by pulling my normal tricks. Moreover, if what I say does not convince you, then call upon your protector. Not saying she'll answer though. As I said earlier, she is preoccupied at the present and may not respond to your prayers." Sinality got up off the seat and moved towards the door.
    "But what's so important that she can not talk to her own children?" Taragras cried, lunging at Sinality. She stopped as Sinality turned to face her.
    The goddess sighed. "You really are beginning to tire me. Fine! If you must know, she has been captured." Taragras gasped at this news.
    "Captured? How can anyone capture the Goddess of the Earth? Its too hard to believe!" Taragras held herself; a look of confusion crossed her face. She felt a hand on her shoulder.
      "All the gods are in danger. So far, Terra was the only one captured. We don't know what these beings plan to do with us or with Kno-ki, but according to Emera, there is a fighting chance. But I really must be going." She let go of Taragras and proceeded to the exit. However, she turned once more. "Oh, before I forget. You will never see the coming of all there will be to come."
    "Uh? You're going to kill me?" Taragras asked in fright.
    "Um.... More or less, ya."
    "Then why tell me all of this, about the coming of some outside force bringing down the gods, and about my daughters if you are just going to kill me?"
    "Oh, I don't know. Maybe I just like hearing myself talk and having someone listen to me. I can never decide which." She brought her hand up and slowly brought it back down in a zig-zag fashion, mumbling something that Taragras could not make out. The floor in front of Sinality swirled with blue, black, and purple. Taragras soon saw a figure come out of that swirl of colors, a demi-demon. It was dressed in black robes and carried a syth in its right bony hand.
      "What the?!" Taragras exclaimed, the site of this demi-demon causing her to freeze in fright.
    "Oh! May I introduce Grim, The Giver of Death. Isn't he just the cutest?!" Sinality said letting out a shrieking laugh that caused the glasses and windows to shatter. "Oops! That always seems to happen," Sinality said innocently. Her eyes then narrowed. "Well, I'll let you and Grim have some fun! Ta ta!" Sinality vanished and Taragras was left in the room with the demi-demon.
    She backed against the stove. Remembering the pot of hot stew, she quickly turned around, picked up the pot, and thrust it at Grim. To her surprise, the pot passed right through it. She could not think of any way to fight against this demon and there was no way out, because it blocked the door and windows.
    She watched in terror as Grim brought the syth up for the strike. She quickly closed her eyes, not wanting to witness the blow. She could hear it come down. Taragras could not so much as let out a scream of pain as the strike simply dissolved her in less than a second. Only a pile of dust was left of the elf. With its job done, Grim vanished into the floor the same way it entered. The cottage now fell silent, with the rest of the world unaware of the dangers that lurked in the shadows of a newfound evil.