As the Sendo attacked the Chi village from the front gate – knowing it had been weakened by age and was in the process of being repaired, but improperly barricaded at this juncture – Moyasu was taken by her mother to the far back of the village with the other children and women. Huddling at the back of the encompassing fence of thick wood, the women cried and tried to shield their whimpering children from the sounds of lives being cut short and the defense of the village weakening with every blow. The Sendo had sent battering rams for the very purpose of entering through the weakened gate, and it wasn’t long before the Chi villagers were screaming and falling before the swords, arrows, and spears of the Sendo.

As the Sendo made their way through the Chi men, one by one, the women in the back tried their best to carve holes into the fence to let the children out to the safety of the forest. Working together it didn’t take long, but only twelve children made it through the fence before the cries of women and children being struck down began. Those who made it through the hole were now thirty feet from the tree line, and the safety it offered. But as they ran towards it, Sendo archers perched in trees nearby fired upon them. Moyasu just kept running, her eyes closed tightly and feeling her way only by her hands. One by one the voices of her friends and relatives, most younger than even herself, faded into the background as she continued her insane dash into the unknown. She only stopped when she slipped down a small cliff and into the banks of a wide river. There she cried and mourned the loss of all those she knew.

A few hours later, Moyasu trudged up the bank of the river to look for food. She soon came upon a waterfall where the river came from, and gathered berries from nearby bushes as she admired the beauty that seemed to calm her sadness, fear, and anger.

After eating all she could stomach, Moyasu swam in the pool before the waterfall. It was very relaxing to her, and she stared up at the stars as day turned to night. She could still see smoke coming up into the sky from a far away place, and deduced that must have been her village burning to the ground as she ran. Her brows furrowed as anger boiled within her. The Sendo had left them be for so long, and had taken their lives in their one moment of weakness. It enraged her.

Suddenly, Moyasu thought she saw a flash of light coming from somewhere. She waded in the water and swam in a circle, looking around at the forest and the waterfall, wondering where a flash of light could possibly have come. It frightened her more as she thought about it. It could have been the flash of a Sendo archer, taking his aim on her position. Moyasu rushed to the waterfall and risked the undercurrent to become invisible with the rock face.

That’s when she saw it. Another flash of light. She looked around herself, and noticed it must have come from a crevice behind the waterfall itself, near where she was. Ignoring the thundering sounds of water pounding its way over her head and body, Moyasu stuck her small hand within the hole there and pulled out a red stone of some sort. She couldn’t tell what kind it was, only that it was beautiful. At that thought it flashed once more, and Moyasu suddenly began to smile.

((Da da da dum! :D How'd you like them apples? :nod: The red stone of the dragon called to her and revealed itself to her. Ain't that cool? :boogie: I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! :wave: ))