The Fudal Era: Between Good and Evil

The cool wind blew across Missy's back and made her snap back to reality. She slowly stood up and brushed herself off. "Ouch. Some fall. Wait, where am I?" She looked around and saw only trees and dirt. The wind picked up again and sent shivers down her spine. "It's so cold. Where is everyone and what happened to that girl?" She looked around even more and heard leaves crunching. "Is someone there...?" More leaves crunched with a hissing sound coming from the bushes. "Answer me!" A huge serpant revealed itself and gazed at Missy hungrily. It was green with glowing yellow eyes and a huge mouth. "Aw damn." Missy shot out of the way and through bushes faster than any kid could. She was followed until she bumped into a woman from behind. "Ow, my bad." She stood up and held out her hand but the woman just frowned and glared at her.

"I don't need your help." She barked and stood up. The serpant crashed through the trees and tried to take a bite out of both of them.

"Look out!" Missy shouted. The woman shoved her out of the way and drew out fire from her right fingertips at the serpant's mouth. It hollered and hissed then exploded, leaving pieces of its scales to fly everywhere. The fire dissapeared from her hand and she turned to Missy.

"You alright, kid?"

"Yeah. Thanks. Do you know where I am?"

"I was just going to say you don't look like you're from here. Are you a traveler?"

"No."

"Okay then, I think you're lost."

"No duh!"

"No need to snap at me! You're lucky you found me so be greatful or I'll just blast you as well."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I just want to go home."

"I can't help you with that but I can tell you the nearest village. I just left there not to long ago. If you walk north you'll get there in no time." She nodded her head north and walked past Missy. "The people there are nice so you should have no problems."

"Thank you but I didn't catch your name."

"It's common courtesy to give your name first."

"It's Missy and yours?"

"Flare, now get lost brat."

"Hey!" Flare dissapeared in a blink of and eye and left Missy stunned. 'Wow. She can really move that fast? I better be on my guard until I get there.' She turned around and started walking north on the dirt path.

An hour passed as the sun started to sink in the sky. Twilight engulfted the land as Missy reached the broken walls of the village. Everyone, even children, helped repair the buildings but most helped rebuild the wall. Missy approached the the village and walked down the center path. Everyone stopped thier work and stared at her like they saw a ghost. She felt uncomfortable and quickened her walking but one man stopped her. "Hey, where are you going, stranger?" He had a stern look on his face and noticed her claws and eyes. "Are you a demon?!"

"Demon!?" The villagers echoed among themselves and stared at Missy more intensly while gripping thier weapons. The man gripped his sword tightly.

"If you are a demon then we will exterminate you!"

"Wait, you have me all wrong! I'm no demon!" Missy waved her hands in front of her but stopped when she saw her claws.

"Then how do you explain your eyes or claws? A demon is not welcomed here!" All of the villagers yelled in agreement.

"If demons aren't welcomed here then why did a demon say you were nice?"

"What demon? Any one we find we kill instantly!"

"I saw her walking her way south. She says her name's Flare and she said you were really nice." The villagers whispered and the man looked skeptical.

"Where are you from?" He asked and took his hand from his sword.

"I'm from a city called Vandaime. Have you heard of it?"

"Van-dai-me?" He repeated. "No, I haven't. You sure are strange. If you are not a demon what are you and don't say you're human because that can't be true."

"I heard that I'm half demon from this one girl, maybe you know her?"

"What does she look like?"

"Well, she's younger than me, white hair and a fox mask, I guess."

"Out of the way!" An elderly woman called out. She wore a red kimono and black pants and she stepped to the man's side and eyes Missy up and down. "Who is this child?"

"She says that she's a half demon and she met Flare."

"A half demon you say?"

"Yes and she may have seen one of those Hybrid Goddesses you've been talking about."

"Is that so? Tell me your name, child."

"It's Missy."

"Such a sweet name. Where are you from?"

"Don't worry about that, my lady. It's not anyplace we would know." The man stepped back and let the two talk.

"Follow me, Missy and as for the rest of you, get back to work!" Missy followed the old lady past some old buildings while the others worked. They stepped into a small, wooden hut and the lady sat down on one side of a fire while Missy sat on the other side. She looked around and saw it was a meditation hut with pictures of mighty beasts and scrolls with thier names on it. She stared at one that was a man with long, blue hair wearing the armor that was once in the shrine. The jewel was placed in it and created a blue aura around him. His eyes were yellow like hers and he had pointy ears. Above his picture hung a white scroll with a name written on it. The name was 'Zambinzu'. Above it was a painting of the same cloud on the tree. "I see you like that picture." She observed without even looking.

"Uh, yeah. Who is it?"

"You don't know? That is one of the most powerful demons that ever lived! Legend has it that his roar can shake the very fabric of time." She pulled out an ancient book from a gold chest. She closed it and turned around to face Missy. "Repeat what that girl looked like."

"She had white hair, a fox mask and-"

"Say no more!" The woman flipped through the book carefully and stopped at two certain pages. The left page had the picture of the girl with winds represented by clouds. The other page had her description in another language. "Here we are. The girl you saw is named Veonca. Some legends say she is also the mirage child. She runs freely with the wind and appears to almost none. In this village, she is known as the Goddess of the Wind. She is a hybrid, a beast that disguises herself as a human, kind of like you."

"Then why did she appear to me?"

"I'm not sure. As wise as I am I can never figure out the Gods. In fact, the man in the picture you were looking at is the God of Time."

"But I thought you villagers didn't like demons."

"Before you came demons attacked this village. They carried off women and eaten men and children. Flare has protected us so she is our friend. Some demons you can trust but some you can't but I trust you. You are half human after all. I'll go get you a place to stay for the night. You can stay here as long as you like but you have to promise you'll help rebuild." She slowly stood up and escorted Missy out of the hut. "By the way, my name is Cita. Now let's go get you a home." Missy followed silently into an old motel. Cita led her upstairs and into an empty room. "Sorry for the wreckage. Maybe tomorrow you can help cleaning this place and I will have a new set of clothes for you."

"Okay." She walked over to the bed of the plain room and climbed under the blanket. 'I'll have to find my way home tomorrow I guess.' Her thought trailed off then she fell quickly to sleep.