Light of the Ontuya

Chapter 1: The Beginning

The Village of the Bright Cliffs is known to be one of the most powerful villages in the country, not just because of its location, but its population. The village got its name from when the sun rises on the cliffs. The cliffs, being formed out of white stone, glowed like pure light when the sun rose on them. The cliffs slightly jutted out over the village as if they were protecting it from the wrath of the heavens. A forest of colossus trees flanked the village from the North, giving opportunity for homes to be built high up in them. A lake to the south of the village, with a waterfall cascading down with fearsome majesty from lesser cliffs surrounding the lake. During the end of the festival of the Moon, the Moon shone just right on the mist, casting colored light across the entirety of the lake and cliffs, even through the night.

A beautiful young Clouded Leopard walked through the forest, breathing in all the sweet scents. She wore leather calf guards that rose to just below her knee, tan cotton shorts that went to her mid-thigh, leather cufflets that rose to a point at her elbow, and a darker brown cotton sleeveless shirt. This particular young girl by the name of Skylar Ontuya, is the third-born member of the family and the most ambitious girl in the village. Ever since she graduated top in her class in the pre-combat training at the age of 10, 3 years ago, she started training with the village warriors. As she walked along, she passed by a patch of magenta and white tulips, which smelled like honey and watermelons combined. After catching a whiff of them, she crouched down next to the patch and took in a deep breath of the intoxicating flowers' scent, smiling. Carefully, she cut a single flower off its stem with two of her claws, and carefully placed it between her right ear and her leather headband."Skylar!" Skylar's mother called out into the forest, "Are you coming?" "Yeah mom!" Skylar replied, walking down a long set of wooden beam stairs, her small-ish paws making quiet pitter patter sounds."Coming!" Today was the day her older brother Cam was going to be coming home from his adventure when he left a year ago.

I can't wait to hear all the stories he has to tell! She thought as she was getting ready to greet him. She had spent over a month making a contraption for him that she thought he would enjoy. It was something small, but complicated. Being only about 13 winters old, it was something Skylar was very proud of.

As she walked towards her family's home, she took in the familiar sight of the village homes so neatly organized into A circular grid. Most houses were made with walls of stone held together by a mixture of clay, sand, and gravel. The doors and shutters were carved from the wood of the Colossus trees surrounding the village. It took only one tree to make everything that was made out of wood in the village, and the wood from that tree still hasn't run out yet. The roofs of the houses are typically slightly pointed, while the rest are either flat or even more pointed. The tops of some of the roofs are even used to house shops and stalls during festivals (with the family's permission of course). When the roofs weren't occupied, young men and women, often from the age of 9 winters to 18 winters, could be found on them, playing whatever game they could play.

She could tell that a lot of the younger males were failing miserably to 'secretly' sneak glances at her as she walked through the middle of the street, but didn't pay any attention to them. After all, she was not interested, at all, to have a partner ever. She heard a slight 'whoosh' coming from her right side, and immediately grabbed the wrist of the young male coyote who was attempting to grab the tulip from her ear. He looked surprised that she reacted so quickly to his 'sneak attack'.

"If you think that was sneaky," She said sweetly and in a higher pitch than usual, as she tightened her grip on his wrist. He winced in pain and tried to maneuver his arm so it hurt less. "Think again." She finished saying, in her normal, deeper voice, spun him around and push-kicked him, sending him sprawling ten feet away. All the young men looked at her with renewed vigor for trying to win her over after seeing that display of independence and strength.

"He's almost here!" Skylar's mother called out, making everyone very excited, and snapping Skylar out of her angered transe. Everyone started rushing to the windows and to their front porches to greet everyone, returning from their adventure. Skylar decided to stand up on the roof of her family's home so she could see her older brother, Camile, returning. Within a few moments, Skylar could see 5 figures coming close to the village.

"I think I can see them!" She shouted down to everyone, "They're approaching the village!" as she bounced up and down with excitement. All the children now were clambering up onto the roofs of the other homes, wanting to see the adventurers return. "I can see them too!" her friend Radu yelled from another rooftop. Radu is the second-youngest member of the Stypen family, a family made up of foxes. His tail starts wagging, clearly excited for the adventurers to return.

"Hey Radu!" Skylar yelled to him."What?" he replied, not looking at Skylar, not realizing that she had jumped onto the roof he was on.

"Boo." She whispered straight into his ear, causing him to yell out of surprise and almost fall off of the roof. Skylar laughed at the fox's skittishness, as he has always been easy to scare. "Hey! That's not funny!" he pouted as Skylar helped him to stand. "They're here!" Someone yelled, and Skylar leaped down from the roof to the street below effortlessly to smother her brother in affection that only an older sibling could hope to have from a younger sister.

Later that night...

The entire village was lit up with colorful lanterns to celebrate the return of the young men, with fire pits set up for storytelling, shops giving out treats to celebrate, and everyone was gathered around the firepit with all five of the young men. Skylar was snuggled up next to her brother as he told his stories, just glad that he was back. Skylar noticed that Cam was discreetly holding hands with another one of the young men there, Kayden, a young wolf who was also his best friend that went on the adventure with him. Seeing this, Skylar smirked, leaned up to Cam's ear, and whispered in his ear."I knew you liked him." and Cam just froze and looked down at Skylar with a panicked face. "You're way too obvious." she purred as she snuggled further into Cam and started dozing.

The next thing Skylar knew, there was an explosion in the village.