Quills and Ravens

Chapter 1 : Shooting Stars

People say certain phenomenon are rare, and that you're lucky to catch them even once in your lifetime. In my 22 years of living, I've never caught sight of the sun covering the moon, nor the moon over the sun. I even considered myself unlucky because I could only count on one hand the amount of stars I've seen streaking across the night sky. A tragedy, I know. So when I saw, for the second time in eleven days, a star falling out of the sky during the day, I knew my luck must have changed.

I ran my fingers over the cool, splintered bark of the oak tree and pushed myself into a crouch as I watch this "shooting star" make its way across the sky. Except, I knew it wasn't a star. The last one, I had watched as it descended down into the lush growth of the forest. That same forest that I call home. By the time I got close enough to spot it, there were strangers swarming the area, seeming to have come out of the star, or the big metal thing that I considered a star. How many people can say they actually know what a star looks like?

This time though, it was different. I looked on as it did the same thing that the first star had done, except this one was heading in my direction. Before I could comprehend what  was happening, the star made impact with the ground and I was being thrown out of my perch. My ass hit the ground first, the rest of my body following close behind. All I could do was lay stunned, gasping for the air that had been knocked out of me. There was a low ache coming from the back of my head, the throbbing echoing the quick beating of my heart. It took a few minutes, but finally I was able to get back on my feet and dust my hands off on the various loose pieces of cloth that hung around my waist.

I let out a huff and turned my head to check my surroundings to ensure that I was still alone. With this being the second disturbance in such a short period of time, I knew for certain that Trikru was going to be all over this very soon.

I took the silence as a good thing and swiftly made my way over to the open clearing, my bare feet landing lightly on the ground below, making my entrance silent. Before me, sat a smoking metal machine, the air around it rancid and hot, only worsening as I got closer. I approached from the back, placing my hand on the metal frame and quickly recoiled it back, the heat of the metal lightly searing the skin of my left hand. Nothing a little cool water couldn't fix. I rubbed my hands together in an attempt to push the burning sensation away. Once I had circled around to the front of the metal box, I was greeted by a sheet of glass instead of the thick metal.

The hatch was shut, but my breathe caught in my throat when I laid eyes on the singular, unconscious body that sat strapped into this contraption. More of those Sky People. This one was alone though, and I couldn't tell if she was alive or not from my position on the opposite side of the hatch. The crunching of footsteps stole my attention and alerted me that someone was approaching. I wasn't the only one that had observed this girl's descent from who knows where, just as i had expected. I shot the girl another look before retreating back into the tree line, ensuring that I kept her within view.

The heaviness of the footsteps meant that it could only be one of those Sky People. Trikru, or any other kru for that matter, would never give their locations that easily. As I suspected, a clean cut boy came trampling out of the woods and approached the metal box. He held a dagger in his hand, and I tensed when he opened up the hatch and leaned in to the machine. I could see his thoughts bouncing around in his head from my position in the trees. I may not have known who that was laying in the box, but I wasn't going to let that boy kill her just because. I clenched my fists, preparing to jump out at him, but his desperate, jagged cuts told me that he was more interested in something else. Only another couple of heartbeats passed before I watched him dart back into the forest, a piece of the contraption held close to his side.

I let out a slow, quiet breathe, allowing a few more seconds breeze by on the wind before picking myself up and returning to the metal box. The girl sitting in the seat seemed unharmed, minus a scrape on her head. I could finally see her clearly, taking only a moment to take in the scene before me.Even with my low level of medicine understanding, I knew that a head wound, even a harmless one, could still mean bad things.

I knew that there was a high probability that he was not going to be the only person coming to investigate, so I quickly drew a dagger from my boot and cut her out of the straps that held her to the chair. My arms wrapped under her shoulders and I dragged her out of the metal box, laying her gently on the ground and hovering my ear just over her mouth. Her breathing was slow, but normal, rhythmic even, and the worry slid off my shoulders. She was alive. I did another quick check of her extremities, ensuring there were no other wounds before I rolled into a crouch and slipped my hands under her.

No lies, I struggled trying to lift her off the ground, her red jacket caused my hands to lose grip on her side multiple times, but eventually I was able to get to my feet and began my trek back home. As I broke the tree line, I heard another set of footsteps but decided that sticking around was on the list of bad ideas for the day.