Onyx

Chapter 1: The Eyes

It was midafternoon and hundreds of rhythmic pounding of ax against wood rang within the groves. Wiping the sweat from her brow Onyx leaned on her ax and looked at the position of the sun in the sky. "3 more hours" she muttered to herself.

With her dark skin and strange white hair tucked into braids,  Onyx picked up her ax. Just as she was about to break through the bark of the tree, she heard a faint jingling sound. Looking around, she saw nothing amiss. Nobody else seemed to hear the strange noise. A bit disconcerted she continued her work until nightfall.

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Walking back to her tent, Onyx heard someone shouting her name. Turning around she saw Rigel jogging behind her. Oh great she thought. Rigel was handsome enough to other girls with his golden brown skin, and silky curls, but he was just annoying to Onyx. Her parents adopted him after finding him in a basket in the woods 19 years ago. He's been harassing her since.

"I saw you looking around the forest like a dumbfounded ox" he said with a smug smile. Rolling her eyes Onyx responded, "And you smell like one yet I didn't say anything about that." Rigel scowled seemingly unprepared for that response, and trotted away with a flick of his head.

Her and Rigel haven't always had the best relationship. He seemed too flaky to her. One moment they were laughing and joking around, the next he was snitching on her about something she did last week. So now Onyx does her best to avoid him which is nearly impossible since they're siblings.

As Onyx entered her tent she heard the jingling sound again. Whipping around she grabbed the nearest object around her— a book — and prepared to fling it at the perpetrator. Nobody was there. An eerie feeling crept over her and she slowly lowered the book wondering if she was going mad. What if it was magic? she thought to herself. She quickly flung the thought away. Magic hasn't been used nor seen in nearly a hundred years. But for some reason she felt drawn....

"ONYX!"

Rigel came barging into her tent. "All of the livestock has been slaughtered. The chieftain has called a meeting and requests everyone to be there within 15 minutes." He stared at her with the book in her hand and asked, "What's with the book?"

"Never-mind that" Onyx growled and flung the book on her cot walking out the tent. She could never reveal to her brother she was hearing jingling sounds. He'd say she had schizophrenia or something dumb like that. As she was walking out she spotted her mom in the stream of villagers. Picking her way through the crowd she asked her what was going on.

"It seems like as we were all working in the groves some lunatic came and slaughtered all the sheep and cows. Now we only have enough wool to last us a couple months, and no milk. The chieftain called the entire village for a meeting to discuss the details and the next steps."

Mrs. Windward was a short, but pretty woman despite the creases of labor on her face. She turned to Rigel and fumed "If I find out this was you, I swear to the heavens above, you will be cleaning up horse poop from the stables for the next 6 months."

Rigel put his hands up with an innocent look of shock and replied, "I would never!" in a mocking tone. Onyx rolled her eyes at her brother's shenanigans.

The town hall was a crude building that truly displayed her villages poverty. The soggy walls caved in with splintered beams. The floor was cracked and little weeds grew in between. She could never remember a time when her village had been prosperous. In fact she couldn't even recall having history books. She always just assumed it was because of the villages poverty, but something seemed amiss.

The bang of the chieftains gavel brought her back to reality. "I called this meeting here today to address a tragedy that occurred during a time we were diligently working for the better of our community..."

"Here we go again with his long winded speech" muttered Rigel. Onyx stifled a grin.

"...Not only is it an attack on our livelihoods, but it is an attack on our peace as well. The creature who was responsible for this was not human."

There was a collective of murmurs from the crowd. Does this have to do with the jingle sound? wondered Onyx.

"The marks this beast left on the livestock were those only a creature with claws could make. The claw marks were the length of a small child, and I daresay no creature I know could create wounds of that size. This creature is out to kill. They left the carcasses untouched. I am putting a mandate that no persons should be out of their tents past nightfall."

One scraggly man raised his gnarled hand and said, "How can we ensure we will be safe when all we have for shelter is a flimsy tent?" Mutters of agreement filled the room. The chieftain scratched his thick beard seemingly lost in thought. A moment passed before he answered, "For those who worry about safety, you may stay in here for the night. It's not the sturdiest, but it's fully enclosed and sturdier than the tents. This mandate will be imposed until the problem is solved. Any other questions?"

The room was silent. With a bang of his gavel the chieftain dismissed everyone with, "Meeting adjourned."

Onyx walked back to the tent with her mother and Rigel. Everyone was silent with the feeling of impending doom looming over them. As Onyx opened up the flap to her tent she heard the jingle again and stopped in her tracks. "You ok there?" asked her mother. "Yes I'm fine," she replied a bit distracted "I think I left something in town hall."

"Be quick dear it's dangerous"

Onyx nodded her head and walked toward the direction of town hall until she saw Rigel and her mother slip inside the tent. Once the coast was clear, she started walking the direction she heard the jingle. Despite the obvious danger, she couldn't help but feel drawn to it. She followed her instinct and walked back to the groves she was working in earlier that day.

Initially scanning she didn't see anything. She didn't want to take too long in fear of her mother finding out. As she turned to go back to the village she heard the jingle again, this time closer. On edge, she searched around once more and found peeking from behind a tree about 100 yards away, was a pair of glowing blue eyes.

She felt something probe her conscience as if telling her she was safe. Every muscle in her body strained to run, but her brain would not give the signal to. The creature emerged from behind the tree and Onyx braced herself to be mutilated by the same creature that slaughtered the livestock.

To her utter surprise and dismay, a man emerged. He was the most beautiful specimen she had ever seen. He wore no shirt and had bands wrapped around his arms with strange symbols and carried a magnificent sword at his hip. His pants were long and baggy with a strange wrap around his waist depicting a series of runes within its folds. He was tall and toned, every muscle defined and smooth. His hair was long with locs, that hung over a heavy brow. It's like his face was chiseled to perfection, every line sharp and clear. His skin the richest shades of brown with full round lips. What struck her the most though, was his strong presence. The very air around him seemed charged with electricity, almost otherworldly. Onyx was hypnotized by his beauty.

Just as she gained the courage to say something she heard a twig snap behind her. She turned and within that second, the stranger was gone. Rigel showed up behind her smirking smugly

"I knew you were lying."

"Did you see that?" asked Onyx.

"See what?"

"The man? He was just here a second ago."

"No...? You sound crazy. We need to get home now before mom has heart palpitations."

Dismayed Onyx walked with her brother out of the groves. "Please don't tell mom I lied."

"Doing my chores for a week might convince me" said Rigel with a mischievous grin. Groaning Onyx reluctantly agreed to his terms. Upon entering the tent she found her mother asleep on the cot. Onyx whipped around angrily to her brother and whispered "You knew she was asleep didn't you!". Chuckling Rigel said, "Yes I did. But you still owe me chores for a week lest I wake her up and inform her of your mistruths." Fuming Onyx went to bed in her own cot. He was the bane of her existence.

Drifting off into an uneasy sleep the last thing she saw before it went dark, was those glowing blue eyes.