Celestial Storm: Blazing Eye

Chapter One: Blazing Eye

My name is Lucina, and I was awoken quite suddenly that morning.

"Wake up, my sleepy woman!" Vlukyn sang out as she grabbed me by the foot and took off running down the stairs.

"Gah!" I cried as my head thumped against the floor.

Vlukyn dragged me down the stairs and to the beach. The dark elf was smaller than I was, but she was incredibly strong. She hurled me into the waves. I had been woken up by Vlukyn in this manner before, so I was not quite as shocked as I had been the first time this had happened.

"Score! Right on the wave I was aiming at! Oho! A crab. Catch it, Lucina!" Vlukyn cheered.

"Wait...a crab?" I asked in surprise.

A small, sand colored crab flew at me from the shore. I caught it then almost immediately dropped it as it pinched me in anger.

"Fool! You're letting it get away!" Vlukyn scolded.

"It pinched me!" I cried pointing at the place on my hand it had pinched.

"So? They do that. Go get it before it swims off!" Vlukyn retorted.

"Ugh! Why do I always have to catch living animals?" I moaned.

"Enough whining and bitching! Get it!" Vlukyn shouted.

I was already after the crab, which was swimming much faster than I would have expected. It swam sideways away from me then burrowed rapidly into the sand. I reached down into the sand after it and grabbed something. I yanked hard, but what came out wasn't a crab. I realized that I had grabbed the tail of a sting ray.

"Yaaahh!" I screamed as barbed stinger twisted around and tried to get me.

"Ah! A sting ray! Catch it! Catch it!" Vlukyn screamed in excitement.

"I'd prefer the crab!" I hollered.

"Too late! It's string ray food now. The only way you can redeem yourself is by catching that sting ray!" Vlukyn shouted back.

"Fine, but I'm just going to grab it and throw it like a shark," I said.

I carefully aimed as the stingray shifted below me. I suddenly reached down and grabbed the sting ray just below the stinger and by one of its fins. I hurled it at Vlukyn as the water exploded around me. Vlukyn ran forward and held her arms out.

"Finally! I've got a stingray!" Vlukyn hooted as she ran around in a half circle trying to line herself up perfectly with the stingray.

Vlukyn managed to catch the sting ray and immediately ran away with it. Surprised that Vlukyn hadn't stayed longer, I quickly ran up to my room, grabbed some clean clothes and quickly ran to the women's bathroom. I saw Tamira as I got into the large communal bathtub. She appeared to have just gotten up, for she was rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, good morning, Lucina," Tamira said.

"Good morning," I greeted her.

"Was that you Vlukyn was yelling at?" Tamira asked.

"Yeah, it was me. Apparently she likes grabbing me by my ankle and throwing me into the ocean some mornings," I said.

"Yeah, she does that with a lot of new members, or so I'm told," Tamira said.

Tamira was around seven years old, so she hadn't been around long enough to witness Vlukyn abusing other new members. Since Tamira didn't remember Vlukyn harassing other new members, the guild had probably been without new members since the last one had been driven out by Vlukyn. Tamira had been in the guild her entire life, however, so she knew more about the other guild members than I did even though I was seventeen.