The living war-marks

The date was April 17. 3515 BC

Diana's POV

"Wake up you lazy heathen. We have a lot to do."

I sighed, and opened my eyes.

The room was warm, and the fire was lit. I guessed that it must have been my father, which in turn meant that he had come home.

I lifted up the animal hide, and stood up on the cold stone floor.

"Avice, I wasn't sleeping."I said, rubbing my eyes.

"No? Then what were you doing?" She asked, and I smiled.

Avice was my best friend, and the only one in the world who knew my secret. Something that made her special in a way.

"I was looking for my boots."I said, and Avice startet laughing.

"You are so strange sometimes." She said, and walked out of the house.

I looked around, and saw my father sitting on a rock in front of the fire.

He was grinding wheat in a bowl, and I smiled.

Making food and cleaning was a women's job. Everyone knew that. But since my mother passed away when I was born, he had been doing it instead.

My father looked at me, and sighed.

"What will I do with you? You never do any chores, and you always say the most peculiar things, Diana. You need to marry so that the family can get money." He said, and I looked at him.

He never cared for anyone else but himself. Many people in our village thought that he was a nice man, but the truth was that he was cruel.

He would hit me if I didn't do as I was told, and never once in my life had he said anything that could be considered nice.

"No." I said, and he gave me an angry look.

He was always like this. Terrifying.

I knew exactly what I needed to do to. get away, but I never dared to.

Today was different.

Today I had courage.

Before I even got to think, I had taken on my leather boots, and grabbed my belt with my dagger.

"What are you doing?" He asked, but I didn't answer.

I threw on a grey woolen cloak, and ran outside.

"Diana come back this instant!" He yelled after me, but I didn't care.

I had always been treated differently, and not in a good way.

The people in our village were superstitious, and I wasn't really considered normal.

My appearance may be where to start. Blood-red hair with stripes of white in it. One grey, and one red eye.

I hated it, and all I ever wanted, was to be normal.

But somehow I knew that would never happen.

It was like it was meant to be, if that makes any sense.

And ever since I was little, I had had terrifying nightmares.

Nightmares about things that were to come, and things that had been.

Nightmares about a foreign word.

A word that was yet to come.

War.

After a while, I became tired, and I decided to stop and rest for a bit.

I stopped in the middle of the forest, and tall trees was surrounding me in every direction.

Since I was raised here, I knew every tree in the entire forest. But for travelers, the forest becomes extremely deadly.

My red hair was wet with sweat, and I took of my cloak to cool down.

Suddenly, I heard a branch snap, and I spun around.

I saw hints off a brown cloak sticking out from behind a tree, and I sighed.

"Avice what are you doing here?"

I said to the tree, and Avice walked out from her genious hiding place.

"I'm sorry, but I had to make sure that you were okay." She said, and smiled.

She was a very kind person, and I cared for her like she was my sister.

"Thank you, that was very thoughtful of you. But as you can see, I am perfectly fine." I said, and Avice sighed.

"Dear friend. You need to know that I will always be here for you. No matter what." Avice said, smiling.

She was wearing a white gown with a rope tied around her waist as a belt. The white gown was full of mud and dirt because of that she had been running. Around her shoulders, she was loosely wearing a brown woolen cloak.

I understood that she really ment what she said, and I felt that I became a little better.

When I first met Avice, she wasn't terrified of me like the other children. They used to call me demon, and they would run away as soon as they saw me.

But Avice stayed.

She never ran away from me, and it wasn't long before we were unseparable.

Her and I.

Bestfriends.

I sat down on the ground, and leaned my back against a tree.

The ground was full of brown leaves and pine cones.

Avice gave me a conserned look, before she sat down beside me.

"So where are you going now Diana?" She asked, and I sighed.

"I really have no idea. I suppose I'll just stay here in the forest until I find a home." I said, and Laid my head in my hands.

"What am I supposed to do Avice?" I asked her, and she gave me a hug.

"Do what you think is right. Nothing more, nothing less." Avice said, and smiled.