SOL

SOL Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

It was almost midday, and yet the morning mist had not cleared. Despite the humidity and ominous silence these parts of the woods always held, Rayna could only feel irritation that she had been sent out so early in the morning to patrol a section of the forest no one ever bothered to pass through. Children avoided it due to the constant, strange silence, and thieves couldn't use it because it was too close to Halstor, a nearby village known for being a makeshift base for Enforcers. As a native of Halstor and an Enforcer herself, Rayna was thoroughly aware of this. Yet at the start of every week, the Captain would order her to patrol the woods then report her observations.

"As usual," she thought. "Not a single thing to report. This is just dumb."

Despite her growing boredom and aggravation at her task, she enjoyed the ability to get some peace and quiet for at least a short time, before heading back and beginning her duties.

She often looks up at the sky and wondered with a forwn if her father ever had to do such pointless work, but these thoughts still made her smile. Her father took pride in being an Enforcer, who was well-repsected in his own right, until he succumbed to illness when his daughter was just thirteen. Rayna loved seeing the pride in his eyes when speaking of his youth, the respect he was given, his ability to help. She wanted this herself. That was five years ago, and when she graduated as one of the youngest Enforcers, she expected to be involved in the greater action that made her father sounded so heroic when he recited. Yet aside from stopping the occasional troop of thieves and petty crooks, her life was calm and routine, anything but adventurous, yet she still seeks the respect and life her father had.

Though at often times she would spend her time patrolling wondering why she needs to keep her skills so high, why she needs to stay so driven, when everything was quiet?

"What's the point of this uniform if the purpose behind it is never needed?"

These thoughts would cloud Rayna's mind every walk, without ever a sound being made to distract her from it.

It was now midday, the humidity was gone, and the mist had begun to disappear. Rayna knew her patrol was nearly over when something unusual caught her eye. Several yards away, amidst the trees, was something bright red and shifting. It didn't look like and animal and was too tall to be a child.

"A thief?" Rayna thought. "Out here? But what else could they be?"

Instinctively, Rayna reached for the silver revolver, holstered to her right thigh, ready to draw, and charged towards the mysterious person, positioning herself behind them within seconds with her gun steadily set on them before she knew what she was even looking at.

"Halt!" She demanded. "As an Enforcer of the Sentrails, I order to turn and face me!"

As she said this, she realized her gun was aimed at the back of what appeared to be a young man, probably only a few years older than herself, with a large sword inside a gray sheath strapped to his back. The young man stopped and slowly complied with her demand. She felt her shoulders tense as he turned to face her, only to have all the tension dissipate when she looked at the young man's face.

He could not have been more than twenty, with pale skin and dark eyes, made all the more menacing by his steely gaze. Rayna also noticed that the red thing that she noticed was his shaggy hair, a beautiful, rose-red color. Still, she felt her eyes drawn to the hilt of the sword sticking out from behind his right shoulder, and the strange weight she felt once he turned towards her, like his look was driving her back.

"Now what?" He said, allowing Rayna to quickly regain her focus.

"State your name and purpose." She ordered.

"I'm just passing through. Is there something wrong with that?" His voice had an edge to it, yet remained calm.

"No one in the Sentrails uses to woods to travel unless they're trying to avoid contact with others."

"Okay, what's your point?"

"What purpose do you have avoiding people? And where are headed that need to use the forest?"

"I don't want to deal with people, and where I'm going is no concern to you."

Rayna could feel a swell of anger coming.

"Alright, if you're not going to cooperate with me peacefully, then you can explain yourself again back at our base."

"No." The man said simply as he turned back around and began walking away. In a rush of anger, Rayna cocked her revolver and aimed at his leg.

"I'll drag this mouthy bastard back if I have to." She thought.

As she put her finger against the trigger, she felt the gun being pushed back from the barrel, and realized the young man was standing right in front of her, his right hand clutching the barrel with his thumb covering the barrel. In an instant, Rayna's anger and confidence fell into panicked confusion.

"When did he move? He was too far away!" She frenziedly thought.

"Don't waste the bullet. It's not going to do anything." He said calmly, the steady edge in his voice still present.

His eyes were still had a steely glare, and he seemed more intimidating by his height, standing a good five inches over Rayna, with a long black coat giving him a shadowy presence.

"Who are you?" Rayna said, her voice as tense as her chest felt.

"That's not important. Just carry on with you day, Enforcer. You'll be better off that way."

With that, the young man released his hand from her gun, turned and walked off into the forest, disappearing into the mist, leaving Rayna to wonder to herself,

"Why did he seem so familiar?"