Amber Eyes

Chapter One

     Crunch, crunch, just a few more feet. Crunch, crunch, they were getting closer. She'd be free in just a few more steps. Crunch, crunch, skree! She had made it. Safe behind a bush, she watched tan feet run by. "Where'd she go?" "She was just here!" "She couldn't have disappeared." "I think I saw something over there!" "Let's go!" There was a lot of voices, the voices of her friends.
     Hide and tag was one of her favorite games, and she was very good at it. The other teens had been searching for her for the past two hours, and she had only been found once in those hours. She had previously been hiding in a large dresser drawer, thanks to her small stature. One girl had opened the drawer when she heard her talking to Moon and Sun, her dragons. The girl laughed so hard she cried, giving her the opportunity to run away.
     Once the voices were gone she crept out of the bush and stretched. The flower fell off, remarked a small, uptight voice in her mind. Knowing the speaker was Moon, her dragon, she retrieved the small flower in her hands. It was an orchid, a majority of the petals were white, which faded to a light purple at the edges.
     The girl went by the name of Mina Ryoto, a name that meant 'everyone like the dragon.' She had dark red hair almost touching her knees and matching eyes. She wore a dress that faded red to black, and stopped just past her knees. Like other teens, she wore leaf bracelets and anklets and went barefoot. Her ears were tangled, the tips a light purple that faded to her tan skin tone. She was remarkably small for her fourteen years, being five-feet tall. Her tan skin was marked with dark paint in various patterns across her cheeks, neck, arms, and legs. Her veins glowed with lava in her veins, a common feature for volcanic elves. There was a very important balance between the water and lava in their blood. One that, when broken, often resulted in paralyzation and death.
     Behind you, Mina. Mina warned cooly as a hand rested on the girls free shoulder. "Caught you, Mi." A smooth voice said from behind her. Sun slid off the shoulder and to the purse where his sister sat when another arm snaked around her shoulders. Both belonged to a blond girl standing behind Mina.
     "Aww, did you catch me again?" Mina complained, turning around to face her.
     "Of course! What's it now, 116 times? You've escaped me 127 times." She replied slyly.
     "Yeah, you know me too well Shikari." Mina chuckled.
     "Well, it's also common sense. You can't disappear. You had to have gone somewhere nearby. Someplace you found in a rush would not be a good one, and you'd have to come out and change places to stay in for a couple more hours. I just had to stick around until then." She explained as she swung her hips, a habit she had formed over her childhood. She had shoulder length blond hair and lighter skin than the others on the island. Her mother was human, from a snowier place where they had light skin and she seemed to have taken on that trait. She had sharp red eyes and the same glowing veins as the others did. She wore a light pink shirt cut off at her navel with thin straps to keep it on, accompanied by a leaf skirt with black shorts underneath and leaf anklets and bracelets, as well as a light pink flower crown.
     "I found her everyone! Game over!" Shikari called, grinning triumphantly. The other kids came running back, crowding around the two. There were fourteen teens in all, from varying ages, as well as twin six year olds.
     "Where were you?!" Demanded Shizuo, head boy of the group. The position of head girl belonged to Shikari.
     "I was hiding in my dresser drawer when Drayce found me. She was laughing so hard I was able to escape. I hid in this bush when you guys started to chase," Mina explained, grin spread wide on her face.
     "I'm sorry, but you looked hilarious!" Drayce giggled. She was eleven and four feet seven inches with long, coal black hair complimented by her dark purple dress with the leaf bracelets and anklets most of the villagers wore.
     Everyone got a chuckle out of that as they began to walk back to the village proper. At that moment they were climbing one of the many hill paths into the forest around the village.
     When they arrived at the village proper it was nearly sundown and The Great Fire was being lit.
     The Great Fire was an ancient ritual performed every other night at sunset. The fire would blaze until dawn. It was a way to communicate with the dead, a way to reunite families. Shikari talked to her mother every night, who died in childbirth. Drayce danced with the brother she had eaten in the womb. Shizuo talked with his mother and father. Everyone had someone.
But Mina had no one.
     No one appeared when she asked if they were there, sitting alone by the fire, unable to explain how cold and alone she felt although she was surrounded by people and warmth.
     Instead she spent those lonesome nights in lessons with Hyria or talking with her dragons. She often begged the others to play with her in the inviting darkness of the forest, but they'd decline and returned to their families. She'd learnt not to ask.
     She'd sit on the beach, looking out on the horizon, and feel it call to her.
     "I'm going to go sit by the beach. Get ready for The Great Fire, or you'll miss the preparation." Mina instructed as she put on a fake smile. Once they'd gone she turned to the sea, smile dropping, walking to the edge of the waves. She was safe where she stood, the waves couldn't touch her here.
     Moon sensed their mistress wanted to be alone and looked up at her brother, talking directly mind-to-mind. They both slid off Mina, assuring her they'd be back, but the assurances fell on deaf ears.
     Mine was deep in the call. The call told her there was more for to do, to see, to be. Maybe one day she would be the tribes head woman, but there was so much to do before she was trapped for good, she knew, but she didn't know what that thing was.
     The only thing she had ever known was the tribe. No one ever left the island, no one had in centuries- except her parents.
     Mina had almost no memories of her parents. They had left the island and the tribe 10 years ago to travel, when she was four.
     Was that what she wanted? Travel? She couldn't betray the tribe, her responsibilities, her people. Where would she even go? She didn't know what lay beyond the island, no one kept maps of anything but the island. No one had left in centuries, and those that did never returned.
     Her parents were a good enough example of that. When they left they entrusted her to Lady Hyria's care, planning to never return to her.
     While she thought, she walked. It was something she did often, thinking and walking, so she didn't give it much thought, until her leg went numb and steam rose to her face.
     She fell forward, screaming as she connected with water. Water! Water was fatal, she knew that, so why was she ankle deep in the ocean? She panicked as the paralysis set in. She watched helplessly as her body steamed and the water around her began to boil. Her skin burned as if it was on fire. The heat was unbearable, even for a volcanic elf like herself.
     This was it. She was going to die. She would be here forever, unable to move, and would slowly drift out to sea and starve. Who would care? Who would remember her? No one could call to her in The Great Fire if she had no family calling for her. Would she be alone for eternity? She couldn't bear that. Sun and Moon, what would they do without her? How would she answer the calling if she was dead?
     She closed her eyes as the calling held her. Mina, Mina, Mina, it called her. Maybe it'll lead me where I need to go, even if I'm only a spiritual. She couldn't let herself think that way. She wouldn't. If I live through this, I'll find where I'm meant to go, she promised herself as she drifted from consciousness.