The Story of Midnight

Chapter 5

"Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

-Plato

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As the years went by, the Army hasn't stopped its pursuit of capturing me. These chases around the forest made me learn about stability, how the tiniest things you learn can ensure your survival. Now I just subconsciously strain my hearing so I would know when we had to make ourselves incognito so the Army doesn't catch us.

I still didn't know why they were after me. It's not like I did something so bad that everyone had to chase me down, and if they caught me... I managed to escape once; they almost had me in their mad-desire-to-kill-me haze, and had to stay hidden until the commotion of almost capturing the demon had settled down. Still, I couldn't picture it...me doing something so out of my intentions.

Knowing my way around the forest maze was a good advantage, I knew where to go when I had to hide. The sound of their voices started to become distant, and eventually it died away into nothingness, but instinct told us to keep on running; we kept going until we were sure it was safe.

Finally, we stopped at the other end of the woods. As we were catching our breaths, my head started to fill with the same questions that I've been dealing with every time I ran away from my pursuers. I've asked myself these questions for a long time now, and still remain unanswered. I kept hoping that one day the answers will come, but maybe it will be something I won't like to hear. Is it worth knowing, yet at the same time not knowing?

Everything was quiet again, as if our running hadn't disturbed the peace of the forest. The only sound was that of our ragged breathing.

I knew that they already caught up with us. The waves showed me where they were, but they stayed hidden, waiting for the right moment to appear.

They've been getting harder to shake off in the last few years meaning I was losing my touch.

The air was heavy with tension, not even the wind whispered.

I guess our feeble attempt didn't matter at all; we still walked into their trap.

I didn't want to fight, I never liked it, but it was the only way of self-defense, the only way I would survive this. It's not like they were giving us much of a choice either.

I met Cloud's gaze, his heartbeat telling me that he was ready. If he was worried about me holding my own, he didn't show it.

Our attackers came out of their hiding places. They thought that they've caught us off guard.

They were wrong.

The people that we're going to fight didn't have remorse over killing a young girl; they do this because they'll do anything to get rid of me.

They weren't any stray assassins hoping to get a reward for my murder. I've had my share of dealing with bounty hunters every now and then. Even experienced swordsmen from foreign lands would try their luck at my ransom. I was worth a grand, shiny amount of coins, and this head on my shoulders only increased in its value day by day. In the end, I managed to escape them all.

We were surrounded by twenty soldiers, all carrying swords. The thought of one piercing my body sent a shiver down my spine. Their heartbeats was enough to know that they would kill a teenage girl in cold blood if need be to get rid of the "evil spirit" that threatened their village. Did they know what it felt like to take a human life, especially one so young?

Killing is hard, but regretting it is easy.

The soldiers got to a trained arrow formation, without the bottom part of the projectile.