The sky was soothingly clear with the birds singing as they flew around, their chirping renting the sweet fragrance of the flowers a beautiful charm. In the lush green forest filled with the cicadas and the colourful bounty of plants, the bright day was as soothing to the eyes as it was to the soul.

Aaya smiled as she carefully walked in the terrain, the light woven wicker basket in her back still empty as she leisurely strolled through the wilderness.

She could hear the gurgling of the stream a little away from the place she was. The stream was down a steep edge and the way of reaching it safely was only via one passage.

Aaya hummed a little song as she made her way to that downslope, enjoying the merry gurgling of stream, the greenery surrounding her blooming with shades of pink, yellow, white, red flowers and the warmth of the sun.

Even through the long transparent white veil shrouding her up till her knees, she felt that cheerful vibrancy seeping in her skin, the serene and beautiful forest welcoming her in its bosom.

She was here again today to pick the medicinal herbs and roots which were richly abundant in this portion of the land. She loved her time of the day when she went foraging in the forest, her joy stemming from enjoying the nature in its prime beauty away from the bothersome interactions of her family.

A little blue bird chirped in front of her and perched on the low branch of the tree in front of her. it gave its little head a shake and then chirped at her again, jumping a little to get close to her.

Aaya stopped and smiled at the bird, "Hello little fellow."

As if in reply, the bird sang again, then jumped up to her shoulder. Aaya laughed at its antics, "You have no sense of preservation, do you?" and then used her sturdy walking stick to continue down the trail.

She reached the slopping edge but did not slow down, familiar to the uneven ground after going down the path countless times, she expertly walked down the slope with the aid of the stick.

As she reached the landing, the bird flew away.

Aaya took a deep breath of the clean fresh air then looked at the stream gushing down noisily, splashing over the rocks, the water sparkling in the sunlight, its clear colour reflecting the purity of the untouched nature.

The bed surrounding the streams was damp ground covered with pebbles of different shades of black, grey, white.

In this level, all the surrounding plants, trees and shrubs were of some medicinal value, ranging from common to rare variety.

For the thousandth time, Aaya was glad that the place where she lived, the temple and monastery where she served, was situated this close to this part of the region.

Even though the frequent attacks from the bandits was something that girls like her feared enough to not venture this far, her love for visiting this part of the forest, and the indulgence of the senior monk and the physician overruled the matter.

Aaya removed the wicker basket from her back and kept it on the ground. Then, she looked around and selected the medicinal herb that she had voluntarily left alone for a month. She wanted the plant to grow and prosper before she started taking from it. Today was the day she could start the harvest. That particular plant was good for healing of wounds faster than the conventional medicines.

With the war raging in the outskirts of their little town with the independent tribes terrorizing and attacking the rule of the King, they often received soldiers in need of treatment.

Even though the usual medicine from the physicians in attendance with the platoon of their armies were not the ones her temple physician used, the efficacy of the herbs from her temple was much higher than the normal ones.

The Temple was known for this quality, with many different officials from the royal court trying to learn the secret then to recruit the physicians, in face of which the Monastery had resisted. They had had a detailed conversation with the Royal Highness about the ability to make the specified higher grade medicine only in their region due to a Faith, that could not be translocated.

The King had understood.

Aaya chuckled as she stepped closer to the stream. She knew all of the reasons given to the Royals had been a lie.

The offence of lying to the King over a serious matter as herbs which could benefit the Royal family's health, prosperity and life longevity was tantamount to treason, punishable only by death.

But, the offence was still made.

All to protect her. Her secret.

And Aaya would never forget that benevolence or the risk they took.

She would forever be in debt to them.

Shaking of the sudden direction her thoughts took her to, she realised she had reached the edge of the stream.

Its too beautiful of a day to be touched by the dark shades of grey.

She turned her face towards the sun, basking in its gentle warmth which penetrated through her veil. The breeze carrying the fragrance of the wild blooms swayed the skirt and sleeve of her white clothes.

In the small forest valley with a stream sparkling as a rush of glittering crystals under the blue sky filled with joyful cavorting birds enveloped in the vibrancy of a lush greenery sprinkled with the cheerfully light patches of beautiful flowers, a Maiden in white stood in a posture which leant the innocence of her soul an aura of fragile beauty. As a guileless alluring painting of a girl paying homage to the Gods.

A sudden harsh hacking cough punctured through the atmosphere in the speed of a heartbeat, the sound completely at odds to the scenery.

Aaya jerked where she stood, taken aback at the intrusion of the place which had been never ventured into except by her for the years she had been visiting. Nor had she ever seen any signs of any human ever finding their way to this hidden site.

Her body on alert, she opened her eyes and scanned around quickly, trying to find the source of the sound.

Her eyes passed over the small clearing looking at all directions, the shrubs, the rocks, the trees, but she could not find any trace of human life.

Her eyebrows creased as the cough still rang in her ears. That sound was from a seriously ill person.

Aaya stepped down from the slightly elevated flat rock she was standing on, distancing herself from the clear flowing water. She looked around again.

All around her, the forest and trees remained as serenely welcoming and still as it all had been.

The place was the only clearing near the stream, rest all places having no banks or grounds to stand on, the stream taking the entirety of the ground if seen from above any other point of the forest. While to access this site, the pathway had always been hidden. To her knowledge, only she knew of the path down the slope and she made sure to always block the point with rocks and camouflage.

Which was the sole reason why she was usually unafraid of the bandits finding her.

Even though she was sheltered by others as to what the bandits did if they found young girls away from the crowds, she had still managed to hear enough gossip to know what her fate would be if fate would deliver her to a rogue group.

On high alert after that cough, she knew it was not wise of her to call out to ask for the person to reveal themselves in case they did not know of her presence. That would be similar to shining a beacon and shouting an invitation for disaster to come smash her.

All these implications went through her mind in those precious moments, making her involuntarily turn to walk briskly towards her wicker basket, with the faint automatic notion to flee. She was bending down to pick up her basket when she paused.

The stream continued to merrily flow, the sunlight continued to enhance the dazzling greenery. Only the sounds of nature and peace enveloped the place.

Aaya straightened herself. The reason she had paused in her effort to escape was because right from a young age, she had always been exceptionally attuned to her feelings, her emotions.

She was. . . a little peculiar. A little. . . different from the others. In the ways of thinking and emotions, in terms of reacting or understanding any situations. She had realized it since she could observe, could speak.

Most of the times, she knew she could see things others did not, find the hidden element in a circumstance already stamped with a motive, violently different from the glimmer she saw.

Which meant, as more and more time passed, Aaya relied on her intuition, her inner emotions, to assess a situation accurately, different from the conditioned prejudice or fear or judgemental view of the society.

And right now, despite knowing the danger she was in, her emotions were . . . calm.

Her heartbeat, was steady.

Puzzled, she looked around again, reflecting on why she was not afraid. Rationally, the outcome could be worse than death for her.

As few moments passed, as butterflies kept dancing on the flowers, the wind teasing her with its coolness, it hit her.

The cough! She had heard it just once and recognised it to be from someone who was seriously ill. Or wounded.

Bandits by their principle, had no honour or code for their victims or among themselves. If a person would weigh them down due to them being ill, the group would either kill him to get his share, or as a mercy abandon them to die by themselves.

Which meant the sound which came right now was most likely from a single person, not a hidden group. That person, was also suffering.

Aaya cautiously stepped forward again, mind churning. The reason she couldn't find him, was most likely because the person was hiding, fearing her presence.

Still, imagining on the basis of just one sound was not enough for her common sense to tell her to relax completely and call out for the person to respond. So, she started revising. She knew this area better than anyone else. If anyone wanted to hide, or not be seen from the vantage point where she currently stood, what all spots would it encompass?

Aaya bent down to take a few small rocks in her hand then steadied the walking stick she had. Thinking about the hidden coves she had explored, she remembered there to be one small place which was covered by the branches of the surrounding trees.

That place was big enough for an adult to sit in, the branches of the trees covering the front so completely that from where she stood, it would be completely missed.

Aaya had just accidentally discovered the small spot because she had been following the rabbit in this area. There was one fluffy white female rabbit, who was pregnant. Its burrow happened to be in that place.

Aaya turned in that direction and stared at the spot of the leaves. Beyond the beautiful plants, the place was dark, her eyesight not keen enough to detect a presence.

Aaya walked a little towards it, still keeping distance between the spot and herself.

The sunlight warmed the clearing as she stood peering into the foliage. Lifting her hand having the small rocks, she thought about throwing a small one in the direction and then frowned.

Way to go!

She had stayed behind because she suspected the person to be ill, and here was her brilliant method of flushing out the ill person by pelting rocks at him.

Shaking her head at her own stupidity, she dropped the rocks. Then held the walking stick as a sword in front of her and then slowly shuffled towards the hidden branches, looking like a wraith in billowing white clothes edging towards plants and possibly a rabbit with a stick in a shaky defensive posture.

I look dumb.

No matter, it was better to be dumb than being dead due to her over sympathetic emotions.

When the end of her stick touched the leaves of the branch guarding the hidden place, she paused.

Now, after all this time, now, her heartbeat sped up.

A tense feeling of excitement and nervousness clenched her chest as she gripped the stick more securely in her palms.

Drawing in a shaky breath, Aaya directed the stick over a few branches, then pushed them down from above.

As the branches were pushed down, slowly, the top of a head emerged, jet black hair pulled back in a loose manner. Aaya did not stop even at the confirmation of her suspicions to be correct.

But that person still did not say anything.

Maybe he is unconscious?

Aaya kept pushing down the leaves, revealing a blood smeared forehead. Before concern could spread through her, the person's eyes were revealed.

His dark, intensely frightening gaze, boring down at her with a malicious intent.

A shiver of danger trickled down her spine as the rest of his face was uncovered.

Even in warmth, she felt chilled by his savage look which seemed to promise Death.

The man was conscious, bloody, handsome and vicious.

Ruthlessly Vicious.

Suddenly, the man caught her end of the stick in a bloody grasp, his lips turning up in a cruel smirk with his eyes glinting with violence, he jerked her closer to him.

🌹 🌹 🌹 🌹 🌹 🌹 🌹 🌹 🌹 🌹

A/N : Yep, this is starts off the first chapter of Dark Embrace!

Will be updating the next chapters in just a few hours, gotta run for a bit.

Please dont forget to Vote! 😘