Lyra awoke the next morning to the smell of the salty air. She was tangled within her cloak and spat her orange hair out of her mouth as she sat up. 

It was dusk so a light fog loitered around give The East Forest an haunting appearance. She threw her cloak aside and stood up stretching, while yawning she strode towards one of the many pine trees. 

This tree had a lone sack hung from its branches to keep it from bears, wolfs, and other carnivorous creatures.

She rubbed her arms and felt the dark blue coming of age tattoos she  had given herself, you see when her people turn 15 they are technically considered an adult and are given tattoos on their faces and arms. She  used lekés moúro which is a staining berry infused with dyes made from flowers near by, it was quite  a chilly this morning even if it was summer in the East wood.

Lyra peered up at the tree and decided she would wait another day before feasting upon the  venison she had caught her self a few days prior. Her mouth watered at the thought of the meat rich in flavor and blood. 

She headed towards the basket where she stored the berries and herbs she hated the greens she was forced to eat. They were so bland no flavor no blood. But she had to mange she couldn't leave her cliff-face and go hunting due to the group of centaurs, She forbid herself from ever going over there, due to the fact she always hears screaming from  there. But every know and then an unlucky deer will wander over here.

  She silently ate a few raspberries and took a swig of water from the leather canteen she carried beside her. While standing up she brushed the dirt and crumbs off the loose black dress she wore. 

It was her mothers,  before she left. 

She remembered that day. 

It twas a beautiful morning  her parents had caught a stag for breakfast. She swung her bare feet with anticipation for the time arrived to eat the stag.

"Mum when are we eating?!?!" The eleven year old girl whined. 

"Soon be patient dear." Her mother Meara, tapped the girls head head with a smile on her face.

Meara was a regal women. She had long dark brown hair that she kept in a simple braid down her back. Her dark brown eyes held hope, and the magenta warpaint under her right eye and above her left eye brought out the slight blue in them.

The time had arrived to eat the stag when they heard it. 

The low pitched growl from the north woods, which resulted with a blood curtaining scream. It sent shivers down Lyra's spine, and the bright morning had turned very grim very fast.

Lyra's father, Abaet jumped at the noise and gave his beloved wife a look. And as if they had read each others minds they both left the make shift table rushed to the cliff-face.

"Mum, Da where are you going?" She asked rushing from the table to their sides.

"Lyra remember how I once told you that we are the protectors of this forest?" Her father bent down to her eye level, His red hair vibrant in the morning sunlight. Lyra bobbed her head up and down unsure what to say. "Well your mum and I have to go help those in danger." He brought little Lyra in for a hug goodbye. When he broke away her mother grasp her hands and stared intently into her beloved daughters eyes.

Her fathers orange hair looked a fiery red in the sun and his braided beard blew in the wind.

"Remember this, no matter what happens stay out of the North wood."

"But mu-" Her mother cut her off, "We should be back by sunset." Her mothers brown hair turned almost golden in the sunlight.

And with that her two parents left without so much of a word.

Stay out of the north woods.

Lyra sighed contently as she got up from the ground where she was eating, and piled her curly orange hair atop her head and tied it securely with a near by vine, while failing to pull out the brambles and leaves that stuck in her hair.

"Alright world." She spoke her voice smooth yet raspy from crying all night." You took my parents. But I am now prepared to take them back." 

"For five years I have trained, waited, and kept myself alive to the best of my abilities. But I must say my curiosity to see what has hapend to my parents has grown." She began pacing  along the forest floor.

"If I do leave my little safe haven I could die. But lets not forget," She turned her head letting out a slow hiss and allowing her eyes to shift reptilian, " I am a Drákos."

She made a mad dash towards a hollow tree stump, and began rummaging threw it. She threw a bag over her shoulder and pulled out two curved battle axes each had intricate carvings embedded into the medal. She strapped both of them to her back in an X pattern.

She flung her knife at the rope holding the sack onto the tree branch, letting it fall to the ground with a light thud. She went to retrieve her knife and the sack from the dirt floor. She opened the sack revealing a stack of dried Venison from days prior, the smell of the meat was enough to make her mouth water.  As she stored in away in the bag slung over her shoulder.

"Now take good care of this place you here!" And with that she took a running leap off of the cliff.