[NOTE: the words spoken in Trigedasleng will be in italic bold.]

A cool breeze brushed past, causing the trees above to sway, almost as if they were dancing a waltz. The air was brisk, the leaves withering and falling as the dry season had just come to pass. New trees, plants and flowers replaced the dead ones, and the air had started to become more cooler -- especially when night hit. My hair followed the trees same movement, blowing in the wind. I crouched upon a branch, staring down at the ground a few metres below me as two people from the Trigedakru pass by. They shared occasional words between one another, speaking in their native tongue. I could piece together some words, as my clan -- the Stalkers -- stole some verbs and ways to pronounce words from theirs, and got that they were after a girl.

And that girl just so happened to be me.

I felt my leg cramp up and let out a quiet curse as I tried to reposition myself on the branch. Without noticing, as I stretched my leg outwards, a small twig that stuck out from the side of the branch snapped and fell to the ground below. With my leg outstretched, I paused, holding my breath as the two below me halted in their steps and stopped all conversation. An eerie silence circled it's way through the woods. I felt a small pang of fear spark in my mind as I imagined the thought of being captured by my enemies, and murdered -- just as my entire village and family had been.

Ten years later, I still didn't know the exact reason as to why everyone I had ever known was murdered. It appeared as if the Trigedakru people hated us -- despised us, even. I remembered faintly of the nights I had awoken from my sleep to find my mother and father quietly arguing about them finding us. They had kept their voices low, but I had heard almost every word. They both feared that one day, our enemy clan would find us and burn us alive. And that is exactly what happened -- to everyone, except me.

I was the last one. The last human who had Stalker blood running through my veins. And because of it, I was being hunted. Only because the woman who had murdered my mother and siblings had let me go ten years ago. She had taken everything and everyone I had ever loved, crushed my soul into a million pieces, and had let me walk free. But why? That I also didn't know. All this knowledge and information left unknown to me frustrated me. I thought about it every night before I fell asleep.

I snapped from my own thoughts as the sound of horses's hooves came into hearing point. "Nikolai, what's taking you so long? Where is the girl?" The deep voice came from the man sitting atop a night-black war horse. He had beautiful brown skin, and black lines of ink tattooing the side's of his bald head -- just like my father. I never knew why he had the same tattoos as them. He told us he hated them with all his guts, but we were told to never any ask too many questions.

The Grounder that named himself Nikolai let out a grunt noise. "We have looked everywhere. She is not here."

"Look harder! She killed three of our men the other night." The man on the horse yelled at them, his voice filled with irritation before he hit the horse and went off galloping the direction he came.

I had killed three of them the other night. They were brothers, and they had tried to kill me. What bothered me was that it wasn't only because they knew who I was; it was because they wanted to do it for fun. They had chained both of my arms for the first half and grazed their knives along my bare back before they each had a go at seeing who could punch me the hardest. I had gotten free, but I had escaped with more than a few bruises and cuts (more than likely a broken nose, too). That was two days before the night I crept into their little hideout and slit their throats one at a time. I kept them quiet and I left their bodies to rot. Most others would have probably left a message for their enemies, but the bodies were enough for me. Clearly, my message had been received nice and loud.

I slowly sat myself down on the branch, my legs dangling down as the two men below me walked away, slowly. I let out an exasperated sigh, slumping my shoulders as they disappeared from sight. I swallowed, took a good look around me, before I sheathed my katana and shimmied down the tree. I landed with a soft thud; dirt flying up off the ground from the impact of my boots.

I took off at a sprint; adrenaline rushing through my veins as I ran, dodging trees and jumping over fallen branches. I felt a smile creep up on my lips as I escaped yet another search party. Damn, I'm good. I breathed in the fresh air, quickening my pace. I had nowhere to be, no one to please but myself--

A distant horn sounded the air and I almost stumbled over my own feet. Shit, I swore to myself. Acid fog. A string of curse words escaped my mouth as I noticed the oncoming fog. I picked up my feet, racing to find somewhere to hide so that my skin wasn't burned by the radiation. Something always had to ruin the mood, didn't it? Wether it be Trigedakru, Reapers or acid fog.

The fog was caving in and I still hadn't found any luck in finding a place to hide. My heart raced a million miles an hour in my chest; slamming up against my rib cage as I let out a frustrated cry. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me into darkness. A door shut, following it the sound of light footsteps. My breathing was quick and heavy, filling the silence that surrounded me. I pulled out my katana and held it out in front of me as someone lit a torch.

The person's face came into view. It was a male. Tanned skin, blonde hair that reached just above his shoulders and bright blue eyes. He wore dark clothing; black paint surrounded his eyes, intensifying his blue irises. He was from the Trigedakru. It was so easy to tell. From the way he carried himself to the way he was dressed.

I lifted my sword up and went to swing it forward but the man knocked it out of my grip. He landed a punch to my stomach. It wasn't a forceful one, but one that told me to stand down. I landed to the ground with a grunt. He sat on top of me, placing a knife to my throat. It pricked my skin, sending a tingling feeling down my neck as blood seeped out of the tiny cut. "Stop fighting me. I'm trying to help you." He spoke, a unique accent leaking from his every word.

I didn't listen, and instead, landed a punch to the side of his head. The hit wasn't filled with much effort, but it gave me enough time to break free from his grip and reach over for my sword beside me. He growled as I crawled away from him, placing a hand to his bleeding lip and wiping away the blood. I got to my feet, sword in hand --

But he was too fast.

He slammed me up against the wall, every bone in me cracking. He placed the knife once again to my throat, resulting in me to glare at him. Anger practically radiated off of me as he held me down. I let out a vexed sound, pissed off that someone like him thought he could help me. He was probably putting on the 'good guy' look just to drag me back to his village and have me beheaded in front of their Commander.

"Stop fighting! I told you, I'm trying to help you." He still kept his voice low, but I could sense the irritation in his tone.

"You're a part of the Trigedakru, I don't need your help." I snapped, pushing him off me with all the strength I could muster. He didn't get very far due to the small size of the room we stood in. The stone wall against my back was cool and damp. As my hand reached behind me, I felt my hand slide down the wall. My fingertips traced over moss and hard-rock. The sound of a water droplet falling was heard, faintly. By the looks and sound of it, he'd dragged me into a cave.

The man reached for the deadly-sharp sword behind his back and brought it out, separating the two of us. "Go on, do it. Kill me." I spoke, defiantly. "I am so goddamn sick of running from you and your people. Your people took everything away from me." I gave up in trying to fight and stood there, waiting for him to raise his weapon and either drive it through my stomach or slice my head clean off.

His shoulders loosened as he straightened, dropping his weapon. "Consider yourself lucky, Quinn, Daughter of the traitor. If I hadn't of pulled you in you would have been dead within seconds from the fog."

My eyes met his as he said my name. How the hell did he know my name? Not a single one of them knew my name, all I was referred to by them was the girl. "How--" I started to speak but he cut me off, "My name is Blade, I knew your father. He took care of me when I was a boy."

I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest as I eyed him. "The only blade I've ever heard of before is the one I use to kill people of the Trigedakru." I growled, diverting my gaze to the wall of rock that stood behind him.

The torch crackled; the flames illuminating the tight space we occupied. It had begun to get very muggy in here, and I would've liked the acid fog to clear so I could get the hell out of here. Though, that wasn't happening. Even my dead grandparents knew that. I scratched the back of my head and slid down the wall. My body slumped to the ground; silence surrounding the man and I.

Blade's forehead was beaded in sweat. His makeup had begun to run slightly down his tanned face, his ice-like eyes flicking to me as I studied him. He clenched his jaw, diverting his gaze after a long second of eye contact. His raspy voice broke the silence, "How long have you been out here on your own?"

I bit down on my bottom lip and looked to the floor. "Nine, ten years. Maybe more." He nodded and followed my movements, sliding down the opposite wall and resting his arms on his knees. I turned my gaze back onto him as I spoke up again, "How did you know my father?" I asked.

Blade smiled, lightly. "That is a story for another time. We are not even on a first name basis, Stalker."

"You told me your name, did you not? Or is it because I'm calling you a man of the Trigedakru instead of your real name--" I paused. "--Blade." He chuckled, sinking into his coat and letting his eyes flutter shut slightly. This guy must have been really stupid, or trusted me enough that he even let himself shut him eyes while being in the same room as a Stalker -- his enemy.

Several seconds passed till Blade hopped to his feet and opened the rusty, old door, taking a peek outside. Sunlight leaked through the small gap. He gave me a reassuring nod to say the fog had cleared before removing the door completely. I put the torch out before following Blade outside. I squinted as the sunlight poured into my eyes. Twigs and soft dirt crunched under our boots, the soft breeze from before brushing against my skin. I stretched and turned around, taking in the same-old wonderful view. Everything looked exactly the same as it did before the acid fog, it always did.

Blade spun on his heels, holding out my katana before him. I had almost completely forgotten about my sword. I felt my eyes lighten up as they landed on my beloved weapon. The weapon that I had carved from my own bare hands. It had taken many moons to make, and much skin to be punctured and scarred, but it had all been worth it. He hesitated at first, then slowly handed me over the sword.

"You know, you're a very daring man. First, you shut your eyes while in the presence of the most wanted person in your camp, who -- by the way -- has killed dozens of your own. And now, you hand her a sword. You don't seem to bright on your decisions, Blade. I could kill you." I said with a slight smirk on my face.

"It's nice to know you paid quite some attention to me, Quinn. But, as I said from the start, I'm here to help you. Your father took care of me when it was the time of war, I thought it only necessary that due to him not being around anymore, this is my way of repaying him." He replied, his eyes teasing, blonde stray strands of hair falling out of the little half bun he had tied up at the back of his head.

"Cute," I smiled, sheathing my katana. The next words to fall from my mouth were practically forced out, "Thank you," I said. I hated saying thank you to a member of the Trigedakru, but Blade seemed different. He seemed more... reasonable. I licked my lips before speaking up again, "Nothing personal or anything -- actually, it is kinda personal -- though I do pray our paths don't meet again."

He threw me a teasing smile. "I'd like to say the same but I quite liked your company." Before I could respond with a retort, Blade was off in an instant.

I stood there for a moment, processing everything in my mind. A member of the Trigedakru, named Blade (of all names, Blade) had just saved my ass. I blinked and turned my head to the right. I let out a small huh, my feet picking themselves up and trekking through the wood. I shrugged, pushed the last few minutes to the back of my mind and enjoyed the warm sun on my face. I didn't exactly know where I was headed, but I decided to stay away from Mount Weather, also known to the Stalkers as the Tainted Mountain.

My grandmother used to tell stories around the fire of how evil lurked within that Mountain; the things inside grabbing people from the tree clan and our own, and no one ever seeing them again. My grandmother was a good one for tales, my father even had to stop her mid-story because the children were getting scared, but not me. I went to her every night, asking for another story for me until I went to sleep. I smiled at the thought of her. Lucky for me, those memories stuck to me like glue. But then again, so did the other ones. I had nightmares every night about what had happened to my family, ways I could have stopped it--

A loud noise came from above, snapping me out of my thoughts. It sounded like some giant object hitting the earth's atmosphere and plummeting to it's fall. I reached a clearing and seen an object flying through the sky. It was giant, silver and so very alien to me. I stared up at it in amazement, never having seen anything like it before. With wide eyes I kept my feet moving as it fell, closer, and closer. Father spoke of the world above ours. He spoke of our ancestors, and their great masterpieces. Mother even believed there was an afterlife. They both believed that some other type of life form lived up there, and all this time, here I was thinking they were nuts.

My smile faded as I seen the object heading my way. I ran, always looking back into the sky. Another loud bang sounded the air and then before I knew it, it crashed to the ground. Trees were broken down, twigs and dirt flying up in the air as it touched down. The earth rumbled around me, a high-pitch ringing noise filling my eardrums as I glanced behind me. Trees were blocking my view, their height and width blocking the horizon. I rushed over to the nearest tree, climbing atop it to get a clear view.

I waited, my heart beating against my chest. I felt Kemp's necklace I wore around my neck at all times thud lightly from my heartbeat. My eyes were wide, my nails practically digging into the bark as I waited for any sign. There was no doubt someone else had heard this from a mile away. My ears pricked up at the sound of yells within the ship. Suddenly, the front of the object opened up. I peered down from the treetops, not believing my eyes. There, standing inside metal thing were humans. They looked like a bunch of teenagers, their clothes and skin clean -- not a smudge of dirt on them. Smiles and looks of completely ecstasy covered their faces as they all breathed in the air around them. Some were slightly fearful, but all were awestruck.

A girl exited the inside, her boots patting against the metal flooring; her long brown hair whipped behind her; her skin glistening in the sun as she tilted her head back and sucked in a deep breath of air. A massive grin formed on the brunettes face as she jumped onto the ground, her boots crunching the grass underneath. "We're back, bitches!" She screamed. Not even a second passed till the entire group of kids ran out, cheers escaping their lips as they ran around like wild dogs. Yells of joy sounded the air. Some jumped, some ran, some even laid on the ground.

A boy that wore a black vest and dark, slicked back hair placed a hand on the brunettes shoulder. He gazed down at the girl intently, smiling. That look -- I had seen that before. It had been many, many years, but I could never forget the way my elder brother used to look at me with complete admiration and pride. I felt my heart clench as I thought back to my brother. There was no doubt these two were related -- their beautiful facial features even said so.

What the hell are you doing, Quinn? Get the hell out of there.

I felt something turn within me. I shouldn't have come here. These people were complete strangers -- aliens. My heart beat quickened and I hurriedly made my way down the tree. My feet hit the ground as I took one last glance at the people before taking off. A part of me wanted to stay and greet these new people, but another part of me hadn't even the slightest clue if they could be trusted.

There were many questions running through my mind. Two of the biggest ones that stood out were: where did they come from? And most of all, who were they?

AUTHORS NOTE:
chapter two -- edited.