Azura The Key

PRESENT

I break through the water gasping for air. Even after all these years I cannot stop pushing my bodys limit; it is all I know. It is who I am. A warrior through and through.

I step out of the water and then proceed to shake myself dry like a dog. I remember my mother smacking the back of my head and calling me a dog every time I did this, accompanied with the customary twisting of my ear or ears till it burned; it all depended on whether she was in a jovial mood or not but rest assured every action that she found disorderly was swiftly corrected, her mood only affected the severity.

There was once a time when I hated my mother for bringing me into this world and carving out this path for me before I even had a say in the matter but with each day that passes without her around, that ball of hatred shrinks in size. I am beginning to understand the reason behind her madness, as I am forced to trudge this path without a companion; you can never be truly happy alone. I have had to learn this truth the hard way but unlike my mother I do not have the privilege of changing it, I am doomed to wander this earth; constantly fighting and roaming, always at war with myself and the world.

I wear my clothes then proceed to strap my twin blades back in place; as for my daggers, I hardly take it off. I learnt not to the hard way, as usual with the help of my mothers creative lessons.

Lesson two: always be armed.

The last time I was completely unarmed was during one of the few times I was in the river for something other than training, my mother confiscated all my blades and made me get dinner and firewood without them; I had blisters for weeks, they would have healed faster had she not made me train even with my palms full of blisters.

My mother was not wicked. If anything at all, she was desperate; desperate for my survival which was doomed by my mere existence. I know from experience that she does or goes to the extreme when she is desperate. My entire life from being conceived down to how I was raised is a reflection of her desperation.

When I came into this world there were mixed reactions minus the joyous celebrations associated with bringing another human being into the world.

I finally had a face to put to the thoughts and voice I have been hearing since I was conceived. My mother was excited and smug as she finally held the one thing that she had longed for but had seemed impossible to get, the gods whom had dried up the rivers after I was conceived up until my birth; let the heavens loose. On the day I was born, the heavens open and it rained heavily almost like the gods were crying tears of anger and frustration due to the fact that the product of an abomination, my mothers defiance had managed to slip into the land of the living right before their eyes and they were unable to stop it. The rain continued nonstop for loss a full month before it stopped falling,

On the day I was born, I got my first lesson.

My mother looked me straight in the eyes with the thundering rain behind her and lightning flashing in the background; she said ”You are not an abomination; you are a warrior, you are Azura. ”

While trying to strap on my blades, I noticed a rippling in the river that definitely did not come from me. Cold dead fingers shot out and took a hold of my ankle then dragged me down into the watery depths before I could recover from the shock. My surprised gasp got trapped in an air bubble. At the icy watery depths, I came face to face with about 5 demons; I could not afford to dwell on how they appeared in the river, I was preoccupied with getting back to the river bank where it would be a more even playing field. Slashing at their cold arms which were holding on to my ankles with my daggers, I was able to free myself and made it to the river bank after pulling myself out of the water.

There was no time to catch my breath because the moment my body touched the bank, the demons sprung out of water once more. I grabbed one of my blades and slashed the head off of one the demons; his black goo splashing on me thus rendering the dip in the river useless. I did not have any time to either pout over this fact or celebrate how fast I beheaded the demon before cold wet hands grabbed at my ankles again and pulled me back into the river but this time, I felt more confident because I was with my blade and not just my daggers.

The number of demons seemed to have increased within the short amount of time it took me to get my blade from the shore and slice off their companions head. As I was being dragged down, I tried to fight the other demons whom were attacking me from all sides.

With every swing of my blade, they responded with hits ten times harder; some hit, others clawed while some screamed in my ear until they began bleeding, thus staining the water blue and the rest were occupied with dragging me deeper into the waters. I could barely breathe and my limbs felt like lead, this was definitely the end. As I slowly began to lose consciousness, the last thing my eyes see before they close for what will probably be the last time is a distorted image of a person standing at the riverbank.

The sound of someone murmuring and the strong smell of sage makes me jerk up. It felt like I was still underwater and just finally broke through the surface; I couldn get enough air in my lungs, it hurt so bad to breathe and hurt even more not too.

”You really should take it a lot easier on yourself ” a low raspy voice at my left says. The figure is a bit distorted as a result of thick sage fog that engulfs the entire room. I instantly pat my hips looking for my daggers.

”Like I said ” the figure says before stepping out of the fog; she was a middle age woman and something about her felt off, like she was not of this world but what filled me with trepidation was the fact that she was holding a raffia sack bag filled with all my weapons ”You really should take it a lot easier on yourself. Do you think you are in any position or state to defend yourself? ” she said with a smirk whilst jiggling the bag.

”Pass me a dagger or one of my blades then we will see ” I say while struggling to get to my feet.

”Ha! I know you are close to immortal but I did not know you were also stupid ” she said with that smug smirk firmly planted on her face; the same smirk I suddenly have this insane urge to wipe off with either my fist or any of my favourite sharp objects currently being held hostage in that bag.

”I could not hear you can you come closer and repeat that again ” I manage to get the sentence out in between pants after finally getting to my feet. Everything hurts, I have never been in this much pain in a really long time; not since the first time my mother and I had actual fighting match.