Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Paradise

*Ding*

Mia was awakened by a familiar sound. Groaning as she struggled to lift her small drowsy self out from underneath her ragged sheets. Sitting herself up she rubbed her eyes and brought her attention to the minor annoyance that greeted her every morning when she woke up, a translucent blue screen with white scribbles.

She let out a tired sigh. Ever since she was five she had been greeted first thing in the morning by this screen but was never able to understand what it wanted with her. The only things she did manage to find out about it with the three years it had been waking her up at dawn were that the white scribbles meant something, seeing similar scribbles in books that she was unable to read and how to get it to go away for the day.

Yawning, the young girl hit the white scribble on the bottom left of the panel, prompting the scribbles to combine into 1 then a second later the panel closed leaving Mia alone in her room. She stretched, then swung her feet to the edge of the bed and landed down on the cold wooden floor. She shivered, wrapping her long black furred and poofy tail around to her front so she could hug it, then trotted over to a small closet so she could begin her day.

She started her routine by changing out of the previous nights clothes, pulling on a ragged and patched hand-me-down dress that was one size too big for her small frame. She then did her best with an old brush to comb her shoulder length black hair, paying extra attention to the area around her tall fox ears. Her attention was then brought to her tail, gently brushing it till it was clean enough. She smiled, inspecting herself to the best of her abilities and nodded in satisfaction.

Next on her agenda was to trot out of her room, the cold air hitting her immediately causing her to stop in her tracks. Shivering she once again wrapped her tail around herself and continued down the hall. She briefly stopped in front of another door, slowly peering in to peek on her mother, who was still fast asleep. Quietly closing the door she darted down the hall, entering into the main area of her house which was a combined kitchen, living room, and dining room with a small fireplace in the corner.

She stopped by the front entrance, grabbing a nearby coat made from animal fur, frowning a bit when the large coat nearly touched the ground, and exited the house. The cold fall air greeted her in full as she exited, snuggling the coat she glanced around the small village. Wooden houses dotted her view, followed by small fields in the distance. As per usual, only the farmers were even up the early. Harvest was fast approaching and the thought of all the fresh vegetables at the harvest festival caused her mouth to water.

Her stomach rumbled and shaking the thought of the future food out of her head she focused on her task. Circling her house to the back taking not that their horse was gone, a sign that her dad and older sister had yet to return from their hunting trip, she continued to the wood pile and kneeled down to collect some. In-between several trips of going in and out with logs her mother had awoken and started preparing for breakfast.

Having filled the fireplace and stove Mia then helped her mother prepare breakfast, then the two sat down at the table. While eating Mia noticed her mother staring at her and looked up. Her mother giggled “You always wake up so early despite being so young, and always help with the morning chores.” Her mother reached forward and ruffled the girl’s hair “I remember when your sister was your age, so full of energy but would sleep till noon! Always refusing to help her dear mother and would insist on going with her father. Such a tomboy.”

Mia groaned, shaking her head to free her of her mother’s grasp and prompting another giggle from her mother.

“Speaking of the two, they should be back tomorrow. It’s getting too cold for them to extend the trip when they are needed back to help with winter preparations and the harvest.” Her mother continued “We will have to get with the village chief today. Will you accompany me?”

Mia, who had been eating, looked up at her mother and gave her a simple nod, before going back to eat.

Her mother smiled then finished up her breakfast.

After washing the dishes and putting out the fire the two set out. Mia’s mother putting on the fur cloak and picking up her small daughter, putting her in the coat and wrapping her tail around her daughter before heading out. The sun was in the sky at this point, granting some heat as they walked through the village.

More people were up and about as well, kids playing on the dirt roads, mothers going about their day, and the village blacksmith hammering away at his smithy. The two were greeted by several of the village women, Mia’s mother chatting for a bit with some of them before continuing on their way. Eventually reaching a two story house at the edge of the village, the house itself resting a the foot of a mountain with stairs on it’s side that lead up to one of Mia’s favorite spots. A shrine were they held all their festivals.  Who the shrine was for Mia didn’t know nor care, her memories were only filled with food and the one time her sister was dragged up there for something her parents said was very important.

 Regardless, as the two approached the house Mia’s mother came up to an older fox man sitting on the porch, the man looked like he was in his 70’s and his hair had long since greyed. Upon seeing the two approach the man stood. “Ah, Lisa and her daughter… Welcome. What do I owe the pleasure?”

Mia’s mother, Lisa, gave a light bow while holding her daughter. “Good morning chief, you wouldn’t of heard anything from the hunting party yet, have you?”

The old man brought a hand to his chin “No, no I have not.” He shook his head “You know how they get this time of year, wanting to stock up, getting everything processed and done before winter sets in.” he said then chuckled “They always try to avoid hunting in winter, but its practically unavoidable.”

Lisa sighed “As always… “ She then glanced to the what fields were visible from the chief’s house “They better hurry, harvest is looking to be tomorrow… “

The chief perked up “Oh, right about that. Lisa, if you do not mind I need to discuss some business… privately, about tomorrow.” The chief said, trying to subtly motion to Mia.

Lisa nodded, letting her daughter down and patting her on the head. “We won’t be long, go off and find some of your friends.”

Mia frowned, wrapping her tail around herself in the slight cold. Glancing off to the distance she could see some of the kids had stopped playing and were staring in her direction. Mia looked up at her mother, not wishing to go.

“Don’t be like that Mia, be a good girl and play with your friends.” She then looked back, noticing the kids waiting and smirked when they scattered a bit, not meeting her gaze “see, they are waiting for you already. Go on, Ill meet you at home later.”

The eight-year-old sighed in defeat, before trotting off to join the other village kids. She looked back once to see her mother and the chief enter his house. She approached the group of village kids, the biggest of the group was Kyle, the blacksmith’s boy, who crossed his arms and the fox ear’s atop his head standing high alert.

“Oh, so now you want to play with us now that mommy has thrown you away?” The red haired Kyle spoke. He looked about 11, wearing slightly better clothes then the rest of the group but one would gleam that was only because he was the son of a blacksmith who could make better repairs to his clothing.

Mia stared at him, before pointing back to the village chief’s house “they wanted to talk. Privately.” She spoke.

Kyle’s ear twitched, he rose his hand but then sighed “…fine, whatever.” He then turned to the ground of 5 kids “well, now that the mommy’s girl is here we have an odd number.”

One of the younger boys spoke up, a brown haired boy who was slightly younger then Kyle“So? Who cares just throw her with he rest of the girls.” The boy said, holding a leather-bound ball in his hands.

Mia, upon noticing the ball spoke. “will watch.” She said, turning to go to the sidelines before wincing as she felt Kyle’s hand wrap around her arm.

“Woah now, we all heard what your mommy said, you are to play with us, not watch, play.” He smirked.

Mia winced, struggling to free herself from his grasp. “let go.” She pleaded.

One of the girls, a ten-year-old with long white hair spoke up “Kyle stop it, you said we don’t even have even teams, and the poor girl isn’t even wearing shoes! Shell break her feet kicking that ball.”

Kyle stopped tugging on Mia’s arm, looking down to see Mia’s bare and muddy feet he raised an eyebrow “Were the hell is your shoes?!” he yelled, letting go of her.

Mia stumbled a bit before catching her balance “home.” She answered.

Kyle was flabbergasted “Why did you not wear them here?! Its freezing and muddy! You are going to catch a cold!”

“Mom was carrying me, not walking. Did not need them.” The girl shrugged.

At this point the entire group was staring at her “You…weirdo…” Kyle spoke, shaking his head  “find, watch from the sidelines, Roy stop hogging the ball and lets go already.”  The group them started kicking the ball back and forth, trying to score in a makeshift goal between two buildings as Mia sat ontop of a nearby wooden fence.

The sun was high in the sky, a few kids left to go get some lunch, while 3 of them stayed behind kicking the ball between the three. Mia was still waiting for her mother to be done at the chief’s house, silently sitting on the fence.

The girl from earlier, who spoke up when Kyle grabbed Mia, came up to Mia “Hey Mia… having fun?” She asked.

Mia looked at her, remembering her name was Riley and was, from what she could remember, was a relative of the chief. She didn’t really understand the situation, but her mother had told Mia to be careful around her when mentioning family. “Tired.”

Riley smiled “still waking up too early?” Mia nodded “Y’know, could always go back to sleep.”

Mia shook her head “awake already. Help mom.”

Riley sighed, glancing to the girls bare feet and was about to comment but then a yell came from behind.

“Watch out!”

Instantly Riley ducked down, Mia, who was on the fence could not move and with a dull *thud* she felt herself falling, her world going dark.

*Ding*

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In her unconscious state Mia saw the translucent blue panel appear in her mind, but noticed the white scribbles were different then usual. Frustrated that the panel appeared she tried to hit were she normally did to get it to go away, only to find the white scribbles that were usually there were not. Growing increasingly frustrated she wished the thing would go away and leave her mind, and to her relief it vanished, right when she was regaining consciousness.

“--- Idiot!” “---?!” “what --- do?”

Voices echoed in her head as she rose up, clutching her head and feeling a distinct bump, she looked up to see Kyle, who had picked up Roy by his collar and was yelling at him. She also saw Riley by her side, who didn’t notice Mia had woken up yet.

“You’re lucky her father isn’t here right now! What are you going to do if-“ Kyle said, yelling at Roy before Riley spoke up.

“Guys! She’s awake!”

The two turned to her, Kyle dropping Roy and running over “holy… I am so sorry Roy hit you! Roy! Get over here and say you are sorry already!”

Roy awkwardly walked over, standing next to Kyle “…sorry… I kicked it too hard…”

“How are you feeling?” Riley asked.

Mia stood up, rubbing the bump on her head then looked over the three of them “I am, ok.” She spoke. Wobbling a bit.

“Woah, careful! That bump is huge…” Riley said, putting a hand up to it before shooting a glare to Roy “What the heck were you thinking Roy!”

Roy raised his hand up defensively “I already said I was sorry! Its her fault for not getting out of the way!”

Kyle hit him on the back of the head “Dumbass! Don’t kick it like that in the first place!”

Roy clutched the back of his head and looked down “not my fault she didn’t dodge…weirdo doesn’t even wear shoes!”

Another swift hit in the back of the skull and Kyle sighed “we will have to tell her mother… no way can we pretend nothing happened with that bump…”

A heavy atmosphere befell the small group, Mia didn’t know why everyone got this way when she got hurt, or more specifically, when someone accidentally hurt her. She didn’t care though, it was bad enough a lot of the kids tip toed around her because of it, why she didn’t want to play in the first place. Mia sighed “I fell on the fence.” She said.

The three looked up “what?”

“I fell on the fence, hurt my head. No one in trouble.” Mia said.

Kyle growled “We can’t say that!”

“Why can’t we?” Roy spoke “If she wants to take the blame for it herself then let her.”

“Roy… you can’t… “ Riley started but was cut off.

“Yeah I can, she is offering. All the adults are away with chores. We are the only ones that know what happened. “Roy spoke.

Kyle ran up and once again lifted the boy by his collar “You piece of… just because she’s offering doesn’t get you off the hook!”

“You… said it yourself…if her father-?!” before Roy could finish Kyle dropped him.

Kyle glanced at Mia who tilted her head “do whatever you want…” he said.

Mia was a bit confused why her father was even brought up, it was her mother she had to lie to and her father was just a hunter, currently away on a hunting trip “okay.” Was all she said, then made her way to the chief’s house. Hearing a silent “coward” from Riley directed at Roy.  

She approached the front door and knocked. After a few seconds the door opened “oh we were just about done Mia, did we make you…?” Lisa opened the door and greeted her daughter, but was left in stunned silence once she noticed the large lump on her daughters forehead “Mia?! What happened?!” she yelled in surprise, running up to her daughter. She knelt down to get a better look “Oh my god that is a huge lump, who did this to you?” she asked, gently touching the lump.

Mia winced ‘Fell, on the fence.” She spoke. Pointing back to where she just was.

Lisa inspected her, then looked over to see the three kids. Roy running off once their views met, the other two remaining quite. Lisa frowned “Mia, honey. Is that really what happened?” she asked, brushing the mud off her child’s face.

Mia nodded, raising her hands up.

Her mother sighed, lifting her up without worrying about the mud, then turned to the chief “Well, if our talk is done I have to go home and tend to her.”

The chief nodded “not to worry, just relay what we spoke about when your husband gets home.” He then looked towards the horizon, raising an eyebrow once he noticed a small smoke stack in the distance “hrm, that might be them.” He said, pointing out the smoke.

Lisa looked towards the smoke “Oh, then we will have to get ready to greet them tomorrow, more reason why I have to hurry home?” she smiled towards the chief, raising Mia in her arms a bit to emphasize just how dirty she was to the chief.

“Ah yes, my apologies.” He said then waved her off “I hope to see you all during the harvest.” He then bowed.

Lisa returned the bow “Thank you, we are looking forward to it. Aren’t we Mia?”

“yes. Food is good.” Mia said with a nod.

Lisa chuckled, said her final goodbyes to the chief, and headed home. Once arrived she carried her daughter inside and to the bathroom and sat her down “Take off your clothes, I’ll prepare the bath.” She said, smiling softly as her daughter wordlessly replied. She went down on her knees to the small wooden tub and started chanting.

Magic, something Mia looked up to in her mother. She watched with interest as her mother finished chanting, hot water flowing from her open palm into the tub and filling it to the top. “Mom, when can I use?”

Lisa perked up “use? Oh you mean magic.” She smiled, lifting her naked daughter up and putting her into the tub “We will find out if you are even capable of magic when you are older, when you are twelve.”

Mia frowned “Want to now…”

Lisa giggled, washing her daughter down “I know I know, your sister was the same way, now look at her. Off with her father hunting, you just have to wait like everyone else.”

Mia didn’t say anything after that, keeping her gaze downward. After the bath the rest of the evening progressed fast. With Mia helping clean around the house and finishing dinner. When Mia was washing the dishes, she noticed her mother was standing outside staring off to the horizon in the direction of the smoke “mom, what wrong?” The girl asked.

Lisa looked down towards her daughter then brought her gaze back up to the smoke “Its nothing… just… strange, they must be camping out there for the night…” she shook her head picking up her daughter “come on, lets get you settled in for bed.” She said.

As they went inside Mia got a brief look at the smoke in the distance, a large pillar of smoke that stretched into the barely sunlit sky. She was looking forward to the morning, when her father and sister would arrive and help with the harvest, while bringing back what they caught on the hunt. Mia was then tucked into bed, said her goodnights to her mother, and promptly fell asleep.

While not perfect, another calm and peaceful day passed in the remote beastmen village. 

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