Chapter 1: The Golden Pendant

The girl jumped as dry undergrowth splintered beneath the light hooves of a deer, its white tail flashing in the faint light of the setting sun that streamed through the canopy above it. Seeing her split-second opportunity quickly passing, she stood and loosed the arrow knocked to her bowstring in a desperate bid to fell the doe. The arrow dropped two inches short of its mark, not even nicking the doe’s heel as she fled the hunter.

She ducked back into the undergrowth where she had been hiding before the wind changed, muttering under her breath about the stupidity of young hunters like herself. The girl had been so intent on her prey she hadn’t stopped to check the wind.

Now the doe was gone, it was getting dark, she didn’t know if her father had moved from the tree stand west of her or not—and bow hunting season was almost over. Soon the deer would all be running from each new gunshot and be even more wary of bow hunters. Meaning her father and her.

Still grumbling about her stupidity, she quickly but quietly retraced her path over crunching November leaves to the base of the huge walnut where her father had set up in a tree stand. The girl peered intently through the thinning foliage, searching for a sign of movement from her father that meant he saw her. After a moment, her eyes latched on a patch of leaves that seemed to move by themselves and recognized the distorted outline of a human figure holding a camouflaged compound bow.

Jonathan Grayle descended from his perch by way of wood planks that had been hammered into the ancient tree when Tanya was young. He wore thick, camouflage fleece pants and a matching coat to protect him from the elements. His feet were kept protected and warm by heavy, fur-lined leather boots, and his cold-sensitive head was covered by a hunting mask known as a balaclava.

He alighted from the bottom rung without cracking a single leaf before motioning for Tanya to quietly follow. They wound their way through the familiar forest paths—avoiding deer trail ‘highways’ as much as possible—without a single comment until they reached the edge of the woods backing onto their house’s clearing.

The pair relaxed and straightened from their tense half-crouch as they left deer territory. Jonathan stretched as his daughter unstrung her longbow before they continued on towards the house, speaking in whispers about their separate hunts.

The wind had been picking up for some time, since long before the directional change that had startled Tanya’s deer. Now it began to blow in earnest, ushering along heavy dark clouds that both knew would bring a huge autumn storm.

“I’m gonna check on the horses—be back in a minute!” Tanya told her father, having to raise her voice somewhat to be heard over the coming squall. He nodded mutely and trudged on toward the house.

Tanya sprinted past it toward the front paddocks. She hid her bow beneath her jacket when she reached the fence as a drizzle began to patter atop her head. Scanning the pasture, she saw with satisfaction that the three little two-year-olds had had the sense to follow the two elder horses beneath the run-in.

She squinted as the rain sought to drive into her eyes; it had become piercing, and the wind did little to help it, but she knew she didn’t—couldn’t—see her own little blue roan through the driving downpour.

The girl straightened hopefully as she heard a neigh from beyond the crest of the hill a hundred fifty yards from the fence-line, but she soon realized that the whinny had been meant to express terror. She saw a dim equine shape plunge over the crest, running straight for her friends as if they could protect her.

Following the young horse was a wide-barreled beast at least seventeen hands high. It cantered after the filly on stilt-like legs while carrying a proportionally large rider atop it. She knew, though, even with the rain a grey curtain that nearly obscured all vision, that the rider was not human nor the beast equine.

Not even thinking of the consequences, Tanya quickly, expertly strung her bow and vaulted over the fence. She knocked an arrow as she ran to put herself between horse and beast, not flinching even as the creature drew closer and she could more easily distinguish its two ivory tusks and slavering jaws that were like a dog’s. The girl smoothly sighted down the shaft as if the creature was just another deer and released the bowstring.

The arrow plunged into the huge boar’s left eye even as Tanya was retrieving a second one from the homemade quiver on her back. Again she released the arrow, not even having to aim as the beast faltered in its charge that brought it nearer to her. The second arrow was deflected by a metal headpiece, and she only just managed to get a third shot off before diving out of the careening beast’s path.

Her third arrow finished the job. Blind, with two projectiles sinking further toward its brain, the boar creature fell onto its side with a forced grunt, breathed once more, and was dead. The rider, too, died, its neck broken by its fall.

Her filly Katara nervously walked up to her, butting her head against her shoulder for comfort. Tanya stroked the filly’s nose as she wondered what the beast could have been; she didn‘t dare approach the carcasses, unsure the beast and its rider had died from only three arrows and a nasty fall. ‘What was that thing?’

“Tanya…” a man’s voice called, whispering through the calming downpour. It seemed close by yet distant, as if the speaker was actually beyond the hill yet his voice strong enough to carry to her. She turned, attempting to locate the man.

She saw an indistinct white haze standing a couple yards off to her right, shaped vaguely like a teenage boy. The girl stepped closer, trying to distinguish more features through the light, but the shape stepped back pace for pace as she moved forward. She halted when the figure would have disappeared over the crest of the hill.

“Who are you?” she questioned.

What seemed to be the head turned, as if studying her from an angle. “You have just fought your first of many battles, Tanya. How does it feel to know this?”

She blinked, perplexed by the being’s question-answer. “What…” The girl shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t feel any different, if that’s what you mean,” she answered crossly.

The being seemed both annoyed and pleased by her response. “You will probably understand better in time. For now, you have demonstrated the courage required of you.

“You have been appointed with a task,” it continued mysteriously after a slight pause. “Tomorrow, the celebration of your day of birth, you will be given a choice: either leave for an imperiled world, or remain here in ignorant bliss until this world’s destruction arrives. The road will appear tomorrow at five before midnight and remain only until the time between days. You have until then to decide, Tanya.”

It stepped back, and a milky-white oval smeared with inky black materialized behind it. By its light, she could now pierce bits of the being’s blanketing illusion. She could see blonde hair, a sword’s scabbard behind his left shoulder, a green shirt, and leather boots and arm guards like the ones she wore.

“Wait! Who are you?” Tanya called out desperately, suddenly formulating a guess based solely on what she had glimpsed.

But the figure quickly ducked through the portal before she could reach him, and the light vanished.

“Wait! Don’t—go,” she called again, vainly.

‘How irritating…yet, how intriguing. I wonder…’ The girl stared between her feet, the exact place where the light-boy had vanished. ‘Hm…?’

A faint spark of white light had caught her eye, and she crouched to examine it. A little gold triangle on a thin gold chain lay in the rain-soaked grass, glowing faintly through the misty drizzle that had followed the crazy storm.

The girl scooped it up by the chain with one finger and peered intently at the triangle, which was so small it fit snugly in the palm of her hand. Tiny carved lines spiraled across its face.

The horses trotted up to her, sniffing her curiously. She shooed them off to their grazing, tucked the pendant in her pocket for later, and wiped the moisture off her bow before heading back inside.

A/N:Ok, so I've been writing this for a looong time. This is not my first fanfiction (nor its first draft), but it is the one I think I probably spend the most time on. It's like my major fanfiction project and the one I hold dearest out of all of them As I mentioned in the summary, it's the first of a series of fanfiction I've plotted out which I've named the Immortals Cycle, for reasons you'll actually find out later in the story. I actually do have a fanfiction that comes before this one, but it's more of a prequel and I figured I want to focus my (and the readers') attention more on this one than that. So I decided I'd throw this one out to be devoured and fix any major issues in my writing/planning-of-a-story style here where it's more of an experiment and where I probably have the most things to juggle in the storyline.

Anyway, enough with the rambling--I wanted to make sure I added this author note here (after I had posted it rolls eyes) because this came out late last night when I was tired and I'm still trying to figure my way around the site. I wanted to say of this chapter that I know it doesn't seem like much, or it's a little confusing (and, to be frank, somewhat boring--though that might just be me, because I know what's going to happen 'cause I've read it a bazillion times wacky grin), but the story will definitely pick up in tone and pace after about the 3rd or 4th chapter. Yeah, I need tons of help on the beginning, and it doesn't help that my style's changed (somewhat) dramatically since I wrote this chapter. ;)

Alright, I'll shut up soon! Just one more thing--I actually have most of the chapters written out already, but I want to see what your guys' reactions are to how I started this before I actually give you more. Plus, it would be rather overwhelming to post it all at once anyway, and I like to think I'm keeping my audience on their toes by keeping the distance between each chapter to about a few days.

Ok, I'm shutting up now! Just let me know what you think, hintglances at review buttonhint whistles innocently
and we'll get this story moving right along in no time. :)

ZeldaMoogle (but you can call me Zel ;))