The Golden Chocobo
“Have you been reading that Golden Chocobo nonsense again!?â€
The young Miqo’te girl looked up frightened from an elaborately decorated book which had a golden emblem of a Golden Chocobo on its cover as an elderly Miqo’te woman peered down onto her.
“But..mother I’ve done all my homework? And I like to read this- “
The young Miqo’te was interrupted by her mother as she was pulled from her bed and the book ripped from her hands.
“Kisha, you can never have done all of your homework. Because there is always more to learn. And you do not learn from books like ‘these’…. disgustingly unrealistic pieces of venom for the child’s mind.â€
Her mother walked to one of the bookcases and pulled out a heavy tome as Kisha sighed, sitting on her bed. She could narrowly reach the floor with her feet which she felt was a ‘cool’ feat for someone who was only nine.Â
“Here, this is much better.†Her mother said as she pushed the tome into Kisha’s hands. The cover read: Advanced use of Conjuration and the origins of Woodsin.
Opening the book, Kisha sighed deeply as her eyes started to read through the books contents which didn’t make much sense to her as of now. Her mother meanwhile, snatched the Chocobo book she had been reading earlier with her and stood by her room’s door as she fired another stream of commands at Kisha.
“Remember, I expect nothing less than an A+ on Conjuration, young lady. And also remember you need to go to Summer School tomorrow as well. Mister Reynald expects your writing assignment to be in perfect shape.â€
Sighing deeply, Kisha replied meekly: “Yes, mother.â€
As the door of her room was slammed shut, Kisha took the tome to her reading desk and started to read through it, at times taking notes to memorise the contents. The words were vague and ‘posh’, but she managed to slowly but surely struggle her way through the book’s contents. It tired Kisha, but her mother expected nothing less but an A+ and she would rather get the A+ instead of another lecture from her mother. Maybe if she got the A+ she would actually be able to finish reading the whole story of the Golden Chocobo.
Her studies were suddenly interrupted as she heard knocking on her room’s window, which overlooked a large garden next to the University. As Kisha looked up she could she a fluffy ball of messy brown curly hair and various branches stuck throughout the curls. Kisha left the tome open half way on her table and shuffled towards the window as she groaned to open it.
“Hey Kisha! Whatsha’doin inside for? ‘Tis nice weather!â€
She smiled as she leaned on the window’s edge. “Hey U’ren. I need to study for an exam. Sorry..â€
“Aww..can’t you come outside for a little while?†U’ren replied askingly. “You’re already five classes ahead of us, ya can play at least an afternoon with us, right?â€
Glancing outside, the green trees which swayed gently with the wind did provide a nice appetizer for her, but she knew her mother would be furious if she went outside now, especially without her permission.
“My mother would be really angry..†Kisha said solemnly.
U’ren chuckled. “You bet. She got angry at me again today in class, for drawing stick figures.â€
Kisha stared outside and sighed once more. “I hate my mother. I never want to become like her.â€
Stopping his chuckle, U’ren looked at Kisha with pity. His gaze turned over her and he patted Kisha on her left shoulder right shoulder: “Well she knows a lot, like, A LOT. It’s scary how much she knows. Some of the bright-heads here love’it. Me? Nah, I’ll just join the Army, can’t all be smart!â€
Looking on as U’ren chuckled again, Kisha smiled. She found U’ren’s dumb behaviour charming at times and he was always kind enough to think about her while the other children mostly ignored her, mostly because she ignored them as well.
“What were you going to do then?†Kisha asked curiously.
U’ren pointed his thumb over his right shoulder. “We’re doing a hunt! For the Golden Chocobo!â€
Kisha’s eyes grew in excitement as she squeezed slightly: “Wow?! Really?â€
Nodding smug, U’ren smirked: “U’huh. A Chocobo who carries bags of chocolate under his wings! Couple of kids said he was nearby, in the forest!â€
Though Kisha knew she was getting into trouble for this, her curiosity got the better of her and she gently climbed through the window, following U’ren towards a small plaza on the outskirts of the campus. A number of other children had gathered there as well. They were holding leaflets which all too had the emblem of a golden Chocobo on it. They looked up as U’ren arrived with Kisha.
“U’ren, why did you get the bookworm? She’ll just slow us down!†one of them mockingly said as they peered at Kisha. She wanted to open her mouth and sneer back but U’ren was faster.
“Hey, we’re going to follow a Chocobo in the woods, maybe there’s spiders there. Kisha can fight ‘em off, can’t you?â€
She gulped slightly. Kisha wasn’t a fan of spiders but his words were somewhat true as being five classed ahead of the others meant she already had learnt the basics of Conjuration magic. She was able to throw stones, big ones, if required.
“Yeah..kinda.â€
“See! She’ll protect us!†U’ren replied proudly, as if she was some sort of trophy for him.
Kisha sighed and crossed her arms as she snatched one of the leaflets from the kid’s hands and browsed it over. It appeared to be a promotional for a new brand of chocolate which was loosely inspired on the actual book that she read. The leaflet contained a map pointing towards a hill clearing hidden within the forest. She glanced at U’ren and sighed.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea U’ren…â€
“Oh come on Kisha, this will be fun! An adventure! Just, that you’re our protector, and not me, yet.†U’ren chuckled as he patted Kisha on her back which made her feel incredibly insecure. The other children looked at her somewhat ‘expectantly’ now, making the pressure on her even bigger. She glanced at them briefly, but kept her eyes somewhat gazed at the ground as she replied.
“I guess we could take a look, I really need to be back before evening dinner though, else my mother will get really mad.â€
“Yeah, that’s it! Come on, we’ll be back before you know it!†U’ren waved at the others to follow him and soon they were walking in the forest.
As the group made their way throughout the woods, it became increasingly clear that that U’ren had greatly exaggerated that the hill was nearby. In fact, they had travelled for two hours and still no hill was in sight and the woods were getting thicker and thicker. Though Kisha had left markings on each tree they passed with her limited but handy Conjuring skills, the group became increasingly hopeless and worse yet, it was getting dark. U’ren was still happily walking onwards and seemed to be in his element.
“We’re getting nowhere, U’ren. Let’s head back before evening.†Kisha softly interjected in U’ren’s explorer fantasies.
“Nah we’re nearly-“
U’ren was interrupted as the unmistakable sound of a Chocobo roared throughout the woods nearby. The children all smiled at each other happily together as they slowly followed the sound of it onto a small hill. Indeed, the Chocobo was golden and had saddlebags which appeared to be filled with chocolate. But as the group came nearer, still in awe at the sight of such a magnificent creature, it dawned upon Kisha that the Chocobo was not moving and in fact, appeared lifeless.
“This doesn’t feel right.â€
Before Kisha could add another word, the entire group was pulled into the air by a giant net which pulled them into a nearby tree. Though the children were screaming at first, the screams soon made room for intense fear and one of the younger ones started crying.
“Oh Gods help us. What did we do?!†U’ren stammered. “What are we going to do?!â€
Though Kisha was scared to death as well by their predicament, it didn’t paralyze her like it did the others. She grabbed the net with both of her hands and turned it briefly into its original wooden fibre and broke it apart, allowing her to slip through the net. She smacked down onto the ground hard with her nose and found herself dizzy for several moments.
“Get the children to the Airship.â€
The children started to scream in terror in the net above as a thundering voice broken the silence in the forest and the night. As Kisha crouched up, still dizzy from her terrifying fall, she looked upon a tall man with armour she had only read before about in the not-so-nice-to-read books her mother had given her to read: A Garlean Scout. Instinctively, Kisha gathered her limited magical strength and conjured up a rock the size of herself and smacked it against the Garlean who was caught completely off-guard by the child’s magical abilities and fell over backwards with a loud audible groan. The children cheered on in the net above Kisha as she rubbed the blood from her nose and looked up.
“WOW that was so wicked!†U’ren cheered, his fear momentarily disappeared. “You knocked him right off his socks!â€
“Hold still!†Kisha screamed. “I’m trying to get you out of there!â€
With her hands and arms raised towards the net, she once more tried to revert the condition of the rope back into its original wooden state. Before she could finish it however, she heard a loud gunshot coming from behind her followed by a gush of pain overtaking her right shoulder. Kisha fell onto her face once more and felt the most intense pain she had ever felt in her entire short life as she crawled away behind a nearby tree. Seeing her predicament, the children started to cry as other soldiers alerted by the commotion made their way towards the trapped group.
“One of them is trying to get away. Get her, we can’t let the Sharlayans learn what we’re doing here.â€
Still overcome with pain, Kisha slowly used the tree as a support to stand back up and held her right arm tightly, breathing heavily as she noticed there was blood slowly covering her simple white linen dress. She glanced through the shrubbery and noticed that some of the soldiers were starting to pull the net out of the tree along with the other children who were weeping sadly at this point at their faith: A life of slavery. Kisha’s mind started to become hazy as the more blood she lost, the lighter she was becoming in her head. Having no option left, she started to run away as fast as she could through the shrubbery around the hill, following the markings she had left throughout the forest. As she ran, she heard various bullets wheezing around her but none appeared to hit their mark. She didn’t know how long she ran. A minute? Five? Ten? Everything was a blur at this point until she saw light appearing throughout the shrubbery: Home!
Kisha crashed against the gate of University and slumped down against it, curling herself up into a ball as she finally started to weep. She felt so very alone, and every limb in her body felt cold as the light around her faded away into nothingness.
“Gods, wake up! Kisha you’re turning like you’re possessed!â€
Rising up in shock, Kisha found herself awake and bathing in sweat while comforted in the arms of Xahla who sat in front of her in their bed. She immediately grabbed her right shoulder and found no bullet, nor any pain. She sighed in relief as she looked down at her own adult self and stammered:
“T’was a Nightmare. Bad memories.â€
