Horns of Earth: Arise of the Fallen

Chapter 1

The pleasant wind and beautiful dawn doted a wonderful full-stop to Qing Yi Hais relaxing day. At last, his pretty dream of having a quiet, 24 hours of recovery time from the run 2 days ago had come true. Settling down his anxious team, and making sure Jeralds life was back on ground, he retired for the day, deciding to take a stroll into the nearby forest, in search of fresh water and dry wood. Bringing along nothing but bundle of strings and a metal flask that detects the water contamination, Yi Hai took off to the unexplored territory. Easy-free and strongly capable of a small jog in the woods, Yi Hai had imagined to have a little peace time on his own, for tempers sake. But, life is unpredictable, and so is Julie Patt.

Clambering a few meters away from him was a young, plump and short girl. She may have been misunderstood for an over-weight, under-height 12 years-old for her chubby cheeks and bushy hairstyle. Huffing, she swayed her arms before her face, hating the world so much for breeding those terrible pests that stings and cause itchiness. "QING YI HAI! For goodness sake, could you possibly wait up for a second? I say, how can you Oceanians cope with all these centuries with these horrid forests and pests? Dont you guys get anemia?" she shouted, slapping the mosquitoes with her palms.

From now and then, she shook her legs to chase away the annoying bugs, and from far, she looks just like a baby learning to walk. Falling down face-first, mud was splattered on her face, and soon she turns out to become a perfect doughnut dipped in chocolate. Frustrated, Julie cursed, spatting out her earthish-taste supper. Looking back at the fuming girl, Yi Hai chuckled and slowed his pace. It was indeed a fascinating scene to see, and tickled his humorous nerves a lot. Enraged, Julie sent a hurl of rocks to his face, despite understanding that it would cause no harm to her hateful friend.

To her assumption, the rocks paused movements as it reached Yi Hais eyelevel, dangling in mid-air like there was a protective layer around him, and gravity made no sense towards those million years shabby rocks. He eyed it warily, collecting them in a swipe of hand. Sighing and admit defeat, Julie slumped and took seat on the muddy ground. "I give up. All 4 of you have powers that I desire for, and I know I cant hurt you an inch. But could you just be gentleman enough to just reduce speed a bit? I'm exhausted." Yi Hai noticed her sad feeling, and trotted to her side. Lending out a firm hand, Julie took it, standing up to brush up her trousers.

"Come on, Jules! I know you can do it. It is nothing but a relaxing trek, compared to running on slippery ice! That was a bigger challenge compared to this." encouraged Yi Hai, passing Julie her little cap. Tutting in disagreement, she adjusted her cap back to place, complaining: "First of all, my name is Julie. You can call me Lil J or Jiu, just not Jules. I hate that. Secondly, running on ice is easy. Apparently, it is just sledding on your feet, and at least we have equipment with a correct navigation. Then compare it to our present state: We have no repellents, no correct shoes and not to forget that we are depending on that thingy to lead us home! How could you not use a GPS? It is much more reassuring to me."

Yi Hai turned his eyes upwards and into a circle, looking for a certain god to educate this unbelievable girl. Fingering his compass, he explained: "This, moderner, is called a compass. Before GPS and etc., our ancestors used this to define directions. Not to mention that this could be also known as the GPS origin!" Julie shushed him with a kick, urging him to set off quickly, yearning to get back to her safe bed.

~

As the night sky fell upon the 6 youngsters, they gathered around a fiery bonfire burning in the middle, acting as the only source of heat. Huddling close to it, 5 sitting shadows loomed around the prancing fire, cackling the silence. Yi Hai took up the job to roast the little prey Sylix had managed capture when he was away. "Carol, is the water consumable?" he called over to the girl squatting not far away from him. The Egyptian girl turned her focus, looking at Yi Hai with those beautiful large brown eyes of hers. She smiled and acknowledged him with a nod, stirring the liquid continuously. "Oh dear; wouldnt you say this chunk of meat here looks a bit over-cooked?"" a broad, charming man said, peeking over his shoulders.