As a female warrior who's constantly underestimated, Oby wants nothing more than to be one of the strongest hunters in the world. She gravitates towards robberies, animal poaching, and racketeering just to prove herself worthy. But one challenge she...
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The darkness feels nice along my skin. Smooth and unbothered. I feel nothing but rest and it's nice, but it doesn't last long. A water drop from a leaf falls into a river and causes a ripple effect. No. I don't want to be here. But I'm already a young girl again. My feet are bruised because the woman I thought was my mother beats them. I don't know what I've done to offend her. One day my pet monkey Dari goes missing, and my fake mother tells me she cooked 'the beast' for dinner since we were running out of food. I can't get the taste of the rice and honey I get from school out of my mouth. Mama signs me up for experiments with doctors so we can afford food.
I feel their needles tap at my spine before they break my flat feet and straighten them. 'We'll give you the feet and eyes of angels' they said. My flesh swells from the medication and make my bones feel like shattered glass.
Wake up. Wake up. It's just a dream, I tell myself, yet I can't wake because my father isn't home yet. Does he know what mama does to me? Does he care? I miss when he would take me swimming and I'd see silverfish that shined like little moons in the water. My skin is patchy, my hair falls out, my eyes itch and turn a muddy hazel. They string a metal corset around my chest.
As my body's remade I wonder if pain is what makes beauty and love possible. I go to school in my metal corset and the other kids stay away from as if I'm an infection. The only thing left that touches me are books. My teacher brings some in for me. Like Water for Chocolate. The Bluest Eye. The Borrowers. Harry Potter. I pretend I am the words I read, magical and understood.
One day a young man approaches me by the river as I wash clothes. Big brown puppy eyes, messy hair, baggy clothes. Ging. He was wounded on his side. He's on the run from one of the local gangs. He tells me he's a hunter exploring the Dark Continent. I dress his wound and sit with him for a while. He tells me about his home, Whale Island, the fisherman's port. I continue to run into him around the village: the market, school, paths through the jungle. I don't know why he's here with me, but the more I talk to him, the less I care.
He tells me about stars, mythology, combat, life outside The Dark Continent. He teaches me how to fight starting with a fishing pole, bamboo rods, then with knives. I feel powerful for the first time. I go home less. Mama yells at me to stay away from whatever keeping me out, burns me when I don't listen. The last time she hits me I fight back and win, beat her within an inch of her life. Ging tells me to stay with him, removes the metal corset and kisses my scars. My skin feels like brick, but he kisses me like I'm made of flowers.
*
I wake up gasping for air like I've been underwater. Another nightmare. The ground beneath me sways from side to side. On my hands and knees, my head is pounding. I look around and notice that I'm in a metal cage. There's a young woman in the corner staring and reaching out to me. "Are you okay?" she asks. I flinch back and wait for my vision to clear. It smells like manure. There's hay on the floor. Is this an animal cage? Fuck, my head. I touch a knot that feels swollen and bruised on the top of my head and find blood on my fingers.
