User blog:Annacaza/The Girl of War

The Girl Of War
"There are thirteen islands that, on any other front, would have been prime locations for a wild vacation. Under the current circumstances, they are the most unforgiving pieces of land you will ever encounter."

The Girl Of War follows the story of Leilani, as she struggles with the constant threats that come with a survival situation. Along the way, she endures hardships, time of peace, and the inevitable war.

A fan favourite of the wiki viewers, this story is being rewritten, and is promised to be better than the first one, by far.

Copyright, Disclaimer and Author's Note
Copyright Copyright © 2014 by Annacaza

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please write to the author (Annacaza).

Disclaimer

Will contain: Tramatic scenes, light romance, detailed descriptions of violence. May not suitable for anyone under 13 to read.

Read at your own risk.

My stories contain characters that are adults, and will express themselves as adults.

Author's Note

This story is a 2nd draft, but that does not mean that everything will be perfect. There will be errors in grammar and spelling. It is impossible to catch everything when you (the author) is reviewing their own work. I will usually revise before I sumbit the chapter.

Because of my writing style, I take a long time to carefully lay everything out. Plot lines are very intricate in my view, and I write carefully, because I feel like one mistake could mess everything up. There is a lot of description in this story. Chapters will take a long time to be released because of this. Please don't post "update please" comments. I am writing this on my own schedule, not on yours.

Chapter One: Arrival
Everything about this new land was very blurry, but slowly came into focus as I felt my feet hit the ground. A violent, dark-blue covered most of the area, as well as an equally bright dark-green. Grey and brown also covered parts of the area, but for the most part, all that this place was made of was grass and water. These were the islands that had been famed for their intense survival test, and that was why I was here.

I had always been the one person to accept challenges and not back away from them. These islands had been the perfect place to test that. I had skill sets that were sharp, and some that weren’t so sharp, and the weaker ones were the sets that I planned to refine and work to get them up to a pristine level.

The only thing that had been given to me as I departed for the teleport to the islands had been a backpack. I picked it up off of the grass and looked around at the small island that I was standing on. It was grass-based, and separated by a small stream that the ocean had cut. The stream wasn’t that wide as I could easily jump over it and land nicely on the other side. I was on the side of the island where there were hardly any plants. There were only a few green plants that grew at the base of a body of rock, which, behind it, withheld a brown ore inside of the stone. I turned my head away from the uninteresting grey area and looked straight ahead, at the other side of the island. Shifted the backpack up onto my back, I jumped carefully over the stream and onto the other side.

This side was the exact opposite of the other. There was no rock, and no open space, but trees and bushes, as well as some small plants with a chilling blue-coloured flower that grew on top. As well as the few plants that all grew within the same, almost confined area, there were a few bushes and trees also spread out over the small expanse of the island. A small pond was also nestled within the grassy banks, but it hardly looked to be more than a puddle at first glance. I fixed my backpack firmly on my back, took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and let my head fall forward. The survival challenge had begun.

The trees that stood on the island weren’t very tall, as their sheltering leaves started growing just above my head, and didn’t extend very much further up the trunk. Still, the trunks were wide, but they were weak, as I found out by pushing on them. They weren’t flexible, but with enough force, I was sure that I would be able to easily uproot them.

I shifted my backpack off of my back and set it down beside me. Taking a deep breath, I ran at the tree and angled my body so that it would hit the trunk with my shoulder first. The tree easily fell over, and I smiled. I brushed the small amount of bark that had stuck to my shoulder, ands walked over to the trunk. If I was able to knock down I few more trees, I was sure that I would be able to make a raft out of them. There were only five trees on the island, including the one that I had already taken down, so I’d have to make sure that I didn’t run out of resources. Resources were the lifeline of people here, I was sure of it. I didn’t know how many people were currently living within the islands, but I knew that I wasn’t alone. This place was popular, and for good reason. Everything about there islands were different from anything that was usually encountered in the real life part of nature. All of the colours in these islands were bright, vibrant, and defined, and in comparison, the colours of a forest in reality were blurry, and even dull in some parts.

I knocked over the rest of the trees, and dragged them so that they were lying length-wise beside each other. There wasn’t much on the island, and I wanted to go and explore the rest of them. I knew how dangerous it was, but I had no idea if luck had landed me on the island or if it was a regular area where teleported people would always drop off. I looked over to the South to see if there was any sort of land mass over in that direction, and I could barely see the tops of tall trees further away. I looked back to the loose tree stumps that I was planning to assemble into a raft, and began to strip the excess branches off of them, placing them in a pile beside me. I was sitting on the cool grass, trying to fight through the constant pressure on my fingers as I worked with the wooden materials. They weren’t difficult to work with, but after a while, my fingers were getting red from the strain that had been put on them. I knew that working with the leaves would be worse, but I didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself. Already I could feel my energy leaving me, and even though it was only midday, it felt like it was closing in on the late hours of the day, energy wise.

Once the stumps had been stripped of their branches, I began to work the leaves in my hands, just until they still held moisture, but were strong. The leaves were quite wide, and I set each one out in the sun for a small amount of time, just enough for the excess moisture to dry off and evaporate. I was working methodically, and eventually, I got lost in my work. The long process of winding leaves together to make rope was a tiresome one, but wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it would be. Working with the wood had been the worst part so far, but I knew that the more time that I spent out in the wilderness, the more my hands would toughen up.

I finished two lengths of rope and began to tie them around the stumps near the ends of them, before securing it tightly. The leaves were quite durable, and it was surprising to me. The raft that I made wouldn’t be able to hold more weight than myself, but as long as it floated, I was fine with it. I just wanted to be able to rest on it, and let it carry me to wherever I wanted to go.

I picked the raft up so that it was standing up on the thick end of the stumps before I let it slap the water. The splash that echoed from it made me wince, and I shook my head. The sun was already on its descent, and was getting past the midpoint in the horizon line. I was about to jump onto the raft when I suddenly turned to look at the green plants with the blue flowers that grew from them. I walked over to the carefully and grabbed one of the stalks with a flower, then turned it toward me so that I could get a good look at it. I studied herbs outside of this survival challenge, and I was able to recognize the flower as a flax flower. I carefully plucked it from the stem and lightly placed it inside my backpack. I then jumped over the stream again and walked over to the rock body where the dark yellow-green plants grew. I knew that they were also herbs, but I couldn’t recall their names off of the top of my head. Still, I picked them from around the rock, and placed them in my backpack along with the flax flower. I straightened up and looked around. I would head to the South first, and see where it would take me. I hadn’t taken a good look around the area yet, but I knew that I would get familiar with it soon. Carrying my backpack in my hand, I jumped across the stream again and walked over to my raft. I knelt down, setting my backpack on the floating wood first before placing my hands on the rough bark of the stumps. My fingers gripped in the grooves between each stump, and I took a deep breath before I pushed off, and threw my weight onto the raft, making the front of it lift out of the water. The water rebounded against the sudden motion that it had just had to accommodate, and I pushed myself up onto the middle of the raft so that it would balance again. I let myself lie on the raft for a few seconds, taking in deep breaths of air, even tasting the salty tang that the ocean gave off before I extended my arms on either side of the raft, and began to propel it forward over the eerie stillness of the ocean.

Chapter Two: First Fear
My bundle of wood that I lay on top of sailed across the gap between the islands, filled with the royal blue coloured-water that was unmistakable. The gap between the two islands had been smaller than I thought it would be, and when I reached the new and unexplored island, I was a little bit confused. The water had carried my raft faster than I thought. Back on the island that I had arrived on, this island to the South had looked so distant, and I could barely make out the blurry tree shapes. I still had no idea how this place worked, I was just letting instinct take over.

The sunlight had not yet died off, but the sky was slowly darkening from the bright blue to the light orange that signalled the retire of the sun for another day. I could still make everything out fine vision-wise, but something about it looked deceiving. Since I was facing South, the setting sun in the West cast odd shadows over my ship, and I blinked. There was no way that I could start seeing things so early into this challenge.

I hopped off the raft once I had reached the beach and pulled it up onto the sand, but even if I had left it in the ocean, I doubted that it would’ve floated away. The water didn’t move at all, and it was very odd in that regard. I knew that this place was different from other places, but I didn’t think that it would be so vibrantly-coloured with no movement at all. Grabbing my backpack from the raft, I walked ashore.

This island was bigger than the other one that I had arrived on. This island had animals living on it, and they looked to be deer. I had pulled my boat up close to a group of does who were grazing, and they lifted their heads at me, but only a few feet off the ground. They looked to be very tame, as they didn’t even flinch as I walked by in such close proximity. I watched them closely, as there were a few bucks that were standing close to the small elevated area in the middle of the island, their antlers protruding into the darkening sky. I turned away from the animals and walked over to a pony where bushes with purple berries grew, plentiful and vibrant, as everything else. I dropped my backpack down beside the berries and settled into the uneven, grassy terrain around the pond, and took the time to take a panoramic view of the island.

The only places were trees grew were close to the corners of the island. There were two ponds, and two rock bodies. I was sitting on the West edge of the island, near the middle of it. If the island had not been littered with remains of other people who had settled here, it would have been pleasant. Still, being able to take in the view that the low-elevation was something special in itself. This island seemed to be the centrepiece of the handful of islands part of this area. I could see the cliffs and hills of other islands all around, the sun casting its dying rays on the western sides of the islands. There seemed to be a rock-based island located to the South-west of the island where I was currently situated, and to the North-west was a grass-based island. I couldn’t make out the finer details that the other islands undoubtedly withheld, but I could see the faint outlines of manmade structures on each of them, though they didn’t looked to be very big. It still meant that there was a settlement there, and I knew that the majority of people were hostile. I couldn’t blame them though, as this was a survival situation, and people were going to do whatever it took to stay alive. I too would be hostile, though I wasn’t someone to instantly pull a weapon on an innocent person. I waiting for the first weapon to be drawn and then I would respond.

I packed up the rest of the berries in my backpack, and also gathered some good-sized rocks from the rock bodies. If I could form weapons, I would get along just fine. As well as weapons, I decided that the bush stumps would work well for holding water. The bushes also gave in like the tree stumps, and I took one of my rocks to start carving into it. I had a rough idea of a bucket in mind, and I kept the rough idea of it as the prominent image in my head as I worked. The wood chipped away easily, and I was soon left with a hollowed-out bush stump. To make sure that the wood would absorb the water as mush, I found some large leaves and placed them on the bottom, lightly grinding them against the wood with the rock so that they integrated themselves with the thing fibres of the wood. Once I was satisfied with the crude bucket that I had made, I carefully filled it with water and walked back over to my raft. The water inside sloshed around a bit, but I walked carefully, keeping my eyes on the clear liquid as it moved under the forces it was trying to harness.

I nearly dropped the bucket when the deer suddenly shot their heads up. I followed suit, looking straight at where they were looking, which was east of me. Running toward me, metallic sword in hand, was a boy, around my age. I knew better than to try and fight him. There was no way that I could beat a metallic sword, no matter what it was. I quickly moved over to my raft and pushed it down to the water, a small amount of the water in my bucket escaping. I turned in time to have the tip of the sword connect with my cheek and I wasted no time in forcing myself onto the floating wood. The sword hit me once more, cutting my leg, and I cried out, my eyes slamming shut, clutching onto the stumps of my raft. I floated away from my attacker, not knowing where I was going, but I didn’t care. My leg burned and my cheek was tender. I just wanted to get relief.

Chapter Three: Upgrades
I didn’t look back to see if the boy had followed me. As far as I was concerned, he wanted that island to himself, and I wanted to stay away from him as much as possible. Even though I had accepted frequent attacks and assaults, I never expected it to be so early into the challenge that I would have to confront someone.

The cuts that I had endured weren’t deep, but the one on my leg would need to be sewn closed. I didn’t care too much about the one on my face, as it was just a scratch, and it wasn’t bleeding too heavily. I pushed myself up onto the raft a little further so that I could inspect my leg a little bit closer.

The blade of the sword had cut through the cargo pants that I had been wearing, and had hit the side of my calf. The wound was about four inches long, and was located right in the groove between the muscles. I pressed my hand over it, looking around frantically. The island was already fading from view, and I felt a little bit of relief wash over me, but all that was in front of me was open ocean. I was sailing to the West, and I had to squint my eyes to see properly against the harsh, dying rays of sunlight. With my other hand, I began to wrench open my backpack, trying to find the herbs that I had collected from the island that I had arrived on. I was able to find the dark yellow-green plants easily, and pressed them to the wound on my leg, hoping for the intense pain to stop. I wasn’t expecting the wound to start closing over, like what is depicted in movies about the supernatural. Still, I didn’t remove the herbs from my leg until I was sure that the newly-repaired skin was fully attached, leaving a soft pink line of skin over the area where the blade had sliced. I blinked a few times, trying to determine if this was a mirage or not, but when the closed wound never opened again, I was given my answer. The herbs that grew on that island were more powerful than I had thought they ever would be. I did the same to the cut on my face, but as I couldn’t watch it myself, I had to trust when the cut would be fully healed. Since it wasn’t that big or deep, I was sure that it wouldn’t take too long to heal, but I could never be too careful in a survival situation.

When I did pull the herbs away from my face, I tossed them off the side of my raft. The green colour with the yellow tinge had been drowned in crimson. They floated on the surface of the flat sea for a few moments before they dropped below the fine glass-like line, and disappeared from view. I sighed in relief, and fell back against the raft on my back, looking up at the beautiful violet sky. The stars were just starting to prick through the sky, and the sun had almost completely set. There was an orange glow that surrounded the western horizon line, and died off as it reached further from the sun. All I could think of was that I was going to be fine. Still, there was a lot left of this challenge, and as far as I knew, there were many other hostile people around. Until then, I would have to pay attention, and not let my guard down, not for a single second. If I did, I knew the risks that it brought. Injuries, capture, or death were the ones that instantly came to mind. I blinked and shifted my weight around so that it was resting on my shoulder blades. I barely knew that my eyes were closed before I fell into an unconscious state.

I woke up slowly, the colours behind my eyelids smouldering as I opened them. The sun was still low in the East, but I brought my hand up to shield the sun’s rays from my eyes. Sitting up, I looked around, trying to gain some sense of where I was.

Directly to the West lay a large, mountain-resembling island, with snow nestled on the top and a small copse of trees clustered in a small, grassy area toward the bottom, with a huge, grey rock face as its backdrop. I began to push my raft toward the island, not caring about the inhabitants that could possibly exist, but I needed a refill on my bucket. Most of the water had fallen out in my mad scramble to get away from my attacker last night, but I still had some of it left. It wasn’t going to last very long though, and I needed something to quench my thirst.

It didn’t take me long to get to the island, and I was soon pulling my raft up onto the beach of the island. I picked up my bucket and my backpack, and walked up the beach and onto the grassy area of the island.

I scanned the grass for some sort of hidden spring or pond, but I found nothing. There were only two berry bushes that would offer my thirst any sort of relief. I pulled all of them from each bush and began to mash them up inside my bucket, mixing them with the small amount of water that I had left. While I kept my hands occupied, I let my eyes travel to the raft that was sitting on the beach. It was slow, and I wanted nothing more than to upgrade it. I glanced down at the contents of the bucket, and seeing that it was the best that I could do to make it resemble berry juice, I decided that it was time for me to get back to working on my boat.

I knocked one tree over, and stripped it of any leaves and excess branches, except for two near the top and the bottom, on opposite side of the stump, which I would use to attach a sail to. I had an idea for a sailboat in mind, and soon, I had a nice-sized stump for a mast. The hardest part would be working with the leaves. I took most of the leaves off to the trees, repeating to process that I had done back on my arrival island. I was able to work a lot faster now that I knew what I was working toward. Being so wrapped up in my work, I had no idea what was going on behind me until I heard the noises.

All I could hear was the cries of people inside of the cave, and I turned my head sharply, my heart beginning to pound. Adrenaline was starting to pump in my veins, and I looked down at my nearly-completed sail. I was only a few leaves shy of completely finishing it, and once I was done, I would leave the island far behind. The inhabitants were proved to exist now, and knowing that made me work faster.

I attached the last leaf to my sail and tied the sail to the mast. I dragged the newest upgrade to my boat over to the raft, the end of the stump dragging in the sand, making a dark trench in the fine particles. I loosened a few of the ropes that held the raft together so that I could fit the mast in with ease. The voices from the other side of the rock wall were starting to get louder and more aggressive, and I began to push my boat down to the water once it was secured. I wanted nothing more than to be out of there completely. The fear was strong in my veins, and as soon as I was in deep enough water, I began to paddle furiously to the East, leaving the mysterious, fear-instilled island behind.

Travelling in a sail boat was a lot faster than travelling in a raft. Still, the science behind the islands was utterly confusing. I felt no wind, yet the sail was filled up with air as if it was getting buffeted by the strongest gusts from the ocean. I wanted to know why it did that, but I didn’t want to confuse myself more than I already was. Everything about this place was different from the world that I was used to.

I began to near a grass-based island, with high, grassy hills and a low-elevated area where trees grew. I could also see the unmistakable sight of golden wheat as it grew on the plateaus of the grassy cliffs. I could also see little red specs hanging down from the leaves of some of the trees, and I began to help my boat out by paddling toward the island. I was sitting on my knees behind the mast, but I could still see just fine.This island looked to be a good place for me to relax and calm my nerves, just for a few minutes. As well as that, I could probably fill up my bucket again. During the time that I had worked, I had drunk all of the berry juice, and had left nothing for the unexpected, frantic journey to the East that would follow.

Chapter Four:
The grass-based island that I docked at was completely devoid of all life, as far as I could see. Where I had dragged my boat up onto the sand was an area of low elevation, with a few trees growing, some taller than others. On a few of the smaller trees, red apples hung down, perfectly visible from in-between the leaves because of the vibrant red colour that the apples held within them. I dragged my sailboat up onto the beach, picked up my bucket and my backpack, and walked over to the trees lightly pulling the ripe fruit from the branches and setting them down carefully in my bag.