Chapter 3: Friendship

A young Isuzu watched over a baby inside the nursery in the orphanage. The baby rested on a small wooden cradle complete with a small pillow and blanket. The baby was taken in a few weeks ago, and she had dark hair and dark skin.

Isuzu was told by the nuns to watch her over as they cleaned the mess hall after dinner. The nursery had individual rooms for babies that were months old, and the younger ones were housed with other babies in a long bright place where the nuns would watch over them.

Isuzu was all alone with the new baby. Not much was known about her parents. One night the head nun, sister Maya, left the orphanage to see a baby in a basket in front of the door in the middle of the night.

She, of course, took her in and asked the town's night watch if they had seen anyone who left the baby there. The village was small, everyone knew everybody else, but they didn't know who the baby was or who her parents were.

Isuzu leaned over the baby to see her fully awake, trying to maintain her balance as she tries to lay down properly.

Isuzu tried talking to the baby, "Hellooo?" she playfully asked but was only met with silence.

She asked again, "Hellooo?" hoping to get an answer this time; similarly, silence. Instead, the baby just kept looking at her.

"I guess you can't talk yet", said Isuzu as she tried to reach her finger to the baby's stomach.

"Maybe she has a ticklish spot." Isuzu's finger poked the baby's belly clothed in a smocked baby dress.

She started moving her finger around the tummy, slowly, the baby began to feel the tickling. The baby began to chuckle in a small way, but her smile was huge and sweet.

As soon as they both felt satisfied, Isuzu pulled out her finger only for the baby to suddenly catch it and pulled it back.

"Ouch- your grip is strong!" exclaimed Isuzu as she slowly let the baby pull her finger down. Isuzu let the baby play with her hand, slapping it and sometimes Isuzu using it to tickle herself from time to time.

This went on for a while until the nun entered the room.

"Have you made friends with Eleya?" asked the nun.

"Yep!" said the toddler.

"She likes to be tickled in the back a lot", she added.

The nun pulled a chair from the table and sat down in front of the baby.

"She'll grow up to be one of your friends as well." said the nun as she looked happily at the baby. 

"I hope so!" answered Isuzu.

But then the nun looked at her and placed her finger on her mouth.

"Shhhh, she's sleeping now." whispered the nun.

Isuzu walked over the cradle to see the baby, named Eleya, peacefully sleeping.

"Goodnight." the toddler whispered as she walked to the door, slowly opening it and waving goodbye at the nun.

The nun smiled and waved goodbye as Isuzu closed the door. As the nuns went to their own rooms, Isuzu stopped on her room and wondered, 'Eleya, huh?'

On that fateful night, everyone went to sleep as dusk swept the continent. The previous nun slept on a bed beside Eleya's cradle. The nun slept soundly as Eleya stared at the dark ceiling, emitting the blueish light of the night sky.

The flapping of wings could be heard outside, but no matter how loud it was, their ears continued to rest well for the night, the only one who heard it, however, was Eleya. She listened to the bird flap around its wings as it circled the house, unheard of by the people inside.

Eleya saw the bird as its shadow presented itself to the window, the baby was barely able to see it from the gap between the cradle.

Eleya did not feel threatened by it, however, instead, she must have been welcoming it. The bird stopped and landed at the space in front of the window to her room. It was silent, quiet enough to keep the nun sleeping.

The baby kept staring at the bird as it surveyed the room, looking for something. Eventually, both their eyes' locked at each other.

Eleya could not stop looking at it as she felt something uneasy about herself, yet too young to react.

The bird looked up to see the handles of the window. It bounced up and down, using its beak to pull it down and unlock it. The window let of a creaking noise as the bird pulled the handles down one last time, leaving it to open for itself.

The nun was still asleep while Eleya let it all unfold in front of her. The bird walked on the floor onto the cradle. It jumped up, using its wings to bring itself to land at the edge of Eleya's cradle.

Eleya was still silent, letting the bird stare down at her. The baby then started hearing something in her head, a static string of noise inside her mind that began to resemble something the longer it got.

Something of a voice, looming around the baby's mind as it became more frequent over time. The whispers in her head spoke a language no man could understand, except for her.

The bird invited the baby for a mission; a mission for a divine cause.

One that would ensure her safety and wishes.

That guarantees the protection for her and the ones she holds dear.

She was promised a good life, one neither nun nor parent could ever provide.

She would be responsible for the safety and promises of this world, all she had to do was to follow the bird.

The baby smiled and giggled as the whispers and voices died down in her head. It shook its head.

The bird was delighted, flapping its wings around as it moved around the wooden sides of the cradle. Flying away as it let off a deafening shriek with a bolt of lightning, followed by a frightening roar of thunder striking nearby, causing the nun to jump from her bed.

She immediately checked on Eleya, but then realised the window was open. She rushed over to the window, closing it before the rain poured down on the room.

The bird had disappeared the moment the nun woke up, leaving Eleya to finish the mission.

A few years later...

The colonials set up camp in their outpost near Glenn Vista. They had talked about their verdict on how to handle the situation.

The soldiers sat down, looking at the map of the town as their captain entered through the door. Each and one of them stood up to salute their captain.

"Listen up!" Iowa said as the men sat down, "As you all know, our mission is to extract the target as soon as possible.

"Originally, I had been allowed to give the target a chance to think about it," Iowa said as she looked down on the map. 

"But given the situation, we'll extract her tomorrow and bring her to the capital as soon as possible." She paused for a little while trying to think of words to explain.

"Our enemy..." She crossed her arms, thinking about it more thoroughly.

"Our enemy is someone already spying at the target..." She reached for the general's notes in her pocket and read the mission's description of the spy,

"The spy is close with the target, although for some reason has never turned the target in yet. Due to their intimate relationship, it'll be hard for us to persuade her, but we must make sure we secure them before it is too late." the paper read.

"The spy..." Iowa whispered to herself, recalling every memory she had now with the orphanage.

"A young girl, the familiar-looking one..." She mumbled, the platoon, confused as they looked at each other, letting the captain think.

'They know she's up to something.' recalling all her memories with Isuzu, "If the person must be so close, then I must've seen her before."

Then it hit her. Before she was able to say her name, however, she heard a loud, deafening shriek from a bird.

"Dammit!" Iowa exclaimed, she walked to a window and took off the curtains to see a large bird, sitting on a post. She had figured out everything. But she had to keep quiet.

She slowly closed the curtain as her eyes focused on the roads. The captain walked back and asked the platoon.

"Any questions?" she asked.

"No, ma'am." said the soldiers.

"Good, now let's rerun the mission..." She discussed the plan once more to the platoon and prepared for the next day. The bird outside flew away and on to the woodlands at the edge of the town.

A few hours later, only a few hours before the sun relives the moon of its shift. Eleya woke up with a relentless look. She stuffed her blanket with pillows in a sleeping position so that the nuns wouldn't look for her and hopefully, wouldn't disturb "her."

She sneaked out of the orphanage, concealing herself through the thick morning fog. She ran to the woods beside the orphanage, taking a small path only she could see. The trees were tall and thick, hiding her entirely as she ran to the heart of the woodlands.

Jumping over creeks and climbing over rocks, the place was still pretty dark as the sun had not shown up yet.

But despite that, Eleya rushed quickly. It was as if she knew the place like it was the back of her hand. She could hear owls hooting, the wolves howling, and other wild animals hunting for prey. 

She ran quickly, but then she felt something coming towards her. She heard large footsteps coming towards her quickly.

She looked back to see a large bear aggressively following the girl. The girl tried to shrug it off but as a large rock blocked the way she had no choice but to face the beast.

Without hesitation the bear jumped at the girl with its claws wide open and eyes as bright as an eclipsed moon, roaring in rage.

Despite this, Eleya stood there, calmly. In the mere seconds of the bear jumping to Eleya, she stared down on the bear's eyes as he eyes started to emit a bright light.

In those moments her eyes started to glow a bright colour,

"HUMIGKAT!" she shouted from the top of her lungs as she dodged its claws.

Despite the bear being inches away from impaling the girl, it managed to stop itself and crashed on a log. The girl looked down on the bear, with the light slowly fading away.

The once aggressive bear was now an unconscious one.

The girl sighed, her breath made visible by the damp fog, she heard the wings of the bird once more, circling around her as it slowly descended.

Eleya reached out to the bird, using her arms to let it land on her. The bird slowly landed on her arm, carefully as to not hurt her with its sharp talons and was immediately greeted by Eleya's finger stroking its head.

"Balisong", she said, calling out its name.

The bird was delighted to see its master in the woodlands, flapping its wings around as it scratched its back.

"Lead the way, OK?" said Eleya as she hoisted her arm up, letting Balisong have more room to take off. It flapped its wings around and flew high, Eleya immediately following it.

The trees got taller, and the air felt colder. The fog got thicker as Eleya entered the heart of the forest. She roamed around as she could only see Balisong so much in such extreme conditions.

She started to freeze and harden as the sticky wind from the pine trees pass through her dark skin. But her mind didn't let her feel any of it, she felt nothing as she walked.

She arrived at a white chapel in the middle of it all. The thick fog masked the chapel perfectly. The only thing coming out of it was the reflections of the stained glass is displayed.

As she walked near the chapel, she reached her arm out, letting Balisong land on it. She opened the small wooden gates of the chapel to see a hooded figure dressed in a black robe, sitting down on a table behind the altar, with a small candle their only light source.

"Makamisa." said the figure, "Sit down."

Eleya, now called Makamisa, closed the gates and slowly approached the table, as the rest of the chapel was consumed in pitch-black darkness. She sat down on a wooden chair in front of the table, letting Balisong land on a nearby stand as she faced the hooded figure,

"Serviteur." she greeted.

"It seems now you have realised how to address your seniors? Hm?" he said, laughing a little as he took a sip on a cup beside him.

"What do you want?" Eleya clenched her fists.

The hooded figure, the serviteur, paused, then sat up straight and properly faced Eleya.

"What do YOU want?" asked the serviteur.

"What do you mean?"

"You've reported the arrival of South British forces on our town where the trigger angel, or, your friend resides isn't that correct?" asked the Serviteur. 

"If you were to 'spend more time' with your precious little trigger angel or, you would risk her being lost and ultimately consumed by corrupted forces."

The serviteur slammed his hand on the table and stood up, "Yet time and time again, you would always risk that possibility. Even going as far as lying to your brothers and sisters. And know that an imminent threat is visible I would like to see. What do YOU want?" He added as his voice became progressively louder.

Eleya fell silent, she didn't know what she was supposed to say. But before she could even say anything, the serviteur ranted on-again,

"You're a strange one Makamisa. Despite taking on the orders of the Divine you chose to leave a part of yourself, a part of yourself corrupted by the impurities or mortals!"

"But you must realise how o' so divine had been so considerate of you young one."

Eleya remained seated, unable to control herself as she clenched her fist.

"So considerate, She had bestowed upon you, a prowess, only those worthy of such to be blessed with, A Grand Angel, Makamisa, Angel of the Animal Tongue", he said.

Afterwards, silence fell upon the two of them. The serviteur finished addressing Eleya, yet her reaction remained a mystery.

Instead, Eleya told the figure, "I'll extract the Isuzu- err... the trigger angel tomorrow morning, and that's that."

The serviteur smirked, not believing in Eleya's statement. "I'm sure you will Makamisa, but," he paused. Watching Eleya feel uneasy as he placed his cup down on the table,

"If you fail to do so by the end of the day, we'll be taking care of it ourselves." the serviteur finished his statement with a smirk on his face.

Eleya was about to crack, but she kept calm. She stood up with Balisong landing on her arm as she reached it and said,

"We won't mess up", said Eleya as she walked away and opened the gates,

"I'm sure you won't, sister." said the serviteur as he watched Eleya close the gate.

Meanwhile, in the orphanage, Isuzu couldn't sleep from all that has happened. She got up, most of her energy still active and decided to check on Eleya.

She slowly walked her way across the hallway as quietly as she could. She slowly opened Eleya's door to see something was not right.

Slowly but surely she entered the room and slowly made her way into the bed. Only to see it stuffed in pillows without Eleya.

"Eleya?" she whispered to herself.

Meanwhile back at the woodlands, Eleya raced against rising sun back at the orphanage before it was too late.

Meanwhile, on the outposts, Iowa whispered her proper plans to each and one the soldiers of her platoon.

"Inform the capital we will arrive early today... and call reinforcements. I will take the target, and the rest of you be ready to get out of here but do not leave before I join you all with the target."

Everyone got to work but everything being extra as to not arouse any kind of suspicion at a very critical moment.

As everyone was hard at work as Iowa ran to the orphanage to get Isuzu. 

Hopefully, to defuse the situation...