Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Cryptic Knives ❯ Anything But Ordinary ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One

Anything But Ordinary

*****

`All right Delphi, one, two, one, two, right that's good. Swing harder and put more force. Move your feet.' A relatively old man was sword fight fighting with a girl no more than thirteen. He swung his sword down on hers and she pushed back with all her might, but he still seemed to push her backwards still. He ran his sword up hers in a circular pattern, winding her arms in the same outline and then he knocked the sword out of her hand. When she bent down to retrieve it, he placed the tip of his sword near her neck.

`Oh forget it. I'll never be able to fight. Never!' Delphi stood and turned her back on her father, crossing her arms.

She had very blue eyes and jaw length blonde hair. Her usually puffy lips were pursed and her tanned complexion was starting to become sun dyed. She wore dress that was a dirty-blue pastel in color that had lace material and ribbons draping from it. The dress went down to her ankles and up to her collarbones one either side. From there it went down in a U shape meeting at her chest bone. The sleeves were long and fanned out at her elbows. She wore a very small grayish-emerald colored pendant around her neck that was given to her by her mother.

`None sense. You've improved thoroughly.'

`Father, why do I have to learn how to fight anyway? I'm a woman. They don't fight.' She looked towards the ground and her father grabbed her face roughly, bringing her closer to him.

`They'll be none of that. Do you understand.' Delphi's eyes were wide with confusion and fear. She did her best to nod and then her father released her. Delphi stumbled backwards clutching where her father and gripped her. She could feel that his white fingerprints were still there.

`I'm sorry Delphi, but you have to understand a girl needs to learn how to fight. I don't know about other places but I want you to be able to be self-reliant and not depend on some man to protect you.' Her father told her sincerely. He sat down on a log and Delphi stared at him, still clutching her face.

`You hurt me.' She said, dropping her hands to her side. Tears welled up in her eyes and then started to fall freely down her cheeks. He looked up at her; she was just standing there crying. He got up and wrapped his arms around her and she flung hers around his and cried harder.

`I love you Delphi, don't forget that all right.' He said. She sniffled and nodded into his chest. `I want you to be able to protect yourself. One day you will need to.' She nodded again.

`Can we go home?' She asked sickly.

`Yes.' He said.

*****

Delphi was lying in bed when she heard the noise. It was long into the night, but it wasn't near dawn yet. She crawled out of bed and approached the window and looked past the houses to the field and then the forest that stretched out to the vast horizon. She felt drawn out there so she grabbed her cloak and slippers and slipped through her window. She made her way to the stables and got her horse, Kylie ready to go. She climbed up on the horse and it started towards the field.

`Are you coming?' She heard a voice inside her head. She looked around frantically and made the horse run faster. `I'm waiting for you,' her eyes narrowed and she forced her horse to speed up. `At the end.'

Something crossed paths with the horse and spooked it, which cause it to stand on her hind legs. Out of shock, Delphi let go of the reins and tumbled backwards off the horse as it ran off towards the town. She landed with a thud on the ground and cringed, letting out a scream of pain.

A cloaked figure started to approach Delphi, who was at the moment clutching her side, was facing the other way. The figure drew back part of the cloak and rested a hand on the hilt of a sword. Delphi's eyes were clenched tightly when she heard the metal sliding against metal. She rolled over and saw a sword raised above a dark cloaked figure. The sword came down and caught the material in her dress, cutting her side a little bit. The figure went to grab his sword but there was a loud bang and the ground shook. It came again, and again faster and faster.

Delphi looked beyond the cloaked figure and saw a red dragon stomping towards the two. The figure turned around and grabbed his sword from out of the ground and turned around, prepared to fight. The figure, however, was too late as the dragon's tail came sweeping around and cut him in half at the middle. The two pieces fell on the ground and the dragon eyed Delphi. She stopped breathing and closed her eyes again. She felt the heat and she heard the dragon moving slightly closer, or was it moving away? She opened her eyes and saw that the dragon's tail was rising in the air and was going to attack again.

Then it came crashing down on her. She crushed her eyes closed tightly and when she didn't feel impact she opened her eyes. An orb had protected her from the damage the tail would have done. The orb was almost a dusty emerald color and was glowing quite radiantly. The dragon's tail retracted and then slammed down over and over again on the orb.

Delphi didn't know what to do. She was afraid to move, afraid to breath, afraid that if she tried to run the orb would disappear and she would surely die. She huddled together and then she started to cry while the dragon continued to pound on the sort of magic shell that was covering her.