1 Fate is Unavoidable

The morning of Kayano's third birthday was like any other. She woke to her mother having made her favorite breakfast and she received her gift. This year her mother had given her a beautiful dark blue ribbon to wrap around her beautiful dark hair.

"Always remember that I love you." She said. Strange words, but to a child they meant nothing.

Kayano beamed at her mother. "I will."

Kayano's mother smiled and the pair headed out of their home. Their was a lot of grocery shopping that needed to be done in preparation for Kayano's birthday dinner cake. The path to the market seemed different to Kayano, the air was still. The atmosphere was too calm and she felt it was...unnatural. She simply shook it off as birthday jitters. That was when it started. Originally you could compare it to a few droplets of rain, but the drizzle quickly became a hurricane.

Kayano looked up into the sky and then towards her mother. The first bomb had landed. The sound was that of a lightning bolt striking directly in front of you, but one hundred fold. The jolt startled Kayano and the look of panic on her mother's face unsettled her and she became afraid. Suddenly, as bombes continued to rain down, her mother snatched her hand and started running, pulling her along in her wake .

"Mother?" Kayano asked.

"Keep moving!" her mother yelled. She had never heard her mother raise her voice or see her in such a panic.

Kayano tried as hard as she could to keep up with her mother's long strides despite having much shorter legs.

"Listen Kayano, whatever happens I want you to keep going!"

Kayano didn't understand what her mother meant. "Are you going somewhere?"

"I might have to, but I promise someone will come for you."

"What do you-"

BOOM!

Kayano's sentence was cut short when a bomb landed only a few feet away. Kayano's mother pushed her as hard as she could in the opposite direction and the architecture around them began to crumble. Debris fell everywhere blocking Kayano's path.

"MOTHER!" she called.

No one answered. Again and Again she called for her mother aching for a response, but it was all to no avail. Kayano collapsed to the ground and started digging her way out, tears running down her face, and falling onto the ground beneath her. She knew that efforts were pointless but she wanted her mother.

On the verge of giving up, Kayano felt a sudden warmth. She turned behind her and through her wet eyes she saw a faded glow.

"Mother?" she asked still hanging on to a pinge of hope.

As the figure got closer it was obvious that she was not her mother. She looked like something from out of a story. Her skin was sea green and had a glowing aura around it. Her eyes were black and she had no pupils. Her hair flowed like water. She reminded Kayano of a sea nymph. Mystical and Beautiful.

"I am not your mother." The woman replied. "But I have come for you."