1 Mistakes were made

Chapter 1 - Mistakes Were Made

In the beginning the Gods created the heavens and the underworld. To connect these worlds and bring life to the universe they also created the Earth and filled every part of it with creatures of all species. However, once the creatures died their souls became lost and they soon became trapped on this plain. Unable to find the paths that lead them back to the other plains they deemed others to lead them there. These spirit guides are called Bridge Keepers. One such Keeper is the giant turtle spirit that resides inside the Endless Lake in the continent of Pãvha. Once every decade this spirit comes to land and allows lost spirits and souls to climb upon it's shell. When the moon rises to it's peak the Keeper then carries them to where they need to be. Some say that if a traveler or fisherman becomes lost in the Endless Lake and prays to the Keeper that it will show them the way back home. However if that person's soul is pure and pays homage to the Keeper then it will drink the water of the Lake allowing them passage to an island with gold and jewels that could fill seven strongholds. But no one has ever seen such an island or the Keeper in person, that is until now.

"I'm telling you we went the wrong way"

"And I'm telling you *burp* a wench with tits that big never lies when a gold coin is shoved between them."

"Then how much further to the inn?"

Both men stopped walking. The smell of alcohol clung to them as bad as the smell from their rotting teeth. The intoxicated men had been wondering through the forest for more than three hours now. Clearly there was no sign of their intended destination and the self proclaimed leader had obviously no idea as to where they were.

"Just a bit more. I can see the road up ahead."

The second man gave a groan yet proceeded to follow the other anyways. However as they finally had made it out of the thick forest they were not met with a dirt road. No, instead they had found their way to the rocky beach of an enormous lake. Both men looked dumbfounded realizing that they were completely off course of where they wanted to be. Taking another swig of the wine bottle the man squints when he noticed something odd with the water. It was to late for the tide to be moving, but in his drunken state it was clear that the water was receding at an alarming rate. Waving his hand behind him the man tried to get the other's attention. He didn't need to though because the other had noticed just as he had.

The two stared dumbly as the water completely disappeared leaving behind exposed rocks and sandy beds. Suddenly something caught the men's attention far off in the distance. Something bright and shiny glistening in the dim moonlight encourage the two men to stare. With out hesitation both men stepped into the sandy bottom of the lake in an attempt to satisfy their curiosity as to what this strange item might be. The trek itself was a winding one as they passed, hopped, and walked around rocks and driftwood . As the two drew nearer to the light they noticed that it was a reflection of the moon's light as it bounced off whatever object they were getting closer to. The surface that poked out of the ground looked to be made of silver and had fairly well crafted designs smoothed over it. The object in question was about the size of a plate but its curved shell like shape made it out to look like the shoulder piece to a child sized armor set.

When the men came up to it the sober one of the two bent down and tried to pry it from it's sand dwelling and found that it came out quite easily. fiddling with the price in his hands the detail and craftsmanship could be thoroughly enjoyed now that the full picture was visible. In the center of the price was a crest that held the shell of a turtle as it sat on top of a small wave.

"How much do you think this would get us?" The man asked handing the item over to his companion whom took it eagerly.

"Two maybe three gold pieces? If we can get the whole thing I'm sure more."

The two men then began to search around the sand and rocks looking for any more pieces when something else caught one of the men's attention. As the shorter one looked up after flipping a rock, only to find an unhappy crab, he caught sight of an island off in the distance.

"Hey! You think it could have came from there?" He asked pointing towards the island.

"My purse says it might. Come on let's check."

"Mikey you need to calm down."

"Why? So you can drag me back to that jerk to apologize? No! I'm not gana!" Mikey yelled darting through the trees with his brother Donatello following close behind.

"I'm not bringing you back so you could apologize. You had good reason to be mad. Raph is the one that needs to say sorry. Just slow down a bit!"

Suddenly Mikey stops landing on a large branch of a very tall pine tree. Don stopped the next tree over blocking him from going any further away from their home. In the shadows blocking the moonlight from reaching the bottom of the forest floor Don noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

"Its not fair! I didn't ask to be so short!"

"Mikey."

"I know I'm not strong enough to lift boulders,"

"Mikey!"

"or patient enough to bend glass, but at least I try!"

"MIKEY!"

"What!?" Mikey shouted sadness obvious in his voice. Looking up at his brother he noticed that he was pointing and looking below them to their right. Glancing down he noticed what Don had and quickly turning back to look at him he silently questioned what to do.

Don lifted a finger to his lips telling his brother that they needed to be silent and turned back to the two creatures that stumbled ever closer to them. The humans, obviously drunk, walked past them clearly not having heard them from above. Curious as to why they were here Don motioned to Mikey to follow them. The younger bother nodded in agreement and with a silent leap hopped from his perch towards where the two men had gone, Donnie following closely behind. After what seemed like thirty minutes they realized that the men were headed to a familiar place and decided to get a closer look at who these two were.

Landing from the trees to the wooden roof of a small shrine the brothers crouched low and out of sight. It was only a few seconds later when the men stepped out of the trees and onto the pebbled path that wrapped around the small building.

"A shrine?"

"Looks like it."

"An hour of walking through another damn forest and all we get is a stupid shrine?" The man shouted, the alcohol making him irritated. Bending down he picked up a good sized rock from the path and tossed it in his hand once or twice before looking up towards the shrine. "Fucking shit!" The man yelled as he tossed the stone at the entryway causing a pot that was there to fall and break.

"What the hell?" The other man asked shocked.

"Don't worry, this place is clearly abandoned." The first said picking up another rock and threw it deeper inside earning another much larger crash.

This pissed off Mikey and before Don could hold him back Mikey was already on the ground behind the shrine scurrying about. It was clear that the younger turtle was pissed but what he had planned on doing about it was unknown until his brother situated himself right back in the same spot not long after.

"Watch this." Mikey said keeping his eyes on the men as they threw another stone. Just as they had and both brother's heard the sound of the screen door tearing Mikey flicked his fingers. All at once the torches both in and out of the shrine burst into flame lighting everything but the brothers. This clearly frightened the drunken men and to Don's amazement they dropped the stones in their hands, one ready to flee at any moment.

Cupping his hands over his mouth Mikey elbowed his brother with a mischievous grin before deepening his voice as much as he could. Of course he was not as scary as his bigger brother Raphael but he knew a few tricks his brother liked to use that didn't require brute strength. It wasn't long before he had these two men cowering before him.

"WHO DARES DEFILE MY SHRINE?" Mikey yelled his voice booming.

"Oh shit!"

"Look what the hell you did! I told you we should have stayed at the tavern!"

"Me? You did this to!"

"SILENCE!" Mikey yelled making the flames brighter. "KNEEL AND ACCEPT YOUR FATE!"

As stupid and as drunk as the men were they listened. Dropping to their knees non to gracefully they shook in their spots as they awaited what was to come.

"YOU HAVE UPSET THE GREAT TURTLE SPIRIT AND FOR THIS YOU WILL PERISH!" Mikey said earning a quick confused glance from Donnie. Mikey shook his head letting him know that it was a lie.

"W-wait!" One of the men spoke up. "Please great spirit we meant no disrespect!"

"SILENCE, YOUR LIES ARE WASTED FOR WHAT IS TO COME. NOW PREPARE TO DIE!" Mikey roared making all the torches light up full blaze.

"An offering! Wha- what if we bring you an offering, oh great spirit!" The man to the right pleaded. "Spare us and we will bring you a treasure befitting of your shrine!"

The other man looked at his companion flabbergasted. "Where the hell are we going to get that!?" He whispered.

"Shut up!"

"HMMN... VERY WELL. YOU HAVE TILL THE MOON REACHES THE CENTER. FLEA AND YOU WILL DIE A PAINFUL AND SLOW DEATH! NOW GO!"

At once the men scrambled to their feet and took off trying to get as much distance as they could from the shrine. It was not long before the men were out of sight and leaving in the same direction that they had came. However the whole situation did not sit well with Donatello.

"What if they come back and the water rises the moment they do? They will be stuck here."

"We could make them swim." Mikey teased.

"The current would be to strong."

"Eh. I doubt it if they even will make it back before it comes back up. The moon will be high in an hour or so and there is not a town close enough to make it there and back in time."

"True." Don said understanding what his crazy younger brother was getting at. "We should be getting home then."

"Nah, I want to stay just in case."

"In case of what?" A different voice asked making both brothers jump and turn just in time to see both Leo and Raph land on the branches above them.

On the main land in a quiet part of the forest where the crickets sang their best a young woman was collecting small pieces of wood for her fire. Her home was not far and the light from the moon made it easy for her to find her way back. With an arm full of wood the woman turned back to the way she had came when voices from in front of her caught her attention.

The path that she was using was one that wrapped around the edges of her home village and around this time there were usually no one except the drunk that used this particular path. She had used this one many a time and during this time of night there should have been no one else but her using it. Thinking that it was someone from her village she kept going making sure to keep her eyes down and tried to make as little attention as she could.

Scurrying up the path the men came into view and she realized that they were drunk from the stumbling they were doing. It was clear to her that they were out of breath and arguing quietly amongst themselves. She could not hear of what unless she got closer but she wanted to give them a wide birth. Unfortunately that did nothing from making them not notice her. As she got closer the two men stopped walking and arguing all together and this made the young woman very nervous. Sticking to her plan she tried to pay as little attention to them as she could and move around them but the moment she saw them move towards her direction she stopped in her tracks. As she stopped so did they and every time she took a step to the side they copied earning another step closer. This freaked her out and soon she found herself running away, the two men following her closely behind.

Jumping over exposed roots and ducking under low hanging branches the woman tried her best to escape from her soon to be captures but for some gosh darn reason they were close on her tail. She had no idea what they wanted with her and she tried not thinking of any as she ran but the fear that was making her stumble and miscalculate her footing was not any help what so ever.

Taking a glance behind her she noticed one of the men gaining on her heals. She needed to lose them some how. Somewhere they could not get to her that she herself could be safe. Then a thought came to mind. Turning to her left the woman ran off the path and went straight into the forest. The men did not miss her sudden turn and followed her in. She ran and she ran until she got close to where she had wanted to be but the moment she caught sight of it her heart dropped to her stomach. Stopping out of the tree line the woman saw that the water to the lake was gone.

"So yeah, that's sort of what happened." Mikey finished finally done explaining what had happened just a few moments ago.

"So you thought that instead of getting us you just decided to scare these two men away? What if your plan didn't work Mikey? They could have seen you or worse!" Leo argued.

"Well technically the odds are against them, unless they had training like us the odds of them beating us are rough-"

"That's not the point Don." Leo snapped. Grabbing the bridge of his nose he tried to calm himself down, sighing as he did so. "We have to tell Master Splinter."

"But -" Mikey protested.

"Now."

"Hold up Leo." Raphael said his voice low as something drew his attention to the tree line. They were still on the roof of the shrine not bothering to hide themselves since the two humans were gone but it looked like the prior situation was back once more. Leo and the other's also noticed the commotion making its way to them. Getting down, except for Raph who took shelter in the trees, the boys hid from their sight.

"Let me go!" A woman's voice yelled from the trees. "What the hell do you think you are doing!? Release me this instant!"

"Will you quiet her down."

"The hell do you think I've been trying to do?" The gruffer male asked as they appeared from the trees. "Your the one that didn't hit her hard enough to still be out."

The two men, each holding a different half of the woman, struggled with her as they made their way to the shrine. Leo and Donnie turned to look at Mikey realizing that his little game with the men took another wrong turn. Mikey only sunk deeper into his shell whispering a quiet 'oh shit' at how far the men had taken his command. The four watched in silence as they tossed the woman inside of the shrine and barred the door closed with the large price of wood that was there. The woman obviously did not like this one bit and began to bang and yell for them to release her, the pounding of her fists on the wooden structure sent vibrations that even the boys on top could feel.

"Oh great Turtle Spirit! We have brought you a most wonderful treasure! A pure maiden to do with as you please!" One of the men piped up. "Tell us great Spirit, does our offering please you?"

Again all eyes turned to Mikey all telling him to keep his mouth shut. Which he did and for a long while silence was the men's only reply. The men took this as though the spirit was thinking and waited patiently but as a few minutes expanded more than a half hour they began to become irritated.

"Well? Is she good enough?" The gruffer man yelled. When again both men were met with silence they both stood up. "The hell is going on?"

"I believe we have been played."

"No shit." Banging from the woman inside brought their attention to her. "What do we do with her?"

"If we take her back to the village they'll skin us."

"What if we don't"

"You honestly think she won't run back and have them come after us?"

"Not if she doesn't leave this island." The man explained with a smirk. Going over to one of the torch poles he took one in his hand and went over to stand in front of the shrine. "Can't head home when your burnt to a crisp."

Suddenly just as the man finished the boys jumped off the roof, and tree, to stop the man but in doing so they had scared him enough to chuck the torch at them only to miss and still end up on the shrine lighting the old dry wood a flame.

The woman inside did not know what was going on but still tried to escape. Banging and trying to get the door off of its hinges she barely noticed the men screaming in terror. Instead she found herself backing away from her only exit as it was quickly engulfed and smoke began to pour inside. Coughing, she used the long sleeves of her dress to cover her nose and mouth.

Looking around the small room she tried to find another way out . Unfortunately all the small side windows are covered up and the only way she could have opened them was from the outside. Still though she tried her best to push or break the window open. Bang after bang she tried to push and pry the wood from the windows but it was no use, she was completely trapped inside.

Realizing that she was not going to make it out alive she began to pray. Turning to the idol in the center she kneeled and wept silently begging whatever god or Spirit that the shrine was owned by to free her or make her death as painless as possible. Soon enough the smoke began to be to much for her and her vision was starting to fade. However that didn't mean she did not see the large creature that entered the shrine just as a fire engorged beam broke free to land on top of her.