I am just a nameless traveler, my foot step exists thru out the world, from the majestic Spike of the world Mountain range to the shadowy depth of Seni'kor Forest or even so, the lost oasis in the desert of the storm and flame. But those, were another story, for another time.

Rcently, a sudden urge of paying a visit to an old friend of mine has brought me to city of Ridin once again, it also has another name, A port of freedom and opportunity as the merchants, sea dogs and mercenaries called it.

Ridin were also known as the western jewel of Ue'theis for it houses one of the largest port in the world, only next to Siaan -- the eastern jewel of Ue'theis; As the world's largest port, it were also the head quaters of trader and merchants 's guild.

This city sits on the lower Left corner of continent Ue'theis -- Lands of Light and prosperity in the ancient empire dialect; Descending from it's ancestral heritage, Ridin is the capital of Kenth, a human nation...But, that's enough for history.

...And so, as I left my old friend Nicolie's house, I wandered alone on the market district near the sea port, looking out to sea, I can't help but wonder...

『 Where would I end up next ? 』

『 Some other city on some other continent ? Perhaps... 』

『 Some other un-explored places ? ... I don't think I know any others... 』

『 Or perhaps... home ? 』

I laughed as thoughts of returning to home popped into my mind, I've lefted home since I was a teenager, there wasn't anything left for me anyways, not 12 years ago nor now, well, expect memories of the past of course...

Subconsciously, I stopped in front of a road sign just a moment before walking into it.

『 Woa! 』 I said to myself 『 You really got to pay attention to the road! Since when, did you become so poetic and thinks about those type of stuff eh ? 』 

I chuckled as I looked at the Sign, It says 『 ＜－－ Arch Temple of Baro 』  Hmm, Maybe I should go pay the priests of the sun a visit and see if I can obtain a blessing on my journey...

Mm, I will do that then, maybe by then, I will know where I should be off next. Having decided that, I turned on the cross road and heading towards the Temple on the other side of the city...

...On the way to the temple, just as I walked past a barbershop, a conversation between two young girl  catches my attention...

『 What happened to the color of your hair ? It looked different ... Eh~~? That's the newist herbal hair dye ?』 The youngest girl said.

『 Yup, my dad imported this from Siaan last month, and it just arrived now 』 The other girl replied...

So, hair color eh...  I thought to myself, as I walked past the shop, following the path to the temple.

That phrase, sounds quite familiar, but, where exactly did I heard something like that...

Hmmm...

Oh! Yes, The Diary !  I reached into my Satchel, Searched for a bit and found a worn out hard-cover book, the book is about the size of my palm, I guess that's one of the reason I've been carrying it around.

As I hold the book in my palm, I think of flip thru the pages, but, I hesitated... I don't know why, but it just feels wrong to open and flips thru the pages again. So, instead of doing that, I tried to remember the content of the book... 　

Ah, yes, it was the girl's voice and the question being asked about hair colors reminded me of something in the book, something, that I can't seems to be able to forget...

...It was a warm sunny day, cool, soft breeze blow thru the grass fields like waves and waves of golden tide, washing towards the church on the side of the road.

the church itself is just like any other ordinary church building you see in country side ,two-story high,  brown-colored wooden roof and several holy ankh and several statues of Baro has been used as decorations in the exterior and interior of the church.

Like the exterior of the church indicates, the priests and priestess of this church worships Baro - the goddess of light and justice, a very common religion for human in these lands.

In the backyard of the church, there's a group of children that looks like they are around 5-7 years of age, amongst the group of children, there's also a young lady in the midst of them, different from the children, she wears a bright yellow dress with holy symbols of Baro marked thru out, it's the common outfit or uniform, if you will, for Baro's acolyte. However, the dress she wears seems to be a size too big for her, but the white silken sash she have on her waist seems to be compensating the problem.

The acolyte looks like she is in her mid teens, her hair is dark, black like the colors of ink, gives off a glare under the sun that looks like the radiance of light. She to let her long hair hang naturally on her back all the way to her waist, it looks more elegant this way, she says.

After she asked the children to sit around her in a circle, she sat down slowly with them.

『Hey~  children, my name is Irian, Irian Rikster,  I am an acolyte of Baro.』 She says with a warm smile on her face, she continues.  『 after today, we will spend the whole harvesting season learning about the way of the light, I hope this would be a great memory for you all and for me as well.』 she ends with a holy gesture and a slight bow.

The children replies in excitement and smile.

『 Now that you know who I am, do I have the privilege to learn yours ? 』 she looks around the circle and said 『 Mm, how about we start from here ? 』 she says as she points to one end of the circle 『 Could you introduce yourself to us, little boy ? 』

『 O...Okay 』 The little boy she pointed at seems to be a little shy to speak in front a group of people. 『 M..my na..name ...』 As the little boy nervously gasping for words, several loud screams and angry yells interrupted him.

『 WHERE IS THAT WOMAN IN PINK HAIR ?!』

『 WE KNOW SHE'S HERE !! 』

『 SPEAK !! SPEAK NOW !! OR YOU DIE !!! 』

Several angry yells were carried by the wind and made it's way to the back of the church, the voices frightened the children as the wind float past them.

Irian quickly investigates her surrounding, trying to find a safe spot for the children to hide while she attempting to calm them down.

『 Darn, there is no place for them to hide ! 』 She thinks, with a holy hand gesture 『 O'l Merciful Baro, please watch over these children and spare them from evil... 』

As she was praying to her goddess, a man jumped out of church's rear door.

When the man see her and the group of children, he turns around and yelled back into the church 『 Hey ! She is here !! I found her ! 』 then sprints towards her with an armed bow in his hand.

Irian gasps as she saw the man coming out of the church with weapon in his hand, she turns around and yelled to the children 『 Quickly ! Children ! Hide behind me and crouch on the ground !! No matter what, don't look up !! 』

As the children screams in terror and hides and crouches down, four other men came out of the building and runs towards her, armed of course; While they are running, one of them who looks like the leader of the gang yelled to the man who's half way across the field.

『 Hey ! Christ ! DO NOT APPROACH HER UNTIL WE REGROUP ! 』

『 What, what can this doll like little girl possibly do to me ? 』 Christ turns backwith a smirk on his face, replied with a mocking voice.

『Lorn Sloj'wn Shien Breran...』  a girl's voice made Christ turn around, with a shocked expression on his face.

It was Irian! Her hands are glowing with a bright and warm, reddish-yellow colored light-like orb,  even though sunlight is shining brightly, the glow in her hands could still be seen easily from a distance; Her hands waves mysteriously while her body moves around in a dance-like motion, elegantly, like a swan swimming in a lake.

『...show your light upon this world, concentrate...』 as she sings, the light orb of reddish-yellow that is glowing in her hands become bigger and stronger. 『Purge away the sin, with your light -- an eternal flame...』

The archer, however, is completely shocked by the sight and could only stand there, staring at her hands, even though his companions were shouting to him, tell him to get away, but, still, he can't even move a muscle or make a sound.

『Come ! 』

Irian Said forcefully, as she raises both of her hands high up in the sky and slam them down towards Christ like she is holding something that is very heavy.

『 Searing Light !! 』 

As soon as the phrase was said, sky rumbles a little while the surrounding suddenly become brighter and brighter, the archer, whom has a horrified expression on his face, slowly looks up above him, like he knew something was up there, but he is too afraid to look, as soon as he looked up, he starts screaming.

Above him was a pillar of golden light, that were called down from the sky ! As the pillar of light hits the ground, the earth trembles a little bit then everything returns to normal, expect that archer, of course, his remain stands there, lifelessly, like a piece of charcoal that came straight out of kiln.

The group of men were stunned when they saw the pillar of light, however, the men's leader quickly recovered from the shock and muttered quietly to himself.

『Pfft, Pathetic fool...』

Then, he shouts to the acolyte 『 Hey ! Woman ! We've got them Priests from the church as hostages ! 』 He continues as he approaches her carefully 『 I've poisoned them all ! And I've hidden them antidotes somewhere close !  If you don't want them to die, you've better come with me, peacefully. 』

『 Why?!...Why .. Are you doing this ?! 』 she tries to catch her breath as she replies, looks like the spell she casted earlier winded her badly. 『 What is it that you want ?! 』

『 We know who you are, Waterweaver. 』 the man snickers, then he continues with an evil grin on his face 『 or should I call you Airena Everfount? Hmm? 』

『 WHAT WATERWEAVER?! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT IS !! NOR I KNOW ANYONE BY THE NAME AIRENA EVERFOUNT !!  』  she exclaimed.

『 Please !! leave us be !! You've gotten the wrong person !!』 She pleads as her voice turns into sobbing.

『 Ooooh no. My lady, you see, we've been tracking her foot steps ever when she left the village, and here, is where her last trace of foot steps were and YOU, fits the description perfectly.』 He walks closer and lift her chin up with his hand  『Well, regardless of the hair color, that is. 』  he chuckles and whispers to her ear 『 You waterweavers might be powerful, my lady, but, you just don't have the power to stop us from killing all these... little hostages... hmm ? 』

『 ... 』

she turns around and looked at the group of children 『 Fine... But you will have to promise to leave the childrens alone ! 』 She tries to barter calmly, but the shaking in her voice gave it all away.

『Hah, under this circumstances and you are still trying to barter ? 』 The leader laughs 『Nice! I like you ! Very well, We will leave the children alone! 』 The leader turns around, look at his followers and said 『 You all hear that ? 』

『 Aye ! 』 They all nod in agreement.

『 Alright, Ma'am, shall we ? 』 The leader said to acolyte with a smirk on his face.

She nodded slowly, walked along side of them towards the church, quietly. No one said anything, nor bother to take the time to bury their fallen companion. It's like a dead silence, expect the cool breeze, and the waving of grass.

When the group walked past the church building, Irian stopped and ask 『 Wait! Aren't you going to give the antidote to the priests in the church ?! 』 

The leader shook his head 『 Nope. 』

『 WHAT?! 』

『 Well, You see... 』 leader shrugs 『 Originally, we weren't planning on killing them, BUT ! They are too stubborn, so we had no choice to but to put them down. 』 He says in a way just like people's lives means nothing to him.

『 YOU... YOU MONSTER !! 』 she screamed to them with the fires of anger and tears in her eye. 『 HOW COULD YOU ... 』 just as she is screaming, one of the men who has a scar across his face came up and slapped her across the face.

『 SHUT  ! UP ! BITCH ! 』 He yelled angrily 『 You got lucky that Al let the children live ! By Luthia's Barbed Blade, if it wasn't the order, I would just kill all of you, RIGHT HERE !! 』

She hangs her hand, with one hand holding her slapped cheek, mutter quietly 『 Everyone... is dead... again...』 As she finishes the sentence, a few drops of tear felled to the ground, wetting a few spots of the gravel road. 『 ... Father Laqure, ...Sister Alster, ...Everyone... it's...it's because of me... 』 her quiet voice turns into weep, while more tears dropped onto the gravel road.

『 BITCH! I TOLD YOU TO SHUT THE HELL UP! 』  the scarred man charges over, tries to slap her again, when his hands were just a few inches away from her face, she blocked the his palm by grabbed onto his wrist !

『WHAT THE ?! 』 the scarred man said surprisingly.

She stairs at the group of men, with fierily anger in her eyes, burning, like the lakes of fire in the Redcharred Mountain.   

『 This ends here, Now ! 』 She said calmly as she pushed him back. 『 All these lives, that died because of me, because they were around me... I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN, ANYMORE !  』 at the last word of her sentence, she turns to them, with a sweet, sweet smile on her face, she said 『 As for humans like you, I will make sure you all been sent to the depths of the abyss ! 』

Her speech got interrupted by a muffled gurgling and a sound of a heavy object fell to the ground. The sound came from the scarred man who tried to slap her earlier; His skin turns completely red, as red as someone's having a high fever or drunken by alcohol.

『 Hey ! Urle !  What's wrong ?!  Speak to me !! 』 one of the men crouched down next to him, pushing and asking. 『 By the gods! He's skin is hot !! Like he's on fire !!! 』 He said with a tremble in his voice.

『 YOU! You did this didn't you ?!  WHAT did you do to him ?! 』 The leader subconsciously took a few step back as he points at her with his trembling hand.  『BUT HOW ?! We didn't even see you cast or chant or use anything !! HOW ?!』 He exclaimed.

Irian placed her hand on her breast 『 Me ? but I didn't do anything to him.』 she replied with a mischief expression on her face as she giggles 『 But, I do admit, I did do something to the water in his body. 』

『 Argh ~~!!! 』 Urle screamed in pain and suffering as his body smolders with steam.

『...It's great that you are all part of the order that is responsible of destroying my home town...』 She said slowly, with no emotion attached to her voice as she held her hands up to the level of her shoulder,  like she is holding an invisible orb.

『 ...So, I don't need to hold back when I am dealing with the likes of you ... 』 While she is speaking, her dark long hair slowly creeps up from her waist onto her shoulder, float like water, thru her left arm into the center of her hand; As her hair creeps, the color of her dark, long hair starting to shift, from the base of the hair to the tip, slowly, turning pink; A few seconds after, she had a black, inky orb hovering on her hand, while all of her hair turned into a bright, pink color.

『 BY GOD ! 』 The leader got startled by the sight, he takes another step back and said 『 What in the name of shadowy serpent ...STOP HER !! STOP HER !!』 As he screams, all the men charges towards her with their weapons on hand.

『...humph, like moth flying towards candle light... 』  she mumbles while she touches the inky orb with her right index and middle finger, then, she elegantly waved her right hand in front of her, like an arc; As soon as her finger left the surface of the inky orb, two strips of water shoots out from the orb; Following her finger like two dark, velvet ribbon.

 『 Be grateful, scums, today, you all have the privilege to witness the beauty of "water dancing"』 she says like a show girl.

While Irian was speaking, one of the men already made his way in front of her; Swinging his weapon high up above his head, preparing for a strike. 『 NO! WATER WITCH ! IT'S YOU, WHOM SHALL FALL !  OHAAAAA!! 』 He let loose a fierce bestial roar as his bastard sword coming down on her.

『 Kong~~~!! 』 The gravels burst away from the road surface when the blade hits and digs into the road; A loud, metal clang rings and echoes across the field. That strike, certainly packed a lot of power, sadly, only if it didn't miss.

A second after she ducked away from the sword's strike, she stands on her toe and waves her finger as if she is drawing something with the strips of water; As more men made their way close, she lets off a sudden jump with her feet, circling , twirling around with two strips of water, it looks like her is dancing with ribbons on her hands.

While she dances, everyone in the vicinity just froze, almost like they are statues made of flesh, the only thing that moves is Irian and her strips of water...

...When she bows elegantly to her "audiences" as she performed the "closing move", the orb of water on her left hand is no longer inky black, instead, it takes the color of dark red.

『 Once again...These hands, is covered in red...』 She sighs as she toss the orb of water to the side of the road, into the grass, then, she turns around and walk back to where the childrens were hiding; As for her "audiences" they falls apart into slices of meat chips as another breeze blow thru the field.

『 Is everyone alright ? 』 She asked, after she gathered all the children around her.

『 Yes, Sister Irian. 』 One of the children replied calmly, but , traces of fear could easily be seen in the depth of his eyes.

『 I am sorry things turn out this way and I am sorry that we won't be able to learn the way of the light in this harvesting season. 』  She said sadly.

『 Now, Would you all go home and tell your parents that all the priests in this church of Baro were summoned for an emergency meeting ? 』 After a few second pause, she adds 『 And, I am so sorry that everyone has to go thru all these... May Baro's Light guide your path. 』

『 Oh! Sister Irian ! Sister Irian ! I have a qustion !』 One of the little girl jumped up from where she sits, waving her hands.

『 Ya ? 』

『 Why is your hair color pink ?』....

... the story written on her diary pretty much ends here, Nothing further were written on rest of the pages, I guess that's where she lost the book.. And somehow, I found her diary in a pile of rubble in an old camp site...

This Temple sure is busy... I've been here sitting on the bench in the hall for hours, and still, I haven't even got the change to see either a priest or a priestess to give me my blessings.

Just as I sitting on the bench, propped my head on my hands, staring at the floor, a few strings of hair dangled into my sight, by the length of the hair, I assumed this person is a female.

For a few second, I was surprised. Someone was standing next to me !! And after all these years of experience in adventuring, I couldn't even possibility sense her ! With out showing any traces of my emotion, I calm myself down. If they wanted to harm me, they already had the chance, they don't have to wait until now.... I think

『 Sir ? 』 A female's voice caught my ear, I pretend to be lost in my thoughts that I couldn't even hear her.

『 Sir ? Are you alright ? 』 She asked again, this time her voice sounds worried, while she's speaking, she placed her palm on my shoulder, rocking me, gently.

Now I am sure she didn't have any negative intension in her thoughts, so , I looked up from the floor.

『 Huh ? Oh, I am sorry, Ma'a....』  I replied, following my plan, pretending to be lost in my thoughts, but, the sight, in front of my eyes, made my tough frozen...

It was a young and beautiful lady standing before me...

and Her pink hair...

it's just like the diary describes....　

I can't even mutter out a word, or even make a sound...

Was it because I was surprised by her ?

No, maybe not...

Or Maybe, I was stunned by this young woman's glamorous beauty ...

Or Maybe, I finally found what destiny has promised to me, long ago ...

The End