Third Person POV

"there should be a river here... right here....no here! Huh? Wh- where is it?"(Reiko)

Cocking up and down, she looked at the map and the shrub ahead. 

"i- i think we are lost..."(Reiko)

Reiko softly murmured.

"That's fine,"(Cheryl)

She said with a smile and her hand on the latter's head.

"You know what? Let's continue tomorrow and take a break, after all it's getting late."(Cheryl)

"okay...."(Reiko)

Cheryl got a couple branches and formed a fire place. Reiko took in a deep breath, small orangish sparks formed in her hand and shot out to the branches. Embers reflected off of her eyes, crackling in the cold night. 

Cheryl brought some fruit and gave it to Reiko. A warm smile formed in her face as her teeth sunk into the juicy fruit.

"yummy..."(Reiko)

Time passed like a gentle breeze, Reiko's eyelids became heavy, a yawn escaped her mouth. Lying on the ghost, she soundly fell asleep.

"goodnight Reiko."(Cheryl)

---

Walking down paths, jumping over logs and running through small streams, Reiko quickly found herself lost.

"wh- where are we!"(Reiko)

Reiko cried, holding her head and shaking it side to side. Her face was like a red tomato and her eyes were nothing but white dots. 

"Hey, hey, it's going to be alright, don't be scared."(Cheryl)

Cheryl bended down to Reiko's level to try to comfort her.

As the ordeal was happening, they heard multiple stamping noises in the background. The sound drew ever so closer until it was loud enough that an old man with hearing problems could hear it. 

Suddenly, a carriage lead by two horses burst out of the the bushes, before losing control and crashing into a tall, mighty oak. Reiko and Cheryl were left in nothing but confusion, but before they could process anything, a herd of raptor like creatures jumped out. 

There were about five, no.... nine of them. Their mouth slightly opened to show their sharp, needle-like teeth and tongues drenched in saliva. 

The wheels were destroyed, leaving the carriage no way to escape. The driver was sweating buckets and shook like there was an earthquake. 

Bird-like talons hooked into the dirt, the creatures' jaw unhinging. They slowly approached the carriage, their claws about to swing. 

"H- HEY! K- KID, get help n- now!"(driver)

The driver's eyes bugged out as he yelled for help. Blank, dead-like eyes peered, closing in ever so closely. Reiko was frozen solid from confusion, nothing had truly sunk into her head. But she did not have time to hesitate. 

The reptiles leapt at the carriage, mouth wide open, revealing the sharpened teeth. 

At that moment, Reiko hurried, without thinking. Mana gathered in her hands as she rushed and tripped to get closer. Orange sparks formulated and exploded from her hand. 

The fire was a snake slithering towards the animals. Vermillion ate them up in an instant, the yellow and greenish scales becoming pitch black. 

A sigh escaped Reiko's mouth a single bead of sweat running down the side of her head. She took the moment to recuperate and stared at the carriage. It was a humble carriage, made of wood, with a cloth like material shielding the passengers inside from the rain and sun. The driver was wearing a bone-white newsboy hat, and a robe? dress? of the same colour. He had a brown sash around around his belly and to finish it off, he wore khaki long pants and large thick goggles. 

Suddenly, out came a little yellow ball from the carriage and quickly disappeared. The young man left his seat and approached the white haired girl. 

"Thank you miss, I didn't think you were capable of dealing with such creatures, but nonetheless thank you."(driver)

The driver took off his cap and place it on his chest and hung his head, as if he was at a funeral.

'wh- what is going ON!? Is this supposed to be a threat? Didn't I help them? No wait he said he was thankful, then, then... huh?'(Reiko's thought)

Reiko was confused and didn't notice the two protruding bunny ears on his head. 

"My name is Tofu, I am escorting Ms. Moume and Kamoume, it's very nice to meet you."(Tofu)

"uhm... it's n- nice to meet you too..."(Reiko)

"Oh my, what do we have here?"(Woman)

A tall, blond woman exited the carriage. She wore robe, dress thing like Tofu, except it was adorned by red flower patterns. Her sash was deep rose red. Her eyes were a deep sea blue and she held a small handbag with her delicate hand. There was a beautiful, purple gem on the necklace she wore. To finish it off, she had two protruding, mountain lion ears and a long, slender tail. 

"Ah, Ms. Moume, this is the person who saved us from the walliopters"(Tofu)

"Is she? Seems a bit too young to use weapons."(Moume)

"Miss, she wields the power of nature miss!"(Tofu)

At that moment, Moume's eyes widened and glowed, her hand on her mouth.

"Really? It's not often we see someone like her!"(Moume)

"Say, little lady, what is your name?"(Moume)

"it's.. Reiko... Ms. Moume..."(Reiko)

"no need to be so afraid!"(Moume)

As Moume said it, Tofu was inspecting the carriage.

"Ms. Moume, the carriage on a whole is undamaged, but it may take a while to fix the wheels."(Tofu)

"Then we will set camp here for the day."(Moume)

"Understood."(Tofu)

The tall woman went to the broken vehicle and yelled out.

"Sweetie! Come outside, we are setting camp here today!"(Moume)

A yellow ball blasted out and tackled the animalistic woman. She was like a chibi version of Moume, with large blue eyes and messy blond hair. 

She bounced up and down a wide smile on her face.

"OKAY!"(the child)

As she said that, the sight of the white haired girl caught her eye. Moving like the wind, she appeared right in front of Reiko.

"HI! My name is Kamoume! What's yours?"(Kamoume)

"it's... uhm, R- reiko...."(Reiko)

"HI um Ruh Reiko!"(Kamoume)

Kamoume said pulling Reiko into a tight hug causing Moume to chuckle.

"She's the one to kill the walliopters, you know."(Moume)

"REALLY!"(Kamoume)

Kamoume's world lit up as her hug tightened making it hard to breathe. Reiko turned purple; her feet no longer touching the girl.

'how strong is this girl...'(Reiko's Thoughts)

"You must be like really strong! Hey wanna go play while momma and four eye man do work!"(Kamoume)

"Now now honey, Reiko has her own things to do. So let her go."(Moume)

Kamoume's cheeks puffed up like a balloon. Her tongue stuck out and she made raspberry. 

"No!"(Moume)

"Kamoume."(Moume)

"urghhh... ok..."(Kamoume)

Kamoume's emotion made a complete 180 as she let Reiko go. She balled her fist; face becoming wrinkled with anger. 

"That's a good girl, now, Reiko, where are your parents? Why are you all alone here?"(Moume)

Reiko's head turned to the left, sweat trickling. 

"I don't... really.... have parents."(Reiko)

"I see... are you lost? Is there anyway we can help?"(Moume)

"I am lost... I don't really know where I am going either..."(Reiko)

"Then, would you like to go with us? We are going P'horruki village."(Moume)

"y- yes please... thank you..."(Reiko)

"No need to thank me, after all you did save us a few minutes ago, now wait here while we go set camp."(Moume)

"Mommy? Does that mean I can play with Reiko?"(Kamoume)

"If she is fine with it, then you can."(Moume)

Kamoume's head quickly turned to her. She made puppy dog eyes and said

"Please~!"(Kamoume)

Reiko was stuck in a sticky situation. Just how does she get out of here? It wouldn't hurt to play with her for a bit, she thought.

"s- sure.."(Reiko)

"YAY!"(Kamoume)

Kamoume clenched onto Reiko's arm and dashed away into the bushes.

"Don't go too far!"(Moume)

"OK!"(Kamoume)

And thus Reiko was dragged away.

"The acorns are flying!"(Kamoume)

Barrage of acorns were flying down from the giant tree, heading straight to Reiko, who, was desperately trying to catch them all. 

"How many did you get?"(Kamoume)

Kamoume said as she jumped from the branches and landed on the grass. 

"two..."(Reiko)

"That's ok, not everyone is as good as acorn catching as big sister Kamoume!"(Kamoume)

"I- I'm older..."(Reiko)

"hahaha! You're funny."(Kamoume)

Kamoume chuckled before biting into the acorn.

"What do you wanna do now?"(Kamoume)

She said with a mouth full of acorns.

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"(Reiko)

"don't know."(Kamoume)

...

"Oh wait, I know, I heard momma say you have the power of the nature, can you show me it?"(Kamoume)

"I don't think I understand what you mean..."(Reiko)

"huh? You're strange. You know power of the nature, like you know, making a flower appear from the ground."(Kamoume)

"do you mean this?"(Reiko)

A small ember formed on Reiko's hand with the wide-eyed 10 year old watching.

"That's so coool!!! You're amazing!"(Kamoume)

"hehe, thank you..."(Reiko)

Reiko blushed resembling a matryoshka doll. Her hand was scratching her platinum hair.

"thanks..."(Reiko)

"Can you do more?"(Kamoume)

"not really..."(Reiko)

There was a slight frown on Kamoume's face but it soon was erased. The fire reformed twisted and turned to the little girl's amazement. Her smile was as wide as the ocean horizon and her blue eyes twinkled like the night sky. 

The flames danced uncontrollably, encircling the two. Reiko's mouth opened her brows lowering in uncertainty. She had pushed too much. Kamoume was still wide eyed, not knowing how much danger she was in. The flames grew larger and hungrier, swirling quickly like a blistering wind.

She messed up.

Now she backed away, trying to tale back control. She overestimated her abilities and now she was about to cooked alive. Her feet planted to he ground and she closed her eyes. Almost like magic, the flames suddenly disappeared. Her ears perked as she opened her eyes gradually, only to see a disappointed brown haired woman.

"Reiko, I am not happy with this."(Cheryl)

Reiko instantly retreated into her clothes like a turtle.

"I- i'm sorry..."(Reiko)

Cheryl's face was stern, her arms crossed.

"If I wasn't here to blow the flames away, you could've hurt yourself."(Cheryl)

Reiko cornered herself, becoming as small as possible. She has no way to refute nor did she have a way to escape.

"Um, excuse me, miss who are you?"(Kamoume)

"Oh, well, I am the spirit binded to Reiko's necklace."(Cheryl)

"Are you her guardian angel?"(Kamoume)

"Well, yes, you can say it like that."(Cheryl)

"REALLY! THAT'S SOOOO COOL!"(Kamoume)

Yet again, Kamoume's eyes sparkled like a jewel while she bounced up and down.

"Oh, aren't you cute~!"(Cheryl)

She said as she pinched Kamoume's cheeks, completely forgetting why she cam out for.

"Now, don't tell anyone or else I'll disappear!"(Cheryl)

"Ok!"(Kamoume)

Time marched on, waiting for no one. The soft blue in the sky darkening into the tranquil navy. Fire crackled and cooked the sizzling meal. Reiko and Kamoume's cheeks stuffed to the brim with food.

Eyes heavy, they all peacefully slept. A lot of things happened in a day, she was ready for the new adventure that awaits. However, they were not alone, she will meet someone, whom she will never forget, very soon.