Awakened Wojira and Trouble

Mira lived in a calm and friendly village at the edge of a lush, green and still forest. It was a place where nothing interesting happened, and a place where people carried out the same monotonous routine every day. Mira spent her days collecting wood for the warm and homey fire, and fishing. Her life was predictable, not adventurous or thrilling, but at least it was safe, which is what she thought until Wojira struck.

One fine morning, she jumped out of bed, startled by the chaos spreading like wildfire outside. She stumbled out of her home, her eyes still crusty, to the muscular wind assisting her dark, brown hair to slap her face. This kind of wind was abnormal to the people of her village and was surely concerning.

Suddenly, a tremor shook the very ground.

Her slender body started to sweat buckets as her heart tried to leap out of her chest. Mira noticed the elders of the village gathering round and hopelessly trying to silence the people of the village. They had a long conversation before finally announcing that the mighty Wojira had been awoken from her deep slumber. The villagers didn't need any more shushing, that was for sure.

They then announced that one person was needed to represent the village to ask for forgiveness from Wojira.

The crowd looked away, and completely avoided eye contact. Mira was stunned. Speechless. The elders searched for the perfect hero and locked eyes with Mira, who had trouble being able to fathom the severity of this issue. She didn't even notice the elders pointing at her and mumbling since she was in such deep thought.

She finally noticed when the entire village turned to her, their eyes burning with curiosity about what she might say. Mira simply blinked, her heart slumping into her boots at realisation. Her feet were rooted to the spot, and her mouth, sealed, allowing awkward silence into the scene.

That night, she lay in bed, defeated and sobbing hard. The stars she often looked up to and imagined as her parents were missing too. She tried to imagine life going back to normal, but 'normal' had already cracked and shattered into a million pieces.

At the break of dawn, she went out for a stroll, maybe her last ever. She breathed in the fresh air, which had a hint of the smell of breakfast cooking. Her heart yearned and pleaded to stay and to stay out of danger, but here she was, in a position where death was close to certain.

"In the bushes, she found a man, silently staring at her. She took slow and cautious steps towards him as he emerged out of the darkness.

"Mira, my name is Ruben. Glad to see you before your impending doom," he quipped, not a bit of empathy in his voice, " Hey, I just wanted to give you this compass. It guided the previous explorer. He didn't make it, but maybe you will."

She yanked it out of his hand, still sensitive from the dry humour, and examined it. She immediately noticed a familiar glow around it. The glow she sensed around her parents. Regardless, she slipped it into her pocket and left, flicking her hair onto his face.

After her little visit, she started packing for her journey. She packed lightly and left home with millions of negative thoughts lingering in her mind. She decided not to say goodbye to anyone, hoping that that would make her departure slightly bearable. As she approached the village border, she had one last glance at her home. Cozy and warm, receiving volumes of sunlight, amidst the evergreen and towering trees, tall and protective. She sighed and turned around, taking her first step, for her journey had just begun.