The night was in a battle with the Earth, thunder and lightning cohabiting the sky. Before the midnight hour struck, death strolled through the village of Nami, setting its eyes on a small shack made out of shabby timber and compressed straw. Inside, a girl in all-black clothing prepares a rice soup for her mother, the heat of the bowl teasing her cold hands. After prepping the food, she struggled to look for the medicine she saw her mother take every day, with each day worse than the last. Suddenly, her mother’s low-toned and desperate voice snapped her back to the moment. 

“Kurami, please hurry.”

Kurami remembered that the medicine wouldn’t be necessary anymore, tears streaming down her face as she relaxed her arms from reaching. She picked up the plate with the soup and ice-cold water and brought it to her mother. Inside, the doctor, nurse, and village leader sat. As Kurami stepped in, they seemed to slightly disperse from amongst themselves, the whispering quickly stopping. Kurami’s mother sat upright, and Kurami placed the food on her lap. Not being able to feed herself due to spasms, Kurami helped feed her mother while the others in the room began to talk. 

“This may be a bad time, but I believe we should talk about the owning and passing down of materials.” said the doctor, fixing his glasses and looking at Kurami’s mother while speaking.

“I already told you-” Kurami’s mother clutched her stomach and winched, her face the appearance of pain. She told Kurami to help her explain what she meant through a look from her eyes. Kurami placed the spoon in the bowl and looked at the doctor with a serious gaze. 

“I am now the owner of my mother's belongings, her wealth and properties. In about two days, my grandfather will come and take me under his guardianship until I’m eighteen. If you still don't understand, he’ll speak further with you tomorrow once he arrives.”

The village leader gave a glare that Kurami could make out, even under the dark shadow that he was under. 

“Village leader Dean, Nurse Tram, and Dr. Pho, I thank you for everything and the support you’ve provided for me and my mother.”

Kurami looked at her mother as her eyes drifted into death’s wonderland. With, the lasting, dire, pleading energy she had left, she asked all but her daughter in the room to leave. Once they left, Kurami broke down into tears, sobbing with snot flowing from her nose. Kurami’s mother clasped her hand on Kurami’s cheek.

“My dear, you will do great things. Never look back, keep looking forward to

 the future.” 

Suddenly, Kurami’s mother frowned her face in a serious fold, staring straight into Kurami’s eyes. Kurami stopped crying and developed a surprised look on her face. 

“You must follow the path of the book. Never! And I mean never let it get into the wrong hands. I trust you.” 

Kurami’s mother's face softened back up. Her eyes fluttered as she lay on the bed. 

“My one and only child, continue the legacy of the Trenton, and discover what's never been seen before.”

Kurami wiped her tears and she left her deceased mother in the bed. She stood up and straightened her pearl-colored blouse. She took a deep breath, kissed her mother on the forehead, and opened the door. 

Dean grabbed Kurami by the arm, threw her against the floor, and slammed the door shut. Kurami hit the floor, her head slightly bleeding from the impact. Her vision went fuzzy, then cleared as she saw Doctor Pho holding a gun between her eyes. He held a devious, evil-filled emotion within his eyes like the devil was destined to come out. 

“You’re going to give us the book, then you're going to disappear into the forest.”

Doctor Pho said this while, clutching the gun and being stern with his voice. Kurami’s chest was pounding heavy, her breathing rapid and uncontrolled, while trying to contain spazzing out. 

“What are you going to do if I don’t? That book is mine given to me by my mother!”

“You bi-”

“Wait!” the nurse shouted at the doctor before he could say or do anything else. She grabbed the end of the gun and shifted it away from Kurami’s face. 

“Her grandfather is arriving tomorrow, and if she is seen with any more bruises or isn’t seen at all, he will come to the high positions of power first. Leave her here, and when she comes of age to search for the treasure, we’ll be there.”

All three of the assaulters gathered their materials and left Kurami on the floor. Kurami struggled to stand up and found some bandages to patch up her bleeding spot in the bathroom of the little shabby village house. In the bathroom, she stood under the flickering light of the hanging bathroom, hearing the storm settle outside the perpendicular window. She was a little surprised the house withstood the storm, which had seemed to take down a few mangroves outside. The tan interior of the house is what she knew for about five years after her mother completed the sapphire mission for the business. The business and its importance were one that she and her mother had in common. They both knew what would happen if the book fell into the wrong hands, used for evil instead of its intended archeological intentions. 

Finishing patching herself up, Kurami got a message from her Nokia. It was from Solia, also a partner of the business, to meet at the beach around 11 o’clock. Solia was two years older than Kurami and had already completed her first mission, the ruby mission. Each partner had to begin with the ruby mission, an entry-level test administered by the business. 

Kumari got dressed to go outside but stopped in front of the door to her mothers room. She closed her eyes and visioned times when her mother guided them on tours in other countries, venturing off into the deep Amazonian forest or through the tundra of the dry north. As she walked out the door, the tears she tried to hold back ended up flowing down her dark brown-skinned cheek and into puddles of mud. 

On the beach, Solia sat on a grey rock under a palm tree. The all-black attire she had on blended with the shadows of the dark night to give it a grey hue. Kurami appeared from before the trees and sat beside Solia, both staring into the ocean and listening to the lullaby of the waves. 

“How is your mother doing?” Solia asked, still keeping eye contact with the waves. 

“She passed a few hours ago.”

“Sorry to hear.”

“Why are you here? Do you need something from me just like the others? Ready to steal anything I have left?”

Solia quickly turned her head towards Kumari, causing Kumari to do the exact same to Solia. They both looked at each other for what seemed like a thousand seconds. Neither one blinked, and Kumari squelched her throat, causing it to dry up as she tried not to gush tears out of her eyes. Being the first to break eye contact, Kumari apologized for lashing out and explained with a melancholic tone what had occurred between her and the members of the village. Kurami’s hand, resting on her knee, was met with a warm embrace from Solia’s hand. At this moment, Kurami couldn’t keep it in anymore. She rested her head on Solia’s shoulder and cried as the moon watched and the beach sung.