PREFACE
She lay on her bed, with her hair fanned across her pillow staring into the moonlight. Mystery and loss defined her life... Buaji was all she had. Parents and sister were both gone in car crash, and she hadn't seen her parents EVER. She simply did not seem to have a memory of them, and her Buaji had no photos. Buaji had said that in a fit of despair at the loss, she had burnt every single memory she had had of her Mother and Father. She had wondered how she was only one who survived that accident... Fourteen years had gone by, but it still strangely felt like only few years had passed since her unanswered questions had risen. She turned her back to the moon, glancing at her shimmering back.
A tatto ran intricately from the small of her back and creeped onto the nape of her neck. A red flame exactly on the small of her back engulfed by a blue wave with a trident emerging from it ran till her left shoulder. The wave crashed into a green vine which extended nto her right shoulder and changed into grey swirls. The wave and vine formed a V, leaving a part of her skin pale, creamy and untouched.
She did not even remember when she had gotten that done, and when she had asked Buaji, Buaji had said "Tumre bachpan mein Nandkisore!"(In you childhood Nandkisore!) and thats where the conversation had ended.
The tatto had never failed to mesmerize her...It was beautiful, and it glowed in moonlight, giving it some kind of divine look. She absent-mindedly rubbed the tatto that crept on her shoulder, and fell asleep to the patter of rain that had started...
-ELSEWHERE-
The room was dimly lit with purple fire and there were only two men in the room. One was a bearded man, with a frail build and the other was a well-built man with hard-features. He looked at the wizened old man, and asked him "I am ready for my assignment."
"Well. Alright." The old man said.
He began to chant in a raspy voice.
"Renaissance Warrior is ready for the hunt, on the Night of this full moon.
To our ancient masters these age old words I croon.
Show us your will, the face of thy next prey
Which Daughter of the Elements, must this time we slay."
A dim light filled the hall, and a mist swirled into existence. After shimmering for a moment, the image of a woman flickered to life. "This is your prey Arnav."
Arnav looked at the image. The image of a sleeping woman, her silky tresses fanned across the pillow bathed in the moonlight. Her eyes opened ever so slightly, apparently awoken from a dream. Her hazel eyes scanned the room in panic, sweat dripping from her eyebrows. Had she sensed them? He wondered surprised... Even Vikram Sir looked surprised, and shocking both of them, those deep hazel eyes looked right at them.
Vikram waved a hand, and the mist disappeared. "She is different..." Vikram muttered.
Daughter of the Elements... Arnav thought. How he hated them. His sole purpose for joining Renaissance Warriors was for revenge... Revenge for everything he had lost...
"You DO know the consequences of failure?" Vikram asked.
Arnav nodded. "Death through the Renaissance Energy."
He walked away with a determined gaze, unconcious of the memories those eyes had made to resurface...