There is a legend many centuries old that tells of a legendary warrior. A woman of great courage and power who helped the men and women of her land and left an unforgettable mark on the world she lived in. She was known as Kaleva. Legend will call her She-Who-Rends.
The sun rose over the land of Chalcis. It was a day like any other. The men and women of the land woke up and went about their daily business. Today, deals would be made. Marriages will be done and children will be born. People will fall in love. People will die. Today was a different day only in one regard.
A woman was visited by a man last night. Nightly visits are nothing unusual. The only unusual thing was the nature of the man who visited the woman. He was not a man at all. Rather, he was one of those things that take human form to walk the earth. One of those things that are older than humanity itself. That thing took the form of a man named Morbius. Morbius was a man well-known to the woman. The woman's name was Kala and she was betrothed to the real Morbius. The thing that assumed Morbius's form and seduced her left her pregnant with its child. Kala would give birth to a child nine months later. The child was named Kaleva.
Kaleva would be raised as the daughter of Morbius, one of the princes of the Chalcian kingdom and Kala, his beloved wife. She was different than all other people on the planet in that her father was not human. She was half human and half something else. Something unknown. Something old and powerful. Kaleva grew up as would any human being. She did not look any different from any other ordinary person in the land of Chalcis. Her supernatural origin was not something that people could see. She was the first child of Kala. Two years after the birth of Kaleva, Kala and Morbius had another child. A male child named Teucros. Teucros stood to inherit all the wealth and power of the House of Morbius when he reached adulthood. He was the son of a wealthy and powerful man. In those days, daughters were not given the power of a House. Female children were married off to so-called suitable matches. This was not fair. Not fair at all. Kaleva knew this as she grew up in Chalcis.
Kaleva never knew that she was not exactly ordinary until she was twelve years old. Someone set fire to the palace in which the Morbius family resided. Kaleva was asleep in her chambers that she shared with her little brother Teucros. The flames had reached far into the palace and all exits were blocked. The young girl woke up and saw the smoke and flames. She looked about and saw that there were no other adults around. She looked at her little brother and saw that he was sleeping. She reached out and woke him up. Upon seeing the flames, he panicked and shouted for his mother and father.
He started crying. Kaleva tried to calm him down but he ran and hit his head against a wall. She looked at her unconscious little brother. There he was, just lying there. Exposed. Dangerously close to the flames. She took him into her small arms and was able to carry him through the chambers. She looked for the exits but there were flames everywhere. She looked outside a window. It was a long way down. Kaleva ran down the stairs with her precious burden in her arms and made it down.
Kaleva made it down many flights of stairs. One thing that the young girl noticed as she walked down was that the flames could not hurt her. Several times flames jutted out in front of her and yet she remained unharmed. She was unhurt. Her little brother didn't suffer any harm because he was shielded by her body. Kaleva told no one about this incident. When she handed her little brother safe and sound to her parents, they looked at her strangely. Kaleva thought it strange that her parents had made it down without concerning themselves much for the welfare of their children.
Still, she was a young girl who had just survived what could only be called a terrifying ordeal and as such, she did not give the matter much thought. Kaleva did not know what to think of her ability to survive the flames unscathed. She grew curious but did not really give the matter a lot of thought. She had been raised to think that people of royal blood were better than ordinary people and those were tales that she half believed herself. It occured to her that she might be really different from those around her but what the difference might be was something she could not figure out.
Six years later....
Kaleva is now eighteen years old. She is a rather ordinary-looking young woman. She is no great beauty but is set apart from other people because of her height. She stands six feet two inches tall. Her hair is long and black. Her eyes are a pale blue. Her skin is light bronze. She has a hard, athletic body from the activities that she enjoyed in her earlier years. She did not enjoy knitting or making quilts or painting like many women did but she liked riding horses and guarding the sheep in the hills. This was a young woman whose days were spent at the beach. She liked swimming and loved the water very much. She liked hanging out with an equally wild friend.
Her best friend was Nikita, a young woman her own age. Nikita was the daughter of Patricius, a Chalcian general. The general's daughter was a wild young woman. She was almost as tall as Kaleva, but had blonde hair and green eyes. Like Kaleva, Nikita enjoyed riding horses, guarding goats and sheep and of course, swimming in the sea. The two had been best friends since they were in their early teens. Presently, they were at the beach......
Kaleva lay on a blanket that she had thrown on the hot sand. She lay there, under a tree. She was resting a bit. She had just climbed a tree and chugged down two coconuts. She just lay there. She could hear the sound of the waves and the strange sounds made by her friend Nikita as Nikita attempted to imitate the cries of various marine animals.
"Would you stop it?" Kaleva called out.
"What?" came Nikita's reply.
Kaleva got up and looked at Nikita. The girl was standing in knee-deep water. She was acting like a fool, as usual. Kaleva walked up to her and grabbed the beautiful blonde girl by the shoulders.
"Quit making noises, I'm trying to sleep."
Nikita looked at Kaleva. She smiled naughtily and nodded. Kaleva turned and headed back to the beach. Nikita suddenly jumped on her back. Nikita's attack caught Kaleva by surprise. The blonde girl put her arms around Kaleva's neck and tackled her by twisting her foot between Kaleva's legs. Kaleva cried out as Nikita sent her falling in the water. The two young women struggled in the water and for a moment their two athletic bodies enlaced and embraced in a strange fight. Kaleva pushed Nikita back but Nikita held on.
"Let go of me." Kaleva cried out.
"Not a chance in hell." Nikita laughed.
Kaleva struggled against her opponent. They were roughly the same size but Nikita was a bit stockier and had more upper body strength. Nikita knew this and she smirked as Kaleva attempted to push her off. Kaleva glared at the young woman and the sight of that smirk pissed her off.
She closed her eyes....and then....she pushed. When Kaleva opened her eyes, she heard a surprise scream. Nikita was thrown back across almost twenty feet. She landed in the deeper water....and screamed. Kaleva looked at her friend, surprised that she was so far away. The brunette looked at her two hands in disbelief. She was surprised at the strength that she was able to find there.
Nikita stood in the water, looking at Kaleva with disbelief...
"What the hell was that?" she asked.
Kaleva said nothing, and the two of them walked out of the water in silence. They went to their blankets under the tree. They didn't talk about what happened for the remainder of the day, although Kaleva apologized extensively.
"I didn't mean to hurt you, Nikita. I love you."
Kaleva and Nikita went back home that day. It was one of those interesting summer days. They promised to see each other the next day. It so happened that they didn't see each other for a week. Kaleva missed Nikita sorely. Finally, she saw Nikita a week later. They went deep into the woods where Nikita told Kaleva something tragic and unexpected.
