Jena, Ranger of Atlantis

Jena wanted to be a warrior.  Not just any backyard, common pickle stabbing punch out warrior, but one of unique talents.  She was a brown race Atlantean, of the northern province of Ibu, the flower saturated paradise that featured the lizard race, which were far more challenging enemies than the many colored human races.

There were plenty of life roles available, even to the  brown race, and not many of them wanted to be a warrior.  Most careers were fairly specific things like research, historian, food producers, crafting handles for bean pots and that.  The warriors were multi-task roles, very demanding.  They had to learn how to live off the land, for example.  No pastries or pillows for these pointy folks.  No comfy beds or entertainment centers.  No transport devices or gold fringed royal robes.  No slow mush-like chatter down at the markets, or twisty limericks at the taverns.  Warriors were mostly loners,  proud folks of either sex, who were wizards of defeat.  Warlords of win. 

This was a long time ago.  Jena lived about 65,000 years ago.  From us.  She knows that now.  Back then, there was discussion on the matter of time, but everyone always returned to the subject at hand and forgot about time.  It was very linear, like it is for us.  One thing happened before another, and so one, until there was a crises moment, or spark of ecstasy that marked the passage of time.  There was almost always a goal to reach, a job to finish, and a new beginning for everyone.  It was a pretty tight arrangement.  Everyone did something that would eventually cause someone else to do something, and this involved animals, objects, plants and all.  There was win and lose, and everyone got to experience both.

Jena didn’t get along with very many people.  She was too quick to disagree or find fault.  Snappy.  She was also too young.  Many other people thought of her as just a kid, until they saw her fight lizards.  We might call her just another kid today.  Until we saw her fight lizards, or make a meal out of slimy stinky plants.  She could also run like the wind, nothing could catch her.  Leap and bound, fly around, some people though she was using sorcery to move so fast.  She used to think it was her special boots, or various magic necklaces she sometimes wore, but actually she just moved fast.  Muscle tone and all that.  The fastest thing about her was her tiny squinty eyes.  These little black orbs were just lightening, it made some people dizzy to look in there and see these.  It was hard to talk to her,  because of these flashing little eyes.  Many people would look away.  Her face could be a rocky  block of no motion, until you saw these eyeball electrons in a blur of spin.  Even the lizards avoided the gaze..

The lizard problem was a big deal back then.  A source of worry for everyone. The north part of the continent supported a circus of lizard types, there were many different kinds.  Tiny imps that could fit on your finger, up to the big dinosaur types that kids like.  The really big ones were actually raised and used as a kind of jungle clearing device.  The manure was used in gardens, and the oral part of the dino was used to consume unwanted jungle plants.  Sometimes people rode them around for fun, although this was much slower than the transport devices.

It was the wild, medium sized lizards that were the problem.  They were pretty fast.  They weren’t against humans, by nature, but when they focused on them, they could be very predatory.  They sometimes formed large herds and invaded costal areas, and could turn carnivorous for the two legged..  There were armies and militias of people who dealt with this, but they never left the cities to hunt the lizards out.  They didn’t take time to learn about them or know their habits, they just pounded away at the lizards during these invasions.  The main distinction between warriors like Jena, and these urban defenders was fear.  The armies and police groups feared the lizards, and fought them with the kind of vengeance that comes from fear.  Jena feared these police groups more than the lizards, and she avoided them more than the reptoids.  This meant a lot of time out of town.  That suited everyone perfectly.  This little stone tornado with her dagger eyes was out in the mountains whapping lizards, and the cities could adjust their cultivated tastes and entertainments for long periods of time.