Azuena's Epic Quest

The rain was falling harder now, and lightning flashed across the sky. Azuena could barely see in front of her, but she knew the way well enough to keep going. She had grown up in this forest. Her father had been a lumberjack, and he had taught her everything he knew about being one as well. He'd told her stories about Brazil's past too, from before it became a colony of Spain. Azuena knew that there were once sertes here, towns where people lived together, working the land. She also knew better than to get lost in the rain; it would be the end for sure if she did.

Her thoughts turned to her friends and family back at home. Her mother would be wondering where she was, even though she knew what Azuena was doing today, why she was out here in the forest so late in the day. Her father, who had died some years ago of a chest disease, would have wanted Azuena to be with him at work right now; he always loved being out in the forest with her. And Polka…he would be worrying too, but he'd probably tell her off for running off without telling anyone. It was certainly a trait that all three of them shared; they did what they wanted when they wanted and damn anyone who got in their way. That was why all four of them had ended up living outside the city together, on its outskirts – because none of them could stand living under someone else's rules.

A city never seemed like the right place for them either; they were all born on farms, or in villages not far away from one at least. They didn't realise until later just how different they were from everyone else around them; they just went about their business as normal farmers' kids did. But then one day, when they were still young adults and starting out as adults themselves, something happened that made them realise that things weren't quite right after all.

It was around harvest time when they found out that their crops were dying mysteriously – dying a little more every day, until there was nothing left to harvest at all for the winter months ahead of them. That's when Polka finally couldn't stand it any longer and went to speak with their village elder about it. When he returned home that night covered in bruises and limping badly from obvious injury to his leg, it was clear that things were bad indeed – it was even worse than any of them had thought possible. The village council had finally decided to do something about their "difficult" children (that is what they called them), so they sent someone to deal with them while they thought no-one would notice..

But someone did notice: Azuena's mother saw him leaving her home after he had beaten up Polka and left him bleeding on the ground outside their house. She screamed at him and chased after him with a big kitchen knife clutched tightly in her hand. He ran away before she could catch him – but not before he dropped something that he'd been carrying into his bag: an old book with strange markings on its cover and pages inside filled with words that nobody could read anymore. But Azuena's father certainly recognised at least some of those words – because they were ones that he used often when talking about Brazil's ancient history…

And so these four friends ran from their homes that day and made their way deep into the forests surrounding the city beyond its walls - far enough away from prying eyes so nobody would find them...and so that nobody could hurt them ever again...

Azuena continued making her way through the rain without catching sight of anything else other than trees around her; she couldn't hear anything else either except for herself walking through muddy ground covered in leaves and branches ripped down by high winds over several weeks' time - such high winds as there only seemed to be in this part of Brazil during rainy seasons like this one...

Eventually though, she spotted something ahead of her through gaps between trees: a building! At least it looked like one; most likely it was an old ruin now covered by vines growing over its stone walls and roof tiles long since blown away by windstorms - but you never know...she continued towards it anyway...