The Seventh Day of Arnala, Year 56

A hulking figure was pursuing me through the forest. I was sprinting as fast as one could while weaving through trees. An eerie mist wrapped the whole forest in mystery. I could feel unearthly eyes gaze upon me while the twisted tree branches tore through my clothes and scratched my skin. The gnarled roots of the trees threatened to trip me at every turn. It was almost as if the whole forest was trying to stop my movements.

The man chasing me was crazy! He was wielding a giant scythe and with each swing several old oaks came crashing down. I looked back again. The man seemed to be in manic rage and was hurling himself towards me.

"You stole property of the Reawen kingdom!" The man wailed.

Animals scattered from their broken homes. I noticed some plant people, Roseri, up ahead that were armed with spears made of long sturdy branches. Did they plan to fight that man with the scythe? As I ran past I shouted at them to run but they ignored me and charged the man. I didn't dare look back as I heard the scythe sever them in half.

I was starting to approach a large clearing, the edge of the Central Plains. I realized that I was sub-consciously heading straight back to my home village, Grimwick. The last thing I wanted to do was destroy Grimwick, so I turned and ran away from the small village.

I ran for what had seems like hours, yet the man still followed. My legs were getting heavier and my breaths shallower. I knew I couldn't run forever. My ears started ringing as blood rushed past my ears. This was it. I couldn't run anymore. My legs were failing. Cool air washed over my face as I fell. Everything went abnormally silent. In those few seconds it felt as though nothing else existed, nothing else mattered. I hit the ground and my vision went out and my mind went blank.

I woke up in my bed. Around me was my room. Everything was normal. Was all that happened just a dream? No, it felt too real to be a dream. I pulled off my plain white sheets and stood up. I felt terrible and my muscles were sore. Pain shot through my body as I stumbled to the door. If that wasn't a dream how was I alive? I was sure the man with the scythe would've killed me. I slowly walked out of my room into the main living area. When my mother saw me she turned pale, as if she had seen a ghost.

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"What are you doing up?" she asked. "You should be laying in bed resting."

"How did I get here?" I asked. "What about the man chasing me?"

"We found you knocked out in the forest. What man?"

"I was running from a man who was cutting down trees with a huge scythe!"

"Cailan, I'm worried about you. A bunch of trees fell down in the forest and you got hit and knocked out by a falling branch. You must've dreamed that up when you got knocked out."

"It wasn't a dream! I was being chased by some man."

I thought for a few seconds, "Wait, was I holding a pearl when you found me?"

"Yes, it is on the shelf over there," my mother pointed to the shelf in the corner of the room. "Why?"

I rushed over to the pearl despite the pain in my body. Now that I wasn't running for my life I was able to take a better look at the pearl. It was slightly bigger than a marble. There was a small hole in the side in which something was inserted. Engraved around the hole were the words Alba Insignis.

"I picked this up in the forest right before that man started chasing me," I said to my mother.

"There was no man chasing you, just forget about it. Your father will be back soon with the village healer. Now go back to bed." There was a knock on the door and my mother went to answer it. At that moment two guards burst through our door.

"Hey, you there!" one of the guards shouted gesturing to me. "You are under arrest for thievery!"

"Wh... what?" My eyes widened and I took a step back slowly, "I didn't steal anything."

"If you resist we will have to take you in by force!"

I held the pearl tightly and started running towards the back door. Pain shot through my body until it was almost unbearable. As I burst through the door I heard one of the guards shout "Archers!" I looked around and there were several men wielding bows and were aiming towards me. I froze in my tracks. Would my life end here? The archers fired. I could hear the bow strings as they sung the melancholy song of death. I closed my eyes as the arrows hit.