Prologue

A young boy suddenly awoke from a nightmare. The boy was in the middle of the woods. It was snowing. The boy did not know where he was or how he got there. The boy tried to stand but his legs felt weak and cold. He touched his naked legs; they were warm but were slowly growing colder. The boy panicked as to why he was almost entirely naked and he felt across his body and came to something he did not remember. There was a scar running from his right shoulder to his left hip. He had no clothing under the scar and the clothing above it was ripped and shredded.

The boy willed his weak legs to move and slowly he stood up. He noticed there was a bright light behind some trees. He stumbled towards the light. He came upon a village. The village was burning down and bodies littered the roads. The boy made his way through the burning corpses before tripping over the body of a young girl. He tried to scream as his face landed near the face of a small boy but no sound came out. After he regained his composure he stood back up and unsteadily walked into a house which had not yet caught fire.

He searched a room that seemed to be that of a young child just like him. He found some clothes that fit him it was a black shirt and dark brown pants, along with a light brown jacket and an old withered brown cape. He had difficulty trying to put on the clothes with his weak limbs. The house had caught fire before he realized it and he had to escape fast but he did not have shoes for treading through the snow.

The boy escaped the burning building and took some brown gloves and black boots from the bodies of children before he set out away from the burning village.

The woods were calm and no insects could be heard around the boy. The boy did not find the lack of noise unnatural because he had never quite been in a forest. The boy kept walking no matter how uneasy his legs became. He came to an unnaturally large stone at the edge of a clearing in the woods. The boy touched this stone.  It was quite warm compared to the chilling air. The boy sat down against the stone and closed his eyes. The boy did not open his eyes again. It would seem today was too much for him.

Chapter 1

A young man held his daughter in his arms. The young woman on the bed held out her arms and the young man gave her his daughter. The young woman held the baby girl close to her and smiled as she stared into the babies eyes.

“What are we going to name her?” The young woman asked the young man without looking away from the baby. The young man scratched his head as he was thinking, they had originally thought that the child would be a boy and decided on a name but that name would only work if the child was a boy.

“What about Anaphiel?” The young man asked.

“Ana? That might not be bad.” The woman touched the baby’s cheek.

“Then let she be known as Anaphiel Lizbeth Lionbranch.” The man grinned as he announced the baby’s name.

The woman was surprised, “You’re using my name as a part of her name?”

“Is it wrong?”

“No, no absolutely not it’s just I was a bit surprised.”

The man caressed the baby’s cheek as he told her, “Hear that Ana, from this day forth you will be known as Anaphiel Lizbeth Lionbranch.”

The baby’s eyes stared at the man who touched her cheek before she began to cry.

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Ana was now three years old, she lived in a village near the lord of this land’s castle. The lord had once visited this village personally or more accurately the lord came to visit his old friend, Ana’s father.

Ana had already begun to walk but she has never uttered a single word, her parents thought she might be sick or mute but they were proven wrong. Her mother walked passed her room one day when she was playing by herself her mother heard a voice inside her room and peaked in, she saw Ana talking. She immediately went to get Ana’s father, the two stood in front of the door the whole day and listened to their beautiful daughter talk almost nonstop. Ana was spoiled a bit more than usual that day and she didn’t care why, she was happy at being spoiled by her parents.

It was the first day Ana walked outside the house; she was helping her mother with her work. She curiously stared at the people of the village who had different colour hair than her parents. Her mother had light blue hair and her father had dark red hair. She herself had beautiful red hair with blue stripes in-between.

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She carried a small empty basket while her mother carried a larger bucket filled with unwashed clothes. They were going to the stream nearby to wash their clothes. Her mother had the job of washing the villagers’ clothes along with a few other women with blue hair. She sat her basket next to her mother’s near the river, her mother showed her how to wash the clothes and handed her a few practice cloths. She eagerly began to clean the cloths, her mother had been against teaching her while she was still so young but she couldn’t deny her child when she asked her with words. She ripped one of the practice cloths accidentally as she had been too eager.

“Honey slow down a bit, you’re going too fast.” Her mother helped her with the second one showing her the pace she should keep while washing the cloth.

Ana tried it how her mother showed her on the third one and the cloth did not rip this time, she was so proud of herself. She washed the other cloths the same way and most came out without any rips in them.

Next she and her mother went to the chief’s house to deliver the washed clothes. Ana’s basket was filled with her clean practice cloths. They left their baskets filled with clothes at the house’s doorstep except for the basket with their clothes in. Her mother held her small hand as the two went back home to prepare for lunch. Ana was a bit tired from the excitement of washing her cloth.

When they entered their home Ana was walking unsteadily, she was completely worn out. Her mother put down her basket filled with washed clothes and picked up Ana. She was laid to rest by her mother, she was put in her bed and almost instantly she fell asleep.

Ana woke up after only a few hours of sleep. It was now lunch time, Ana climbed up from the bed and ran to her mother who was finishing a lunch box for her father. Her father was the village’s blacksmith and he would work from morning till evening thus her mother would pack him a lunch and take it to him.

“Are you awake, Ana?” Her mother asked her as she saw her.

Ana nodded while curiously trying to peak at what her father was getting for lunch.

Her mother lifted her up to show her, “want to go give daddy’s food to him with me?” Her mother asked her as she put her back down.

Ana’s face lit up and she nodded ecstatically. Her mother handed her the lunch box and instructed her to not let it fall. The two headed out of the house, Ana held her mother’s hand and kept her eyes glued on the lunch box to ascertain it would not fall. Her mother saw her determined focus and giggled, her daughter of three was trying to be as serious as she possibly could be in trying to deliver the lunch.

She and her mother were greeted many times as they made their way to the blacksmith but she didn’t pay attention to them she only kept her focus on the lunch box. They suddenly stopped and she was curious why, her mother was crouched in front of her.

“Ana go give your daddy his lunch box, he will be so happy if his little girl brought him lunch.” Her mother told her with a smile.

Ana nodded and walked passed her mother into the blacksmith workshop. The shop was now quiet as it was lunch time and all the blacksmiths were taking a break to eat something. She looked around for her father and saw him talking with another person. She ran up to him, still focused on not letting the box fall. She tugged on her father’s trousers. He turned around to see his little girl holding out a lunch box for him.

“Did you bring me lunch sweetheart?” Her father asked as he took the box and picked her up.

She nodded happily.

“Did you come alone?”

She shook her head and pointed to the door where her mother was standing, her mother waved as her father looked at where she had pointed. Her father walked over to her mother while still holding her in his arms.

“Thank you, honey.” Her father said as he kissed her mother.

Ana shook her father’s shoulder and stared at him with desire in her small eyes.

“Do you want a reward too, Ana?” Her father asked seeing his cute daughter’s reaction.

She nodded without breaking eye contact with her father.

“Seems like she is a greedy child.” Her mother pinched her cheek.

“Well it can’t be helped.” Her father gave in quickly. He kissed her on her right cheek, she was happy for her reward but then her mother kissed her left cheek.

Her mother smiled as she added, “A bonus for being so cute.”

Ana was ecstatic about her bonus reward and she couldn’t help but smile and snuggle into her father’s chest to hide her embarrassment.