~Prologue~

All was still. Not a leaf stirred, not a bird sung. All was dark and quiet. The normally smoking mountain produced no rises of smoke; the rumblings of tremors in the mines were silent. Not a drop of dew fell into the pond. The insects that normally buzzed around the crystal clear waters were gone. The people feared these signs. Bad omens, they had thought. I remember as I clung to my mother’s skirt, the unexplainable uneasiness inside.

“Mama, why is it so dark when the sun is still out?” I asked, at the age of four, still bright eyed and innocent. It was true. The sun was out and high in the sky, but offered no warmth or light. Instead, it sat there, looking as gray and dismal as everything else did.

She had looked down at me, covering up her worried expression with one of tender, motherly love.

“I don’t know my child. I don’t know…” I trembled, despite her soft tone. I felt in my heart something bad was going to happen. People tried to continue on with their daily business, but no one could stifle the obvious fear. Something was wrong with nature, something terribly wrong.

Suddenly, bright flashes filled the dark clouds that had been rolling in from the south. Green, blue, red, purple, white and black, all these colors lit the clouds bright as day.  Five streaks color shot out of the clouds in different directions. A bright red streak of light came streaming through the air, and hit me square in the chest. Pain shot through my heart, like an arrow piercing the flesh. I cried out and slumped onto the ground. The last thing I heard were the frantic cries of my mother, and the screams of my people.