I laid in an open plain that was little ways past my village. The view here was perfect for watching the sunset, and the moon rise. But before I could even watch the moon rise, a voice said, 'Turn around. Hurry before it's all gone...' I stood up and a gust of wind blew from behind me and I felt waves of heat crash into me. Then, screams filled the soon to be darkness. I turned towards my village and saw flames reaching the sky. I stood there completely frozen in fear. Not knowing what exactly to do next. I grabbed my shirt and took a deep breath.

"For the love of all the Gods new and old!" I yelled as I started to run towards my home in the village. I stumbled a couple of times, earning myself cuts and bruises on my body. Everything in the village was set ablaze and I knew I had no way of reaching it in time no matter how hard I tried. Tears began to cloud my vision, causing me to stumble and rolling down a large hill fast that was close to my village. I stood up once I stopped rolling down the hill and tried to catch up on breathing then I started to run again. As I got closer to the village... waves of heat knocked into me making me stop at first but I continued to run. I tried so desperately to reach the village in time but it was already too late. 'I was too late,' I thought to myself. I noticed that the fire consumed everything in sight and soon enough it began to die down. By the time I reached the village...

All the homes were now ashes and my heart crumbled into pieces at the sight before me. Smoke still filled the air and I coughed as it filled started to fill my lungs, but I continued onward into the village. I desperately looked around for survivors as I walked, but all I saw was charred bodies that laid where houses once stood. It was as if they had died with peaceful dreams, but the screams I heard earlier... they disagreed on the matter to a disturbing degree that would haunt my dreams. As I got closer to my home, tears had already begun streaming down my face from what I saw in the village. I pushed my way through fallen wooden beams and got burnt during the process, but I didn't care. All I cared about was getting to my parents. Once I reached my mother and father... my hand flew to my mouth to cover the cry that was trying to crawl its way up my throat. Their skin was charcoal black with a few red patches. I felt bile rise in my throat and I turned away from my parents to empty the contents of my stomach onto the floor. Once I was done, I wiped my mouth and looked at them again. My heads pounded fiercely but I ignored it. They just laid there, peacefully, as if they hadn't felt their bodies being burned alive.

I fell to my knees and cried over my now dead parents. I had just seen them that morning with smiles bright on their faces, but now there was nothing left. I just couldn't believe everything and everyone was gone. I went to touch my mother in her curled form next to my father. A piece of her fell off of her. Causing me to cringe at this. My heart began to ache in pain but I realized something shining around my mothers neck. I went to touch it, expecting it to be hot from the fire, but it was cool to the touch. I felt bewildered as I pulled it away from where my parents laid.

I did not knowing what to expect to happen when I pulled it away from my mothers body. It was my mother's favorite necklace, which she never took off because it had been so special to her. She always said it was the last thing that she still had of her past. The charm was made of copper and some type of stone that mother had said there was no name for on this plain... it was zils kvarcs which meant blue quartz in my Father’s native tongue or something close to that. In the center laid a bare tree and it had a calming effect on me as I gazed at it.

I put the necklace on and all of a sudden it felt as if I was falling. The wind blew my hair every where and I couldn't stop myself from falling. I saw the sun set and the sky turn to different colors before the moon began to rise high in the sky. Then my necklace began to glow bright blue and my fall slowed down but not by that much. I continued to fall and fall until I felt myself fall through a whole bunch of tree branches before I hit the water below them. As I came up for air I heard a sharp inhale. And as I wiped the water from my face, I saw that I was in a hot spring filled with five men. I could feel my face turn red, and I screamed as I covered my face.

I tried to get out of the water but I kept bumping into the men repeatedly. Then I felt someone grab my forearm and lift me up. I yelped as I came face to face to a hot, yet very angry man. "Who are you and how did you get here?" He said to me with pure venom. I cringed away at his violent tone. I honestly couldn't answer him as I kept getting distracted by his current state of dress, along with his beautiful blue-black hair, and violet eyes. I shook my head and tried not to get distracted but I couldn't help myself. "Umm... I-I..." I tried to look around as I said that but he made me look at him. "Answer me!" He said to me. Even though I found him attractive as he stood in front of me completely nude, he was beginning to piss me off. "Ena, relax man. She looks scared and shocked." The guy, who apparently must've been Ena, glared at him and then back at me. "Back off Bailes," Ena said as he began to bring me closer towards him and I placed a hand on his chest.

"For the love of everything holy. Put some clothes on damn it." I said and he just now seemed to have realized his appearance. I heard snickers from behind me and he flushed bright red. I was lifted up and placed outside of the water. He mumbled about how I was to stay right there and not move as he got dressed. I looked at the guy called Bailes as I motioned for him to help me out but he only shook his head. I tried to move away slightly to find an escape route, but when I moved he glared at me so I didn't move again. Ena finished getting dressed, and then he took me out of the hot spring area. Someone followed him, hot on his tail. "Ena, you can't take her to the Ishkin. He'll kill her. You should know your father by now. Kare will not take this lightly." The guy named Bailes seemed to plead with him.

Once he said the word "kill" I began to panic. "I can't die yet. I need to get back to my village and bury them properly. Let me go." I begged Ena. He looked at me startled for a brief second and I heard him say. "Bailes, don't." But it was too late because by then I had blacked out.

 "Bailes, you didn't have to knock her out," I said as I held her in my arms. She looked absolutely frightened at the idea of dying. But what she said before made me wonder a bit about who she was and where she came from. I was soon pulled out of my thoughts when I heard Bailes say something. "You could have been injured with all the struggling that woman was doing.”

I noted that his tone was bitter which caused me to look at him in a skeptical manner. I shook my head and saved that thought for another time. I picked her up bridal style so it would be easier for me to carry her as I continued to walk to the Ishkin Kare house, who was sadly and unmistakably my father. 

My father lived separately from me but I didn't mind that quite so much. I liked it better that way. "Bailes, you know perfectly well that I could have handled her myself. You didn't have to knock her out. She acted that way because YOU freaked her out. Plus didn't you hear her say that she didn't want to die until she buried 'them' properly?" I said as I raised a questioning brow towards him. Bailes seemed to think about it carefully on the matter as we got closer to my father's home. "I thought that was odd to be completely honest with you. To our current knowledge, no one has died anywhere here or near here." Bailes stated a matter of factly.

Bailes pulled the drape aside and I walked in. My father sat right there like he was expecting us. "Ena, who is that in your arms?" He gestured to the woman that I held in my arms. 

"I don't know father. I would have known more if Bailes hadn't knocked her out." I said as I glared at Bailes. Scowling him like he was a little child instead of a grown man. He gave a sheepish smile towards my father, not knowing what to say about this matter. My father sighed and stood up. He started to look through his cabinets until he found what he was looking for. "Lishnaka should do the trick and wake her up." He said as he opened the bottle of the awakening potion and put it under her nose.

She jerked awake and I almost dropped her during the process, but I didn't as my grip was tight on her. "What in the bloody hell was that?" She whined as she put her hand over her nose. I put her down on a cushion and sat right next to her. I coughed into my hand to hide the laugh that was trying to coming out of my mouth. Bailes laughed heartily and I saw her grab her shoe and threw it at his head. His head moved back from the impact and he muttered a curse. He took a threatening step towards her as he glared at her but my father held his hand up to stop him. Once she saw him come closer to her she grabbed something that was hanging from her neck and clutched it tightly. Like it was a form of protection, peaking my interest.

"I know this seems rude but I would like to ask you some questions." My father said to the girl who currently sat next to me.

"I won't speak to a man unless I know your name." She said. My eyes widened at her boldness. My father only laughed and he's eyes shone with amusement. 

"Very well, I understand. My name is Kare, and I am the Ishkin of this clan. What is your name?"

My jaw dropped in bewilderment that he would let someone talk to him like that and that he would comply with her 'request.' "My name is Liesma. I'm going to be completely blunt with you Ishkin Kare. When can I leave? I need to get back to my village. I didn't get to bury the people in the village properly." She said and I could see tears beginning to well up in her eyes. I kept a calm face but my father looked generally concern for the first time in ages. "Bury them? To my current knowledge no one has died... not even an entire village," he said. The girl named Liesma looked confused by his statement.

Liesma bit her lower lip and my eyes went immediately to them. I closed my eyes and stood up to stand next to Bailes so I wouldn't be drawn to comfort her. "My entire village. I was not so far away when the entire village burned and everyone I knew died, even my-" She started to say but she couldn't' speak after that. She started to cry and my father just held her in his arms as she cried. He just kept surprising me more and more today. He's never like this but with someone like her, a complete stranger, he comforted her.

"Why would you go back when there is no one there for you to return to?" He asked her in a soothing voice. Liesma said something to him but I didn't hear what she said which irritated me a little bit. My father took her somewhere and a candle mark passed before she came back out. She had a cloak on her and I couldn't tell what she was wearing, but I know that it wasn't what she had been wearing earlier. These looked like pleasure slave clothes.

I glared at my father and he just gave me a knowing smile. He knew what she was wearing would make me mad and he did it on purpose. He had something planned and I'm not quiet sure I like it. I was about to say something but my father beat me to it.

"Ena, she will be living with you from now on. These clothing will keep others from asking questions about her, but please be considerate. Now go." He said as he dismissed me.

I took Liesma by the arm roughly and lead her out of my father's house. Muttering how this wasn't really fair, but I know that I really didn't have a choice in the matter. This was going to be a challenge.