Once, long ago, there was a heroine who gave her life to save the earth, her soul remained intertwined with the planet’s core, and as the years went by her sorrow grew. She was alone, and lost in the darkness, hungry for the caress of another, she wanted to feel the warmth of the sun on her upturned face, but could never pull herself to the surface alone. She needed somebody to take her place, but whom? Who was pure enough to become one with the earth and not tip the balance? The wanderer. The girl who wished for a purpose, the purest among the mortals. The mortal would have to find her own way to the core, through many hardships and horrors, to her destiny, releasing the trapped spirit, causing her own soul to be lost among that of the planet’s.

Summer was young, barely fourteen, but she was alone, her father had been killed in battle when she was barely five years old, she remembered the time with her mother and sister, the time when they had come, she alone had made it out, a ten year old girl shoved out the back door by her frightened mother as the front door flew open, “keep running and don’t look back, do you understand?” Her mother had shouted as she was dragged back in, “Get out of here now!”

“Git ‘er!” One of the men exclaimed, pointing at Summer with a shaking finger.

Summer hadn’t waited around to be dragged back inside, she had run as far and as fast as her legs would carry her, and luckily, that had been the next town. She had collapsed in the middle of the road, and was very nearly run over with a carriage. Somebody had somehow beat the carriage to her and had lifted her from the ground,

“What’re you doing here kid?” a gruff voice asked, “tryin’ to get yerself killed?”

“M-my mum!” Summer wailed, “My mum and my sis were attacked, help them, please!”

“Hold on there, now where did this happen?” The man asked, forcing her to look him in the eye.

“Edarg, it happened in Edarg!” Summer said, “In our home, they attacked them- attacked!”

“Edarg? My god child that’s over ten miles from here, are you saying that you walked from there to here?” The man was shocked.

“Ran- I ran… my mum told me to run so I ran!” Summer said, “They were chasing me, I couldn’t stop…”

“We’ll help your mum, you just rest up now, I’m sure that my wife would put you up for the night and be willing to make some supper.” The man said soothingly.

But it had been too late; they had found the two women strung up on the wall, legs splayed and blood pooled at their feet. Their lips were parted in silent screams of pain and horror, and their eyes open in a final dreaded realization at their fate.

Summer’s eyes burned at the memory- she had seen it through his eyes- through Ryan’s, the man who had saved her, every gruesome detail. She had run away that night and had been on her own ever since. That was four years ago- the fourth anniversary of their deaths had come and gone and now she began her trek again- her mission now in life was to keep what happened to her from happening to others. She had been trained by many swordsmen- all under the impression that she was just a young boy who wished to join the military or be a mercenary. Her quest was neither; she just wanted to end the suffering in the world and would do anything to stop it.

Thus was the reason she found herself stranded in the worst storm of the year, she was in the upper branches of a tree, and yet the water touched her toes. Lightning flitted across the sky every three seconds, and followed was the loudest thunder she had ever heard. Every time it came, she thought her ears would burst, and the wind- every gust nearly toppled her from her perch.

It was in this storm that the soothing voice found her, “Summer…” It said, “Summer do you wish to keep the flow of the Earth going, do you wish to change destiny?”

“W-who’s there?” Summer called, “Show yourself!”

The voice chuckled, “Summer… dear Summer… I am unable to be viewed by any mortal unless they journey to the Earth’s core, now answer my question, please, if you answer the way that I want you to, then I will tell you who I am, otherwise, I will leave you to go along your merry way.”

“I do wish to make a difference…” Summer said, “But what can I possibly do, I mean I’m just a girl.”

The voice grew cold for a moment, “You are not just a girl, you are a woman, and women can make differences in the world to!”

“Okay… but can you tell me your name, and what I’m supposed to be able to do?” Summer called into the raging storm, losing her balance and toppling into the water.

“My name…” The voice whispered, “Is Kalah, I want freedom, but in order to get it, I must find someone- a female- who can take my place in the Earth’s core, to keep the balance… Are you willing to take my place?”

“Yes… I-I’ll do it.” Summer said in her mind as her conscious mind dimmed.

“It’ll be a hard journey- the same that I took three hundred years ago when my world was in danger of collapse. The only thing was, I could never go home again, are you willing to be alone?”

“I’ve always been alone, I’m used to difficult tasks, I’ll go.” Summer was dimly aware of a tingling around her midsection.

“Try not to make friends… it makes it so much harder because they can’t go with you the whole way, and goodbyes are not happy when you know that you will never again be with them.” Kalah said glumly.

“Alright…” Summer said, feeling a buzzing in her head, “Why does my head feel funny?”

“Shhh… rest now child, your journey begins when you awaken.” Kalah’s voice grew distant and Summer slipped into a dark place where the nightmares couldn’t find her, nothing could find her there… this was her place of peace and resting.

It was several hours before Summer could drag herself out of the deep sleep, and when she did she realized that she was no longer in her tree, but stranded on a rock in the middle of the raging river, her tree was miles away… this she knew. The rain had stopped and now there were birds flying overhead, carrying vines and whatever else they could find to repair their damaged nests. Summer stood carefully, the rock was slippery and she didn’t care to fall and break her skull open, she had a mission after all and it was supposed to begin in her first waking moment. Her first problem though, was how to get off of that rock and safely to dry ground… She wasn’t a strong swimmer and even if she had been, that current was way to strong, it would have carried her away in an instant.

Summer sat back down and searched the area with her eyes, seeking out a way to get to safety, she had to help Kalah, she couldn’t fail her, she just couldn’t fail another person, couldn’t let her suffer. Finally Summer stood and reached into the water with her left hand, pulling out a strong root that had been pulled loose from somewhere upstream, she slid into the water carefully and began to pull herself against the current on the root. Her mind picked up a pattern as her hands moved swiftly- left hand… now the right, left, right… it went on endlessly until she came to the end of her root at the base of a large tree, the water was much shallower here and she was able to wade in the waist deep water until it became less and less… finally she was out of the water and laid down to rest and to dry before her newest mission began.

A/N Okay, strangely this story came to mind during geometry, so enjoy the very short first chapter… R&R plz!