E1pnvn's Note - Hello everyone. Well... this is my story! This first little part is just the prologue so it probably won't make much sense. Things will get a bit clearer in the first chapter, though, and all of the other chapters will be longer than this, I promise. So... yeah, that's pretty much all I had to say. Thanks for reading; hope you enjoy it. Reviews are appreciated.

FORGOTTEN

Prologue

A handsome man, no older than twenty, stood staring at the gravestone that jutted from the ground before him. The mound that the stone marked was still new and flowers had been placed upon it. But the once-beautiful flowers were now dry and brown. The place had taken a similar affect on the man; his young face was pale and he looked prematurely old and tired. A chilly breeze blew by, tossing about his robes and his brown hair. As if carried in by the wind, an ancient-looking woman with long, gray hair appeared behind him. Her face was so wrinkled, it looked like spider's web had been draped over it. But oddly, her milky eyes sparkled with the life that the young man's seemed to lack.

The woman went to stand beside the man and, following his gaze, also looked at the grave.

"You'll catch your death if you stay out here much longer, Kaleb," she said, quietly. She didn't look at him.

Kaleb didn't answer.

"I know what you're thinking," the woman continued. "You'd rather be dead right about now, right? Well, I can't have my godson thinking like that."

She finally turned to look at him.

"What you don't realize is that this, no matter how much it hurts, will eventually pass and you'll just move on," she said. "Life will keep going."

Kaleb shook his head. "You don't understand."

His godmother cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, I don't?" she asked. "Care to enlighten me?"

Kaleb closed his eyes as if asking for patience. When he opened them again, they were brimming with tears.

"You've never felt it," he said.

"Never felt what?" the godmother asked.

The answer was nothing but a choked whisper: "Love."

The two fell back into silence. The old woman pondered on her godson's words, stroking her chin with a long gnarled finger. Another breeze blew by, dislodging a few of the shriveled flowers from atop the grave. As Kaleb bent over to replace them, his godmother suddenly smiled.

"Yes..." she whispered to herself. "Yes, that might just work..."

Kaleb straightened again when the flowers were back in place. He looked to his godmother, waiting to see if she had anything else to say to him.

"Kaleb, my dear," the woman said. "Please promise me that you'll try to be happy. Think of her. It's what she would have wanted, isn't it? For you to be happy."

Kaleb nodded slowly. His eyes still shimmered with suppressed tears.

The woman put a hand on his shoulder and smiled.

"Be good and be happy for me and I'll do something nice for you," she said. "Leave this cursed place and forget about what you'll be leaving behind. Just go, my dear. Go and keep on living. Then come back here in a year or so and I will have a surprise for you."

Kaleb looked at her questioningly but she just patted his head.

"Go now, dear," she said. "You're still wanted, aren't you? Better leave then before the palace guards catch up with you."

Kaleb looked one last time at the grave. A pained look came over his face for a second, but quickly faded. He looked again to his godmother and nodded.

"Alright..." he said. "I'll go. But why must I return?"

"I told you: I'll have a surprise for you," said the woman, mischievously.

"Please... None of your riddles... Not now. I can't bear it."

"Oh, stop it. Stop being so dramatic. Didn't I already tell you to get over this and move on?"

"But..."

"But nothing! Get out of here and do as I've said."

Kaleb bit back more tears and nodded. "Yes, mam."

He turned and began to walk away.

"And don't forget to come back next year!" the old woman called to his back.

Kaleb nodded again without turning around. Soon, he had rounded a corner and was lost among the trees. His godmother watched the point where he had disappeared, waiting to see any signs of him trying to sneak back, but he didn't. When she was sure of this, she looked once again to the gravestone. Carved into the granite, in rough and near-illegible writing, were these words:

"Here lies the lady Loriel. She is gone from me, but will always have my love."

The old woman sighed.

"You've caused my poor godson a whole lot of trouble, Miss Loriel," she said to the gravestone. "I've never seen him happier than he was these past two years. But he's sure as hell never been in this much trouble before, either. And now that you've just gone and left him, he has nothing to distract him from those troubles." She shook her head. "There's only one thing for me to do, I know it. It won't be easy and it will be bending the rules, that's for sure. But... for my Kaleb, I'm willing to risk it."

With that said, she pulled out a short shovel, which she had had concealed under her dress the whole time, and proceeded to unearth the grave.