Prelude

It was dark and cold and very quiet. Even so I did not feel uncomfortable or afraid or even slightly nervous. My eyes began to adjust to the strange light and although it was dark there was an eerie glow that I thought I was supposed to follow. I did not know where I was, nor did I know if I was even awake. I did not remember ever being somewhere like this so I assumed I was only dreaming. Once I reached the conclusion that I was dreaming I became more relaxed but also I felt as though this strange dream was just too real to be dismissed that easily as a product of my own mind.

I began to follow the strange glow down a long corridor that seemed to never end, but suddenly it did and it turned right into another room. This room was by far the largest room I had ever seen in my life. It stretched into the darkness in every direction and that was when she discovered that the source of the glow was a small pool that let off its own light. Despite the fact that I had been able to see the glow from the point at which I started the light was no brighter here than it had been all along. I felt that I should go to the shallow pool and look into it. When I did I was at first shocked. I did not see my own reflection somewhat strangely mirrored on the glowing surface of the pool as I had expected. Then I realized that this was after all a dream and that most pools also did not glow so I should not have been so surprised to find that this was no ordinary pool. Instead I saw a great forest as it must have been in the past: a large expanse of trees of all kinds stretching for miles but not out of my sight. I could very easily mark the edges of the forest in every direction. I also knew this to be "Lamork ed Vinalo" which directly means Wood of Travels. I had never seen these woods but I knew of them and had of course seen maps of that area, and also knew that this must be of how the woods looked in the past for it shows the boundary of the woods as the Unila River. I also knew that no one dared go through the center of these woods because of the strange tales of things that happened there. All these thoughts went through my mind in less than a minute. The vision then changed. It showed the forest as it is now: at least three times its previous size and still as mysterious and dangerous as ever. The Lamork ed Vinalo now ends at "il Amaranth Gorge."

All of a sudden I felt like I was being sucked into the pool. I was falling, falling toward the trees down below. I stood in the middle of a clearing in the forest and realized something must be wrong. I could feel an evil presence, but no sign of any animals. I knew this couldn't be right. I felt a prickling at the back of my neck so I turned around so quickly I almost fell. That’s when I saw it. There was a giant figure shrouded in shadow and darkness and evil emanated from its being. I could not make out any thing to describe its appearance or even if it was male or female, yet I knew all the way to her core being that this was something to be feared.

I jolted awake in a cold sweat. I looked around. "Yep," I thought to myself, "I am still here in this stink hole."

I had been a servant for as long as I could remember. My master wasn't really "cruel" but he sure as hell wasn't the kindest of masters. He had a name but none of the servants or workers new it we just called him "master." I was also treated the best out of all his servant because I was the most beautiful servant he "owned." I was indeed very pretty. I was actually the most beautiful girl anyone had ever seen. Many people believed that I was a goddess in disguise. But I was a servant no less.