Prologue
As the sun began to set over the distant green hills, sending rays of crimson and lavender across the darkening sky, she began to shiver. It was growing colder with every new day. Summer had ended weeks ago, and they were now in the midst of fall. The trees that had survived the destruction of Vale and Mt. Aleph had withered and drop all of their leaves, and chilly breezes constantly swept through the air. She should've been used to the cold weather, as she was from snowy Imil and usually lived in constant winter, but she'd been away from her hometown so long that she'd almost forgotten what it felt like.
How strange that I've lost all memory of Imil so quickly, she thought to herself.
She had no idea when she'd head back home. She knew she had to, eventually. She couldn't leave all of the healing to Meagan and Justin. They were still just apprentices, and so young. For all she knew, Imil could be suffering from her lack of presence.
No, she told herself firmly. Meagan and Justin are perfectly capable of taking care of the people of Imil. I should not doubt them.
Nevertheless, she couldn't help but worry.
To distract herself, she shook her head and continued what she had been doing before – sifting through the rubble of Vale, looking for anything of value. This had been the job assigned to her. After finally completing the long journey she had set out on months ago with Isaac and the others, they'd returned here and had almost immediately begun the reconstruction of Vale. Together, they'd figured out who would perform what tasks. Isaac, Garet, Felix, and Piers were chosen to be in charge of rebuilding the houses and all of the other buildings, such as the inn, the shops, and the sanctum. Ivan and Sheba were sent as an envoy to the neighboring Vault to request for help and supplies. Mia and Jenna had been left with clean up duty. The other people of Vale also helped in any way they could – picking up the rubble, helping to run a camp for the others, and assisting with the building as well.
They'd worked for over a month now, and had progressed rapidly. Last week, the first home had been finished, and there had been a party around the bonfire to celebrate. This week, another house was to be finished, and Mia knew she could expect another party to occur. After such a hard, long, journey, everyone enjoyed such festivities, Mia included. In fact, she was quite looking forward to another chance to try Isaac's mother's famous apple cider.
Mia had also had several successes while searching through the rubble. She'd found a few books that were in quite good condition (to Kraden's delight) and also some cooking utensils, which were useful for Dora and Garet's mother, who were the camp's resident cooks. She'd also discovered some jewelry, which held sentimental value for several of the former town's citizens, and articles of clothing, such as shoes and scarves. Those hadn't been in such good condition, but some of them were salvageable. Garet's sister, Kay, had a talent for sewing, and was taking care of those.
Now Mia searched on. Surely there was more hiding beneath the endless piles of rock. She was determined to save any object she possibly could, no matter what it was. She had always tried to ease peoples' suffering, and the people of Vale must have been suffering after losing so much.
"Hey, Mia!" Jenna's voice called out, jolting her out of her thoughts. A moment later, Mia saw the auburn-haired girl wading through the rubble, approaching her. "Found anything good?" she asked upon her arrival.
"No, not today," Mia replied, unable to hide the disappointment in her voice. "How about you?"
Jenna beamed with excitement. "Just wait until you see this!"
She shoved a brown, rectangular object into Mia's hands before the azure-haired girl could get a word in edgewise. Mia glanced down at it, and realized that it was a book. Mia flipped it open and saw that the pages were curled up and torn in places. She realized that this was not a book – this was a diary. Someone had written in messy, but almost readable handwriting on every page. The ink was smeared here and there, but if one were to sit down and study the pages closely, the words written there could most likely be deciphered.
"A diary…" Mia muttered. "Do you know who it belongs to? They must want it back."
Jenna snorted. "No. But I'm pretty curious about what's written in there. There must be some pretty juicy secrets…"
"Jenna!" cried Mia, appalled. "It isn't nice to go through other peoples' things. You wouldn't want someone doing something like that to you, would you?"
Jenna shrugged. "I'd never do something idiotic like spill all of my secrets on paper. And I was only going to read it until I figured out whose it was, anyways. There's no name on it."
"Then you should figure out who it belongs to and return it as soon as you can," Mia insisted.
With a sigh, Jenna nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, I will. Even if I don't want to… Anyways, I'm going to head back to the camp now. It's getting dark, and I'm hungry. Are you coming?"
Mia examined the rubble before her, and realized how little ground she'd covered today.
"No, I'll stay out here for ten more minutes or so," she replied. "I'll return soon, though."
"Suit yourself," said Jenna. "I'll be sure to tell you what's written in here," she added, taking the diary back from Mia.
After exchanging good-byes with Jenna, Mia turned back to the debris. Maybe she was having so little success today because she was looking in the wrong place. She decided to head out a little further and search for more items there. After climbing over several rather large rocks, she arrived in a new area and resumed her searching. The sun continued to sink below the hills, and soon there would be no remaining light to guide her. She searched quickly, but unfortunately, found nothing but the leg of a table – completely useless.
She sighed and finally decided to head back. At that point, however, it was almost completely dark. She cursed herself for not going back with Jenna. The other girl had had the right idea, returning early. She was a fool for trying to find her way back in the dark. For a moment, she wished she had fire Psynergy, like Jenna, so she could at least light her own way.
Five minutes later, she admitted to herself that she was lost.
NOW what am I going to do? The others are going to get worried…
She could shout for help. She could keep looking. She could attempt to cast some sort of Psynergy in the sky to attract attention. But since she had no idea where she was, she didn't think any of those seemed like especially good ideas.
She sighed, and continued walking. She'd stop the camp eventually. There was always a large fire in the middle of it; it could be seen from at least a mile away.
Did this mean that she was more than a mile away?
I will not panic, she silently told herself. Staying calm is the only way I will find my way out of here.
She was so distracted that she tripped over a rather large rock. Or was it rock? It felt a bit like…
A human body?
Mia hurriedly backed up and squinted at the ground before her. Sure enough, she could make out the faint figure of a person. She realized that this person was covered by several large rocks and was completely unmoving. She hastily began to move the rocks, hoping the person was not dead. Surely he or she was already injured, and most likely unconscious, but hopefully not dead.
Finally, she managed to move the last rock and took several deep breaths before she leaned forward and examined the person before her.
She could not hold back her gasp.
Even with no way to see but with the pale light of the moon, it was undeniable who this person was. Despite the fact that his pale skin was covered by blood in many places, and his long cerulean hair was tangled and out of place, and his clothes rumpled in a similar fashion – all of this uncharacteristic for him – she recognized him.
She said his name in such a soft whisper that her voice might as well have been part of the cold wind that was now whirling around her; the name of someone who she had loved, but had consequently been betrayed by.
"Alex…"