In a realm beyond sight, beyond hearing, beyond mortality and humanity, the Goddess of Spirits sighed.  She was the Goddess that created Earth from her warm hands, she was the one that made everything on the planet.  Yet, her children had grown apart from her and she couldn't do anything to let herself be noticed to them.  She was beyond their sight, their hearing, their comprehension, their life even.  Besides, she had no place on a planet that had become polluted, depleted, and overcrowded.  Yet, she was happy in her exile.  In her realm, no Mana Tree could be seen, only a mirror.  It was that mirror that was her symbol.  Her Mana Tree was the Pool of Spirits, where all good and evil came together and mingled to be spread equally.  She hadn't spread any Water from it for days, though, and thought the Earth needed a new dose of it, to even the balance again.  She scooped water in her cup and was going to the rim as the image of her sister, the Mana Goddess of the First World, appeared.

"Sister...  I think you should hear this..."

And the Goddess of Spirits listened.  And as she had heard of the dire fate that awaited her world and her children, the cup filled with sacred water slipped from her hands, and the water poured down on the world...

"It has begun...", said the Mana Goddess, "Koren of the Doragon-clan has arisen, the Heroes are all born.  But in order to save your world as well, one of your children should become a Hero too, and be sent here to do battle.  Search for one, and send one of the Fairies to take her to the First World..."

The Goddess of Spirits summoned the Fairies under her command, three in number and equal in power.  She ordered them to go find a suitable Hero for her, strong and cunning, honest, compassionate, with a mind that would be able to learn spells, hands capable of wielding a weapon, eyes strong enough to see enemies.  The fairies set out to do their job...

"I can't see anything!", complained the red-haired fairy, her strength obviously failing her.  "I... I'm lost...", she said before falling into a forest below.  The other two continued.  Soon, the black-haired fairy fell too, into an ocean.  The brown-haired fairy swooped down a little, and suddenly noticed a girl.

She was taller than most girls, but not too tall to stand out in the crowd.  Her clothing was plain black, and the two things that made her special from the others around her were her silver necklace and her red hair.  The fairy saw her eyes peering into nothingness, and knew that she could see things others could not.  Her hands were obviously not made to hold the pencil she was holding, yet the drawings she'd made showed a mind capable of creating and comprehending.  The fairy nodded and signaled to her mother:  "I have found the Hero you searched.  I'll bring you more detail once I know more."  The fairy calmly followed the girl, and quickly found out that her name was Sonya Lessamer, her age 17 and her character a very ardent one.  She was always ready for her friends, but her enemies were treated with cold glares and hard silences.  She loved to dance, and she danced slowly, with a fire in all her movements – the fairy knew that she would be able to wield a sword.  That night, she directed her first plea to the girl.

"I'm in need of your help, young one...  I am sent by the Goddess of Spirits, the goddess that controls Mana of this Planet.  She is in need of a Hero, and I think you're suitable..."  Her efforts were, however, fruitless... until one day...

"I can't seem to locate the exact place where her arteries ruptured..."

"There it is!  ...Oh no... quick, Marcey, get doctor Graham here ASAP!  Tell him we've got a rupture of the aorta.  Suction!  And keep that blood with you, she'll need it."

Sonya watched "911 lifesavers" with a very interested air.  She'd watched it a million times, it was her favorite short movie.  One of her friends had gotten his degree in multimedia design with it: he had filmed it in his father's department of the hospital, the emergency room.  It showed how much pressure the doctors were under and demonstrated a very realistic view of a hospital.  No wonder he had gotten straight A's, she mused as she watched the aorta being sealed with very handy sutures.  She felt tired... so tired...  She put her head down on the pillows that she had piled up under her elbow and fell asleep almost immediately.

In her head, she saw the image of the one thing that she had been able to see in her sleep for about a week.  It was a tiny girl, with a beautiful brown hair color.  She was on the verge of collapsing, as she had always appeared.  Her wings were fluttering like crazy – was she a Fairy?

"Sonya!  Sonya, you must help me!", shouted the tiny creature.

"I can't...  who are you anyway?", Sonya shouted back.

"I have no name...", whispered the fairy, bowing her head.  "I am a child of Mana.  My mother is the Goddess of Spirits, the Goddess of Mana.  But she is not the only one... her sister, the Goddess from another planet, has told of that planet's imminent destruction.  And, what's more, how that world is linked to this one...  I have no time to explain further, I have no choice either...  I must... choose you... Sonya...a..."  The flying girl swooped – or rather, fell – into Sonya's head, making her head hurt a bit.  She woke up from a sigh she heard, very clearly audible... but there was no one there!  Sonya dismissed it and packed her bag for school, reluctantly admitting that she was actually happy for her last exam to take place...

"I'm telling you, Tamara, it was a tiny girl with wings on her back... and she told me some planet was in danger!  And that she chose me for something..."

"For what?"

"I don't know...  What now?  ...Hey, are you that tired?!"

"Huh?"  Tamara, Sonya's good friend and near-sister, blinked.  "Why's that?"

"You just yawned twice!"

"I didn't yawn, Sonya...  Maybe you just need a good night's sleep!  Exams take a lot out of you.  Be glad you're nearly out of high school!"

"And for that, I thank the gods...", sighed Sonya.  She got off her bus and walked to her house.  No one there, so she decided it was about the right time to take a nap...  She put on her pyjama's and tucked herself in so she was completely comfortable.  But sleep didn't come over her that easily.  She seemed to be dragged into a black hole when she closed her eyes... and then, she heard the voice again.

"Sonya, we should get going... are you ready?"

"Go if you really want to...", muttered Sonya.  The fairy sighed, twirled in the air and cast some magic – at least, that was how it seemed.  The next minute, Sonya didn't know what was happening anymore.  She felt the ground, her bed, even her pyjama's, slip away, and the world suddenly wasn't there anymore.  One minute, she was lying in her bed, trying to get some sleep, the next she was rushing through some sort of twilight zone, to a place she didn't even knew could exist... She was thrown onto a stone floor with such force, she passed out.  Her fairy, helpless outside of her host body, retreated into the unconscious mind of her chosen warrior.

"Miranda!  Miranda, come see!  A strange girl is lying here, unconscious...  And she bears the marking of a different world on her, see?"

"Indeed...  She's blinking!  Can you hear me, miss?  Can you tell me your name?"

"S...  S...", muttered Sonya before passing out again.

"She cannot tell us.  Maybe she is suffering amnesia!  But how should we call her then?"

"She could utter the letter "s", and she is wearing a beautiful silver necklace...", said the woman named Miranda as she looked at Sonya's necklace, "We shall call her "Silver"."

"Fine, Silver it is!", said her husband.  "Could she be sent by the Mana Goddess?"

"I am sure she is.  Why would she be in Pedan, the Invisible City, naked and unconscious?  She's surely on a mission.  If not for the Mana Goddess, then for some other higher instance...  Besides, it is our duty to her to take care of her."