*WALK BETWEEN WORLDS*

Part One: True Blue

January 26th, circa 1700 AD

Pachena Bay, Vancouver Island, Canada

It was quiet and clear on a cold mid-winter night, with the exception of tireless ocean waves lapping up onto the beach from the open sea. Mist floated in an ethereal dance between giant cedar and fir that stretched high into a twilight northern sky. The native fishing village of Loht'a, nestled in between the trees and backed against a wide, desolate beach, had just settled down for the night, while two young lovers stole away from the camp under the cover of darkness on the eve of their wedding day.

They were so happy, full of life. Heading away from the beach they climbed high into the trees to their secret place, laughing and dancing about as they playfully chased each other through a ground cover of ferns, fallen trees and moss covered rocks. The young warrior prince helped his princess up over gentle steppes leading to the cave where they first announced their love to the Spirits of the land, sea and sky. Once inside he built a small fire and they settled down before it, facing each other in a personal ritual of love and commitment. Watching intently as he lay out a leather bag and gently unfurled its layers she dared not even breathe. Looking up to her with a smile, the young warrior finally unveiled his promise of unyielding love for her. Carefully, he picked up the hand-made necklace, fashioned from whale bone and deer hide, with small colourful polished beads made from stones and exotic shells intricately woven into the braid. In the very centre he had placed a very large, salt water pearl. As soon as it was laid about her slender neck, the ground began to shake.

Down in the village there was no time to get to a canoe, no time to wake the tribe... People screamed from their beds, the earth moving so violently and for so long that they could not even stand. Many became sick from the powerful tremors erupting beneath them. The ground sank in an instant. Everyone in the village drowned from the onslaught of water that careened down. Up in the cave with rocks and sand falling around them the young princess cried out, tripping up every few steps as her betrothed dragged her back to the entrance, and freedom. Clinging to one another with only a mere few steps to go he fell, trapped by debris raining down. With one last effort he managed to shove her free of the cave's mouth and out of death's grasp... It was too late for her prince. At that moment the cave walls closed in and buried him forever.

There was no time to grieve, she had to escape this unrelenting wall of death. Desperately she clawed her way to higher ground, tripping up and dragging herself to her feet every few steps... With tears in her eyes and terror in her heart, she finally broke through the dense brush and looked back at what had once been. Nothing was left... only death and destruction. She had never been happier that night, and never more profoundly sad. Her family, friends, her entire life ripped away from her in that one moment of time, before history was written in this land. All she had left was the necklace. Tightly clutching onto the ornately decorated talisman strung about her neck, she carefully lifted its braided leather cord over her head and held it to her heart for the last time...