Hello, readers! If you're reading this, you one of the few, and the proud, and the brave (and I mean brave for you know how creepy his stuff is) to know who Ted Dekker is. But if you'd don't know and are just reading simply because you have read other stories of mine, I hope this will open your mind to a whole new series that ranks up with the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings. (I'm not kidding, and I'm a HUGE FAN of CON. I won't say that about everything.) Welcome to a world that is our world, but far off in the future and time is repeating itself.

Oh, and this Lucy is not the Lucy from Narnia. She's actually a real character in Red of the Circle Series. She just has a really small part, but I always liked her and wanted to write from her point of view.

Chapter 1: Lucy

Greetings! My name's Lucy, I'm ten years old, and I live in the Southern Forest. I'll give a quick history of my people so you're not confused, and so you know where I'm coming from.

About fifteen years ago, our world was perfect and I mean perfect. We all lived in complete happiness and no fear. We lived in perfect harmony with the Roush and Elyon Himself, our Maker. He had given us the world filled with beautiful colored forests to live in. We were happy and content.

But that was before the Great Deception, when Teeleh, the leader of the Shataiki, deceived the Firstborn, Tanis, the leader and father of all our people, into drinking the forbidden water. Teeleh and his Shataiki were unleashed and destroyed the colored forest. Not only was our home destroyed, but our bodies took on a disease that showed how we were infected with evil. It takes over the mind and makes you forget about Elyon. It also causes your skin to flake and crack, and your eyes become white, no longer the color of Elyon, which is green.

Even though we had betrayed Him, Elyon gave us mercy, for He still loved us, even after that. He gave us the Seven Forests (my forest is one), which each have a green lake in the center. These lakes have healing powers that holds off the disease. You have to bathe in it every day to keep it off, or the disease will come back. Also, He gave us a promise that He would come back and strike evil with one fatal blow.

Those with the disease who did not make it to the lakes are called the Horde. Their leader is Qurong, who is set on conquering our forests. Recently, the fights between the Forest Dwellers (my people) and the Horde have gotten fiercer, and there is little chance we can hold out.

So, this is where my story picks up.

Don't worry, more's on its way! Just some story history for now, sorry. Please tell me what you think!

Pronunciations:

Elyon: EL-yawn (Yes, that is how it pronounced. It's actually Hebrew.)

Tanis: TAH-nees

Teeleh: TEA-lay

Shataiki: shah-TAH-key (At least, I think so… please tell me if I'm wrong.)