Hello everyone and Happy New Year,

I finally finished my last story and am ready to start with this one. I know I have kept some of you waiting for a while but I guess if you are reading this you aren't too cross with me. Just a slight difference from this story's prequel, I will not be writing in the first person as I find it too difficult to do at this time. I know that some of you might be a bit T.O-ed by this change because some of you have mentioned that that is what you enjoyed about the story but I feel that you will forgive this change after a few chapters. I have worked hard to improve my vocabulary so that I may not use the same 200 or so words in a repetitive manner. I do apologize for any grammar mistakes or typos in advance, if there are any major ones please feel free to make me aware of them so that I might correct them.

Just a bit of a warning, this first chapter is a bit.... gory?... but it is effective. Trust me, not all of the chapters will be like this one but at times, blood and guts are necessary... I do apologize in advance if this chapter makes yo uneasy (imagine me writing this... I was disgusted at times).

Here is a disclaimer for the story as a whole because I find it tedious to post it at every chapter: I do not own the tv show 'Legend of the Seeker' or any of its characters. I am not making any money off of writing this and this is simply for enjoyment of myself and others who read this. However Shara is mine and the plot is mine unless it is an event that happens on the show.

Without further ado, here is the first chapter of Falling From Grace.

The Dream (Prologue)

"Momma," a shrill voice howled from somewhere behind her.

She stood and looked around quickly, the only sound in the room the swishing if her long forest green dress. She stood there, listening. Where had that come from? It had sounded terrified and her nurturing side was kicking in.

"Momma!" the voice shrieked from beyond the wall of her personal study.

She didn't tell herself to move yet she found her body rushing towards the room next to the study, hoping to find the distressed child. She stood in an empty room. She heard the crying of the ghost child again and raced to follow it. It led her further and further from her room. Soon she was in a long abandoned set of rooms. It took her a while to realize that she was in her old chambers. She paused a moment to sweep her hand over the dusty window and survey the dark, unkept room. The voice calls again and she was pulled out of the palace all together. She wanders into the woods and soon loses her way. She did not care; she simply wanted to find the child that is playing on her heart strings this much.

Every now and then she would think that she caught a glimpse of her white rabbit, only to find that if she turned in the direction she had seen it, there were only trees. The cries come quicker and in a more frantic tone. Her heart races and her dark curls stick to her head and face from the sweat. Oh where is this child? She must find it? What if it is being attacked or is hurt? How could she ignore it and not help it?

She soon found herself simply going in circles and her head gets dizzy. She pauses to rest but the cries just turn into a wordless wail. She is overcome and felt her legs give out from under me. It is dark, dark all around. If only she had a light.

Suddenly a light appears. It starts faint and then grows to an almost blinding orb just above her. She squinted her eyes to see in the bright white light and looked around her. She saw a gorgeous little boy standing right in front of her. His piercing blue eyes were boring into hers. His hair was raven black and it was neatly combed over in an adorable fashion. His clothes very of high quality and fitted him perfectly. He at his belt a little jewelled knife hung.

"Momma?"he asked.

His face that had been calm and serene suddenly was stained with horror and terror. He looked at her and backed up a few steps screaming. She reached out to grab his hand and draw him to her but she looked down at her hand to find it covered with hot, sticky blood. Looking down at her body she found blood everywhere but she felt no wound that would explain it. She looked about her and saw her small dagger, which was more for show than anything, sitting on the ground next to her, completely caked with blood. She grabbed it and stood up. As she stood up she saw that the blood came not from one person with a bad wound but a whole army of men, slaughtered and oozing out liquid life. She felt a scream rise in her throat as she looked around, horrified.

She felt the blood drip slowly from her arms and she felt queasy. She stumbled over the dead bodies shrieking every so often when one moaned or moved slightly. She felt hot, salted tears cascade down her cheeks as she slowly tried to find a way out of the field of dead men. The further she went the more bodies she saw; all of them as mangled as the next and laying there in the buck. She stood in a small circular area that held no bodies and let herself fight to regain control. She must find a way out and find her son. She couldn't leave him alone in this hellish land, wherever this was.

A booming laugh made her jump and tense up. A cold sweat broke out all over her body and she stood there, frozen. She dared not turn around to face what she knew was behind her. After a few moments she let her mind fight. One side told her to turn around and be the brave queen she was, the other told her to run as fast as she could out of here. Her pride won and she turned definitely, ready to face she worst nightmare.

"Hello Shara," the dark voice said.

All she could do was fall to her knees and bow her head to keep from looking at the beast in front of her.

"We will soon be friends, you and I, you just wait and see. Soon you will be calling for my aid and I will help you because I know that you will help me win my war. I just thought that I might as well warn you so you don't fight your urges to come to me. I will make you strong and even more powerful then you were before," The Master of the underworld said to her in a low cackle.

She shivered and nodded her head. Maybe if she just agreed than he would let her go. She just wanted to go find her son and take her away from here.

"Looking for this?" the Master said pulling the boy out from behind him.

Shara was completely dumbfounded at how he knew what she wanted. She nodded and watched the boy carefully as he smiled at her. He looked up at the Master and then walked over to her and hugged her. She found herself hugging him back.

"I can give him to you if you want, if you are loyal..... but this is rushing things a bit. Come boy, you will be with your mother soon enough, I leave you girl for now. Just remember what I told you, I will be waiting," the Master chuckled.

He disappeared just as quickly as he appeared. She found herself alone in the field of bloody corpses, not sure what to do. The corpses were slowly crawling towards her. Their moaning grew loud and she stood up and tried to kick them away, only to have them grab at her and pull her down. The stench of decaying flesh was potent and the sticky blood was falling on her once again.

She screamed and screamed, doing her best to fight them off. Her clothes tore and she winced as her clean flesh grew covered with dirt and reeking blood. She curled into a little ball and felt herself slowly fade into the darkness.

"You will be back, whether you ask for it or not," she heard before she receded completely into the abyss of her mind.