Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Oh...it hurts.

Mother, it hurts…

My vision blurred. I moved one shaking hand to my side. The effort made me scream in agony. I didn't have to look at my hand to know it would be smeared in blood.

How did it go so bad?

Get up, Scarlet.

I let out a tiny whimper as that voice reverberated through my mind. There was never a moment of peace...this torment…

Set me free.

I closed my eyes, pressed them tightly together. I could feel his influence in my mind growing, the tendrils of madness creeping in. Soon the sylvari who wounded me would arrive to put me out of my misery. How much of myself did I have left? I opened my eyes and gazed up at the panel next to me. This was the Breachmaker, my finest feat of engineering...and my tomb. I gingerly shifted my body over so I could see my wound. Mangled flesh…

There was more damage than I could see, I knew that much. I wouldn't be alive much longer.

"She's in there!"

I jumped at the sound of a new voice and hissed in pain.

Get up. Free me.

The command echoed in my head and I cried out. My body trembled, struggling to rise as the Master flexed his will over me. I could feel madness overriding my thoughts.

I need to keep the drill running.

I was on my feet now, trembling like a leaf.

I could surrender...I could run.

My gaze moved to the emergency hatch across the massive area that served as the cockpit of this ship.

I could run, no one would find me. No one would know where I went.

I don't think so. I will devour your hope and magic and cast you into despair, just like I will do to all of Tyria. You will resist me no further.

I knew my fate had been signed before the Master finished his sentence. I closed my eyes, a sob escaping from my lips.

"Mai...I'm so sor-"

Prelude: Do Sylvaris Dream of Plant Sheep?

Ceara:

My first memories were simplistic and beautiful. My "birthplace" was in a brightly colored forest, littered with multicolored leaves of every hue. It was amazing. Though I don't know if I would call it just that. I don't think there was a word for it in my mother tongue that would describe it. The humans had a word or two: Utopia...paradise…

The days were always warm and pleasant with nary a cloud in the sky. I spent my days alone at first, always carefully placed just far enough away from the other sylvari. There were a lot of us in this place, although there were fewer each day. There were rumors flying about, the main one making the bold claim that the disappeared were being "born". I wasn't sure how that was possible. Didn't that already happen?

My days went by unchanged until one day I had a visitor. I stared at him. He stared back with dark eyes that shone with intelligence and something else I couldn't quite identify.

"I'm not sure I want company," I said, barely making an effort to hide my discomfort.

I wasn't sure why he decided to join me. There was always some kind of chatter in the forest, mostly unspoken. Each sylvari could talk to each other using a simple form of telepathy, which mean that there was a lot of unneeded noise. I had found that if I kept my distance from the others, there was less chatter. However, that tended to make the others notice me more. Like now.

"I've noticed that you sit away from the others," My newest visitor commented, not at all fazed by the tone of my voice earlier.

"The others talk too much."

He nodded in agreement.

"It's always about the same subject: being born. My name is Canach, what is yours?"

I was actually shocked. Most of the sylvari here didn't know their names yet. They referred to each other in their own special code that I had learned through eavesdropping. I had learned mine upon waking up one day. I imagine that's how the others found out. I mean it would probably be weird to be born without knowing your name.

"Ceara," I replied in a small voice.

I loved saying my name. It was something that I owned. It would forever be my name.

"So, Ceara, what is your opinion on being born? I mean if the rumors are true, we'll probably never see this place again."

I shrugged.

"I don't really know. I think I would rather stay here. We don't really know what's out there."

"That's true."

With that, we lapsed into silence. Comfortable, mutual silence. I wasn't sure how the others were able to talk so much. It wasn't like there was a lot to talk about.

The days went by without much variation. Canach and I spent countless days together, sometimes speaking and sometimes lying in silence. The topic of being born came up quite often, but it never went far. No one knew anything new. Our numbers, however, were dwindling. Each new day heralded the disappearance of more sylvari.

Then one day, my world changed.

And Canach, bless the Mother, was right. I never did see the Dream again.

Little did I know that my time was already starting to run out.