Prologue: Ancient Dreams

"Where….where am I?"

A young girl of about 16 walked through a dimly lit hall. Torches were attached to the walls at intervals and in the light the walls looked like there were covered with pictures. The place felt very archaic to this frightened girl and dressed only in her pajamas she felt very out of place. And yet this place seemed familiar to her.

"But…why?"

The girl stopped to take a closer look at the walls. It looked like a battle between monsters, with people controlling them. One person stood above the rest and this strange looking eye seemed to be everywhere.

"This is too weird, what does this mean?"

She continued her walk down the seemingly endless hall but after a while she came to a stop. A huge arched mirror blocked her path. The mirror was completely black, not even reflecting the light of the torches. The girl moved cautiously closer to the mirror, drawn to it even though she trembled with fear. Finally, she stood in front of the mirror but nothing could be seen in its dark depths.

The girl steeled herself and bravely reached out to touch the mirror. It was cool beneath her fingers and she could find no flaw in its smooth, hard surface. The murky darkness of the mirror began to swirl at her touch and out of its shadowy expanse a person appeared. The girl gasped in surprise and took a step back from the mirror. She was greatly shaken by how much the spirit in the mirror looked like her, except a little older and wiser. The girl reflected in the mirror was dressed in ancient Egyptian style clothes and had little gold beads attached to strands of her red-gold hair. "She appears much more elegant and powerful than me." The girl thought to herself, "But her eyes seem quite sad."

"Who are you? Why do you look like me? Where am I?" The girl breathlessly demanded the mysterious person.

The strange reflection smiled dolefully, "You are in an ancient place, a place that even time itself has forgotten. I had hoped this day would never come….but he needs you."

The girl frowned and asked, "Who needs me? And who are you? What's going on?"

"Darkness is spreading; the time of awakening is drawing near. The sages are again needed by their master."

"Master? Sages? I don't understand!" The girl stammered in fear and slowly started to back away from the mirror. "Who are you!" she whispered in a frightened voice.

"I am you. The awakening is at hand….wake up….wake up or be lost to the darkness."

The reflection began to reach out towards the girl, the still surface of the mirror rippled as the hand reached from beyond its glassy confines. The girl screamed in horror and fell backward...

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Brighty woke up screaming and drenched in sweat. She glanced wildly around her bedroom, fear still clutching at her heart. Everything was familiar to her; nothing had changed or was out of place. "It was just a dream….just a dream…." she consoled to herself, still breathing heavily. She fell back against the pillows still shivering from the aftermath of her dream. She stared at the ceiling with troubled eyes, "But it felt so real…" She rolled over to try and go back to sleep but something poked her on her cheek, causing her to sit up. She explored along her pillow and she picked up what felt like a little round bead. Brighty reached over to her nightstand to turn on the lamp so that she could have a better look at her discovery.

Brighty gasped in bewilderment as she marveled at what she found, "It can't be…."

In the palm of her hand rested a gold bead embedded with a strange looking eye…