Veralidaine Sarrasri was not an average girl. On the outside, she looked just like any other 16 year old female. She had curly brown hair, big blue-gray eyes, full, sensitive lips and a stubborn chin. But on the inside, she was different. She felt alone, even when surrounded by a group of friends. She was adopted and always thought her parents were maybe spies that were killed during a mission, thus the government sent her to live with her adoptive parents until such time as she could be claimed and trained to be a spy. Obviously, she had an overactive imagination. Veralidaine (called Daine for short) also loved archery. She took classes everyday after school since she was 8. Now, she was even better than the teacher. When Daine held a bow in her hand, it was the only time she felt free. She also daydreamed often about faraway lands where kings and queens ruled, knights protected the people and sorcerers slayed evil demons. She never liked the idea of slaying dragons. She always thought dragons were good creatures. Some people thought she was crazy; her last boyfriend had freaked when he went to her house and saw her medieval weapons collection that consisted of mostly swords, longbows and crossbows. Needless to say, since that day, no other boy in her school talked to her very much. She really didn't care. Who needed these immature boys? Certainly not her!
One day, while walking home from archery, she decided to take the long way home and walk through the park. She loved walking through the park, even in the winter because she loved being surrounded by animals. She always had a special bond with animals, sometimes, if she really concentrated, she could hear tidbits of their thoughts. She wanted a pet of some kind, preferably a dog, but her parents were allergic to fur, didn't like lizards, and thought fish were a waste of space. So Daine walked through the park whenever she could. Today, like everyday she was there, birds, squirrels and mice flew and ran up to her. After listening to a sparrow's nesting problems, Daine felt dizzy. Her vision became fuzzy and she felt the strange sensation of falling but not going anywhere. Her ears roared and her eyes rolled up in her head as she fainted. The last thing she heard was the sound of all the animals chirping or squeaking in alarm as she fell to the ground.