Prelude:
Screams rose high above the coastal village of Tonberry. The smoke from the flames carried the villager's panicked cries high into the moonless sky. People ran in all directions, some fleeing with nothing more than the nightclothes they were wearing when they awoke to this terrible nightmare. Others ran about frantically collecting things in bundles under their arms, desperate to take the things their reason or sentiments could not let them leave behind. One woman ran holding onto one thing, The hand of her little son.
Light flashed across the sky followed closely by the deafening boom of explosives and the cracking of gunfire. War had at last reached the northern shores of their once peaceful country. Now it seemed the only place to go to avoid all of this death was north. North across the sea to the country of Ancelstierre, where their government had seemed to be stable and the lands kept in peace for longer than anyone in this country could remember. Rumors had drifted down of a local incident taking place in the northern most parts of the country, right along the border of...
Another blast jerked the woman out of any thoughts not concerning the present. She ran harder and faster than she knew possible, having to suppress the urge to stop whenever she heard the exhausted wails of her son. She was hurting him by pushing him to run this much, but still she continued at an unnatural pace. She knew that if she could just make it to the docks, there would be a boat waiting. There had to be a boat waiting. The little boy cried for his mother to change he pace, for his mother to explain what it was that was actually happening, for his mother to make it better. But she knew there would never be a better in their village anymore, not for a long while. She could not fix this nightmare that She and her son had both woken up to in the middle of the night, She could only try her best to make sure her son would never have to smell the stench of war and death and pain ever again.
Down the street, through and alley and across the bridge, the woman continued to run. She could see it, on the other side of the bridge was the mouth of the harbor and the trading port that was built there. Almost there, she gasped. She choked out a sigh of relief when she saw the small blinking lights of a ship still docked. It wasn't too late! She ran down the stone steps at the entrance of the marina and down the long wooden dock to the ship at the end. "Wait!" she cried out to the small ship, not really knowing if anyone was going to hear her breathless call. "Wait!" she called again, this time she had managed to apply more voice to this one.
It was enough. A man peered over the edge looking out into the night, searching for the source of the voice he had just heard. "Down here, please!" the woman panicked when she saw thick clouds of black smoke billow out of it's smoke pipes. She realized the man had just removed the last rope from the cleats. The boat was taking off and she knew it would only be a matter of seconds before the boat was too far away from the edge to accept any last minute passengers. The sailor looked down, seeing a young woman no older than her middle twenties waving frantically in the night. "ahoy!" The sailor called out, "The ship cannot take anymore passengers, we're already over maximum occupancy! I could possibly fit your boy! But you must make haste!"
It wasn't even a decision. He would be safe. That is what she had been running for since the first explosion signaled the attack on the port village. She knelt down next to her son and stared hard at him. Tears washed paths down his smoke and soot blackened face. He was still quivering, eyes wide in shock unable to perceive what was going on. He was barely five years old.
"William, look at me." His mother took him by the shoulders. She snapped a leather cord from around her neck and wrapped his tiny fingers around the small pouch it was tied to. William still watched his mother's face. "mother?" He squeaked.
"William, listen to me" She said trying to keep her voice from faltering as best as she could. She had to be brave for him.
"I want you to know that I will always Love you. As long as the stars shine, I will always Love you. Take what is in this pouch and use it only when you really have to, do you understand me?"
William looked into his mothers eyes. He was silent, and after a moment nodded.
"We don't have much more time, miss! The boat'll lea-" The sailor's voice was cut off by the deep fog horn blast signaling the boat's final departure. In that moment, The William's mother picked him up and ran to the edge of the dock, thrusting him into the open arms of the sailor. It was then William began to cry again. Screaming for his mother who was still standing on the edge of the dock watching her only son leave in the arms of a complete stranger. William screamed for her to come back, but all he got as a response was a very distant voice calling out to him from the pier "I love you!" before one more bright blast from an explosive blinded his vision and flooded his eardrums with such a cacophony of noise that it felt like someone had boxed his ears with a block of hot metal. Suddenly his world went black.