As a young child, Grace had been abandoned by her parents. They left her alone in the forest, without so much as a trace that they had even been there with her.
She wondered the forest for days; eating oranges, apples, strawberries, and pretty much anything else she could find that she knew was edible.
On her third day of wondering aimlessly, she heard a pained roar emerge from the North. Her curiosity, and worry, dangerously fueled her to investigate.
She came upon what looked to be an injured animal. It was too far away for her to identify what kind though. She crept closer, watching her step to make sure she didn't step on any twigs.
As the animal came more into view, she noticed it was a huge tiger. Its chest was rising and falling rapidly, and it looked to be in pain and distress, as it made groaning sounds whenever it tried to move.
The red headed child slowly approached the wounded feline. She knelt down behind its head, it giving her a warning growl and trying to bare its teeth, which only caused it to groan in more pain. She looked the large cat over, it had burns, scratches, punctures, lacerations. You name a kind of wound and someone or something gave it to the feline. Grace was mortified, her pine tree green eyes began to fill with tears, "Who would do something like this to an animal...and then just leave it to die?"
She didn't know if she could do anything to save it. She wasn't even sure she'd be able to put it out of its misery, she wasn't a very physically strong child.
She was snapped out of her sorrowful thoughts when she heard the tiger puff, "Fuhvfuhvfuhv!"
The girl rose an eyebrow, "Huh?"
The tiger tilted its head up as best it could towards the girl behind it. It suddenly gave a vicious cough, causing Grace to quickly scoot back. The big cat kept coughing and choking until a puddle of blood splattered out of its mouth. The tiger rested its head again, panting hard. Grace felt the urge to get close to the blood.
She wasn't afraid of blood by any means, but that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous to her. She crawled on all fours towards the puddle, when she saw a glint of light from the puddle. She gasped and quickly found what was the cause. A crystal tooth, or at least it looked crystal. Light blue, sparkley sheen to it, and a rainbow-like effect when light hit it.
She was suddenly overwhelmed with power as the tooth glowed in her hands. Memories quickly flashed through her mind, it seemed they were the tiger's memories. She had no idea what she was watching, until they stopped and she heard a deep voice in her head, "Hello, small child. My name is Ghi'Dran. Yes, I am the tiger laying before you. And yes, there is nothing you can do to save me. But you can deliver this message to my mother, if you so choose of course. Tell her that I love her, and that I wish for another to take my place instead of her mourning my death." Grace was taken aback by the request and wondered how she was supposed to do that before he continued, "I'm sure you're also wondering how you are to find my mother. It's quite simple actually. All you have to do is take that tooth and crush it on the ground. It will open a portal to exactly where she is. Please give her my message."
The red head nodded with determination towards the feline, the voice suddenly sounded harsh and serious, "I can sense sorrow, anger, and longing inside you, as of now. But those two emotions are overshadowed by care, laughter, protectiveness, and a selfless heart. If you don't want to be alone anymore...I suggest you find my mother. That's all I have to tell you. Now do what I said and crush the tooth, then travel through the portal and find my mother."
The girl blinked out of the trance and looked down at the form of the tiger in front of her. There was no movement from his chest anymore, he was gone. She now felt a sense of duty to fulfill Ghi'Dran's final wish and gripped the tooth tightly. She suddenly chucked it at the ground with a yell.
It immediately shattered into sparkling dust, which soon created a swirling rainbow of a portal. She stepped towards it with caution, before just walking through with a look of determination.