Chapter 1
"Tora hunny come back here" A young women called. She carried a small baby girl in her tiny arms. Her long brown-sandy hair flew around her back and shoulders as she moved back and forth humming to a well-known tune. Her emerald eyes shone with joy as she cuddled the precious bundled in her arms. She looked up expecting to see her adorable 3 year old bright eyed daughter playing on a rope swing, but what she saw was an empty swing that was still moving in the breeze. The young women stopped swaying and humming.
"Tora" She called, waiting for the girl to pop her head up from somewhere.
"Tora, come on out now." The women called again, this time getting worried. She walked down the path to where the small creak was. No sigh of Tora. She looked around and spotted something floating at the bank of the creak. Carefully the women made her way to it. When she picked it up she cried out. It was a piece of Tora's pale pink dress. It was torn on the edges, looking as if had been ripped by someone.
"Tora!" The women yelled again and again looking frantically for her daughter. After an hour later of searching for the tiny toddler, the women came back to the creek without luck.
"Tora!" The women cried falling onto the muddy bank, instantly staining her white flowing dress. Still holding her new daughter, she rocked back and forth clutching the dainty piece of cloth.
It was some time later that a guard from the castle came and found the young queen on the bank, still weeping.
" Why Your Majesty, what is ever wrong?" the guard asked helping the queen up.
"Gone...she's gone." She whispered.
"Who's gone..." the guard asked but then realized that the child princess was nowhere in sight.
"My Queen, where is the princess?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" The queen yelled, "SHE'S GONE!!!" And with that she collapsed against the guard sobbing.
The guard went white in the face.
"Come Your Highness," the guard said pulling the queen back through the castle garden's and into the castle. From there he told a maid to see to the queen and the young toddler princess. He then went straight to the King, who was in a serious meeting with some neighboring countries. He burst threw the double oak doors, ignored the looks of annoyance and confusion on the advisors faces.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me but I have urgent and horrible news about your oldest daughter." The guard said.
The young King's blood ran cold.
"What is wrong with my daughter??" He demanded standing up.
"She is missing, you majesty."
All was silent for about 10 seconds until the King threw his fist up in the air and brought it down on the table so hard that the pictures of the walls shock.
"TORA!!!" He cried in rage.

"AUGH!" Van Slandez de Fannel yelled sitting up in bed. His heart was hammering in his chest like he had just had the most difficult training session ever. He grabbed his chest, and tried to control his rapid breathing. For the past 11 years, he had the same dream. Ever since his first child, Tora, had disappeared.
After his heart had slowed down he carefully got out of bed, trying not to wake up his wife.
He pulled a robe over top of him, and opened the doors to the balcony. It was a cold, crisp October night. The ridged autumn air took his breath away, but he barely seemed to notice. He looked up at the Mystic Moon, it seemed to be glowing brighter than ever.
"11 years...tomorrow." Van whispered into the night. The moisture from his mouth formed little clouds that disappeared into the night.
'Just like Tora.' Van thought.
"Van."
Van turned around at the touch of someone holding his shoulder.
"The dream." She asked.
"Yeah." Van said holding her hand, "Augh, Hitomi what is wrong with me? I had this same dream for the past 11 years."
"You miss her. And you want there to be something you can do to bring her back. But there isn't Van. It's beyond you and all up to faith now." Hitomi said gently.
"I know." Van said as his last sentence hung in the cool air.
"Come on, it's freezing out here." Hitomi said at last, even though the cold didn't even bother her. She had too sat out here on the balcony every night for the past 11 years while Van had been asleep. No matter what the weather, Hitomi had always been there, looking out into the garden's hidden creak, incase Tora came back, she would see her mamma on the balcony waiting for her. But for the past 11 years Tora hadn't come back.
"No, I want to stay out here for a bit longer. You back inside, it's not good for you or the baby." Van said smiling, referring to Hitomi's stomach. They had just found out that they were going to have their 4th child.
Hitomi nodded, "Come inside soon dear." She kissed him on the cheek, and turned around and closed the doors behind her.
She paddled into bed, but then changed her mind. She got back up and watched her husband through the glass doors. Van had turned back around and was looking over the gardens, like he was looking for something. He then drew his wings from his back and flew off into the night.
Sighing, she walked out of their spacious room and down the hall, into her youngest daughter's room. The tiny 10-year-old pink haired girl was fall asleep in her bed sucking her thumb. The youngest princess of the Hitomi and Van, Hero, was in ever way a princess; she had the poise and attitude and was wiser beyond her years. She was always helping others, and she'd put others happiness before her own. No one had known where the youngest princess had gotten her cotton candy pink hair, unlike her brother and sister who both had black raven hair. But then Tora had had light brown sandy hair like Hitomi. All the Fannel children had emerald green eyes like their mom though.
Hitomi pulled a fallen cover back onto her youngest daughter and kissed her goodnight on the forehead.
She then walked across the hall to her second daughter, Deseri's room. Deseri was 12 and already so much like Van. She was a total tomboy and loved swords. Hitomi pulled a piece of raven black hair from her face and kissed her.
Hitomi paused at Deseri's closed door. Struggling back tears, she looked into the open door of Tora's room across from Deseri's room. They hadn't moved anything from her room. Everything was in the exact same spot that Tora had left it on that fateful day. Gathering up all her courage, Hitomi walked in the room. Tora's neatly made bed held several stuff animals and a book that Folken had always read to Van when he was a child. An emerald green dress was hanging on a chair, pressed and washed, waiting for its owner to wear it. A matching ribbon was on the dresser with a mirror and brush. Wilted flowers stood still in their brightly painted vase in the windowsill. The door leading out to the balcony was still open a bit, letting the cool air flow in. Hitomi picked up one Tora's favorite stuff animal, a unicorn. Stroking the fake hair, a tear rolled down Hitomi's cheek.
"Come back my angel, we all miss you." Hitomi whispered.
She was unaware on a figure watching Hitomi from Tora's balcony. The dark shadowed figure, having enough of watching the queen cry, jumped to Deseri's balcony. It watched the sleeping girl and surveyed the room, bed, desk, closet, dressing table and mirrors, rack of swords... the figure jumped back as it remember that the third royal child was into sword training. So that was 3rd rooms that wouldn't be an option to enter in. The missing princess' room was also out since if anything were moved, the queen would know. The king and queen's room was out, because that would be suicide to even think about entering through there. And the room it was outside right now was out on the account of the princess knowing how to kill someone with a sword. That left the youngest princess' room. Grinning evilly it jumped onto the roof and ran across it to the other side where Hero's room was. It hopped onto her balcony and peered into the room. It looked like something from a storybook, it decided. It was perfect. Pulling its mask tighter onto its face, the slim figure carefully opened to glass door. The little princess shivered at the cool breeze that entered the room with the figure, but did not wake. It started to walk in, but was stopped by a man whispering icily,
"Don't move another inch." The figure's heart pounded, realizing who was behind them. It turned around slowly to see Van standing on the balcony, sword ready, wings still out. The figure made sure that its mask was on.
"What were you doing in my daughter's room?" Van demeaned.
The figure didn't reply, it jumped onto the roof and started running. Van quickly followed by flying.
Van had almost grabbed him, when the figure ran out of roof. It ran right off the roof and landed on the ground with a dull thud. Van, still on the roof, looked down at the still figure. It didn't move. Van stood there for a couple of minutes before flying down to the figure. He was about to grab the mask of the dead figure, but it jumped up and ran off into the maze of trees in the dense forest that was in the back of the castle. This scared the wits out of Van who nearly had a heart attack. By the time he calmed down, the figure was long gone. Van cursed at himself.
"What was wrong with me? 10 years ago I could of taken that guy, but now…"Van mumbled and shook his head, he didn't want to admitted to himself that he was getting old. He decided not to tell Hitomi, but he'd tell the guards to be on alert. Tiredness finally overcame him and he retreated back to his room, where Hitomi was already. Sound asleep.