Hi everyone! This is my first Neopets story and I hope you like it! If you want to learn more about the characters, check out the story site at And now, on with the fic!

They ran up the side of TechoMountain, a woman in her late twenties pulling a young girl about eight-years-old along with her. She was trying to be gentle with the small child, but the urgency for their escape prevented that. They had to get away.

"Mommy, slow down!" the little girl pleaded. "Please, I can't run that fast!" The woman stopped and scooped the child into her arms before continuing up the mountain. She could feel her daughter hugging her tight and hear her whimpering softly. "Why is Aunt Jhudora chasing us, Mommy?"

"Don't worry," her mother said soothingly, holding her close. "She's not going to catch us…"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Fyora." Fyora's eyes narrowed as she tightened her embrace on her daughter, squeezing the Light Faerie backpack the girl was wearing. Jhudora was trying to take her daughter away from her… Jhudora's own daughter had "disappeared" when she was an infant and now she was trying to claim her niece as her own.

"You're not getting her," Fyora said, not turning around. "She's my child, yours is gone…"

"My daughter is gone because of you," Jhudora fired back. "It's only fair that I take yours in exchange." Fyora heard her little girl whimper in fear and felt a tear fall on her shoulder. Fyora put her down on the ground, pulling away from her tight embrace.

"Run… run, and don't look back." The child's eyes widened in fear and surprise.

"No!" she cried. "No, Mommy, I'm not leaving you!" She went to hug Fyora again, but Fyora refused. "Mommy…"
"Run," she whispered. "Just run…" The little girl was about to do so… when she saw something heading right for Fyora… a large ball of black light.

"Mommy, look out!" She shoved her mother aside, directly taking the blast… and falling into the volcano.

"NO!" Fyora yelled. "SARAH!!"

She woke with a start, breathing heavily. That was the third time this week she'd had that dream… and it confused her. The story… it fit right along with what she remembered about her life… all ten years that she could remember.

She was about eight-years-old when her best friend… best Neopet friend, a blue Kougra named OraionStar found her lying on a small cliff within the mouth of the volcano. She wasn't moving and had blood trickling from a wound on the back of her head. If Oraion hadn't found her… she probably would have died.

She looked at the blue Kougra that was cuddled close to her, trying to keep warm. He wasn't a baby, but not exactly an elder when he'd been abandoned by his owner… well, thrown into the volcano by his owner. By a stroke of luck, he had landed on the same cliff she was lying on… and he saved her. He somehow got her out of there, got her to a hospital… and adopted her. He made it his business to protect her.

When she woke up in the hospital, she couldn't remember anything… anything except her name and the fact that someone had yelled it out in terror right before everything went black. The doctors said that the hit she'd taken to her head had caused amnesia and maybe someday she'd get her memory back… that was ten years ago, and she still couldn't remember a thing. The only clues she had were the Light Faerie backpack she was wearing, its contents and the gold heart-shaped locket around her neck. It had her name written on the front in silver letters and it refused to open. That frustrated Sarah- every thing she needed to know could be within that locket… but she'd never find out.

She pulled Oraion into her lap and held him close, wrapping the blanket tight around them both. The tent they lived in did very little to keep out the wintry air that came in late October. She knew that she'd have to get them a house someday… when she got the money… but someday wasn't coming soon enough.

Oraion purred softly, shaking her from her thoughts. Tomorrow she would see if she could get some neopoints from somewhere… but now was the time to sleep. As for the dream…

"It's just a dream," she whispered. "The Faerie Queen doesn't know me… no one knows me… I don't even know me." She sighed sadly. "I'm just Sarah…"