author note: this is my first fan fiction so feedback would be appreciated. This one is how Meara(mage) came to the circle, a sad beginning to her tale...through her perspective

Finding myself torn from family, too young to remember their faces and too young to fight back.

They came, taller than life they appeared, to take me away. The leader, I remember him to most, with his scarred face and cold eyes staring down into my soul. My mother knew that they were coming, knew they would come for me when it happened.

"Come little girl, we want to take you to a safe place. We won't hurt you, just take my hand and we can go to meet others like you. Do you want to meet them?" His cruel and cold words rang through my soul, trying to make me obey. He stretched his hand out for me, the irony of his friendly gesture, frightened me to a frozen state.

"You can't have my little girl! She is mine!" I remember her voice, filled with fright, screaming for him to leave. Her arms were wrapped tightly around me, trying to protect me from the terrors she knows I will come to face.

I remember being pulled farther away from him, trying to be pulled away from my frightening future.

He didn't leave.

As if he enjoyed this scene, he curled his lips into a frightening smile. I could see that he was waiting for it, waiting for a fight.

I didn't see what happened, but the sounds scare me even to today. Her screams for me as she was pulled away from me turned to those of pure terror. She tried to fight back, I think, but after what seemed like an eternity, a silence so eery creeped after the sound of a sword piercing her, killing her, slowly.

I didn't want to open my eyes, I just wanted to see her again, to hear her voice.

No, I didn't want that. As soon as I opened my eyes, I wanted to shut them.

I saw her worn out blue dress, covered in red, on the ground. There was so much red, so much blood. I didn't even see her face.

Unrecognizable, that is what I remember. It was her dress, her hands, that I see. Nothing else I can remember.

The man turned to me, without another look at her lying on the ground. He was covered in red as well. His sword gleamed a metallic red as his face was smeared with her life.

What did she do to deserve that?

"Little girl, do you want to be safe?" It was there that I saw sadness in his cold, blue eyes. I wanted to believe it, believe that I could be safe.

One of the others came to my side, he tried to soothe me. He took my hand, but decided to carry me after I fell. I couldn't think straight when they walked away from her, from mommy.

I stayed silent while they walked, eyes wide open wishing to keep them closed. The others in their silver armor chatted happily.

How could they sound happy when I can't see her, can't be with her, I thought. Do they take pleasure by separating families?

A day went by until I could walk again, until I could ignore them. I stayed within their view, knowing that leaving them would bring nothing but more numbing pain. I focused instead on the land and plants that I passed, not the people who seemed happy with their family.

We stopped at a river. They said they needed a break and more water. They led me to the bank of the river.

The nicer man that tried to comfort me tried to get me to bathe and wash my clothes, but I didn't listen. Instead, I looked at the reflection in the water.

I remember seeing a stranger in the water. She looked sad, but she didn't cry. Her eyes were large, green eyes clouded and unfocused while she never smiled. She tried to smile but it was fake. Her mahogany hair was limp and she was covered with splotches of dark red, one below her right eye. She didn't look like a little kid to me, she seemed to have seen only sadness, shown all through her eyes.

There was another reflection beside her, this one of a grown man. He had blue eyes and a scar on his face. The strange girl looked very scared, seeing him beside her.

"It is time to eat. Are you hungry today?" His voice was cold and I could tell that he didn't care about me or the strange girl in the water.

I shook my head no and walked away from them. I didn't want anything to do with those strange men, they made the numb feeling fade away when they talked. I wanted that feeling, I remember that because then I would forget everything.

The night sky was so dark, but it made me feel better, not seeing anything but black or stars. I felt like the night would watch over me and keep me from the nightmares, which it did many times. The stars were the friends that I left behind when they took me. The stars each had a voice, with the child-like laugh to calm me. I never wanted to sleep when the stars were out, I wanted to be happy again.

Too soon the sun would come back up, the time I dreaded because everything was colored and held the nightmares. The men would awake from the tents to find me sleeping by the fire pit, long cold from the fire being gone. I wish I was awake one of those times to see their faces, but then again I never wanted to see them looking at me with their dead eyes.

I don't know how long time passed, but I remember being shaken, woken up from their cold fingers.

It was the middle of the day and one of them turned me to see a lake, shining in the sunlight.

They made me walk to the wooden dock, to another man that looked older and was dressed in worn out farmer clothes, like my mommy and daddy. He looked at me with fear, I never thought of why he would look at me like that.

Shoved into a boat, They took me across the lake they called Lake Calenhad.

That was when I saw the tower for the first time.

That was the only time I really felt something, felt anguish and anger for being taken away. I wanted to see mommy again, be with my family, but I couldn't even remember their faces without remembering momma covered in red on the ground.

No, I will think of them later, I thought, much later.

The boat hit land, within the shadow of the tower. One at a time they left the boat, all but the one who took us. They pulled my arms, pulled me away from my last chance of freedom.

"This is your new home. Do remember to take care of yourself." He smirked at me while those cold eyes turned to the eyes that I will never forget, those of pure cruelty with enough anger that I thought he would kill me at that second.

Never letting go of my arms, they dragged me through the enormous wooden doors, rotten from the continuous rise of the water and the moisture staying within the wood.

Inside of the tower, there was an older man. He looked very old, maybe 80 or so, and he wore blue robes that shined like the night stars.

He turned his head and met my eyes. He looked very sad, but this sadness was masked by a kindness that let me know he would never hurt me.

"Hello, child. My name is Irving. Will you tell me your name?" His voice was so calming, so light, that I felt like I could trust him but I couldn't tell completely yet.

"She hasn't said a word since we found her. She didn't fight back at all though, surprisingly."

"Well, this must have been hard on her. I will take her to meet the others she will be with." Irving cautiously took my hand and led me from them.

"Don't worry, child. I will protect you from those templars from now on."

What are templars? Do they hurt many people? I had thought that the men came for me because they wanted to kidnap me, at that time.

"They...they took me from mommy. Mommy is gone. Why can't I...will I see her again? She was lying on the ground when I left. Wouldn't she want to come with me?"

Irving knew what I was saying immediately and pulled me close. "Hush," he whispered in my ear. "Your mother will always be with you."

"Really?" I asked him, feeling hopeful.

"Yes, but you might not see her very ofter because she can only watch you now." He hugged me a little tighter when he said this.

"My name is Meara, Mr. Irving." I told him my name because I knew he cared for me, knew that he would take care of me.

"It is nice to meet you then" he said as he chuckled lightly. As he let go of me he said, "Now, child, do you want to meet others like yourself?"

As soon as I nodded he opened the door in front of us. I saw three kids about my age, laughing and playing tag. Irving looked at me and silently encouraged me to go inside.

The other kids stopped and looked at me, curiosity filled their innocent eyes.

"Children, this is the newest member of our family. Why don't you introduce yourselves?"

The oldest looking one was a boy a couple inches taller than me with olive skin and short black hair. He took a step forward and said, "My name is Jowan. Welcome to the circle."

Is this place called the circle? That is a strange name for this place, I thought. "My name is Meara A-Amell."

The other two, girls that looked about two years older than me came up and smiled. The one with the long, blond hair tied in a ponytail put her hand up in front of me. "I am Kelly and that is Willa. Want to be friends?"

I stared at her hand for a minute or two before I actually shook it, but when I did her smile grew wider, wide enough to even see the smile in her dark brown eyes. Willa, presumably the one with short ginger hair tied in twin ponytails hiding behind Kelly, peeked from behind Kelly and smiled as well, but not as much.

"Jowan here is twelve years old. I'm ten, turning eleven in three months!" Kelly beamed as she told me.

"How old are you Meara? I am nine years old today." Willa asked, looking at her feet.

"I-I'm six."

Irving looked pleased to see us getting along, but I still didn't feel comfortable being in this unfamiliar place. I smiled slightly at him though to show that I trusted him.

"Willa, can you show her to the dorms?" Willa nodded and took my hand as soon as Irving asked, trying unsuccessfully to drag me away. Irving chuckled and slightly pushed me towards Willa. "Don't worry, Meara. Everything will be fine."

I stared at him, trying to stay put but Willa didn't want to give in either. She pulled me back through the doors back into the hall. Back in the room, I thought I heard Irving telling someone else to accompany me as well because Kelly came out and caught up to us.

"Don't worry about a thing, Meara. We'll take good care of you." Kelly said trying to comfort me, which only made me more nervous.

The walls inside the tower, or circle, were made of light grey stones that seemed chipped from age. Along the floor there were rugs that never seemed to end and along the sides of the walls there were suits of armor, that looked like they were going to come after me.

Willa turned into a door to the right and I saw beds, lined up in rows, with little spaces on the side to put their belongings. She pulled me to the first bed on the left and told me that this one is going to be my bed.

I have my own bed! With mommy and daddy I had to share a room with my big brothers or sleep with mommy because we needed the space.

Kelly helped me sit up in the bed and ran to go get a book while Willa looked everywhere but at me.

"Do you want to hear a story about the elves?"

"What are elves?" Kelly looked like I hit her across the face.

"Then this means I am reading you this story before we go to sleep, and that is final." Kelly tried to look stern while she read from the book.

The last thing I remember before falling asleep is Kelly reading about how there are elves that wander the forests, searching for their past and staying true to nature.

Letting my eyelids fall, I thought that this could be a new home, a new beginning.