Prologue: In Her Dreams
When she had been a little girl, her mother had told her many tales and fantasy of wonderful heroes and princes and princesses. And while Petra had been entertained by these sugary fairy tales and their tones of bravery, more than anything she loved hearing of lands so distant, so different than the one she knew. Petra wanted to know what the ocean looked like. Sometimes she dreamed of its beautiful aquamarine waters and the smell of salt that wafted as sea mist. She wanted to touch it, to bathe herself in its cleansing waters. Then maybe she would be able to finally rinse the blood that lingered and stained her hands.
She imagined and dreamed of seeing those sparkling azure waters just like in one of those stories her mother would tell her each night. She yearned for them, just as a certain conqueror had in his own dreams. They had each made sacrifices to see what the rest of mankind could not, and Petra would not take that for granted. If only she could make it there herself and see it with her own eyes. Then she could die happily.