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This story is based around the Minecraft Diaries series by Aphmau with a some added twists from me and a few new characters. I do not own Minecraft, Minecraft Diaries, nor any of Aphmau's characters. This story has no real connections with the original series so please keep that in mind and enjoy it for what it is. Thanks!

Chapter 1

The Beginning

I am a girl with a dark and mysterious past. Besides being hounded by the Shadow Knights and terrorized by werewolves, my home was burned, my family divided and my life torn apart. I had to brave these trials and others during my many adventures. My name is Aria, and this is my story...

It all started one evening ten years ago. My best friend Hazel and I were sitting in the forest together, talking and playing as we usually did. Everything was calm and peaceful, but in one instant, all that changed.

I stood up and looked toward the edge of the forest, which was just out of view behind a hill.

Hazel looked towards me and asked, "Aria? What's wrong?"

I continued to stare, not seeming to hear her.

She stood up next to me and shook my shoulder gently.

"Aria? ARIA!"

I was startled out of my thoughts by her urgent call.

I replied to her in a decievingly calm voice, "Something is wrong, Hazel, terribly wrong." I could smell an acrid stench, a fire maybe?

She stared at me for a moment and then looked in the direction I just had a moment before. She didn't notice anything suspicious.

"What is it?" she asked me, confused.

Eyes wide with fear, I replied in a trembling voice, "It's a fire Hazel...THE VILLAGE IS ON FIRE!"

With those words we both rushed over the hill and out of the forest. We were greeted by the sight of billowing smoke and raging fires.

"WHAT DO WE DO?" Hazel cried, face pale.

"We have to go find everyone! Lord Samuel surely would have placed a camp across the river as a shelter for the villagers!" I said.

Hazel nodded and we dashed in the direction of the river, trying to see the village beyond the line of trees. We came to the river, raced across the mossy bridge spanning it, and then ran along the opposite side.

As we came to a place where the trees thinned to allow a clear view of the village, I stopped and stared.

"Mom?" I whispered and watched a tall, red-haired woman standing atop the wall as she defended the village. As I looked, a shadowy form crept up behind her. I wanted to shout, scream, call for her to look out, but my body seemed frozen in place, and I couldn't speak at all.

The shadowy figure seemed to sense my stare and turned towards me. For a second, I saw part of his face: he was Zane, the High Priest of O'Kasis. With one cold look at me, he turned his attention to my mother, who was using her barrier magicks to defend the wall.

As I watched, Zane lifted a long, evil-looking dagger and stabbed it through my mother's heart. She gasped and fell to her knees. In another instant, she was laying motionless on the wall.

I stepped back, mouth whispering a soundless plea: no, please no..

Hazel grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the forest and out of danger, tears of grief falling down her cheeks as well as mine.

My mind was paralyzed. Why? Why had this happened? Why my mother? It was too much to take in. With one final sob I collapsed on the ground, my mind overwhelmed. Just before I blacked out, I heard a call. "Hazel! Aria! Oh, Irene help us!" It was Alex.

I woke up some time later, feeling dazed and exhausted. I felt someone next to me. I carefully flexed my fingers and felt someone's hand clutching mine. Just as suddenly as I had felt it, it was gone. Opening my eyes, I focused on the dull canvass of a tent.

"Aria?" A boy's voice asked.

I felt burned and bruised, and everything hurt.

"What happened?" I asked numbly, without really knowing what I was saying.

"You've been out for quite some time. Hazel and I had to drag you through the forest, but the fire jumped the river and blocked our path. We had to make a dash for it, and you got burned.

I knew who it was now; it was Alex. Alex was a year older than me: eight years old, and he has blonde hair and light blue eyes.

"Where's Hazel?" I asked wearily.

"My sister is watching her. Not many of the grown-ups made it out of the village. Hazel told me what happened to your mother." His voice sounded sorrowful.

I mustered the strength to try and sit up. Alex didn't stop me, he just waited patiently next to me.

I looked towards him. His solemn face reminded me of the tragedy. He looked down and to the right, half of his face hidden in a shadow.

"Zane," I managed to whisper. "It was Zane." And tears started to roll down my cheeks.

Alex looked both sad and angry at the same time. "Zane and his dragons attacked Karis and killed every magicks user. My parents and yours were included."

"We weren't a threat. We didn't do anything!" I sobbed.

He looked down. "We must have, either that, or Zane is just out of his mind."

"I thought Karis was part of the O'Kasis Alliance!" I cried.

"We were...but Zane must have had a reason," Alex said, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"What is Lord Samuel doing about all of this?" I asked softly, wiping away my tears.

"It has been two days since the attack. Lord Samuel has ordered any remaining able-bodied men and women to guard a perimeter around the camp in case Zane comes back for the survivors," Alex said solemnly.

I nodded, but Alex continued.

"Lord Samuel is also planning to exile all those who are cursed by the Ghost. He blames them for this misfortune," Alex finished.

I looked at him, horrified.

"That superstition has been subdued over the past few years...has it resurfaced again?" I asked.

The Curse, formally known as the Ghost's Curse declares that any man, woman or child with light-colored skin, hair or eyes is cursed by the Ghost of the Silver Moon at birth. This superstition never made any sense to me, but people still believed it.

I suddenly realized something. Alex and his brother, Josh would be exiled, along with any close family members of theirs. That would be Sibyl and Ellie, Alex's little sisters.

I also realized that anyone else who had blonde hair or blue eyes would be exiled, including Hazel and many of my other friends.

I wanted to speak to him about this, and other things, seeing as he had been one of my closest friends since we were toddlers, but he opened the tent flap and prepared to leave, a pained expression on his face.

"Alex..." I whispered.

"Everyone is gone, Ari. I risked my life for Ellie, but she died in the fire," he said, a sob catching in his throat.

In the light let in from the open tent flap, I saw a long, jagged cut running across the right side of his face. In the dim light of the tent I hadn't noticed. Also, he had kept his face down and not looked straight at me, which also would have made it harder for me to see.

Tears came to my eyes as I processed what he said.

"Everyone? W-what about Michael?" I asked softly.

He turned to look at me, the cut now clearly visible. It had healed over a little, but I could still see the remaining traces of stitches. His countenance lightened a bit at my words.

"Your brother was one of the few guards-in-training who survived...though he will be tried too...you and he will probably be sent to Renya. My siblings and I will be sent to the Swamplands," he said quietly.

Renya was the place that most of the people were exiled to. Since Michael had blonde hair, and I was his sister, we would both be sent to the island.

The Swamplands were much worse. That was where the scarred people went.

Another superstition claims that if a person is scarred, no matter the cause, they must be sent away to avoid more bad luck coming to those around him or her. This superstition was widely abided, and I remember in my younger years several people close to me had been sent away because of it. The Swamplands were just as they sounded, dark, murky swamps with dangerous reptiles and panthers lurking within. It was basically a death sentence unless they managed to find the settlement that was rumored to exist in the swamps.

Tears brimmed in my eyes. He saw them and quickly turned away and prepared to leave.

"Wait!" I called softly, tears spilling out.

"The trial is starting. I must go." And with a final look towards me full of longing and sadness, he went out of the tent and closed the flap. That look haunted me. I couldn't decipher it's meaning, nor could I bring myself to call out after Alex to come back so I could speak with him.

Alone in the tent, I let the sadness and grief that I had kept inside come out now. To say the least, I cried.

If you enjoyed this chapter, please comment and give advice and ideas for the next one, thanks!

=^.^= Ari the Dragongirl =^.~=