Prologue
It was a dark night and despite the fact that the smell of spring lingered in the air, a deep frost coated the ground. The flowers, which had just begun to appear days earlier, had disappeared back under the thin soil, their frail roots clinging to every bit of warmth attainable. Death haunted the crisp night air, and the flowers were not the only ones who felt its presence. A young girl dressed in traveling clothes sat huddled along side a winding dirt road, a flimsy carpetbag lying limply at her side. She was pale and shaking with cold, having long ago given up any hope of finding shelter. The French countryside stretched for miles in every direction, not a glimmer of light peeking out form its depths. Aside form the moon and stars that is, which shown brightly down upon the land from their perch in the clear night sky.
A soft moan of exhaustion, cold and fear excepted the fragile lips of the tiny figure. I shall not make it, she thought to herself, I cannot make it. Indeed, from the situation she was currently in, everything appeared utterly hopeless. The girl could feel herself drifting out of consciousness, the world slowly fading from around her. A strange sound, almost like bells, was playing in her ears and suddenly the girl felt herself being lifted from the frigid ground. I must be floating off to heaven, she thought...