(Topaz says: Okay, I lied. This isn't the last chapter after all. Still one more to go! I would seriously love some comments...oh well. Enjoy! -Topaz Fox)

I didn't sleep at all that night. Long after my parents had gone to bed, I rose and lit a single candle that I always kept on my bedside table. I slipped on a moonlight-colored cotton dress and some leather moccasins. I took my burlap shoulder bag from my bedpost and crept to the kitchen, silent as a spider. Once there, I took all the food that would fit into my bag—two striped apples and some dried meat—and prepared to leave.

My heart was so full of sorrow, it felt like it had swollen up like a sponge. I could barely move. Before I left my home for the last time, I dashed quietly back into my room and took one more important thing: a silver hair clip my mother had given me last year. I fingered the tiny, plump rosebuds carved into the silver and tucked the clip into my bag. The last thing I did was scrawl a hurried note to my parents.

Dear Mother and Father: I'm leaving now. I saw our caravanners die in a dream, and I know they really did die, because now our whole town is dying too. Nobody believed my dream, and look what happened. I don't wanna stay here anymore. I love you both so, so, so much. I love you more than anything. Run away from here if you can. Love, Alice.

With one final look behind me, I left my cozy little home, never to return. There was one more thing to do before I could run away. Honestly, I didn't even know if it was possible, but my life did depend on it, so I decided to give it a shot.

I stood before Tida's withering Crystal. I had heard it was completely indestructable. I hoped with all my might that that wasn't true.

There was a sharp rock lying on the ground near the Crystal. I picked it up and put its razor-like edge up against the Crystal itself. I closed my eyes, clenched my teeth, and prayed fervently to anyone, anything that would listen to a little girl. Everything, all my strength and hope and fury, was channeled into that little rock. Time…slowed, somehow. With one bold motion, I slammed the rock forward.

As soon as I did so, I dared to open my eyes. I watched in awe as a tiny chip of sickly-colored Crystal flew through the air and landed with a chk on the ground. I had done it.

I had created my own personal Crystal.

Quickly, I tied the Crystal shard around my neck with a piece of thread I pulled from the hem of my dress. As soon as the Crystal touched my skin, I felt the relief of a summer storm wash over me. I hoped its waning power was enough to protect me from the raging Miasma in the outside world.

I didn't want to linger any longer. I flat-out sprinted to the town gate and looked up briefly just long enough to read the words, "Welcome to Tida, the Sunniest Village Around!" I bit back tears and ran away, away into the real world, where there were no sunny villages.

The darkness of the night seemed thicker than in Tida. It pressed down on me, threatening to crush me into the dust on the road. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. It was like the air was ink, the sky was ink, the ground was ink. I had set out, on foot, to navigate some massive ink spill? Shuddering in the harsh cold, I came to the conclusion that I should have at least taken a village papaopamus to ride. My escape plan had been kind of…stupid.

But at least I had escaped at all.

This was the only thought that kept me going through that long hike in the blackness. I tried to keep to the path. Demon noises slithered all around me, keeping me alert. I had never been so afraid as on that night.

Everything wavered, like a mirage. I felt the Miasma penetrating my bubble of Crystal protection. Pain numbed my feet and my hands, and after a few more steps, I sank to my knees. After all this, was I going to die anyway?

That's all I remember thinking as I blacked out.