Chapter 1:

The metallic boom of machinery and clanking of metal against metal was deafening even with my ear muffs on. The roar of the blowtorch in my hand screamed in my ear and burned my skin as I welded the two sheets of metal together.

This is my job. I work at my uncles factory in the small town of Sunset Valley. I've worked here since I learned how to walk. The second I took my first two steps they put a broom in my hand and said get to work.

Ok maybe it hasn't been that long.

But I have worked here many years, and I've enjoyed it.

I enjoy making many different things: shields and swords for our guards and soldiers, tools like hammers and saws, even making the iron materials needed for building and fixing homes.

I was happy, but I think I've grown bored of it.

I've been thinking about getting a new job. Working somewhere… Different.

I've thought about being a guardsman, but I fear having to protect the town from criminals.

I've thought about owning a farm, but I don't have the money to buy the live stock I need.

So I just continue to stay here and work. Thinking about how I crave something more-

"Fayra!" I hear as two large hands grab my shoulder. I let out a higher pitched scream then I'd like to admit, and whip around, large blow torch in hand ready to defend myself. Then I see my attacker.

"Mich. What in the world were you thinking." I scold the man before me. "I could have hurt you!"

Mich is my uncle. A balding middle aged man who was about 6 feet tall. He sported a round beer belly, and a long bushy black beard that made up for the thinning hair atop his head. While his sheer size made him threatening, he always had a smile on his face and little rosy red cheeks that made anyone with a heart smile back.

He let out a thundering laugh. I'd take it that he was amused for finally making me jump out of my skin. I'm not very skittish… Mostly

"There's no need ta' get all angry Fayra." He chuckled warmly.

"Well you better have a good reason to scare me like that. I was in my groove." I said, turning the blow torch off and setting it down on the table to my left.

"Oh I jus' wanted to tell ya to go home." He said. "Ya friend's outside waiting for ya. Said she and your family want to go out for dinner tonight… Though I wasn't supposed to tell you that. It was a surprise."

"Really?" I asked. More excited than anything to be able to go home. As I take off my apron and gloves I ask, "Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"Of course. This isn't the first time I've worked alone." He replied. "Now go home and have fun!" He said as he guided me to the door. "And have a happy birthday Fayra!"

"I will, thank you." I say with a smile, before exiting the small factory. Just outside the door, stood my best friend Maru.

Maru was a tall muscular woman, nearly seven feet tall and able to snap a full grow man in two like a twig. She had short red hair that curled around her face. Her dark skin had tanned from hours of training in the sun. She currently wore her work clothes, the outfit that they gave to any middle classed soldier.

"I see the old fart finally let you out." She said with a smirk.

"Of course, and I hear I'm going out to a fancy dinner tonight?" I grinned, winking at Maru.

"Who said it was gonna be fancy?" Maru laughed.

My family lived just on the outside of town. A short walk through a small wooded patch lead us to our home.

About half way through our walk across town I stop at one of the shop windows. My hair was still tied up in a tight bun on my head and the light blue vest I wore with the long puffy sleeved white button up underneath had grease stains and sweat on the cuffs. At least my dark grey pants got out unscaved, but I can't say the same for my boots. Once white now covered in dust, dirt, and melted metal had now turned them into a muddy brown black color.

I untied the string that held my hair together and it fell down into place like a light blond waterfall. My hair had grown so long it practically touched the ground now.

"Are you ever going to cut your hair?" Maru asked, almost as if she was reading my mind.

"Of course not. I like it like this!" I replied with a huff.

"You say that and then you complain for hours on end about having to pick rocks and dirt and grass out of it."

"Just because I complain about my hair getting dirty doesn't mean I don't still like it."

The walk home was quite. With the sky turning into light reds and oranges and purples and the sound of the birds singing there final notes before the night echoed calmly throughout the forest. Maru and I laughed and joked. Thinking back on our childhood.

Then I stop as something catches the corner of my eye. I look over and I see it.

"Isn't that the old cave we use to explore when we were kids?"

"Until the day that you got lost 'nd our parents banned us from it? Yessir." Maru replied.

Something about it was calling me. "You wanna go explore it?"

Maru stood there, quietly staring at the black empty void. Then she shrugged. "Sure. Why not."

The cave was smaller then I remembered as a kid. The walls seemed to be more closed in. More claustrophobic.

But I kept walking. Thoughts of turning back crossed my mind but something was pulling forward.

Something the felt familiar.

"Maybe we shouldn't be in here." Maru said hesitantly. "It's dark we have no clue what could be in here."

" Well there's no harm in finding out is there?" I asked.

" Not unless there's a wild animal in here." Maru huffed. "We need to leave before we find out."

" I know, I know, just a little bit farther and then we'll leave."

I had no clue what I was looking for, but I could hear it calling my name.

"What is that?"

Deep within the mouth of the cave, was a small marble arch way, that seems to be admitting its own light.

"I'm not sure." I said, stepping forward, I reached out to touch it.

The moment I touched the marble archway, it let out a burst of energy, and a little blue portal was left in the middle of it.

" What in the name of the elders?" I whispered.

Before I could take this all in, I saw a shape, what looked to be a large hand reaching out of the doorway. I screamed and turned to get away but it grabbed the back of my shirt and…

It all went blank.