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it was a lonely night on the eve of the full moon. a tall women stalked patiently through a field of ruins. toppled temples and snapped columns jutted out of the ancient ground. she was hooded with a cloak, black as night, and in her arms carried a child of noble birth. her strides were long and noble as she made ground toward the center of the dramatic land scape. the wind rustled the leaves of autumn. some ways off in the distance a wolf cried in anxiousness to the full moon.
the woman soon entered a temple that had no roof, but was surrounded by pillars. in the center of the ruin sat a stone column that was decorated with the finest care and craftsmanship. a dragon wove around the column and fire jutted out of its mouth. the creatures looked fierce and majestic, beautiful and mysterious, all at once.
the tall woman lay the slumbering infant on the stone and watched as its small stomach rose and fell with every breath. 'only minutes to go' she thought. this one moment roused so many memories that she had to keep herself from letting them over whelm her. the story of how it all happened suddenly flashed into her mind, like being struck by a dart.
the woman’s name was anella, and she was the queen of all that was. she ruled a land called arendun. she longed for her first born and it became truth exactly one year ago when she gave birth to her first born, a girl. she loved the child and deemed it as precious as her own life. nothing could make her surrender her precious gift.
but misfortune struck her lands with one event after another. first, the death of her beloved husband, king Felix. he fell ill soon after the birth of the child. it took only months for him to be lost. struck with grief, she used the child to calm and sooth her. for when they were together, anella lost all fear of having to rule a kingdom.
and yet that did not stop the next horrible event. with every moment passing more and more people of the land were falling ill. and then, the most horrific thing she dared not even dream occurred. her very child fell ill.
she spoke with her spell casters and healers but this uncommon disease reeked havoc among any to weak to resist. so the poor widowed queen resorted to her last option to ensure the survival of her only heir to the throne. all of the events led her to this moment, when she would sacrifice her child to the moon.
she would not die, but would not live, so said the spell casters. this was as much a curse as it was a gift. she would give the moon her child and devote her child’s loyalty to it. the child would serve the moon by serving the people of arendun. but at the cost of some day facing a challenge that surpassed the powers of all the people arendun put together. she would have to over come a great force, one to decide the fate of her land.
withdrawing from the flash back she refocused on the task at hand. ' this may put her in some danger, but it is all I can do to save her.' as this thought raced through her head she noticed the sun dial in the temple. and looked toward the sky as the bright moons rays blasted through the clouds. she remember what the spell casters had told her to do.
she chanted the elven words of old and cast her pleas to the moon. nothing happened. then, suddenly, a beam of light rotated to the stone table were the child slept. then another and more until all the light shined on her. the child stirred briefly but did not wake. the dragon on the pillar began to writhe and wriggle until it was actually moving about. " do not fear, your child will be safe. no harm will come upon her but this will cost a terrible price." recited the dragon with much wisdom and knowing in his eyes. " I know," she said as a single tear rolled down her cheek. " I care not of the price, but of the safety of aryanna." the dragon nodded and proceeded with the ceremony. " inta thrugne untsi etta froenar" the dragon bellowed.
with the words said all the beams of light appeared to be sucked into the girl until none was left to open the blackened night. anella gasped as the child’s brown hair lightened into a white color. her baby blue eyes turned and extremely dark brown color with the most beautiful detail. anella cupped the aryanna's face and said, " all that I have done is for you my child. let my love lie with you always." and with her words spoken she collapsed on the ground.
The dawn pushed the moon away and the suns rays spilled out onto the land. The child’s new appearance was revealed beautifully. Her ears had rounded points on the edges and a single fang protruded from her mouth. Her hair had grown two or three inches longer and her nails fixed to long points. As she stirred she let out a cry of hunger. Anella was still collapsed on the ground, and her breathing was faint. The sound of footsteps echoed into the temple. a maid from the castle had slipped out to check on her only to find this. She helped anella up off the ground, and helped her to the castle. Not long after, another maid appeared for aryanna. As the maid picked her up she noticed another strange thing. The blanket slipped of the child right leg and there she had acquired a tattoo. It looked exactly like the dragon that wound up the stone pillar that the baby had been laying on.
But something else caught the maid attention as well. Beside the pillar lay a pure wight egg. The maid was astonished, for it was far to large to be a chicken egg. She sat aryanna back down on the pillar and picked it up. It was quite heavy as well. When she looked closely at the egg, she realized it was dappled with a pale white color. She looked at it for a few more seconds and then finally decided to take it with her. She picked up aryanna and took her back to the castle.
What the maid failed to notice was the number laying right under neath the dragon egg. The number sixteen was carved smoothly into the hard stone. But all in an instant faded away with the blowing wind. Gone.