Look at the sky
-running on four feet through a moonlit forest filled with the
delicious smells of rabbits, weasels, and deer
-flying through a sky filled with light and singing a song of pure joy
with hundreds of other voices
-locked up in a magical cage, trying desperately to get out, heart
filled with pure hatred, a burning desire to kill, maim and torture
everything in sight
-sitting in a comfy chair, reading a book, trying to concentrate but
your mind keeps slipping into thoughts of the teacher you have a
secret crush on
The four stars melt into a huge, blinding light, and then you flash
back to the memory of a shriveled old man saying to you:
"Everything is at war with everything else. The beasts fight the
humans, the angels fight the devils, and every death is a victory to
someone. This has to stop. And you are the only one who can stop it.
This is why you were created." He puts a medallion around your
neck. Then he gives you a stone, which you pocket. "Do you
understand the meaning of what I have just given you?" he says.
"I think so," you say. "But what if they get lost or
stolen? Why didn't you just put the power inside me?"
"Because you'd never survive it," he says. "Just
making the amulets was hard enough. Most of us were in our thirties
when we did this spell." You feel a rush of compassion towards
him and put your hand on his face. He stays old, but his back
straightens out and he looks fatter and healthier. "There's a
scepter too, and a crown. Neither of them are located on our plane of
existence. The crown is on the heavenly plane and should be fairly
easy to get, but you'll have to train yourself to be strong enough not
to stay there. The scepter--I think you can guess where that
is." You nod. His eyes fill with tears. "Do you hate us,
for what we've done? Making you go down there?"
"You're not making me do anything," you say. "I want
to help."
The man's face fades, and you find yourself lying on your back in the
desert. It's almost dawn. Everything around you looks ordinary. You
reach into your pocket to make sure the stone is still there and find
another piece of paper. It reads:
Sylvette
Sylvana
Savina
Salina
Four forms, one heart
You see four stars come closer and closer to you until they are only
about 15 feet above you. They spin around each other and you are
assaulted with memories, so vivid that you forget where you are:
