The Call of Fate

Chapter I - The King's Last Hope

Deep within a dark haunted wood, at the base of an ancient, gnarled tree, a young girl woke with a start. She looked at her surroundings with evident panic in her eyes for the trees around her were foreboding, and the darkness was suffocating. The wind howled with a sinister tone, making the canopy above her shiver and cast strange shadows on the ground. It was as if the vulnerable leaves themselves were as frightened as she was. Cold sweat began forming on the young girl’s brow as she slowly stood, and took tentative steps forward. Somewhere in the trees, an owl hooted rhythmically making the frightened girl jump, and run blindly into the forest. She ran without thinking, making a blind turn here and there, and doubling back when it seemed like there was nowhere else to go. Her whole body was trembling with exhaustion when she collapsed to the ground, her face tearstained, her hands and feet covered with small cuts and bruises. Her dress was torn in the places where it had snagged on low branches, and leaves, soil and bark dirtied the once beautiful cloth.

                The young girl gave in to the flood of tears that threatened to overwhelm her; she was lost, helpless, hungry and hurt. She knew nothing of her whereabouts, and thought that she was fated to die in the foreign woods alone. She was still crying when suddenly, a blinding flash of light illuminated the forest. Radiant and warm, the light piqued the girl’s curiosity enough that she stopped sobbing. Before her, an orb of pure light floated, bathing her in waves of yellow, pink, and red. Something about the orb was inviting, and she reached out carefully in an effort to hold it in her hands. The second her fingers touched the orb it started spinning, and another blinding flash occurred making her shut her eyes and tighten her grip on the peculiar ball of light. It took awhile before she finally opened her eyes and saw that the landscape before her had started moving.

                Slowly, slowly, the orb led her down a long and winding path out of the forest, and into a golden meadow dotted with flower heads of every color imaginable. It was like waking up to a beautiful sunrise after a terrifying nightmare, and the young girl sighed in relief. The orb continued spinning in her hands, and the landscape moved once more. This time, the orb led her across the meadow and into the dusty streets of a city. The city was just awakening from its peaceful slumber as the orb continued to guide her through its shop-lined lanes and clusters of houses and vegetable plots. Just outside the city gates was a hill, and on top of that hill was a massive, magnificent castle. The young girl gazed at the castle in awe, struck by the sheer force and beauty its walls and towers imposed.

                And then it vanished. As suddenly as it had started, the whole vision ended. The young girl with the tattered clothes and bruised skin was once again alone in the dark haunted wood.

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In one of the balconies in the castle atop the hill, a lady dressed in white dress robes with circlets of gold adorning her wrists and neck, smiled. There was a portal before her that showed the bewildered face of the girl who had responded to the orb’s light. The lady watched with growing amusement as the young girl struggled to get her bearings and, instead of breaking down once more into an awful fit of tears, ran out of the forest using the path she had seen from her journey with the orb. If you are indeed, our King’s last hope, then you must prove yourself to be strong, the lady thought to herself, as she dismissed the portal with a wave of her hand.