The Golden Circle (on hold)

Chapter 1

                    Arman and Emily left Limbra's house that afternoon and headed towards their small farmside house in the southern part of Kameras.They did not talk much through their  slow walk back except for Arman giving Emily the occasional shoulder hug to try to assure her that  this was not the end of the world.

"Don't worry, we will get through this. This could probably be some one big misunderstanding ." Said Arman.

Emily wanted to respond but she held back. After all what was she suppose to say? certainly not what she was thinking. She felt deep down inside that she and her father would not make it out alive from this. She wanted to tell her father to just leave her out in the wilderness and spare his own life, but she knew that he would reject that notion. Her father was still recovering from the after lost ther mother years earlier, raising  Emily was the only  that kept him strong. 

"We will get through this, you and Selina will be back and playing together by the riverside again soon."

"We don't play anymore father, we are too old for that now, we only go the riverside to talk and fish." She responded.

As they walked the two got quite a few stares from some of the villagers  who suspected them to be the cause for the recent strange events. Rumors spread quickly in Kameras, and this was one of those major rumors that everyone paid attention to.

A little boy shouted "look its the witch mommy!" before being carried away by his mother. She walked quickly back to her house after seeing Emily, as if she actually was the witch her little boy thought she was.

As Emily walked with her dad she started to stare at the calm deep river that ran on the west end of Kameras, separating it from the large wilderness of the forest.   Emily always went up to the river with her cousins to fish or just relax and it always gave her sense of joy, but for today it did not seem that way. Everything she looked at seemed to feel nostalgic of a life shehad lost.

As the two approached their small house they saw Farah, Arman’s sister, and her daughter  Selina who were waiting by their house porch. They stared at Emily and Arman and it seemed like they basically got the bad news from the look on Arman’s face . They knew what Limbra had told them..

They finally got to the door steps door steps and Farah gave Arman a hug. Selina just stared at Emily quietly  trying to hold back the emotion from her face. Deep down inside though,  She knew she would never play with Emily by the river again, or anywhere for that matter.

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They had dinner very early that day, several hours before sunset. It was bigger meal than usual as  it included Farah,Selina as well as her father Rad, and her younger brother Jasper.

"Arman, you have to get to Galespear and speak to Gramill."  Said Rad to Arman.

"He is the only man who can give you advice on this matter and possibly your only chance of dealing with this situation."

"I understand, hopefully we will reach their before sunset tomorrow." said Arman as he slowly ate his food with his head downward to avoid looking directly at anyone.

"Another thing Arman, there are rumors about a stranger in this village who might know about your daughter's gift already." claimed Rad

He then stared at Emily momentarily before looking back at Arman

"Maybe we can talk about it later in private." said Rad

It annoyed Emily how Rad thought she was some  infant that did not know the magnitude of the predicament.

"I know about hunters you know?, you don't need to hide that from me."  she said trying to hide her  frustration.

Hunters were what they called people and demons who searched for members of the golden circle. As this gift was very transferable, however the easiest method of claiming away this power from one of its members was by killing them and then performing some ancient ritual.

"Sweetheart no one is hunting you, that is all just a myth, this stranger.....". said Arman before being interrupted by Selina

"His name is Julius." She said.

Emily knew about Julius herself, aside from Arman and few other people everyone knew Julius was in town ever since Emily got the mark on the back of her neck.

On top of that everyone knew Julius was a hunter. He had the long dark cloak, the bag of small crafty weapons he carries with him, and the calm cold demeanor associated with only two trades; assassins and hunters. Whether or not Julius knew Emily was the marked one or not was in question, but he certainly did  not came to this village by chance.

Emily left the dinner table early as she did not enjoy the long awkward silences and the unpleasant conversations they were having that didn't lead to anything but stating the painfully obvious.

She sat in her room on the bed and clenched on to her pillow .She  started to stare at the window for a while as she heard the arguments in the kitchen between her uncle and aunt about what course of action her father should take.

Arman came in to her room after about half and hour later.

 "Sweetheart, Emily, its time for us to leave. "