The Skies of Nigalia

Chapter 1

(unedited)

The most densely populated human city was known as Chesvale. The massive capital was ripe with commerce and wealth as much as poverty and famine. The cities folk do their best to improve their lives, however for the most part they stick to their day to day lives, unaware of the world around them.

About two days of horseback south of Chesvale was a small village called Southgate. The people lived slightly more exciting lives then their northern neighbors as from time to time, travelers would attract the likes of bandits, and the occasional lycanthrope.

Royes Dawnwinter, a young girl in about her mid twenties lived with her father Herian Dawnwinter. Royes' spent most of her time over by the lake ten minutes away through the woods on foot.

The golden sun loomed brightly overhead. The blue sky grazed across the view. The forest trees waved in the gentle wind. The lake shimmered as the plethora of fish came to the surface to feed off the scraps that had been tossed onto the water.

The young farmer's daughter sat on the small pier, alone, dipping her feet in the cold water. She was laying on her back with her eyes closed soaking in the sunlight, her dark hair shined beautifully from the light of the Sun.

This was common of her, she would go to the lake every week with old bread from the baker and feed the fish. The old fisherman often thanked her for keeping the fish so plump, a comment that made her giggle without fail. It was a nice break from the farmlands, it had seemed every day her father pushed her to hard in the fields. Royes was more than happy to come to the lake and spend her day enjoying the nice clear weather.

The water seemed to warm up to her feet, a sign that she had been sitting there for quite some time. Though she felt she still had plenty of time to go. Royes felt the fish begin to nibble on her toes, she reached over to another loaf of bread and tore it in two tossing one half to one side and the other to the opposite side of her. It did not take long for the fish to realize there was more bread, and her feet were once again left to enjoy the water.

Royes reached into her top and pulled out a necklace. She brought the gem into view and opened her eyes. For a moment she could not see until her eyes adjusted to the bright sky. She held the tear-drop shaped orange gem against the sun, it seemed to glow almost naturally. The radiance was captivating. The gem itself was held in place by a silver crescent moon, it was a gift from her father.

She stared deeply into the gem and the orange glow it gave off from the sunlight behind it. Hypnotizing as it was- Royes had always felt there was more to the gem then a fancy design. She liked to dream and imagine it once belonged to a great queen that ruled her people justly, or perhaps an evil wizard once used the gem for his deeds. Every time she sat at the lake she spent countless hours staring into gem speculating its history.

Something had caught Royes by surprise; massive numbers of bird suddenly took to the sky in fright. She had never seen that before. Royes sat up and took her feet out of the water and put her shoes on. Standing slowly she faced the direction of the spooked flocks, it was the direction of her home Southgate.

She recoiled her head in curiosity. She saw something big, almost person sized swoop above the trees briefly then dropping back out of sight. The birds had all split in different directions; they were no longer flying in sync instead they had started flying out of fear. This concerned Royes deeply. She reached down to grab her bag of bread when something terrifying happened.

A large explosion came from the north, her home.

"What!" She screamed out loud. Royes dropped her bag once more and began running into the woods. The familiar trail was much harder when she ran though the forest. She tripped over every little branch and twig it seemed and it began to frustrate her.