“Tara?” her brother asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Tara nodded, unable to find words now that one of her brothers had recognized her. She watched as emotion clouded her brother’s whiskey eyes. Those eyes were the last thing she clearly remembered other than the girl with white-blonde hair.

“I thougt you were dead,” her brother’s voice betrayed much more emotion than his eyes did.

“By all rights, I should have died,” she answered. “But once I was taken from this place…I was healed.”

“What are you saying?”Ehren asked.

“This kingdom is frightfully behind the times, brother,” she replied.

The boy beside Ehren stirred.

“We chose to isolate ourselves, thus you see the result,” he said. “We are stuck at least a century behind most other nations, even the ones that are underdeveloped have some of what we lack.”

Tara nodded in agreement. The Algron Empire was really only a collection of islands located within the Canaries. The legend states that the main island was the famed Algron, where Odin himself stayed for five years. Hence the reason the empire and the main island were named for the legendary isle. The other islands are named for the halls of the gods. There’s Bilskirnir, Eljudnir, Folkvang, Glitnir, Himinbjorgk, Lyr, Ydalir, Sessrumnir, and Breidablik just to name a few. These islands, however, are small. So small in fact, that they don’t appear on any modern day map. Most of the world is, therefore, unaware of its existance. Since its founding in the mid- to late nineteenth century, the Algron Empire has adopted a policy of isolation. This self-imposed isolation is the reason the Empire has not made any advances, tecnological; medical; or otherwise. Tara and Ehren’s father had begun to strip away some of the isolationism policies over the years, mostly because he saw the benefit, but not everyone agreed. Tara wouldn’t have survived her injuries had she not been taken to the outside world.

Now that she was back and hearing talk of gods and curses, made her wish she’d never left her home in the outside world.

“Du burde ikke ha kommet hit*,” the boy snapped at a figure climbing the stairs. Tara turned and came face to face with a man she had hoped never to see again. Keir Xanthior.