A warm breeze swept across the plains, bringing with it the start of Ver. It was almost harvest time, when the farmers of this land would take up their sickles and wage war on Terra to steal her living gold. The gilded fields of barley and oat swayed to the gentle tempo of the wind, nimble dancers ablaze with life, ready to meet their ends with naught but grace. This was the golden cradle of the Empire, a swath of land that stretched from horizon to horizon, perfect soil for farming, with no readily apparent reason for its existence. Many considered it a boon from the gods to the children of the Empire, while others still postulated and wondered how it had come to be.

The cradle was home to a sprawling city, thousands upon thousands resided inside its towering stone walls, with many more living outside the walls, making their living harvesting the fields of oak and barley that gave the cradle its name. Inside the walls of Tal'Amin lay a sprawling network of streets, alleys and dead ends, a veritable maze that preyed upon the easily distracted, and most importantly, newcomers and visitors. The streets were purposely arrayed to funnel citizens toward the city center, and one of the largest markets in the Empire.

It was in this overcrowded bazaar, with merchants peddling their wares and farmers selling their produce that a young girl found herself running through, feet pounding on cobbled stone as she turned one corner and then another, refusing to accept the simple fact that she was, in fact, lost

With what may have been a muffled curse muttered under her breath, the young girl finally began to slow down, brushing away a lock of platinum hair that had fallen over her eye. “Well, at least I made it out of the market,” She whispered to the empty alley she now found herself in, the din of hawking merchants still audible and causing her own voice not to be. She slowed to a walk now, beginning to catch her breath after her sprint through the city, “but now I'm lost.” She finished mentally and with a sigh, realizing that she had no idea where her brother or father were, what part of the city she was in, or even what direction her home was in.

A small smile now formed on her face, realizing that she was alone, and therefore, had nobody to tell her what she could and couldn't do. She was free. Immediately, her mind began plotting, wondering how she could get herself out of this mess without needing her family to help her, and eventually settled on simply finding someone to ask for direction. She smiled now, continuing to walk down winding alleys deeper and deeper into the city, realizing that she now found herself in a position where she would be able to solve her problem herself, and that she was just like the hero of one of her story books, off on a quest to save the princess or slay the dragon, ready to return triumphant to her kingdom and be rewarded handsomely, to be forever remembered as a great champion of her people… before exiting out onto a main city street and realizing that there was absolutely nobody around.

“Hello?” She called out, her voice rebounding through the vacant streets and silent homes, utterly perplexed at how eerily empty this area of the city was. Putting her dreams of grandeur on hold for just a moment, she began pacing down the cobblestone path, her every footfall made up of equal parts determination to find anyone that could give her some simple directions, and trepidation as she couldn't help but feel that something was wrong here.

“Why is an entire street so totally empty?” She thought to herself, continuing to walk through and occasionally crying out a few “Hello’s” and “Anyone here's?” Eventually she wandered up to one of the buildings, a simple single level home, made of stone and topped with a thatched roof. She walked up to it, a small raised fist coming up to rap on the scarred wood surface, only instead of standing before her knuckles as they hit the surface, the door gave ground, swinging inwards slightly and causing the light-haired girl to pause in surprise for a moment, a brief moment of hesitation as she wondered if she should truly be here, or if she should instead double back. But that was all it was, just as moment. “If anyone's inside, I'm coming in!” She yelled into the old building as she pushed the door open, ready to step inside when she suddenly heard a loud shout come from the end of the street.

“‘Ey! You! Stop right there! Yer not spossed to be in ‘ere!” Rang a thickly accented voice from behind her, and she quickly turned with a start, pleas of innocence already at her lips lest the guard who had caught her trespassing accuse her of theft, or worse. “Sorry sir, I was just lost and was hoping that…” she began, attempting to explain herself in earnest before the man standing before her held up a gauntleted open hand, a symbol for silence.

“‘S not my job to know why yer is here young miss, jus to make sher yus ain’t.” spoke the guard, his large mustache quivering along with a thick accent and terrible drawl the girl had never heard before. “Jus leave, go back to yer folk, an don come back ere.” Continued the guard, sounding and looking every bit like one of the many drawings of pompous, overly important men she always saw in her story books, with his exaggerated mustache and puffy clothing underneath shiny armour, with a golden badge resembling a roaring lion perched to his left breast, polished to the point that it practically glowed. This man was nothing but trouble, the girl thought, and decided it best she leave before he did to her what he no doubt had done to the people who had once lived on this street.

“Oh! Alright sir,” She began, a large smile springing to her lips, looking the very picture of an innocent and obedient little child as she tried to hide her mounting fear, “i’ll just be leaving back through there,” The girl stepped past him and pointed to where she had emerged from into this dead street, “my father and three older brothers are just over there on business.” she finished, lying and hoping this monster wouldn’t try anything for fear of retaliation from her non-existent three older brothers.

“Well little miss, you bes get goin” responded the old guard, looking thoroughly bored as he waved the bothersome little girl off and turned the other way to return to his patrol. The platinum haired girl resisted the urge to take off into a full sprint, and instead decided to leave at a brisk walk, hoping the man would not return and attack her from behind. After a few harrowing moments, she finally made it back to the alley that had led her here, and with one last look at the guard nonchalantly pacing around the quiet street, turned and broke into a sprint back toward the marketplace, wondering if her dad and brother would actually believe what had just happened to her.