Norah was sitting at the edge of the crystal clear waters of the Hudson River, staring at her reflection with some of her silver locks hanging in her face. So I’m the chosen one of the prophecy. I guess I have to accept that. But who are life’s children? How am I supposed to help? Why did mama keep this from me? Did Quiver know as well?

Norah threw rocks on the still water causing them to skip across the water. Then she stopped throwing rocks looking back at her reflection, examining her light brown skin and her shimmering turquoise eyes. Maybe she didn’t want me to go through this. But I’m strong! I can do this! She had no reason to keep this whole thing a secret!

Then the river water began to ripple as the ground began to shake. Norah looked to the mountain that was miles from the Stone Tree village. The mountain was being split as the ground continued to shake as if thunder from a storm was in the ground. Two figures were fighting each other, one was surrounded in green energy while the other was surrounded in golden blue energy. After an hour or so the golden figure had defeated the eerie green figure with a mighty dark blue wave of energy, and then the earth soon began to calm down once more as the golden figure flew away. Norah was watching the figures the whole time, a knot was beginning to grow in her stomach as a result of worry.

“ What was that all about..?” She stood to her feet, and she herself began to soar toward the mountain. She rapidly flapped her wings to make herself go as fast as she could. The poor thing needs help. What were they fighting about? What were they? She at last reached the area where the beings fought, she scanned the area for anything wounded. So far the only wounded things she could find were parts of the mountain and some boulders.

Norah hovered above the ground and she saw a crater toward the left side of the base, she glided down toward the crater and as she got closer she saw a dog. I’ve seen this breed of dog on some of that weird colorful paper they have in those old animal stores at the village. Uh what’s the breed, what's the breed? Some sort of collie I guess.

The collie had no wings or horns; it looked like a normal dog aside from the unusual coloring of blacks, whites and browns. Norah then saw the mostly healed wound on it’s left eye and all of the other bruises, scratches, and nasty gashes on the poor dog. She held the mutt in her arms waiting for it to wake up.

“ Hey hey are you alright?” Norah asked as she began to wipe the blood away with her clothes. The mutt woke up in a daze, it gazed up at Norah with its bright green eyes that then faded to a light hazel brown color. The dog whimpered in pain and was beginning to drift off once more.

A snap of a twig was heard behind her. Norah flinched, turning behind her, she saw Mama Willow with a worried expression fading to one with relief. She quickly rushed to Norah and hugged her gently.

“ Mama! This dog was attacked by something! Mama, we have to help him!”

“ Well hello to you too, dearie. But honey I came to get you because we have to get moving. This town isn’t safe anymore. So leave the dog here and let’s go.”

“ What!? Mama no! He needs our help!”

“ Norah, not everything can be saved. The dog will be fine, let's get going.”

“ Mama please! Please! He’s hurt! Let’s take him with us and help him! We can’t leave until he’s better!”

Her mother sighed in exhaustion, she looked at the dog then back at her daughter’s face as tears began to form in her eyes. The dog woke up looking up at Mama Willow with his ears folded down, showing off it’s big round hazel brown eyes.

“ What’s his name?”

“ My name is Taurus ma’am,” said the dog in Norah’s arms. Norah’s eyes widened in shock, but Mama Willow wasn’t even surprised.

“ You can talk!? How?!”

“ I’m a witch’s familiar.”

“ Come on Norah we gotta-”

“ No! We, we can’t leave yet. We need to find his owner! Maybe they're in the village!”

“ Norah, please, let’s just go and we’ll bring the dog. Maybe the figure attacked its owner and took it or something.”

“ Alright mama,” Norah sighed in disappointment as she stood up still holding Taurus in her arms. The two headed down back to the river where Quiver was waiting for them with their bags all backed up. Quiver looked at Taurus with pity, she was about to say something but mama Willow gave her a look that silenced Quiver at once. They all then sat down on the ground as their mother spread a map out of the area.

“ Alright now that one of the prophets of Astro has given Norah her powers that I had sealed away. We now need to head to an area where a certain creature lives that knows how to reach Vita’s children. And on the way to that area there’s a friend of mine who lives in a cabin and is very good at healing. So we can drop Taurus off there,” said Mama Willow with slight annoyance in her voice. Norah raised her hand, and her mother nodded at her giving her permission to speak.

“ Who are Vita’s children? Whose Astro? What do you mean by one of the prophets? Why did you seal away my powers? How could you hide this all from me? And what creatures are you talking about?” She gently stroked Taurus, who laid in her lap.

“ Mom, you might as well give her the basics. I know what you want for her but she needs to know at least something of what’s going on,” Quiver said to her mother.

“ I made a promise to Norah that I would keep her far away from this life, but I suppose, I should give her something to understand. Basically Norah, Nameless and Vita had two children. Flora and Fawn are the twins of nature, Flora controls plants, and Fawn controls the animals. They have their own little garden of sorts in the Divine Realm, where the Gods live. Astro is one of the High Gods and as the High God of Space he acts as a bridge between the Constellations and the physical world. And I sealed away your powers so you would never have to go through this… and the creatures are one of the few beings who can travel between the realms.”

Norah nodded in understanding and wondered, wow I can’t believe how much I’ve been missing out on. What else is she keeping from me?

“ Though I’m not entirely sure where one of those beings are.”

“ I know where they are. Just let me lead the way after we stop at your friend’s,” Taurus added. They all then stood on their feet and headed north.

After weeks of traveling Northward, Mama Willow, Quiver, and Norah were walking through a dark misty forest. The smell of pine thickened as the three trekked deeper into the forest. With each step they took, the mud seemed to be weighing more and more on their boots. Taurus was limping behind them with the mud drenched on his white paws.

These conditions were making Norah feel numb since they have been walking for almost a week straight. No birds sang, no insects chirped, not even the single croak of a frog was heard in the forest, putting the group in an eerie feeling as the silence only grew and grew stronger than the trees around them. Quiver, at the head of the group, stopped suddenly. She stood on a large stone with a blanket of moss on it. Norah, Mama Willow, and Taurus soon stopped as well.

“ I feel like we’re being followed.” Quiver said, finally breaking the silence that enveloped the forest.

“ What?! We can’t be followed! This is the Silent Mist Forest for Vita’s sake!! No one comes here unless they want to hide from everyone else!”

“ I know mom...we just need to be more careful, and keep an eye out.”

Norah was leaning on a tree trying to keep herself up as exhaustion and humidity loomed over her youthful body. Mama Willow looked at Norah and put her on her shoulders, sensing the child’s exhaustion.

“ Let’s just focus on getting out and finding a place to settle for a while.”

Quiver nodded and continued on with her mother following behind her, along with their hitchhiker following them from the mist’s cloak of disguise.

After hours of traveling through the Silent Mist Forest, a meadow was finally coming into view beyond the mist. Quiver got up on a branch waiting for Mama Willow to go through first then her little sister and the mutt. Quiver looked around, hoping her elven ears would pick something up, but nothing could be detected through the thick blanket of mist,

“ Quiver! Come on!” her mother called from the meadow, but Quiver didn’t move; she stayed on the branch. She knew there was something out there watching them as if it was a predator stalking its prey. But this prey wasn’t going to be easy to catch.