Prologue

“Crile. I saw my Father…” I whisper quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure… I think they were memories…” I feel Crile turn in the bed next to me. I see him looking at me.

“Breeze, your Father died before you were born.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“I think you do. I’m just worried that being an iceberg for as long as you have, did something to you that Percival and Laira weren’t able to fix?”

“I know how it sounds…”

“It’s sounds crazy.”

“Ya think?” I turn away from him. He snuggles up against me.

“Sweetheart… They probably were dreams…”

“I think they were Emerald’s memories…”

Crile doesn’t say anything for a long moment. “Tell me… What did you see?”

I hesitate. “It was dark and cold at first… It felt like I was coming to from losing consciousness… I felt weak. My head rang… I couldn’t walk straight…”

The Boy and the Cat

It was cold and dark when I came to…

I feel weak and can't even stand straight… My body feels heavy… Huh? What’s this? Are these…Wait. What’s going on!? This doesn’t seem right… I hear a rumbling sound… Was that me? Did I make that noise? No. It can’t be. It sounds too beast like… Why am I crouching? I try standing up again and stumble back down to my knees… Great…I feel a light breeze in front of me… The outside! I walk towards it… The light dazes me for a moment… I look around… I was in cave… Something brushes against me. A tail! I jump back. Wait… I touch my face… What the? Oh no… Are those...paws? I look again. THAT tail is attached to ME! What is going on here! I scream out and a roar comes out from deep within my throat… I run… I don't know where I am running to or what from, but I run anyways… The more I run the more I realize… Those paws… That growl… That tail… This body covered in fur is me. I am a beast. I want to scream out, but only another roar echoes through the woods… I jump over a fallen tree, but my hind legs don't make it over it, I fall to the ground and roll downhill… I splash straight into a lake… I lay there for a moment… Maybe longer? Who knows. I get up and shake the water off me. I look down and see the distorted image of a beast staring at me… The water goes still and I see it clearly… A beastly muzzle with deep, green eyes… What have I done? I look myself over… Dark fur with white streaks on each side… Like a fallen star in the dark of night…

Ha! Serves me right… I shake again and slowly walk back toward the woods. I drag myself, each step is pure agony… I have no idea where I am going… Or what I should do next… I lay down… Something feels weird. I look down to my stomach… Something is stuck in it… I paw at it… It breaks… I roar. That hurts! What is that? It goes deeper inside me… Argh! That hurts even more! I feel something wet drip along my fur… It's dark and warm… Tastes weird… I stop clawing at the thing and just leave it there… I keep walking… The woods are full of sounds and smells… I don't know what any of them mean, so I just keep walking… I walk past a big tree… Something catches my eye… I look back… There's an opening in the tree… I look closer at it… It seems strangely big… I walk closer to it, my paw slips and I fall, again… That thing inside me hurts, again… I roar and flop to my side… I just lay there, in the dirt and sleep…

Every now and again I will climb back out and look for food… I knew what I should do as a beast, but I couldn’t bring myself to kill anything… I scavenge for whatever dead thing I can find that something else left behind… Soon I realize that I like the fish the best… Catching them is a bit tricky, but I manage to learn… That thing that has been stuck inside me would hurt sometimes, but I learned to ignore it… I realized that other animals avoid me… Maybe because they know I’m not a true beast… I try exploring the woods sometimes, but I never wander off too far… That tree is my home… Somehow it keeps dry when it rains and I like it… It's my sanctuary… A few seasons go by… I grow stronger as my new beastly personality… During the winter the lake freezes over and I am forced to hunt… Those are the only times I have to wander further away from the lair… First few times it really bothered me… Soon enough I realized I wasn’t able to sleep like some of the other animals and if I was going to live through it, I had to kill… So I did… Not too often… Only when I couldn’t handle the pain anymore… It wasn’t easy like that… I just couldn’t bring myself to do it… Then, one time, something happened… I heard a sound outside my tree. I didn’t pay too much attention to it… Till that sound was right next to me… A voice…

“Ouch. That hurt.” I lay in the dirt under the giant tree. I try standing up, but fall back on my ass. I check my left ankle… It feels weird… Probably not a good sign…

“How am I suppose get back up there…” What was that? I turn around… I listen… I hear breathing…

“Who’s there?” I reach out and touch something soft… Fur… Oh no… I’m a dead man… I freeze… Two green dots light up in the darkness… They are getting closer… The two dots have a muzzle attached to them and it's staring at me…

“Emerald…” I whisper. I put my hand over the muzzle… I don't lose my hand the same second, so I take it as a good sign… Beautiful… The muzzle sniffs me over. The fur and the whiskers tickle me… I try my best not to laugh… Something wet touches my broken ankle…

“Yeah, it’s not supposed to look like that.” I say quietly. “Can you help me out?” The muzzle looks at me and lowers itself to the ground. I hesitate, but I have nothing to lose. Besides my life, maybe? I stagger in the dirt toward the back of the muzzle and climb on the beast’s back… It's so soft and warm it makes me want to sleep right away… The beast moves. It climbs up and, in a few moments, we are outside again… I slide off the animal.

“Now then. Let me look at you…” I fumble a few steps back… It's a tiger? A huge one… Dark fur with a white streak running across the side... Like a falling star…

“Turn around for me, please…” The tiger seems to understand me and moves slowly… Oh! Same mark is on the other side too! Oh! I laugh.

“So you’re a girl!” The tiger sits down in front of me. “That’s good. Emerald suits you…” I reach for her and she lays her giant head down on my lap… “You’re very pretty.” I pet her… A low growl comes from deep within her throat…

“You like that, huh?” I smile and scratch her ear. “How about that?” She turns her head more to me. I laugh. “Guess you like that too… What are you doing here, though?” Emerald looks up at the sky…

“What is it?” I look up. “There’s nothing there. It’s a beautiful day though…” I try to move, and my ankle tells me no. Emerald looks up. Her eyes seem worried.

“Not the first time. Don’t worry. But I have to try and get home anyways…” I point to the direction of the village. Emerald lays down again. “Oh, really? Thank you!” I climb on her back and flatten myself again. So soft. I feel her move under me. Surprisingly, she takes her time. I figured she would dash off through the woods like a runaway rabbit, but no, not at all. She’s in no hurry. Maybe she's worried that jumping and running would harm me? Or maybe she just enjoys my company? Oh what I’m I saying? That can’t be it… Can it?

“You can stop now.” I pat her head. The tiger listens to me and lays down gently again. I clumsily climb off her back. “Thank you for that.” I nod to her.

“By the way, the name's Wykren.” I grin silly. She blinks at me. “Can I come around to visit you sometimes?” I have difficulty balancing on one leg. She blinks at me again and wanders back into the deep woods. “I'll take that as a yes!” I call out to her and jump away.

Such a strange encounter... I'm a girl he says, huh? Not that I had any power over that... Guess it's for the better. I didn't detect a single trace of hostility from him either... I seem to be able to understand him easily as well... How many centuries has it been now since I've shut myself inside that three? I stroll back to it and into it...

Dad keeps yelling at me while fixing my leg.

“I said I was sorry! It's not like I did it on purpose!” I explain myself again.

“I don't want to hear it! There! Stand up.” He says. I get off the chair. “If you can walk then get back to work. That's what you get for goofing off!” I roll my eyes.

“Work is exactly why I wandered off in the first place!” I go back to the workshop and continue to chisel the gem stones... Emerald green... Those eyes captured my soul... I've never seen anything like that before... How can she be living there? How come I haven't seen her before? What is she anyways! I hammer my thumb in with the tiny mallet. I shake it off. I have to see her again...

It takes my ankle days to heal up. I get restless with each passing hour. How boring! All I ever do is play with stones! Crafting isn't as exciting as Dad makes it sound. You just sit there, hunched over, without moving, for days! Like a statue! Ugh! I don't even get to work with Lector stones cause I have no magic! Argh! I slump back in my chair and close my eyes. I get a smack on the head.

“Quit slacking off.”

“Oh please! All I ever do are trinkets for the girls! We have plenty of them laying around as is!”

“What's wrong with that?” Mom says to me. “Ladies love this stuff. The Festival of Life is coming up too, we'll be selling plenty of everything at Astri.” “Coming up”, she says… It’s a month away! Well, two weeks… They will be leaving early, as always…

“Doesn't mean it's not boring!” I keep pouting, polishing the gem.

“It pays. That's all you need to worry about.” Dad tells me.

“If it's an issue of gold then there are plenty of other things, I can do for it!” I keep going still.

“Like what?” Dad mocks me.

I shrug my shoulders. “I could always be a warrior, or something.”

“Or something. Exactly. You got your ankle hurt on a stroll around the woods. A warrior he says!” Dad yells out of the other room.

Mom comes over to me and puts her arms on me from behind the chair. “If it's bothering you so much then bear with it a little longer. You can stop and chose your path later, once you're old enough, alright?” She kisses the top of my head. I sigh...

“Sooo two more years?” I grin. She smiles back at me.

“It's because of you that he gets weird ideas like that.” Dad disapproves with Mom.

“No harm done.” She shrugs her shoulders. “He is his own person, after all.”

“Sure sure.” Dad puts his hand around Mom's hips. “What?” He glares at me. I smile.

“Nothin'.” I go back to my stone. I need to finish this up quick. I'm worried about Emerald...