The darkness of the wizard’s curse had lifted, for 5 years the people had lived in the dark, the fog, and the shadow of a fire breathing monster.

During the first three days the people had tried but failed to leave their homes, for the light which had once been a source of hope and aid, was blinding to all.

On the fourth day, people that had tried and tried to leave their homes were finally able to bare the blinding light, one of these being Gwen, a 12 year old with no home and no family to speak of.

She was a “child of the earth” as the people would cal her, that is when they didn’t call her “street urchin” or “rat.”

She was small, but had a strong spirit, her dark hair was usually kept clean from the river but she had been living in the space between two houses during the time that the light was bright.

She was excited to see far and wide again, to see all that the light touched, she ran with all her strength to the river to get cleaned up.

The sound of the water rushing across rock and river bank came to her ears, the excitement grew within her as she could smell the flowers that grew on the hill just above her favorite spot.

The river came to the base of this hill and crawled lazily around it, the grass would bend this way and that as the wind told it where it should go, and the flowers, oh the flowers!

All the colors of the rainbow and they all had such a sweet sweet aroma, she would lay there for hours and just dream the day away.

Not anymore, with the lack of sunlight, the vegetation was sparse, the only reason there were some planets alive was due to the good wizard’s magic that caused a faux sun to give the plants a chance to grow.

The only drawback was that it would burn the skin of anyone that came in contact with its beams. So, the people would lock themselves inside and wait for the magic sun to do its work and after it expired the people would be free to walk outside and go about life in the darkness.

As Gwen climbed the bare earthen hill a tear made its way from her eye as she thought of how sad it was that it would still be some time before grass would come back and the flowers bloomed.

As she sat at the top of the hill, wondering what caused the sun to come back, she noticed a trail of green that snuck itself in between the trees. Trees with leaves on them! But how?!

She ran full speed down the hill, crossed the river were there was a small bridge built by the hunters years ago and dashed towards the comfort of color. She couldn’t believe how great the soft grass felt underneath her feet, or how the wind sang to her with its gentle end and flows through the leaves in the trees.

She danced, then ran from one tree to the next, breathing in the intoxicating fresh air. Her head started to spin! She twirled a few times before falling down and laying in the grass she looked up into the sky. From here, sky seemed to have a more vibrant color to it, it was more blue than she had remembered, and the clouds where a bright white.

She couldn’t contain herself anymore and she let out a yell of joy! She sat up quickly when she heard a twig snap from further in the tree line. She looked left and right, but she couldn’t see anything. She sat still for a time and when she thought it safe, she got up and started following the trail of newly grown grass and flowers.

It definitely lead somewhere, and she wanted to know where that somewhere might be. Her hands hung by her side, feeling the life that was all around her. She noticed that there were birds and even a few small mammals hiding in the green trees.

The birds were singing and the snickering of squirrels could be heard from all around. A smile crept into the corner of her mouth, this felt good. It felt…right. Filling the trail of life that wound this way and that, she realized that she had loss track of time.

To be continued…