Chapter One

The loud laughter of children running around the woods, shook the minds of ravens on oak trees, which danced along with the wind. The cold season of Tiwan paved way for frozen rivers and shuddering tress.

"Tamina! Let's play prirate" screamed a young girl, whose laugher echoed

"But we don't have a treasure" squealed the other girl whose coat was covered in snow.

"Don't worry, my mother said treasures are hidden everywhere"

The smile on Tamina's face made the red haired girl even more encouraged to carry on with their journey. " Come on, let's go". The girls ran deeper into the woods with their brown coats and boots covered in snow .

The trail of foot prints of the two girls ran across the woods to the frozen pond. The girls digged the snow covered ground with their worn out gloves.

They cleared the snow and dug the ground for some time when Tamina cried out of disgust

" I found a dead bird " she said and buried it again.

Cassandra was already tired and so she decided to use a plank of wood to aid her. She touched the ground, she felt something. Her blue eyes glowed with the thought of finding gold or a rare stone.

"Tamina! Look I found something!" Cassandra yelled as Tamina ran towards her direction.

"Where?" She asked with glee in her dark eyes

Cassandra quickly started pulling the chest from underneath the ground. "It's heavy, help me" she complained trying her best to lift the chest covered in all sorts of gems

"Wow, it's beautiful!" Tamina exclaimed as the gems reflected in her eyes "Shiny"

They both pulled it out and the girls cleared the sand off the chest with their little hands

"Let's call the others" Cassandra said

Tamina had a sinister smile on her face that glowed of curiosity. " Let's open it first"

Tamina struggled to open the chest but it was locked. Cassandra frowned "I think we need a key"

"It's old, it just meat to-"

"Tamina, your mother is looking for you!" Yelled another child wondering deeper

"Tamina" the girl sang as if her name was a song

Tamina ignored the voice and continued to use a little rock to hit the padlock, cassandra stayed back and watched.

"She said if you don't come, you are going to be in trouble" she little girl sang again.

Tamina groaned and threw the rock away.

"I'll be right back! " She said and left.

Cassandra stared at the chest. She used her fingers to feel the pearl shaped gems, overwhelmed by its beauty. Suddenly the padlock clicked open. Cassandra looked around, nobody was there apart from the tall trees that surrounded her. "Tamina" her voice faded away when she decided to open the chest. She pushed it open, hoping to see treasures. To her greatest shock the chest was quite empty and the only thing occupying space was a big book. The book was strange. It was embedded with beautiful crystals around it and the book was ox blood with the edge covered in dust. Cassandra sneezed due to the dust as she flipped the pages until she landed on a strange writing. She furrowed her eyes brows in confusion, staring at the sentence she said "What kind of language is this?"

She began to pronounce each word slowly. After she read it, she was surprised. She felt as if something was supposed to happen but nothing did. The woods was quiet as a grave yard. "Hmm, strange book" she said and as she was about to flip the next page, a sudden wind blew. The trees began to dance to the rhythm due to the force of the wind. She threw the book and quickly got to her feet to run but her left leg was held tight to the ground. She turned and saw nothing holding her back, which made her scream as she struggled.

The clouds became darker and the sound of a great thunder struck. The pages of the book flipped open by itself and dark images emerged from the book. Rising like smoke as if the book was on fire, it covered her. Cassandra felt her jaw drop open and the smoke-like-creatures get sucked into her mouth, immediately. Her eyes turned anthracite and the weight of her head made her fall helplessly to the ground and there was a great calm.

As cassandra slept, her red hair grew longer and thicker. As if she received a divine touch, cassandra became more beautiful.

"Wake up" she heard a quiet voice say.

When she opened her eyes, they were forest green. So enchanting, it was obviously abnormal. Blinking severally to get her clear vision, cassandra saw no one. "Tamina?" She called out but the only response was her echo. She immediately got up and she was about to leave, she tripped on something on the snowy ground. She looked beneath her and it was the book.