7 Sacred Serendipity Stone 1

Four hundred and twenty-three years ago...

In the North American continent, in the extreme north, a small town lay brimming full of life and lights. Lanterns and fairy lights were lit across the streets creating a beautiful atmosphere of joy and celebration. The roads below were filled with a crowd of about one thousand people followed by a trail of rosy-red flowers as they chanted a song loudly while traveling up the road.

As the large crowd got to the end of the road, they entered into a large spacious manor. The manor was not great in size but it did not take away it's majestic appearance. It had about 20 rooms, even the wall outside had intricate swirly designs and not to mention the large garden about the size of a soccer field.

As the crowd made their way into the garden and stopped to a halt in front of a smoothly polished wooden podium and they all bowed in unison. To the crowd, the wood of this quality would only be existent in their dreams but their eyes were not on the podium but on three people sitting on three golden seats. However, on the left end of the podium, there was a small seat and what made it even odder was that the seat was empty.

"Why is Annie not here yet? Today is the 21st annual Sacred Offering Ceremony. If she misses this, I will have no choice but t punish her?" harrumphed the man on the middle seat on the podium as he let out a cold sigh.

"Honey, you know here. Ever since she could walk, she always liked to explore instead of sitting here in the manor." said a woman in a somewhat disapproving tone as she continued "Let's just continue the ceremony. It's not like she will just randomly disappear. She knows the forest inside out. And she'd probably cause a big ruckus here anyway if we forced her here."

Seeing the confident, sure eyes of his wife, the man could only nod as he proceeded with the ceremony.

About five kilometers away, the noise of crunching leaves being stepped on reverberated from the depths of the dazzling redwood forest. As the moonlight shone on the tall trees, an ethereal aura had descended as a silhouette of a little girl appeared out at the end. She seemed out of breath as she was rapidly panting.

This little girl was the Annie that had skipped the festival. Her dirty little hand swept across her face as she wiped her sweat off her face causing her coiffured black hair to become disheveled and a tinge of red to appear on her cheeks. However, these actions could not hide her dazzlingly beautiful appearance. Her shiny golden eyes spanned across the vast lush forest looking for something.

"kee-kee," a cry came from a dark empty hollow shape, and out of the hole popped out a pair of twelve-inch long fluffy, fuzzy ears. Sensing that it was Annie, the animal came out of hiding and ran into Annie's tiny but warm embrace.

Seeing it running towards her, Annie opened up her small arms as she ran towards it exclaiming happily "Shushu! I missed you so much."

Shushu was a male Renopila amplexus about the size of a hare. His lush fur was completely snow-white apart from his ears which were fully black. His coat was as smooth as silk and any moonlight that shone on it was seemingly reflected giving Shushu a glowing outline. Although Shushu was indeed a jerboa, he was anything apart from normal. He and Annie had met about three years ago and thanks to Annie's training, he had learned to speak and not just speak... He could speak somewhat fluently.

"Missed you too, there no one to talk to in this dumpster," said Shushu with cheerful voice. After they had finished their introduction. Annie proceeded to tell Shushu about what had happened to her after she had left him in their last meeting. As they spoke while walking, they subconsciously arrived upon a plain field with beautiful blue flowers, each of its beautifully carved petals looking fluorescent in the moonlit light. Finding a good place to rest, the duo laid down looking at the stars as they curiously continued their engaging conversation and unknowingly about two hours had passed.

Suddenly Annie called out "Shushu."

"Yes?" Shushu replied.

"Isn't the sky beautiful today?"

"Yes, indeed. Especially the stars, they look brighter today."

"I wish I could touch them, they're so pretty, how they sparkle... I wish I was a star..."

"Maybe you will be Annie. Nothing is impossible. I was just a normal mammal until you came and taught me. I'm sure that there will be a way to achieve it. You'll just have to look clearly."

"Okay I should probably get going now, daddy knows that I escaped from the celebration and he might worry if I don't get home now."

Hearing this, Shushu's face was suddenly filled with disappointment and longing. But from how had Annie described her father, he knew that Annie had to go otherwise she would get hurt. "Ok, then I see you next week then?" said Shushu in a sad tone.

"Yep. Don't worry I won't forget."

Rumble... Rumble...

A sudden noise erupted from all directions as a bright light lit up the sky. It got bigger and bigger and was moving toward the forest. As it struck the surface about one kilometer away from Annie and Shushu's position, a huge shockwave was formed. It was like an invisible wave of destruction as it brought swept up everything in its path. The shockwave had caused Annie and Shushu to be swept up about ten feet into the air. As soon as they had fallen back on the ground, an ear-piercing scream bellowed, Annie was injured, she had landed awkwardly on her leg causing it to be dislocated. Fortunately, her pain was to be temporarily forgotten as a blinding light emerged from the landing site, engulfing the night sky making it seem like day.

"Shushu! Help!" screamed Annie in a panic-stricken voice as she scoured the ground with her hands-trying to locate Shushu. However, her pain would suddenly disappear as her consciousness fell into oblivion. And since then her existence on the world was thought to be erased.

Not long after the crash, a crowd of people led by Annie's father arrived at the site. It was no longer the beautiful flowery field that it used to be. The blooms of petals were now non-existent. The ground was dyed black. It now looked like a battlefield as branches, sticks, leaves, and stones were everywhere. The wind now carried a deathly air, as if it was prophesizing doom to everyone who heard it. The forest surrounding it also had a massive change. The initially evergreen trees had turned ruby red. As if blood had coated all the leaves.

The first thing that appealed to her father's eyes were her clothes laying on the ground in a distorted fashion with rips almost everywhere. He immediately ran to the pile of clothes and upon inspection, his knees fell to the floor, his arms went limp as he tightly held onto the fabric. Tears filled his eyes as he let out a loud scream of peril, a scream of sorrow and regret.

He suddenly looked towards the crowd with an ice-cold glare as he commanded "Search the vicinity! This cannot be happening, I refuse to believe it!"

Thirty minutes of searching had passed, the crowd to no avail could find the body. They had searched every nook and cranny of a ten-mile radius.

"Cheif, we couldn't find it," said a man in a very sad tone trying to console the father.

"Why! Heavens! Why! I despise you! Why did you take her!" cried Annie's father as he looked up to the skies with his rough-skinned fist tightly clenched and with a murderous intent that rattled the whole forest.

That day, was a day of despair, a day of sorrow. Annie's body was nowhere to be found and the only thing retrieved from the site was a small stone with an inscription on it.

Over the years, the stone became a clan heirloom and was made into a bracelet in remembrance of the Chief's daughter.