Prologue

The night was dark. The strong winds were shaking the walls. A beam of light from the attic window shined on 16-year-old Ayla. Mumbling to herself, she slowly walked up the steps and pulled her grandmother's dusty curtains closed.

She was about to walk down the hall and go to sleep when she felt a strange warmth on her back. It felt like someone had wrapped their hands around her waist and she almost jumped out of her skin.

When she spun around there was nothing there except the light from the attic window. Suddenly, this light shined brighter than before and Ayla was engulfed in a dazzling blue glow that blinded her temporarily as it drew her in.

She opened her eyes to find herself standing on a rocky beach with flowers as tall as skyscrapers and trees with leaves bigger than houses surrounding her like a jungle. Carefully walking through this place of prehistoric plants, which seemed as if they have never been seen by any human before. Ayla began to realize she was lost.

"Ayla. . . Ayla . . . Ayla," A soft yet eerie voice whispered.

Ayla whipped around. "Hello!? Is anyone there!?" She yelled. Seeing that no one was there she moved away from the plants.

"Ayla. . . Ayla . . . Ayla," The voice continued whispering. Ayla started running as fast as she could, thinking the beach was haunted. "Ayla, why is it that you run from me?"

Unfortunately, she was pulled back into the plants, by an invisible force? But now was being dragged back even more than before.

"HELP, SOMEONE HELP!" She yelled. But no response was heard. She was now inside a forest and had no way back to the beach. It was like the forest was moving on its own. Whatever was pulling her back stopped suddenly, knocking Ayla into a very tall tree. Dizzy and in pain Ayla was blinded by another ray of light, She crawled away from the tree.

She looked up trying to focus her eyes on the tree, an amulet? The amulet that was engraved in the heart of the tree, was now floating toward Ayla. Ayla was scared and confused, she backed away each time the amulet got closer to her.

The forest started moving on its own again, she was caught in vines tying her down. Unable to move, the amulet got closer and closer to her face, Ayla closed her eyes tight and was engulfed in a dazzling blue glow again.

Once the light cleared off, the amulet was now on her neck. "What is going on!?" Ayla yelled.

"What do you mean what is going on?" The voice replied.

Ayla pulled on the amulet, trying her best to get rid of it. "Who's there?" Ayla asked, stammering.

"Dear Ayla, you don't know who I am?" the voice remarked.

"No, I don't know who you are or what you are but stay away from me," Ayla explained, getting up from the forest floor.

"Do you want to know who I am?" The voice remarked in a sly tone.

"No," Ayla answered, backing away from the tree. The voice sighed.

"Just look down," the voice convinced sarcastically. Ayla looked down only to see the amulet on her chest.

"Are you the amulet?" Ayla asked.

"What a wild guess, I am the amulet but I would rather be called Talila," Talila retorted.

"Well, Talila, I would love you to get me back home to my soft, comfortable, queen-sized bed," Ayla demanded, getting annoyed by Talila.

"Can't," Talila immediately uttered.

"What do you mean 'can't'," Ayla retorted.

"I can't get you back home . . . well not yet at least," Talila confessed as she quieted down at each word.

"WHAT!" Ayla yelled as she started pacing back and forth frantically, pulling her hair.

"I brought you here because the island needs your help. With the people on the island turning to ash in seconds," Talila explained.

"So not only am I going insane talking to a necklace, I am going to be stuck on this island for god knows how long, but I might also DIE as well!?" Ayla was frustrated at this point.

"Oi, stop yelling. It's Amulet, not necklace, am-u-let," Talila yelled and stressed each letter in the word amulet to Ayla. Ayla calmed down and sat on the forest floor. "Now as I was saying, the only way to stop this and get you back home is the West Element Temple," Talila continued.

"West Element Temple?" Ayla asked.

"It's our only way of fixing this problem. Kola's followers have brought Tanwen, the ruler of destruction to the surface once again, somehow and without the powers of the amulet. Not learning their lesson the first time. Now we are all in grave danger because he is now looking for the amulet and even without it he's causing chaos. " Talila explained.

"Wow, that changes a lot of things," Ayla spouted with a shocked face.

"Yes, indeed it does," Talila answered.

"And I have a lot of questions," Ayla stated.

"Go on," Talila answered.

"What–" Ayla asked but before she could finish her question.

"Hey you, what are you doing here!?" Someone yelled. Ayla whipped her head away from the tree to see a girl with black hair.

"Ayla, run!" Talila whispered seriously.