The beginning

Long ago, in a world where kings ruled the earth and creatures of the night caged humans into submission. A little girl was born in a small town to her father and mother who loved her more than anything. She was raised in a home filled with love, sheltered by the darkness that was lurking beyond their front door. Antoinette earliest memories of her father and mother were sweet. Her mother would sing her lullaby's while she cradled in her lap. Her father was gone most days, hunting, but when he was home he would tell her jokes and stories of his adventures. Antoinette admire him and at the age of five she decided she also wanted to be a hunter and would often ask to go with her father. He'd smile and tell her that when she's older he'd teach her how to hunt.

One day when her father was away, her mother took her into the market to buy apples to make pie for when her father arrived home. Her mother dressed her in clothes she sewed herself, and always wrapped her hair with a scarf and a hat. As they walked in town Antoinette was excited to see the horses they displayed for sale at the market. She beamed with joy and hopped throughout the streets as her mother held her tiny hands, keeping her close. She heard her mother whisper to her to "keep close" as she hummed and skipped watching the stalls in the market filled with all sorts of colorful fruits. As they got to the stall that sold the apples she watched her mother reach forward to pick the apples to take home when the man selling them spoke aloud "I don't sell to people like you, you should keep walking." Little Antoinette was stunned as to why the man had said that to her mother and looked at the man infront of them causing her hat to tip back. The man who was focused on her mother looked at Ann's little head that was peeking at the bottom of the stall. He noted that her eyes were green and her skin lighter than her mothers. The man scoffed and mumbled under his breath "it's bad enough we have to look at you, now you're infesting the streets with damn mutants." Ann's mother not wanting to bring any more attention to them took her daughters hands and walked away from the stall while fixing the hat that tipped over. As they walked away from the little group that had formed after what the man said, she heard her daughter ask her, "how are we gonna make the apple pie for father?" Isabelle had made sure to shelter her daughter from the people in their town. She knew how they would treat her child once they realized who her father was, so she smiled at her little one and told her "fortunately for us, apples grow on trees my sweet". She watched her daughters face that was simmered with confusion just moments ago gleam with the same brightness she had tried to protect the past 8 years. This time Isabelle carried her daughter in her arms as they made way to a tree further in town away from people. Isabelle knew of this tree because this is where she would come to get apples when the folks in town didn't sell to her. Isabelle made sure that no one was close by as she put Ann down and squatted low to look at her face to face. She caressed ann's hair that had fallen out of the scarf and tucked it behind her little ear. She smiled at her daughter because she looked as if she was ready to climb the tree herself too. Ruining the little girl's dream of being able to climb the tree with her mother, Isabelle told her "wait here ann, it'll just be a moment." Ann who had taught her mother was going to teach her to climb the tree was visibly disappointed at the words her mother told her, but instead smiled back and responded "ok mother." Isabelle noted the disappointed in her daughters face and patted her head as she stood up and climbed the tree. Her mother always wore trousers under her dress when they went out into town. Anne watched her climb the tree with ease in fascination as her mother gathered a few apples in the basket they brought. The wind was heavier on top of the hill this afternoon and Antoinette's hat flew away, her little feet chased it down the hill hoping to catch it before her mother climbed back down the tree. She finally caught up to the hat that eventually landed at the bottom of the hill and she dusted off the hat before turning back around to walk back to her mother. As she approached the tree her mother was on top, a tall man dressed in clothes she'd never seen before was before her mother. She looked at the basket her mother was holding and noticed all the apples were scattered on the ground in between them. Antoinette was too busy staring at the man who was smiling at her to hear her mother talking to her. The man's skin was white as snow and she'd never seen someone so scary before. And his teeth….before ann could examine the man further she heard her mother yelling at her who was standing infront of her holding a mysterious circle in front of her. It looked like fire and it was floating…Isabelle yelled at her daughter this time and ann finally register the words her mother was saying "go ann, now!" ann took slow steps back at the shock of urgency in her mothers voice. She sensed the danger of the man who kept smiling at her as her mother moved in front of her to block his view. Before ann took one more look at her mother and the fire coming out of her hands she ran down the hill hearing strange noises coming from behind her as she tried to obey her mother's words by running. She heard the sound of cracking and a gust of wind that caused her to turn back, only to see her mother coming down the hill towards her. Ann was relieved and ran towards her mother in a hurry. Isabelle picked ann up into her arms and ran as fast as she could. As ann watched the hill get smaller and smaller as her mother carried her away she didn't see the man anymore and wondered what had happened. Isabelle carried ann back to their home making sure to not create a scene. Isabelle lived quite some distance away from the town and needed to take the train to get back home. As they waited in the line to board the train. Isabelle finally set Ann back down to the floor but held onto her closer than before. Ann saw that her mother was still tense and kept looking around them as if the scary man on the hill would show up again. Ann wondered who he was that had her mother so frightened but she knew now wasn't a good time to ask questions so she held onto her mother's hand. As they finally got on the train, ann was sitting next to the window as he mother sat beside her. The train ride back home was only fifteen minutes, but ann managed to fall asleep on her mother's shoulders two minutes into the journey. Isabelle was a little bit more calm now that they were out of town and continued to hold her daughters hands as she slept. When the train stopped at the post of their destination Isabelle tapped Ann's hand to wake her up. She watched her daughters eyes slowly open and a smile instantly appeared on her face as she woke up, seeing her mother. "Are we home yet" Ann spoke in a voice tinged with sleep. Isabelle couldn't help but smile at ann's question and said "not yet, but almost, if you fall asleep again the next time you wake up we just might be". Ann smiled at her mothers joke and it seemed like what happened on the hill a few minutes ago was a dream she had while sleeping on the train. They walked the short distance from the train stop to their home and ann had noticed the basket her mother had dropped on the hill was filled with apples. Anna began to think that maybe the scary man was a dream afterall and now all she could think about was going back home to bake the pie for her father. Arriving home to the small cottage that rested on the river bank Isabelle set the basket filled with apples down on the table. They had spent nearly three hours at town and the sun was soon closing the day. She expected her husband to come home soon so they started to back the pie with the apples they had gathered. A couple minutes into prepping the ingredients Isabelle and Anna were singing as they cooked until a knock interreptued the sound of their melody. Isabelle slightly on edge from the knock considering what happened in town wiped her hands from the flour they were kneading on her apron made way to the door. She noted that if it was her husband he would have used the key to come in. Proceeding with caution she slightly creeped the door open to peek at who was outside, in a moment she was flung back as a gust of wind broke the door. Ann was was tending to the dough as her mother was getting the door saw her mother get flung shouted "mother!" and she quickly moved to help her. Isabelle noted that anna was getting closer to her and said in the calmness voice she could muster, "Stay there ann, I'm okay." Ann stopped abruptly and ripped her eyes away from her mother who was already on her feet after getting thrown by the man who had broken their door. He was not the same man in the hill. The memory of the events of today had escaped little ann's mind but now her fear had returned after seeing that this man was much bigger than the one from earlier today. He was wearing all black with a long cape and his his head nearly touched the ceiling of their home. The man looked in the direction of Ann without moving his head. And seemed to be observing the room for something. The strange tall man didn't move, instead he broke the silence that seemed to last too long "where is he?"