The Bringer: Great Sacrifice

Prologue

For Rashella, there weren't many happy places. In a land consumed by war, where does one turn for peace? For Rashella, it was her own personal Oasis- a little pond that no one knew about- a grove of trees people hardly ever gave a second glance. Rashella came here when she needed to be alone, when she needed to forget her memories.

At the moment, her memories were stronger than ever. Every time she closed her eyes she could see the orange glow of fire, she could taste the ash in the air, and she could smell the scents of blood and death.

She opened her eyes and shook her head to clear it. "I'm in my happy place." She reminded herself. "I'm completely safe."

Instead of closing her eyes again, she looked around her Oasis. From the pond where she sat she could see the trees that towered above her, protecting her from the outside world. She could also see the flowers they protected as well, bright yellow flowers that Rashella often took care of herself.

The Oasis was so colorful compared to the rest of the town. The sun shown down from the clear blue sky, and its brightness shone yellow and gold onto the Oasis. Combined with the blue of the sky, the blue tinted pond, the flowers, and the trees, the Oasis started to look less like a real place and more of a picture painted for the sole purpose of giving Rashella a place to rest from her burdens.

Rashella closed her eyes once again and this time was able to rid herself of her memories. If only for a moment she could rest. She saw her Oasis in her mind, and she started to picture the things that made her happy. She pictured her parents, and her uncle, and her adoptive mother all standing around her with big smiles on their faces. She pictured her friends, and she pictured peace. She was so caught up in the peacefulness of the image that her eyes grew heavy, and as they were already closed she fell fast asleep.

She awoke sometime later, and sat up with a groan. Was that the sunset she was seeing? She slowly stood up, and rung the water from her pants. She shook her head to wake herself up and gasped; she was gazing into the sunrise, for she had been in her Oasis all night.

With a frustrated sigh she made her way out of the Oasis. Her mother would be so worried! How could she be so careless? Rashella lectured herself as she ducked through the Oasis' door of vines and into the outskirts of town.

She sighed again. "Well, back to the real world I guess." She said and started the walk back to her house.

Landstown, as it was unoriginally called, was the town where most of the refuges from the war came. Rashella was no different; she was a refugee just like most of the others in the town. She had only been four when she was taken here, so she had been raised in Landstown. She had never particularly liked the town, but she had a family here and in her hometown there was nothing but ash and rubble, so she couldn't complain.

As she made her way she could just barely see the sun peeking up over the horizon, if she had to guess she would say that it was six o'clock or so. She could probably be home in time for breakfast, and she was starving after missing supper the night before. Even if she was hungry, she still didn't regret spending so much time in her Oasis; after all it was her home away from home, and even her home wasn't always a happy place.

When she finally arrived home the sun had fully risen and was beating down on her from the sky. Landstown was tropical most of the time, and was therefore fairly hot in nature, so Rashella was relieved that she could finally escape the suns golden rays.

She stepped inside her house and took a deep breath. "I'm home" she called out and stepped through the cramped entryway and into their kitchen.

The house was relatively small, but considering the hardness of times, and the fact that only her and her adoptive mother lived in it, the house was perfectly fine for their needs. The house wasn't overly colorful, most of it was beige or white, but there was the occasional color that she and her mother had decorated it with. There were colored pictures pinned on the walls throughout the house, pictures of rainbows and flowers, things she and her adoptive mother liked to draw.