1 - Selene

Our main character, Selene is the first to receive the curse.

 A bubbling stream filled Selene's ears as she walked through the chilly forest of the misty city of Aquaoso. It was a very low-civilized place, consisting of villages spread between the many forests of the land.
 Selene was picking wild berries and herbs to sell on her grandfather's market. Her grandfather was a very successful man, who was the head of the entire Aquaoso farming committee and the most skilled farmer of the lot. However, he did not spoil Selene no matter now much he loved her. If she wanted money to spend of her own free will, she would have to earn it herself. So Selene worked her grandfather's marketplace stand on weekends when he was running farm errands, and sold what she could find in the woods. Which was usually pretty colored stones that she would polish, medicinal herbs that her grandfather had taught her about, or berries and dyes she made from them.

 The sun was barely to the treetops, and Selene was well on her way with a woven basket filled half way with blueberries, blackberries, and mint. Selene thought that the day was being good for her as she knelt down, pulling her long black hair from her blue eyes, to see what she could find along the stream bed. he stream wasn't very wide, if you stretched you could step across it, but it was connected to the oceans and was abundant with shells and small ocean rocks.
 Among the pebbles of the stream bed, there where a few white and blue colore stones, which was the result of the freezing temperatures of Aquaoso. Water erodes crevices into the pebbles and over night the pieces of ice from the freezing stream embed themselves in the veins of the pebbles, creating what locals called "icestone". Icestone was used in cold compresses to cool those suffering from fever, meaning it was a valuable item.
 Selene took a small glass jar from one of the pockets on her long-sleeve blue patch-work dress. She pulled the cork from the mouth of the tiny jar and dipped it in the cold stream, filling a little less than half way with water, so that the ice in the pebbles wouldn't melt. then Selene delicately plucked four icestones  from the water and carefully dropped them into the glass jar. She watched them sink to the bottom, making the water level rise. Selene told herself that she'd be sure to show her grandfather her findings today. She slowly stood back up from the ground, her legs wobbly from blood loss.
 As Selene was walking back to her village, she noticed something glimmering in a patch of clovers, lit by the sun shinning through the opening of the cedar branches. As she wondered closer the sun lighting the area disappearing, the area became eerily dark. But in the clover patch, Selene spotted a strangely shaped gray and white spotted stone. It was sharp, and in the shape of a claw. Selene picked it up, thinking that it was an odd looking rock. She slipped it in the pocket opposite the one holding the jar of icestone.
 
 Upon entering her village, two small children named Roe and Kamell, ran up to Selene, skipping and laughing.
 "What did you find today, Sel?" the young boy Kamell asked, his messy black hair falling over his face.
 "Haha... Just some berries and herbs... And this." Selene smiled, kneeling to the children's level, pulling the jar from her pocket. Roe, the young girl gasped,
 "Oh! Wow! Is that icestone?" It was rare to find icestone this time of year, and Roe had never got the chance to see it during the season, she had caught a deadly illness.
 "Yup. You think Papa will be proud?" Selene slipped the jar back into her pocket.
 "Diffidently!" Kamell gave Selene a thumbs up and then another child ran up to him tapping him on the shoulder and yelling "Tag!" and Kamell and Roe ran off.
 Selene finally found herself in the middle of the village marketplace. She made her way to her grandfather's stand.
 "Papa!" Selene called and waved as she approached the small stand, draped in a tan hide.
 "Ah, Hello Selene. Back from gathering so soon? Is something the matter?" The elderly man asked, folding his hands on the counter.
 "No. I found something your really gonna like!" Selene smiled brightly and reached into her pocket, pulling out the tiny jar containing the water and stones.
 "See?!" Selene shrieked and handed the jar to her grandfather.
 "My, my... This is quite a find, Selene. You have done very, very well." Selene's grandfather squinted and held the jar an inch from his nose.
 "This will fetch quite a coin on the market tomorrow." He handed the jar back to Selene.
 "Oh?" Selene murmured, she was so proud of her findings she had forgotten completely about the worth of it.
 "How much will it sell for?" Selene leaned on the counter of the stand. The elderly man scratched his long, dark gray beard.
 "I would think five silver pieces, maybe even a gold piece."

 Both the continents of Terranine and Celeste used the same currency; silver and gold coins called "pieces". Silver was more common than gold, and one gold piece was worth six silver pieces. It was considered greedy if one were to say they where selling something for a gold piece instead of saying it was selling for six silver pieces.

 Selene's eyes widened. She'd never sold anything worth more than four silver pieces.
 "A gold piece!?" Selene gasped lowly.
 "Yes, but the likely-hood of getting on here is small." Most families in small villages like Selene's only had one gold piece in the household and it was stored until it was needed for emergencies such as buying special medicine for a gravely sick family member, or leaving Aquaoso.
 "That's till a lot of money for a girl your age. Didn't you say you had three gold pieces worth of silver?" Selene's grandfather asked, stroking his beard. Selene was then reminded of her dream to travel to he Royal City of Clarity and sell her dyes there.
 "Yes, I'm halfway to my goal. Then I'm going to the Royal City!" Selene pounded her fist into her palm in excitement.
 "And then your going to leave your poor old grandfather." The elderly man said dramatically, smiling.
 "of course not, Papa. I'll have to come back to get more supplies, wouldn't I?" Selene laughed.
 "I suppose you're right." The elderly man chuckled.
 "Well, I have some dye to make, I got enough berries to make dark blue and purple." Selene smiled and turned, walking back to her cabin in the village.

 The cabin Selene and her grandfather lived in was just like any other in their village. The only personal effects of the outside of the wooden structure where  the two large dark blue and green polished stones that Selene had layed out on each side of the entrance, and the large glass jar containing Selene's dyes of green, red, blue, purple, black, dark blue, and dark green.
 However, on the inside of the cabin it was a much different story. The rooms of the cabin where made by a succession of curtains, one large one running horizontal to define the living space and one behind the larger curtain running vertical to it, separating the area behind it into two bedrooms. The left was Selene's and the right was her grandfather's. In the living space, a table sat to the far left corner. This was Selene's work table and where she made dyes, jarred berries for sale, and did her sewing. To the right of the cabin entrance was a large silver wood burning stove, with a flat surface that could be used for cooking. In Selene's room was a small purple pallet made of hand sewn blankets, and a pink patchwork pillow stuffed with straw. Her grandfather's room contained a white pallet and a small wooden table in the right corner of the room.

 Selene now sat at the table in the living space. She sat her basket on the table and brought two medium sized glass jars from under the table, the jars where larger than the one holding the icestone but smaller than the jar that sat in front of the cabin outside.
 "Time to get serious." Selene sighed, rolling up her sleeves. She poured the contents of the basket out onto the table, blueberries, blackberries, and mint leafs spilling out onto the flat surface. Selene opened one jar and began to pick blueberries from the mass of ingredients on the table. Soon the jar was full, Selene put the cork back into the mouth of the jar and repeated the process with the blackberries.
 When Selene was finished putting away the rations of mint, blueberry, and and blackberries for sale, she still had plenty left for her dyes. She pushed the entire file to the back of table to clear space for her work. Out from under the table, Selene sat down a large tone bowl and the unusually shaped rock she used to grind down berries and herbs. Selene looked at what she had picked and from it took about twenty blueberries and put them into the stone bowl. hen she picked out ten blackberries. no matter what color dye you where making, how large the berries where , or how many herbs you added, you always used exactly thirty berries all together to make dye.
 Selene began to mash the blueberries and blackberries with the grinding rock, This process went on until skins and seeds floated in the bowl. During this time Selene would often daydream about life in the Royal City. She imagined starting out in the large city square, where all new-comers began, and soon becoming famous and earning enough to move from a stand to a workshop infused with a small store. she imagined traveling back to Aquaoso with friends that she had employed through her years in Clarity, and picking berries and herbs in the forest by bucketfuls, and then making a safe return back to the Royal City.

 Now Selene was finished grinding the berries to a liquid state and needed to drain the seeds and skins. She took a woven strainer and another stone bowl outside in front of her home.
 She sat the second stone bowl on the ground and knelt in front of it. She held the woven strainer a few inches above and poured the mashed berry juices over it. The juices splashed into the stone bowl beneath the strainer, which caught all the unwanted skins and seeds. Selene picked a few seeds from the strainer to replant in the forest, and dumped the rest onto the ground. She returned inside the cabin and took out yet another small jar from under the table, there she poured the dark blue liquid into the jar and tapped a cork into the mouth of it. She set the jar of dye next to the larger jars of blueberries and blackberries. She repeated the process with twenty five blackberries and five blueberries to make purple dye.
 When Selene finished making the purple dye she noticed her eyelids getting heavy. By the position of the sun in the sky she guessed that it was only a few hours before the sun set. She seen no harm in taking a nap at the hour and pulled back the curtain that would lead to her bedroom and layed down in her pallet. Within a few minutes Selene felt a spell of sleep fall upon her.

              PART TWO

 Selene awoke strangely in the middle of the night. She felt an unusual surge of panic and immediately checked her grandfather's room. He was not there, instead she found a letter on the side table in the corner of the room. Selene picked it up, it read;

        Dear Selene,
 On my way home from the market I was called urgently to the Royal City for a meeting with the other head farmers of Vitello. I should be home in three days. Please do your best at taking care of the farm and stand for me while I am away. If you need anything, I've asked Roe and Kamell's parents to help you while I'm gone.
                    Love,
                         Papa

 Selene folded up the note and put it in one of her dress pockets. She still felt uneasy. She decided to take a walk through the village, though it was late.
 It was a full moon that night, which lit up the village with a beautiful blue glow. As Selene walked she took deep breaths of night air, which helped to calm her nerves. But something still didn't feel right. She didn't like the silence that fell over the village. It unnerved her, and something was telling her to go into the forest.
 Selene had always been one to fallow her gut instinct. It had led her to many good outcomes in the past. so she took one last deep breath and dove into the forest that edged the village. Upon entering the forest Selene felt calmer. She could hear crickets, and small woodland creatures. Eventually Selene noticed something eerily familiar. it was the part of the forest she had gone gathering in earlier that day.

 Under the moonlight, Selene sat by the stream she found the icestone in earlier. The rocks in the water glittered beautifully. She still felt odd though. She put her hands in her pockets. Selene felt something sharp prick her finger. She pulled the claw shaped stone she'd found in the clover beds earlier from her pocket. It shined like the sun in the moonlight. Selene stood up, getting the feeling almost as though she was being pulled. She fallowed the feeling back to the clover patch where she had found the oddly shaped rock. The area was lit by moonlight through the cedar branches much like the sun had earlier that day.
 As Selene made her way through the brush to the clover patch she was startled to see a man standing in a black cloak in the middle of the clearing. Selene gasped, covering her mouth and stepping back into the brush but peaking through to watch the tall mysterious man. He glanced over his shoulder almost directly at Selene and then turned his head back in the direction he was standing. The claw shaped rock Selene still held in her hand began to glow brighter, with a blinding white light. The man turned around completely, facing Selene. He held out his hand to Selene and growled;
 "Come."
 Slowly, Selene pushed her way from the brush into the clearing, the stone still glowing intensely. Selene made her way through the clover beds, feeling their leafs tickling her bare feet.
 Selene now stood a few feet away from the man. He still held out his hand. Selene could only see his mouth and glowing orange eyes. She noticed the drawstrings hanging from the neck of the man's hood. At the end of silver ropes hung two pearly fangs that looked almost exactly like the stone Selene held in her hand.
 "Is this... yours?"
Selene asked in a scared tone, holding her hand open to reveal the claw shaped stone in her palm, glinting as bright as the stars.
 "Give me your hand." The man whispered, still holding out his arm. Selene hesitated and looked down at the man's hand, then up to his glowing eyes. Selene obeyed him and gently placed her hand in his palm.

 With a swift movement, the man snatched the claw shaped stone from Selene and stabbed the top of the hand he held. Selene screamed and fell to her knees, tears began streaming down her cheeks, in pain and in fear.
 "Why did you do that!?" Selene screamed. She looked at the back of her hand. Instead of blood, a black liquid poured from her hand. In the blink of an eye the black liquid took the shape of a paw and stained Selene's skin. As the moon rose slightly, a beam of light crossed Selene's hand. A silver moon appeared behind the black paw on her hand.
 Panicking, Selene looked up only to see that the man had disappeared. He had left the stone in front of her. Selene, now shaking, reached out slowly and picked up the stone. She examined it. There was nothing on the stone, no blood, no ink.
 Now the stone had stopped shinning. Selene stood up and ran home. Tear streaks freezing on her face in the accelerated cold night air as she ran. Snow began to fall. As Selene made it out of the forest she thought she heard the man's voice whizzing past her ears;
 "At the Royal library..."
 When Selene arrived home, she sat down at the table, her hand layed limp in front of her. She stared at it, the tears still running down her face. It didn't hurt anymore. But the event had scared her to such an extent of uncontrollable crying.
 Selene picked up a berry from the table and squeezed the juices out onto her hand. She rubbed the paw mark on her hand until it was numb, but the mark didn't rub off. It was in her skin. Selene put her head on the table and cried, screaming and slamming her first on the table.
 Selene cried herself to sleep.

 Selene woke up the next morning and immediately looked down at her hand. The mark was still there, though it looked faded. Recalling what had happened the previous night almost made Selene start crying again, but she held back.  Selene wanted to know what was going on. She knew it wasn't a dream. She decided that she'd go to the Royal Library. She knew her grandfather was counting on her to take care of everything but now she just couldn't focus on anything but the night previous.
 Selene gathered all the pieces she'd saved up, and a few jars of dye. She emptied the straw from her pillow and put her things inside. She wrote a letter and left it on the table for her grandfather, stating that she had left to the Royal City and didn't know when she'd be back.
 with that Selene left her village in Aquaoso and made for The Royal City of Clarity.

Author's Note

Selene is 17 by the way. D: This took forever to re-type from my notebook. I hope you all like it so far. I'll try to get the next chapter up tomorrow.

Reviews

[Rae]

That was good. I can't wait for the next chapter! ^^ And remember, details are really good! :D