The moon bathed the ground beneath me, in its gentle, unearthly light. Five figures moved across the mist-covered hillside, their shadows stretching across to twice their height. One figure wore a long, flowing, black cloak, hood up over his head. I guessed it was a man, because he had broad shoulders, from which the cloak hung from. The second figure was the tallest. She appeared to be about seventeen, but I had a feeling that she was as old as time. She was slim and her long blonde hair seemed to reflect the moons glow. She had tied it back in three long plaits. A baldric hung over the white clothes, the belt sword stretching from her left shoulder to the right of her waist, with her sword and scabbard nestling by her side. A slender gold chain held a gleaming emerald upon her chest, the green matching the colour of her draconian wings. The smallest person was a faery, her gossamer wings coloured like a rainbow. Upon her red top, three runes shined, over a mail dress and a pair of three-quarter length trousers. Her hair was short, brown and curly and her face was slightly chubby. She fluttered by a man, slightly shorter than the girls, with dark hair and dark eyes. He wore a black cloak that hid his black wings, and peasants’ clothes, except for a red sash across his chest and the hint of chain mail under his shirt. In his left hand he bore a staff, which came to a point just above a red stone, set atop the staff. The fourth person was a woman at the age of about thirty, but with the same feeling of age as the blonde girl. Her hair shined with silver thread interwoven with plaits among the brown, down to her mid-back. The silver matched the colour of her wings, which glowed in the moonlight. She bore armour and a cloak the same colour. A shield hung off her arm and a bow and quiver of arrows hung underneath her cloak, with a short sword hanging in its scabbard by her side with her hip pouch. I had a feeling I recognised them, but even though I searched my memory thoroughly, I could not remember who they were. That was because I hadn’t met them yet.

I gazed above me at the ageless sky, twinkling with far off diamonds of stars and distant planets. As I looked up into the moons beautiful face, I noticed she was getting smaller and the ground growing closer. I appeared to be sinking towards the small group of travellers. I landed just behind the small group, who had stopped suddenly when I was descending. I was surprised I was wearing the same silver armour as the brown haired Moke, but adorned a gold cape instead of a silver one.

“They are waiting for you,” I jumped as a voice came from my right side. A brown-cloaked figure stood beside me, its face shadowed in the hood of its cloak. Its cloak seemed not to be affected by the winds.

“Pardon me?” I replied.

“They are waiting for you. You are here to meet them, to find out your destiny,”

“My destiny? Who are you?”

“A stranger, but a friend. Go find out what your destiny is with the Fearsome Five. It is in the prophecy.”

“What prophecy?” I replied, getting uncomfortable talking to the cloaked stranger… but friend.

“You do not know the prophecy? No, of course, you wouldn’t. It is not heard of in Gejit. ‘The two Jewel Sisters of Green, one The Girl Queen, the other a born Summoner, will come together against a great evil and sacrifice their lives in order to save the universe’.” I turned and stared at the Fearsome Five.

“Summoner? The Girl Queen? Evil? What are you talking about?” The figure sighed.

“I can only answer one question so I shall answer your first. A Summoner is a person who can summon great beings of power. Retaw of water, Htrae of earth, Erif of fire and Ria of air. Your time will come,”

“My time will come? What do you mean? Hey!” But my effort was in vain, because as suddenly as it appeared, the cloaked figure had vanished.

“Hey, you’re here at last. Did you see any Beasts on the way?” I shook myself out of my stupor and turned to the tall, brown-haired woman who spoke to me.

“Er, what? Oh, erm, no. No Beasts.” She nodded and turned back to stare at the backs of her comrades. The man raised his arms and his voice in a summoning.

“Oh Great Goddess! Send us your Time Messenger!” He lowered his arms and stood stock-still. Everyone’s heads craned towards the star scattered sky so I did the same. The wind picked up and howled around us like a great pack of wolves. The stars merged suddenly and glowed so powerfully that it was painful to look directly at them. I could see a great figure forming in the middle of the great light. It grew bigger and bigger and pretty soon you could make out what it was. It took a graceful leap and landed just in front of us. I noticed the wind seemed now like a solid wall, surrounding us but not disturbing us.

“I am Talir. Time Messenger of Flora, The Great Goddess. I am here to take you to your chosen destinies. You have the right to change time so that the evil that grips the land now will not become. This also means the people you are now might change. Some of you might not even survive.” Talir towered over us in his great form. His body was that of a wolf but his fur was a bright golden colour. He seemed to carry the sun in every hair and his eyes were as bright as the stars. He had no pupils but was graceful and noble.

The words he spoke sunk into me like a sabre (metaphorically. They didn’t hurt, just shocking). My companions nodded, so I followed suit. Talir turned his back on us and opened his great mouth. Rows of sharp teeth lined the jaw, but the chilling howl that came from within the monstrous form blocked out everything else. I shivered as the soul chilling sound echoed around our cave of wind. A hole appeared in front of us in the wind wall. Big enough to let through the man, small enough to hold in the great forces it held.

“I shall go first,” spoke the voice of the tall man. He took a deep breath and strode towards the hole. In a blink of an eye he had vanished and was soon followed by the smaller man. The three women looked at each other, trying to mask their fear so the others did not fear either. The faery flew to me.

“Are you coming?” I nodded numbly, for my voice had frozen at the back of my throat, making me incapable of talking (Which was a first or so I’m told). The blonde girl ran into the portal first, closely followed by the armoured girl. The faery hovered uncertainly for a brief moment outside the portal then vanished like the rest of them. Talir turned to me and sat on his haunches.

“Go now,” his voice boomed, “I can not hold it open for long.” I walked towards the portal slowly, shivering, covered in moisture from the mist that clung to the wind walls. I stretched out a shaking hand towards the glowing portal, my fingertips just brushing the surface.

It was then I was awoken.