“As I lay here in the starless dark, I wonder how it all came to this. How did I end up here laying in a pool of my own blood?” She drew a deep breath before coughing, “I know… It all began the day I found him. The best day of my life.” She closed her eyes as she found herself back in that familiar forest. 

The forest was covered by a blanket of leaves, not much light ever came through, except for near the big old oak tree. It was a lonely old tree in the depths of Everwood, nothing much grew near it, yet it was the largest, most lush tree in the forest. Its branches stretched for the sky as if reaching for something it could not have. 

Ellie was not the kind of child to sit still, nor the kind of child to simply do as she was told. Ellie was an adventurer, an explorer. She knew the forest like the back of her own hand. Actually, she might have even known the forest better than the back of her own hand. She spent every day out there in the wilderness, exploring ancient ruins and lost paths.

But this day, which was to be the best day of her life, she had her sights set on the big old oak tree at the far end of the forest. If she climbed high enough, she could see Dawn from there. The biggest city in all of Lorelei, it always glittered brilliantly in the distance from Everwood. It was so near, yet so far. Ellie dreamt of exploring the depths of the city, she had heard stories of underground paths, and the curiosity of old Dawn drew her in. 

She was nearly ten years old, her father was rarely home during the day so she easily skipped school to be in the forest. Ellie disliked school, too many people, and she had to sit down the whole day. Out there in the forest, she was in charge, she had friends in the crows that seemed to rule the forest. 

“That’s it, Bartholomew, I’m gonna climb the highest branch today,” She proclaimed to the crow that was perched on her shoulder. 

The crow cawed loudly and flew up to the top as if he were waiting for her to follow. Ellie’s resolve strengthened as she grabbed the first branch. Her heart beat faster with excitement, she had never made it to the very top, the oak tree was taller than it should be, and there always seemed to be a strong wind around it. 

Her long chestnut brown hair fluttered as she started climbing. One branch at a time. She was not scared, rather she was excited. So excited that her heart kept beating fast. Ellie could see the dense forest from where she was, the trees that surrounded the oak tree, and the crows cawed loudly as if cheering her on. 

The forest was too dense to see the ruins from there, the ruins of the old world, from before the cataclysm. This was something that also excited Ellie, the day the world had ended, well kind of ended. At least something like seventy-five percent of the world had ended that day, five hundred and eleven years ago. The only place untouched had been old Dawn. Everywhere else was in ruins, people had died or simply disappeared. It was one of the biggest mysteries in this world. What had happened, how it had happened, and why it happened. No one knew, and Ellie was determined to be the one to find out. 

She grabbed another branch, “So close now, I’m starting to see Dawn from here,” she exclaimed to the crows watching her. 

The skyscrapers of Dawn appeared in the distance, a perfect city skyline that seemed to be reaching for the clouds. Ellie huffed as she grabbed the next branch, she kept her balance, her hands held tightly onto the wood of the oak tree. She was going to make it. The next branch was within her reach, the crows cawed louder and louder. Ellie grabbed a hold of that last branch, pulling herself up, before hearing a snap. 

“Oh no,” Ellie muttered as she suddenly felt herself falling backward. 

She hit one branch after another on her way down, grunting with each bump. Ellie might have had a high tolerance for pain, but she had never fallen from that high before. She hit the ground with a loud thud. Her yellow backpack braced some of her fall, though she heard her glass jars shatter in there. 

“Ow,” Ellie whimpered, her eyes fixed on that distant darkening sky. 

She groaned as she sat up and removed her backpack, and as she scrambled to get onto her knees she saw something strange sticking out from the ground right next to the roots of the oak tree. 

“What is that?” She mumbled to herself as she crawled closer.

The ground there was covered in moss, dead leaves, and mushrooms, yet she saw something white and shiny stick out. Her hands reached out to brush away the leaves, and Ellie’s eyes grew larger as she saw more of what was sticking out from the ground. The crows cawed loudly from up in the tree, yet none of them seemed to want to come down.

“It can’t be? Can it?” Ellie whispered as she started digging her fingers into the moss. 

She pulled out earth and moss, her hands full of dirt, though that was an extremely normal thing for her. Faster she tugged at the moss and shuffled more earth aside. In front of her, a skull started emerging from the ground, Ellie had never seen a human skull before in the forest. 

“A skull? Is someone buried here? Could this be some awesome grave with fancy artifacts?” Ellie squealed as she placed her hands on either side of the skull. 

She tugged at it, tearing it loose from the ground and the oak tree. Her eyes widened even further as she noticed two long, pointy fangs on the skull. Her heart beat faster again, and she squealed loudly. She heard the crows cawing even louder, she recognized the caws, the crows were sounding the alarm as if danger was near. 

“A vampire skull? Could it be? Wait, are vampires real?” Ellie leaped up and twirled around with the skull above her head. 

She suddenly stopped and examined the skull closer. Ellie turned it around, looking at it from every angle as she wondered if it was real. A cacophony of crows cawing loudly from the tree top. Ellie was too enthralled to pay them any more attention. 

“The fangs look so sharp,” Ellie muttered before she poked one of the fangs with her finger, “Ow,” she groaned as blood started to pour from her index finger. 

Ellie suddenly heard a male voice. “Keep your hands off me,” he grumbled loudly.