I brought the young man to the adventurers guild and immediately requested for a cleric. Orders were quickly given out and bodies were quickly moved as a member of the guild quickly led me to a healing room. As I carried him into the room and set him down on the bed I noticed that his eyes were still moving behinds his eyelids but his chest did not rise nor did it fall. 

"What's going on with him? What happened to him?"

A cleric quickly asked me questions to figure out a solution to the man's problems.

"I don't know. He seemed to be fine until he began having a headache."

The cleric studied the young man's body as she undressed the man to check his condition and began to chant a prayer. A soft glow spread from her body as she clasped her hands together. When she finished her prayer she let out a sigh but turned to face me with a troubled look. 

"He is out of immediate danger but for some reason he hasn't woken nor is he breathing. It's almost as if his body has been somehow frozen."

A confused look washed over my face as she reported his condition. Frozen? How? Did someone cast a spell on him. But I was with him when it happened though? 

"Can he be helped?"

"I don't know. We don't have enough information for his current condition and his is the first I've seen or heard of."

A sense of helplessness washed over me as I began to seize up in panic. A wave of nerves, fear, anxiety, and most of all, self loathing begin bubbling to the surface. A heavy feeling begins to well up. Starting from the neck down to my chest and into my fingers where every touch from every part of my body would feel as if it would break. Fall apart in it's fragile state. Only to then realize that my body no longer feels like mine.

"Not again. No. No. No."

As I mouth the words my vision begins to tunnel and my heart begins to pound, drowning out every other sound with each beat. What had been seconds had felt like hours. I felt like throwing up but my body wouldn't let me. Just a maddening dizziness clouding every thought. Time had slowed as I saw the cleric mouth something only for it to be lost in the noise. 

Before I knew it, I was running out of the guild with heaving breaths. I ran past the exit and looked for the nearest alley to disappear into. It had felt like everyone I saw was watching as I desperately ran to escape from the eyes peering into my every being. 

When I finally stopped running, I leaned with my back against a wall as I tried to catch my breath. With my aching legs I plopped down and put my head against a nearby barrel as I try calm myself down. From the goblins, the people, the forest. From me. 

The sounds of quiet sobbing echoed in the small alley occassionally followed by sharp breaths, and the small whimpers of a lone girl heard by none.

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*Leon

The bed I was recovering in smelled of alcohol as I woke with a painful soreness to my body and a throbbing headache. I groaned just trying to sit upright. 

"Ughh. Juuust great."

I felt around my body to check for wounds only to find bandaged wounds, slightly damp.

"So that's where the smell's coming from."

I scrunched up my face slightly as I glanced around the room.

"Where is this?"

With a panic I looked around to find my belongings as I searched nearby and on my person.

"No, no no no. Where is it? I know I had it on me. Where'd it go!?"

I quickly got up and made a break for the door. As I swung it open a tall thin man stood in front of me with his hand slightly extended. Surprised, he quickly got out of the way as the door swung out and looked at me confused and startled. 

"What do you think you're doing? You're supposed to be in bed recovering."

"Where's my equipment? Where's my bag?"

I quickly threw out my questions as the man just stared at me and silently pondered.

"You were the patient with the stab wound on the side aren't you? Wait here, I'll get your things."

After waiting for about 3 minutes the man came back with a sack slung over his shoulder and a bow in his hand. 

"Here you go. Make sure everything is in there before you leave."

I quickly rumaged through the sack and prayed to the gods that nothing was missing. To my surprise almost everything was still where it should be. Almost. Double checking the sack and even triple checking, I quickly grabbed the man's shoulders in a half crazed state. 

"Where's the vial!? The vial that was marked with runes!"

With a yell the thin man pushed and squirmed as he struggled to break free from my grip.

"Get off of me! I don't know what you're talking about. Calm the hells down and think of where you are! If you are going to cause a scene then do it without disturbing anyone!"

At his remark I released my grip and took a look around me as I saw adventurers and staff readying to pounce to help the man. I looked back at him and soberly apologized.

"S-Sorry."

"Take your sorries elsewhere. We have bigger things to worry about that your little outburst or your vial."

"Right then. I'll be taking off."

I left the building and was left to my thoughts of where the bottle could have went.

Where could have that vial been dropped at? It's the one thing that I can't lose. I had no idea where to start looking until I began to hear voices. 

I quickly looked behind me to see who was talking but no one had been looking my way. Realizing no one had spoke I quickly took off into a nearby alleyway and ran to where I couldn't see or be seen. As I ran the voices began growing louder and louder as visions of desolate landscapes began to overlap with the dark alleyway. I ran through twists and turns until the voices began to fade and came to a stop at a barrel, lined up aginst a wall were some burlap sacks and a pair of boots sticking out. 

Now that the voices had gone I could hear the sounds of quiet sobbing and whimpering. Drawn towards the sound, I gingerly tip-toed my way to investigate where the sounds were coming from to find a woman wearing a leather vest. I stood in front of her but heard no more sounds. I looked around and looked back to the woman. Her chest sharply moving up and down as she inhaled in regular intervals. I looked at my hands and snaped my fingers to get her attention but for some reason no sound had come out. Confused I looked at my hands until I heard a voice. Different from what had deafened me from before. This one much more composed, silvery, powerful. 

"She is not long for this world"

Startled I quickly turned around only to be met with an endless void. Nothing to be seen and only dim distant lights of what seemed to be stars. 

"But she still has a role to play in this story of yours"

Hearing the voice again I turned to try and catch where it was coming from. Again, nothing but the endless sea of stars. Frustrated I shouted into the void.

"Show yourself! Who are you to be playing tricks!"

For a while no answer came. I turned back to look at the woman if she was seeing something I wasn't. 

"Only you can percieve my presence."

Turning back I finally got a look at the voice. A cloaked being, hiding its face holding out a lantern with it's left hand. In its right hand seemed like a wood branch, twisted and grown into a staff. Its presence was there but also not at the same time. Its body was there in front of me but had felt like it surrounded my entire being. 

"Who are you?"

The cloaked figure raised it's head revealing a pair of thin lips and a elegant voice of a woman came from it.

"Your hope and future."

And a somber smile distorted her unfamiliar face.