Beginning.

(From Shierra's Journal)

The sun is rising on a new day as I write this; the first of many tales that I hope will fill this volume. I sit here alone, having seen my three companions leave but a few hours ago to do battle with a fearsome beast, a fight from which I hope they shall return safely. Mehr had instructed me to continue resting, for I had spent a sleepless night worrying, and wondering - but even as the night fades into morning, and the birds slowly begin to sing their morning songs, I cannot shut my eyes for long, nor get the rest I know I need. My heart knows no peace.

The sleeping potion Dashiel had left me lies untouched at my side. Tempting, but false sleep is not to my liking. I cannot sleep, not now. Only this volume which I am scribbling in now can force upon me a sort of calm, as I force out the things I feel onto paper.

Reis, I know, has a volume, in which he has chronicled his own tales to date, though he has burned, or intends to burn that tome, which he says brings nothing but foul memories of things he would rather forget. That part of his life is over, he says, for better or for worse. I sincerely believe that it is indeed for the better.

But why do I write this here, now? Perhaps I fear our separation, which is imminent. Nay, it is not that I fear that they will not return from this battle, which contrary to their beliefs I know they can conquer. It is that soon, we shall be headed our separate ways for awhile, each to seek further knowledge. And there is no guarantee that when we meet again, things will be the same.

I write this volume as a means of remembering all that we have been through, together. I have never had friends like these, and maybe never will again. And though they will laugh at me, for they fear not separation, having little doubt that we will meet again, I cannot laugh as they do, for I know that even the shortest of separations can lead to the greatest of change in some folk.

I wish I could have gone with them to help them fight this battle, but I have already helped them as much as I could. And this is simply not my battle to fight. They will return victorious, however, of that I have no doubt.

Here, I begin my tales – nay, our tales. For whom or for what I write this I do not truly know, but I hope we will be able to look back on everything one day, and laugh. Together.