Disclaimer: The Shannara series, albeit hard to admit, is not mine. It belongs to Terry Brooks.

Author's Note: This is an experimental fan fiction of mine and I hope you all like it. Please review at your leisure, both critiques and general comments are more than welcome.

As the sun lowered beyond the horizon, the air grew silent and still. The valley of Shady Vale grew colder as the night came to claim it. He had almost arrived to his ancestral home. The home his family had lived in since the time of Shea Ohmsford hundreds of years ago. Others like Wil, Brin, Jair, Coll, and Par Ohmsford had once lived there as well. Walker Boh had also done so until he became the keeper of the Four Lands and the leader of the new Druids. It had been three hundred fifty years since the battle with the Shadowen and things had been quiet ever since.

He had lived in the quiet Vale for the first six years of his life as a normal boy. His mother and he then moved to Darklin Reach to Hearthstone. Although he liked the solitude of the forest, he never knew the real reason for why they left. Some had said that it was because of Tai's unusual gift. His mother had never told him, and he had never asked. He had never really cared what the reason was. He never really cared about anything anymore... or anyone.

For as long as Tai Ohmsford could remember, he had always felt strangely empty and alone....

Just another boring day, she thought dismally. At least it's almost over.

Leo Maylon walked down the street to her house from the school bus. Cars hurried by, but she hardly even noticed them. For the most of her life, it was like this. Get up, go to school, come home, do homework, go to bed. Once or twice a month she would go out with her friends and try to have a bit of fun, though she never really did. She had always felt that something crucial was missing, although Leo did not know what that was. Friends would try to cheer her up, but she concluded that it was no use. Many had completely given up and avoided her. They would say things like, "Why don't you go out sometimes?" "You have to get out of the house." Most often was, "Do something!" She just shrugged these comments off and went about her life of solitude.

Once, she had tried to act normal and to have fun, tried to have a social life, but it never worked. Something would always happen to end her fun. All of them strange. She guessed that these reasons were why many were afraid of her.

A few years ago, at her birthday party, she and her friend had a big fight over some water toy in her pool. A few minutes after the scuffle, her friend had sworn that when she went swimming in the pool, the water had sucked her down to the bottom. Luckily her brother, four years older, dove down and pulled her up.

A few months after that, a fire started in the next door neighbour's house and nearly killed the family of five who was still in it. She had also been in it, although she easily got out since she had been walking out of the front door. All of a sudden, the whole house went up in flames without warning. Fortunately, the family rushed out before the house fell apart.

Earthquakes happened frequently, which she learned that these started since she was born. Other phenomenon's like that happened around the same time, such as the high winds and tornadoes.

All this led her to the conclusion that she was cursed.

Once Leo returned home, she dumped her books on the floor wearily and lay down on her bed. She was exhausted. And having that huge history test had not helped at all. She knew that she had bombed it and was not looking forward to her parents' reactions to the grade. The only thought that went threw her mind after the test was that she wished that the school would burn down. The only subjects that she was interested in were science, math, and music. Those at least she needed to learn for her future. She had settled on either being a singer or a biologist. The only subject that she really despised was history. All they did during that class was learn dates that she would never need to know in real life. No one actually asked you when World War I started. Why would she study the past when she was planning for the future? Leo was taught to never look back and to never have any regrets. The latter was one that she just could not follow and probably never be able to do. Leo had too many mistakes in her life that she wished that she could redo.

She sighed and picked up her books to do her homework. It took quite a while to do, but she finished just in time for the six o clock news. She rushed over to the TV and turned it on. She never missed the news. All of Leo's friends thought that she was crazy, but she did not care. Leo just liked to see what was going on in the world.

There was a bit of static as the news started then the anchorman started. "A catastrophe has just occurred at Hamillin High." That was Leo's School! "A fireball, as witnesses describe, hit the side of the school, causing a fire to break out. Luckily, this all happened after school was let out for the day. But reporters are now saying that many teachers that remained inside of the school were severely burnt." Leo sat up, startled. "Fire fighters have now counted two teachers dead from smoke inhalation. They are not yet certain if there are any others that were caught in the blaze. Four more teachers are still missing. We will now talk with Mike Stephenson outside of the school for details...."

Leo was far beyond shocked now. She was terrified! This had never happened before. It obviously had not been a normal fire. Fireballs do not hit buildings. They did not even exist!

Turning off the TV without thinking, she ran to her room and threw herself on the bed, tears streaming down her face. Then she remembered the reoccurring dream that she kept having. In it, there was a shadow. It was the size of a large cat, but was misshapen and as black as coal. It would spit out fire; cause floods, earthquakes, and windstorms. She had this dream almost every night, and almost every night she would wake up in a cold sweat. When she was little, she told her parents, who then took her to a doctor. The doctor just gave her pills that never seemed to work. They had even taken her to see a psychiatrist, but even she had been confused with the dream. After a while, the doctor told her that she had an over-imaginative mind and that she should just relax. Leo had tried this, but to no avail. After a while, she stopped complaining to her parents and kept quiet about the demon-like thing. After all, how do you fight your mind?