Greetings. Just a note, green-times spring, cold-times winter, bright-times summer, dark-times fall. Also, this is a time before actual words, "organized meals", Charter Magic, and pretty much; people.

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There was much pain in the Time Before. No Charter existed, and magic meant death. Only the strength and power of Seven could create order, and this is their tale.

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Astarael found it hard to breath. Water clogged her nostrils, blinded her eyes, and threatened to bring her doom. She struggled in vain, only to find her self falling and falling and fall-

"Astarael! Wake up!" Ranna cried. Ranna was her younger sister, the middle child. Yrael was the youngest, and hadn't even bothered to wait for Astarael to wake, instead going out to find something for him to eat. Ranna's sweet voice cleared her senses, and she found herself floating back to the surface.

"I'm up. What troubles you?" Astarael mumbled. Not that she minded being woken from that disturbing dream. She had been getting a lot of those lately, and Ranna seemed to be waking her up more often. She sat up, almost hitting a low rocky overhang in their cave.

"Nothing troubles me, expect you were thrashing about. Having nightmares again?" Ranna asked. There was no scorn or disgust in her voice, only sympathy for her troubled sister. Their mother had died when they were younger, and they never knew a father. It had been Astarael who raised them.

"I'm fine." Astarael brushed a loose hair out of her face. "Where's Yrael?" she asked. "Is he off getting into mischief again?" Yrael was only twelve green-times, by Astarael's reckoning, and yet he managed to get himself into more tight-spots then Astarael and Ranna put together.

Ranna shook her head. "He went out to get food. He said he would get meat and water. I said I would start a fire."

Astarael nodded. "Good. You go ahead and start a fire by the waterfall, and get cleaned. I'll keep an eye out for any beasts." She motioned for a small tunnel, leading out to a waterfall and deep pond.

Ranna smiled. "Are you sure? You can wash up first. Yrael won't be here for a while."

"No, its fine. Go ahead." Astarael found it bothersome that her sister was sometimes too nice. She found her brother's company much more interesting, though they bickered more often. Ranna smiled again, and ducked into the tunnel. Astarael busied herself straitening the wolf pelts that they slept on. When she was satisfied with it, she slipped on a tunic of deerskin over the thin rabbit-skin dress that she wore to sleep. Crawling on her hands and knees, she went over to the cave-mouth, and waited for her brother. While waiting, she spotted many a bird fly over the horizon. She had half a mind to go over to where she knew where some birds nested, and get some eggs, but froze as she was about to get up. The sound of footsteps cracking twigs and dried leaves and the sound of heavy panting made her stop. She nearly jumped as Yrael burst out of some bushes.

"Sister, sister, someone comes this way!" he cried. His white-blonde hair, which differed from Ranna's honey blonde and Astarael's raven black was plastered to his forehead, and his green eyes shone with fear.

"What do you mean, someone? Surely not-" she was cut off by a fearful nod from him. So ones like us have come here. she thought, her neck bent in deep thought. She squinted her eyes, wondering what to do. She knew what to do when a bear came, or a wolf. But the only other animal like themselves she had ever seen before was her mother, and that wasn't for very long. "Yrael, quickly, hide with Ranna by the waterfall, tell her what is happening, and be very quiet." She ordered. He nodded quickly, and scampered off.

Astarael strode out of the cave, trying to look as mean as she possibly could. Only her violet eyes gave her away, as they swept the landscape from side to side nervously. "Who goes there?" her voice boomed, louder than she expected. It startled her, but she refrained from jumping up.

Then, out of a small wood, came a figure. Astarael could tell it was a man, a man wearing strange pelts, and with a small spear of shining stone at his side. "Tis I, Belgaer. I mean you no harm," he answered back. She strained to catch his voice more. It didn't sound cruel. He stopped a while away, and he turned, waist up, suddenly. It was still to far for Astarael to clearly see him, and she couldn't even see a bit of his face. "Show yourself!" she cried, and he began to sprint towards her.