I was just a small boy when the wall had been erected to protect the rest of the world from Paegeia.

　　It felt like yesterday.

　　There had been big talks in the villages about this, how the folks that had magic came together to create the wall. It took them more than two moons for it to be effective and two of them stayed for twelve full moon cycles to make it stronger.

　　The wall could not keep those from the other side out, but they couldn’t leave once they were inside Paegeia.

　　The main reason for this was because we lived with abominations—scaly beasts that set the world on fire with their breath.

　　It wasn’t easy living with these enormous beasts, but we managed through the years, learning how to douse their flames, and how to trap and kill them.

　　I grew up with the beasts, wishing that I could just escape this ghastly world, but we couldn’t breach the wall.

　　Those of us who tried . . . well, they ended up dead.

　　Only a few humans found a way to succeed and I always wondered what was so special about them. What did they have that the rest of us didn’t?

　　But for some reason, they always returned to this hell hole. I didn’t understand it. IfI could escape this world, I would never come back.

　　I was different from most of my peers. I had been born with the mark. The mark was also seen as an abomination. Because of that, my father refused to send me to dragon-slayer training.

　　His reasoning was that I had to take care of my mother and my siblings when he wasn’t there.

　　But I knew it was to prevent others from seeing the mark, and to protect me.

　　Many of the people who bore the mark died, since nobody knew what it truly meant, just that it was something wicked, like the old shaman lady who lived in the woods had predicted. Many kids taunted her, as they saw her as a way to conquer their worst fear.

　　I wanted to join the kids who taunted her, but Elizabeth wouldn’t have that. She was kind, too kind, and she was my best friend. Or she used to be before her beauty set in anddrove me wild.

　　“C’mon, Lizzy,” I called out for my favorite person in the whole wide world.

　　She was caring and rich—her father was a noble man—and the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on.

　　I was always the shy one when we grew up, but Lizzy was a force of nature.

　　You could smell the earth on her, the wind in her hair. She knew when storms were near and she never got a weather prediction wrong. She was so attuned to nature that I had a feeling she was just like the warlocks of our world—the folk who had magic—and every time I mentioned it, she covered my mouth with her hand and prayed that no one had heard me. She hated me speaking of it.

　　She made me laugh.

　　Sure, our friendship was innocent when we grew up, but when we hit adulthood, when I became a man and she a woman, our friendship blossomed into affection and love.

　　Her father didn’t like me much since I wasn’t from nobility like they were, but Lizzy didn’t care.

　　No, my Lizzy was free, and she didn’t have a care in the world of what anyone would think about our love.

　　One night she told me she would die for our love.

　　I thought about her words long and hard. It upset me when she said it, but the truth was that I would die for her, too. I would even kill for her.

　　“Oh, c’mon, on you big boar. It’s the entire purpose of the game. You need to seek!” I heard her voice drifting from one of the opposite trees.

　　She was so stealthy, but nature always gave her away. The glint from the sun that fell onher hair was like gold.

　　I always watched out for the tells that gave her away.

　　I stalked the tree where she was hiding. She wasn’t so stealthy that I wouldn’t hear her when she moved to another hiding place.

　　I despised this game, but she loved it, and because I loved her, I endured it.

　　I jumped to the other side, roaring. She hated it when I sneaked up on her, but I loved itso much. Especially the way she tried to get away from me.

　　I froze. There was no one there.

　　“Lizzy!” I roared, then felt something jumping on my back. I twisted and turned in fright and Lizzy laughed her backside off.

　　Her laughter filled my ears like the chimes that hung in front of our house. Mother made them from small sparkling gadgets.

　　I joined in her laughter as my arms wrapped around her slim body.

　　“You seriously should pay more attention, Will.”

　　“Well, you’re getting better and better at being stealthy, young lady,” I teased, pulling her in closer for a kiss.

　　Kissing her made me feel as if the wind was beneath my wings. She made me feel as if I could fly.

　　It was the best damn feeling in the world.

　　It wasn’t easy sneaking around with Lizzy behind her father Joab’s back.

　　He was a brute of a man, as hard as they came, and Lizzy feared that she would inherit hisdarkness. I hadn’t thought much about her silly fear, but as we grew older, she startedto show signs of a fierce temper. A temper that didn’t belong to my Lizzy.

　　Was it the magic in her blood that sparked the temper? She’d refused that it was the magic that was stirring up her dark emotions, but I wasn’t so sure about that.

　　We were both adamant. She didn’t want anyone to know about it, and didn’t want me to acknowledge the magic that she was, and I didn’t want to just put it aside. I knew she could learn how to cope with it, if she’d just acknowledge it.

　　I received a messaged from her to meet her at our spot in the woods and that there was something we needed to discuss.

　　I was early. With Father always away hunting the beasts and Mother looking after my younger siblings, I only had time to spare when I had to go milk the cows.

　　It was getting late and Lizzy wasn’t at our spot yet. It worried me, and I fretted that something might have happened to her.

　　Then I heard her footsteps rushing toward me.

　　She wasn’t being stealthy tonight.

　　There was fear in every footfall. It was if the devil himself were chasing her.

　　When she reached me, she barreled into my arms and burst out in tears I didn’t understand.

　　“Lizzy, love, calm down. What’s the matter?”

　　She sniffed, her words incomprehensible through her sobbing.

　　She seemed so brokenhearted and I desperately needed to know why.

　　“My father.” It was all she could get out before she started wailing again.

　　“What about your father, my love?”

　　“He did something awful.”

　　I hugged her tighter. I couldn’t stand her tears.

　　Her sadness became my sadness.

　　I let her sob against me, stroking her back. I knew when she calmed down she’d tell me what horrendous thing her father had done now.

　　Eventually, she calmed down, and we sat under the big oak tree where we had carved our initials. The tree carried so many of our secrets.

　　“What did your father do, love?”

　　“He has given me to Olek.”

　　Shock slammed into me. “Olek? What?”

　　“He wants me to marry Olek, Will! I have no say in it whatsoever. It’s always been about class and wealth to him. He doesn’t care about my feelings! I can’t stand Olek.”

　　I hugged her tighter, my mind reeling. Olek was just as much of a brute and an inconsiderate bastard as her father was. He was not a good match for my Lizzy. He would break her.

　　“Run away with me, Lizzy.”

　　She stilled in my arms, not even breathing. Then she sank against me in defeat. “You know we can’t do that, Will.”

　　“Lizzy, Olek is not the right man for you. I am. Run away with me, my love.”

　　She touched my face, her lower lip trembling as she looked into my eyes. “Will, I can’t.”

　　Tears welled in my eyes. “Don’t you want to be with me?”

　　“You know I do. I just can’t. It’s more complicated than you think.”

　　“Then explain it to me.”

　　“I can’t!” Tears streamed down her face and she punched the tree, her temper staring to take over. “I can’t do this with you anymore. I’m sorry Will. But—”

　　“No, fight this! Lizzy, please. Run away with me.”

　　“I can’t. I love you too much!” She jumped up and ran away from me.

　　She couldn’t run away with me because she loved me too much? That made no sense whatsoever.

　　What the hell was going on?