Entering the clearing she slowed her pace even more, along the way she had picked up a good sized stick. Her fingers tightly gripped the bark as her anticipation rose; as the rustling began to fade she could hear the heavy foot falls upon the dirt path. In a quickness she didn�t realize she had, she swung around; stick coming round full force only to meet just shy of Evan�s neck. Her eyes widened as she dropped the stick, she had come close to breaking his neck. After a close call he told her she wasn�t going alone, even though he knew she was quite capable of taking care of herself. Despite her constant pleas she lost the argument and soon both she and Evin were heading across the open field. As they walked she pulled out a map from her satchel and handed it to him. She explained to him that they were heading back towards the volcano which was marked with a large circle. When asked why she was starting there she told him that is where she was born. He looked at her oddly but made no move to question it, instead he looked over the map. These were lands he had only heard about, places he only thought of seeing one day.

By early evening they had stopped at the center of a cross roads. She stood there looking west, then east, then finally south. While he made a small fire she continued to stand there staring off towards the distant mountains. She was pulled from her day dream when Evin called her name, she turned and smiled at him then went over and sat down beside him in front of the fire. She poked timidly at the flames with a small stick, so many questions and not a single answer to anything. For now she concentrated on where the map was taking them, she knew in a few more days they would reach the volcano. From there only the Gods knew what would happen next.

Sleep came slowly, like always, and when it finally caught up with her the dreams brought images of flashing blue eyes. This time she forced herself deeper into sleep, she wanted more than just blurry images. Deeper she spiraled pushing her way through endless darkness, her body tossed and turned breaking out into a mild sweat. Blue eyes watched as she continued to fall into what seemed like a bottomless pit, laughter echoed out. She awoke with a jump and a muffled scream, pushing the blankets down she stood up and walked away from their tiny camp towards the dark shadows in the distance. What was out there calling her, giving her these nightmares?

Morning came as she quietly went about picking up her things. After Evin had woken up they left heading east leaving the cross roads behind them. He pulled the map out as they walked along and questioned her sense of direction. She only smiled at him and kept walking even though those haunting blue eyes lingered in the back of her mind.

Months passed and they had reached the road passing the volcano, she stood there in complete silence. This was the place where she had been born and was sure the answers would start here, or quite possibly add to the amounting bunch of questions. Evin stood beside her with the map open, she watched him shake his head then look to her. The first step was the hardest to take but once her sandaled foot hit the grass she moved much easier. Her plan was simple, scale the side of the volcano to see if it jogged anything loose. He remained there standing on the road watching her, he wouldn�t interfere only be there if she needed him.

The closer she came to the volcano the more she remembered the day she was pulled out and the strange man who had helped her. Suddenly she froze as the images of the blue eyes screamed through her head. She shook her head and continued on to the base of the volcano, with shaking hands she reached up towards the rocky surface. Evin watched on in silence as her slow road to recovery began.

She looked up towards the mouth of the volcano remembering how chilly the air had felt. Slowly she began to scale the side of the volcano and he yelled out to her. Her determination was unlike any he had ever witnessed before. Somewhere inside she knew the heat wouldn�t hurt her, it was like something was calling to her. When she reached the top she stood there looking down at the molten lava. The ledge in which had held her sleeping body was gone, just as she was about to turn and head back down she heard a scream. Quickly she turned, almost falling in herself, looking back down into the volcano to see if she could see anyone. There was nothing there, what was she expecting, nothing could survive in there and she knew it. She stood there for what seemed like an hour before she finally tore herself away. As she came back down she couldn�t help but look back up towards the top. Had the scream really been there or was it her mind trying to remember? Upon reaching the bottom she looked towards Evin giving him a reassuring smile that she felt wasn�t too reassuring at all.

From the volcano they traveled down the road following the map only this time when they reached the spot where there should have been a town, only dust and broken houses remained. But as they walked through the ruins she heard faint laughter coming from the far end of the path. Without saying a word she ran ahead thinking that there were still people living here but when she reached the place where the laughter was it stopped. She called out hoping that someone would answer but there was nothing, only silence. Dropping to her knees she buried her face in her hands and cried, more out of frustration than out of loss. Where would she go now, if the town was gone then everything else would be gone as well. She argued with herself about going on and just when it seemed that her rational side was about to win Evin put a hand on her shoulder. She would go on, she needed to go on and fill the black hole that she looked into every night.

Before leaving the ghost town she looked at the map, from east they would go north towards the smallest point on the map. What was there she didn�t know but she would find out in a weeks time. Along the way the scenery changed but the thing that remained constant were the rolling mountains in the background. At night she would look up towards the stars and wish though she didn�t know why she was doing it.

She had been gone for almost a year and was finally returning home to the crashing waves below the cliff side manor. Tired eyes looked onwards towards a solemn mansion with tired eyes and a groaning mouth. She walked alone to the door and paused looking back towards the forest that sheltered her path. The winter had delivered its cold hand and took Evin from her, opening the door she walked into the sound of silence.