Prologue

"Noo!! You can't do that Josiah!!" A 27-year-old woman screams to her husband, both of them standing on the outskirts of a small village in the middle of the night.

"How else will the children survive? Alice, you seem to forget that we only have a week's worth of food left. Look at us, we're dying. We haven't eaten properly since 'that' man doomed our kingdom. Our village hasn't had any food imported in weeks, and the food that we try to grow ends up failing in the end. If we give all our food to Noah and Anna it should last them a while longer" A 31-year-old man states while staring deeply into his wife's eyes.

A whole minute passes by before she responds,

"At least say goodbye to the children before you leave… Please let us be together as a family one more time before you have to leave us." Her words came out no louder than a whisper as tears begin to stream down her face.

"Ok..." He says softly before kissing her forehead.

"I'll go get them from Ms. Janet's house." She mumbles after embracing Josiah for a few seconds, having to be forced out of the hug otherwise she might not have let go.

"When you see her, tell Ms. Janet that she was a wonderful friend and that I'm thankful to her for looking after our children while we talked"

"Okay, wait right here, I'll bring them back right away." She says brightly while wiping the tears off of her cheek and immediately turning around to get the children.

"You do that," Josiah says with a smile on his face while watching Alice walk away stumbling, almost falling over from weakness caused by prolonged starvation.

After Alice was out of sight the smile instantly vanished from his face, a look of agony and tears taking their place.

"I'm sorry Alice, but I can't let Noah and Anna see their father in this state… I'll miss you and the children"

Slowly and silently, he turns around and walks into the desolate forest next to the same village he raised his children in. This was the last time a man named Josiah Sterman was ever seen.

-

Sitting in a clearing outside of a beautiful forest, a small village with about 8 houses sat peacefully. Birds of all types of colors sitting on the edges of slanted roofs announced their presence with a melody of chirps and songs.

The village was created by a group of friends in the year 2992 of the Primordial Calendar when they decided to run away from the situation they were suffering from. This small village was named "SmallHaven". It had a layout of 4 houses on one side and 4 houses on the other side. Each house could hold around 3-6 people. The village had one road going down the center splitting the village into 2.

In the year 2998 of the Primordial Calendar during the summer all the children in the village were sitting down on the road in a circle drawing things into the sand, all while giggling and laughing. They were all around the same age, ranging from 2-4 years old.

The adults of the village were sitting on handmade wooden chairs watching their children play, all of them with concerned looks on their faces seemingly distraught.

They had just got news of the events happening outside of this extremely excluded village. And they were not good.

-

In the middle of winter in the year 2999 on the Primordial Calendar, a lone woman could be seen walking towards a seemingly deserted village in the middle of the night. Steam could be seen coming from her breath from the cold temperature.

"What's happened to this place, not too long ago Noah and Anna were just playing with the other kids having fun and laughing. If it wasn't for 'him' we would have been living happily." Alice says to herself while walking towards the entrance to the village.

After a little bit more walking she passed under a dilapidated wooden arch at the entrance of the village that had the word, "SmallHaven" carved into it. Walking at almost a shuffle she looks around only to see 7 small abandoned houses, with only 1 house having a lantern sitting in the window. Shadows could be seen moving inside the only house that seemed alive in the dead village.

Walking up to the only house with a light in it, Alice pushes the half-open door softly which causes loud creaks from the somewhat dilapidated joints.

"Mommy!" a child yells aloud

Before she could even get through the door a skinny little boy with half black and half white hair runs and hugs her leg, almost throwing her to the floor due to her lack of strength because of starvation.

"Woah, slow down Noah, you almost knocked me over," Alice states with a weak smile on her face.

"Sorry, I'm just excited to see you. Where's dad?" Noah asks with a puzzled look on his childish face.

"I'm bringing you to him right now. Where's Anna and Ms. Janet?" She asks while looking around with a weird look on her face.

"Anna's forehead got really really hot, and now she's sleeping upstairs. Ms. Janet is with her right now" He states matter of factly

Her face instantly fell

"Take me to them right now!" She asks hurriedly

Noah only being 6 years old didn't know what it meant to have " a hot forehead". She most likely had a fever. And being sick when you were dirt poor and have trouble just eating is close to a death sentence

After following Noah into a room, a woman who was sitting down next to a little girl who was breathing heavily and sweating looked up with a concerned look on her face

"Noah, would you be able to add wood to the fire in the main room while Ms. Janet and I talk." Alice says while looking Noah in the eyes.

"Okie Dokie" He says instantly running out of the room leaving just Alice and Ms. Janet in the room alongside the sick Anna

"Janet, what's going on? How did she get sick, I was gone for only a day!" Alice yells

"I'm not sure myself… While I was sleeping she and Noah snuck outside to go play in the snow. There was nothing I could do to stop them since I was asleep." Janet says in her defense.

"Okay… how bad is it?" She asks nervously

"To be honest it's been like this for a few hours and the fever is not going down, if anything it's getting worse. If we knew magic we would be able to cure it but… you know." Janet states with a hint of anger in her voice.

"It's okay, Josiah knows a little bit of magic he should be able to ease the pain a little bit, maybe even heal her. I'll wrap her up in some blankets, I'm going to need you to pack some food for us so we can eat on the walk there." Alice says while already starting to pick up Anna in order to wrap her in some blankets.

"I only have enough food to feed 5 people for around a week. I can give you a day's worth of food. That should be more than enough to give the kids a good meal while you're out there. You may not be going far but you may need to eat since he will have to treat her immediately." She says while standing up to go to the kitchen to get food.

After getting everything ready, Alice opens the door only for it to swing open from the frigid wind. Snow could be seen falling from the sky. The moonlight made the night look spooky the way it reflected off of the snow that was blowing through the street of the lonely village.

"Mommy it's so cold," Noah says while shivering

"It will be fine, we are just going to go see daddy. Here take this bag of food while I hold your sister" She responds, handing him a small bag of bread and vegetables.

After 15 minutes of walking against the howling wind, they get to the spot where Josiah was last seen.

"Where is he, he said he would wait," Alice states, slowly starting to panic.

"Mommy look. There are footprints over there," Noah states while pointing at the ground a little bit ahead of them.

"Good eye honey, follow behind me closely." She states worriedly.

'Why did he leave already, Anna needs him right now. She might die otherwise.' Alice says to herself.

The forest that used to be green and filled with life was now dead and decaying. The trees were rotting, and black leaves giving off a musty odor littered the ground.

Walking towards this same forest while following footprints that were already filling with snow, a Woman with a sick little girl in her arms followed by a small child named Noah Sterman went looking for a man that they had no idea was long gone.