The day of Valitsmallh has arrived. The darkest memory for all here on Shade. A shadow casts over this land when the clock strikes twelve on this damned day. I limp out of bed and look out of the cracked window. Lines of terrified looking people filled the streets. Time for me to join them, I don't want to be late. Because if you are late, you get cancelled out of the ceremony, and if you are cancelled out, you are immediately chosen. I hurry down the lane and wait in line behind a family of four. The father looks confident and is reassuring towards his children, but his ice blue eyes are filled with terror of the unknown. He clutches his son's hand tight, his eyes filling with tears, but wipes them away swiftly. The son, a young boy of around six years old looks up, scared and looking for a light, some optimism, in this black situation. Seeing his father's lack of faith in the future, he looks to his mother. However neither his mother or sister has any faith in their survival.

Hardly anyone speaks in the line, they all linger silently because they know that even though most of them will survive this brutal sacrifice, there will be four people to no longer talk to, to see wander through the town. The worse part is that the village suffers when these people's lives are stolen. You can't push down a domino in a rally without them all falling.

The line slowly decreases and luck seems to be on the villager's side. However soon one, a four year old girl, is taken away by masked men into the temple. Her mother screams with horror, it is every parent's worst nightmare in these parts. Reaching for her child, trying to grab her tiny hand, trying to hold onto the memories, the sight that she won't see again until Lluna claims her life too. The priestess, the personified wickedness, stands at the entrance, looking on coldheartedly at the mother below her, crying her eyes out, collapsing onto the floor. Tears fall onto the temple steps and she looks on as her daughter is dragged up the stairway to Hell. She rubs her eyes desperately, trying to stop imagining, trying to tell herself it is just a dream, trying to end this nightmare. The small girl, eyes wide and scared, like a rabbit staring down the eyes of a fox, and the doors open to darkness. The silhouette of Zena Zla's red and purple robes contrast against the inky blackness of the room and she pulls the girl in, shutting the doors behind her.

The ceremony continues and another two people, two middle aged men, both fathers are chosen. Their children look on, dumbstruck, unable to cry or even move. Quickly the one puts his hand out to his son, hoping to feel his fingertips touch his and for them to be together again. The line of people mournfully stare on and soon enough it is my turn. I take a stone from a guard's fabric bag and gaze at it for a minute. This stone, blueish in colour and sparkling in the moonlight, means either life or death for me. I guess I must leave my destiny in the hands of Lluna.

Carefully I throw it into a deep pool of water and, after a few moments two guards pull it out. A breathe a sigh of relief as it is the same colour. My life is safe for another month. For if it was white, well, you've seen what happens.

My brother is next and he confidently draws out a stone and throws it in. It is blue too and he is safe.

Next follows my father, who is quivering and shakes as he picks up his stone. He looks up to the moon and without looking, drops it into the pool. The guards bring it out again and I am sure in his survival. He prays everyday to Lluna, he gives money, gifts, what would he have done so wrong to deserve execution?

He looks on, fear in his face, and there, trapped in the net, is the thing that I most fear: A white stone.