Ignoring the searing sensation in the back of my head, I stumble forward in the dark, mumbling the same four words over and over. My brown hair is sticking to the sweat on my face. I'm over-heating, despite the snow falling gently around me, halfway up my calves. There was something that happened...

"I am Lillian Taylor," I utter to myself, my voice cracking when I speak my name. I remember the elf-queen's final words, just before she gave me the elixir. 'Speak what you wish to remember the most, and never stop. Eventually you'll know everything. But for now, you will forget what you do not say, it will be lost to the sands of time.' I can't remember why she was there...

"I am Lillian Taylor."

My name... I had a good reason to remember it. The reason has left me now. "I am Lillian Taylor." My name is important, it has meaning. But why? "I am Lillian Taylor."

I continue to stumble along in the snow, my head pounding furiously; it was a sign that someone wanted to communicate with me. Don't talk to me now. Me knees feel week, yet another sign. Wait... who's talking to me? The person must have got my message, because the pounding in my head as disappeared instantly. Now, I was left alone with my thoughts.

A feeling in my gut tells me this is a dangerous thing.

"I am Lillian Taylor," I try to project, but turns into a silent squeak. My voice is giving out. "I am..."

I collapse into the snow, right onto my arm. Despite my entire body feeling sore, the back of my mind burning more, I know it's worth it. I don't remember why it is... but my gut tells me this is right. A small rush of relief flows through my body.

I close my eyes, the sound of a tinkling sounding off in the distance. Bells? Chimes?

"They will find you," a voice says, her voice bringing the feeling of familiarity... and guilt. "You have a mission to fufill."

The world darkened and I thought I heard a voice calling that name in the distance.

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The second my eyes open, I was staring into familiar chocolate brown eyes. Jordan blinks in disbelief, his eyes bloodshot. His shirt is covered in dirt and dried stains that look like... blood. What the hell has happened?

"You're alive," he whispers, followed by an exhale of relief. He smiles widely, sits up from the chair next to my hospitial bed, then cups my face with his hands. The warmth is comforting. "You're alive."

"Um... yeah," I respond warily, confused by his relief. I push his hands away from my face gently. I wish I didn't have to do that. I push myself up into a sitting position, and I find myself inches away from Jordan's face. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You didn't wake up for a week," he says as furrows his eyebrows together. Judging from the "Get Well" balloons and uncomfortable bed, I was in a hospital. "They said you had been caught in an attack the same time the prince was. He came out unscathed... it appears they attempted to curse you with a sleeping spell or something. Apparently it wasn't the prince that was with us in the woods."

No duh. I had figured out that much but an attack? That must be the cover up. I wonder if they know what was going on inside my head. "But the border-thing the elves put up keeps them from entering."

"The crown was stolen from the elf king," Jordan explains. His gaze disconnects from mine as he looks away, exhaling. "If the crown isn't on the king's head each day during the sunrise, the magic begins to fail. That's what the assembly's about; they picked two elves and two humans to go get the crown."

"And humans will make better crown-searchers because..."

"Because the King has asked the everyone to prepare for war. The king won't explain why, but he foresees it in the near future," he reports. "There was a second attack a few hours ago, during lunch break."

It's because of me. And I still don't know why. I thought I remembered someone else talking about a war but as soon as the idea was there, it escaped again.

"Who are the humans they chose?"

"I'm one," he says, smirking. The tightness in my chess relaxes seeing his mind taken off our current predicament. "Although I don't know why because my best skills are card tricks and a bird impressions."

Him? I'm not sure if he could survive a quest. I'm not sure if I could survive a quest. As annoying as he can be, I was suddenly filled with dread."Who else is going? You said 'humans', like it was plural."

Jordan's entire body droops, as if he were about to give bad news. "You," he mumbles. "He wants you to go too."

"What? Me? Really," I respond, without any emotion in my voice. I mean, I've always wanted to go places... but I wasn't exactly known by anyone important. What gives?

Jordan nods, his eyes scanning my face. "They are giving us a week to prepare."

"I ain't going unless you say yes," I respond, possibly a little too passionately. I run my fingers through my hair, puffing a sigh of relief once a few stray brown strands of hair fall within eyesight. You're back! Man, there is something weird going on. Wait... did I just talk to my hair?

Maybe I'm not mentally stable enough to go on a quest.

I stored all my confusion and questions away for later. Right now I was happy to be back.

Jordan smiles at first, but then withdraws it. It's odd... I feel disappointed once his smile is gone. "You know you haven't asked who the elves were yet."

"Why would I care?"

"It's the prince and someone called Taldor."

Wearing a cocky grin, I flit my eyes upward in a flirtatious manner. "Then bring it on."

My smile grows even wider when I see Jordan's, his pure white teeth glittering in the light of the infirmary.

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Guys guys guys! I love where the story is going!!

Good getting my mind off wedding plans x.x driving me nuts!

This is to real_lifemari hope to see you at my wedding! :)