To say I was tired of running was an understatement.  My lungs were on fire, my bones reduced to mush.  For the millionth time, I marveled at the inhuman strength Nora possessed.  She bobbed and weaved through the carnage and piles of rubble like it was just another training excercise.  I was too busy trying not to throw up to follow her example.

"Come on, Daniel!" she screamed above the sounds of annihilation.

All at once, I couldn't see her.  The massacre and all its noise faded away, and I was left standing in the middle of an open field, nothing but pale green grass as far as the eye could see.  I looked around, and found myself alone.

"Nora?" I called, fear creeping into my voice.

A small sound made me stiffen.  I slowly turned, prepared for the worst, and found a little girl walking a ways off.  A chill went down my spine as I wondered how I had missed her before.

The girl didn't look at me.  She skipped through the tall grass, her faded dress and white-ish blonde hair blowing in the breeze.

"Daniel!"

I screamed as a hand clasped my shoulder and spun around.  Nora was gaping at me, her face white as a sheet.  In an instant, I was back in the nightmare of war.

"Daniel, what are you doing--"

"Did you see that?" I asked her.  Her expression told me I had lost my mind.  "There was a girl," I tried to explain, knowing that wouldn't help.

"A girl," she repeated, "Daniel, we're in the middle of town!  Of course there are girls--"

"No," I said, "she was in a field--I was in a field--"

"There are no fields Daniel."

I didn't understand what was happening.  The girl's face had been burned into my mind.  Plain, but regal, as if she owned the endless field and everything in it.  The face was also familiar, and I wondered why it felt that I should have recognized her immediately.

All at once I was almost knocked off my feet by sudden realization.

"What is it?" Nora asked, eying me warily.

I didn't answer.  I closed my eyes and tried to harness the power The Name had given me.  The world faded away again, and, when I cracked one eye open, I was back in the field.

I looked around desperately for the girl, and found her much closer this time.

"Hey!" I called, trying to get her attention, "Hey!"    

She looked up for the first time, and I was hit with an overpowering sense of grief.  She stared at me a while, her eyes searching, for what, I wasn't sure.

"I know who you are," I ventured.

Her eyes lit up, and a small smile crossed her face as she took a step forward, and then another, until we were inches apart.

The power coursing through my veins was both terrifying and exhilarating as I whispered, "Isiandra."