"I…I can't see anything…" She began to shake with fear, as her hands
felt around the floor frantically. "Momma? Where are you? Please say
something!" She rose to her hands and knees, crawling around the floor feeling
for any signs of life. "Please! Someone! I…I'm alone."

She tried to think rationally for a moment, what was the last thing she saw?
She wracked her memory, but she couldn't pull herself past anxiety. There was
blood, and sadness, and she remembered she had to hide. She had to escape from
the chaos. This floor, and the smell of this place, she decided must be her
house. She slowly rose to stand on her feet, still trembling.

She knew she could see things before, before she woke up. Memory began to
flood back into her mind. The village was under attack, that's what it was!
"Someone…someone must have made me blind," she thought to herself. Returning
to rational thinking, she concluded, "I must find someone to heal my eyes."

The odor of despair was prominent in the village. Death, misery, and pain
lingered in the air. She almost didn't want to be able to see what ruins were
left of her home, Stewartsville. The cobblestone paths were familiar to her,
and she was able to navigate her way to the village entrance. The world stood
before her, but she hardly knew where she stood in the world.

Once, she recalled her mother telling her of healers, great people with angels
by their side, and holy powers. "Maybe…" she thought to herself, "Maybe they
can heal me, somehow." Taking a few cautious steps beyond the village gates,
she tripped over what she thought to be a loose stone in the road. It turned
out to be a wooden stick, nearly as tall as she was. She picked up the stick,
and began her journey to find the holy ones.

She knew little about the world around her; she had learned few things in her
childhood. She knew that the world was somewhat like a bowl, with water in the
center, and a rough rim of mountains on the edges. There was a road too, a road
that lay between the mountains and water. It was a highway, which she had to
travel.

Her journey led her on this road; she traveled for days before reaching a
city. A crow cawed, making her shiver, and reminding her how helpless she was.
She nervously called out, "Is anyone there? Anyone?" The silence was painful,
and offered little comfort in the fear of isolation. She felt around her
surroundings, pillars of cold stone, and the road was in terribly bad
condition. She continued, ever so cautiously into the unknown.

Sounds of life began again, but these were not good signs. Perhaps sounds of
life ending, or misery and hopelessness in someone's life. She clutched her
walking stick tightly with her hand, and continued. The scent of death was
ever present in this place, and the ground seemed to scream in agony as she
walked upon it. Soon she heard voices. Coming closer to these voices, she
realized that these voices had malice in their tone, and cruelty in their
laughs. The voices grew quieter as she approached them, and one of them
finally demanded, "Who are you? Get out of here you piece of trash!" She
began to tremble again, as she could feel the people approaching her.
"I…I…can't see, I need someone to help…" she said timidly. Looking around
frantically, wishing she could see, she froze with horror at a vision in front
of her.

This vision was of a twisted mound of decay, festering with sores of its own
and reeking of poison fumes. There was obvious power in this mound of living
rock.

The people began to close in around her as she was petrified with the vision,
and before she knew it she had been swallowed alive by the earth itself. She
was underground for an infinity it seemed to her, when a hand suddenly grasped
her neck and pulled her from the ground. She was overwhelmed at first, but
when this person spoke, she deciphered the tone in his voice as kindness. The
voice said to her, "I know what you seek, and what your burden is." His hand
still was grasped around her neck. "I will take you to where you need to go,
but you must be very quiet about what I am doing for you."

The hand let her drop to the tainted ground, and as soon as she reached the
ground, the earth swallowed her whole once again. In a terrifying moment, the
earth spit her up once again onto the road. This road, as she felt it
carefully was very well kept, crafted of marble. She searched for her walking
stick around where she was sitting. Discovering it lying on the ground a few
feet away from her, she picked it up and began to walk along the road once
again.

Approaching another city, cautiously she walked toward it, still the fear of
those malignant voices echoing in her head. At what seemed to be the gate of
the city, she tripped and fell to her knees on step which seemed to come out of
nowhere. As she was pulling herself up to her feet, she heard footsteps
approaching her and she paused, hesitant of the intent of the nearing person.

The person reached down to take her arms and lifted her up, but gently this
time. There was a brief pause between the two before the person put his hands
on her head, chanted a few strange words and lifted his hands from her.

She opened her eyes, and there was no more darkness. She looked up and saw
the sky, the beautiful blue sky, and looked down to see a mural of colored
stone she was standing on. Then she looked in front of her to behold the face
of the healer. He smiled at her, and she knew that everything would be
alright.