Angel Eyes: the Eternal Circle
by Rydia
Chapter 1


The caves were chillier than normal for this time of year.  Aelia
cloaked her wings around her body as she walked quietly to the Dark
Caverns.  It was her sixteenth year-day and so she was to learn her
destined place in the caves of her clan. It was an important tradition
to uphold and she had gone without food the entire day.

The two guards who protected the Dark Caverns and all that lay within
let her pass.  On this day alone would she be permitted to enter the
Dark Caverns unless she was chosen to become a Priestess of the Dark.

The cavern she entered was completely devoid of light, and she had to
use other means to see where she was going.  She walked to the center
of the cavern and dropped to her knees to wait for some sign of the
Gods' decision.  How long she waited she could not know. The Dark
Caverns were said to be timeless.

Her eyes blurred and she saw a disk or circle of some kind.  Inside the
circle she saw a ghost-like wolf, starring at her.  She starred back,
unable and unwilling to break it's gaze.

As suddenly as it had come, the vision was gone.  Aelia blinked,
sensing it was over.  She didn't know what the vision meant, but the
priestesses would be able to tell her.  She rose to her feet again and
silently left the Dark Caverns.  A priestess would be there, waiting
for her to immerge from the darkness and interpret what she had seen.

* * *

Priestess Ana's face remained neutral but she frowned inwardly.  The
girl who had just returned from the Dark Caverns was telling her what
she had seen. Was it really possible that her destiny lay upon the
Eternal Circle?  If so, there would be dark days ahead, indeed, and
for everyone everywhere.

The girl, Aelia, started describing a creature she had also seen in the
vision.  A spirit wolf, she described it as.  That would tie into the
Eternal Circle in some way, surely, though how was known only by the
Gods.

"Your destiny," Ana said when the girl finished, "is outside these
caverns.  You must not return until your quest is completed.  I cannot
say what your quest might be, but seek out the wolf from your vision."

* * *

Aelia's world seemed to shatter with those words.  She was to be
banished from her home?  In a dazed state, she found her way home
again.  Everything happened as if in a dream.  Her parents hid their
sadness as they helped her prepare.

The next morning, Aelia donned travel clothes and a warm cloak and left
her home.  She was thankful she could stay composed until she was
outside the caves.  Leaving would be more painful for all if they had
seen each other's sorrow.

* * *

Priestess Ana watched the girl depart.  "Lord and Lady, protect her,"
she whispered the blessing for the girl and the world she would have to
save.