[Auer]

Auer sat down gently where H’annaeryth had gestured. As Auer sat she began to feel nervous. As the dryad told her to get comfortable Auer felt like laughing how could one get comfortable no knowing what was to happen in the next instant? However Auer breathed in and out deeply before she closed her eyes. Auer thought it was best if she did not see what was to happen to her.

Before Auer could relish in the new sensations of the unbinding Auer felt warm arms circling around and in the next moment Auer’s dreams enveloped her. Auer walked through the woods, her soft steps disturbed the tranquil quietness that surrounded the area like a snug blanket. Auer realised she was home. Before her there was a group of people. As Auer moved closer she recognised the familiar faces of her neighbours, her friends, her village people. A smile reached Auer’s rose tinted lips at the sight of her dear friend, once dead but now alive and well and only an arm-length away from Auer. Auer reached out to embrace her. At that moment the sky darkened, the very air seemed to thicken. The village people and her friend, looked at her with judgement and despise. They spat at her and began calling out names “Murderer,” “evil wrench” their hands reached out to her throat with intentions of strangling her. Auer cried out and began to run back into the woods where she had spent her childhood playing.

As she ran Auer saw her sweetheart’s face appear all around her -- in the sky, in the trees. The strange look in his eyes was revealed, the look she had come to fear, the possessed look of a monster. Auer cried out again and tried to run faster yet she could not escape it. Auer felt a warm sensation on her hands; she looked down to see blood dripping between her fingers. Auer continued to run as she pleaded with the mob, the trees that held evil faces, “I had to do it” Auer sobbed “He was a monster.” Her sweetheart’s voice seemed to echo throughout the woods “You are the monster now...”

Auer awoke to her heart pounding and the bright sunlight of the serene day glaring down upon her. Auer squinted and sat up as she tried to calm herself. “It was only a dream” she muttered. “Only a stupid meaningless dream...” But in Auer’s mind she doubted her own spoken words. As Auer began to calm down she realised H’annaeryth had spoken. Auer rubbed at her eyes and sighed before she looked at H’annaeryth, she vaguely recalled the dryad’s question.
In her soft honey toned voice Auer answered. “My name is Auer.”