《A Mortal Heart》


 Prologue

    She tucked a strand of her golden locks that went astray behind her ear and covered her eyes from the blinding sunlight with her free hand then looked back to see if there was anyone else with her. There she saw a sea of people whose faces she could not quite make out. The sunlight warmed her pale cheeks then she found herself just at the edge of the sea. The sound of crashing waves being the only noise she could hear while the chatter of the crowd was deafened just as they were blurred away from her earlier. She set her sights on the sea again, a recurring dream for the past two weeks, something she could not yet quite shake off nor begin to understand and then the voice came;


    ¡°Aelinor,¡± said a man¡¯s raspy, deep voice.


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    She turned only to see yet another blurred figure.


    ¡°I cannot see you,¡± she said.


    ¡°Not yet,¡± he replied. ¡°You cannot see me yet.¡±


    His voice echoed in her ears until her vision faded away and another voice came, younger and honeyed with innocence.


    ¡°Aelinor! Aelinor!¡± the young voice said repeatedly.


    She opened her eyes in a daze, one after the other and faced the young girl who had woken her from sleep.