The leaves slapped Eliana on her cheeks, as she made her way through the bushes and forest. She muttered angrily at them, cursing ever so un-ladylike. The girl was constantly haunted by the echoing voice inside her head. She had done her best to simply ignore it, but it was near impossible. It was still as if it controlled her, and the soul leeching hadn’t helped. Ellie wasn’t just demoralized by the fact she couldn’t control herself, but she had been forced to go against all her principles. The sun shun gently through the top of the trees, offering only a minuscule amount of light. But still, the forest was suddenly lit up.  Confused, she turned around. Her eyes opened up widely, as she spotted a giant wave of blinding light. Her flight response kicked in for whatever reason, and she quickly set off. 

The wave was coming at her with rapid speed. The young woman tossed herself behind a small hill, trying to cover from inevitable event. The light had begun to fade away, but it still surged over her with an impressive speed. Only a smaller amount of it actually hit the girl, but it burned her skin in such a horrible matter. Her mind was equally wounded, once again. Eliana opened her mouth to scream, but no words came out. As she crumbled into a small ball, her body almost broke down from pure stress. Leia had run ahead, hopefully being able to find a safe spot.

When the light finally passed, the Walker struggled to move at all. As time passed, she managed to get her senses back. The dress was ruined even more, and parts of her skin suffered from strange, unnatural burns. It seemed almost like… Markings? Her eyesight came back ever so slowly, and the burns became clearer. Several minutes passed, and barking was finally heard nearby. When she was able to see completely, she froze. 

Whilst Leia stood in front of her, wagging her tail happily, Eliana was searching through her satchel in panic. She tore out one of the books Jonius had carried around. Still, she was not able to read them, but she knew she had seen the markings before. With haste she looked through the pages for a drawing. Tears almost broke out as she saw it, doing her best to calm herself. The markings were almost identical to those of the book. Jonius had spoken so fondly of the damn book. Written by some unknown, yet important mage. Her teacher had sometimes praised this person, and sometimes not. He agreed, and was happy with many of the studies in the books, but had heard rumours of slaughter caused by this man. And if there is one thing Spirit-Walkers want to avoid, it’s slaughter.

Eliana ran her fingers across the pages, shaking her head slowly. With all her might, she attempted to make out the words. But the letters moved around, and was awfully hard to keep track of. She gave up. Instead though, she tried to remember. Remember all those things Jonius had spoken about, about this book. Her mind was damaged, but she was able to remember so much.
Possession, she stopped. She whispered the words for herself.

“One marked with such markings has most likely… “ She wiped her eyes. “Been possessed of some mystical force. Those gifted with cleansing powers knows...” –[i]“Of the markings.”[/i]  The voice whispered within her mind, laughing in such a strange manner, almost as if it was hurt.