A muddy and dirt filled diary. Amethysts adorning the cover, dull in color, but still glinting under the light of the sun. The pages inside are far from pristine, but with words that are printed with much force and determination."My name is Avani Skychaser. I can be called Ava, Avi or Ani, whichever you prefer. I hail from the Amethyst Clan of the Cyphrus plains. My first home. My second home is the very land we live on, where all the wonders of the world are hidden well beneath the soil, somewhere far beyond our reach. I wish to be a keeper of those secrets; a protector, a guardian. Since a young age, my parents have constantly told me about the world of Mizahar and the elements that govern it. The wind is the gentle caress that touches your cheeks as you race by on a graceful strider, the earth the stepping stones on which without it you would fall into a perpetual void. Fire is the giver of life and often that which takes from it. It can destroy whole forests and fauna, but from it springs forth new varieties of plants and a continued existence. Water is the salvation for the world, the essence of every being put into one melting pool, swaying and ever moving, changing and adapting to every obstacle in its way.
But me, I am stubborn like the rocks littered throughout the Sea of Grass. I stand defiant and also appreciative of these elements. I wish to command them and not wreak havoc, but to understand our world better and feel the very breath of life that makes it come into existence. I was the child that would wrestle in the mud, digging out those finely shaped pebbles and stones, or worms that wriggled its way around my toes. I was the girl that cried in joy on the day my strider came forth to me and became my long standing companion through thick and thin. I grew up through the days gone by traveling, with only the words of my uncles and aunts, my parents and cousins, sharing stories and myths constantly of the gods and goddesses that ruled our world. I became inspired, and told my father that I would become a shaman; I would strive to become an avatar for the elements to speak through. Was this even possible? I asked myself. My great great grandfather had been a great magician, hailing from the lands of the Drykas but becoming a teacher in Zeltiva. He had learned the ways of fire, water, air and earth, and if he was capable of doing so, why couldn’t I? But I would not simply just use these powers. I would harness it, seek to understand it, and speak with it in ways I never knew was possible.
It was the summer of 510AV, when the sheer willpower spewed forth from me to control what I had been meaning to control for last 5 years: the earth. That was also a time when a great cloud loomed overhead foreseeing an ill omen. The last day I would see my younger cousin Sahea. Even riding out into the Sea of Grass could spell peril when packs of glass beaks roamed far and wide. One such pack caused the death of my cousin. I had been spared this fate at the time because I had been far enough away to not have caught their attention, but still I could see quite clearly how they tore her apart, limb from limb, and how her cries chilled me to the bone. My mind had been a blank slate in that moment. And the sheer anguish and willpower that surged through my very veins had been enough to cause the tiniest of pebbles to lift themselves off the ground and surround me. I was thinking, with all the hatred that consumed me,
Let these beasts die at the hands of the very earth that holds them! But it did not come to pass. The rocks had fallen, and there was nothing left but the howling wind and the torrential rains and my own feeling of exhaustion.
No, these glass beaks did not deserve to die. They were only following their instinct, albeit a brutal one. My hatred of them was not so completely and utterly consuming that I hunted their asses in the hopes of their extinction. This was an impossible feat. Years went by and I understood the nature of the beasts. And my growing excitement for newfound powers took my mind away from the feeling of guilt I felt for the death of my cousin.
And here I am. A young woman with a fiery attitude. Loud, boisterous and stubborn. I will not change who I am and how I see life for the whims of others. I am proud of my heritage, my people, and who I strive to become. Semele is my beloved Goddess, and Caihya my second Mother. I will do t his for myself and for them, to prove to them that I can be headstrong in my pursuit. My goal is to travel the treacherous lands, hone my skills in reimancy and become a master guardian of Semele’s body."
by Avani on June 6th, 2010, 4:51 am 
