Solbearers: Part 1-Prologue 1: Cassandra Calimeris

Cassandra slept a restless sleep. Plagued with nightmares. Images of a creature with rows upon rows of teeth. The feeling of being crushed and water filling her lungs. Then she awoke. Drenched with sweat. Her supernaturally green eyes clouded with tears, long black hair slightly stuck to her face. The missing persons reports in her town were clearly weighing heavy on her mind. She stepped out of her seaside home and workshop and smelling the sea air calmed her. Out in the sea the moonlight illuminated the face of a shockingly handsome man. No. Not a man something horrible. Something Cassandra had seen in her nightmares. As soon as she thought to take a photo it was gone. Shaken and unsure of what she saw she went back inside, grabbed the largest knife from her kitchen drawer and fought sleep on the couch for as long as she could. She woke up. Kitchen knife on the floor. She had seen the creature in her sleep again. But this time it was calmer. Not a nightmare, just a dream. In it she saw a weapon, a hunting knife with brilliant silver blade. And with it she pierced the creature's heart. Cassandra decided it wasn't a dream afterall, it was a plan.

Cassandra had no family but she was smart, resourceful and could build just about anything. Most of her income came from the items she sold out of her workshop. When male tourist who loved Gladiator and 300 came through her small Greek town, it was at times incredibly easy to bat her eyes and sell handcrafted replica weaponry. How those men got said items through customs was not her concern. Supplementing her earnings with vehicle and boat repair as well as other maintenance and fabrication odd jobs, Cassandra got by just fine. Especially when considering how often men would take her out to dinner (even when she turned most offers down) and how adept she was at fishing for her own food. Yet Casandra, who normally had no concern for "the finer things in life" aside from living by the sea, now needed about 3 lbs of silver to bring her vision to life. Even if she melted down some silverware she already had she would need time to afford the rest. Until then she struggled, sleeping part of each day and staying awake all night to warn folks away from the water. Many thought her insane (and she even had to tackle one tourist) but it worked. No more disappearances occured on Cassandra's watch.

When the silver finally arrived, Cassandra was excited but nervous. Although silver is easier to melt, handle and shape than what she was used to Casandra was intimidated about creating her new weapon. She labored over its design determined to be precise in remaking what she had seen in her dream. Eventually Cassandra was content, she melted down her new silver with the bit of silver she already had and poured it into the most complicated mold she had ever made. This wasn't a simple and straightforward design like her classics era replicas, it was complex with a straight blade on one side and serations on the back. It reminded Cassandra of John Rambo's knife but with its own personality. It was mostly silver with a tough fabric grip. After refining and sharpening It was Cassandra's greatest creation to date. Not something that would last like a steel blade. But in her dream she killed the creature with silver. So silver was her best bet to end this. Even if the blade only lasted a few stabs before dulling it should be enough if she was precise and made her stabs count. When the time came she knew she'd be ready.