N. K. Blazevic
When Courage finds Hope…It was in the great forest Grimenna that the first spirits were born, created from the beliefs of men and nourished by thoughts both good and evil. As time unfolded men began to shun these spirits, he turned away from their guidance and plundered the forest for his own means without giving thanks. It was then dark creatures rose from the earth, conjured from the depths of nightmares, and began to drive him out. He found refuge across the great river that divided the land and it was there he settled. No one dared cross the river again; only the wicked, the unclean and criminal were thrown back across to be punished.Everyone thought the great river would keep them safe, even Paiva Ibbie. A mere peasant living below the river, she suddenly discovers the waters cannot keep the forest at bay any longer as shadows come creeping to her home in both human and spirit form. As these spirits wrestle for dominion over the hearts of men and the forest itself, she realizes that there is only one true thing she possesses that she could possibly wield against them. Her own powerful force of hope. Something the dark spirits will go to extremes to banish.She turns to a mysterious outcast from the far side of the river for help, but is her hope blind enough to trust someone like him? What truly divides an outcast from a hero, a nightmare from a dream? Perhaps her hope is more dangerous then any outcast criminal, for it can easily lead the wrong way in the dark of the forest. Perhaps evil and good cannot be so easily separated, just as a river cannot so easily separate mankind from the forest.
