My name is Jade. I've been traveling wih these friends of mine for a long time now. They are all so interesting, such neat powers and interesting pasts. Well, more or less depressing, but there are other things as well.

My past, it isn't quite so sad or interestiing. No, mine is more beneign; much more normal. When I tell my friends, they say that they're envious of me, wishing that their lives had been so easy.

I'd lived in California for most of my life. My parents divorced when I was young, and I mostly lived with my Mom, though I would see Dad over the weekends. I didn't have too many friends growning up, but I was happy; content with my life.

I always knew I was different, though. I have this odd power, like many of my friends. I still don't understand it, even today. You see, I'm drawn to the pain of another. A specific kind of pain actually, a very deep physical pain. Somehow, I'm able to repair those wounds, even if it does cost my own energy in return. I was born with this power, and my mother knew about it. She too never understood it, and would make me hide it, even if I couldn't help it.

I met my friend Zon when I was maybe six or seven. I don't really remember anymore. What I do remember is when my mother and I were going to go to the playground that day, I heard weak cries coming from the alleyway beside our apartment. Though retuctant, I'd pursuaded my Mom to take me in there. I thought the noise had been coming from a cat or dog, but it turned out to be a bird; more specifically, a raven.

At first, my Mom wouldn't let me take him in, but seeing the look I gave her; she just couldn't deny me, though she told me that I had to take care of him alone. I used my gift to help him heal, though I couldn't make his feathers grow back. That isn't something I know how to do.

Anyways, I took care of him, though he was scared and closed off from me. I wouldn't stop until I gained his trustthough, that was something I made sure of. I don't recall ever giving him a name, so I would just call him Birdy. I was little okay? I didn't know what else to call him.

Getting back to the story, I did eventually gain his trust, and that's when I began to realize he wasn't an ordinary, everyday bird. First thing that told me this were the strange markings on his feathers when they grew back, though I wasn't too suspicious then. The next thing, and this is what really sent the sirens in my head firing off, was when I satrted to hear a voice in my head. Granted, hearing a voice in ones head would land them in an insane asylum; but this voice told me who it was, and its name; Zon. It had been the raven's voice.

I was completely cnvinced when, many yeards later, the raven actually turned out to be human as well. How do I know this? It's because one day, many years after I'd first met Zon; he transformed in front of me! Sure, it shocked me that he was actually partly human, but I accepted it once I got over the shock.

I never saw anything in him though. Sure I loved him, but as a friend or brother, that's it. He told me one night that he was searching for something. What it was he didn't know, but he felt that he needed to find it. He told me that the jouney would be lonely though, and asked if I could come with him.

It was odd asking my mother this, but somehow she accepted my request that I could go out into the world on my own. I packed a backpack that night and left early in the morning, leaving my Mom a note telling her I loved her and that I promised to be careful. Zon flew down to me and sat on my shoulder.

It wasn't long before we met Aurora. Zon seemed to take quite a shine to her instantly, which he'd never done to anyone; so I knew instantly that Aurora was a good person. We've been best friends ever since. My life has become adventurous and sometimes even frought with danger, but it's been fun so far and I know in my heart that it's been worth it.