I Bled for His Child, He Buried My Brother

“My tribe was dying, our sacred Sunbeam Ridge ravaged by the deafening roar of Remington Mining's bulldozers. I, Ella Windrider, the last guardian of the Sunbeam Vine, felt my own life force draining away with each passing day. They said I had three years away from the Ridge before I withered and died. But my people would fall sooner if I did nothing. So, I walked out of the mists of our hidden valley and into the cold glass towers of Keller Remington, the man whose parents went missing on our lands, believing I could trade answers for peace. Instead, he took me prisoner, convinced my tribe murdered his family. Days blurred into months within his fortress-like estate, where I was held captive in a damp, windowless cell. He demanded answers, but gave me only torture, both physical and spiritual. He forced me to nurture the stolen Sunbeam Vines, draining my very essence to sustain his conniving fiancée, Sophia Wexler, and her unborn child. Each drop of the Vine's sap I bled, was a piece of my soul. Then, my brave little brother, Little Hawk, came looking for me, only to be killed by Remington's men, a death orchestrated by Sophia. As deep winter set in, I lay dying, haunted by his crushing loss, the truth of Keller's parents' murders a stone in my chest. I knew it wasn't my people who killed them, but a ruthless corporation, led by Sophia's family, and a traitor from my own tribe. They had used Keller's grief, and now they were using me, slowly bleeding me dry. Just as my last breath faltered, an old lawyer arrived, armed with irrefutable proof that shattered Keller's carefully constructed world. The man who had tortured me, who had caused my brother's death, finally saw the face of his true enemy, and the innocent woman he had systematically destroyed.”