In the city, the battle was raging on. Men grunted, women screamed and children cried. The battle was lost, the invaders had taken over the city and would kill men and children, rape women and kill them after. All was lost.
Except for those who were closest to the harbor. Ships were departing there, bringing those with coin across to safer locations. Such a man was Aedrelf, a High Elf from the Northern Forests. Although he did not have a lot of coin, he had just taken those from the slain. They would no longer need their coin.
It was uncommon for High Elves to loot corpses, but they would do it if their life was on the line, and this was such a case.
Aedrelf was a relatively young elf. Born from an elven mother and a human father, he had been exiled from his clan at a young age, even though he did not inherit any of his father’s genes. Such was the way of life, only the superior genes would be transferred to a child, should two races mate.
His life had been a tough one, for humans despised elves, and other elven races would not accept outcasts in their midst. They were afraid they would influence their way of life, and bring unwanted changes.
As Aedrelf stood on the foredeck of the ship, watching the ongoing, hopeless fight in the city, it occurred to him that life was a fragile thing, and could easily been taken away, as easy as eating a piece of bread. Which, he thought, could just as well kill you, should you eat it wrong. Death was even easier than eating. And normal, it was normal too. Children died during their birth, mothers died while giving birth, elders died when they grew of age, and men died. Men died most often, they did the working, and the fighting. Fighting was the easiest way to get you killed. Aedrelf’s father also got himself killed during a fight, but that fight was no noble war, it was a pub brawl. The man got drunk, hit somebody across the face and then got stabbed in his eye for it, that was his father, or so his mother told him.
He did not know why his mother had bedded the man in the first place, but he regretted she did. He would’ve lived anyway, coming from his mother. Should she have mated with an elf, he might still be in the safe encampment, doing things with elves of his own age. But no, he had to be different, he had to be living in a human city. Had.
For his life was about to change. The city was burning, being sacked. The few possessions Aedrelf had, he had gathered and taken with him on the ship. Only after a few minutes he saw the battle growing smaller. At first he thought it were his eyes playing with him, but then he noticed the ship had set sail, to a new beginning.
The sea was calm, there were no storms out, only a favored wind. And soon, in a few days, Aedrelf would be in a new place, where he could start a new life.
After three more days at sea, the ship docked in the harbor of Jorev, the largest city on the continent of Crealda. The city was so large, people said, that it would take a single person a day to walk from one side to the other.
The sea had been calm, and they had met no pirates. The refugees were put ashore, and soon, after the ship had been resupplied, it set sail again, not to be seen again in Jorev for a few months.
Aedrelf went to a local rentmaster to see if there were any rooms in the city he could rent. After discussing a few things he got himself a small, outlived room, big enough to sleep, sit and shit in. He would not need a large room anyway. He’d be out of town for a better part of the time anyway.
Aedrelf worked used to work as a guide for expeditions. It didn’t pay too well, but he enjoyed it, and, whenever he could, he would try and learn new things, doing research when the expedition reached its final destination, going to a public library, asking people who claimed to have seen strange things, anything that he could learn, he would learn.
After he got settled, he went over to a few locals to advertise his expertise as a guide, but soon figured out that elves were even more unwelcome than in the city he had lived in before. While walking in a crowded street, some kids had even attempted to throw dung at his head, although they missed.
Aedrelf kept thinking back to when he was still with the elves, he had been only sixteen years old when he had been exiled. That was fifteen years ago, and he still missed his mother and his friends. He also missed Lelaila, with whom he had, in their young years, dreamed of a future life. He always thought her to be the love of his life, and still did. By now Lelaila would not have been wed yet, but her parents surely would’ve found her a mate. ‘I’d do anything to get back to her’ Aedrelf thought, as he walked through the street. And then it hit him. He’d go back to the elves and prove himself, even though it would be hard for him to find them. The elves used to move camp when they exiled somebody, to make sure the exiled one would never come back, or be able to come back.
The next day, Aedrelf went to the library to find any possible information about the location of the High Elves’ camp, but could not find anything. When he walked out of the library, a strange, cloaked, old man approached him, and spoke to him:
“She who is your true love, they who are your true family, her who is your mother, shall fall before the darkness that you have seen. Those who you love shall fall, those who you hate shall perish, those who you see in your dreams, shall soon stand before the darkness, shall face it, and shall meet death. There is only one way to stop it, the prophecies say it, only the ultimate sacrifice shall save those you hold dear.”
And after speaking those words, the old man crumbled to ashes…
*you see something scribbled on the bottom of the page*
AWESOME!! - keaton hawklight
