Prologue
1082 Words
The snow glistened in the sunlight, blindingly bright. Tiny animals scurried under the brush revealing small smudges of color on the endless stretch of white. A lake sat in the middle of a forest clearing, fish swimming under a thick layer of frozen water. Far off, somewhere in a tree, a bird cawed three times then went silent.
A tall man came stumbling into the clearing, a dark purple bundle held against his chest. He ran frantically toward a giant weeping willow that towered over the lake. He fought against the packed snow, his head snapping towards every sound. His dark hair fell around his pale face and down his back. Long pointed ears stuck out of his hair with three gold rings piercing the tip of his left one. His elven features were sharp, even compared to the brilliant shimmering light of the frozen forest.
He kept tripping over the hems of his purple robes that marked him as the queens mage, but no matter how many times he stumbled, he never gave up. Finally, robes soaked and muddy, and shivering with cold, he made it to the tree. He collapsed in front of it holding the bundle close to his chest and looked around once more before speaking.
"Please!" He begged, holding out the bundle, part of the blanket fell back revealing the small sweet face of a baby girl. "Please, she’s our last hope! the last of my line, the only true mage left! If she dies, we all die! She could save us, but I need your help!" The desperation and heartbreak was clear in his voice as tears swarmed down his face.
Suddenly the bark on the tree started to ripple and form the shape of a woman. She had a slender look and kind eyes, a tree nymph. She lifted her arms to the swaying branches, they responded and grew towards the baby wrapping around her and taking her from the man’s arms. He gave a strangled cry and fell forward weeping, for he knew he would never see his daughter again.
A light but eerie voice surrounded him, even though he knew it to be the great tree nymph, he shivered involuntarily. "Your daughter will be safe for now, I will accompany her to the human world where she will be safe until her 17th birthday. Remember this is your wish, and as you said, she may save us alI. Though I can not keep her from the truth forever, I promise to protect her from the evils of this world until she is ready to face it. After we leave, the magic of the nymphs will slowly start to diminish. I sincerely hope you are right about her, for if you are not, the nymphs will die out." she was quiet for a moment, seeming to think about something. "unfortunately Marthel, I do not believe you will live to see her save our world.” pain clear in her voice.
Before he could reply, a distant blood chilling screech cut him off. He turned around right as some of the most hideous creatures he had ever seen entered the clearing, snarling and hissing. They were huge mutated panther-like creatures with strange twisted boney spikes protruding from their sides and spine, massive black wings towered over them creating dark swirling shadows around them. Wherever they stepped, sheets of pitch black ice crept over the snow, freezing its surface. The elf turned swiftly to face them, snow swirling around him, he caught his breath, his body frozen in fear, terror plain on his face.
The nymph disappeared as the creatures ran at the elf. The moment the abominations came at him, his fear dissipated and he darted away as the first one reached him, lightning arcing from his fingertips. The first bolt hit the closest creature in its chest. It screeched as it crumbled, writhing in pain. The other creatures screamed in anger and attacked. The elf grabbed a dagger from his belt and threw it at the next pursuer. The dagger hit the creature between the eyes, dark thick blood dripped into the snow, sizzling on contact.
One after another they came at him, trying to tear at his body, but each one fell dead at the elf's feet. Soon he had a pile of mutilated corpses surrounding him, but no matter how many he killed there were always more. He was starting to get tired and didn’t know how long he could survive. He was dead and he knew it.
He was thinking about just quitting, he was going to die anyway, and if he surrendered they might spare him. But as he thought this, momentarily distracted, another creature jumped at him. He turned to stop the attack but was not fast enough. The creature managed to clip his shoulder, knocking him off balance. He slipped on the ice and fell, his feet twisting under him. He screamed out in pain as one of the abominations latched onto his leg. They tore at his body, eager to get revenge for their fallen brethren. The elf screamed in agony as they shredded his flesh, drawing out his death, making sure he suffered.
Suddenly a bright blinding light engulfed everything in a bath of pure gold and white. When the light faded, all the creatures were laying on the ground burnt and dead. The clearing was still covered in the dark ice, and in some places there were dark spikes sticking up from the ground in little clumps. The elf lay bloody in the middle of the clearing, his breathing ragged. Slowly a bright bluish white ice crept over the entire clearing, covering the corpses of the dark creatures. As it reached the elf, the nymph's voice echoed in his mind, I'm sorry I can't save you, but I promise your sacrifice is not in vain. The ice covered his ragged, broken body, but despite the pain, he smiled. As the ice reached his face he let out one last breath that appeared as a white cloud above him before slowly dissipating. There he lay, frozen in time moments before his death. Then it began to snow.
* * *
Now that the elven mage was frozen in time and presumed dead, it is up to the nymph to protect the girl. She ran down the streets of a small town, her blonde hair and green dress flapping in the wind, clutching the bundle to her chest. They would be safe for now, here in the human realm, out of Safield's reach, but nothing can last forever...
- Writer
