Empty: Book one of the Empty series
Empty: Book one of the Empty series
He had lived for a hundred years now and was still young. He knew the elves felt nothing for the troubles of men and had watched many ages pass. Elves were considered selfish creatures that claimed the forests for themselves, they were empty shells filled with weariness and boredom. Save one, seemingly insignificant elf that was a far cry from the others.
It had been nearly a century since the last time an elf ventured out into the world of men and as Gelmir Eärfalas perched comfortably on a branch overhanging the modern society, his long silver hair gleamed in the sunlight as it wisped around his face and danced in the wind. He longed to dive into the world he saw before him. Instead of doing as he wanted he turned and vanished into BoardLeaf Forest, the elves have called England home for centuries now and Gelmir was the scout, the lowest elf in all of BroadLeaf, looked down upon because of his family.
Gelmir headed up the long winding stair well that lead to the high king's throne room. He had to tell Haldamir what he had seen, there was nothing kept from him and if an elf did lie to Haldamir they would vanish without a trace. At the top of Home Tree were the white doors…they were open as if to say he was late, Gelmir took a deep breath, gathered his courage and stepped in side. 'Gelmir Eärfalas, scout of the BoardLeaf elves. Tell me what you saw.' Boomed the high kings voice from atop the gilded throne. Gelmir took a knee at the base of the royal seat and bowed his head 'My lord, the mortals have advanced greatly and are on the verge of demolishing this forest, if we do not stop them-'
'Gelmir you seem to think I need the advice of a lowly elf no not even that, you have no place here unless I call upon you. And now I have heard all I need to, your presence is unwelcome. Vanish from my sight Camthalion!' he turned on his heel as if Gelmir was an eyesore.
Camthalion… Camthalion…Camthalion. The word was spinning through Gelmir's mind; it had been years since someone had called him that. The word translated to half-elf and was a constant reminder of his fathers betrayal however now that Gelmir was a scout and had a rank amongst the elves he thought he would not hear the word uttered again. It was true, his mother was not an elf but that did not make her any less than she was. His mother. His father on the other hand had been thrown out of the elfish society for being with her; it wasn't until the found out she was pregnant that they bothered with them. It was his fault his mother died, it was his fault his father left, and everything was his fault. There was never a day he didn't feel the weight of his existence.
He was pulled from his thoughts with a commotion at the door. They had an un-invited guest, in all his years Gelmir has never seen such a thing, nobody entered BoardLeaf without them knowing and nobody got this close to Home Tree without being seen… so their intruder had to be a high elf but…they would have felt the presence of a high elf. He heard one of the guards shout ' you are not welcome here Mahtan!' traitor? Gelmir stood at the edge of the fray trying to catch a glimpse of this so called traitor. That is when he saw a familiar cloak… it was his fathers.
It wasn't until sometime later that Gelmir got to see his father, the moment he laid eyes on the man who raised him he could feel his anger spiralling out of control. 'Hello son, I see you are well as always. I have not seen you for quite some time'
'Ada! Do not act as if you know me.' Gelmir could not contain his emotions and they burst forth his anger and confusion. He was pacing now; he did not like this breaking down in front of his father it was an unforgivable sin, showing weakness. 'Mother deserved more from you'
'She did but do not forget she was mortal there was nothing I could do for he-' 'you could have saved her! …What are you doing here Ada? Why did you come back?'
'The forest where I was hiding thrived but then there was a gigantic machine sliced through the forest like it was water and now I have come here to warn Haldamir if only he would receive me… you have the High Kings ear perhaps you could tell him for me' his fathers words stopped him in his tracks, Gelmir did not wish to face that man again… his father had a pleading look in his eyes and it was in that moment Gelmir knew he couldn't refuse.
Gelmir had failed to convince his King and so he was racing through the forest towards the Black Forest their closest neighbour, 'I'm not doing this for that old man… I'm doing this for Broad Leaf forest…' he muttered as he leapt from branch to branch like a monkey. He landed with a soft thud on the bare forest floor, it was called Black Forest because all the plants were dead, he had prepared himself for the hideous sight but what he saw… there was no way anyone could prepare for it… There was no Black Forest anymore, just debris and dead branches. He was horrified; as he bent to pick up a sliver of branch he noticed a small furry…thing, wiggling under a bigger branch. It looked like a squirrels tale… they were the messengers of the forests in the South, they hardly ever travel this far, fear spread throughout his body as he opened the letter. The message read
'They come with war machines of great size and no forest can stand up to them, there is no escape. The forests are empty!'
Kitrin Leslie