Thank you to all who reviewed/read/followed this story! This story is different from most of my stories where it doesn't have a definite timeline...so this should get interesting.
Gwen had finally snuck away from the party, She had waited until they were thoroughly drunk before slipping into the shadows around the campfire. Her best friend Lori had insisted Gwen come to her lake house in the woods for the week, a kind of last farewell to a most golden summer. But, despite her love of the lake and the woods, parties did wear on her. So she had stolen away to the dock on the lake. It was beautiful on the lake at night, the water looked like thick black ink that reflected everything on its surface. She could see the stars and trees and the moon from her position at the end of the dock. The world felt infinite in the moments she spent here.
She tilted her head down to look at herself in the reflective waters. She nearly laughed at her reflection, she looked like a ghost in the dress Lori had lent her. It was a gauzy floor length white gown, perfect for summer, light as a breeze, and the length though long allowed Gwen to move freely without having to worry about revealing everything. Unfortunately it was a colder night, so she had thrown a thick tan cardigan on before retreating to the lake.
She usually found solace on the lake, especially at night. But tonight peace alluded her. In a few short weeks she would move away and begin college, and she could not help but feel that her childhood was coming to a close. Although the adults in her life had always teased her and told her she never acted a child. It was true in some manor, Gwen had always been very serious and would often disappear into the woods to 'think'. Kim and Thomas, her parents often joked that it was a blessing that she was more an adult than they were. She smiled at the thought, she had been adopted on a whim by them, that was how they did everything. On a whim. Her life had been an adventure living under their care, full of last minute trips and spontaneous outings. She would dearly miss living with their light hearted souls. Her thoughts were broken by the sensation that she was not alone. She looked up and scanned the dark trees surrounding the lake expecting to see something, anything, but there was nothing. She turned her gaze back down to the water and gasped. In the water the reflection of a great white stag shown in the water. She looked up to where the stag should've been standing across the lake, but there was nothing. In a mixture of fear and wonder she stared entranced by the glowing white creature, it was unlike anything she had ever seen. Her muscles relaxed and her brain numbed the longer she stared at it.
"Gwen!" She heard Lori shout desperately behind her. Her voice was full of fear, but Gwen was strangely void of any.
She was vaguely aware of a light shove on her back, not unlike a forceful gust of wind. Her body was stiff as a board as she fell forward off of the dock. It was a strange sensation, she felt more like the water was coming to her instead of her to it, her world was moving and changing around her as she remained powerless to stop it. She didn't become afraid until she hit the water. Or rather went through it. She didn't feel cold or wet and her body didn't slow as she passed through it. It was like she had fallen off a precipice of a cliff, not the edge of a dock. She finally found movement again and flailed her arms wildly as she flew through the water like it wasn't even there. She cringed into herself as the floor of the lake approached her, but she passed through that too. She fell into a dark hole of space and just fell. She wasn't sure how long or how far she fell for, all she could sense was her own horror and a strong wind whipping her hair and clothes. She couldn't even function through her fear, or think through it or even order her muscles to move.
What could've been an eternity finally fell away. She was falling face up this time, she could see dark clouds dominating the sky. Did she come from there? She struggled to breath in the fast moving air, and prayed that she would survive the impact. If it ever came.
Finally it did, before she could even comprehend that she was seeing the tops of trees her back hit the surface. Her head and body were completely submerged before she realized the surface was water. The cold liquid hit her hard and she struggled against the current of the water. The pain of the impact didn't reach her stiff frozen muscles, but it reached her mind. She slowly started blacking out as her body couldn't handle the force of the fall, she drifted to the bottom of the water. Her fear coursed away as the current took her near lifeless body. The only emotion she registered now was a slight curiosity of what all had just transpired. She closed her eyes. Perhaps she had just fainted and then imagined it all as she drowned in her childhood lake.
She was about to let herself go to sleep when she felt a slight tugging at her side. The water disturbed itself around her, or perhaps she disturbed it? She didn't come to a conclusion before her head resurfaced the waters. She gasped in shock at the cold air, her body doing its job at preserving itself even as her mind gave up. She became aware of strong arms around her body as she moved through the water. Her body was limp as a rag doll as she was passed over to someone else. She was fully hit by the cold air as she was brought away from the water by a different set of strong arms. Someone laid her across a hard surface.
"Echuio, tolo govano ven" She heard a soft voice speak. Someone gripped her shoulders and a surge of energy went through her weakened body. Her eyes fluttered open to find a worried face hovering just above hers. She choked as she tried to breath and the same person propped her up into a better position. After several wet coughs she was able to breath normally. She looked around and found herself in a strange place. She had automatically noticed the forest was different. It was not her thick green pine tree forest, but a twisted dark wood that reminded her of the Everglades in Florida.
Only colder she thought with a shiver.
Deeply confused now she looked to the people around her, she knew immediately that they weren't human. It wasn't their innate beauty or pointed ears that alerted her to this fact, but something deeply human within her.
Terror welled up in her with tremendous force. Where was this strange forest with these strange people? She was beginning to realize her ordeal was not a creative fantasy of her own making, but perhaps something real. She looked desperately to each face hoping to find answers, they all appeared even more mystified than Her. Gwen's eyes finally landed on a silver haired one wearing an elaborate tunic. He was shedding his outer layer, a cloak? She had never seen a cloak in practical use. The silver haired man knelt with incredible grace in front of her and wrapped the thick cloak around her. She met his eyes as he tied the thick cloak in place, he had eyes the color of light aquamarine. She felt power rolling off of him, even in her half conscious delirious state she recognized that this forest was his domain and that everything in it was his. She decided that she wasn't ready to comprehend any more at the time and let go of all her control letting her exhaustion have her. But even in the darkness her confusion and fear followed her. And his eyes.
*the elvish was basically an order for her to join them in the waking world.
**She is an Elf she just doesn't realize it yet.
***the white deer/stag are often seen in myths and faerytales, they lead unsuspecting people into alternate worlds. Plus the name Gwen means white lady and Thranduil is represented by the Stagg so it's a perfect symbol.