Ch.3. Lire
Elven Forest, the dwelling place of elves, could not be called by its name anymore. It was destroyed, by both physical and magical attacks. Of course, the one behind it was the Dark Lady, Kaze'aze.
Lire had seen the Dark Lady only once before. The black queen could be called beautiful, but in a terrible kind of way. To a human, the beautiful side might not even have been seen.
Four years ago, Kaze'aze visited the forest for conference. She wanted the elves on her side, planning a war against the humans. The elves were the creatures of wisdom, she said. They must know that the humans were disgusting, even cruel, creatures.
The elves did not agree. They claimed that humans were creatures of improvement, and that they should be given a chance. In reverse, they tried to persuade the Black Queen into helping the humans see the light.
Lire had also been there, as she was the daughter of the chieftain of the Eruyell tribe. In other words, she was a princess. However, she was not actually inside the conference building. She was outside, practicing her skills with the bow. After what seemed like an hour of lone practice, she heard some footsteps. The footsteps were not from anyone she knew, but from a silver-haired boy, who wore light-blue clothing. While approaching Lire, he through a small black kunai knife– not at the blonde elf girl, but at the target the girl was trying to hit for a few minutes – and it pierced the middle of the target.
Surprised, the blonde elf girl stared at the punctured target for a few seconds, and smiled at the unfamiliar boy. The boy did not smile back. Feeling awkward, the elfin girl quickly turned around, and continued her training.
"We are leaving, Lass. It seems they do not share our beliefs."
The cold voice that came out of nowhere surprised her, and forced Lire to turn back with curiosity. That was the moment when she first saw the black Queen.
"Yes, my lady."
The silver-haired boy called Lass stared at Lire for a few more seconds, and walked away.
Noticing the elf girl for the first time, the black Queen studied Lire for a few seconds.
Lire could not do anything but stand still. When she tried to move, she found that her body was quiet paralyzed. The Dark Lady's cold eyes froze the young elf girl. In effect, the girl could not do anything but stare back at the Queen.
After a few moments of the continued silence, the queen took her gaze off of Lire, and grinned lightly at her.
"I am sure we will meet again someday, young warrior."
Her statement surprised Lire. They had never seen each other before. After the queen left, Lire stood gasping for breaths for a few seconds, and started running toward where Kaze'aze has gone.
"Wa…..Wait!"
Lire shouted out, but it was too late. The queen and the silver-haired boy named Lass had already disappeared. All Lire could do was stare at the direction they went, and shrug.
For three years after the visiting of the Dark Queen, the elves of Elven Forest lived in continuing peace.
But that was only until they were invaded by Kaze'aze.
Lire now stood over a pile of ash that was once the Guardian Tree of the forest. With shining tears trickling down her face, she muttered few words.
"Why…?"
She wiped her eyes.
"Why did it have to be like this?"
The war between the elves and the monsters was still going on. Of course, the elves were of a much higher level in terms of abilities, but the monsters – the monsters had no limit in numbers. They just kept on coming, no matter how many the elves killed. Eventually, the elves tired out and fell one by one.
"Damned monsters….."
Lire's yellow eyes blazed with anger. It was Kaze'aze, the monster, who had caused all this.
Behind her, a large Orc roared, and approached Lire at lightning fast speed, snapping its jaw at her. However, Lire did not even look back, as she punctured a hole in the monster's head with an arrow.
Then, she too, started shooting with the others at the monsters. One arrow was enough for each monster for the young warrior. She was slaying enough of the monsters to make a pool of blood. Before she knew it, she was covered in a mixture of blood and sweat. When the wave of the monsters seemed to decrease, she looked around to see how many of the elf warriors had fallen, and was shocked to see that only thirteen, including her, remained.
"Run!"
Lire's father, the chieftain, shouted at the survivors. However, the survivors did not budge, and shook their heads. One of them, Vizale, a male elf warrior, voiced the opinions of the survivors.
"We will fight with you, honorable one, and die fighting with you."
"What of my daughter, then? Who will keep her safe?"
Lire was shocked that she was hearing this from her father, and tried to protest.
"Father, no! I too wish to fig-"
She was cut off in mid-sentence by a loud roar. The huge roar filled the forest, one so fear-inciting that the remaining elves had to cover their ears.
From the gorge, a terrifying red dragon emerged from the abyss. Behold, it was Red Gorgos, the legendary cursed creature said to have the power to destroy a town in mere seconds.
The elves were too shocked to do anything. What was a legendary creature doing at Elven Forest? Unfortunately, Red Gorgos did not give the elves any time to plan anything. With another great roar, the dragon slowly breathed in, and after a short pause, sent out a blast of liquid flame.
The level of the flames was too strong – even for the elves – to be handled without planning. The first six elves close to the dragon could not even scream as they vaporized. It was about to reach Lire, when her father quickly ran over in front of her and took action.
"Aqua Shield!"
The eldest elf shouted, a blue rune appearing in front of his left hand, blocking the flames.
"Vizale!"
At the call, Vizale instantly came forth and was about to kneel in front of the elder, when –
"Just take my daughter and get her out of danger!"
"But, Honor-"
The elder cut him off, his voice cracking with the strain of talking and holding a magic spell at the same time.
"This is my last order! Heed it!"
Reluctantly, the warrior tried to take Lire by her hand, but she pushed him off.
"Father, No! I -"
The old warrior collapsed, with the flames still burning his rune shield, and groaned out his last words.
"Vizale, please….."
The young male elf's face hardened. Picking up Lire by force, Vizale ran towards the exit of the forest.
"No! Let me go!"
Lire cried out as she hit Vizale's back with her fists – however, with no avail.
"Let me down!"
The elf girl was sobbing as she was yelling now, and she continued to punch the male elf's back as strong as she could.
"I'm sorry, princess."
With that, he sent a light chop on Lire's neck, causing her to faint.
However, the cruelty of the world did not stop for Vizale.
The monsters surrounded them– the smell of blood seeming to have attracted them. Vizale took out his knife, and sneered at the savages.
"You want it? Come get it."
He slashed and slashed and slashed – using only his left hand. Even while he was killing the monsters, he managed to advance towards the end of the forest. After a few hours of the fight, the monsters coming at him slowly ended their attack, realizing that they had no chance against the elf.
After he made sure that no monsters could be found, he laid the princess down gently under a tree, and decided to take a rest – when a gorgon bit his stomach. The miniature dragon bit into the side of Vizale's stomach, wounding it worse. Vizale took his knife back out, and cut the animal's throat. Even then, the vile monster did not let go, but bit harder. Vizale had to slash several more times to make it get off him.
Vizale collapsed near the tree where Lire slept, his final gaze on the elfin princess. He smiled, even while knowing that the princess would never return his smile, and managed to mutter his final words.
"I have finished my duty, Elder….."
Lire woke up with a start.
"Wha..? Where…?"
The last day was a daze for her, as she was put into sleep without even being asked her opinion. Her yellow, confused eyes looked around slowly to check her surroundings. Then she suddenly remembered the Red Gorgos, and instinctively reached her back for her bow and arrows. She looked around in panic when she realized that they were not there. Her head went up, left, right, then down….. Her eyes then stopped dead on a motionless figure.
"…..Vizale?"
Then it all came back to her. Her father's death, the warrior running, carrying her…..
However, the warrior was now lying with his back on the ground, his eyes staring aimlessly at the night sky.
Lire knew what was wrong with the male warrior, but she did not want to acknowledge it, did not want to accept the truth…..
"…..Vizale? It's time to wake up. You shouldn't sleep so much….."
The elfin girl looked at the warrior's wounded stomach, and then at his face.
"…..Vizale?"
No…..He can't be…..He can't be….. The blonde elf girl thought, denying the truth that lay in front of her.
"…..Wake up….."
She crawled towards him, and saw that his eyes were still opened. Softly, she used her hands to close them.
As she felt tears streaming down her cheeks, she wished for the first time in her life that it was raining.
