The bright sun rose majestically as she leaned on the damp wooden railing of the massive ship gazing over the glistening ocean. Lielay sighed and rested her hands under her delicate chin. From behind in the shadows a pair of eyes watched her every move; Lielay was unaware of its presence. The exotic city of Firiona Vie lay upon the horizon and Lielay squealed with excitement and jumped up. The mysterious shadow behind her arose and began to move to where Lielay's small body stood.

"You sure are excited about Firiona Vie, aren't you? Your first time here?" he also leaned against the wood railing.

"Yes, this is my first time here, and I think it's all right to be excited." The male she spoke to was a wood elf, like herself.

"Well, yeah, almost everyone gets excited about Firiona Vie, there are people in that city that will amaze you for years to come." He ran his fingers through his short, dark red hair.

"I just wish this boat would move faster and get to the docks so I can get off." She sighed.

"Don't worry you'll have plenty of time to tour the city." He laughed.

"I'm not going to tour the city, I'm an explorer, and I explore, not tour." Lielay said hotly as she threw her long silky brown hair out of her face.

"Whoa, sorry. My mistake, I apologize."

The wind increased and the large boat moved with intense speed. The city was almost upon them as a small group of human women came out from a cabin and giggled childishly. Lielay rolled her eyes at them and bent down to pick up her packs. The elf watched her slim figure bend and straighten.

"Now I see why they call this boat the Maiden's Voyager, Please excuse me, my fair elven faerie." He kissed her hand and walked off.

"What a strange elf." Lielay muttered to herself as she shook her head and walked down the loading ramp.

The Maiden's Voyager pulled into the docks and the crewmembers tied ropes to the dock. Lielay ran down the ramp and jumped onto the sturdy planks of wood. The group of humans passes her as she turned around to ask the wood elf, she was talking to earlier, whom he was. When she turned a swift breeze blew her hair in her face, blocking her view, the elf was gone. Shrugging her shoulders she hauled her packs up and walked into the city. The sunlight poured down and shimmered on the well-worn cobblestone pathways. Everywhere there were strange people of all different races and cultures. Lielay's head turned in every direction trying to see everything at once as she followed a group of people to the bank. When she got to the bank, Lielay pushed her way through the throng until she got to a free banker. Replacing her many bags of supplies, Lielay took out a large moneybag.

Walking around the town Lielay clutched her moneybag as the coins bounced noisily around. She walked in and out of stores buying what she needed and some items she didn't need. She sometimes stood staring at street performers swallow fire, knifes, and whatever else they could get their hands on, acrobats perform near-impossible stunts, and mages, enchanters, and druids conjure up simple spells. Down one street Lielay accidentally dropped her money; she automatically stooped down to pick it up. From behind something bumped into her. Straightening up quickly, Lielay looked around. There was nothing, all the people she saw were not close enough to have bumped her. A cold chill ran down her spine and Lielay felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Quickening her pace, Lielay hurried into a large group of people listening to a female halfling tell an adventurous story.

After finishing her shopping and browsing, Lielay returned to the bank. Her moneybag was much lighter as she handed it to the tired banker. She grabbed her sword and numerous bags from the banker and placed them between her legs. The sword was sheathed in a delicate case of masterly crafted designs; it hung off her belt loosely. The banker started a conversation as she packed her things more efficiently with all the new supplies.

"May I ask where you are headed, Milady?" the banker asked.

"To Lake of Ill Omen, I wish to explore that area." Lielay smiled.

"You're going past the dracnids!" the banker gasped and clutched his thin neck.

"Dracnids?"

"They are hideous spider creatures that attack anyone that enters their territory."

"Are there a lot out there?" she asked nervously.

"I don't know, they like to hide and they attack at random." He shuttered. "Well, hope you make it to the lake safely and with speed."

Lielay walked away from the bank with terror building in her mind. The conversation with the banker was informative, but the thought of dracnids was terrifying. Slowly she made her way to the long bridge that lead out of the city to Lake of Ill Omen. Lielay passed an armed guard at the end of the bridge and watched him disappear as she walked over a large hill. Besides the thought of dracnids all around her, the scenery outside the protective walls of the city was beautiful. Trees tall as the eye can see wavered in the breeze, the river water that connected to the ocean and the lake, sparkled crystal clear. A huge statue of an ancient inhabitant or legendary hero stood above a waterfall, which waters fell into Firiona Vie. Lielay was well up the river when she heard a cluster of leaves and twigs breaking behind her. Again it was nothing as Lielay spun around to check, she quivered and hurried on. Still looking behind her, Lielay didn't see the huge dracnid that stood in front of her; she rammed into it and fell to the ground.

Feeling light-headed, Lielay slowly looked up. "Gods, that's a dracnid!" Lielay, still on the ground started to move backwards.

The dracnid had the bottom half of a spider and the torso, head, and arms of a human. In all, the dracnids have eight legs and two arms, and they all frightened Lielay. Its skin was a dull gray, but an exotic red was splattered on its many legs. This dracnid was a male and his evil eyes bore onto Lielay, he advanced on her. "Well, well, well, look what I found." The dracnid sneered as he grabbed Lielay's arms.

"Let me go or else you'll be sorry." She squirmed around.

"No I don't think so, I will enjoy having wood elf for a meal."

Tears swelled into her forest green eyes as she tried again to free herself from the dracnid's grasps. All hope seemed to trickle away like the river's water when the wood elf from the ship came out of nowhere with his palm and sword raised. Magical mana surged in his hand and a flame enveloped the dracnid. It screamed in agony, letting go of Lielay's arm in the meantime. Lielay got up fast and ran over to the elf. Another spell hit the dracnid and it started to scuttle over to the two beings.

"Run!" the elf yelled at Lielay as he shoved her arm.

"No! It's my problem!" Lielay unsheathed her sword, raised her palm, and shoved back.

The two wood elves ran to the monster and began to hack away at its many legs. One claw got Lielay on the shoulder painfully, it broke the skin and spilled blood; she backed away a few steps. She began to murmur spells as the elf sliced and cut into the dracnid rapidly. The dracnid's body fell to the ground, twitched and stopped moving. The elf came closer to the corpse and kicked it to see if it was dead; it was.

He turned to Lielay and smiled. "You all right?" he asked. "Be careful you could be poisoned."

"Yes, thanks. I'm a druid, I can heal myself." She had a bit of an attitude.

"I'm also a druid." He grinned wider, ignoring her tone of voice.

"How did you know where I was?" the flesh on Lielay's arm began to come together.

"I umm....well....I was following you with invisibility on. I'm sorry." He blushed.

"I thought someone was following me!" she paused, "Why?"

"I was interested in you, I mean your young, full of energy, adventurous, I couldn't help myself."

"So you followed me?" she crossed her arms. "And I'm not that young."

"Yes, I followed and you look very young to me." He covered his boyish grin.

"Well...Nevermind. Thanks again, I must be going now. Good-bye."

"Wait, where are you going?" He stopped her by grabbing her hand.

"Lake of Ill Omen." Lielay took her hand away from his.

"Really? Me too. Say, why don't we go together? You can explore and I can protect you because you seem to need it." He stepped closer.

"I don't know." Lielay said uneasily.

"I won't attack you. I promise." He bowed gracefully. "If at anytime I make you uneasy you can tell me and I'll leave."

"Well...sure I don't mind." She smiled, "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Lielay Liltreehuggr."

"I'm Albain. Albain Tinderblade."