All Alone

Arislan woke up suddenly, sweat on his forehead and a chill down his spine and then he understood… it was all a dream, well a nightmare. He tried to remember the source of his anguish with only images of his half-sister Veldra.

This was not a good sign as he had had no contact with her since his escape from the chaotic island of the elves, Evermeet. That day he was not looking at his younger sibling but at his love, at his forbidden love Estelle, a gold elf of such beauty and kindness that he fell in love with her the second she smiled at him. The problem with this was that she was of the gold elf family that overthrew the Moonflower dynasty that fateful day.

That was not the only problem. He and his family had lived in Evermeet for generations since the greatest elf-queen of all time Amlaruil had allowed all elf friends and half elves to live and visit the island of elves and the gold elves had disliked the idea ever since.

Gold elves believed in the superiority of elves, and especially of gold elves, over all other races in Faerun. Quite a few of them left with Lamruil to a more greener island in the north to start a new kingdom while others had thought it best to meet their creator in Arvandor than to move away. Those who stayed started to plot…

Millennia after millennia had passed since then and the magic of Mystra had disappeared and with her, the power of the moon elves. This had lead to gold elves gaining power and control over Evermeet and later to the coop against the Moonflower family and the genocide of all those who were not full elves.

Arislan Dhalahad sighed; he was now on the other side of Faerun, far away from his beloved in Evermeet and from his sister whom he had no idea where she was.

Veldra had been the result of the union of his father and a moon elf, whom he met after the death of Arislan's mother. Even though this was rare it was not unheard of. It was said that the Dhalahad family had always been joined to the elves in spirit more than any other elf-friend families, taking spouses from the elven kin. Rumors had it that elven blood flowed through those vein stornger than human, for even though they were mortal, they were long-lived among the elf-friend families.

She had her mother's misty grey eyes and, even at the young age of seven, would challenge everyone at anything with a smile on her face, just like their father. She was quick to laugh and play. And now… where would she be? Was she still alive? Will she survive where she is? Would she remember the brother who did not remember to get back home on time? Will she forgive him?

Ten years had passed since he first set his eyes on the burning rubble that was his house. But he could still remember what he felt as a youngster of fourteen staring at the mangled body of his once tall and proud father. He could still remember how someone took his hand and forced him into a ship, to leave the island forever, never to set eyes on his sister or lover again. He could still feel his tears burning his cheeks as he thought what he would do with no family, friends or money in the outlandish coastal town of Daggersford. He was alone.

He was later informed by a very reputable drunk that he was rescued by a half-elf. This nameless person gave the drunk a few gold coins to give him a bed for a week and a horse for this young man's travels. The drunk also told Arislan that this mysterious figure had mentioned that his sister had been captured by the new royal family, the Nimesins.

Estelle's family…

Arislan took the horse four days after he reached Daggersford and traveled north to Waterdeep, a city a shadow of its former glory where his only abilities were determination and wit. He was also a good ranger, but that was in his homeland where he knew the land and the animals like the back of his hand. He had to be careful and relearn all his skills to be able to survive in this hostile land. Here he did not know the edible from the poisonous.

He was hired, after many days, by a pompous lord who would send people to the deepest parts of this world to find lost artifacts of times gone when Mystra's magic was still in this land. He found quickly that he was good at finding pieces of the lost era that had contained magic, even in this strange land, and rose through the ranks until he was the first captain of a large fleet of mercenaries and treasure hunters.

His exodus from Evermeet had been ten winters ago and still the nightmare that had troubled him the night he knew of Veldra's capture haunted him even now. His nightmare was about the Nimesins doing foul things to her sister, innocent Veldra, to find out everything she knew about elf-friends, or just torturing her because she was not of pure blood. Not good enough.

While this was taking place Estelle would just be there, not stopping the agony of his sibling. Just looking at his sister as the rest of the Nimesins tortured her. The light of the candle-lit room playing on the contrasting faces of his sister and of her kidnapers: Moon elf versus Gold elf, the Moon face versus that golden one, Veldra versus Estelle. Estelle, his love from his past life… and then… she would change! Her body would contort to release that body of a demon of such evil that he would wake up every morning, sweat pouring down his forehead and reaching for his dagger feeling more tired than if he had rode all that night.

He heard clear steps moving towards his room, then a knock at the door with further steps leaving his room door. He decided he would go to the door and see if he could catch up with whoever had decided to come to knock at his door and then leave and give that person a good talk to about the importance of sleep. Instead he stooped down to find a piece of paper with a single sentence: "To Almorel you must go to find the Catalyst" the note did not have anything else but a word on the reverse of the paper, a word so little used now: "Elf-friend".

"Where is this place?" Arislan thought. During these ten years he had visited much of Faerun and had read many maps to know which ones were place names and which ones were not and he knew that that name was not of any town, city or village in Faerun.

He knew only one person with more knowledge about maps than him. During these ten years he had only told one person about elf-friends and how he was one and now he was going to talk to him.

The Voyage