Chapter 3: The Pariah from the Tree Village of Outcasts.
Like most Bosmer, Gilraen hailed from Valenwood, however that is where the similarity ends. Gilraen knew very little about Valenwood itself, she was born into a remote village which seemed strange to her at times but she never questioned it through her time she spent there. The village what she came to know as home was called Galad Caras, "Tree Village" in common tongue. In some sense, Galad Caras was a village but not that of any land dweller would be used to, anyone else would mistake it for a large expanse of forest since the Wood Elves used the trees for their lodgings, many of the trees were hollowed out at high distances to keep outsiders out, light coloured wood was used around the hollowed entrance to create a base floor up high in the gigantic trees. Cracks could be seen in the ancient wood, local Bosmer used the same coloured wooden planks to overlay large holes that could present danger.
Spiralled staircases made from the same lightwood rooted its self around the trees heading down to the ground level. The staircase laid host to all sorts of native ivy hiding it to the naked eye.
Bamboo bridges were made to connect the wooden circular bases, making the mass of trees into a honeycombed complex. Along the bridges one could only see the canopy of branched green shooting off to all corners of the un-travelled forest. Even above, leafs from gigantic trees blocked the glaring sunshine; only to allow beams of light to come through. Flies native to the forest could be seen vividly through the beams of light, reflecting off fluorescent dark-green flashes for a temporary second.
When Gilraen was bored she tended to walk outside from her small house to the bridges and watched leafs that fell from the trees as they gyrated on their way down. It amused her as they travelled slowly to the ground floor, she very rarely noticed but normally the locals of Galad Caras watched her; it's not every day you see a person tranced by falling leafs. People were generally shocked that she didn't fall from the bridge rope, Gilraen always lent excessively close towards falling point, she leaned on her left elbow, using her right hand to play with her long dark brown hair, rotating her finger as she brought it through, this was probably why she had curly hair.
All the bridges of Galad Caras eventually centred to the largest tree in the never-ending forest; this is where the Elder had lived for as long as people can care to remember. Gilraen had only been to the Elders tree on two occasions, one was the recognition of the village as all children have to once they're born into the village, Gilraen was unable to picture any thoughts of the recognition. The other was to become the village hunter; Gilraen always came back with some form of trophy or food, possibly the best hunter for Galad Caras. But there were concerns about how Gilraen was always successful. Maybe she had the gift? The locals feared this; her continuing detachment to the social structure of Galad Caras made people suspicious, supporting their fears.
Despite their fears, the people of Galad Caras respected Gilraen as a hunter, mainly because of her exploits. Her most known was the slaying of a rampaging Lycanthrope; a werewolf. The disturbances were only in the forests it never got to the village itself nevertheless people needed to go down to the forest for food and supplies. It started off with people feeling like they were being watched, soon after rumers of a gigantic wolf were spreading like wildfire. Then there were attacks.
Gilraen remembered that day well.
A local Bosmer ran across the bridge heading towards the Elders tree, the sounds of his ferocious running could be heard throughout the village, the wooden bridge beneath his feet swayed side to side yet he would not slow down. He was injured; four scratches torn his tattered badge-coloured shirt, blood stained the shirt as it dripped down his shoulder. The Bosmer held his right hand over the scratch through a reaction of pain.
The injured Bosmer finally reached the giant hollowed-out hole revealing a large room, there was little to see. The room was mostly shrouded in shadow, he could make out it was dome shaped, he saw a hole - a window perhaps; allowing light to come in the hollowed-out hole. The beam of light coming through the window revealed a chair in the center of the gigantic dome-shaped hole. The chair was no normal chair it was too big; it was like a throne. In this throne sat an aged Bosmer, to the left was a guard who wore a suit of golden Elven armor.
"Elder! Elder... There... There's a..." The injured Bosmer was lost for words, pain overcame his ability to make coherent sense.
"Calm yourself, peasant!" The guards' voice boomed through the dome-shaped room. The Bosmer stumbled and tried to calm himself, the pain in his arm grew worse with time.
"I apologise, sir... I was attacked, by a rampant beast. I am unsure of what it was, but I believe it to be a wolf of some kind."
There was a stale silence in the air. Before the Elder was hidden shadow but as he leant towards the guard, the window light highlighted his meter long beard; it was pure white and pointed towards his chest. One side of the Elders face could be seen, it was not wrinkled through age which was odd since he has been here since the birth of Galad Caras. Instead his skin was smooth. An eye lash was seen sticking out; like an owls lash but longer, again the hair was pure white. It appeared that the Elder had given instructions to the guard but the Bosmer failed to hear a word from the Elder. The guard nodded and walked up to the injured Bosmer.
"You should have the village alchemist to have a look at that scratch; it looks deep." The guard placed his arm on the Bosmer's shoulder in a calming manner. "My orders are to post village guard near the entrances to Galad Caras. We will put a stop to this."
The injured Bosmer walked out of the tree dome, bits of ivy were seeping over the entrance he ducked his head and used his hand to move the ivy out of they way, he then walked off to one of many bridges. The Elven guard walked towards the Elder.
"Maybe we should have a hunter to dispose of the wolf, sire."
Gilraen was sleeping through the commotion, she had never dreamt before, normally her mind was a blank when she slept. But that time, it was different. Gilraen had a hard time keeping the dream in focus. Gilraen pictured a blue pulsating cloud, an aura. It flashed inwards and outwards, flashing blue streaks into the white expanse. Something happened, something wrong. The blue expanse began to shrink, a red streak of light burst through the blue aura pointing west. Shards of light from the blue aura flew into the white expanse and disintegrated. Another burst from the east, two more from north and south. The four streaks of red light began to grow in width and length it slowly absorbed the blue aura. The blue aura appeared to be drawn into the center of the mass of colours, like a black hole except it replaced blue with red. The colours seemed to merge together creating a void. The dominance of the blue was soon non-existent, only a red aura was left pulsating. It started to spread into the white expanse until all she could see was red.
"Gilraen." The voice seemed to echo, she was unable to place the origin. Echoed footsteps were heard, soon after it felt like a earthquake was pin-pointed on her arm. "Gilraen wake..."
Gilraen woke up with a male Bosmer in her hands, he was choking unable to breathe. She struggled to let go, it was like they were magnetized to the neck. She eventually pulled herself from the Bosmer, taking a step back to support herself from pulling away.
"By the nine...!" The Bosmer cleared his throat, wrapping his hand to rub his sore neck. "... Are you insane?!"
"..." Gilraen was more concerned about the dream. From never having dreams to disturbing images was quite shocking.
"This is the last time I visit you when you're sleeping." The Bosmer obviously trying to recollect what he was suppose to say, his experience bewildered him. He then clicked his fingers a moment later. "That's it... You're suppose to go see the Elder's defender, he needs to see you... Something about a wolf problem."