Darkness thrives in the void...

An overcast blocked the sun from shining as it set which meant that nothing would stop him from his current goal. Chains forged from darkness wrapped around the dragon’s limbs and wings to keep it from fleeing. Still, the majestic creature put up a fight with its constant thrashing and breathing of fire. It had been eons since he encountered a foe with so much raw power. Regardless, the demon still had inhuman speed on his side, which put him at a great advantage. 

Markus tugged tightly on the chains, finally getting a bit of leverage on the beast. If he could just get on its back it would have no choice but to accept him; at least that is what the tales often said. Seryth’s founder had been so involved with the battle that he didn’t even notice the appearance of an elf. Just as he launched himself into the air above the dragon’s neck, thunder clapped across the sky and turbulent winds ripped Markus from his target. 

She roared into the skies; the boisterous clap of thunder carrying her voice for miles.

The air thickened, chortling around their frames with ease. there'yonder it whistled, tickling branches and grass; meshing together to form the gusts that hurled toward the apprehended manifestation of darkness. Thelandria watched in turgid curiosity whilst nature's weapons acted against something unnatural. She looked toward the sky; demure, and infuriated whips of lightening rained down upon them ------ as if a response from the goddess.

Thelandria made for the protection of a large tree. In preparation for what was to come she unclasped the shawl around her shoulders and removed the circlet from her head. If she were to have battle ancient treasures were to be spared.

   Unsurprisingly, the dragon fanned wings of true strength to hover amidst the skies.

❝You have shown kindness where he has not. brace yourself and no harm shall come.❞

Thelandria hid behind the tree. She knew too well what was to come to pass; she had seen it in the past. A dragon's greatest asset and most dangerous defense was a breath wreathed in flame. It killed faster than the hottest magma, the coldest waters. However, what most did not understand was that a dragon's fire was also life and rebirth. If only given a chance instead of hunted it could be used to create instead of destroy. Such a revelation invoked empathy from the elf, for she was old enough to remember a time when her people, too, were harmless beings of life, energy, and essence in its purest form. The elves, too, were hunted and forced to embrace a darkness that forced purity from their essence. Although insurmountable, Thelandria has sought a new age for her people in which they could enjoy a world without greed, violence, and vice ------- a world, in many ways, like their old home. She closed her eyes at the thought and in anticipation of what was about to occur.

The dragon's body gleamed a bright orange before a river of fire begat the lakes, funneled toward the demon. For a moment the light of the sun was brought back to them the dragon's fire shone so bright.

Concerned that the grass and trees were scorned by dragonfire, the elf's fingers irked to use water to save them. What she witnessed, however, was another plight of nature and a happy ending. No fires burned upon the verdure, nay, embers of blue withered into nothing. The fire was not always destruction, the dragon was not there to destroy nature; the dragon was there to bring its assailant to his knees. Quickly, she darted for the lake, watching the demon and the dragon tangle.

It was late in the day and Elwynn had locked himself up in the library again. Calliope had come to him around 8 in the morning and he had understood little of what she told him. His eyes were busy studying ancient scrolls and when he did such things his mind wandered and paid no attention to the world. Callie knew this, and she had left him a note knowing he listened to half of what she had said.He eventually came around to read it. “I’m going out with a hunting parting.” were the only words. Elwynn didn’t need more to know she meant human hunting.

The library was his sanctum, his refuge from the world. He had let loose three elves not long ago, and they had been declared as killed, shoved off some cliff some said. They had been brutal with them and it’s the fate they had all expected of them. It saved Elwynn a lot of worry, but he worried still as he would always. His books took his mind of such things. Sometimes it was nice to forget about the world.

This time though it was magic spells. Caden had come and visited once more, a visit Elwynn was not to forget, specially not how Caden’s lips had felt on his. Thinking of it made Elwynn smirk to himself. He had made the warlock a promise; to find a spell or potion, anything that could turn him permanently into a man. It had been night upon night, day upon day, and Elwynn was still searching through dust and scribbles lefts from eons ago. Maybe I should look in the Naga scrolls… The lotus sutra they Chinese called it was an ancient text with all the Naga secrets. Elwynn got angry and frustrated with himself. You bloody fool! He shoved everything aside and ran to the end of a hall and grabbed everything Naga related. The princess…

                                That was two-hundred years ago.

A darkness stirred in the west. Whether or not it would prove an insurmountable threat was not clear to Thelandria, but she had an intimate rapport with the vast ignorance of the world. Wicked and wrathful, it devoured all in its wake until it left naught but barren wastelands. In the shadows fire crackled, the winds whistled a beauteous melody of devastation, and the earth crumbled to reveal lava and miasma. The darkness hesitated not to force every one beneath heel. Thus, Thelandria's inclination to protect the City of Fern burgeoned brighter than the light of Eärendil.

            Thus, the attos was en route to Calliope; leader of the armies of Fern.

Although she sensed Calliope's absence, Thelandria entered her home with grace. There was another inside whom the attos waited patiently to see. ❝I am aware you are here.❞ She said knowingly, irises of pure cerulean spilling over the door to the library.

With water from the stream Thelandria filled the basin to the brim, and breathed on it, and when the water was still again she spoke. ❝Here is the Mirror of Valimar,❞ she said. ❝I have brought you here so that you may look in it, if you will.❞

The air was very still, and the dell was dark, and the Elf-lady beside him was tall and pale. ❝What shall we look for, and what shall we see?❞ asked Azil, filled with awe.

"I am not a slave. In the most basic sense, I am your equal. I am the guest of Calliope and she is the head of the guard. She protects me." He hoped she wouldn’t slap him again. He kept her gaze, not backing down. He wouldn’t let her push him around. He was Calliope’s friend and she wouldn’t want him to back down from someone that attacked him.

"She is teaching me magic. She is helping me find the limits of my abilities as a warlock." He kept staring at the elf. Her eyes were the bluest eyes he had ever seen, almost unnaturally so. Her hair was long, even longer than Calliope’s hair and it had been the longest hair he had seen in a long while. He thought of Elwynn who believed in Caden so much, so much that he swore to help Caden find a way to turn his body for good. He had friends here, friends that wouldn’t tolerate him being abused like this.

                 Caden's words hammered at Thelandria's composure.

It wasn't until he spoke about being an equal that something broke within the elf. Irises of sinewy sapphire emblazoned, ticked by the assertion that a man was the equal of a female; much less that of the attos of Fern. Nay, men were ravishers, desecrators, ill-prepared for vestige and flawed beyond their own comprehension. The Goddesses would have women take stead where men were prone to fail. Thus, men were at proper station at the heel of their female counterparts; their superior counterparts. In Thelandria's eyes that dynamic held true in every regard.

                 Men were to think nothing of themselves!

       With a great deal of force Thelandria shoved the warlock onto the ground.

❝Nothing can protect you from I. Do you see, human?❞ Shot a dark response. Her voice sounded as if a myriad of other voices were behind it. Ominously, Thelandria kneeled and grasped Caden's neck, tightening hold as she lifted him.

❝You witness the attos of Fern. I lead the people of these lands upon which you have trespassed. Behold! —— and forsake the grievance you have made!❞

She glimpsed the pleading desperation in his eyes as clear as the rising sun. Such a reaction was the sort the attos expected upon welcoming him into her presence. Such a reaction was proper for a man. Thelandria squeezed tighter and that time his racing heartbeat thumped against her fingertips. Once more the elf peered into those squinted hazels and saw a glint.

                                 Calliope came to mind.

       Thelandria released Caden as if he were the soil beneath her heel.

    The eldest elves are remembered to have the ability to control, generate, and absorb water. Stemming from the ancient power to manipulate the weather, elves who develop such an ability may move and shape bodies of water to their desire based on their skill level. If trained properly, those blessed with it may cause massive destruction to that which surrounds them. Water manipulators may bend liquids to serve as a weapon, and may even begin to breach the surface of other powers, such as ice and extended weather manipulation.

     In her one-hundredth trillionage the Goddesses vested in Thelandria the gift of hydrokinesis. It manifested in a different light than the ability to call upon the storms. To call upon the storms were to dictate the high winds and the sacred earth. Water, she decided, was a gift seldom were given. She trained with members of the guard that specialized in elemental magick. Persistent, it took no shortage of time but by transferring the mastery by which she called upon the ferocious winds during a storm to the swish and sway of water, Thelandria found that she could mesh evenly with its majesty. 

     There are weaknesses to such an ability. It can not be called upon absent the presence of water. Since water manifested in separato from weather manipulation, Thelandria cannot precipitate rain should a storm be called upon. 

Things For Sale In The House | Elvish Pipe

A gift given to him by a caravan of Elves he had traveled with on their way to Athoria in a show of solidarity, the Elvish pipe that sits in Titus’ house is the same pipe rumored to have been used by a great Attos. It dates back to before the Faerie & Elf war, and is told to be sanctified with the heart of their goddess of earth, Sutahatg.

MATERIALS USED

Made with various types of woods and blessed minerals not of this realm, Titus can’t remember what the names were of everything that was used in creating it. But he was promised that since it was once a pipe belonging to an Attos, and whittled in the name of Sutahatg, it could not have been made with anything dull or basic.

INFUSED WITH

THE BLESSINGS OF SUTAHATG (modest protection spell)

ITEM QUALITY

He had began his exploration by walking along the street where her home was located, walking up and down the street. There were women everywhere, merchants, civilians, soldiers, it was like being in Jeddah. It was a city that pulsed with life, it thrived. He tried to keep Calliope’s words in mind as he walked through the crowds.

He wore the clothing she had given him, the color was a deep rich green. He could see that his clothing was indeed better than the clothing of every male elf that walked around him. He could feel a light breeze through his hair, he had decided not to wear his kufiyyah and ghutra while walking through the city. While he was clearly an outsider, he didn’t want to appear to be too much of an outsider.

Talking another pathway, he found himself in nature, surrounded by trees. He walked along the path easily. There was still some snow on the ground, but it had mainly melted. The city seemed to be in eternally good weather. If there was a paradise on Earth, its name would be Fern. He was sure of that.

He stopped when he walked across another elf. She was ethereally beautiful. He didn’t quite meet her eyes as she asked what he was doing in Fern. From her tone, he was pretty sure that she was a high ranking elf.

"My lady, I am not here unannounced. I am the student of Calliope. She told me that I could see the city today while she is busy." Calliope had told him that if anyone bothered him about anything, she would take care of it. He glanced up at the elf, looking her over. She was taller, even taller than he was and he was tall by anyone’s standards. Her hair was the color of the moon and her eyes the ocean. He wasn’t sure about the etiquette that he should use. Normally he would ask her name but she might be offended at that because he was a man.

——— She struck him, mightily, across the face with the back of her hand. Though bone was struck, Thelandria's arm reflexively bound back to her side.

❝Tell me, human, may you be so bold?❞ Came a haughty retort; pensive whilst the attos studied the man diligently, and with care.

Only, Thelandria noticed a tinge tethered to him seen once before upon someone she would call friend. A man, he was, but limited not preternaturally as other men were. The man of her memory could call upon the great eagles. Engulfed in a storm's mighty and inescapable grasp he could summon the sun and see that it shone effervescently upon the mountainside. For a split second she wondered if this man shared his ability. By extension, she wondered, could he share his wisdom and restraint?

                                In the next, Thelandria shoved that possibility from care.

Calliope's name left the man's lips not a few moments past. That was of a particular concern to Thelandria. She could think of no reason for her captain of the guard to keep fealty a strange human. No, no reason at all. What would calliope have to teach a man? Thelandria looked to Caden, piercing and wrathful, malevolent and collected.

The star of Eärendil, referred to by elves of elder days as Eärendilmir, has spawned the realms of the world since beginning-less time. With an age unknown; uncontestably older than recorded time, Eärendil witnessed the creation of the world as it is known, and has long-since fended off the darkness that lingers there'yonder. 

                                Protecting the true creatures of light. 

Vessels of starlight, communion with the morning and evening star is a quality the elves have found too valuable to abandon, or take for granted. When engulfed by unwavering darkness, it is with starlight that an elf glows brighter than any ray of the sun. The light sustains itself until the darkness recedes.