I lay on the floor of the Inner Sanctum of the Ruins of the Ancients -the room which had served as my torture chamber for the last two years. I lay there, catching my breath and soaked in sweat. I had finally done it. I had finally beaten the Black Elf, Laxaris.
The room was large and circular with a high, domed ceiling. In the center was a circular platform with elvin runes carved into the stone. The room was magnificent. It was carved out of the heart of Sol Mountain -the legendary mountain that housed the Primordial Elves.
Damn that whore queen and Laxaris for desecrating such a sacred temple with their black magic.
"Damn them all," I panted.
My body was so weak. My magic was depleted and it hurt so badly to move. Two years of constant demonic torture had really done a number on me. But I had survived and it was time to get moving. Time to get to Torin.
Torin. I had heard his voice through Laxaris's magic. I knew the queen had lied. I knew Torin could not be killed by the likes of her. He was alive, and I had to find him.
I slowly and painfully rose to a seated position. I placed my head between my knees to staunch my nausea. I sat there for a moment, gaining my composure.
"Baby steps," I panted.
Finally, cautiously, I rose to my feet. The room spun for a moment, but I forced myself to stay upright.
I only had a few hours before the queen returned. I had to be out of this mountain and the surrounding Blazing Wood by then. I limped as briskly as I could to the chamber entrance. With Laxaris dead, all of his magic was disabled from the temple, meaning I was free to waltz out in all of my stumbling, half-dead glory.
I imagined the queen's face when she discovered I had escaped. I laughed for the first time in two years. I laughed long and hard as I walked out of that horrid chamber with renewed spirit.
••••
Sol Mountain was riddled with mazes of tunnels criss-crossing and zig-zagging every which way. The Primordials had designed it this way to confuse invaders. At the beginning of my two year imprisonment, I had spent every waking moment using my earth magic to communicate with the mountain and the spirits of the Primordials who, even in death, still call their beloved mountain home. Eventually, I earned the trust of not only the spirits, but also the mountain itself. They taught me the secrets of the mountain tunnels in exchange for my promise to purify the mountain of the black magic once my strength was restored.
Thanks to this, finding my way out of the mountain was easy enough -getting my body to move as fast as I needed was an entirely different story.
"Come on," I grunted as I limped down one of the passages. I walked with my hand against the wall for support as I pleaded with my body to move faster. I was so close to being out. An hour had passed since I left the chamber, and I had only a fourth of the way to go until I was out of the mountain.
Elves have an affinity with light, and because of this, have deep connections with bodies of light such as fire, the sun, the moon, and the stars. My instincts told me the light of the moon and stars shone upon the mountain at that moment.
"Perfect," I smiled to myself.
The night would give me good cover for my escape, and, unlike most elves, my connection to the moon was stronger than my connection to the other light bodies. Stalking through the night was my specialty. Torin, who was also a Lunar Elf, had taught me how to conquer any enemy under the light of the moon.
As I rounded the next bend of the cool, dark mountain tunnel, I saw the moon's gentle light come through the small crevice at the end of the tunnel.
I hurried my gait, so eager to breathe the fresh air, to see the sky and feel the cool wind on my skin. Too long had it been since I last felt the comfort of the wilderness.
I hobbled and stumbled on loose rocks as sweat broke out on my brow and the crevice became closer.
Finally, my hand grazed the crevice's edge, and I squeezed my way through. The crevice was enchanted to hide itself from the outside and was also obscured by the vegetation growing along the outside of the mountain. I emerged from the rock and bushes and froze.
The night landscape was the most beautiful thing I ever remembered seeing. The moon was full and bright, and I felt the sing of her magic as it revitalized me slowly. The breeze kissed my dampened skin, and my lungs filled with it's sweetness. I watched the trees sway in the valley below, and heard the rustling of little creatures in the surrounding forest.
Tears pricked my eyes. It had been so long, too long, since I was able to gaze upon my beloved land. I looked up at the moon to keep those tears from falling. This was not the time for weakness.
I turned around and patted the side of the mountain reverently.
"Thank you. I promise to return to purify you," I whispered to the ancient home of my ancestors.
I felt the sing of the mountain's magic run through my arm and smiled.
I began to walk southwest through the Blazing Wood towards one of the many safehouses Torin and I use. We have them scattered all over Lorvehlin, even in the Dark Kingdoms, though we use those much less than the ones in the Light Kingdoms.
The trek was slow going and painful, but I felt the moon's magic restoring a small amount of my strength as I pushed through the dense forest.
The Blazing Wood is a vast and ancient forest. The trees are thick and tall, and their leaves are ever red, orange, and gold- never changing their fiery hue. The roots are large, and some rest on the surface, which made hiking through stealthily difficult in my weakened state.
Some of the fiercer beasts of the Light Kingdoms chose this wood as their home millenia ago when the ancients had died out, and the younger generations had begun preferring to avoid the ancient parts of our lands.
The magic in the ancient lands is old and powerful, and many of the people among the light races fear such magic. Torin and I have always been different though; we enjoy the ancient magics, most likely because we ourselves have magic just as powerful as the Primordials did.
Since I was so weakened, I had to be careful as I trudged through the thick brush not to disturb any beasts that may be lurking. Also, the queen would soon send her hounds after me, so stealth was the most important thing at that moment.
Luckily, I was downwind of the mountain, which would make it more difficult for the horrendous beasts to track me. As I continued my trek, quietly navigating over the many large roots, I listened for the sounds of life in the forest around me. I could hear the rustling of little creatures in the bushes, and the singing of the air creatures above. As long as I heard these sounds, I was safe. If it stopped, the queen's beasts were surely loose.
I found a stream and walked down the muddy bank to step into it. The cool water caressed my clammy skin as I waded down the current and continued to listen for danger. The water was so clear, it reflected the moon's beauty like a looking glass. I decided to continue my journey by walking downstream in the water. This would help to cover my scent, and this stream came close to my destination.
After some time of traveling this way, the moon's magic had restored me enough that I was no longer a hobbling mess, but I was still much too weak to take on any large threat. My biggest weapon in this state was my stealth, and I was using it as much as my body could manage. I did not know exactly how long I had been traveling, but by the moon's position, I could guess it had been a couple of hours. I was running out of time. This part of the stream was just deep enough for me to swim, which would be faster and quieter than wading. I swam quickly and quietly for the next several minutes. I still had a ways to go until I reached the safehouse, however.
I stopped suddenly when I heard a familiar howl off in the distance, followed by others. A wave of angry magic exploded through the forest, and I ducked back under the water long enough for it to pass over me without detection. When I resurfaced, the forest was silent.
I rushed out of the water, up the bank, and into one of the giant trees as more howls erupted. I jumped from tree branch to tree branch, desperate to stay off the ground. Time was up. The hunt had begun.
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