Long before Ateïmber was in ruins like it was now, it was a beautiful city of light. The area it resided in was ruled by a wise and just light elf King, the noblest of all elves, it was destined to thrive. However, his one and only son, next in line to the throne, became obsessed with dark magic and destruction. Rumours flooded around of the prince being a blood elf, and people fled the city, leaving most of it abandoned.

The prince was called Aëy, and before he became the abomination he is today, he had one beautiful daughter with his equally beautiful wife.

Both are thought to have perished in a dark magic explosion, after which dark elves started roaming the area around it. The danger of these beings was so high that no one dared to come near the city. The city was left to time's harsh embrace, and it was left to rot. Centuries had turned it into a dark, dangerous area filled with only feral animals and monsters strong enough to survive the harsh weather. The city, once bright and thriving, now a ruin, tainted by black magic. The dark sludgy rain never lets up, and it gave rise to the city's new name: city of black rain. Where no one dared to venture, for Aëy was rumoured to still roam the walls.

What many didn't know is that Aëy's daughter survived, and had a daughter of her own. The necklace she had once gotten from her mother, who got it from her husband Aëy, was given to her child, who - in turn - gave it to hers'.

This half elf child was called Dan Black.

And the necklace was the one and only key to Aëy's rumoured abode, where he kept all his magic tools and scrolls.

Everyone who'd know about the key would want it in their possession, however, only a very select few knew.

And now Ella had Dan in her grasp.

----

Ella sighed as she once again entered Dan's room. This time she found him asleep, Gameboy on the floor, still playing a Pokémon battle song. Ire grew in her veins when she thought of the handheld slipping from his fingers, dropping to the ground where it could've been damaged, and without much ceremony she threw off Dan's blanket. That would teach him.

He startled awake with a gasp, and then a little scream, almost making Ella feel bad.

"Good morning, Dan! Don't worry, it's just me. The girl from yesterday that so generously lent you that Gameboy. I also came in just now, but you were probably not really paying attention."

He calmed down, still a little wary, but at least he wasn't cowering away from her. 

"That was mean of me. Did you sleep well?"

He nodded, which was probably a lie considering he barely slept at all. Ella didn't ask to actually get an honest answer, though, so this was fine.

"Ready for some breakfast? I'm sure Camille can bake some pancakes or something..."

He shook his head. "I'm not really hungry."

"Suit yourself. I do want to have a little talk to you though, so if you could get ready for the day I'll meet you in a hot minute, 'kay? It's nothing bad, don't worry."

He seemed a little apprehensive, but nodded, and got out of bed. Ella looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, taking in his features. He was short, shorter than a boy his age should be, which was even more apparent since elves were usually taller than humans. The ones she knew about at least - she hadn't met a lot of elves. Which was still more than 99% of humans could say. He had tanned skin, big baby blue eyes, and dark brown hair. Ella took note of his stumpy ears, cut off where human ears would end. A dark hatred bloomed in her chest at the sight of his bruises. He truly was better of with them than with his actual parents, even though they were likely gonna put him in a lot of danger.

"You ready?"

"Yes." he mumbled, taking a shy look up at Ella's face, who smiled at him with all the sympathetic love she possessed. It seemed to work as he shily smiled back.

They made their way through the white hallways, doors to empty rooms on all sides of them. Dan looked around, seemingly wanting to ask about things, but he remained quiet.

"We have a lot of empty rooms here, but not all of them can be used." Ella mentioned offhandedly, trying to make some small talk, and hoping to answer some questions he was seemingly afraid to ask. "There's five of us in the group. You've met Camille, she's the blonde one that gave you the Gameboy. Matt's the other one you met yesterday, the brown haired guy, we look a little alike don't you think? He's my younger brother."

Dan looked at her, seemingly eating up her words. She felt like he wasn't used to people talking to him as if he were a person. 

"Then there's Michio and Damian, they're a bit antisocial so you probably won't see them much. Don't worry about their looks, they're much nicer than they seem." not. They were probably much worse than they seemed, but they weren't the kind of people who'd go out of their way to be mean to a kid. Or maybe Damian. Yeah, Damian was probably going to be a bitch. Ella had to keep his leash short, he wasn't allowed to alienate the boy from them before they'd get to their end goal.

Speaking of which, they'd gotten to the living room. Matt was laying on a couch, eating cereal and watching television. When he saw his older sister and the guest walk in he lifted his hand, and grinned, a drop of milk escaping his lips. He quickly wiped it off, and laughed at his own stupidity, before turning his head back to the television.

"Welcome to the living room Dan, I hope you slept well," he made sure his mouth was empty when he spoke, eyes still on the screen. A rerun of some show was running, and Ella saw Dan's eyes fixed on it too. Ah, they were totally distracted by a glowing screen with moving pictures. How mundane, as if she'd ever - hey, she recognised that actor. Wasn't that.. No she had no time for this. It was time to see the necklace with her own eyes, in the daylight.

"Dan, could I ask you to show me the necklace?"

"Why?" he said, not looking away from the screen, as a matter of fact he'd moved to the couch, sitting next to Matt, who made some room for him absent minded. 

"Oh, just out of curiosity. Aren't you curious about it's meaning? I heard there's some cool engraving on it and stuff." Come on, don't be difficult now.

"Hm. There is. I'd show you..."

Oh?

"But I lost it though..."

...

Oh.

"Are... Are you serious?" Ella couldn't believe her ears. They went through all this trouble only to have the wielder and not the key?

Seriously? She was about to start yelling, but she kept her cool.

"Yes, I lost it about half a year ago. I was planning on looking for it, but my stepmom forbade me. So I thought I'd start looking the moment I got out of her sight."

Ella licked her lips, bit her tongue, closed her eyes tightly and rubbed her hand through her hair. None of it seemed to calm her down.

"Any idea where you lost it?"

"Hm..." his answer was slow, he was distracted by the action happening on screen.

"Dan!"

He flinched out of his concentration, and quickly shook his head.

"N-no, I'm sorry ma'am! Please don't be mad!"

"I'm... not mad. It's okay, don't worry. We'll help you look."

She needed fresh air, asap, before she'd start screaming.

She needed to contact Liz, no, Akana, no, both.

"Ah, fuck." Ella groaned, as she stepped outside, taking in the cool morning air. It was early spring, and the  nights were still cold, the air stinging her lungs. The forest around her was silent, calming her down. Okay, time for a little change of plans.

First Akana needed to know- she was easiest to contact.

How'd she do this again... Ella closed her eyes, searching her mind for the door, the link she had to Akana. Akana was a strange being, she came to her once in a dream, all dark and fire and passion, bringing with her an aura that almost suffocated her. After their initial meeting that Ella had no way of just calling a dream; it being too real, Akana had often spoken to her in her mind. First it had startled Ella greatly, thinking she'd finally lost it (and who knows, maybe she had), but before long she'd gotten used to Akana's feral voice in her mind.

Contact had come from Akana at first, but it was until a little later that Ella found she could contact the other as well. 

Okay, she needed to focus. Focusssss. Focus.

"What are you doing? Taking a shit?" suddenly came a raw voice cutting through her thoughts. It worked!

"Don't be rude, you know contacting you doesn't come natural to me."

"Which is stupid, considering our bond."

Akana's voice sounded weird, a little slurred, a little muffled, but Ella didn't pay it much attention. She had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Akana, I have bad news-"

"So do I. Leave the hideout immediately, you're in bigger danger than you can face right now."

"... it really is that bad, huh."

"Sure is."

"How much time do we have?"

"None. I was planning to contact you first, but... something... came in between." she let out a laugh, and Ella shivered. Akana really did sound different from usual. It was odd, and made goosebumps form on her skin. Especially now that the gravity of the situation caught up to her. They'd made enemies with Nibori. She'd known there was a big possibility. I mean it was probably the reason Michio joined up with them in the first place, considering their... less than ideal relationship. He had already warned her yesterday night.

Well, no time to think, they needed to...

The sound of a snapping twig came from the bushes near her, and she dashed inside, locking the door behind her.

Akana had warned her too late. Whoever was sent after them... they were already here.