Year 479, two great kingdoms, Caerno and Naeron, are engaged in a bloody war. Near the border on the Naeron side lies the Elven town of Valentia, where the wife of the chief who is currently fighting at the front, Vestele, has given birth.
"Veste! Veste!" Saelwen, her aunt, burst into the room where Vestele was giving birth. "Veste, are you alright?!"
Vestele looked at her aunt with tired eyes.
"Aunt Sael... you’re back already?" she slowly adjusted the pillow under her head.
"As soon as I heard you were in labor, I dropped everything and returned as quickly as possible." Saying this, she sat down on the chair next to the bed.
Suddenly, the cry of a baby... or rather, babies could be heard. A young midwife entered the room, carrying two infants in her arms.
"Twins?!" Saelwen stood up from the chair and approached the midwife.
"Nieven and Sylleth..." Vestele quietly uttered the names of the children.
Saelwen took one of the babies in her arms, slowly rocking it. The baby stopped crying and then opened its eyes... the first person it saw was its aunt, a white-haired elf with a fierce-looking scar on her neck, yet with a very kind expression on her face.
"I wonder how you will tell them apart." Saelwen said with a slight smile on her face, slowly rocking the infant.
"The one you are holding is Sylleth." Vestele replied in a weakened voice. "He has a little mole under his eye."
"He looks very much like his father." Saelwen said, handing the baby to his mother.
A soft smile appears on Vestele's face.
"I hope he hasn't inherited his hot-tempered nature." She says while rocking the baby slightly.
As soon as Vestele looked back at Saelwen, she was already holding the other twin, gently rocking him and quietly humming an old lullaby.
"They're so cute..." She said with a genuine smile on her face.
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A few years after the twins were born, they are both 9 years old now. Nieven has perfectly found his way wielding a sword, which looking at his hot-tempered and energetic nature, suited him perfectly. On the other hand, Sylleth was calm and shy; he spent his days reading books and helping his mother and aunt with simple chores.
One day, while Nieven was practicing his swordmanship with Saelwen and Vestele was outside the village, meeting her husband, Sylleth, as usual, was reading a book in his favorite spot: on the tree that is lying in the glade behind the house.
Suddenly his attention was drawn to a small animal, staring at him. Sylleth descended to one of the lower branches, approaching the animal, whose fur was white, and its eyes had two different colors, yellow and pink, the pink eye looked like a gem. As soon as Sylleth descended on the ground, the animal rushed back to the forest. Shortly after, Sylleth heard a loud crash, followed by his brother's scream, and immediately ran back home. He burst into the house through the back door, then dashed through the room resembling a living room, to finally burst out through the front door, to see Nieven with a bleeding wound on his hand, trees destroyed around, and Saelwen sitting on the ground.
When everyone calmed down, Saelwen explained that Nieven subconsciously used magic, the excess of which caused the injury to his hand.
Next few years Nieven spent training his magic together with Saelwen.
In the meantime, the war between the two kingdoms was decided by Naeron's defeat. The Kingdom of Naeron lost most of its people and territories, not to mention money, which also made the inhabitants poorer. This led to the emergence of the so-called "slave hunter groups" which attacked smaller villages, taking their inhabitants as slaves and selling them in the capital.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"Hey Sylleth!" Nieven called out to his brother from outside. - Come practice swordmanship with me!
Sylleth opened the window of his room and leaned out.
"I told you I'm not interested in it!" the boy shouted with annoyance.
"Then what will you do all day? Read books?" Nieven asked his brother, already knowing the answer.
"As a matter of fact, Aunt Sael gave me this book, so I have to read it before she returns." Sylleth closed the window, sat at the table, and continued reading.
After several minutes, or perhaps an hour, screams could be heard outside. Sylleth thought his brother was trying to annoy him again, but when he opened the window, he saw...
"S-Slave hunters..." Sylleth's face turned pale as he watched people setting fire to houses and gathering all the residents on the main road.
His body refused to move, although he knew that if he didn't act, he would meet the same fate as the others. Then he noticed his brother kneeling in the crowd. He couldn't see his expression, but he knew he was scared for his life. At that moment, one of the hunters noticed him.
"Hey, there's another one!" He shouted, pointing at the window where the boy was watching.
Sylleth shook himself and ran out of the house, into the backyard, which couldn't be seen from the main road, but a few of the hunters followed him. Tears started flowing from his eyes as he ran as fast as he could, until he reached the nearby forest: Austeria. where he decided to hide.
Sylleth ran into the forest under the pressure of the thugs chasing him.
"Run! Run! Run!" He was screaming in his mind, while tears were streaming from his eyes.
The group of hunters ran after him, shouting something to each other. Sylleth ran as fast as he could, when suddenly he tripped over a tree branch, something grabbed his leg and pulled him into a hole under a tree.
"Wha-" before Sylleth could finish speaking, the person who pulled him in covered his mouth.
"Be quiet -" The stranger whispered.
The hunters were getting closer, the stranger covered the entrance to the hole with bushes. For a split second, Sylleth could notice that the stranger was actually a girl with short grey hair. The stranger crouched down under the bushes, covering the entrance to the hole.
"Damn it, we lost him!" shouted one of the hunters from outside.
One of them, dressed in leather armor and a tattoo covering his arm stood next to the tree under which Sylleth and the stranger were hiding, and then shouted with a hoarse voice.
"Alright, let's go back! We still need to find that runaway demi-human!"
After a few minutes, the voices of the hunters died down, and the stranger approached Sylleth.
"What's your name?" she asked with curiosity, tilting her head slightly to the side.
"Sylleth, and you?" the boy asked in a calm voice, wiping away tears.
The stranger extended her hand towards the boy.
"I'm Shalyn" She said, then smiled faintly.
The sun rays gently illuminated Shalyn's neck, where there were... gills? Sylleth looked at Shalyn's neck, she blushed slightly and covered it, after a moment the boy started.
"You..." Sylleth couldn't even force out a word.
"I'm a runaway... that's what those hunters called me, they attacked my village and somehow I managed to escape" Shalyn visibly saddened, but after a few seconds she shook it off and asked. "Why were they chasing you?"
"For the same reason... they attacked my village and c-captured my brother" Sylleth barely held back tears.
Suddenly, one of the bushes slipped from the entrance to the hole, revealing the beautiful dark blue sky.
"Come with me" saying this, Shalyn grabbed Sylleth's hand and led him to the surface "I intend to head to Drevale or some other city, join the adventurer's guild to earn money and ransom my family" Shalyn's voice reveals how scared she is, yet at the same time how determined she is "Would you like to be my companion? I'm sure that together we'll save everyone!" Shalyn smiled widely.
Sylleth looked at his new companion and replied.
"I-I'm in! "
"Then let's go, there's no time to lose, the hunters may be nearby" Said Shalyn, pushing through the bushes.
After a few hours of traveling and attempting to get to know each other better, the sun slowly disappears behind the horizon, and the sky changes color from blue to orange. Sylleth followed Shalyn slowly. After a few more minutes of walking, the sun finally hid behind the horizon, and our duo traveled in complete darkness.
"Aren't you afraid of the dark?" Sylleth asked with a slightly trembling voice.
"Not at all" Shalyn replied confidently. "Are you?"
"N-No." He responded visibly scared.
"Stay close, or you'll get lost." Shalyn said, then grabbed Sylleth's hand.
"Alright... " He said with a slightly embarrassed voice.
After some time, they stopped near a small lake; the moonlight illuminated a small space between the lake and the completely dark forest. Shalyn sat down under one of the trees, looked at Sylleth, and said.
"Shall we stop here for a moment?" Shalyn asked in a tired voice.
Sylleth sat down beside her and then replied.
"Yeah... I'm a bit tired" He looked at Shalyn, who seemed to be sleeping "Shalyn?" He asked with a tired voice.
No response other than a soft snore.
"She fell asleep" He thought and then closed his eyes, falling into the darkness.