After receiving the message, Lady Daephennya appeared at the edge of the forest along with her most loyal vassals.

The wizard was waiting there, lying against the trunk of a tree. His red tunic was threadbare and scorched. Traces of sweat covered his face, and he was breathing with one hand on his chest as if each inhalation hurt.

“My lady... Daephennya,” Eldrin stretched out his hand as if waiting for the elf to hold out her hand to let him kiss it, but she never allowed it. That was an annoying habit of his, but the wizard always accepted her refusal, perhaps because he held out hope that one day she would grant him such an honor.

But that would never happen.

With a single glance, her vassals turned away to let them speak alone.

“Forgive me for not standing up, but I have walked all the way from the lake on my own. Your amulet has saved me... Too bad I can no longer use it.”

The wizard was referring to an amulet that she had given him in payment for his services. That one in particular had the attribute of turning the bearer invisible. She had told him that it would be the only one he would receive for the moment, and that he should use it in case of extreme necessity, which seemed to be the case.

“You have failed,” said the elf.

The wizard winced.

“I have followed my lady's instructions to the letter. However, an unforeseen circumstance has arisen.”

She said nothing, and waited.

“Everything was going as you had said. Lady Olivia discovered her father's secret, she was at her most vulnerable moment, which I took advantage of to appear, and convince her to leave with me.

“And what did Alaric do?”

“He could do nothing. It was his own daughter, my Lady, who confronted me.”

Eldrin went on to describe to her the girl's transformation, and how difficult it had been to fend off those fireball attacks made of pure energy. He had never seen anything like it in his life. No human wizard was capable of handling energy like that. His shields had barely managed to protect him, and his attacks were nothing more than mere breezes of wind in the face of the girl's power.

After hearing this, the elf remained in deep thought. She didn't like to accept it, but she had failed too.

“It has begun.”

“My lady?”

“It was not supposed to activate on its own.”

“My lady I don't understand. Did you know?”

She should never have handed her over to her father, but not doing so would have unleashed a conflict before its time, something she wanted to avoid at all costs. A half-human baby in Serenity Glade would be impossible to hide. Only her most loyal vassals were aware of it, while she had to watch out for the rest of her subjects among whom a spy of her brothers could always be found. That was why she had taken such great care to see that Olivia never crossed beyond the boundaries of the forest. Although Alaric had done most of the work for her by keeping her protected in the castle as much as possible.

“I thought I had more time,” the elf curved her lips upward as if the idea amused her. “A miscalculation. Now everything will depend on them.”

“Them? Is anyone else involved?”

“You could say so,” she sighed in boredom, again she must wait. “You overestimated her affection for you. I am disappointed. You told me you were her mentor, almost like a second father to her.”

That seemed to annoy the wizard.

“My Lady had a chance to capture her, and she wasted it.”

“She had to believe she had her mother on her side.”

“Let me disagree with you. Just because you gave her life doesn't mean she can become fond of you, at least not for now.”

The elf did not reply, but her blonde eyebrows rose.

“You wanted revenge on Alaric,” the wizard continued, “for choosing the sirenian over you.”

Those violet eyes darkened. The leaves of the trees shook, and the edges of the elf's dress lifted as a torrent of wind blew through the trees. The sunlight was fading, as if the treetops were closing overhead.

“Beware, wizard, my race granted power to your people, and just as easily it can be taken away. It is only a matter of will.

“Not without first confronting your brothers. I am your only ally at this time.”

In front of her, Eldrin's feet were left shaking in the air while the wizard held his hands to his neck as if trying to free himself from invisible hands that were trying to strangle him.Even the mightiest of the masters was nothing against the power of an elf, but they could do nothing because of the Dragon's curse that kept them locked in the forest.

Five hundred years ago they had proved it to them. After settling their first settlements on the coast, the humans decided to expand inland without knowing that sooner or later they would come across the ancient Great Forest where the elves lived. They soon began to destroy the forest and to cut down trees as if they were plucking flowers from the grass.

At that time, she reigned along with her twin brothers, Phrondyr and Narthoss, with whom she went to the place of the attack to meet that new race whose essence was so familiar to them. After studying them from afar, they discovered that they possessed both the blood of the nymph Nemertyss and the giant Yorgad, both disappeared so many centuries ago. Because of this, they feared that they could not defend themselves for fear of suffering the consequences of the Dragon's curse.

Dhaephennya went to the court of the Elementals, but since the extinction of the giants, these beings had made a vow not to interfere any more in conflicts that occurred between the races, even more if they had a part of giant blood.

She felt furious, and did not mind risking punishment from the Dragon. She fought the invaders, and when she saw that nothing happened to her she continued to drive them out of the forest. She would never forget how close she felt to losing her immortality. After capturing one of them and studying his Code, she understood that they were free of the curse, and perhaps that is why they were defenseless to her attacks.

Peace returned to the forest but not for long. When the humans realized that the elves could not abandon it, they launched an attack with incendiary projectiles that plunged the Great Forest into chaos. The Elementals helped put out the fire, but still did not want to attack the humans, and advised the elves to make peace with the newcomers, just as the sirenians had begun to do. For their part, the chimeras, who, unlike the other races, roamed the realm freely, made no attempt at approach. To the humans, they were no more than ordinary animals, and knew how to hide from them without a fight. Nor did they feel any desire to help the elves, their former enemies.The elves, therefore, were alone and none of their supposed fellow races were willing to help them.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

That event divided the siblings. The twins wanted to make peace by giving the humans a gift to show their good will, while Daephennya wanted to continue to hold out. She could not understand her brothers' thinking in the face of these invaders.

Still, it was two against one. A message was sent to the humans They were asked to choose five members of their own who would be received by the elves in Serenity Glade to be trained in the reading and manipulation of the Ethereal Codes, a power that their ancestors the giants mastered as well as the elves.

The humans must have been wary, but the offer was too seductive. They did not want to miss the chance. They sent five of their strongest warriors who for several years lived with the elves, and received their teachings until they became the first wizards of Terrarkana.The five wizards returned home telling wonders of the elves, but this also resulted in the birth of the five families that would rival the power of the same ruler who had already founded the city of Nemertya. For a while, they were busy in their own political quarrels, and did not bother the other races.

Of course, the elves never granted them all their knowledge, only a part of it. Enough to build and grow the human cities, which multiplied like mushrooms all over Terrarkana, while they fought against each other, removing and crowning kings at the same speed with which they were expanding. Their power, however, never surpassed the one of their benefactors and the five families knew that very well and thanks to them the attacks against the forest ceased.

That power struggle between wizards and common humans kept them busy for a while. In the meantime, Daephennya began to understand the advantage of the situation. If humans could attack the rest of the races then she could use them.

She wanted revenge. The giants were gone, it was no longer necessary to go against them. The Blue Dragon, after killing her grandfather, and causing her parents to die during the Great Flood, was still hiding in her lake. The Elementals were too powerful to confront for the time being, and the sirenians were on good terms with the humans from the beginning.

But the case of the chimeras was different.

Once the unification of the human kingdom was achieved, and the royal family whose descendants reigned at present consolidated power, Daephennya took it upon herself to send them information about an elusive race that inhabited Terrarkana without any of them even knowing they existed. She convinced them that by hunting these magical beings they could gain unparalleled power.

And it worked. What Daephennya had failed to do with her own hands, she had accomplished through that most manipulable of races. She did not succeed in making the chimeras extinct, but their numbers had dwindled to insignificance.

When her brothers found out what she had done, the Great Forest, as it had been known until then, disappeared, and was divided into three smaller territories. She became the Lady of the Whispering Forest, while Phrondyr became the Lord of the Memory Forest, and Narthoss the Lord of the Mirror Forest. What the elves called the Breach was created. It was a free space between both factions of the forest, whose trees withered to the point of disappearing altogether, and where years later the castle of Shadowrock would be built by the first Guardian of the Circle, Alaric's great-grandfather.

She had accomplished all that, and now this pathetic wizard had the audacity to show arrogance in front of her. She had the power to kill him. She was even curious about the act itself. But an elf did not soil his hands with blood. That was the task of servants, like those cowardly traitors who inhabited the island.

But even if she could kill him, she still needed him. Pathetic as he was, he professed blind loyalty to her, and he was her only connection to the human realm and the royal family.

So she dropped him to the ground. The wind died down, and light once again crept through the branches of the trees. After standing for a moment panting, his hand still on his injured neck, Eldrin said to her:

“My time... is not the same as yours.... For years... I have obeyed your every command... I have supported you faithfully... but my life is ending unlike yours.”

The human was getting impatient. That was always the problem with them.

“Your obedience will be rewarded,” Daephennya said without looking at him. “There is nothing you can do now if the whole kingdom is looking for you. My vassals will help you heal your wounds. We cannot take you to Serenity Glade, your presence might arouse suspicion, but I can offer you potions that will stop your aging.”

“Thank you, my Lady!” still lying on the ground, the old man lowered his head until his forehead touched the grass. “Thank you, thank you! Once I recover, I will take it upon myself to fetch your daughter, even if I have to cross the whole earth!”

How easy it was, Daephennya thought. It was true that elves could stop aging, but not forever. Nothing could change the nature of a living being, unless it was an Alchemist, and the only one that existed was sleeping at the bottom of the lake.

Her vassals returned to take care of the wizard. Daephennya turned away from them to wander alone in the forest. The whole thing was giving her a headache. She came to a small space between the trees, and with a movement of her hands the trees moved closer together until they formed a wall around her. Then she sat down on the ground, and with her head in contact with the bark, she closed her eyes and felt her senses expand like the explosion of lightning in all directions. Now the forest and she became one consciousness.

Worms burrowed in the earth near their roots, flying insects buzzed among the branches, birds searched for food among their eggs or guarded their nests, deer grazed among the trees and ran away at the slightest movement, the breeze caressed their leaves, bees rested on the flowers, the sun passed over the forest and fell again on the horizon to let the sky open like a colorful curtain to reveal a starry mantle. At dawn, a couple of daring hunters went deeper than allowed, and she sent them a family of ogres who had to interrupt their games at the request of the Lady of the Forest who asked them to go and scare them. She also wanted to have fun with them, letting her voice slip through the branches like a ghost but someone prevented her.

“My lady,” a whisper from behind the trees made her consciousness recede, and she was once again contained inside her own head. As she parted the trees that concealed her, Daephennya came upon an female elf carrying a wooden box inside which she knew to contain a mirror.

“How long?”

“It's been four days.”

That was nothing. If she wished, she could have been in that state for months, but it wasn't the time. There was too much to do.

Her vassal placed the box on a fallen log, and stepped back.

Daephennya lifted the top, and pulled out the mirror.

“Narthoss.”

On the surface of the object, a face similar to hers, though male, appeared.

“Sister... out of Serenity Glade again?”

“The whole forest belongs to me.”

“You've kept me waiting long enough.”

“You sound like a human. You've been in contact with them too much. So have Phrondyr.”

His violet eyes kept staring at her.

“The rivers have brought me the news. Someone has attacked the Lake Tribe.”

“Who?”

“It seems to have been a wizard.”

“History repeats itself again.”

He smirked.

“This particular wizard is the Master Leader of the Order of Shadowrock, near your territory.”

“Also from Phrondyr's, in case you forgot.”

“Our brother does not hate humans.”

“I don't hate them either.”

“Then my concerns are unfounded. That's a relief. There is one other thing, though.”

“What's that?”

Her brother let out a chuckle.

“For the Lady of Whispers... you don't know much.”

“You are speaking to your older sister.”

“Older only by a mere seventy years... You really don't know what I mean?”

“How could I?”

“The Count's daughter.”

Daephennya let out a weary sigh.

“That's what you meant. Yes, the Count was here a few weeks ago, looking for her.”

“And you weren't able to find her?”

“Only if she was inside the forest, which she was not. She must have fled along the roads.”

Narthoss fell silent again for a few seconds before continuing:

“A new war threatens us.”

“A war between humans.”

“And our sirenian friends”

This time it was Daephennya who let out a delicate chuckle.

“You suprise me, Narthoss.”

“It was the sirenians who rescued us from the flood.”

“Sirenians created by the same Dragon that caused it. But I'll say no more, there's no point in discussing it with either of you.”

“If we find ourselves on different sides again, sister, this time we won't be so kind to you.”

“Will you risk crossing the Breach? Our brother too?”

“I can't speak for Phrondyr, but I do know that he wants to keep the balance between the races as much as I do. If I have to make the decision, I will. I have lived long enough.”

“I do not wish to listen to you anymore. You are a disgrace.”

With a wave of her hand, Daephennya dissolved the image of her brother's face, and put the mirror back in the box.

“Die as a human, if that's what you want. I still haven't had enough.”