Story: The Forgotten

Large, wide violet-blue eyes stared out into the space before them, unfocused and unseeing of what was really around them; these eyes looked back into the past, a memory caught up in a nightmare daydream. With each passing moment, the eyes grew wider with fear and shame, tears slowly building up within them.


Bone white hair hung loosely down to thin shoulders, long strands hung over large violet-blue eyes that were set into a delicate face. It had been almost impossible to tell if the child were male or female when one looked only at these features, it was only when the child was entirely naked that one could finally know the child was in fact a boy.

He had huddled in the corner of his room, clad only in a dirty tunic, eyes wide with fear. His large, strong father was shouting at him, cursing his angelic beauty with words the boy barely understood - all he truly understood was that his father was angry again.

Whenever his father was angry, all the boy knew was pain.

It wasn't long before the large man reached down and grasp the boy by his arms, hauling him up even as the child gave a small sound of terror. As he continued his curses, the man shook his son violently, making it hard for the boy to breath which caused him to cough; with a roar, his father threw him across the room, and the boy hit the stone wall and felt the first burst of pain as a large bruise exploded down his arm and side.

Disoriented, the boy slumped to the ground, but before he could get his bearings, his father reached down and pulled him up by the back of his neck. Reflexively, his legs kicked as his feet left the ground, earning him another violent throw against the side of his bed. He hit the edge of his bed with his stomache, the wind knocked out of him before his father's heavy hand fell against his backside.

"I'm not here," he thought desperately, "I'm not here, this isn't happening!"

With each blow to his back that his father dealth, the child chanted the same mantra over and over in his mind until he no longer felt the painful strikes; he'd retreated into his mind, imagining a bright city made of white stones and magic, surrounded by unending seas of green grass.

One of the coercers his father had rented him out to had taught him how to do that, though he was so young it was difficult for him to do so quickly. Unlike the other women of society his father had sent him to, this one had not caressed his body or forced him to caress theirs, instead she had told him a secret that he held to dearly.

Though his mind was elsewhere, the boy's body spasmed with each strike, deep violet bruises exploding and deepening all over his back. His frightened, unfocused eyes cried tears that stained his pale cheeks, his voice a ragged scream between labored breaths - none of it affects his father, the man only stopping once his rage is spent.

Straightening his tunic, the man stormed out of the room, leaving the boy to cry himself to sleep.


Tears rolled down the young boy's cheeks, streaking over the orange and purple markings tattooed to his light skin. His eyes were still large, still distant as he stared out over the waters surrounding the Queen's Colonies - lost in haunted daydreams.



The young boy never slept well - his body was always tense, thin fingers gripping the fabric of the sheets, small sounds of fear and anxiety escaping his lips. His body would be cold, so cold, but he'd be covered in a fine sheen of sweat...

...he knew nothing but nightmares in the darkness...


Over the months, the beatings became more focused as his father discovered that the women of Freeport, despite their sadistic natures, were not inclined to purchase the use of a pretty boy covered in bruises. The man focused his rage only on the child's back, using mostly a lash though he still could never let go of his rage until his bare hands pummeled the child's flesh.

There were many times the boy used the trick he'd been taught - during the beatings, during the sessions with the woman who would fondle him while fondling themselves, at night when the darkness threatened to swallow him whole. As the months slipped into years, the boy spent less and less time in the harsh reality around him, choosing to instead escape to the beautiful place the coercer had created for him.

His life continued in such a manner until his tenth birthday, and then everything changed.

The coercer visited his father, as many women of society did, and arranged for a night with the boy; it would be his birthday, though his father had long forgotten that. The arrangements were made, half of the final agreed upon price paid, and one of the coercer's maids arrived on the appointed date to dress the child.

The woman brought him a fine, handspun cream silk tunic and loose grey satin pants. The shirt was a little too big for him, but she used dark chocolate brown scarves to adjust it before fitting him into a pair of black boots and fine grey gloves. The final addition was a finely crafted hat and cloak.

She took his hand, and led him through the streets of Freeport. He didn't realise she was the coercer's servant, and had already drifted off into the trace he practically lived in. The woman looked down at him with concern, knowing the look in his eyes all too well. Knowing the child's mind was elsewhere, the woman slowly dropped her illusion, becoming a small, young Kerran girl with patchy fur.

The boy wasn't aware of the world around him, but when he was sat down upon a hard wooden stool, he slowly came back from the place within his mind. Looking around, he recognised the music room - the last time he'd been here, he and the coercer had spent most of their time here; she'd taught him his secret here.

"I'm glad you could join me, Sukasa," a feminine voice echoing around the room.

He looked around the room for the coercer when he recognised her voice, but it had been much quieter years ago, at least he remembered it being such. She only allowed him a moment to search before continuing.

"I will free you from your pain, so long as you stay here, with me," her voice resonated, sounding foreign and ethereal. "We will be happy together, just the two of us, without anyone else."

The boy listened to her words, pushing the hat off of his head as he brushed the long white hair out of his eyes. He strained to hear where her voice was coming from, afraid that he was dreaming again, that he would wake up in the arms of another vile woman his father sold him to for a night.

"Are you - is this for real?" he asked, standing to look around the room again, his arms lifting up almost defensively.

A dark, quiet laughter drifted through the room, its amusement clear as day to the young boy. It seemed to come from everywhere, moving around the room in a circle as it filled the air. He spun around slowly, watching everything in case the coercer showed herself.

"Yes, Sukasa. This is very real. I am offering you exactly what you want, as long as you remain with me," she echoed.

Wide eyed with anxiety, the boy finally nodded his consent to her.

"So be it," she shouted.

Energies erupted above him, pouring down over his small form as they lifted his feet from the ground. The light was so hot, it felt like it was burning him away to nothing, almost as if it was rending his flesh from his body then melting his bones away. His screams echoed through the entire estate as the energies washed over his form, stripping the clothing away from him as it stripped him of everything he knew about the world.

Cringing in the corner, behind the piano, the small Kerran girl watched as the boy was caught up in her Mistress' power. His echoing, unnatural scream terrified her - her Mistress hadn't told her this would happen, she only said that she would save him from his father.

She didn't know her mouth was open, silently echoing his screams.


In his sleep, the boy's body tensed to an extreme, shaking violently as his small hands ripped a the fabrics until his knuckles were pure white. His whimpering turned to crying, tears falling down his marked cheeks like a violent rainstorm.



He'd gone out to the cliffside, this time alone, hoping that his friend wouldn't somehow find him. The boy's mind was filled with confusion - recent events, nightmares, things people in taverns were saying - everything was just adding up and he finally couldn't take it anymore. He had to get away to just think.

Unfortunately, his mind had a hard time focusing on things for too long, always retreating away from the world and his problems...always inviting in the waking nightmares. His violet-blue eyes slowly unfocused, widening as things played out in his mind.


The room was circular, made of the typical dark grey granite that most places in Freeport were made of. This room was far below a circular tower, deep in the earth where there was nothing but muffled silence; no one could find him here, as illusions and chicanery covered the doorway leading to this place. He was left entirely alone in the dark cold, becoming pale and emaciated as the weeks passed...but he didn't know that.

In his mind, the boy was in a lush, green field filled with prismatic rainbows that gently filtered down from the azure blue skies. The field stretched all the way to the edge of a clifface, where sandstone rock watched over rolling azure blue seas. Off in the distance was a white, glimmering castle, but for some reason, the boy wished to just stay in the field or on the cliffside.

It didn't take long for the boy to loose track of the days. He never slept, only drifted slightly for a few sparse hours after many hours of wakefulness; he played for hours at a time, dancing with the rainbows or practicing his spells or finding new ones. Sometimes, a little Kerran girl would come dance with him, or a small calico cat would curl up with him in his few hours of drifting.

He wouldn't question his life for a very long time...

Outside of the boy's mind, his body hung suspended in the air, arms extended out to their sides, feet dangling in the empty space between himself and the floor; he was mostly naked, a pair of ragged pants covering most of his hips and legs. His body was experimented on though largely his mind was experimented upon as well. The little Kerran girl had been tasked by her Mistress to monitor the boy and run several of the experiments that didn't require the coercer's power. Sometimes the mysterious dark elven woman would attend to them herself, but not often enough for the Kerran's liking.

Several of the experiments involved various potions, spells or charms of immortality on the boy while others were more attempts to alter his appearance. One experiment early on created a humunculus of the child, which was used to convince his father that the child had been in a terrible accident and was now an invalid that needed to be researched by the Academy of Arcane Sciences. This left the child somewhat...smaller than before, his bone structure even more delicate than before.

Several years later, the Kerran girl was carefully tattooing deep orange and purple markings on the boy's skin with an enchanted ink. It was supposed to keep him locked away in his mind withouth the use of the extravagent wards and statues, but as the Kerra finished the last marking, the boy's violet-blue eyes slowly opened.

For a long moment, they stared at each other, neither blinking. The boy shivered in the cold, feeling the real world for the first time in nearly two and a half years. It startled the Kerra, and she quickly looked around the room; her mistress was gone but she never could quite believe that she wasn't being watched.

The boy slowly dropped to the ground, and the nervous Kerra motioned for him to follow her. They walked up the long, spiralling stone stairs until they found themselves at the top - a wall greeted them, cold and unmoving. Without hesitation, the Kerra kept walking, vanishing into the wall while the boy paused to stare in shock. After a moment, the Kerra slipped half way back through the wall, and pulled the boy through.

Several times, the boy tried to speak, only to find himself frustratingly silent. The feline merely sighed and shook her head, leading him through several elaborate rooms until she finally stopped before some sort of wardrobe, opening its doors. While the boy stared wide eyed at all the clothing, the Kerra pawed through several different fabrics before pulling out a white thick silk robe with gold trim, holding it out to the boy.

Once he was dressed, the Kerra pointed towards the door, knowing his questions that he couldn't ask her verbally. Hesitantly, the boy took a step forward and turned back to the Kerran girl, hand extending out in a silent gesture, asking her to come with him.

The girl just shook her head and backed away, vanishing through another doorway. After a long, silent moment, the boy continued walking, slipping out the large doors once he finally reached them...


At first, the boy had been shaking in terror, his body tense and clammy again. As the nightmare danced past him, leaving just him and the Kerra together and them him alone, he finally released his iron grip from his staff. Eventually, his eyes focused on the water again, and once more his mind thought of his friend and the strange woman who had unsettled them...



He stared at the fire in the hearth, eyes glossy and distant. It was late in the Mythic, so late he was alone save for the bartender and a single waitress, and neither noticed his faint shaking, his light sheen of sweat.


The streets were dirty, covered with a fine layer of dirt and sand, worn by time and the elements, grey and black with time and evil. The houses loomed over the small boy, like learing monsters, tall and jagged against the black stormy skies; he didn't know where he was, only that he felt...afraid.

Several times, burly guards passed him, glaring down at the boy as if he didn't belong there. Each time, the boy stared at them without blinking before turning and running away, the men just laughing at him roughly. Everything was so much bigger, so much...darker than he was - the young and pale Feir'dal clad in white was entirely out of place.

From the shadows of an alleyway, a ratonga with sharp features slipped into the boy's path, looking at the child with a toothy, cold grin. He held two long, sharp daggers of fine quality, snicking them together once for show, sparks erupting from the motion. The boy startled back, arm raising defensively between himself and the ratonga.

"Looksies what's I's found," he chittered, "Pretty lil' girlie-girl, she'll pad me purses well, won't she's!"

The child turned to run, only to find the ratonga there before him again. Frightened, the child screamed and tried to run again, each time faced with the same ratonga's sinister grin. The ratonga enjoyed this game, letting the boy run several times before lunging for him.

Before the rat could lash his blade across the child's flesh, lightning arched across the metal towards the ratonga's hand, causing him to drop the blade as his fur nearly caught fire. The child fell backward away from him, hands before his face to block his eyes from the flashing light.

Another bolt struck the ratonga, and chittering a stream of curses, the rat retreated back into the alley; after a moment, a pathetic squeaking squeal was heard from the darkness.

It took several more minutes for the boy to lower both his arms and stand again, peering towards the darkness for a moment, turning to look for someone that could have controlled the lightning.

"Sukasa, you've been very bad," her voice echoed through the night, piercing his thoughts, causing him to curl up in fear again. "What did I tell you? Do you remember...that I will take away your pain if you remain with me?"

From the stairs beside him, the little Kerran girl appeared, sighing gently as she watched him. She took a step forward only to have a cold bolt strike near her paws, forcing her to stop. Frowning, she looked back at the boy, eyes angry and sad all at once.

When the boy did not answer, energies erupted above him, washing down over him entirely. His body and soul afire once again, the boy screamed and writhed as he was lifted off the pavement, back arching from tensing muscles, arms stretching backward slightly with them. The fine robe ripped away from his skin, evaporating before it fell far, his hair falling from its bindings to dance on the vorpal winds.

The Kerra stared up in horror at the boy, watching his body being ripped into light and shadow, almost crystalline. Her mouth moved, screaming silent words that would have been lost in his scream anyways.

Finally, the energies dissipated and the boy's spent body drifted downward, the tattooed markings still glowing brightly against his pale skin. The Kerran girl stepped forward, catching him in her arms as she grew slightly larger, her brow knitting in concern.

Her mistress faded from them, leaving her to carry him back to his physicall hell. Instead, for a very long moment, the feline simply cradled the broken boy in her arms, crying silently.


His mouth was open, echoing the silent crying as his body shook. The waitress stood over him, concerned by his behavior, finally calling the bartender over. The man gently picked the boy up, the child's body going mostly limp aside from his iron grip on his strange orbed stave...



The silver-haired Koada'dal boy startled awake as the younger Feir'dal in his arms began shaking and whimpering in his sleep. The younger boy held tightly to him, one hand gripping the high elf's shoulder while the other tangled and clawed at the fabric of the pillows beneath them. Gently, the older boy tried to wake the whimpering elf, eventually giving up and holding the boy, his fingers running through the white mess of hair in hopes to calm him...


Shortly after his thirteenth birthday, the last of the immortality experiments finished, and all that could be done is wait and watch for signs of physical aging. Since the last phase began, the dark elven coercer had spent hours each day down in the cold stone room, ordering the little Kerran girl around while taking mental notes of every step.

With a delicate motion, the enchantress caused the boy's head to lift up, a cruel smile painting her lips as she stared into the wide, unfocused violet-blue eyes. Still staring, eyes glittering with madness, she laughed darkly.

"We will begin to work on his soul next," she intoned, her voice echoing around the room. "Your talents shall prove useful, finally."

The Kerran girl opened her mouth in silent protest, stumbling backward and away from the coercer in horror. Before the dark elf had stolen her, the child had been a promising mystic among the Kerran communities just outside of Qeynos, but this was the first time the enchantress suggested such perversions.

A lash of dark energy whipped across the girl's fur, burning a black mark into her shoulder before it lashed back across the top of her chest and collar bones. Unable to make a sound, her mouth opened in a silent scream, and in fear she nodded begrudged consent to her mistress.

Days passed as the Kerra was forced to share the secrets of spirits and the power of the soul with her mistress, the dark enchantress noting everything before she began formulating her own theories and experiments for the boy's soul. She would tell the feline girl everything, delighting in the expressions of horror that crossed the child's face, explaining her ultimate desire was not only to be able to control and shape the mind, but do so to a degree that altered the soul.

The days slipped into weeks as her mistress constructed her theories, and the Kerra girl was dismissed to monitor the changes in the boy's physical body. She found him still hanging mid-air upon the wells of energy and magic, eyes open but unseeing; in the past three years, the boy had been nurished and kept alive by her healing magics, unable to eat or drink due to the state of his mind - now he was nothing more than skin and bones, painfully thin and so easily broken.

In an attempt to help him, the Kerran had tried to change his body with her healing spells, so that it would no longer need food or drink, so that it better accepted the power of her regenerative magicks. She never was quite sure exactly what it had done, but for a short time afterward, he seemed to gain a little weight.

Over the next few months, the girl noted that the boy did not change physically at all anymore - he remained the same weight, the same height with the same features and physique. Frantic at the idea of her mistress' immortality theories working, the girl began to ever so slightly lie in her notes, using a little make up to give the boy slight lines of age.

It took nearly a year and a half for the coercer to finish her theories and notations, her perfectionist nature taking over and causing her to obsessively revise and refine her thoughts and techniques. The Kerran was startled to finally see her mistress enter the chamber, blinking at the dark elf as if she were a ghost.

"It is time," the enchantress hissed, quickly imprinting into the girl's mind exactly what she would be doing during the initial phase of this new experiment. The coercer demanded the girl's cooperation, her power turning the Kerra into a puppet.

Horrified as her body began to work against her, the girl stared out from the mental cage at what was happening, screaming silently in protest.

Her body had begun to call up the powers of the Umbra, the room darkening despite the flow of energy surrounding the boy. Howling ancestral spirits encircled him, his own spirit turning dark as she called it forth, forcing his soul to the forefront of his being. Once manifested, the dark enchantress began her own ritual, the dark prismatic energies flooding over the boy's body and soul.

The boy - his body and his soul - screamed in unison as the energies washed over him, the howl ripping through the Umbra as it echoed through the stone room. The energies burned across his body and soul, searing away anything familiar, stripping away the first few layers of his soul and the last few layers of his memory.

After what seemed like an eternity, the energies receeded and the boy's soul slowly retreated back behind the veil of his body, blazing white streaked with burned black. The boy's body remained arched for another moment before falling back against the supporting energies, going limp once more as it hung suspended.

The dark enchantress released her hold over the Kerran girl as she retreated from the chamber, and the small child slumped to the ground below the boy's feet, shocked and drained by the event. They were left together in silence and pain...


Beneath the gentle hand of the silvery high elf, the Feir'dal boy slowly stopped whimpering and shaking, his fierce grip relaxing as he was soothed away from his nightmares. The older boy sighed in relief as the other elf began to fall limp against his chest, holding him closer as he continued to run his fingers through the long white hair...



The boy ran as fast as he could, his heart feeling as if it would explode. His head swam with emotions - anger, sadness, fear; he didn't know what the truth was just yet, but the world was darker than it had been a few hours before.

He reached the level that the Bed and Book Inn was on, dropping down to the edge of the pool outside. His entire being burned from the physical and emotional stresses. The sound of the water falling rang out in his ears, becoming sharper as he became unfocused, his eyes staring off into...

The Kerra girl slumped to the ground, her energies twisted from her, leaving her weak and light headed. She'd almost lost track of time, only occassionally having enough unspent energies to sort through her mistress' notes for some clue as to what was occuring.

"Record any changes," the dark enchantress entoned. "I will be away for a short time, attending to the wishes of the Overlord."

A day later, the Kerran was sifting through the pages her mistress kept, several times having to leave them upon the desk, her stomach heaving at what she read; the things she'd done sickened her, despite knowing she had no choice. It took almost a full day and half the next to read through every last note, serveral hours lost to her stomach and several more to monitoring the pale boy, the Kerra writing notes filled with half-truth's about the changes.

To her horror, she found this was not the first time she'd be used for something like this.

In the stark hours of dawn the day her mistress was to return, the Kerra girl finally snapped, setting down the papers for a moment before gathering them up. She carried them away from the desk, over to the fireplace, staring into the flames angrily before tossing the papers into them, watching as the fire licked over the dry partchment hungrily.

She finally allowed a small measure of panic to take hold, as she realised what she had just done; within a moment, she was running down the hallway to the long closets, gathering up several dresses and robes, shoving them into a pack, keeping only one robe out. She pulled on the wide-brimmed hat her mistress had taken away from her as she raced down the stairs to the chamber, slinging the pack onto her back, folding the robe over her arm.

With all of her might, she unleashed a howling stream of Umbral energy, disrupting the complex patterns that suspended the boy in the air. The totems she'd been forced to set crumbled, knocking into the coercer's little statues, and as the energies receeded, the boy floated to the ground. Ending the stream, the little Kerran ran to him, catching him as his body touched the floor.

The markings on the boy's body glowed brightly, but without energy to sustain them, they slowly began to fade, his eyes opening and trying to focus on the Kerra. He tried to speak, an odd cracked noise coming from his lips until the girl placed her paw on his mouth, quieting him. After a few minutes, she helped him stand, pushing the robe into his hands.

It had been one of her Mistress' favourite robes, a white fine fabric that danced with shimmering reflections of blue flame, trimmed with golden thread. The boy pulled it on quickly, the Kerra frantically motioning for him to hurry.

Together, they ran up the spiralling stone stairs that lead out of the chamber, the boy leaning heavily upon the Kerra who was some how tall enough. She lead them through the house, recalling the last time she'd tried to help him escape, hoping that they'd make it away from Freeport in time.

The two slipped out of the grand oak doors, stumbling down off the porch and then through the streets of South Freeport, making their way for the docks to the East and the safety of the Thundering Steppes beyond.

Shadow loomed over them as they rounded the last corner before the gates to East Freeport, lightning splitting the skies above as yet another storm threatened to break; The rain seemed more and more frequent as they years passed, almost daily now.

"Where do you think you're going?!" her voice intoned, echoing off the walls, threatening to drown the two children.

They haulted, the dark coercer standing a few feet in front of them, her eyes wild with anger. She looked down at the Kerra girl, realising the betrayal, and growled deeply before extending her hand - energy lept from her fingertips, racing through the air towards the boy.

He fell to the ground, large violet-blue eyes looking upward, his chest hurting from the pressure of...

Lifted into the air, body arching at the energies coursing through her, the Kerra girl's mouth hung open in a silent scream as her body was ripped apart by the chaotic energies. The boy screamed as well, his own voice horse and cracking as he watched the girl torn into nothing, the dark elf surprised at who was locked within her spell...


The boy was torn from his thoughts by the sound of a familiar voice, questioning if he was alright. Slowly, the boy turned his head to look at the Froglok that worked for the Company, his eyes focusing upon the simple Guktan as his dark memories evaporated once more...



"...would you be interested in seeing something?" the silver-haired boy asked quietly?

The boy instantly nodded, curious and surprisingly trusting of the older boy.

"O-of course."

The silvery elf smiled and kissed the other's cheek, stepping back slowly. Carefully, he turned, his back to the other as he stood, planting his feet carefully on the floor, his arms spreading as his fingers moved, his eyes closing with some focus. Carefully he began to turn, his arms swooping down and then up again, turning on the balls of his feet in a small dance. The energies began to glow faintly around him as he seemed to lay them down on the ground as he danced, the robes of his flowing around him gracefully. He appeared almost like a ghost himself, with the easy movement. The circle of blue energies became easier to see, the tendrils of the glow curling like smoke along the floor. When his dance finally ceased, he stood in the center of the small ring of energy, feet firmly planted, as he offered his hand out, the air almost singing with the energies.

"Do not be frightened. Come."

The younger boy paused only for a second before reaching out for the other elf's hand, walking forward. The boy slipped his smaller hand into the older boy's, shivering from the energies, his body and mind seeming to react, feeling much like an adrenaline rush.

"Do not worry.. I control these. It is part of myself. My energies, extended out. This particular circle.. is a healing circle." He explained the situation as gently as he could, though the energies still flickering at his fingertips sent tingles through the other boy's hand. "In this circle, your wounds will heal faster, if you have any. If you are weary, it may bring back some strength... I will not keep this one long, but.. I wanted you to see."

The boy nodded, his whole body tingling, his hand holding tightly to the older boy's, head dizzy from the energies. He stared up at the silvery elf, eyes drifting to half-closed, the other boy's presense overwhelmingly beautiful. His mouth was open, as if to say something, but he didn't have any words for it.

His body pulled at the energies, softly at first and then more demandingly. His normal pale, almost drained physique changed as it took in more energy, seeming more normal - more alive. The markings along his skin seemed to shift slightly, a faint glow coming to them.

The older elf drew a sharp breath at th boy's reaction to the energies, and instinctively, he began to pour a bit more of himself into the circle. He kept his reserves, however, unsure of how much the boy would take from him. The glowing edges of the circle began to close in, washing over the boy's form gently as the silvery boy instructed, waiting, watching.

As more energy poured into him, the younger boy's eyes became distant, unfocused, his body relaxing and swaying. The more energy given, the more his body demanded, though it was not malicious. The markings flickered again, glowing brighter as more energy was given, almost reactive to the changes in the boy's body. But...the more alive his body became, the more distant and unfocused his eyes became, the more he swayed, his grip on the older boy's hand fading...

Still muttering to herself, the ghost girl - more Kerra than feline - walked back through the wall, glaring back at the room behind her. She turned, looking at the present, eyes going wide as her mouth opened to scream, no sound coming from it...


The last of the Kerra girl's body was ripped into nothing by the chaos, the enchantress' energies retreating back into her fingertips as the boy screamed; a pale blue energy remaind hovering for just a moment before vanishing. With a wicked smile, the dark elf let the reality of what had occurred sink into the boy's mind, delighting in his suffering.

She lifted her hand, the black and grey robes billowing in the wind as the rain began to fall, the skies releasing the tears the boy didn't have. Energies gathered as the coercer contemplated how to end the boy's life, which of her powerful charms would be the most satisfying, the most painful to the frightened boy.

"That is quite enough," a light and airy voice intoned, causing the coercer to startle.

"You!" the dark elf hissed, her energies coursing outward, splashing against the wall above the terrified boy.

Bare feet touched the ground before him, fluttering white robes with purple and silver embellishments following, swirling about the legs of the person that distracted his tormentor. Slowly, the boy looked upward, startled by the pale and delicate being.

She wasn't much older than he should have been, maybe sixteen or seventeen, with the eternal look all elves possessed for much of their life. Her hair was long and white, faint violet hues streaking through it, the tips brushing over the back of her knees. Pale skinned and graceful, she held a silver stave with an odd setting that looked much like an opening lotus, tilted forward slightly so that the floating orb within was visible; she pointed the stave at the coercer, the orb's glow growing rapidly.

"I cannot allow this again, it ends here," she whispered, her voice somehow echoing around them. As the dark enchantress readied another spell, energies lashed out from the orb and engulfed the dark elf, causing her to scream in panic. Despite the conviction of her words, the pale elf wore an expression of sadness, frowning as her energies flooded the enchantress.

There was a strange tone sounding in his ears as a flash of brilliant light exploded; when the energies cleared, the pale elf and the boy were alone in the streets. She turned, and extended her hand to the boy, helping him up from the ground slowly, giving him a heartbroken smile.

He stared up at her, eyes wide and curious, having only ever known the Kerran girl and her mistress until now. She gently ruffled his hair before resting her arm around his shoulders, leading him away from the dark streets of Freeport, out across the waters...


The silvery elf whispered something beneath his breath, almost fearfully as he noted the younger boy's grip sliding. With a quick thought, he gathered the remaining untaken energy, gathering it, and banished it into the floor. His arms slid around the boy, holding him gently, whispering into his ear.

"...hea...me??"

The boy's eyes remained unfocused for a moment, his body mostly weak in the older boy's arms. The younger boy's heartbeat was strong and steady, his body warm and flush for a change, extremely relaxed. The ghost Kerra stood, paws held to her mouth, eyes wide and terrified, almost paralized to the spot.

The older elf dropped to his knees, cradling the boy in his arms. The younger boy seemed warmer, more relaxed, but based on the spirit's reaction, and yes, he could sense it, he was not necessarily sure this was such a good thing.
He continued to hold the younger mage, petting his hair, waiting for any sign as to whether this had been a bad move, or something good.

As the silver elf's fingers drifted through the boy's hair, his eyes slowly tried to focus. The would grow a little more focused, but still distant, then a little less distant but still unfocused. The markings on the boy's body flickered as his eyes changed, growing dimmer and brighter in different spots. The dimmer they became, the more focus the boy had.

The ghost Kerra still clutched her paws to her mouth, her expression one of worry awash with guilt. She took a step forward, only to stop again as she watched the markings.Ilsael turned his eyes to her, a brief look of desperation crossing him as he looked to the feline, and then back to boy in his arms, hoping for an explanation.
"What have I done..." the silvery elf whispered.

The boy's eyes finally focused, looking up at the older elf in confusion, the last of the markings dimming entirely. His body tingled, but he lacked finer motor control, reaching clumsily for the other, seeming almost fearful.

With the Feir'dal boy aware again, the mixed emotions of the Kerra gave way to pure shame, her head lowering as she sunk down to her knees...


Fin