Prologue
Prologue
Off in the distance the sun is rising over the mountains just to the north of Ravenfalls, my home. The mountains colored as if painted upon by the Elven magic itself. At the base bright and brilliant yellow as if the light from the river about its base was creeping up into the meadows of the mountain, meadow faded into forest and yellow fading into orange which made it seem as if the forest were on fire like the sun which lay behind it. At the rocky and snow covered summit all brightness faded into a deep midnight blue fading into the still night sky as if to show the dark dangers that lurk within the rocky caverns of the mountain not daring to come into the brightness of the forest or openness of the meadows. The sky has turned all the colors of the rainbow as with its mountain brother, yellow across the horizon turning to orange and red behind the mountains and above them, blue and purple and finally black where the stars still hang in the night waiting for the morning light to fade them. From my perch here on one of the castle’s balconies I see the rivers cutting across the lands and glowing with the light of the rising sun, this light that seemed to spread from the rivers in the forest and valleys making the trees of the forest like those on the distant mountain seems to be burning in the light of the new day that begins to light every dark caves of the land that has been hidden by the night’s darkness.
Everything now is so still and peaceful not even the leaves in the trees stand still in the slight morning breeze and waters of the lake are still. Only the water over the Ravenhead falls moves at this hour and even that seems to have slowed. I want this moment to stay just the way it is with this peace spread across the land as far as the eye can see. I know that once the stars have faded I will have to go back to the reality that is my Elven life. The warm breeze gently glides over my face and through my hair, it is soft as it seemingly plays around me and then goes along its way and the birds begin their morning flights to find food for their young and a new day will begin.
Our world is a place where dreams are kept and then soon forgotten by the mortal man. Hidden behind the mists of the mind and the fear of the unknown and what men do not understand. A place where the legends and fairy tales of one world are real but tossed aside as only mere folklore of mortal man. A place shrouded by mystery and covered by myth. A place called Tigaria El Mordiria.
This is my story of my life and all that has happened to me over my many years of being upon this land. My name is Olanna and I am now the Queen of the Ravenfalls Elves deep in the trees of the Forbidden Woods of the Forgotten lands where trees talk and some even move. No one but the Elves travel through these woods for they are afraid of the trees. However harmless and friendly the trees are, the men of these lands are still haunted by the tales of long ago and are still afraid of these woods. Tales of tree wars and men being caught in the crossfire and massacred within the bloody battles. The woods then turned into legend and this land was soon forgotten and the woods forbidden to most Human kind. For this reason there was not a human in these woods for over a thousand years. For this reason the Elven people had begun to believe that we might be the last living beings in our world. After the Dark Times where evil put man against man and race against race When the Elves came to this land to be protected by our magic from the evil. What the evil was we are not sure but we know that it corrupted the hearts of men, dwarves, and other creatures easily. I remember before the Dark Times when Elves, Men and other creatures lived and worked together in peace. Before I was Queen or even Princess for that matter, in order to do that I will have to go back more than three thousand years.
