Prologue
Realm of Remora, two thousand years prior.
Eli watched on with a look of awe on his young face, the golden specks of the stone illuminating off his green eyes. He was excited for what was to come – a new time for the elves were here at last. What was once poverty and sadness among the land of Remora, was now about to be one of happiness and love. Even at his young age, he could do nothing but be excited, as his first duties of king was not going to worries of the lack of food and housing across the land.
The stone was a beautiful golden colour, much bigger than the other gems he had seen right before they had been shipped off with the messengers that morning to be placed on their rightful totems across the land. This one was as big as a full-grown man's palm, emitting its light off his surface.
Eli watched with full anticipation, wanting to hear the satisfying click right before he watched the glow intensify and pulse before shooting out to connect with its relatives in the corners of the land. He was so caught up in what his father was doing with the stone placed in his hand and him walking over to the largest totem there was, that he did not hear his mother step outside.
"Eli, my dear, you're just like your father." She chuckled lightly at her son as she watched her husband stand before the totem and whisper a few words to himself. "It's a surprise you're not over there begging him to let you do it."
Eli's face lit up, twisting to his mother, and clutching at her long dress, a look of happiness covering his barely aged face. He looked as if he was still the age of six but had lived for one hundred years already. Elves, like him, his mother, and his father, along with the rest of the civilians in Remora, aged slowly. Their kind lived up to the age of five thousand before their ancestors came and collected their souls and they became wisps, drifting along and watching over the land.
"Can I mother? Oh, please convince father to let me put it in!" He said, tugging further on his mother's dress and she let out a laugh, nodding at her son before he sprinted over to his father who was still ushering a foreign language under his breath. "Father?" The boy murmured and stood right beside him and watched as he then knelt on the ground and lifted the stone above his head.
He opened his eyes then, cleared his throat, then stood up. "What is it, Eli?" He said in his usual groggy voice. His father was a normally tense male elf, always having his tough demeanor on, even around his son.
"Can I put the stone in there?" Eli asked his father, hoping and praying he would say yes and that he could be the brave boy he keeps telling his mother he would grow up to be someday. His father turned to him, his green eyes shining down at his son and he nodded stiffly.
Eli almost jumped in joy at his father's approval, but held it in. He always wanted to prove to his parents that he was strong and brave so they would hopefully allow him to become king sooner rather than later. Now, as the lands were being replenished with the six magical stones, perhaps his father would retire, and the young boy would become king. He only dreamt of the day it would finally come.
His father took ahold of Eli's hand, grasped the stone with the other and carefully placed it in the young boy's palm. Energy seemed to radiate off the stone, filling every elvish cell within the prince and making him feel electrified. Eli could not murmur a word as he stepped closer to the totem, readying to place it in the little gap of the totems surface that seemed to try and pull the stone with an unknown magnifying force.
Slowly, but surely, Eli reached forward and placed the golden gem in its place, it fitting like a jigsaw puzzle on the surface. It is as if unseen hands grabbed on the stone greedily and pulled it from Eli's hand, him retracting it away quickly. He then watched as the totem clicked as if it was processing what had just been placed within its grasp before the top of it shot out with a golden beam, all the way up to the sky. The beam reached up past the clouds to Gods knew where.
The stone then pulsed over and over as the golden beam above seemed to be searching for the other stones and its power. In the blink of an eye, the beam then shot towards the northwest and a satisfying click was heard from all around them, signaling that it found its partners and formed together.
Eli smiled up at his father, his father only giving back a tight and almost forced smile back. Eli then ran to his mother who was still at the same spot as she was before, and he hugged around her legs.
"Mother, I did that!" The young boy yelled, proud of what he just had accomplished that day. His mother beamed a bright smile down at him and looked up to see his father walking by, gruffly saying that he had to finish some work.
"Come on Eli, let's go and pick the carrots out of the garden together." His mother said and brought in Eli by his shoulders and began walking to the gardens, much to Eli's dismay. He hated gardening.
"Why can't I do what father does?" He protested as they got to the gardens and his mother grabbed two woven baskets off to the side, handing one to Eli. "It would be better than doing the gardens! I can act like a real king then!"
His mother pouted slightly, "I don't think father would want you getting in the way of his paperwork Eli, remember what happened last time?" His mother spoke in a hushed voice as Eli's father wasn't too far away and might hear the conversation they were having.
Eli stopped then, remembering almost ten years ago when he tried helping his father with the paperwork. His father had left the room for a little bit, Eli's pride and ego getting the better of him and he began signing paperwork he had no idea what was for. He signed an agreement to start a war between them and Greayorus, the realm of death. It had taken almost five years for it to end, the Remora realm barely winning and leaving them in poverty.
Eli was about to speak, when he heard something crashing in the distance, far away from where they were. The son and mother jumped, their heads spinning around to see far off into the horizon that something had blown up into pieces – it was the castle that Lord Sethenill owned, he was one of the elves to be given a gem this morning and placed it on its totem. Eli then began to hear an awful creaking sound coming from the totem he just placed the stone.
He and his mother stood, beginning to walk over when their father joined with a look of concern on his face. Eli probably would've missed it if he didn't look up in time. The three of them watched as the golden stone in the wood began to click repeatedly, this time unpleasantly. It got louder, their sensitive elf ears hearing it much more loudly than any other creature.
His father grew the courage first and stepped forwards, placing his hand over the wood, and tried to understand what was happening with his knowledge of being alive for four thousand years.
"What is it Aldred?" His mother spoke to the father, Eli knew that if she used his father's first name, she wasn't playing around. Aldred shook his head, not knowing what to say, because he didn't know what was happening at all.
With one final tick, the totem stopped. Aldred furrowed his eyebrows – maybe it was just settling itself down? He thought. Just as he was about to turn, the totem combusted, and a golden beam shot Eli's father in the back. His father fell to the floor, face down, and Eli ran over to him.
"Father?" The boy screamed out, barely rolling the elf over to reveal he died at the impact of the shot and the young boy gasped, not quite processing his emotions in that time.
His mother shouted then as Eli didn't see another beam coming straight for him and his mother ran before shielding him with her body. The impact sent both the boy and his mother flying back into the stone wall behind them, Eli groaning as his back hit the wall harshly. He then peered down at his mother who laid lifeless on the floor and scurried over to her, seeing her eyes staring back up into his with no emotion.
"Mother? Mother, please!" The boy cried, clutching onto his mother's top half of the dress right before he heard another whirling sound of another beam that was pointed at him. He needed to get out of there. He scrambled to his feet and shot off to go into the house, beams shooting in front and behind him, barely missing him.
A sharp pain then enveloped the left side of his face and he didn't process what had happened until he got into the now barely stable house. He had been struck in the face with the light beam and saw blood coat his hand vaguely. He stilled then, looking around the living room before finding a small cupboard and crouched inside of it before locking the door.
And he didn't come out of it for several hours, if not days.
Eli watched on with a look of awe on his young face, the golden specks of the stone illuminating off his green eyes. He was excited for what was to come – a new time for the elves were here at last. What was once poverty and sadness among the land of Remora, was now about to be one of happiness and love. Even at his young age, he could do nothing but be excited, as his first duties of king was not going to worries of the lack of food and housing across the land.
The stone was a beautiful golden colour, much bigger than the other gems he had seen right before they had been shipped off with the messengers that morning to be placed on their rightful totems across the land. This one was as big as a full-grown man's palm, emitting its light off his surface.
Eli watched with full anticipation, wanting to hear the satisfying click right before he watched the glow intensify and pulse before shooting out to connect with its relatives in the corners of the land. He was so caught up in what his father was doing with the stone placed in his hand and him walking over to the largest totem there was, that he did not hear his mother step outside.
"Eli, my dear, you're just like your father." She chuckled lightly at her son as she watched her husband stand before the totem and whisper a few words to himself. "It's a surprise you're not over there begging him to let you do it."
Eli's face lit up, twisting to his mother, and clutching at her long dress, a look of happiness covering his barely aged face. He looked as if he was still the age of six but had lived for one hundred years already. Elves, like him, his mother, and his father, along with the rest of the civilians in Remora, aged slowly. Their kind lived up to the age of five thousand before their ancestors came and collected their souls and they became wisps, drifting along and watching over the land.
"Can I mother? Oh, please convince father to let me put it in!" He said, tugging further on his mother's dress and she let out a laugh, nodding at her son before he sprinted over to his father who was still ushering a foreign language under his breath. "Father?" The boy murmured and stood right beside him and watched as he then knelt on the ground and lifted the stone above his head.
He opened his eyes then, cleared his throat, then stood up. "What is it, Eli?" He said in his usual groggy voice. His father was a normally tense male elf, always having his tough demeanor on, even around his son.
"Can I put the stone in there?" Eli asked his father, hoping and praying he would say yes and that he could be the brave boy he keeps telling his mother he would grow up to be someday. His father turned to him, his green eyes shining down at his son and he nodded stiffly.
Eli almost jumped in joy at his father's approval, but held it in. He always wanted to prove to his parents that he was strong and brave so they would hopefully allow him to become king sooner rather than later. Now, as the lands were being replenished with the six magical stones, perhaps his father would retire, and the young boy would become king. He only dreamt of the day it would finally come.
His father took ahold of Eli's hand, grasped the stone with the other and carefully placed it in the young boy's palm. Energy seemed to radiate off the stone, filling every elvish cell within the prince and making him feel electrified. Eli could not murmur a word as he stepped closer to the totem, readying to place it in the little gap of the totems surface that seemed to try and pull the stone with an unknown magnifying force.
Slowly, but surely, Eli reached forward and placed the golden gem in its place, it fitting like a jigsaw puzzle on the surface. It is as if unseen hands grabbed on the stone greedily and pulled it from Eli's hand, him retracting it away quickly. He then watched as the totem clicked as if it was processing what had just been placed within its grasp before the top of it shot out with a golden beam, all the way up to the sky. The beam reached up past the clouds to Gods knew where.
The stone then pulsed over and over as the golden beam above seemed to be searching for the other stones and its power. In the blink of an eye, the beam then shot towards the northwest and a satisfying click was heard from all around them, signaling that it found its partners and formed together.
Eli smiled up at his father, his father only giving back a tight and almost forced smile back. Eli then ran to his mother who was still at the same spot as she was before, and he hugged around her legs.
"Mother, I did that!" The young boy yelled, proud of what he just had accomplished that day. His mother beamed a bright smile down at him and looked up to see his father walking by, gruffly saying that he had to finish some work.
"Come on Eli, let's go and pick the carrots out of the garden together." His mother said and brought in Eli by his shoulders and began walking to the gardens, much to Eli's dismay. He hated gardening.
"Why can't I do what father does?" He protested as they got to the gardens and his mother grabbed two woven baskets off to the side, handing one to Eli. "It would be better than doing the gardens! I can act like a real king then!"
His mother pouted slightly, "I don't think father would want you getting in the way of his paperwork Eli, remember what happened last time?" His mother spoke in a hushed voice as Eli's father wasn't too far away and might hear the conversation they were having.
Eli stopped then, remembering almost ten years ago when he tried helping his father with the paperwork. His father had left the room for a little bit, Eli's pride and ego getting the better of him and he began signing paperwork he had no idea what was for. He signed an agreement to start a war between them and Greayorus, the realm of death. It had taken almost five years for it to end, the Remora realm barely winning and leaving them in poverty.
Eli was about to speak, when he heard something crashing in the distance, far away from where they were. The son and mother jumped, their heads spinning around to see far off into the horizon that something had blown up into pieces – it was the castle that Lord Sethenill owned, he was one of the elves to be given a gem this morning and placed it on its totem. Eli then began to hear an awful creaking sound coming from the totem he just placed the stone.
He and his mother stood, beginning to walk over when their father joined with a look of concern on his face. Eli probably would've missed it if he didn't look up in time. The three of them watched as the golden stone in the wood began to click repeatedly, this time unpleasantly. It got louder, their sensitive elf ears hearing it much more loudly than any other creature.
His father grew the courage first and stepped forwards, placing his hand over the wood, and tried to understand what was happening with his knowledge of being alive for four thousand years.
"What is it Aldred?" His mother spoke to the father, Eli knew that if she used his father's first name, she wasn't playing around. Aldred shook his head, not knowing what to say, because he didn't know what was happening at all.
With one final tick, the totem stopped. Aldred furrowed his eyebrows – maybe it was just settling itself down? He thought. Just as he was about to turn, the totem combusted, and a golden beam shot Eli's father in the back. His father fell to the floor, face down, and Eli ran over to him.
"Father?" The boy screamed out, barely rolling the elf over to reveal he died at the impact of the shot and the young boy gasped, not quite processing his emotions in that time.
His mother shouted then as Eli didn't see another beam coming straight for him and his mother ran before shielding him with her body. The impact sent both the boy and his mother flying back into the stone wall behind them, Eli groaning as his back hit the wall harshly. He then peered down at his mother who laid lifeless on the floor and scurried over to her, seeing her eyes staring back up into his with no emotion.
"Mother? Mother, please!" The boy cried, clutching onto his mother's top half of the dress right before he heard another whirling sound of another beam that was pointed at him. He needed to get out of there. He scrambled to his feet and shot off to go into the house, beams shooting in front and behind him, barely missing him.
A sharp pain then enveloped the left side of his face and he didn't process what had happened until he got into the now barely stable house. He had been struck in the face with the light beam and saw blood coat his hand vaguely. He stilled then, looking around the living room before finding a small cupboard and crouched inside of it before locking the door.
And he didn't come out of it for several hours, if not days.
