Teya had seen him. Saw Steven and another boy enter the forest in the day. Even though she could not move during the day, she could see, feel, smell, hear and even taste if someone were to put food in her mouth. They had passed right below her, where she was mounted on the tree branch, her head tilted and looking below while frozen. But why were they here again? What had they done? It was nearly midnight, soon she would try and find out.

Midnight came, the moon was at its peak. Power surged throughout her body as her silhouette erupted in a display of silver light. It was the peak of the moon that gave her, as well as ever other moon elf, the strength to break the spell temporarily. As such, with the silvery, blue hue of light that shone from the heavens, her magic spiraled from within and enveloped her body to then dissipate into her skin, allowing her the freedom of movement. What a relief. Staying frozen for so long was quite a bother. It didn’t hurt. And she never became hungry or tired while under the effect of the spell. But it was very, very boring.

Teya leapt down from the tree branch and began walking towards the village. One after another, flickers of light danced throughout the shaded forest. The moon smiled as waves of magic spun around trees like ribbons, flowing to the rhythm of a dancing beat to free villager after villager. From son to draughter, to father to mother, all became free once more. As per usual, everything and everyone complimented each other nicely. The buildings, too, were of light and magic, forged by the very villagers who used them. Indeed, it was wondrous thing to live amongst elves of the night. If not for the spell, that held them against their wills, her people would have been very happy here.

“They were here!” a shout came from the main hut, up in the Grandfather tree. Teya recognized the voice. It was Relier, her father’s right hand man. She hated that man. If not for him constantly encouraging her father to attack the humans, she might have been able to convince him otherwise. But what had happened? Teya went to the meeting hut.

Her father, Relier and the other council members were there as they had been last night. They all seemed to be in distress.

“What’s wrong?” Teya asked.

Relier looked to her, his thin, cunning eyes pierced her soul. “You!” he pointed with his index finger. “You were supposed to prevent the prisoner from being found.”

Oh no, she had completely forgotten after raging off last night. She didn’t recast the spell that hid the vault in the Great tree. It was her duty to keep it enchanted so that no sound could leave the chamber. That way, no one would find the prisoner even if they came in the day.

Teya was silent.

“Teya.” Her father approached her. “Did you or did you not recast the spell?”

“I didn’t.” Teya said quietly, her head downed to the ground.

Her father sighed and walked away. Reiler continued to go off, “Of course she’d not cast it. After all, she’s just so insistent that the humans are good.” Reiler came to her, his face was quite horrid despite being of Elven nature. It had once been beautiful like all the others but over time, it became wrinkled, old and slowly lost its fair colour, changing to a much darker shade than the usual light blue. “Perhaps she’s planning on betraying us.”

Teya back away and clutched her fists. “I would never do such a thing!” She recalled Steven. It was Steven who came back and saved the prisoner. Maybe he really was a spy.

“Oh really.” Reiner kept etching closer. He was a brute of an Elf with no dignity about his ways. But he was a huge one, taller and buffer than even her father.

“Reiler.” Her father stopped him. “What is done cannot be undone. Let us continue with our plans. The prisoner heard nothing of our meetings thanks to Teya so it doesn’t hurt us that he escaped.” Her father then sat down in his chair at the front of the table. “The full moon is a little under two weeks away. Make sure that those who are willing to fight are prepared for the upcoming battle.”

Reiler bowed and left. The other council members did the same. Other than for strategic meetings, the villagers had also been using this single hour to hone their skills. Teya had overlooked their progression for many nights as they improved their creation magic, spell casting and battle prowess. Over time they had come to specialize, some trained solely for melee battles while others focused more on supporting with magic.

“You will be able to keep up with the other breakers, won’t you?” her father asked.

Teya’s eyes grew thin. “Of course I will. Who do you think I am, Master Elven Mage Elioton? Your blood runs through my veins.” She smirked. “I might even be a better mage than you by now.”

“I’m sure in time you will.” Her father got up and walked outside, staring at the men and women below.

“How do you know I’m not already?” She now stood beside her father.

He smiled down at her. “Care to put that to the test?”

She smirked again, drawing an invisible symbol into the air. “I hope you’re ready for a beating old man.”

“We’ll see about that.” Her father took a few steps back and forged a rune of his own. “Ready?” he asked.

Teya didn’t care to answer. Her eyes glowed and the rune came to life. A harpy of wind was forged that opened its wings and dashed forward to her father. As it reached him, he activated a rune of his own. And of course, it was an anti-rune. The beast returned to wind as it the rune enveloped it into nothing.

“Anti-rune? That’s cheap.” Teya said. Anti-runes were the opposite of normal runes. If there was a spell or rune to cast a specific magic, then there would be one to dispel that magic. But there were millions of spells, each with subtle differences from each other. You’d either have to be a genius who could figure out the drawings or words used in casting to use anti-magic, or you’d have to preemptively know what spell the other person would use. It bothered Teya that her father knew her ways so well.

But she had changed since they last fought. And she had new spells. Runes were good to start a battle but worded spells were quicker to use during one. Teya spoke words faster than one could comprehend. Wind blasted forth towards her father. He countered with winds of his own. But Teya expected as much, her spell was ready for this. Instead of the gustily winds perfectly countering each other, Teya’s own changed into an updrifted breeze. She forged another spell to protect her while her first spiraled down back to her father, forcing him on his knees. She then boosted herself forward and forged a blade that reached for her father’s neck. Checkmate.

Her father looked up at her. He smiled. Oh no, that wasn’t good. He then looked down while Teya followed his eyes. She saw it. A rune lit on to the ground and ice crept on to her skin. She couldn’t move.

Her father laughed as he stood up. “You’ve gotten better.”

“When did you draw that?” she asked.

“Before the battle even began. When I asked if you were ready and you so impolitely chose to reply with your wind harpy.” His laughter grew louder.

“Fine. You win. Get me out of this.” Teya said, her voice ringing with annoyance from her lost.

Her father began walking down the stairs. “Hey, where are you going?” she yelled, not even able to turn her head at this point.

“I figured since you believe yourself to be better than me, a great mage such as you, Teya, would be able to escape that on you own.” Her father said as he nonchalantly continued with his walk. Damn idiot!

What should she do now? Sure, she could still speak and say spells. But she was not blessed with the fire element. Only wind and water. There was no water around her and wind wouldn’t be of much help here. She sighed. Her only option would be to try and figure out the rune used for the magic, mentally mark out the anti-rune for that rune and then convert that to a worded spell. And she would have to figure that out before having her mouth frozen. “What a pain.” She thought and immediately began trying to recall spells and runes her father had thought her but she never got around to learning.

After about fifteen minutes, she figured it out. By now, the ice had reached her jaw. Speaking an unspeakable language with a half frozen jaw was quite difficult to say the least. But she managed to do it and was set free. She swore that she’d get her father back for that. And immediately, she began surveying the grounds below for his snarky presence. Where was he? She looked to where a group of men sparred with each other with weapons forged from moonlight and then to another group of female Elves practicing Runes and spells. And then she saw her father, taking a stroll with Reiler. She quickly lost her enthusiasm for a rematch after seeing that. She hated Reiler but she couldn’t quite figure out why. To her, he seemed less like an Elf and more like a human, craving for war and vengeance.

Teya descended the stairs and left the clearing, venturing into the forest again. It would seem that a great deal of the Elves wanted revenge. But she, for one, had no interest in that sort of petty affair. Why was that? After all, it was the humans who took her mother away. She had every right to hate them. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t hate anyone. It wasn’t in her nature. And it shouldn’t have been in any Elf’s nature either. Elves were supposed to be dignified, benevolent, peaceful and forgiving. What she was seeing now didn’t show that. Sure, they could claim that they fought so they wouldn’t be hunted any longer. But hiding would be a much less violent option. And they could do it well. Illusions were another specialty of the Elves. After all, their creation magic could pretty much make anything, even if it were something that wasn’t quite real.

As Teya went deeper and deeper into the forest, she began to think about other things. Steven, in particular, was he really a spy? She doubted that. After all, she knew the boy in a way. He mentioned nightmares and her singing but she failed to mention the dreams she had about him. Dreams of a human boy who would befriend her. The dreams had started about eleven years ago and ever since then, they were a common reoccurrence. They would meet in the forest and they would talk. Just like that, they became friends. At least that’s how it went in her dreams. She doubted that they’d become friends after last night.

“Teya!” a voice whispered from behind. Teya turned around sharply and elbowed the person to the ground. It was Steven. How did he manage to sneak up on her again?

“Steven?” Upon realizing that it was Steven, Teya got up and removed her arm. She reached out an arm that he grabbed onto and pulled himself up. “Why are you here?” she asked. “I warned you that it would be dangerous if you came into the forest again.”

“I came to apologize.” He said. Apologize? What the hell?

“For what?” Teya asked.

“For sneaking into your village when you told me not to, I guess. Though that was mostly Arthur’s doing.” His glare then became fierce. “Although if I’m being honest, I don’t regret freeing Robert. He had nothing to do with whatever is happening.”

Teya couldn’t believe his brutal honesty. First he apologized for entering the village, then he basically rebutted that apology. How stupid? “Whatever, just leave.” Teya replied, her hand pointing straight ahead.

“I can’t.” Steven replied bluntly. “I need answers. Tell me who the Guardians are.”

He wanted to know who the Guardians were? Seems that he really wasn’t a spy then. After all, what spy inquires about his own people? “Their monsters. At least that’s how I see them.”

“Monsters?” Steven asked.

“Yes, there a group of gifted humans who trapped us here.” Teya paused and glanced to the ground. “Well, I guess not the current ones. But long ago, there was one Guardian who imprisoned us in this forest. We don’t know how he did it. But he came here in the day after and told us that we no longer were allowed to leave. Ever since then, the Guardians always watched us and made sure that we never caused trouble.” Teya glanced back to Steven. “Then again, there isn’t much that we can do trapped in this forest and all.”

“I see.” Steven placed a hand to his chin and pondered. He then looked towards Teya again, “Are you going to attack the town?” he asked.

She became silent. What was she to say? That the Elves intended to kill all the humans living there and enslave those that were left. No, she couldn’t say that.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” Steven walked closer to Teya.

Reflexively, she forged a blade of light. “Don’t come any closer.” She glared at the boy intensively. “You should go.”

Steven chuckled and sat down on to the forest floor, legs crossed. “And what exactly would you do if I didn’t?” he asked.

Teya hesitated. “Well…isn’t that obvious? I’ll…” she couldn’t even say it. Kill? Such an ugly word unbefitting for an Elf.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? For some reason, I know that you wouldn’t attack me.” Steven stated, his hand supporting his head as he slouched forward. “Are you sure you don’t know anything about my nightmares?”

Teya took a breath. What was she doing? She sat down opposite to him. “I can’t say for sure unless you describe them to me.”

And that was all it took for Steven to explain what he saw in his dreams. After hearing it all, Teya had made one connection. Demons. His nightmares were of Demons. But then he mentioned one small detail about the person he became in his dreams. His eyes were shattered and blood red. Teya knew such eyes. Those were the eyes of the WorldWalker, an old friend of hers. But she hadn’t seen him in over three thousand years. What connection had he to Steven?

“You know something?” Steven asked.

“There’s no mistake. What you described were Demons. But that’s not what bothers me the most. You say you had blood shattered eyes, correct?” Teya raised a brow.

“Yes.” He replied.

“The only person who has those eyes is ****** ******, an old and powerful being capable of walking between worlds. But he was defeated by the Great wizard over three thousand years ago.” Teya explained as best as she could.

“Then why do I become him in my nightmares?” Steven asked, Teya could tell that he was desperate for answers.

“I don’t know.”

~

I don’t know. Yet another question without an answer. It would seem that the only persons who could answer his questions were either this Great Wizard or a so called WorldWalker. Both of these were from over three thousand years ago. Honestly, it was impressive that Teya knew about all these events that happened so long ago. Actually, now that Steven thought about it, she spoke as if she were there when these things happened. How old was she?

“If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?” Steven asked the pondering question on his mind.

He saw Teya smile. “Three thousand and twelve years old. Though, of course, if not for the spell, even Elves wouldn’t live that long.” Holy cow! She was ancient. Yet she looked to be around the same age as Steven. Although now that he thought about it, she was a few inches taller than him. But didn’t amount to being three thousand and one years older than him.

“Anyways, I should go.” Teya got up. “You should too.”

“I guess I should.” Steven replied, getting up as well. He reached out his hand. Teya looked confused.

“What?” she asked, her eyes staring at his hand.

“Don’t you do handshakes?” Steven asked.

“No, I don’t think I do.” She replied.

“Oh.” Steven replied, pulling back his hand. “Well, I guess I’ll go now.”

Teya nodded and dashed away into the forest before Steven could even turn around. If an entire village of people like her were to attack the town, then they really were going die. Still, he didn’t resent Teya. He quite liked her actually. And as such, Steven made his way back to the cabin.