CTS--chapter1

The parting foliage bent, several stalks yielding, cracking, as she darted through them, dodging between the dwellings, desperate. The moonlight glinted off the oak roofs, giving the air an incandescent quality. Luminous beams found their way into the few, small windows, only to be extinguished in the shadowy abodes. The undersized homes huddled together as if to preserve the warmth of the culture that, inside them, existed. Numerous were the inhabitants, and cool to the rare outsider; as cool, perhaps, as the moonbeams themselves that still danced, irreverent witnesses to the transgressions recently passed.

They were the Shinra’en**, the delicate-looking, strong woodland elves. Sweet and caring among themselves, but with an affinity for solitude, nature and water, they projected a façade of stoicism in the face of the unknown. A closely-knit group, they were quick to reject other societies’ influence and preferred a harmonious coexistence with nature, isolated from the races that would desecrate nature. As a result of their penchant for isolation, they dwelled in a treetop village, a lofty construction of houses, close together, in the Eleayonean forests, dark, and separated from the rest of the world. Not all the homes were in the trees, though; some of the elves preferred the proximity to the brooks and thence were on the ground in carefully hidden homes of wood. The forests flora and fauna breathed life into them once, and so they preserved it, respecting and caring for it in a way not known to any other species. Living uncomplicated lives of deference was a tradition, long-standing, and the forest was theirs alone for it.

The forest’s silence, generally pervasive, ended as the somewhat distant conflagration crackled softly. She nonetheless continued her dash, the foliage sometimes offering itself as a handhold in the rough terrain. The inhabitants slept with the safety that comes of the assurance that a gate cannot be passed; however, flames know not the limits of locks on wooden homes. She paused for a moment, gasping, breathing as speedily and deeply as she could, then continued her undertaking, dodging around thorny bushes and shimmying between adjacent buildings. She winced as if to a burn each time her hand touched lightly upon the wood of the homes she knew. The inhabitants, so mild and innocent, were undeserving of this demolition… but he was here.

It may be my only chance, she told herself, attempting to justify her decision. He must be stopped, otherwise- -

Having passed through the city and reached the outer limits, she reached the foreboding gate that surrounded the city. Slowing down, she approached the oaken door, dwarfed by the door’s magnitude, somewhat hesitant, feeling almost as if something was amiss. She glanced quickly over her shoulder, scanning the area; however, finding nothing amiss, she sighed, dismissing her concerns as apprehension. She raised her hand to pick up the door’s bar. As she lifted it, it scratched audibly, the noise intensified a hundredfold in her ears. She glanced around again, still finding the coast clear. She slowly placed the bar on the ground, and began to push against the gate’s door. It moved none at first, but with increasing pressure, it yielded an inch, and then another, and finally was opened to the point she could slip through. The crackling had increased; she estimated the blaze had reached the back of the town by now. She shivered, considering the slow suffocation smoke caused. She started, going back to her work, sliding through the opening and continuing her running in haste in an attempt to escape the forest before the impending inferno took her as well. She closed the gate after herself, and latched it, sealing the fate of those inside. She continued her sprinting until she reached the meadow adjacent to the woods.

Her feet lightly touched upon the field, moist with the morning’s dew. They lightly stepped along, following their planned journey across the clear land. The cattails and wild grass grew in abundance, gently brushing her calves as she strolled across the field. The few rocks poked out of the vegetation, a single meter, or rarely, two, high, offering themselves as landmarks to the rarely traveled land. Small creatures scattered ahead of her as she trod onward, others, unaffected, continued their slumber, unconscious and unmindful, in their own dreamlands. She slowed, and placed her hand on one of the smooth, gray boulder. She paused, listening attentively, closing her eyes that her hearing might be enhanced. In the distance, a sizzling, crackling noise played on, growing louder in waves. She flinched in shock at the rumbling from the clouds above.

‘Damn,’ she thought. If a shower were to occur, her plan could be destroyed. Her plan…

After years and years, nearly a decade of following him, she’d finally caught up to him, only to find him in the place held in greatest value to her. His purpose in the visit doubtless was as smeared with malice as a corpse is smeared with blood. Always she had pursued him, just a step behind, tracing clues as to his whereabouts, silencing spies, and helping the victims, when it didn’t require too much time. For time had always been of the essence, making up time, trying to catch up, regretting the pauses to help others, regretting more the times she hadn’t stopped. Nearly, before, she had almost caught him, had caught up to him, only to be dispatched in saving an old friend from imminent peril.

At last, though… At last she had caught him. He was in the village, posing as a lost outsider. Received with a cool welcome, he had been more than content to stay on the outskirts of the town, towards the back of the city, near the gate.

She glanced again at the forest, at the billowing smoke. Without question the conflagration’s flames were consuming the village. Her vision blurred as tears attempted to spill over. A solitary tear slid down her left cheek, and she slapped it away in anger.

‘It is of no consequence,’ she told herself. ‘It must be done; I have no choice. Shedding tears is weakness; never again should I cry over things which are inevitable, things which I have no choice in. Though I shall- -‘

She was cut off at this instant by a sharp, hollow noise; as of that when hooves strike upon something solid. She listened intently, focusing her eyes once more toward the forest from which she’d fled. The bonfire continued to blaze, now complimenting the lightness upon the horizon behind her that had began to glow, foreshadowing the sunrise. The crackling didn’t quite obscure the noise; it seemed to be growing louder, in fact, as time progressed. She felt wetness upon her arm, and looked up again at the clouds. The air seemed to be pressing on her, billowing, overinflated with moisture.

‘Damn! If it goes out, he’ll know I was here.’

The noise crept closer, and closer, and closer, as the thunderstorms grow when the eye approaches. And of thunderstorms… Her hair blew harshly in the air’s currents, then fell limply back to its place. It was dampened by the sprinkles exuded by the sky. The noise continued to grow, until at the edge of the meadow, bursting forth from the woods as the sun does from the horizon’s obscuring, came an isolated horseman, riding upon the speed of the wind.

She squinted her eyes, trying to see the rider’s identity, when the wind blew again, hiding her view. She struggled to push her hair out of her sight, finally getting her hair back behind her ear. The moon’s last beams highlighted her frightened elfin features.

The sun broke the horizon behind her, making her a silhouette to him, and him bathed in light, exposing his character to her. The sun’s first rays shone off the horse’s mane and stretching mane, his stride elongated to his greatest abilities. They glinted off the rider’s dark uniform and pointed features. It shone, reflected out of his bottomless eyes, dazzling her with its brightness as its glow emanated from his shining cape, frayed a bit at the ends, streaming in the air behind him, nearly blinding her with the contrast of the pristine sunlight upon the tainted soul. Her eyes took in the sight of the menacing figure, and without a second thought she turned to flee. Her delicate feet barely touched the grass as she shot off across the meadow.

He sneered at the sight of her. The sunlight highlighting her slender feminine form as her hair, the color of spun moonlight, waved as a willow frond behind her, catching his eye, and he viciously kicked the steed again. The stallion leapt forward again, increasing his speed, cutting the distance between the two in half.

She continued her running, knowing it was but an exercise in futility. Turning her head to look back at him, she saw him bearing closer and closer. Little time remained.

As the horse bore down upon her, she dove to the side, and the horse’s hooves caught not her body. She felt a single, sturdy kick to her ribs of pressure and strength she’d never before known could be sustained. Lying dazed on the ground, she held her hand to her rib, and felt moisture. Drawing it away, she saw scarlet, and felt dampness. She felt tremors begin to wrack her lithe body. The crimson imposed upon the edges of her sight, expanding to blur it, finally covering it all, and as rain began to fall, pulsating pain from her rib caused her to lose consciousness. As she drifted out of the realm of perception, she saw him continue riding, and heard a cackle fading away, and felt raindrops gently kiss her eyelids.

**Note: Shin-raen race not yet listed in races gallery... i'll try and get onto that. ^^