Year 366 of the Second Era


At the age of ten, you were average. Your height, weight, disposition, and, well, pretty much everything about you was average. Never the last one chosen for capture the emblem, but never the first one either. Your life then was a monotonous slog: Go to your rundown academy, try to do well in your academic work, fail, and return home only to have your drunkard of a father beat you. You didn't realize how miserable your life was until the fateful day when Liliana joined your class at school. 


Like the rest of the girls in the class, she wore a dress. Unlike the rest of the girls in the class, her dress was obviously of fine make. The embroidery on her dress had no faults. No drops of blood from clumsy mothers who pricked themselves on their needle. No lazy patches sewn in to cover up holes. No, her dress was flawless. Her hair was onyx black, and fell down in waves around her face. Her glittering blue eyes were filled with anticipation, and maybe a little fear. She clearly wasn't used to being in these kinds of situations, and she kept glancing around as if someone else was going to introduce her to the other classmates. 


Your teacher, a hag of a woman, prompted her to introduce herself. "Go ahead and introduce yourself to the class, dear."


She widened her eyes in surprise, but followed the teacher's command. "My name is Liliana, I'm ten years of age, and..," she looked to the teacher for instruction. She had an accent, and one that you'd never heard before at that. Not northern, or even like those from the eastern realm. No, this was decidedly different from any other accent you'd heard before.


"Go on," the teacher prompted again.


"I don't know what else to say," Liliana responded.


The teacher frowned disappointedly. "Surely you have more things to tell us about yourself than your name?" When Liliana didn't respond, the teacher spoke again. "Where are you from? Or, what do you like to do in your spare time? Tell us things like that." 


Liliana hesitated once more.


"Come now. We don't judge people here," the hag patted her comfortingly on the shoulder, but failed to notice the snickering in the back. 


Liliana, it seemed, found her words comforting, and finally started to open up. "I was born in Arboribus. My father is the king there, and it's an amazing place. There are trees larger than castles there! Oh, and I like to go stag riding with my father if he has the ti-" 


The teacher interrupted. "Excuse me. Where?" The teacher sounded somewhat confused, but definitely disappointed. The snickering in the back increased, but Liliana still hadn't noticed. 


"Arboribus," she said this clearly, and with an expression of incredulity fixed upon her face. The teacher simply stared at her blankly, until Liliana continued. "You know, in The Lost Realm..."  


The boys in the back, try as they might, couldn't contain themselves any longer. They busted out into raucous laughter that spread to the rest of the students that were typically thought of as nice. Everyone gave into the laughter, and even the teacher hag was chuckling.


You were on the edge of laughter as well, but something kept you there. Stories of The Lost Realm, and rumors of a ancient city of humans therein. Your mother, before she died of disease, would tell you fairy tales of the ancient land, and how it used to be as prosperous as the Realm of Men is now. You'd always harbored the secret thought, hope, that the stories were true, and here was a person who claimed to hail from that very place. This, and the expression on Liliana's face, caused you to hesitate.  Her expression was that of someone hurt , and a genuine expression at that. 


You held the laughter off, and waited for everyone else to do the same. They eventually quieted down, but only after tears started streaming down Liliana's face. Silence took the place of laughter, and all joy was replaced with the sad sound of sobbing. 


The old hag had the decency to attempt to comfort her by giving her a hug, but Liliana jerked away. Apparently she didn't like the idea of hugging the old hag. Especially since she'd promised no ridicule would come, but then turned around and gloried in it herself. 


"It's true!" Liliana yelled after she managed to control her sobbing. "I'm not a liar! And, and ,and..." She starts crying again, but instead of staying in the classroom for everyone to see, she ran through the door and out of the classroom. 


The silence continued for a moment longer, before you made your first life changing decision. You got up from your designated chair and followed after Liliana. 


You were no expert at dealing with girls. Let alone crying ones, and you weren't the most...

You ...intelligent...

Year 366 of the Second Era


...intelligent of people, but you were outgoing enough to provide a suitable person for her to talk to.


You follow the sound of sobbing through the worn wooden hallways of the school, and outside, until you find the source of the crying. Liliana sits on the steps to the main door of the school. Her well crafted dress is ruffled in places and her body constantly shifts under the pressure of her tears. Her hair comes down in waves around her head, effectively cutting off any view of her face. 


She doesn't notice you there at first, but when the main door closes behind you she jumps and turns towards you. Tears and snot cover her face with her eyes both sad and angry at the same time, and for a moment you find yourself regretting coming here. That moment passes, and the impulse you followed earlier propels you toward her. 


"Are you going to laugh at me again?"


Her voice reflects what she is feeling. Sadness, despair, anger, and, you think, a bit of hope color her voice. You decide to concentrate on her hopefulness. 


"I didn't laugh." 


"Everyone laughed. I saw." 


Clearly she hadn't been paying attention to you when in the classroom. "Not me." 


You sit down on the same step as her, and she glares at you. Silence ensues, and you turn away and gaze out in front of you. You want to ask her about the Realm of the Lost, but the question dies in your throat. Wouldn't it be at least a little insensitive to ask her prying questions now? 


Your question is answered when you hear her start to sob again. This time it's less intense, but it's still crying all the same. Maybe it's the memory of her excited face when she was in front of the classroom, or maybe you just didn't like the sound of crying. Whatever the reason, you decide to wrap your arm around her shoulders in a half hug. Liliana turns to stone beneath your touch, and you think she'll pull away, but she doesn't. She stays still, but continues her crying. You feel absurdly awkward in this position, but she doesn't seem to mind. She even leans into your hug after a while.


In between holding her and listening to her crying, you find yourself staring at her wondering how in all the realms this girl was from the Lost Realm. You might be tainted by the knowledge of fairytales, but you were still aware that the Lost Realm was crawling with kobold and others of that ilk,. It was a very dangerous place. At the end of the first era was when the Lost Realm was supposedly at the height of its power, but that ended when a dragon led a massive host of kobold and wyverns and sacked the entirety of the realm. Well, that's how the stories went. So how then, could a delicate being such as this come from such a dangerous place?


Then a brilliant idea came over you. There was a story your mother once told you. One about the faerie, a race of beings native to the Lost Realm. When they were in the Lost Realm they were humanoid creatures of a similar height humans, but with pointed ears and a slender build. In the story, a faerie wandered over the border of the Realm of Men and the Realm of the Lost,  (Before the border walls were constructed) but the faerie were tied to their own realm. Whenever they left, they became as humans. This particular faerie panicked when they realized they left their home for another realm, and immediately tried to go back, but every time he tried to re-enter his homeland, he would get lost, turned around. He could never find his way back. Once the faerie willingly left the Realm of the Lost, they weren't allowed back. He was left in the Realm of Men to fend for himself, but he desired that no their faerie would feel like he did. Alone, confused and afraid. So the faerie came up with a code. If he thought there was another faerie, he would ask them a simple question. 


You ask that question now. "Are you lost?"


Liliana immediately pulls from you and stares at you in disbelief. She suddenly wipes all of the tears from her face with her sleeve before asking you a question. "Will you help me fit in here?" 


Kinda shocked that your plan worked you only nod in response. 


A hint of a smile breaches her face. "What's your name?" 


You briefly wonder what you've gotten yourself into, but you answer regardless. "My name is..."