Thread: Reverence and Decree

Ellifain sat up, waking in a panic not for the first time over the past few months. Breathing heavily her body trembled and her nerves were slow to settle. Images flashed through her mind over the horrors she had endured during the past few months. Several long moments past before she realized she was still free. She rose from the makeshift bed that she had been given and wandered over to a bowl of water. Looking in the reflection she saw a haggard expression on her face. Her deep blue eyes, flecked with gold, and her long black hair had a wild appearance to them. Taking a moment to straighten herself out she tucked her hair being her pointed ears. Elves had been going missing over the last year never to be heard from again. Ellifain, like many others amongst her people, had dismissed the disappearances. The numbers weren't great and there were a variety of reasons that people just left. Some had bad relations with those around them and a few were quite young for their race. It wasn't uncommon for some of the younger elves to wander and explore more of the world before returning home or making a home for themselves elsewhere. Ellifain was entering the second eight to tenth of her lifespan. A few years into elven adulthood, she was only one hundred and nine years of age. She had always resided in the forest of Izari, prefering only to venture out to the human settlements when things required. She was skilled in many things, combat being her specialty. She normally carried a set of twin longswords and a pair of daggers both in her belt and in her boots. She was by no means a slouch when it came to remaining alert and defending herself. Her mind wandered back once more over the events over the past few months. Stepping from the treetop abode and looking out over the massive canopy city of Izari, she replayed the events in her head. She had entered a human settlement not far from the edged of her home forest, deciding to spend the night there before continuing on to the capital in order to seek out a friends advice on a personal matter. She stopped over at the local tavern and rented a room for the night. Retiring early, she had awaken in the dead of night to the sounds of movement just inside her room. Laying still she slipped her hands beneath her pillow to where she kept a pair of her daggers when she slept slowly. Soon the sound drew closer and she tensed, preparing to spring. As the woman heard the person slip to within a foot of her bed, she sprung. Leaping from the bed and twisting her body, she flung the covers at the would be assailant then knifed towards the person with her blades. Quickly dispatching the foe, she heard him grunt then let him drop to the floor. Catching shadows moving across the sliver of light coming into the room she slowly slid forward. Suddenly there had been a sharp snapping sound to her right and something struck her hard in the side. Stumbling slightly, she turned and launched one of her blades at the previously unseen attacker. Then the door to the room burst open and two more people poured in. Turning hard to face them she stepped forward and felt a brush of air as something passed by her face. Leaning back she stabbed forward once more then felt something hard strike her between the shoulder blades. Confusion set in then. She knew that there were only two left in the room, both being before her. Dropping to her knees she tried to rise and quickly got a kick in the face for her troubles. The thought of calling for help had more than occurred to her, but she knew that no one would respond and now it was too late to even try. She struggled to regain her breath and felt another blow to her back. Falling to the floor she tried to look behind her but still saw nothing present. She felt a boot on her neck and tried to struggle as it pressed the toe down against her throat choking her. She soon awoke to find herself tightly bound and gagged, and a guard stationed over her body. She was well outside of the city limits and knew that no help would stumble across her. Struggling she only managed to get a kick in the ribs for her efforts. Three day's later she found herself in the capital city held underground in a series of rooms beneath the main of the capital itself. To her horror, she had discovered the stories of missing elves were true. Her fellow captives filled her in on exactly what had been going on and what she was in store for. They passed on what had been overheard from the guards and the mages and researchers in the dungeon complex. Her mind filled with horror upon learning that this was the King's doing. He had become obsessed with immortality and had gone to extreme means to obtain it. After his best mages and alchemists had failed, his researchers had suggested they ask the elves for help. However the King went a step further. Abducting elves where ever he could, he kept them prisoner beneath the Castle proper and when he wasn't having them tortured, he had them experimented on and researched like a lab rats. When they got done with a particular elf, they were bound and gagged then shipped out in secret to a kingdom across the sea and sold as slaves. The King needed private funding to keep his experiments going without alerting the rest of his staff. Dipping into the treasury would have raised suspicions and elves were exotic enough to make a huge profit off of over seas. One could live on the wages for half a year or more. Ellifain was taken soon after arriving and the hells she had endured would stay with her for the rest of her days. However, unlike most, she kept her wits about her and happened across an extreme stroke of fortune. Killing a guard, she managed to escape and started a harrowing flight back to the city of Izari to inform her people of what had occurred. Managing to stay one step ahead of her pursuers, she arrived and was immediately taken to be cared for. Upon recovering enough, she began to tell of what happened to her. The elven council went into meeting and had been there off an on throughout her recovery time. When she had been able to move about, she had inquired into the council's plan only to find that there wasn't one. This outraged Ellifain. She wandered the roof tops from place to place at random as she decided what to do.