Thread: The Draedon

Arcia awoke, sitting up and panting hard. It took her several moments to shake the horrible memories turned nightmares that haunted her since she was a child. Death and destruction loomed before her eyes as she struggled to slow her heart rate and steady her breathing. She instinctively gripped at the scar above her heart where an elfs blade pierced her, leaving her for dead. The womans face loomed before her eyes and she shuttered and pushed the painful memories aside. It had been twelve years since she had awoken to find three elves going on a rampage in her fair city, guests for the past fours days. She pulled the covers off of her and slid from the bed. Standing up she let her gaze move around the room, her soft brown eyes roaming over the small shed of a room. The wooden planks that made up the walls and floors already long stained by weather, mud, and earth. The window next to the bed let in a murky dust scattered light as the sun began to crest the tree line and mountain range less than a mile in the distance. Arcia turned and watched for a few moments as the memories flooded through her. She had been six years old and next in line to the Fealyin throne. She had been sent to the village of Mareson as all children and older adults were. She was to stay there until her tenth birthday upon which she would have been fetched and brought back into the main city. The Fealyin people lived within the massive forest of Iona. They had been the first race on the continent for near a full millennia, living within the forest and slowly exploring the continent. They were not a native race to the planet but the remnants of a dying race, their world having met a fate brought upon them by both their natural curiosity and hunger for knowledge, and their natural panache for war. Arcia left the bedroom and passed through the small room that doubled as a kitchen and living room. The two room little shack where she had lived since shortly after the incident in Mareson. Exiting the small house, she stepped out on a rickety front porch and looked over the small crop fields that were her livelihood. Her mind began to wander once more to the incident that had brought her here to live amongst the humans, a race that had just started to crawl from the mud and settle into what would be the basis of their existence. She smiled as she thought of how their races starts had been so different. Fealyin had lived amongst the trees for the first part of their lives, not stopping their wanderings of their homelands natural surroundings till nearly five hundred years after their awakening to sentient thought. They were at peace with their lives and saw no need to change them at first. But change comes to all things and so to had it come to them. They began building dwellings of stone and fallen wood at first, then moved to metal and eventually a crystal composite occurring naturally on their planet that grew like grass. So sturdy and beautiful that the native Fealyin couldnt help but be enamored of it. It became the basis of all their technology and only later had the Fealyin realized their fortunes in choosing such a material. Arcia stepped off of the stoop and forced her thoughts back to the semi present. The elves had come to her nursing village in friendly communion. The Fealyin had been taken with the elves since they had chosen to move into the forest of Iona. They were beautiful beings, their movements graceful and enchanting. The Fealyin and the Elves quickly came to terms, their love of nature and natural beauty meshing perfectly. It wasnt uncommon for interactions between the two races and the elves seemed just as enamored of the crystal architecture the Fealyin had brought with them from their home. The Fealyin had told none but the current ruler of the elves their history and asked them to keep it only to themselves. This had been agreed to with little qualm. Near a thousand years later, a contingent of elves, one male and two females, made their way into the nursing village of Mareson and were housed as royalty. Arcia had been the keeper for them, showing them around the city and tending to their needs. It was not uncommon for guests to be tended by the younger. Fealyin developed quickly, reaching the maturity of young teens rapidly while still having a childlike wonder about the world around them. So they made perfect tour guides and entertainers. Arcia had been pleasantly surprised to find that her charge was none other than Illia, the current elven queen. The woman was strong, beautiful, and very capable. Everything Arcia had come to believe the elves to be. With a melodious voice, bewitching smile, and exotic features, Arcia couldnt help but be taken with the woman and gladly showed her around the city. Queen Illia had many questions, all of which Arcia did her best to answer. She remembered spending several days with the woman, her companions tended to by other Fealyin. On the third evening the woman had come back to her room angry. She had been in a meeting with the council in the main city, of which a separate escort had come to gather her for. Illias expression and barely contained rage had scared Arcia. After the womans rage had passed, she had questioned Arcia on a stone that the Fealyin had unearthed in the forest in a cave near its northern edge. It was red and emanated a power unlike anything the Fealyin had encountered before. For safe keeping the council, king, and queen had agreed that it should be studied and kept out of the reach of others till its capabilities could be gauged. A century later it had been deemed a valuable power source but destructive beyond rationale. The power it emitted amplified a persons abilities beyond logic and physiology. Further studies made it apparent that the wielder of the crystal that had become known as Draedon allowed them to influence and control people around them to an extent. The Draedon was deemed to dangerous to allow into undeveloped hands and was contained as a meager power source in the main city. The Fealyin kept their technology displays to a minimum, using only small things like lights and orbs that displayed images of people on the other side of them, similar to the elven means of using magic to view people or places far off. There had been some debate over learning the arts of the elves as well and they had offered to teach, however the elders of the Fealyin believed it would be out of bounds to so freely dabble in it, so its use was restricted to research and development only. Arcia tensed as she heard someone moving around the side of her house and turned to see Randy Collins, a local from the village she lived just outside of, coming into view. Relaxing, she smiled at him. He helped her with the crops and lugging wood out of the nearby forest for firewood. He gave her a lopsided grin and paused, running a hand through his short sandy blonde hair. Another bad dream? he asked, looking her over. Arcia merely nodded. She had known Randy since being forced here. She had told him part of her story but not the particulars. He simply knew she had things in her past that occurred when she was a child and still troubled her. Just old memories. Nothing important. she said flashing a grin and looking out over the field that ran with her crops not to far from her house. Looks like its going to be a decent haul this year. she said, changing the subject. Might have enough for some repairs on the warehouse. Maybe even to fix up the place a bit. Randy laughed and shook his head. He was slightly older than her and had been ten when she had been found on the edge of the village. Her mind flashed back briefly as she waited on him. She had been exiled after Illia and her two companions had gone on a rampage. Arcia had awoken to the sounds of screams and the smell of smoke. She flew from the room and was greeted with a scene straight from a nightmare. She saw fires raging through her small village and death laying everywhere. She ran looking for her friends and the companion she had been charged with keeping. Arcia? The sound of Randys voice snapped her from her reflections. Sorry missed that last comment. She said grinning. I said if you dont get that place fixed up then youre gonna be sleepin with the birds. That roof of yours is gonna give soon. He watched her for several moments as she remained silent, aware of his gaze. Sorry Randy. Was thinking of what my next crop would be. I need to rotate them out this year. She felt him step up onto the porch beside her and knew he was looking out over the field. Your may have to lay it up for a year. You have been pushing it hard. Im surprised youve gotten the hauls you have but theyve been dwindling. She remained silent for several moments and simply nodded. Tea? she said after a long silence.