Fantasy The Value of a Soul - Prelude

[The Dark Wizard]

The Evergreen was booming and beaming with eternal cheer as one of the Fae Lords of the Heartswood was getting married. To a human!

"The Erlking marries out of Love! Rejoice for good times and prosperity are a-coming!

"The Erlking marries out of Love! Rejoice for good times and prosperity are a-coming!

"The Erlking marries out of Love! Rejoice for good times and prosperity are a-coming!

This could be heard throughout The Evergreen and it's myriad of races that called the trees home, and if it's said three or more times, it must be true right? The Great City of Nel Almari, a magical beacon of Elf ingenuity and the cooperation between the different races, was hosting an envoy of humans for the first time in centuries. Between the merriment and all the joyous energy being released, one might not have noticed a certain individual's awakening. No, not the druids, not the nature shamans and most certainly not some of the other Fae. With a small pulse of power, the old rotted and decayed wood Dryad opened his eyes, taking in the small glitters of light that penetrated the shadows of this most sacred grove, his resting place, The Dying Tree.

There was once a large and beautiful tree and underwent something new and different, changing its nature. It was dying.

There was once a dying tree and it wept for it though no one would weep for it in return. Indeed No One wept.

There was once a dying tree and it wept for it though no one would weep for it in return. Indeed No One wept and yet it was wrong.

There once a dying tree and it wept for it though no one would weep for it in return. Indeed no one wept and yet it was wrong for No One did weep. No one was sad, taking form as the dying tree's shadow, upset that it would no longer cast it and together they wept for the other. For one could no longer live without the other.

It slowly creaked and cracked, ancient nature energies returning to it's old and rotten body, roots having grown out in all directions, as it slowly separated. It began to assume one of it's more favorite forms, that of a lithe Elf with beautiful green eyes and long flowing black hair, leaves of various colors from red and orange, some yellowish and brown began to fall out from all around the grove to form a dress of autumn. "I'm awake.." it muttered.

Ari Diavolo Captain Hesperus

 

[Captain Hesperus]

She danced.
She danced for the joy of the dance and her movements brought life. Petals and blossom swirled in her wake even as the ground beneath her feet sprouted snowdrops and bluebells. Her voice trilled and the birds of the trees responded in kind. The song was ancient, older than the times when man bestrode the earth and bound it with houses of hewn wood and cleft stone.
She was naked, her slender limbs and lithe torso bared to the elements, yet she was neither chilled nor over-warm. Her hair was a torrent of auburn-gold spilling down her back and laced with delicate flowers and bright green leaves. Her dance took her closer to the most primordial parts of the Evergreen, where the eldest of her kind lived and slept as was their way. In these places where no mortal had glimpsed nor taken breath, she found the one she sought.
She stepped into the clearing, her dark chestnut hair woven into a braid and rich with vine fruits ripe and sweet, awaiting plucking and consumption. Beneath her golden gown, her breasts and belly swelled with the fullness of burgeoning motherhood and her tread was sure. She cast an emerald-green gaze across the Glade of the Dying Tree and her red lips parted.
"Full many winters have you slumbered, most revered brother,", her smooth, comforting voice crossed the clearing, as her stride drew her nearer, "Much and more has befallen the realm whilst thou hast weathered the unnumbered seasons.
She stopped, her back stooped. Long, lank silvery hair crowned with blackened twigs and shriveled leaves framed a face of aged wisdom, deep wrinkles tracking her brow, cheeks, and neck.
"What calls thee from thy rest?," she croaked, "And whyfore dost thy Shadow draw near?"
She glanced around, eyes white with cataracts seeking and finding the third being in the clearing.

The Dark Wizard Ari Diavolo

 

[Ari Diavolo]

The shadow was ever near always watching and tending to the glade waiting for his master to awaken from his slumber. He always drove off those who intended to awaken his master early. Perplexed as to why the Dying Tree has awaken he stood by and watched but when he was mentioned he rose from the shadows of the nearby trees and answered the call. He rose eyes black as night taking the form of a Fae Sprite this time. He flew over to Leshy and sat on his shoulder.

"I am here as I always am watching over and defending the Leshy as I always have. I am here to serve none but the Leshy. No one awoken he but yet he stirs a question that needs be answered."

The Dark Wizard Captain Hesperus

 

[The Dark Wizard]

The Leshy continued to regenerate his form, his eyes following the shadow sprite for a moment, offering a warm smile that could cause Spring to come early. "I had a terrible dream" it admitted with a soft voice as his gaze returned to the Three-Faced Goddess, his sister on a conceptual level. He attempted to walk forward but something was odd, he felt weak as he fell forward and a vine sprouted from the ground to prop him back up, for the Leshy was not allowed to hit the ground. He dusted his leaves. "I feel that I may have slept too much, or rather perhaps not enough" he expressed as he looked off as if looking at something into the distance, the vine lowering itself as some of the Leshy's strength came back in a small amount. He stepped out from the grove inside of the dying tree, his face feeling the wind, something he always enjoyed, but he had heard his sister's words and they registered along with a feeling he had.

Once a upon a time, the Leshy's awakening would have been greeted with the singing of the trees, but now, there was a silence, a silence that the Leshy needed to feel, for he spoke for them, for all of them. "It's okay now," he said in a soft mutter, attempting to soothe the forest. He turned his head back to his sister "What has happened to the realm? Something seems off" he further proclaimed, his eyes looking around as if trying to find the source of the problem.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

The Maiden flitted forward, wrapping her slender arms about the body of her erstwhile brother in an embrace of joyous abandonment. She held his leafy, barky body tightly with all the boundless love in her heart before releasing him and sitting herself upon the floor of the glade. Instantly, a profusion of widlflowers erupted from the ground around her.
"The winds do carry sage words unto mine ears. The court of the Erlking hath flung open it's doors and welcomed the short-lived men from the eastern lands. 'Tis said, whether rightly or non, that the men bring unto the Elf king's countenance a maiden sweet and fair, for the Erlking seeks to make alliance of blood and scion with the manfolk."
The Crone's joints creaked as she stretched her legs out before her.
"Crows have whispered unto mine ears that the men of the east seek a strong ally, since they are engaged in warfare against a foe from over the sea. A war which the men are fated to be defeated. Already their fleets are depleted and harried and their coastlines ripe pickings for their foemen's reivers. Should the Erlking spurn their advances, it shall be no long time before they are utterly overcome."The Mother ran a hand over her burgeoning belly, and continued, "A spriggan came to me and spoke overlong of the girl whose troth is to be pledged to the Erlking. She appears to have Fae heritage, a cast to the eye, a way of her stance and a mannerism quite unlike her kin. Mayhap she may be the link betwixt man, elf and we of The Forest? Only time may tell. I feel your rivival and this event are no mere coincidence. I would hear your thoughts on this, Brother Leshy."

 

[The Dark Wizard]

The Leshy listened to the one speak as three, just about every being in the forest has their ancestry tried to the fae, from the elves to the smallest of the goblins and sprites, to the oldest of the mountain spirits, a tale each their own, and every Concept was a Fae, but not every fae was a concept. She, they, them, was a Conceptual Fae, just like the Leshy, and they served a fundamental purpose in existing. They were the past, present, and the future, but more then that, they were more than just a tale, the Three-Faced Goddess had the ability to make tales and craft fates. If it had not happened, it surely would come to pass, as real as the words that escaped her lips, The Leshy understood this, and her purpose, what he did not understand was why he was woken prematurely.

"This is the time of the Earlking, The Age of The Hunt, while, I do understand that my purpose is to be a diplomat, I do not see how this situation is not currently being handled. Though, I admit that the Earl King falling in love...that is definitely something. Are we sure he is not simply playing with his foo-" he began to understand better, he may not have woken up as the Diplomat, but his oldest function and aspect, The Judge. The Leshy exists to speak for the Trees and her people, a diplomat, a counselor, the wise sage, giving a voice to those that cannot speak but desired one since time forgotten, and through them, they have it, but not every voice is a mutual conversation or joyful filled words. No, some voices were filled with judgment, wroth, and defiance. Had he been awakened to pass judgment? "This is too early" he expressed once more. The question was simple, however, and in his heart of hearts, he knew what it was.

Was he here to pass judgment on the Earlking or the Menfolk?

 

[Captain Hesperus]

The Three-Faced Goddess could see her brother's dliemma, it was wrought plain on every line of his woody face. What role must he play in this fate that was playing out in the greater world, and would it be for boon or bane? Would he be benefactor or malefactor in the intrigues of war and matrimony betwixt elf and man? For her part, the goddess was content to weave the strands of fate for the girl. Her fate was of interest to all the aspects of the Three-Faced Goddess. Her past was shrouded in obfuscation and secrets, her present was bound by duty and direst need, but her future? This was the most perplexing connundrum. The girl's future was a constantly changing nexus of possiblilties. One moment she was destined to die a great-grandmother, in a stately bed surrounded by her loving family, the next she was struggling to breathe her last breath through mouthfuls of blood in a body-clogged ditch alongside a nondescript road on the eastern coast. The Goddess had never seen a fate so undetermined, so powerful, as hers.

There existed, in all of the world's history, only three such individuals who had so defied the Three-Faced Goddess's power. The first was a true hero of the ancient civilisation, a warrior who defied death itself and marched to victory in a thousand doomed battles. He had met his end by his own means, pressing a massive boulder into the mouth of a volcano to afford the last survivors of his race time to evacuate the city that stood to be annihilated by the eruption he held at bay. The second was a woman of the race of the south, who defeated her end by marrying herself to the conceptual god of death. The god of death had challenged the woman, as was his wont, to a game of her choosing in exchange for a favor from him. She had defeated him in a game that was little more than random chance and had demanded a proposal of marriage from him as her prize. So doing, she became the queen of the deathly realm and eternal life was granted unto her. The last was, in fact a tree. This tree continued to be a connundrum. It lived in a cleft rock over a waterfall, high on a mountainside to the north. It was not native to that region, it's seed had been dropped by a travelling merchant and had taken root in that most inhospitable environment. It had sunk it's roots into the paulty soil that filled the cleft and supped on the clear spray that rose from the waterfall. Even now it flowered, valiantly presenting it's sex to any animal, bird or insect that might happen by to pollinate it. Every couple of years, the questing roots would dig deeper into the cleft and split the rock a miniscule amount further apart. The rock was supposed to have fully cracked in twain a decade ago, casting itself and the tree into the waterfall, but yet, it still had not. Still rock, cleft and tree continued to exist.

But yet, despite their defiance, the Three-Faced Goddess loved them, the hero, the queen and the tree, for how could she not love those who looked into the face of inevitability and chose their own manner of existing.
"So what doest thou plan, brother mine? Shall you go unto the Elffolk and the manfolk or shall you abide within The Forest deep until the time of your need be upon you?