A lone tear rolls down the face of a person resembling a young adolescent. Although his expression becomes taciturn whenever he remembers that night, the impact of seeing the tree again spurs the loss he felt multiple years ago. The tree remained the same since that night as each petal and flower was untouched by time. He wiped the tear off his face when the distant shout of his friend broke the daydream of the past.
"Almran, where did you go! I know you want to go searching in the forest, but we have to be back at the village before nightfall."
"Yeah, yeah, it's just early evening and we are only just an hour walk from the gates. It won't hurt if I can just take a quick look around here and there."
"I know you haven't given up on your mentor, but Elder will have our throats if we are just a little late. You know how he hates when you attempt to go into the forest on your own. He almost did not allow you to join me today."
"Whatever. Since when are you a strict follower of rules? Are you not sure that you want to go see Sanya as soon as possible?"
"How many times do I have to repeat this: I do not have a crush on her! We are only good friends that have known each other for a long time. If anything, she is just a clumsy mage that always makes a mess when I visit."
"Well in her defense, you do have the bad habit of showing up without notice. I still remember last week when I was delivering medicine and an explosion happened around her house. After the dust cleared, I saw you…"
"SHUT UP! Anything but that story please! It was not my fault that she screwed up an incantation when I visited her!"
The woods were suddenly filled with laughter from the pair of friends returning from a hunting and gathering session. Almran was carrying a knapsack on his back filled with wild fruits and herbs. He had his eyes focused on a journal, putting the final strokes on a sketch of a new plant he found on the trip. He sifted his midnight blue hair with his fingers occasionally to keep the breeze from knocking it in front of his stone-grey eyes. He closed his journal and slipped his makeshift writing instrument into the knapsack.
"Hey Gallped, what do you think I could use this plant for? It seems to be good for…"
Almran's voice trailed off as he looked up to receive an annoyed stare from his friend. The tall teenager carried a rope full of caught fish over his shoulder and a dead beast in a net tied around his shoulders like a backpack. The gentle breeze made his chaotic red hair look like a gentle wavering flame. His hazel eyes gave an exasperated look as he gave his reply.
"Almran, you're seriously asking me that question? Who knows what you could make with whatever you get your hands on. Last time, you made an explosion that was capable of doing serious damage."
"Well that time I may have mixed two things that might have not agreed with each other."
"You almost destroyed Elder Rilfam's house!"
"Whatever, I think I can make a recovery potion that removes disease and poisons from this. I'll probably know by tomorrow night."
"And I won't be surprised if you end up making that either. I don't get your knack for making these things. I'm even starting to believe the rumors that speculate you are a-"
"A demented elf? Is it because I have not aged a day since I arrived at the village? Or is it because of this stupid ear?"
"Okay, calm down. Don't get so angry from that. After all you were the one that said you weren't human"
"I wasn't even in the right state of mind, alright. Think about it: I never seen any other people before beside Pops and I'm all alone in the forest. I may look different from all of you, but it could be because I inherited my features from my ancestors."
"I don't know, but you still look more like the fae than human."
The two passed the tree line of the forest as the trail turned into a path that cut through the wide rolling grasslands that surrounded their village. The roofs of houses can be seen in the distance and smoke drifting into the sky signaled dinner time for all of the farmers working out on the fields. Farmers started to surround them as they made their way towards their quaint village. Almran's irritated look gave away when he tried greeting the farmers that frequented his place for remedies and potions. However, most of them casted a glance at him and drifted away from him like he was some sort of freak.
All villages on the isle of Fruva were created for the purpose of farming and collecting resources from the land and at most, there could be twenty dwellings in one village. The dwellings in the villages are mostly simple in shape as they only have a single living space and a sleeping quarters that could hold several people. The people here could only afford simple necessary furnishings, such as tables and chairs, and tools for cooking and maintenance. The only differences that could vary between households were the number of people and special equipment to aid in one's profession. Either than these factors, everyone lived ordinary and fulfilling lives outside of the comfort of luxury.
The village that Almran and Gallped walks into has twelve simple dwellings arranged around a couple of paths that wind throughout the land. He passes through the common area in the middle of the village where young children and adults trained in basic swordsmanship and turns down one of the paths that leads to one of the larger houses in the village. As he walks, a similar reaction occurs from the other villagers when they see him. They part from his path as if he were a bad omen. They simply acknowledged his existence and turned away to focus on other activities calling to them. Almran continued his way down the path to the large house at the end: Elder Rilfam's house.
The Elder's house is where all the past leaders and chiefs of Lanca Village reside and maintain order. The dwelling is a fair distance away from the village common area but not that close to the crop fields. Gallped walked up and knocked on the door as he knew Almran's sour mood would result in a long lecture from the Elder.
"Elder, we have come back from the forest!" hollered Gallped.
The door swung open by itself and revealed a hallway arranged with two doors on each side. The second door on the left opened by itself as the two walked in, indicating where the Elder wanted to meet. Almran immediately hid his sour mood when he noticed the display of magic as he also did not want to deal with the Elder. He would rather finish up the Elder's request and return to his dwelling without another lengthy lecture as well.
"I take it that you had no problems with this task. Let us examine what you have brought in."
An aged half-century old man stood at the entrance of the room. He held a wooden staff with a crystal contained in a cage of gnarled wood at the top and wore simple robes. While his stature was around the same height of Gallped, he held an air of authority that commanded respect. The room behind him had a table for six people to conduct trade and other types of business along with several bookshelves and a map of Fruva. Sunlight poured in from an open window and occasionally a stray leaf or flower petal would drift in with a gentle breeze.
The three sat down after unloading their harvest and game after setting it upon the table. Elder Rilfam, examined Gallped's game first. Confident as he always is, Gallped relaxed and enjoyed the cool breeze entering the room. He was assigned to hunting beasts and fishing for replenishing the village's food supply and for clearing the forest of any dangerous beasts. He had a decent amount of game and the beasts were of all sizes with the biggest one on the floor. Elder Rilfam was satisfied with the quality of the beasts and fish and let Gallped be on his way. Almran braced himself for a possible argument as Gallped left the room leaving him alone with the Elder. He hated the fact that Elder Rilfam knew him like an open book since he took care of Almran since they found him in the forest.
Elder Rilfam moved on to Almran's assortment of harvested plants, mana stones, and most of all, Almran's journal of wildlife. He examined everything with great care and took special interest in the new entries of the journal.
"I see you found a lot on this trip to the forest and the quality of the mana stones you harvested from the beasts and the earth are great. However, you hold anger even when you ran into no troubles on your assignment. You are still put off by the treatment of others to your presence. Am I wrong?"
Almran hated how Elder Rilfam tried to treat him like family; he viewed him in the same way a couple years ago. He could only see the hypocrisy in the words that the Elder spoke. Almran has no family and knows that any resemblance of family was clearly not within Lanca Village. Almran could only bring himself to respect the Elder because of the vast amount of knowledge he held. Trying to avoid a nasty argument, Almran considered his next words carefully.
"No, I'm fine. Whatever you think is bothering me is nothing of your concern."
"Hmm… It's the others in the village again isn't it? You should try to at least talk to them with friendliness. Avoiding the issue regarding your reputation will not do anything good."
"Still, it doesn't change the fact that they all shun me. That fact will never change no matter how much I give to them or be friendly with them. Stop meddling in life so much and don't concern yourself with my issues."
"I cannot turn a blind eye to this issue Almran. As your Elder and guardian, I cannot leave issues like this unresolved. Tensions like these are not healthy for the village let alone the rumors circulating-"
This was the first time Almran was speechless at Elder Rilfam's remarks. They shattered his only standing respect for the Elder for this issue was concerning the village. Almran already hated when Elder Rilfam acted like he cared about the troubles pestering him. The remarks concerning the health of the village crossed a line that the Elder was edging on. His irritation immediately ignited with fury. Slamming the table, Almran stood up and started yelling at Elder Rilfam.
"What do you know about my life! You kept me locked up in here for the longest time, leaving the books on the shelf as my only company. If you want to even act like you care about me then leave me alone and let me go into the forest! Pops is still out there somewhere, but you never let me search him! So, for once in my life, drop your act and let me be!"
Leaves on the ledge of the window were whisked into the room by a sudden breeze. The wind tussled Almran's hair as if it were responding to his strong emotion. An ensuing silence filled the room as Almran glared at Elder Rilfam. Elder Rilfam was unfazed by Almran's outburst and was about to scold him when he sensed something unnatural in the air. Wisps of energy seemed to circulate in the room for a second, focusing on the strong emotions being conveyed by Almran's shouting. However, the energy dissipated as fast as the breeze that blew the leaves in the room. In those few seconds he saw the phenomena occur, he could discern that there were signs of a spell in action. But mixed in with the telltale signs of a spell were other unfriendly forces that fought the magic in the air.
"Go," muttered Elder Rilfam.
"What?" Almran shot back still irritated
"Go, something urgent has come up and needs to be dealt with quickly. We will continue this later so don't think-"
Elder Rilfam was interrupted with a slamming of a door as Almran stormed out of the house. He sighed and turned to his bookshelf, looking for books with a possible explanation for the phenomena that unfolded before his eyes. He pulled out two books, The History of the Quida and The Spells of the Broken Moon, and started searching.