-Twenty Years Ago-
Outside The Village of Dawn's Bridge
A man held a small girl close to his chest, swaddled in a blanket to shield against the crisp autumn wind. It was night, the sun having just set beneath the trees of the horizon and giving way to the stars that shone in the aurora above. The man, barely into his twenties, stood on with confusion and fear as a hooded woman walked away from him.
"Please," he pleaded, holding the baby girl close. "She needs you. She needs both of us."
The woman lowered her head, hunched over as though she were in pain. "I can't, Ben. Okay? I can't."
Tears ran down Ben's face. He wiped his eyes beneath his glasses as he stared in disbelief. The Elf, the woman he loved, the one who bore his child, was leaving him.
"So that's it?!" He called after her. "Having a child with a human was so unbearable that you can't even be seen with us? Huh?!"
The Elf turned around quickly, her golden eyes awash with tears of her own as her golden hair hung loosely in her hood and framed her face.
"That's really what you think?" She scoffed. "You think I want to leave? That I want to abandon you? The only one who stood by me when I was alone? You think I want this?!"
The Elf doubled over in pain, grunting as she sunk to her knees. She gritted her teeth, groaning and crying as Ben rushed for her.
"Stay back!" The Elf looked up, her hood falling from her head. Runes formed on the side of her face, her ears misshapen as her skin twisted and convulsed violently. "Stay back, Ben!"
"Licenia, we can get through this. You won't hurt us. I've been able to keep safe before, right? I'll keep her safe, too. We can be–"
"Stop!" Licenia shrieked, and a piercing howl accompanied her voice. She quivered, her body shaking as steam emanated from beneath her robes. "I can't risk it, Ben. I can't hurt either of you. I don't want to kill the only good things that happened to me. Please, just let me go!"
"Licenia…" Ben reached for her, still holding the baby tight in his other arm. "Please."
But she had already turned away, running into the forest as an explosion of steam erupted from the thick trees that surrounded their home. And with a final, guttural howl that pierced the air, she was gone. Completely.
Ben stood there, outside the cobblestone fence of their cottage, alone and defeated. Holding the child they had created together, in front of the home they built together, now utterly isolated. He looked down at the child, her raven black hair accentuated with a few strands of blonde. As she opened her eyes, green and gold irises stared back at him.
"I'm sorry, Bianca," he said quietly. "But I promise, I will not abandon you. I will protect you with my life."
And so with a heavy heart, Ben walked with his daughter back to their cottage, knowing that he would be the only family she would ever know.