An elf stood high atop a tree branch. "Nothing interesting this eventide" the elf sighed. He had gone for his rounds three times in a row and was getting bored.
"Inglar" he muttered, instantly breaking his camouflage charm. He wore a circlet with an insignia of a strange symbol circled by a dragon. His striped silvered armored cloak adorned with a black mantle signified him as one of the few dignified expert scouts of the Blackburn kingdom. Such a position came with many privileges. One of such privileges was a dimensional storage device in a form of a large masterfully crafted and designed belt, with the insignia of the kingdom he served, of course, enclosed in a sapphire encrusted circle. The belt is black just like the mantle and had little slots encircling it on either side of the insignia. From one of the slots, he drew out a dagger, and in a swift swipe tore a little tree branch and began to carve it. Tired of standing, he sat on the branch he was standing on, legs dangling in the air, and back against the tree, he carried on with his carving. He expertly moved the dagger across the wood, little pieces of cut wood falling silently unto the ground. Rapidly, the wood took the form of a bird- a bird of prey, it was a falcon, with wings outstretched and talons opened- ready to snatch prey. Satisfied, he etched his scout number on each wing of the wooden life-like falcon. He pricked his thumb with the tip of the dagger and dripped his dark green blood on the engraving he had just made on the falcon. The engraving gradually filled up to form a rune- which we will now know to be five in the elven writing and language. Suddenly, the falcon began to twitch as it came to life. Its carved eyes began to glow white as it took in its surroundings. The elf identified as scout five launched the falcon up, high in the sky-it flapped its wings and started to fly overhead scout five. And he chuckled, another privilege of being an expert scout was access to the knowledge of espionage arts and magic.
Scout five's chestnut brown eyes turned white, enabling him to see everything the falcon could set its eyes upon, giving him an incredible scope of vision. All of a sudden his face was drained of color.
"That's clunker", muttered the elf to himself, he spotted something he seemed to have missed when trying out his falcon. His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw what made him feel like he was dreaming.
"This is just not possible".
Within the woods, he saw dark figures dating among the trees, moving with ridiculous speed. Their speed he could acknowledge was far superior to his, but what his heartbeat quickened was their numbers. They poured out like a wave, endless and frightening. They were far from him, but with the speed at which they advanced, it would only be a matter of minutes before they reached him, friend, or for, but trained as he was, he knew they were the enemy. They seemed like black sand being poured onto the lands, flowing seamlessly, seeking to eradicate, their aura he could feel and tell was outrageously powerful and sinister.
"This is bad", scout five's face was ashen with fear. He frantically dashed from branch to branch pushing himself to the limit to move as fast as he can.
I have to warn the others. He kept thinking as he surged forward. He touched the emblem on his belt and it immediately pushed further- it was the mechanism for operating the dimensional storage. Little round flat disks appeared around him, moving with equal speed as he was. He quickly swiped his unarmed hand at them and they immediately spread out, attaching themselves to the ground, trees, and various sections of his surroundings. They gave little goes of rune formations which instantly turned invisible- they were trap spell artifacts, courtesy of being once again, an expert scout. If he continued with that speed the others will be warned. He knew he could make it, alert the others and protect the kingdom from whatever was coming but then, he saw something slumped on the ground under a tree ahead of him. His blood run cold when he saw the same silver cloak but with no mantle- a recruit's attire. He stood on a branch directly above and stared at his fellow scout, whose blood stained the tree's trunk green, it seemed fresh, and the sight of arrows pierced through the body stung his eyes. Just then the person he thought had been dead turned to look up at him. His eyes told of the unspeakable horror he had just seen, "Run!!!", he let out with the last ounce of strength he had; his eyes were fixated on nothingness, his mouth slightly parted as there was something else he wished he could say. Scout five looked down, feeling remorse that an innocent man's life had been taken, and he could do nothing about it.
"I will avenge you, brother", he said in a silent tone. The forest was silent as he continued, he could sense no aura around him, he should have at least encountered some of the other scouts, but then he thought again, they might have noticed the anomaly and gone ahead to give the warning. He felt hope as he suddenly saw two figures standing ahead of him, noticing their outfits, he dropped down rushing to their side, the sound of his footsteps startled them and they were more confused when they saw his pale face and how he seemed panicked.
"Brother", one of the approached him, "What is wrong?".
"Enemies!!!", they're coming", he panted. "So many of them, more than a thousand they might be. And they're fast, more agile than any other elf I've ever seen. I saw a dead recruit well on my way here". The other two scouts looked at him, surprise written all over their faces.
"We have to warn-", scout five couldn't finish what he was saying when a powerful force struck him to the ground. He heard some of his ribs snap where the force had hit him. He coughed out blood and gasped, trying to get some air into his lungs as pain lanced through his body. He crawled to a sitting position, leaning his back against a cork tree's trunk. A shadow was cast over him, and he looked up.
"Pathetic, a kick and you're already dying. You skylight elves are not even fitting to exist. Weak creatures." Scout five looked at them fazed. Someway, somehow he realized moments ago that they were imposters, first, he could feel the sinister aura they were trying to hide, second, they didn't start their sentences with the scout greeting, "Elum". He was jolted from his train of thought as the sapphire circle on his belt started to turn bright ruby red and back to its original color, it kept blinking which drew the attention of the elves looming over him. One of the stretched forth his arm towards the belt, then a dark nimbus formed, inches away from his palm- dark elves, scout five confirmed, the nimbus shot at an incredible speed, and the belt shattered, cracks of light emanating from it- the storage compartment has been destroyed.
"Backup?", sneered the taller elf among the two imposters. It was his companion who had cast the spell that led to the destruction of the belt.
"Afraid not", said scout five with a maniacal smile."It's my trap artifacts going off".
"He cut off our back wing infiltration unit", one of the dark elves whispered, he was surprised and perturbed.
"I will annihilate you, slowly". Shadows covered his hand as he moved toward scout five. They started to form tendrils that snaked scout five's chest.
He, scout five drew out his dagger and stabbed his chest, and slumped on his side, he had just committed suicide.
"Suicidal bastards, ain't that right Behngi?", joked one of the spies towards his tall companion.
"Yeah", laughed Behngi, "I don't know why my liege was so worked up about them". With that, they looked toward the rendezvous point to wait for the others. After they were gone, scout five opened his eyes.
"All of my people are in peril".