In the soft, ethereal glow of the moon, the elven town of Lorendale was a vision of tranquility. As the stars danced in the midnight sky, casting their shimmering light upon the arched rooftops and winding pathways, the villagers moved with a serene grace, their delicate features illuminated by a gentle, silvery radiance. Amidst the stillness of the night, a sense of magic lingered, weaving through the air like a whispered lullaby, as if the very forest itself had come alive to embrace the peaceful souls that called this mystical place home. However, unbeknownst to the serene village, a dilapidated temple lay hidden in the depths below, its ancient presence shrouded in secrecy from the unsuspecting elven inhabitants above. Despite it's current ummaintaned state, the temple casted a haunting shadow over the forgotten history of Lorendale's enigmatic past. The weathered stones of the grand structure silently bore witness to the aspirations of a lost civilization, containing secrets and mysteries entombed within its decaying walls. However, on this day, events would start to occur that will change everyone's lives, for better or for far, far worse than anybody could ever imagine.
In the silent embrace of night, an elven villager of Lorendale found herself suspended in an otherworldly dreamscape, where the colossal form of an unknown entity materialized. It bore the resemblance to a giant floating feline head with six eyes, each seeming to contain separate galaxies within, as well as possessing four giant cat ears, which appeared capable of causing calamities with even the slightest twitch. And now, such a being was before her, staring at the comparatively tiny elf. Judging. Despite such an entity being in front of the elf, it was a miracle that her mind was not torn asunder, but it was not completely unharmed either, as she could not possibly comprehend what was in front of her nor make sense of the happenings around her. She was but a simple elven village girl to be wedded next year to her lover, but it seemed fate had other plans for her.
Then, all of the sudden, with a deep and reverberating meow, the ancient entity imparted a single cryptic vision, revealing the presence of an ancient temple nestled beneath the very grounds of the village she stood upon, within the vision, words could be heard being spoken, no doubt by the entity that brought her to this twisted nightmare realm. But try as she might to resist, every word uttered would drive her to insanity until she could take it no more.
As she awoke, the echoes of the encounter lingered on her mind like a malignant tumor, gnawing at every fibre of sanity she had left, ensuring her mind would never be the same, nor would it ever fully recover, only to further descend into madness as even her speech would begin to devolve into insane ramblings that nobody who even wanted to help could even understand. She had been doomed the moment she laid eyes upon such a being that her mind could never hope to comprehend.
In the end, her story ended in tragedy, as she could not take the torture on her mind any longer.
Despite such a horrifying event, it was only a setback in the eyes of the entity who only viewed such an event as a minor dissapointment in the grand scheme it has created for this world. For no matter, it only needed to find another mortal that is capable of even withstanding its mere presence, though such a discovery might prove challenging for the Entity, for he did not know that these mortals could be so fragile.
Unfortunately, it would not find such a host in the once peaceful village of Lorendale. Not. A. Single. One.
The horrible, yet anomalous disaster that befell upon Lorendale was a mystery nobody could solve, as one by one, each of the denizens of the town slowly fell into madness, and all afflicted eventually meeting the same fate the girl earlier had met. There were many theories, but with no survivors, one could only imagine what could bring these townsfolk into such madness. But wonder they could do no more, as almost all but a few were effected by this so called "curse".
Seeing the unsalvageable state of their home, and fear for their losing their lives, the remaining survivors tried to run, but were stopped and threatened by elven rangers patrolling around the border of the town to return at once, and should they disobey, said rangers were allowed to use lethal force if necessary. Under the order of the Empress, the rangers were tasked on guarding the parameter of the town and to ensure nobody is to leave in fear of it spreading, effectively sending the remaining survivors to their imminent deaths.
In the end, not a single elf in Lorendale survived; consumed by insanity, they all perished shortly after, bringing an abrupt end to their once-thriving village.
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Many tried to rationalize the event after it happened, or even find a cure, but none could do so as victims appeared to be completely normal before suddenly losing their minds the following day, effectively making it impossible to prepare for should if spread to the other towns of the empire, this event however was not so widely known, as information about this disaster was swiftly and forcibly taken down and any elf found spreading such information were labelled as "criminals" and to be trialed privately by law enforcement, where they would never be seen nor heard from again.
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Dissapointment could be felt permeating from the Entity. It was not happy; [^*%>_] would have to wait even longer now, and perhaps do a re-evaluation of it's 'perfect' strategy to find the ideal host.
But until then, the events of Lorendale would be a dark stain on the history of the Empire to be buried by the Empress, in hopes that this was a one off event, and would slowly forget about the events that transpired in Lorendale, merely writing it off as fatal disease. Oh how wrong they were.
But for now, the Empire is safe.
For now.
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Hey guys, the author here. This is my first story and the first chapter doesn't even have the MC appear, idk just felt like this was right. Anyway, enjoy reading y'all. Stay safe.