An ornate carriage plated in gold and finest mahogany was rushing through a narrow stone path leading through the Ebon Forest.
Ebon Forest was one of the largest forests in the world, with such thickness of trees which gave it its name that traveling without flight or through already established path was near impossible, and yet what made it easy to travel was that the entire forest was incredibly flat as if crafted that way by deliberate actions of a creator.
The carriage was guarded by 30 heavily armored knights and 10 spell casters with one knight riding in front of them carrying a green flag with the same insignia as the carriage, all of them were so heavily armored that you couldn't make out their gender or build.
They were escorting a carriage with a single passenger, a princess in any sense of the word, a young elf girl, with flowing platinum hair, red eyes, an elaborate tiara, and a long black dress.
All went well until they ran into a man-made blockade, and multiple trees fell blocking their paths not allowing them to retreat easily before a multitude of arrows and spells rushed out of the dark forest canopy killing 4 spell casters and 2 knights.
The leading knight shouted "Ambush!, knights form a wall, let the ranged units return fire!" to the escorting soldiers as they got into formation before getting attacked by all sides by unknown fighters.
This day couldn't get any worse for Sheira, one moment she was peacefully riding a carriage with her father's elite guards surrounding her and ensuring her complete safety.
All went well until they entered the Ebon Forest, as they rode through the thick forest she wished to enjoy the slow ride until arriving in the Red Dawn Kingdom and made a request to her escort to slow down.
Red Dawn was a human kingdom, one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms on the continent, their army was relatively small but their training and equipment were supreme, not to mention having multiple Inquisitors as they call them.
But not all was well, many of the nobles practiced slavery, and many of them organized "Elf hunts" to gather young elves that could serve their families for generations.
And yet due to the threat of the neighboring savages sharing a long southern border with the Elven Kingdom, the king decided to ignore their crimes and send his only daughter to strike a deal with the monarch of the Red Dawn and ask for support.
"It just isn't possible for anything to go my way" She didn't want to go to Red Dawn, she knew what it meant for her to go, she would have to give all of herself just for a chance for her people to survive.
She leaned her head against the carriage wall before the carriage suddenly stopped knocking her forward and making her fall right on her face.
All she could make out as she fell was the words Ambush being shouted by her childhood friend and captain of her guards.
As she slowly rose she heard yelling and shortly after swords clashing.
"Oow, what is going on outside!?" she rubbed her nose as she slightly opened the carriage curtains, what she saw horrified her more than anything before in her life.
Outside the carriage, her guards were getting slaughtered, slaughtered by unknown humanoids covered by dark hoods that obscured their faces.
Some were getting decapitated, some were frozen to a crisp and some were turned into grotesque zombies turning them against their former allies
These people were launching devastating attacks against her guard before retreating into the forest and launching their attacks again.
Princess wondered if she just encountered one of the "Elf Hunts"
"But the nobles would never attack a royal carriage, what is going on here" she whispered to herself as she bit down on her lip.
A horrible feeling was rising in her throat as she watched her best guards that served her family loyally since her childhood getting killed as if they were pigs.
She wished to help, she didn't want her loyal soldiers to die, and yet deep within herself she knew.
"I'm weak..." she exhaled as she watched the battle unfolding from a small slit between curtains.
She didn't know how to use a sword; she didn't have magic knowledge and she certainly didn't have a divine blessing.
All she had was the royal blood, only special for its immense healing capability, a single drop of her family blood could heal any wound, it could even regrow limbs, the only limit was that it couldn't revive the dead.
That blood was the only reason her kingdom even had any leverage to negotiate without being annexed by a more powerful neighbor.
But as much as it was a kind of blessing it also made her family a target of extremely sinister people.
After she was born, she couldn't even go outside the castle without heavy protection, in a way it was suffocating, and it was all because she was weak, she was so weak that her disgust towards herself grew more and more.
For an elf she was pretty young, with only recently turning 170 she was still considered only a teen, and ever since she could remember she tried to lean into mystical arts.
But no matter how many hours she spent practicing chants, how many mana circles she drew, no matter what divinity she prayed to, it all was for naught, she didn't have any talent and no god wanted to lend her aid.
It truly infuriated her to no end, all she had was her healing blood, she was no different than a farm animal for most people, a swine to be slaughtered.
Recently, even human kingdoms started acting belligerently with their people, it was only a matter of time before they declared war, and for what?
Just her family's blood was just a curse, it brought only misfortune to her and her family.
Her status as a princess meant nothing, everyone else in her family was able to perform at least basic acts of magic or divinity.
But she had nothing, tears swelled up inside her eyes "Why am I so useless..."