About 100 kilometers from the Kitsurai clan was a great forest. Most of the planet was filled with forests, however this one was different than most, it's trees dwarfed the rest, stretching to around 400 meters in height and having trunks over 80 meters thick.
This forest covered an area of three hundred square meters, and from above, it was a perfect circle. If one was to enter and look closely at the trees, they would notice that some of them had wooden doors on the bark.
Rope bridges connected the highest branches to each other, and a number of unnatural structures could be seen built into the trees. Like ladders carved into the trees, and wooden rooms built on the widest horizontal branches.
As the suns rose on the horizon, their golden light reflected on the morning dew, making dozens of sun-shafts, one of which illuminated a closed flower bud, making it bloom into a beautiful pink rose. This caused a chain reaction and soon, hundreds of flowers added colour to the forest, multiplying it's splendor.
Suddenly, a hand softly gripped the stem of the original flower and plucked it out before placing it under a nose. It was a female Nexiri with long yellow hair, reaching her lower back. Two smooth bumps were seen on her forehead and her big blue eyes turned to crescents as she smiled, placing the flower in a basket before happily skipping away.
More and more Nexiri came out of the trees to witness the sunrise as well as the bloom. Soon, the treetops were abuzz with activity, smiles on every face as the community woke up from the previous day's slumber.
In the very middle of this forest, was located a tree bigger than most, at least 100 meters bigger. It's bright green canopy covered a diameter of 100 meters. However, it's shade did not bar the trees directly under it's magnificence from flourishing.
A circular window opened from almost the peak of the tree. The window however did not have any glass, it was made of two planks crossing each other.
Now gazing at the outside world through the window was a female Nexiri, she had soft blue skin, like the sky, and red eyes. Delicate features and, two bumps above her eyebrows only accentuated her serenity. Long golden hair flowed from her head down to the floor.
Her 2.3 meter tall body was covered in loose green robes which were so thin they were see through.
The room she was in was made of wood all around, and was not a perfect square either, seeing as it was carved into a tree. Wooden furniture filled the room, with most of it smooth and shining.
A large bed was situated in the middle of the room, and it was clearly undone, with some white sheets even lying on the floor. The woman suddenly felt hands wrap around her, and a small smile appeared on her face, amplifying her beauty, even for human standards.
"Good morning", she moaned.
"Morning princess", the Nexiri behind her said, giving the princess a kiss on the cheek. She had dark blue skin and dull green eyes, with shoulder length black hair which seemed to have been drawn using a ruler. A single sheet was wrapped around her body.
"It's not even after bloom yet Elwynn, come back to bed", the woman whispered. The princess shook her head slightly, her golden her shimmering in the sun-shafts.
"I cannot my love. I have a meeting with my first mother in a few Pulses". Princess Elwynn replied.
"What is it about?" the woman asked.
"I have not the foggiest of ideas", Elwynn turned around to face the woman, "I should not take long, go back to sleep and i will come join you as soon as i can", she whispered, grazing her partner's thighs.
The woman smiled. "Do not keep me waiting", she then gave Elwynn a deep kiss before walking back to the bed. The smile on Elwynn's face faded as she went towards a large walk in closet.
Coming out a couple of pulses (Minutes) later, she wore green robes, which followed her body like a magnet, accentuating her curves. On her feet were green boots and part of her hair had been tied into a small bun, however it was still long enough to reach the back of her knees.
Elwynn quietly walked out of the room, and standing by either side of the door were two Nexiri, both female and wearing wooden armour which covered them from head to toe.
They each held a bow in one hand, an arrow in the other, while hanging on their backs was a quiver filled with arrows. The bows were smooth, with a straight part in the middle and curved at the ends. The string was so tight it was invisible from some angles.
Both Nexiri faced the ground as Elwynn walked past, only raising their faces when she was a few meters away. The princess walked down a wooden spiral staircase, passing a lot of the armoured Nexiri on the way until eventually reaching a door, which she went through.
The door led to outside the great tree, but not the ground, before her was a bridge that connected the tree with the next one. As she walked across the bridges and on top of connecting branches, every Nexiri she passed would either bow or offer her a gift, mostly in the form of flowers.
Eventually she came to the edge of her home forest, where she got onto a cage made of roots. The cage then slowly started to descend, until she was on the ground. Then walking away from the great forest, three armoured Nexiri could be seen following close behind.
"I am not going far, i do not need an escort", she complained.
"We apologise, but we cannot let a princess of Veltori venture alone outside the safety of Yggdrasill. Especially you", one of the escorts said. It must be noted that all three of them were female.
"Fine, whatever". Elwynn sighed as she continued walking further away from the Veltorian city of Yggdrasill, named after the great tree that gave birth to all Veltori Nexiri, according to legend.
Yggdrasill was located between Vallwyn and Kitsurai territories, but closer to Kitsurai than the former. A few kilometers away was the great ocean, Kaltos, from whose waters life was said to emerge at the beginning of time.
Surrounding Yggrasil was a field of flowers, their yellow petals turned golden by the rising suns, and their scent filling the air.
"Legend has it the scent of the Velt flower can enslave men for eternity. Trapping them in a cycle of false serenity until their bones wither and feed the earth", Elwynn plucked a single flower and smelt it.
"Have any of you ever seen a man?" she asked.
"I have princess, long ago when clan Veltori was still part of the war", one of the escorts said. "But that was many a sun cycle ago, i have almost all but forgotten how they even look".
"Really?" Elwynn plucked out a petal from the flower in her hand and blew it into the air. "And would you say you were lucky to have seen them?, or just the opposite?"
"Well at the time we were fighting against them princess, but even if it was not so, i would have no opinion of them in that regard", the escort answered.
"I see". Elwynn nodded, "Try to keep up, i want to be back before middawn". With those words, she took off running. Her hair blew furiously in the wind as she accelerated, mostly jumping from one point to another, covering ten meters in a single leap.
Eventually the group of four passed by the last Velt flower and where now in the middle of a forest populated with trees of purple and black leaves. Elwynn raised her hand, and a tree vine stretched itself, wrapping around her wrist and flinging her into the air.
Waving her hands in mystical patterns, tree branches would either move out of her way or move under her feet, to act as foot holds for her to leap onto the next branch. Vines would carry her along, swinging her as if an extension of her body. The forest was bending to her will, and happy to do so.
Elwynn suddenly stopped, and the escorts behind her did the same. "Something wrong princess?" one of them asked. Elwynn continued staring at a certain tree in particular, and soon crawling down the tree was a creature.
It had over a dozen legs, each ending with razor sharp claws, a long body covered in black scales and two heads. It's heads hissed showing it's forked tongues as it's claws gripped the tree, climbing down slowly with all four eyes on the group.
When the whole body was on the ground, it curled it's three meter long body and like a spring, shot forward, showing the deadly fangs that riddled it's maws.
Elwynn raised her hands and two vines quickly grabbed onto her before lifting her up into the air. Then the vines wrapped themselves around her entire body, starting at the wrists, until the only thing visible was her eyes.
She was now covered in a complete suit of armour made of the vines as she jumped onto a nearby branch before taking a seat and making herself comfortable.
Meanwhile, on the ground, the beast had crashed onto the earth, kicking up some dirt after it's target suddenly flew away. A snapping sound was heard as an arrow broke on the scales of the creature, leaving it without a scratch.
"That will not work, the only weak points are the eyes and the point where the two necks meet. Aim there", One of the escorts said. Pulling back an arrow and letting loose.
The beast saw the oncoming attack and moved it's body just in time, blocking the arrow with it's scales. Then it hissed in pain as two more arrows connected, one at it's left eye and the other at the base of the right neck.
It squirmed, thrashing it's giant body all around in a frenzy. One of the escorts was caught unaware and was wacked away by the tail. A vine caught her before she slammed against a tree.
The other two continued to fire off arrows. However it proved very difficult to land a hit as the beast was moving all over the place and it's weak points were few and small.
"Keep it occupied", the leader of the escorts said. She was the one who claimed to have fought in the war.
When the other two nodded, she leapt into the air, climbing to a height of 10 meters before landing on the same branch the armoured Elwynn was relaxing on.
Then she placed an arrow into her bow and took aim. "Fly true, and let nothing hinder your path". she whispered, and let loose.
The arrow flew from her bow so fast that it seemed to have teleported. A second later, the beast stopped moving, a small hole was seen on the scaled part of it's body. The scales had failed to stop this particular arrow, which was currently imbedded into the ground not far away, only the feather being visible above ground.
With the creature dead, the group continued their journey, with Elwynn leading the way. The vine armour she wore had unraveled itself and just fell onto the ground.
Eventually, the rich smell of sea water reached their nostrils as they arrived at their destination. Before them was a vast ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was still, with not even a ripple of waves on the surface of the deep blue.
Elwynn walked forward until she was walking into the ocean. Then she came to a wooden pole which was sticking out of the water. Pulling it out, she inspected it for a few beats (seconds) before walking back to the shore, each step she took, she would mumble something to herself.
When she got to the boundary, where water turned to sand, she dug a small hole and buried one end of the pole, leaving most of it above ground.
"Let's head back now", she ordered.
"Princess that is not the way, you are heading too deep into Kitsurai territory", the leader of the escorts warned.
"I smell of salt, there is a small lake not far from here, i need to rinse my clothing. And worry not, no Kitsurai reaches these parts", she reassured.
"Stay here". Elwynn said as they neared the lake.
"But...."
"I said stay, if anything happens i will call, but i would rather you lot not watch me bathe".
The escorts begrudgingly let her proceed on her own, which she did. However, some words stopped her in her tracks, and they did not come from the escorts behind her.
"It's not a problem, he can swim quite well" the voice said.
"Oh i see, was he taught by 'Uncle Bor' by any chance?" A deeper voice said.
"Kenzo Kitsurai, Prince of the Kitsurai clan and future Patriarch, are you jealous?" the first one replied.
"Well what do we have here?" A couple of leaves moved to cover Elwynn as she prepared herself for a show. Then something caught her attention, from the corner of her eye.
It was a young boy, black hair, bright blue skin. Playing with a few pebbles at the edge of the lake. Not far from the boy, was the exposed root of a nearby tree.