Chapter 1 - Elvians

Deepest in the deadly forests of the Valor kingdom, was said to be the home of one of the most mysterious yet fascinating creatures known to ever set foot on land.

These creatures come with hairs as red as an apple, and eyes that shine like rubies in the dark. These creatures were called Elvians. They live in tall trees in the middle of the forest where nobody can see them. They hide from the eyes of people as these creatures are often hunted by the villagers.

Born with skin white as snow, lips plump as cherry, along with their known eyes and hair, Elvians are blessed with beauty as is. But what captures the villager's interest in these creatures is their voice. A voice that can heal any sickness.

The sound of an uttered word from the Elvians is enough to treat and disbound a curse, and a song can treat a listening village which makes them even more vulnerable to evil. Many of them were captured to treat soldiers during wars. Some are brought to kingdoms to treat families, children, and epidemics. In most cases, Elvians are brought to other places to be abused.

But one thing about the Elvians is that they cannot leave home for too long.

When the Gods built the magical world, there was a human who got lost in the middle of the tall dark woods and into the lair of the Elvians. The Elvians, who became careless because of ignorance, welcomed him with open arms into their village. They taught him their ways and even some of their secrets. One of those is their ability to heal.

The leader of the Village, a beautiful Elvian named Athena, then fell in love with the man. As time passed by, the couple grew inseparable. They grew deeply in love with each other to the point that they could no longer last a day without each other. One day, because of the leader's love for the man, Athena left the village to marry the man who refused to live in the Elvian Village.

The other leaders of the village were not happy about the leader abandoning her village for a man. But they couldn't do anything about it as love is one of the most dangerous things on earth that most people cannot go against to. The father of that leader who also took her position was hurt by the departure of his youngest daughter. But just like what was said, he couldn't go against the couple's love for each other.

Time flew and words about Elvian's power and beauty scattered around the country where the man and his now wife have lived. It took only a few months for them to kill the man and use the Elvian for their good. She suffered until death came and she could no longer heal.

Words have reached the forest and into the Elvian village. The father was furious about the death of his daughter.

He then created a magical stone and seated it in the middle of the village where the Elvians and the following generations hold their prayers and grant them life. Without the stone, the Elvians will grow weak as time passes by and eventually die. By this stone sitting in their village, no Elvian can leave the village to marry another man and die in the hands of evil creatures living outside the forest where their abilities can get abused.

But despite the method the leaders used to protect their villagers from unnecessary danger, some Elvian villagers did not listen.

To be able to leave their village, some Elvians took a part of the stone and brought it out of the forest where they wanted to live. Because of their curiosity about life outside the village, they sent off carrying their pieces of the stone to a place unknown.

Just like what had happened to the poor leader, they all died leaving only a small population in the forest and a stone as small as the fruit of an apple.

Years later, the population became even smaller as businessmen started to make business of their abilities. Each time they moved to keep their families safe, they would always find them and capture Elvians. They would also take a part of the stone to keep their captives alive and useful for a long time.

It left the Elvian village with fewer people and a smaller source of life.

but then one day...

A huge explosion happened in the middle of the village. The villagers were destroyed by the explosion. The village was set on fire by the explosion. Their homes were destroyed, their crops have been damaged, and some of them even died. Later they realized that they had been attacked by sorcerers who had evil plans.

They took the stone and or Elvians to die peacefully, they decided to eliminate them all in one swoop. In one attack, the village perished.

"Here, take this." a girl dressed in a cape and a hood covering her hair and her jewel eyes stood in front of her mother. Her Father was lying dead beside her. Tears fell from her beautiful eyes at the sight of her mother dying.

"I'll heal you, Mother--" she cried but was stopped by her mother's fingers on her mouth.

"Go, and do not talk," she said. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Go outside of this forest and never heal someone again, Alliyah," she told her who did nothing but cry in silence. "Do not ever reveal your voice again. Hide your identity. Pretend...that you speak nothing. " she said hardly making sure her daughter heard and would follow every word.

"Mother.." she cried in a whisper. "What are you saying--"

"Shhh..." she said. "Shhh... go, Alliyah. "

"But Mother we can still do it, I can still heal you, we're going together--"

"Alliyah!" she shouted at her. Her tears escaped from her eyes as she looked up at her beautiful daughter. "I want you to listen to me." despite struggling, she managed to say every word. "You are never going to talk, ever again. Reveal your abilities to no one. Heal no more, Alliyah. You'll get caught, and you will die. Do you understand?" she said as fast as she could.

"You have to live. Get yourself out of here alive, please," she begged with her eyes filled with tears.

The girl wasn't able to contemplate her mother's words at that moment. But it became too late for them to talk more about why she had to hide her voice from everyone as clanking footsteps grew closer as they spoke. She immediately slid the small bag into her hand and whispered continuously without letting her daughter speak.

"Go... Go...Go...Run...Hide...Don't speak..Go.."

Was all that was left of her mother's voice before she was pushed away to vanish in the middle of the woods to save herself from the danger in her own village.