Chapter 4
A n intricate world opened before her; one she never imagined could be so delicate and beautiful living in this harsh Evergloom.
The path from the chasm led her to an expansive and open area full of oversized glowing mushrooms of all shapes and sizes growing into the rocky terrain, along with shadowy wisps of some sort of creature that flittered about like butterflies around a flower, but they were much larger with translucent wings.
She marveled at the creatures but couldn’t get a good look at them up close because they were elusive, hovering over her one minute only to disappear when she searched for them.
The mushrooms grew like a forest in the Evergloom.
Their stalks were as hard as trees, and most were as tall as trees too, with high trunks and fanned-out caps, but others were shorter, more bush-like with long, slender caps.
They were all sorts of different colors too, purples, blues, and oranges of all shades, some painted in white spots or stripes.
Phosphorescent grass-like growths also carpeted the forest floor, dotted with smaller mushrooms that glowed in the dark.
If not for the color, these mushrooms would resemble the ones that grew on the surface, but she dared not try to eat any of them, not knowing which ones were safe to eat and which ones might harm her.
There was no sunlight this far deep, and, along with the light from the violet crystals, it was not so dark that she could not see. The Evergloom surprised her in many ways.
Caverns that ran deep through the Evergloom always had a cave system or two that led to the outside world.
How far and long it would take for her to find an exit was another matter.
Having never seen a map of this place, she had no idea what it looked like or what kind of terrain she would be traveling through, only hearing stories of it before, and most of those stories were meant to frighten and scare Light Elves away.
What she could be certain of was how dangerous it was, even for elves who had magic.
Light Elf lands were dangerous. They had griffins and chimeras to deal with, and even the occasional dragon.
But the Evergloom was different. Its dangers were as murky as its under depths, mysterious and unknown to her.
She would rather deal with a dragon, even the great ice dragon from the north, something she could see and face, rather than a concealed terror from the deep, dark places of the world.
The Evergloom seemed inhospitable to her, no matter its beauty. Then, how did the Dark Elves live down here? But, they did not have a choice after losing the war.
No matter its alienness, the air in the Evergloom was temperate, like a damp mid-spring day, which was …
not unwelcome. But no sunlight reached this place, and that made it feel colder somehow.
What light it did have came fr om Dark Elf magic, and it seemed, from these glowing mushrooms and plants.
The bioluminescent lights gave off no heat but seemed to have a calming effect the closer she got to them.
She was thirsty and would also need food for her journey.
No telling how long she’d be trapped here, if she ever found her way out.
Also, there would be other Dark Elves lurking about in the Evergloom who would kill her on sight, so she had to remain vigilant and find a hiding spot for shelter and sleep, which was also a number one priority.
As her thoughts roamed to her survival, her astute sense of hearing caught a delightful sound wafting through the air. She pressed her dry lips together. It was falling water, and something else. A sweet melody.
Is someone singing?
She strained to listen further, but the music stopped, if it was even there to begin with.
Parched and possibly hallucinating, she must have imagined it, but the sound of water was still there.
Instinctively, her body followed the sound through a path in the mushroom forest, happy that she had found a solution to the first of her survival problems.
The diaphanous creatures from earlier congregated closer to her, and she could see them up close now. They were not butterflies like she thought earlier, but pixies. She knew pixies well, vain and tricksy creatures thought timid because of their stunted size; they were anything but.
These pixies were different than the pixies she was accustomed to. The way they flew about was not by a fluttering of their wings. They seemed to hover and then blink from one point to another.
The pixies were leading her closer to the sound of the water, which was where she was headed anyway. But a sense of alarm rose in her mind as she followed the pixies, knowing full well their tricks.
Pixies, though lovely and unassuming because of their size, were truly evil.
Aelrie had never met any other fairy creature that delighted so much in the pain and suffering of others.
Often leading creatures to their deaths, they laughed and delighted about it amongst themselves, even mocking the sounds of agony and suffering of their victims with their beautiful, mellifluous voices.
The path crossed through the mushroom forest, and the pixies floated in the air all around her. They had gathered here, and their attentions were fixed on her, watching her. Her suspicions were high, but so was her need for water.
“Keep vigilant. Something may lie in wait for you ahead.” She repeated this mantra in her head.
She was a temple guard but still trained as a soldier.
Although she never saw battle herself, she did have experience dealing with fairy creatures and even fought an occasional griffin or chimera, be that with the help of a team.
Even so, taking down a griffin or chimera was no easy task, and she knew how to defend herself if it came down to it.
The mushroom forest dwindled to a few mushrooms spaced out between each other, and the sound of water grew stronger. She came to a short outcrop and gazed at the beauty below. A sigh parted her lips as her mouth hung open in awe at the sight before her .
It was a tree, in the Evergloom. She never knew such a thing existed.
With its expansive branches stretching out, wreathed in gold, glowing leaves, it filled the cave with wonderous golden light.
Its truck was sturdy and gray, and below it lay a grassy meadow with white and yellow flowers growing in abundance underneath the tree’s light.
In front of that, a stream of crystalline water trickled by, cascading from a waterfall at another outcrop behind the tree.
Even though the scene was stunning to view, especially coming from a trek through the Evergloom, her attention was on something sitting at the base of the tree, plucking a silver harp and singing in a voice so beautiful it brought tears to her eyes.
The female elf was glowing white with long white hair and a dress that looked to be made of moonlight, for how fair it was, and shimmered brightly amid the darkness.
She climbed down the rocks from the outcrop and dropped down into the cavern, making her way closer to the elf.
So beautiful. The music called to her and soothed her tormented heart.
Lindana’s death and her failure at saving her were all just dreams, and she would wake from that dream soon when she got closer to the music.
All pain would disappear and be replaced by joy, happiness, and everything beautiful and good in the world.
The elf watched as she approached. She was strumming her harp and singing to her directly now. A song that was made just for her.
Aelrie crossed the stream. Water seeped into her boots, but she did not mind the uncomfortable feeling for some odd reason because the elf was patiently waiting for her at the water’s edge.
She had stopped playing her harp and was only singing, drawing her arms into her chest, motioning for Aelrie to fall into her embrace.
She stepped closer to the silver elf, never seeing anything so beautiful before. All would be perfect again soon. Her arms reached out, ready for the embrace.
“Get back!” A yell came from beside her, and she was pushed down, landing on her butt in the grass.
The pain jolted her awake. What was she doing just now? Last, she remembered she was looking down into a beautiful cavern with a tree and …
She looked up and saw the Dark Elf assassin with a small blade in his hand. He was going to attack the elf in front of him.
“No!” She scrambled to her feet, but the grass was slippery beneath her. Bad memories of Lindana’s death resurfaced. It was happening again, and she could do nothing to protect this elf from him.
But when he stabbed the silver elf in the chest, blood did not spill forth. It was dirty water.
She narrowed her eyes at the elf. Something was off.
A gasp escaped her mouth, and she held it as the elf’s body shook wildly, unnaturally.
A low growl emerged from the elf’s throat, and she stared wide-eyed as it transformed into a monster before her with a pale white face and streaks of black seaweed that curled all over its body.
Instead of white, it had long tendrils of ghastly gray hair that swayed eerily in the air even though there was no breeze. The dress was not like moonlight anymore; it was dirty, stained with muck from the bottom of the sea and blood, and it was frayed and ripped into shreds on the bottom.
A nixie.
And its anger was stoked. The Dark Elf went to take another stab at the nixie, but it melted into a pool of water at his feet, and he fell where he stood, tripped by the nixie.
The water monster rose back up once more in corporeal form and descended on him, oily black fangs bared, aiming to feast on his insides.
But by this time, she had her dagger out and stabbed the nixie in the neck, drawing putrid gray water. It howled and faced her, malice filling its eyes that were completely black with no whites of the eye or pupils.
The Dark Elf launched his dagger into the nixie’s thigh from below, and more putrid water poured out. It howled again and tried to turn back into water, but couldn’t. It was too weak and had lost too much water to transform.
The nixie backed up, looking to the stream to escape, but she moved in, stabbing low with an upward motion, digging her dagger so deep into its stomach her fingers touched cold, clammy skin. She removed her dagger but first gave it a twist, and a lot of water sprang from the nixie after that.
The nixie let out a horrifying scream, starting out strong, full of anger and rage, yet it ended in a long wail, pitiful and sorrowful in the end. It turned into a pillar of salt and then disappeared.
All around them, the pixies started copying the death wail, laughing at the sound it made. She almost felt sorry for the nixie, having its death mocked by a group of bloodthirsty pixies, even though she had been its prey.
“I leave you alone for one moment, and you almost become a meal for a nixie.”
She turned to the Dark Elf. He sat on the grass, propped up on his elbows, giving her a smirk that she did not like, knowing it was done to mock her.
Smiling back at him, she offered him a hand up.
He innocently took her outstretched hand, but instead of pulling him up, she pushed his chest, sending him flat on his back.
Before he could react, she jumped atop him, straddling his waist. Her dagger raised above her head, ready to stab down hard to break through his ribcage to get to his heart.
The pixies gathered around them. They were laughing and chattering, buzzing around her ears, their excitement at a maximum.
“Kill him!”
“Stab him in his fleshy soft part. I like to see the pink insides fall out.”
“Oh, what fun! I wanna see that!”
Heaving heavy breaths, her dagger held tightly in her hand, she was fueled by her kill, and her body ached for more violence.
He dropped the dagger from his hand and lay there quietly, staring back up at her.
“Pick it back up!” she demanded, breath still heaving.
He smiled at her. His handsome face was even more so with that shit-eating grin.
“Defend yourself,” she ordered .
But he just kept on smiling at her.
Her grip tightened around her dagger, and she envisioned it plunging repeatedly into him.
“You won’t do it,” he replied with cool confidence.
“What makes you think …”
“You couldn’t kill me earlier. You won’t kill me now. You don’t have it in you.”
A low sound of frustration uttered from her throat.
“Ooh,” he purred. “I like that. Seeing you on top of me like this, growling at me like a beast.”
“I’ll,” she said, eyes as wide as they could go, they weren’t even blinking. “I’ll do it.”
“Kill. Kill. Kill.”
She shook her head, trying to shake the pixie voices away.
“You won’t kill me. Just as you couldn’t kill me earlier. But … you did attack me in the forest … would’ve had me too, had I not smelled you.”
Smelled her? Is that what gave her away? She didn’t know she had such a strong odor.
Her arm holding the dagger loosened. He noticed this and kept talking.
“Which means you can kill but cannot look your victim in the eyes. Is this a Ljósálfar moral code, or just your own? How silly of me, of course it’s just you. Ljósálfar have no problems stabbing Dark Elves in the back or slitting their throats while unconscious.”
“Say another word, Dokkálfar and I’ll…” she threatened, working herself up again, trying her best to conjure hatred fo r Lindana’s killer. The pixies were closer to her now. Their bloodlust was felt through the tension in the air.
He ignored this, though, and kept talking. “But you did get the killing blow on that nixie. I guess killing is only good for monsters.”
Her eyes tore into him, but he lay there unaffected, without so much as a care in the world. She wanted to kill him now, especially after hearing him talk so much.
“Kill him.”
“Kiss him.”
“No, kill.”
“No, kiss. She’d hate it more.”
“Go away, you damn pixies!” she shouted, trying to swat away the pixies.
“You’re right, she would hate that more.”
“Teeheehee.”
“Go away, you damn pixies!”
“Hahahahahaha!”
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”
The Dark Elf laughed. His body vibrated underneath her, and she was now extremely aware of the position she was in. He adjusted himself, moving his hips slightly. “You should get off me.”
“You’re in no position to tell me what to do!”
“Well,” the Dark Elf said, casually looking down at his crotch, “I’m starting to like this a little too much.”
Understanding what he meant, her face immediately reddened. She hissed in disgust and jumped off him.
He stood up, that grin still plastered on his face. His head tilted back, and a delicious sound like a moan issued from his throat. “Oh, and a maiden too. Fortune must smile upon me this day.”