Traz'Aetus: The Allyse Fractures

[Emperor of shadows]

Traz’Aetus: The Allyse Fractures

The sky falls within the Allyse Fractures as the Luminaries make their decent into these legendary regions. The Luminaries are said to be the children of the original gods—curious and adventurous, they are only allowed into the mortal realm if they discover what love is. They are given minimal powers and minimal assistance on this journey, but as they begin, they are instructed to find a Guide to help them through their journey of the world. What can be said about the Luminaries of the Allyse Fractures is that if they cannot succeed on their journey, all of their gifts would be stricken from them, and Allyse would fracture again, as the unbound power searches for a new God to live within—a process which can scorn the continents for years to come.  

[Emperor of shadows]

The elf docked her first arrow on the finely crafted bow. The elf, Azeris, wiped away a stray strand of hair and gazed through the trees at her target, holding the line with a steady hand.
The deer grazed a hundred feet away, oblivious to the hunter that was near to it. It took a small bite out of the grass and looked up after hearing a small twitch from the trees. The next moment, the deer was shot through its chest, the pointed arrow drawing the end of its life, and snapping its neck, in an almost graceful way.
Azeris smiled. It was a clean kill. It had hardly a moment’s notice before it died, she reasoned. It wasn’t as if she felt bad about killing it, but she needed to have a heart as well if she were to receive The Goddess’s Blessing. She returned the bow to her back and headed over to the corpse, muttering a solemn prayer of thanks to her Goddess. She retrieved her knife from her bag and continued, skinning the deer and removing some of its flesh, and placing them gently into her bag. She blessed the area where it died and bowed before standing back up and beginning to exit from the forest, cleaning herself of any excess blood with a cloth from her leather tail-coat as she did so.
To the men in her society, Azeris was a very beautiful elf. She had dark violet-- almost black hair. Her face was angular, and decorated with unnaturally bright emerald, almond shaped eyes. Her nose was small and slightly turned up, almost in a way of pride. Her body was exotic, and somewhat tall, with perfectly sculpted curves. Her strong, yet delicate looking legs were accentuated with her finely woven leggings. And her skin was even and smooth, reflecting the small perspiration that gently arisen from the heat. And yet, if one studied her personality as much as they did her figure, they would realize her as a fighter, who had no care of the appearance that she was gifted with.
With another small smile, she began to sing; her voice holding grace and sadness. Only a few of the best human singers could feat her in this craft. A few minutes later she was on the small dirt road that led to her home, and ceased the mournful chorus, resorting to humming instead.
The walk was of moderate length, just below an hour, so she took her time, noting the forest creatures as she passed them. She reflected on the day’s events, and her shockingly cheered mood.
It was such a promising day.

 

[Emperor of shadows]

Azeris was not expecting any thing new from her schedule today. The elf was enraptured in a daily action of hunting, followed by the studies of ancient ritual which brought the elves of her City closer to understanding the deeds to be done by the Consortium. Her life was as sure as the rising and setting of the three moons, but this did not dissuade an element of curio within the young elf.
Young, relatively, the woman looked of her early 20's but aged herself many a year, far more than any human would to look as she.
So, it was great surprise and relish when the scent of a human came upon the girl.
In fact, it was such a surprise, she did not believe it at first. “That's impossible,” She murmured to herself, “All humans have been cast far out of our lands, the only humans who come here are Emissaries from the rest of Trazeus-Tor, and they only stay within the port establishments.” Her violet eyes scanned the forest for more intention of human, when suddenly she could see a silhouette at the end of the path, the shape-- and scent of human male.

She wrinkled her nose, but at that thought she smiled-- the smell was unlike any other man she encountered, the elven men smelled of rich forest, or some other organic smell-- but humans were salty , base, something that was ever absent from Elven culture.

Keeping to the shadows, Azeris drew up to the male, her hands at the bow and arrow.
She knocked one, aiming slightly left of the male and fired. With a twang the arrow punctured the ground near his feet, and with a free hand on the bark of the tree, Azeris tapped into the life around her.
It was silent for a moment before the woman spoke.

Using all of the throats of the forest life, she channeled her own voice through birds, rodents, insect and reptile alike-- a hissing, screeching symphony of animal voices to boom at the male from every angle.
“Who are you, and why have you trespassed into Taeserait Elven territory?” The voices were uncanny, as the essence of communication flowed from the tree to every encompassing creature twentystep around. “You have 10 ticks of time, human, before we exact judgment on you.”

Azeris had to admit, without any type of threat, she was never given the opportunity to use her abilities, and now as she flexed them-- they flourished back in all ardor. The elf smirked and waited for response.  

[Emperor of shadows]

“You avoid my question human,” Spoke the symphony of voices, rising and falling with no apparent direction, “Where are you from, and what title are you by?”
Azeris could feel her connection with the creatures a physical strain on her, but as the boy responded, she was feeling less and less that he was a threat. Possibly an annoyance, but not something to feel angered by.

She shook her head at her thoughts, no doubt the Elven Council would disagree with the idea-- and have this male swiftly deported.
She frowned, a marred expression on her usually beautiful face. For all the monotony of the forest-- for all of the protection-- for every bland consistency, the Elf was satiate.
It was time to step outside of her boundaries and discover something new.

She whispered a final prayer to her Goddess, before stepping from the shadows, her violet eyes meeting and holding onto the male's gaze. “I ask, for I am Azeris Raenarath.” She inclined her head, shred eyes still trained on her target-- nay, interest.
She was about to speak again, but she would not offer to help the male unless he would answer her questions exactly. The connection between their two eyes narrowed into violet slits. “I am listening, human.”  

[Emperor of shadows]

So this was a human, right in Azeris's presence. The girl couldn't say that she was impressed, she looked at him impassively, and mirthlessly, taking in his words only to calculate them and spit them back at him, “ A /higher/ plane, mortal? Who is to say that your plane is higher than mine, in which dimension do you claim your superiority?” It was evident the elf was taken aback, but her tone always was more fire than what she desired. She sighed, a dejected sound and took a few ginger steps forward.

“Zak?” She repsonded, the name alien on her tongue. “And who are the 'others'? Do they know that you're here, for if so, you must go.”

Even as she spoke this, Azeris could hear sound in the distance-- it was an Envoy group, she could hear the procession of perhaps five feet on the ground, the feet of elves like her, but ones who wouldn't be as fascinated or kind to a strange human like,
“Zak--!” She chimed, her voice a sudden sharp note. “We must leave at once. The Envoys-- I have no time to explain-- come with me if you value your life--”

How could she have been so inattentive not to notice them earlier?! Now they were closer than ever, the elf was in a mild anxiety.

Keeping a steady gaze on him, Azeris turned into the forest, staring back to see if he would follow.

Her long ears could hear the sound of step louder, imminent-- and now, it would only be a few seconds before they trotted on the path to see the human.

Biting back an ancient swear, the elf leaped back into the road and snatched at the boy's arm, in attempt to get him into the concealing brush, before, yes, she caught them in her peripherals-- the Envoy group rounded the corner, their eyes trained on the spot where the boy would have been standing.

“God Goddesses...”  

[Emperor of shadows]

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