Chapter 1
“Layla stop daydreaming!” Miss Nighting said. “I do not tolerate no-concentration in my class." I stopped looking out the window and focused on my teacher. She wore a long formal red dress with a jacket over it, and her long brown hair fell over her jacket on one side.
"Sorry Miss Nighting. I’ll concentrate more from now.”
"Thank you Layla. Now write this down; 527 years ago the Queen of Firehelm, also known as the Queen of Humans, was kidnapped. The Humans immediately assumed it was us and the Great War started, causing the Elvish population to be cut down. 469 years ago the Great War ended and the 2E, also known as the 2nd Calendar began.” She walked through the classroom gracefully to see what I had done, but stopped midway. “As the next Great Queen of Elves, you, Layla, will have to know all of the details about how the war started for future knowledge. The diplomatic relations between Elves and Humans may not last forever. I need to make sure you will make the correct choices as your future advisor. You cannot escape from this fate. The Elvish kingdom relies on majic to thrive, which can only be supplied by you. Majic runs in your veins. Only you have it.”
She paused, and then exclaimed; “Oh, look at the time. Your class is over. We have a test next week so revise.” She walked out of the room, but popped her head back in and said "And learn how to concentrate!” She chuckled to herself quietly, and then left.
As soon as she walked out of the room, I swiftly jumped out the nearest window, and ran into the forest. Not going anywhere, and not even sure where I was going, I still ran. Running helped Papa release stress when he was High King, and I used to run with him, so I do it whenever I’m bored or just need space. The smell of the trees, like moist bark; the sound of the birds chirping their hearts out; the taste of the wind that has picked up an essence of life, calms me. After an hour of strong running, I eventually reached the end of the forest and had to turn back to Castle and get ready for another Pareadae Royael.
I’m Layla, the Princess of Elves, and I’m 16. I have to take the throne in three months because Papa died suddenly from an unknown reason, while having a meeting with the Humans two months ago. My Mama got in a state of depression because of it, and currently she locks herself away in her room doing who knows what.
As I was walking back through the quiet forest, I heard three Humans talking to themselves about something (We Elves have very good hearing skills).
"I ‘onestly wonder why they wander why ‘ey wanna make peace with our coun’ry" said one human. His heavy accent made it very hard to understand what they were saying.
“I kno’. I mean, ‘ey killed our Queen, an’ everyone knows tha’ they’re gonna start anothe’ war” replied another one.
“How far ‘till we reach th’ castle – ‘till we kill the girl?’ My heart beat grew faster. They were going to kill me!
“We’re no’ gonna kill her – we’re gonna kidnap her. The Elvish kingdo’ withou’ a ruler to supply majic will collapse! You stupid idio’.”
“You know I’m no’ good a’ maths. And why are we kidnapping ‘er?” whined the third
“Oh my god,” said the second human with his face in his palms.
“We’re gonna kidnap her using our new technology. Majic is useless against it – we will finally be superior.” There was a slight silence, while I stealthily tip—toed away from them.
“Do you hear that?” The three humans stopped and listened. I continued to creep away.
“Aha! I see her!” The humans ran after me like a pack of wild dogs, all crazy to get their prey.
“Picioare viteza mare.” My feet started to move faster, and faster, until they were blurs on the forest floor. The humans started to shout, loudly and quietly at the same time. They seemed to be contacting someone or something that was involved with the dark arts. A shadow fell before me and made me freeze in my tracks.
“Hello, princess.” It said. It touched my forehead and I fell to the ground.
~
I woke up to the sound of birds. Not the chirpy kind, but the kind similar to nightingales. In Firehelm, they have vocalwings. Their name pretty much explains what they are, but no one or thing can compare their voices with the birds. Their voices are so beautiful they used to sing our national anthem a Capella style at the official ceremonies.
Oh no, I thought. ‘This is not good. I jumped out of the huge bed I was in and ran out of the elegant room into a hallway. It was around 30 metres long. The walls were red, the carpet was red - everything was red. I didn’t recognise the mansion at all, and that wasn’t good news. Eventually I reached the end of the hallway. A door stood at the end of the hallway, and it was strange. Strange because it looked different from the rest, as it had a circle with the symbols of life and death, and had the symbols of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth around it.
“The elements… of Majic…” A voice whispered behind me. I turned around quickly, but no one was there. I was freaked out but I investigated the door further. A Blood-lock (a panel which needed blood to unlock) was placed next to the door. I was curious to what it led to so I cut my hand using my pocket knife and placed it on the lock. Suddenly there was a click sound so I opened the door and there were swirls of purple and black.
“What is this…?” I said. Suddenly I was pushed into the swirls by something cold and fell unconscious again as I fell.
“Bye- bye♪”
Chapter 2
“Where am I…?” I asked myself. I was standing on dirt. Not the soil kind, but the gravelly dark kind that crunches when you step on it. I looked up to see a swirly purple/black sky and everywhere around me were hills of grey. I scanned through my memories and remembered that I went through a portal.
“You’re in the Shadow Realm, elf.” I turned around and saw a ghostly figure staring at me. “Sorry for pushing you. Hope you’re not injured. I’m Xavier.” He briefly paused, and then asked, “You?”
“I’m Layla. Get me out of here. I hate it.” I replied.
“Well, you’re an elf. You can’t not hate it.”
“Get. Me. Out. You were the one who pushed me in.” I said with force.
“Look, you have to go all the way to the Duke and Duchess’s castle and ask the Oracele, a prophet who is always right, where the portal is. I’m on my way there, so do you want to come with me?” Xavier replied.
I thought about his offer for a moment, and replied,
“No. You pushed me in here; you probably want to kill me!”
“I don’t want to kill you. I want you to save the Shadow Realm”
“And make me die trying! Get me back into my castle!” I shouted at him. His figure emerged from the darkness. He was an elf, like me, but had something… dark in him. I couldn’t tell what it was, but I certainly didn’t like it. He had dark brown hair which covered his forehead and his eyes, which had dim sparkles in them, and elves always had that special glimmer in their eyes. His clothes were shaggy and dirty, but had an Imperial aura around them which made you want to obey.
