Remnants of a Forgotten Realm: Andem, The Beginning {PREVIEW}

Chapter 1

The dark and dank halls had an eerie presence about them. Darkness filled the interior with only a small stretch of light peering through the almost hidden arrow slits on the walls. Silence flowed through the desolate halls of the building with very little to disturb as it journeyed past towering cylindrical supports.

Not even a whisper of the wind or the creaking of wood was welcomed through the doors.

The ghostly silence of the building was suddenly interrupted by a loud sound of heels on the solid floor. The slow and steady rhythm resonated throughout the never-ending maze of corridors, twisting and turning through the unfathomable number of columns and pillars supporting the ceiling. The place was so disorientating that the only sound to disturb it was indistinguishable.

"Hello?" An unsettled female voice called. Unlike the footsteps, her voice eerily remained a singular sound, not reflecting off any surfaces in the halls. "Hello?" she called again with no echo answering her back.

In an ample corridor, not very different from the rest, the shape of a human silhouette appeared from behind one of the tall, intricately designed pillars. This shape had all the definitions a Human should have, however four simple things made it slightly amiss to the others; four bird-like wings hanging delicately on its back.

As the silhouette stepped into the focused light of a small, singular arrow-slit, its features were unmistakable. Her long flowing brown hair draped delicately over her shoulders to the centre of her back. Eyes of burning amber glanced from one wall of the hall to the other as she searched for something or someone.

She brushed a small strand of hair off her face, only to have it casually fall back in its place. "Hello?" The girl called out. "Is there anybody there?" Her British accent was strong and remained a solid sound with no echoes returning her voice. "What is this place?" She asked herself, making a pirouette motion hoping that a quick turn would catch anything if they were watching. But even her instinct feeling of another presence was lacking.

"Damn." She cursed under her breath, allowing her hands to fall to her side causing them to sway slightly forward and backward before settling on either side of her hips. The four wings on her back - shrouded in darkness, as the gleaming light from the window refused to touch them - drooped down and almost curled into her back. The amber irises of her eyes still jerked from one side to the other, hoping to find at least some sign of hope. But no such thing arrived.

The girl was alone in the dark halls that stretched further and further into the silent, uninhabited void. No creature crept in the darkness. No animal appeared in the light. Nothing welcomed the girl who wandered through hall after hall in the unforeseen place.

"Where the hell is this place?" She asked the lifeless walls surrounding her which gave her no little of a reply than the sound of her feet hitting the solid tiled flooring. "And what in God's name am I doing here?" She added, twisting her body from one side to the other, hoping for one last sign of life.

But it was all in vain. With one last glance around her, she inhaled enough air to fill her lungs before releasing it in one large sigh. "I do not like this place. Not one bit." She whispered those final words before closing her eyes and filling all her senses with a numb sensation, drowning out all the fear and confusion in her heart.

The wings on her back ruffled a little, releasing feathers of the clearest silver and the darkest onyx into the stagnant air surrounding the girl and delicately landing at her feet, glistening in the small beam of light seeping through the narrow window of the hall.

* * *

The sound of twittering birds and rustling of trees filled the scenic forest just outside a quiet little village. The fresh air carried the sweet scent of lavender and tree sap to the entrance of the woods and it snaked its way past thick tree trunks, dancing through leaves and gently brushing against the opened bluebells as it made its way to a small open meadow in the centre of the forest.

There were bluebells and forget-me-nots and lavender growing in a bustling crowd where the light reached through the outstretched hands of the oak trees. The breeze carried the sweet smelling air towards an old weeping willow and, before it struck the crumbling bark of the tree, it travelled upwards and weaved its way through the web of branches within the sheltering leaves before reaching a deformity.

As the breeze skimmed past, the sound of the dancing leaves woke a girl who lay there resting on a large, cradle-shaped branch within the willow's shelter. She inhaled the air and as the scent hit her senses, her body perked up.

Her eyes quickly glanced around her in slight panic before her mind eased and she leaned back, puffing a sigh of relief from her lungs. "A dream." Her British accent was strongly apparent as she whispered those words to herself. The girl brushed a strand of brown hair off her face with little reasoning as it fell back to the exact same place it was before.

She raised her left hand and began to rub the choker around her neck carefully. Its black satin fabric held a small golden amulet in place with two crystals – one a shimmering silver and the other a deep onyx - resting against the nape of her neck, held in a webbed design. It was a unique choker and there was no other like it with such beauty it possessed.

"Sleeping in the trees, again?" A man’s voice called up to the girl, giving her a small fright. She looked through the mesh of branches to see someone standing in the meadow surrounding the Willow tree.

She slid her body off the large branch, planting her feet precariously on a thin branch whilst gripping another in her hand for stability. Her eyes glanced down to the base of the tree to see a tall man gazing up at her, holding a stern expression on his face. Saying nothing, she made her way down the tree, leaping and dropping through the interlocking tree limbs, and dropped off the lowest branch to the meadow below, just beside the man.

He gave her a harsh look, shaking his head in dissatisfaction. "Lisola, I swear. Can't you try and act like a girl just for a day?" He asked her in his deep voice. The man's amber eyes almost burned through the air as Lisola gazed through them. His bleach-blonde hair made those glimmering eyes of his stand out. So much so, that anybody would fixate on them when facing him. To Lisola, those eyes of his were more seductive than the muscles showing through his tight-fitting shirt.

She narrowed her eyes and turned away from the man's gaze, trying hard to not focus in on his eyes alone. "Sorry." Lisola mumbled through her barely parted lips.

Her lack of communication caused the man to give her a once-over before shrugging his shoulders in dismay. "And why not try to be a little less apathetic whilst you're at it?" He encouraged her by placing one of his rough hands on the top of her head. This caught Lisola's attention a little and her face showed a slight smile. But only slight.

The man seemed as though he knew that trying to get to her would fail, so he gave up and removed his hand from her head. "Come on. Your father was looking for you earlier." As he spoke those words, Lisola's eyes widened and she inhaled air suddenly, causing her to gasp.

Without a second thought, the girl ran past the man and out the meadow. "Hey, Lisola! Don't run off on your own, you know it's dangerous!" He called out to her, but she remained too distracted with her thoughts to listen.

The man gave her back a scornful look as she faded out of his view. "Stupid Human..." he whispered to himself, clenching both his teeth and fists. His amber eyes looked to the clear sky above him before closing them for a moment, contemplating. "What made her come all the way out here in the first place?" he asked the wind, which replied with a delicate breeze carrying a sweet and aromatic scent. As it caught the nose of the man, he chuckled a little, slowly opening his eyes that seemed to burn the air around him. "Lavender."