The Eternal Night

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 1 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

     My internal clock had never been wrong. Not once in my hundreds of years of living and breathing on this planet, have I ever been wrong about the time of day. But this morning, it should have been around 8 am when I woke, the sun would have been brightly shining.

   However, when I awoke, it was still dark.

   I looked around the room, struggling to get my bearings in. The soft glow of the sun-berries on their vine was the only light that illuminated the room. The berries, and the glow of the still shining moonlight from the window above.
   Judging by the position of it from above, it looked to be exactly midnight, when the moon sat comfortably at it's peak.
   I drew my attention back to my surroundings, sitting up and running my hands across the silky white sheets below me. The books and scrolls of my ancestors lined the walls, with my bow and quiver sitting between two of the shelves. My flute sat to the left of it, on the fifth shelf from the floor, as normal.
    When I had finally started regaining my sense of hearing, the first thing I heard was the horns, the ear piercing sound of the bull horns being blown. Then I heard the panicked banging at my front door.

   "My lady! Please, wake up!" It was a low sounding voice. It must have been my right hand archer, he was the only one who called me 'My Lady' like that. Without giving me a moment of thought, he continued. "You must come at once, their  summoning everyone to the village square!"
   I took a sharp breath and looked back at the window above. "This is about the sun isn't it? I'll be down in a moment!" I called out, standing and taking off my night dress. I hung it gently on the edge of my bed and stretched. Something was terribly wrong, especially if my theory was correct, and the sun had never rose.

  I let out a sigh, walking over to my closet and looked through my options of clothes. I went with a light purple dress, one with sleeves that fell below my wrists and a back that fell below the ankles while the front sat just above the knee.

  I tied my hair up in a boho ponytail, tucking a small nightshade hairpin into the top of it. I then took one last fleeting glance at the sky, grabbed my bow, and darted outside.

    My bare feet made small slapping sounds as I darted down the winding path and into the heart of the village. I watched as the buildings and paths flew by, frightened and worried elves watching me ass I passed them by.

   I paid them no concern as I continues on my path, slowing to a stop as I arrived in the village center, where some of the higher ranking elves were gathered around the great fountain and muttering amongst themselves.

    "Oh thank goodness you've made it, Sonomi." It was the shortest of the group that had spoken. He went my the name of Varian.

   "Of course, why wouldn't I have?" my voice shook as I spoke, chewing on the inside of my cheek.

   The other women, Ariza, was next. "We were afraid something had happened to you, after all, if we loose you the people loose hope." Her words came off as weighted, but I knew she meant no harm. She was a close friend of mine, we had known each other since our schooling days. She became captain of the guard, just as I had become captain of the hunt.

   "Well, fortunately for the people then, I'm alright." I offered a gentle smile, before motioning to the sky. "Where's the morning rays? And why is the moon still risen?"

    "The world has stopped turning." the voice had come from the oldest of us. A tall, blind elf stepped out of the shadows, a willow wood cane in his hand. "The old prophecies foretold it. The stars have stopped moving from their position, as has the moon, that wretched thing will be the last thing we will see." He sneered, then looked towards the taller of the trees, at a small house perched at the top. "It's them, they have brought this curse upon us-"

   I shot an arrow next to his head. "Have you really grown so cold towards the people that you've memorized a single house to blame, old man?" I sneered and shook my head. "They haven't come down from their home in centuries, or been seen. For all we know, they could be dead. Do not blame an Innocent elf for the world's stillness."

    "Sonomi, lower your weapon. There is nothing to prove their Innocence yet." It was Verian, he grabbed my right wrist, the one that held my bow, and yanked it down. "This is not the time to turn on our own none the less.  We must figure out what to do."

    Ariza stepped up, rubbing her arm. "There's nothing we can do, I'm afraid. Since the kings death.. We no longer have the sacred light to keep our crops growing at night."

   "So what are we supposed to do? Just- just sit here and wait for death to fall upon our people?!" Verian's voice sounded strained, filled with pain and worry. "What of the northern tides? They will overtake us within months if the will of the spirits wish it!"

    The blind elf tapped his staff on the ground once, grabbing everyone's attention. "That is enough. We do everything we can to continue feeding the people. Sonomi, keep the hunters hunting. Azira, make sure the creatures of the night do not enter our territory. And Verian, keep the people calm. Tell them whatever lie you must to keep panic from rising."

   I nodded, slinging my bow over my shoulder. "My team will head out at noon as normal. Till then, if you three need me, don't bother looking. Find my right hand and get him to relay the message by owl, for only he will know where I go as normal. Best of luck my brothers and sister." And with that, I turned and left, struggling to process the things I had been told.