I awoke to the sun shining on my face, a cool breeze coming through the open window, and I believe a bird singing. I looked around to see that nothing changed and my bandages were removed, faint scars covering my chest. I sat up and saw something in the corner of my room. It was wrapped in a large blue blanket, then tied with a piece of rope.
I climbed out of bed, my joints popping from the stiffness, and made my way over to the wrapped object. It stood as tall as me and weighed about the same as a sword. I pulled the string off and unwrapped it, revealing a staff underneath. Half of the length was a sharp obsidian blade that was attached, by an orange rope, to a handle that was the stretched the rest of the length. The staff was wrapped in a red rose colored leather covering, that had a design of lightning stretching the length of the handle.
I tapped the blade and found it extremely sharp. After spinning it around a couple times, I found it perfectly balanced for me. I reached for my armor and found it missing from its usual place on the rack. I grabbed a pair of pants from the dresser and tossed them on. I then went into the next room, where we usually had supper, still searching for my armor.
My mother was sleeping in a chair, holding my breast plate on her lap. All the scratches, cuts, gouges, and holes were gone. The impression on it was redone and it looked new. My boots and gauntlets were sitting on the floor next to her feet and the also looked new. My mother had dark circles around her eyes, her hands black with soot, and her hair sticking up all over the place.
I walked over and shook her shoulder.
"Hmm," she said sleepily.
"It's time for you to go to bed and sleep," I said.
"Hey, you're awake. How do you feel?" she asked.
"Like a new blade out of the forge. Strong, sharp, and ready to do work," I said, mimicking her response to the question if I asked her.
"That's good. You need to go and see the keeper and start you Right of Passage," she said, stretching her arms. She handed me my armor, boots, and gauntlets. "I repaired your equipment so that you can go strait into it. Once you finish the Right, I'll show you a surprise. Did you get your present?"
"Yes I did, I live the new weapon. It fits me perfectly. Thank you," I said, giving her a hug. She smiled back sleepily. "Now go to bed and I'll see you after the Right."
She nodded and went off towards her room. Tossing on the armor, I headed for a cupboard and grabbed an apple. When I was fully dressed, I went back to my room and grabbed my bow, arrows, and staff. I then left the house threw the front door. The ground was flooded with water, and with a sigh, I started across the branches of the trees towards the village.
I leaped from the last branch and grabbed the rough bark of the grand tree. Climbing up I noticed that their was a strong current in the water. When I reached the top, a group of elves were standing there, as if they were waiting for me. They parted as I climbed up from the trunk of the tree and started for the center of the village. The group followed me and seemed to grow larger and larger as we entered deeper into the village, until we reached the center, where everyone was waiting.
I was stunned by the fact that the entire village was here. Looking around I saw all of the elves that I trained with, the Head Scout, and even the little elfe, that I helped so long ago, who was holding her doll tightly. The keeper stood in the middle of the area by a statue of an elf. She stood with authority, power, and wisdom, showing an emotionless expression that was close to impossible to read.
"Zaphel Firestone, I, the Keeper of this village, here by start your Right of Passage, where you will be judged on whether or not to accept your coming of age. I know that this was delayed a moth due to your injuries. So if you would please follow me, I will give you your quest," the Keeper said.
I could feel my eyes widen when she said a month. I hadn't realized that was the length of time it had taken to heal my wounds. The keeper turned and walked toward the stairway, but instead of going into the tree, the stairs rose up and climbed into the branches above. I followed after her up the stairs, trying to guess how hard my quest was going to be.
Climbing up the stairs was a long journey. All elves had to take this journey to be able to go through the Right. The Keeper would give them their quest at the top of the tree, overlooking the valley. Only the keeper was able to create the stairs, and only the keeper could assign the quest.
As we climbed higher and higher, I felt that her power was increasing. My hand tightened its grip on my bow. When we reached the top, there was a small platform of wood with no rails. The valley looked like an ocean of green, so thick that it was a wonder how the sun broke through the leaves for the plants on the ground. The valley was almost surrounded by a wall of mountains, with the largest on one side and an opening I the opposite. I could barely see the ocean and chuckled the view was breath taking.
"What a view," I said.
"Yes. No matter how many times I for up here to assign quests, I always loose my breath just looking at it. It reminds me of home," the Keeper said, her eyes lost in the surroundings.
"What was your homeland like?"
"Clouds as our ground, buildings, and forest. I remember waking up every morning when I was a small elfe, and I would look down at the astonishing view of the world below. You will never know what beauty is until you've seen the world from the sky."
A moment passed as I was trying to picture it. A small elfe rolling off the end of a cloud to see the entire would under her feet.
"Don't try to picture the view. It's beyond your imagination. Now on with your quest. Since I know that you are skilled and very powerful, I'm going to give you a very heavy responsibility. I have a daughter that is staying at Creation Mountain. I have just heard from the wind spirits that she is in trouble and I'm sending you to go get her. She must be brought back here unharmed."
"How will I know it's her?"
"She will be the only elfe at Creation Mountain. She will be wearing a ruby necklace that bears a symbol of a griffon. If you leave now you will make it there in time."
"Alright, I will bring her here. I cannot promise that she will be unharmed if she is in danger."
"My the Maker guide you to victory," the Keeper said, staring at Creation Mountain.
I ran towards the edge of the platform and dove into the trees below, using the branches to catapult me through the forest. Creation Mountain was a weeks journey by land, but with the trees, I can make it there in about three days minimum. I lost myself in thought as I flew through the forest. The task that the Keeper had a daughter was still new to me. The fact that the Keeper had a daughter kent that she wasn't the last sky elfe in the world.
A long time ago, the sky elves and the ocean elves were at war. No one knows what started it, but the war was gruesome. The ocean elves and sky elves were two of the strongest species in the world. During the war, thousands of elves died on both sides.
After centuries of war, the sky elves were thought to have been obliterated, but a few families survived, and all but one ocean elves were whipped out. The last ocean elf was cursed with immortality, being able view the world change around him. The sky elves that survived the war, started to repopulate the specifies and after another century or two, they were almost back up to their original numbers. But about fifty years or so ago, they all vanished into thin air. It was only a few years before I was born that the current Keeper showed up, claiming to be the last sky elf of her kind.
As I was jumping through the trees, I happened to notice a pack of wolves running in the same direction as me. I dropped down behind them and followed. They didn't seem to notice my pursuit. I kept scanning ahead to see what they were running after, but I didn't see anything for a while, until I saw movement. I mumbled some words into a spell that increased my eye sight, and I saw an elfe running towards the left. Slowly the pack vired towards her.
Cursing under my breath, I jumped towards the nearest branch. I then started jumping across the branches towards the elfe, passing the wolves with ease. In no time at all I was right behind the elfe and almost missed a branch. She looked exactly like the elfe in my dream. Her short chestnut hair, and armor, were unmistakeable. But what made me mess up was not only the elfe, but the lead wolf. It was the werewolf that was the leader of the pack that I killed.
