Egg Hunter

Chapter One

"Happy Birthday, TK!"  Yells my friend, Lilly

"Thanks, Lil!" I call back, "At least someone remembered" I mumble

Ever since my parents died when I was two from the mountain troll attack, the dryad searched for someone more suitable to take care of me.  Even though I am the last of the mountain elves, she managed to find a family of wood elves who, reluctantly took me in.

Unfortunately, my first impression wasn't very good.  Right after the trolls had slaughtered my village, I snuck out of the tree, only to have flames burn my eyes.  So by the time I was adopted, I was completely blind.  My guardians hated it too.  Wood elves enjoy walking around the forest, talking to the shy tree spirits.  Once I was adopted someone had to stay behind and "babysit the blind girl" I was never supposed to leave their side.  They wouldn't dare let me leave the village for fear I would get myself or anyone else into trouble.  I'm supposed to wander around the village, and everyone keeps and eye on me, keeps me from wandering too far, provides me with food, etc.  I never have time to myself, and after eleven years of living here, people still treat me like I'm two!  Then again....I haven't told them my secret.

I still have the ability to see, just differently.  Whenever I have my mother's necklace on, I can see the glowing outline of objects, and the flow of energy in living things, and after years of practice, I've even managed to control this energy.  Only when I take off my necklace, do I turn into a bumbling fool.

I look around, bored, but no one is there.  Then a mischievous thought pops into my head, what the village doesn't know won't kill them!  I get up from the cool forest moss I was sitting on, tiptoe to the edge of the village.  I haven't had fresh fruit in days, just pickled and dried stuff that we had to eat for the winter.  But it is strawberry season now, and I want something juicy.  I look around again, still no one there.  I start running as fast as I can toward a shimmering meadow a mile away, with my elf speed, I make it to the edge in less than a minute.  I check once more if anyone is watching me, but nothing is there, just the tree's humming with energy. 

I start to scout out some strawberries.  Wild strawberries grow well with moist ground.  I think for a moment for a moment then remember a place.

I continue my search at a light jog, heading toward another meadow in the center of the forest.  No one else is really able to find it because, like many of the strange mysteries in the land of Lithia, it is hidden.  It takes skill and a bit of magic to find these places but I find them without a problem!  When I finally reach it, there is nothing but swirling energy shaped like the outline of a mountain.  Rock can't create swirling pools of energy, but this isn't rock. 

Lithia is a world of magic, and before elves and spirits and other creatures learned to control it, magic would travel and pool, and cause strange (and sometimes beautiful) things to happen.  Once the land was inhabited, though, the magic was drawn towards us and we learned to harness it and use it to our advantage.  Very few pools of wild magic are left, and nearly all of them are disguised.  However, I managed to find this one.

I look up at the "mountain"  then close my eyes and take a deep breath of the fresh morning air.  Then I run at it head on, with our opening my eyes.  I pass through the energy pool, like it doesn't even exist, then open my eyes.