The Three Kingdoms

1: Gúl

No one had come out of the forest in over five-thousand years. In fact, even those who ventured in to the forest, never ended up returning. It was common knowledge among the two great kingdoms that the forest Gúl was, put simply, forbidden. What was not-so-common knowledge, was the reason why. Gúl was once the enchanting home of the beautiful and prosperous forest elves, and was thought to be the origin of all the elven races.

However, one day, the road leading into the forest simply disappeared, replaced by overgrown and foreboding trees, as if they had magically come up in the night, and it seemed that the forest elves had simply disappeared with it. Many search parties ventured into the forest, but none ever returned. It did not take long for the remaining kingdoms to realize that entering the forest, was a certain death sentence.

There remain many different theories on what happened to the forest elves, but no one knows for certain. Most of the River Elves believe that the Forest elves had angered the trees, and unleashed a curse that overtook them in the night, leaving the forest empty and angry. The Mountain Elves, however, had a somewhat different theory, believing that the forest elves had unleashed a sickness upon themselves, driving them mad and causing them to become hostile and unreasonable, shutting themselves off from the outside world for good.

Beinion, however, didn't really care at the moment what happened to the forest elves, or what happened to those who entered the forest. He was more interested in filling the empty void in his belly, and he knew that the only chance he had at finding something to eat, was inside Gúl.

Beinion was a young captain of the mountain elves, and he was desperate. The elves of the mountains had suffered through a long and brutal winter, which killed off much of their livestock, and caused them to eat through the majority of their emergency food stores. While spring had finally arrived, by the time the few fields that existed high in the mountains yielded any crops, most of his people would have starved.

Of course, the great and wise Lord Vehiron had sent word to the elves of the river, seeking help, but Beinion did not have time to wait for help that may never come. Instead, he had gathered two of his best warriors, Bor and Nithron, to venture into the forest and hunt.

In hindsight, it was probably a reckless decision, but Beinion, being a seasoned veteran, did not believe in old tales and myths, and, to be honest, he wasn't even sure if he believed in forest elves at all.

He had been studying the borders of the forest for several weeks before deciding on the best place to enter. Gúl was immense in size, its western border went on for hundreds of miles, and no one really knew just how deep the forest went. The entire border was lined with dense brush, thorns, and looming trees with bark that resembled darkened leather.

However, after studying old maps and patrolling the forest's western border, Beinion had found what he deemed to be the perfect entrance point, about 20 miles north of where ancient maps showed the old forest road had once been. Here, there appeared to be a small break in the thick brush, or at least, an area where it wasn't quite as thick.

Beinion and his two comrades arrived at the opening early in the morning, having left their mountain home before sunrise to avoid any questioning, as their king, Lord Vehiron would obviously forbid such a radical and dangerous idea.

"Are you sure this is the best entry point, Beinion?" asked Nithron "It doesn't look very different from any other point along the forest borders".

Nithron dismounted his horse and paced closer to the thick and unforgiving brush.

The forest loomed ominously over the three elves. The entrance point was barely wide enough for an elf to walk through, and wasn't what one would necessarily call an "entrance". It was marled with brambles and thorns, and would very clearly take some serious work in passing through.