War of the Isle

                                                                   Chapter 1:

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                                  The beginning of nothing, the end of everything.

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 This is the story of how four very different specie came to end a war that had lasted well over a thousand years and had claimed many lives from every side. But don't get sad this story has a happy ending, it just has a lot of bad stuff mixed in with the good. It starts with me, my name is Jaiyana Audrianna and i am an elf, my people live to be well over a thousand years old but at only 400 years old i am the youngest. I live in the forest glen of  Floresta. It is located in the east of the land of Wysteria on the island of Lycanthro. Lycanthro is a very large island capable of keeping four species in their own realms, unfortunately my father, King Valor, decided that the other three species were to "uncivilized" and "unable to care for themselves" (or so I have been told). So now there is no peace in Wysteria. The other three species of Wysteria are the Dragons of Skai Kru in the west, the Mermaids of Lacryma in the south and the Fairies of Nieena in the North. But more on them latter, our story begins with my father, Valor, at the time he was just a young warrior defending his people from danger and sharpening his diplomacy skills, fat lotta good that did anyone, he was the one who started this whole rotten mess. I guess I shouldn't say it was all his fault, the blame can actually be shared between all four species. Zhalfus, the Dragon King, Yunsies, King of the Fairies and Pernisia, Queen of the Mermaids are all to blame for this mess. King Zhalfus is as stubborn and pig-headed as my father but unfortunately that can't be said for the remaining two leaders, Queen Pernisia is a very elegant mermaid but not a very good negotiator when it comes to dealing with people outside her waters. As for King Yunsies not much can be said for him or his people. The fairies are a very mysterious species they only come out of their valley every few years. The one group we have the most trouble with is the Dragons, mainly because my father and King Zhalfus are always sending raiding parties to try and destabilize the others home. Now more than 500 hundred years later we are still at war but now the mermaids have joined the fray because my father insulted Queen Pernisia at one of the annual clan meetings, why they continued to have these meetings is beyond me. So now the burden of fighting falls on the younger generation, and me to lead them. However that part is easier said than done, you see i don't think this war needs to go on any longer. That's why I have begun my own mission to end this war, starting with the dragons, the only species that hasn’t started fighting with us are the Fairies they don’t pay much attention to the fighting except when we stray to close to their meadows, then we can see just how formidable they can be, if they were to truly enter the fray they could easily force the other three into submission, they have great secrets hidden away in those dark woods. That is why it is imperative that my mission remains a secret, if my father knew what i had planned for our future he would not be pleased. Alright, enough backstory, time to begin the tail. It begins on my 400th birthday, as a princess I received many wonderful gifts from my people, it was a very happy occasion, but that happiness didn't last. The last guests to present their gifts was a small group of dragon-lings who presented me with a beautifully carved Firestone crown, My father seemed very tense and angry but didn’t say anything for I had begun to speak before he could argue. “Thank you, your gift is lovely, I am honored by your presence at this celebration. Please pass my thanks along to your mighty King.” They were slightly taken aback by my words. One of the smaller dragon-lings stood and spoke “Your grace may the flame of Skai Kru light your life for many more years to come.” she bowed and looked at her companions and what happened next is what started my quest. The dragons begun attacking my people, all I remember about the incident was fire, a lot of fire. I knew older dragons could change their form from humanoid to true dragons, but i thought they could only breath fire in Dragon form? Something was not right, thankfully I had a secret gift from ‘Gear’ (more on her later). I pulled out my new Aqua-bow and took aim at the attackers. The first arrow struck the tallest dragon-ling in the chest stunning him, when he hit the ground the other two stopped and stared at at me. By that point i had already rearmed my bow, this time with two water arrows, and was ready to fire again. “LEAVE, Now, before I take leave of my senses as you seem to have done.” I said sternly, they looked at me somewhat startled, the one that had spoke before pulled back her hood and that's when i saw it, her eyes were not as they should be. I had a bad feeling about them, i did not wait for them to speak I fired two aqua arrows one at each of them. When they hit the ground silence fell and my people calmly moved closer to glimpse the stunned Dragons. I held my bow at the ready, when i knew they were out cold I relaxed my arm, I slowly walked closer and kneeled in front of the three limp forms, whispering a few forgiving words. When i stood to face the crowd amassing behind me my eyes immediately fell on my parents, I saw my mother's expression was one of great relief, but my father we wearing an expression of of anger, I couldn’t tell if he was mad at the Dragons for attacking so close, or the fact that i had a weapon that he didn’t know about, however i would soon find out. “I knew accepting that gift was a mistake! you should have heeded my words at the start, we could have…” “ENOUGH!!!!” I cut him off with my outburst, I did not wait for him to recover his words “If you knew it was a mistake, why did you allow them so for into our lands? You are the reason this damn war has reached such a bloody standstill! You and Zhalfus have made the lives of my generation a living nightmare! If you don’t figure out a way to end this blasted conflict in a peaceful manner I will, and you won't like how I do it.” I stared at my father with great anger, mostly at his stupidity in this situation, I turned and motioned for two young warriors to help me move the limp bodies. We pulled them to a wide tree trunk and bound them with extra strength rope. After all the fires had been doused and the wounded had been tended to I retired to my treehouse to rest a comprehend the events of the day. After I had watched my sundial cast its shadow over four lines I came to the conclusion that the Dragons that attacked us were not in their right minds, I decided I would confront the young fire-breathers after I had calmed myself with a peaceful dip in the waters of the river of Floresta, to wash away the stress and fear. I spent the next hour soaking in the still waters, when i returned to the plaza I motioned for my two companions, Ty and Bree, to help me. I stood tall and strong as one of them began to open her eyes,this time her eyes were a bright golden instead of the fuzzy whitish blue they were before, she looked up at me in terror and began frantically asking “Who are you? where am I? What's going on?” I could tell she was in distress, I kneeled in front of her, so we were just about eye level, and spoke softly “Shhhh, it’s ok. My name is Jaiyana, Princess of the Elves of Floresta. Do you remember what happened?” she looked around at all the burnt debris and scorched trees, she looked back at me and meekly asked “did we do this?” I glanced down collecting my words, dealing with a scared dragons is very unnerving, I took a deep breath and calmly explained what had happened earlier. When I had finished retelling the events the young dragon seemed even more distressed, she furrowed her eyebrows in deep thought. Suddenly her breathing became heavy and labored, I quickly untied her and held her tight, soothing her as best i could. I began humming which seemed to calm her, I took a deep breath and asked “What name do they call you?” she breathed deep and said “Drista, my name is Drista Etherian.” When I heard her name I realized this poor, shaking, little dragon was the princess of the Dragons, the daughter of King Zhalfus. I held her tight and told bree to get my father, she looked at me with a bit of confusion but did as I asked. I sat by the tree rocking Drista slowly as her comrades began to wake up, they looked around at everything then looked at me with fear and regret in their eyes. I softened my eyes and smiled sweetly at them. The eldest looking one begun speaking in a bit of shaky voice, "I did not think it would go this far, I am deeply sorry." his words were from the deepest part of his heart, I knew this, for when he spoke his eyes began to fill with tears. Just as I was about to reply my father approached and was not pleased at all, his demeanor was quite angry and displeased. He loomed over Drista and I and glared down at her, which annoyed me, considering the fact that when my father gets angry his upper lip twitches. He stood tall and began to speak very harshly to Drista, "Well, it seems that Zhalfus isn't as powerful as we anticipated if he can't even protect his own little monster." "Monster?" I said. I stood up, taking a very defensive stance in front of Drista. "This is Drista Etherian, Princess of the Dragons of Skai Kru. You will respect her, This war has gone on long enough, If you and King Zhalfus can't put aside your stubborn pride long enough to come to some kind of understanding..." "ENOUGH" my father yelled, shaking the leaves in the trees over head. Before my father or I could say anything else my mother, Queen Vanna, calmly said "Why don't we leave this subject to be discussed at a time when cooler heads may prevail." My father and I nodded and parted without another word. The events that happen next are the events that began my adventure. After I had taken Drista and her companions to a small hut near the edge of our village I went to find my mother, as always I knew she would help me unwind my twisted thoughts. I knew my mother liked to meditate in her garden when my father and I fought. I calmly kneeled next to my mother and asked "Why does father treat my like a child still? I am 400 hundred years old, I am as old as he was when he became king and I have watched him lead and govern for as long as I can remember. I have surpassed all the trials he has placed in front of me and yet he still insists on treating me as if I am only 90 years old? Does he not trust me to make the right decisions?" My mother took a deep breath and smiled, her smile is very calming and makes her look very youthful. She looked at me and gently said "Its not that your father doesn't trust you to make the right choices, he is just scared that you choice will take you away from him. You are the heir to Floresta and if anything happened to you he would never forgive himself. He has already lost one child, he doesn't want to lose another." this statement confused me, I am the only child in the royal family and as far as I know my father has not been with another women besides my mother. She must have seem the confusion in my eyes because she said "you have a brother, he always butted heads with your father all the time as well, one day he had enough and he left. Didn't say anything to your father, just left. That hurt him more then your brother leaving. Your father loves you and wants to protect you, he just doesn't realize he is also keeping you from growing. You must decide if you want to take this journey or remain in the forest." Well, this was unexpected. I never thought about leaving. We sat in the stillness listening to the hum of the forest until I turned and embraced my mother whispering "I love you, and will always be your child. But I have to do this." She smiled and kissed my forehead. I left the garden and went to my tree to pack, I knew what had to be done and this time I was going to do it. After I had packed all I would need I went down to the little hut where Drista and her companions where resting, I entered to fine one sleeping on a mat, one ganging upsidedown from the rafters and young Drista sitting in the middle of the floor in a meditative position. I walked in and sat down in front of Drista in the same position, she opened her eyes to met mine and smiled. I smiled as well and began with "I hope you are well rest because we have a lot of work to do. I need your help, I plan to put an end to this war, will you help me?" She cast her eyes down and her face turned to a concerned look. suddenly from the rafters we heard "As much as we want this war to end how can you possibly hope to end it on your own?" I glanced up to see the tallest of the three looking at us. I asked softly "May I inquirer your name?" "Talen" he said calmly, then slowly claimed down from his roost. "In fourteen days the leaders of our lands with meet for one of their redundant peace assembly's. I plan to have a treaty signed by the next generation of leaders, I plan to present it at that very assembly showing them that the next generation has already vowed to end this war should it continue that far. But I need your help to make this dream a reality. Will you help me?" Drista beamed with excitement as she nodded in agreement. Talen on the other hand was not so enthusiastic, his face said it all 'this is a bad idea and may not work, you could die' I stood up tall and brave and said "I know the risks and I'm willing to run with them." "So am I" Drista said, jumping to her feet with new energy, "I have spent to much time hiding behind my father and ot taking up my responsibility's. Now is my chance to do something stupid like him. Count me in!" I smiled. If Drista was on my side there was nothing Talen could say to change her mind. After I left the little hut I went strait to my fathers chamber of council, not to ask for permission, but to inform him of my decision. Because unlike my brother (who I never knew) I wasn't going to just run away. I entered the main council room with confidence, when my father looked at me I drew in a deep breath and in my most steady voice said "I am leaving Floresta." the look on faces of all the old men in that room was gold. "Do not fret father I will see you in fourteen days at the peace meeting." My father looked at my with his special look of questioning, I smiled and said "It is mine to know." And with that I gathered my gear and left the forest with Drista and the others.

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