Prologue

In this world, there are all sorts of different creatures. Elves, demons, dragons, nymphs, dwarves, humans, etc. are all part of this land. This particular tale is about an elvish princess, trying to fight for her freedom in more ways than one. As she meets people along the way, she learns new things that she never would’ve done if she hadn’t left. Now, let the journey begin...

Chapter 1

Elf Rules

I sat down, tired and weary from running so long. I was escaping from my kingdom. I was going to be forced to marry a wood elf. It has always been the tradition.

You see, both the mountain and the wood elves have made a contract. Both of the royal families always have to have at least one girl and one boy. When of age, both of the chosen girls will have to marry the chosen boy of the other race. It ends up that both races have one girl and one boy. So, it ends up that I, Eesha Lanburo, will have to marry the crazy prince Nicholas Sabuca.

What’s even worse is that when we marry them, we take on the other race’s appearance, magic, and name. Okay, I really do not want blonde hair, my light brown hair is fine with me. I don’t want such a bright hair color! Plus, I like the name Eesha Lanburo! I do not want to give up my mountain earth skills for wood earth skills.

Of course, they’re both still earth skills, but my mountain skills are a part of me. The one thing that sucks about living in the mountains is that we have neighbors below us. Dwarves. Yes, that’s right, dwarves. You see, we elves live in the middle and upper part of the mountains. The richer you are the high you’re up the mountain. Then there’re the dwarves who live in the bottom section of the mountains and the tunnels below.

The only mountains that we mountain elves do not live in are the mountains in the demon realm. Demons are despicable creatures that search for flesh and blood. I have never gone there but I have heard many, many stories. The king is the most evil person alive today. We don’t even dare speak or even say in our minds his name. He is one of the strongest and wisest in the world. Unfortunately, he is dark.

Well, anyway, back to my subject. I’m just at the bottom of the mountain. It’s actually kind of easy to hide here. Their statues are huge! I have to admit that they’re quite beautiful.

THUD!! A metal ball hits my head. Ow!! Who threw that? I demand to know at once!

“He he he!” I heard little, dwarf children giggle. Uh oh! I better get going!

“That was close,” I muttered. Wait, my Level 1 magic book has an invisibility spell in Lesson 5. I wonder if I can do it. I’m on Lesson 3, but maybe I can skip ahead...

I quickly got out my spell book and flipped to Lesson 5. It turned out that since I’m a mountain elf, it only works in the mist of the top mountains. I swore loudly in my mind. What am I supposed to do now? It’s only about 10 miles to the tunnels. Perhaps I could hide out there for awhile...

Let’s see, I can transform into a dwarf for 5 minutes, which should be plenty of time! I quickly flipped through my spell book and looked at the spell. I was unlucky yet again, I’d have the short, stubby lets of a dwarf.

I have to blend in somehow. Every five minutes, I’d turn back into an elf, but, I’ll survive.
I transformed into a dwarf and walked quickly. It was much more tiring in a dwarf’s body. I wasn’t used to this. Luckily, none of the other dwarves suspected me. They just said “hell” and let me be. I felt weird to be so small. My beard was also itchy. Yeah, even women dwarves have beards.

I should’ve transformed into a little, 10-year-old dwarf. Then I wouldn’t have to deal with this itchy beard. Suddenly, I felt myself loosing my bear. Also, I was slowly growing. I quickly ran behind a big bush with my growing legs.

I only passed about a mile. That’s not much progress. I transformed again into the dwarf I was before and started again. After passing five miles I got tired of doing the same thing over and over again. It was a hassle and I was tired. So I just laid back and went into a deep sleep.

I woke to the sound of cheers and horns. Today was the New Year’s Eve and every culture celebrated differently. Only about an hour till New Year’s Day and everybody’s joyous.

I wonder how the dwarves celebrate... Suddenly, a big rock drops in front of me. They were catapulting rocks and boulders everywhere!

They’re insane! What if someone gets hurt?! That’s when I saw that each dwarf family was in this protective glass.

So that’s how they stay safe. What about me?! I have to find something! I ran, frantically trying to find shelter.

Wait, I can make my ‘Mountain Earth Shield’! Quickly, I clapped my hands together. I focused my Earth energy on the earth beneath me. Then, using the word ‘anosha,’ the rock around me formed a shield to protect me.

Why in god’s name are they catapulting giant boulders everywhere anyway? I decided to take a rest inside my shield, just to pass the time.

“So now, let us celebrate the beautiful wonder of the previous year, and the upcoming goals of the new year!” is what I woke up to. A short, stout dwarf was shouting out all sorts of new things that would come out this year.

Dwarves are very proud people. They always love to talk about how beautiful their statues and art are. They find all sorts of gems in those tunnels of theirs.

Suddenly, a bit crowd started running over my shield and the top started breaking. To escape, I punch the top of my shield. It exploded and I jumped out of the top and ran away as fast as I could.

Why are my thoughts always interrupted? It’s not fair! Well, just like my little brother, Carlos says, “Nothing’s fair in life.” I’m so glad that I don’t have to deal with him anymore!

I decided to eat a bit of the food I brought. A loaf of Elvish bread was all I had. Conserving food is essential.

I never really eat much. I’m never very hungry and I don’t find any point in eating so much. Most elves eat a good deal of food, but just can’t gain weight. It’s normal.

Well, the dwarves were all at this one place celebrating, so I decided to take a walk. I didn’t feel like running, I had enough time anyway. They’d all be rejoicing until noon, getting drunk and then sleeping all day. I could simply walk to the tunnels. It was a nice day, as expected on the New Year.

I have a strange feeling that someone’s following me, but that’s not possible, right...?

I kept having that strange feeling. A shadow popped up once in awhile. It made me feel very awkward.

I eventually found my way to the tunnels, no one was there. It was about noon, so I sat down and took out three loafs of bread.

I wonder if the shadow I’m seeing is an elf. I hope not! If they get me, I’ll have to go back and get married to Nicholas Sabuca! I’ll have to change in so many ways that I don’t want to!

The shadow went behind a bush in front of me and stood up. It turned out to be a girl around my age, she was short, but I could tell by her face that she was around my age. She just stood there with a small smile that didn’t show her teeth. She wasn’t an elf, she didn’t have the ears. She wasn’t a dwarf, she was too tall. She wasn’t a faerie or any flying creature, she didn’t have wings. She wasn’t a water creature, she didn’t have gills on her neck. She couldn’t be a human, humans can’t have red eyes.

She finally smiled all the way. Now I knew what she was. She had very pointed teeth. After that, I knew.

She was a demon...

This is even worse! A demon! I can’t believe this! I’m going to die! How could this happen?

The girl walked towards me. She had a devilish smile on her face. I could tell that I was in danger.

I quickly pulled out my dagger to get ready. All the demon girl did was keep walking. She was carrying a sword on her back, but she didn’t look like she was going to pick it up soon. I still kept ready just in case. Demons are very sly creatures.

“Who are you?” I asked, “and what do you want with me?”

She just stopped and chuckled. Then she smiled a devilish grin.

“The princess of the mountain elves,” she said, “Eesha Lanburo. I have come.”