~ Chapter Two~

Efalëa was the land of the elves. It was; that is until the Alerion armies deliberated and drove the elves out two hundred years ago, making them almost as mortal as their intruders. The Efalëañ King was so mad that the humans took away his castle, and more that he hid so he could train up an army to kill the humans off. All failed and the king was killed, leaving behind no heir to finish, or more begin his work. The Efalëañ race disappeared into the shadows.

So that is the history of my lovely race. she thought. Lihan blinked, then threw a rock at the sky. However she could not harm the sky, for it only pushed aside the blow. She returned to the small cave, and she was alone again.

Her birth parents had been killed just a month ago by a scouting part of Alerion humans. The loss was so surprising and sudden that Lihan couldn't believe she was alone in life. She went to the old tree, for her grieving, and she had heard a voice.

Lihan remember the ghostly words:

"Cry alone, or cry with me, child. For you have not lost much, I have lost to the world."

She had cried out: "Who are you, speaking voice of the tongue near the tree?"

A ghost image of the old Efalëañ king, Haren, then appeared before her.

"I am Efalëañ King, Haren. I have chosen you to be my vessel. Help me restore Efalëa, and destroy what the humans' have made, sick imitations of what we created."

"A vessel I will be, oh ghostly lord King."

So for weeks she was trained magical works, and she daily sparred with the ghostly King.

But that day, when she had gone to the tree, Haren was not there; and with the knowledge that she was truly alone, she could do nothing but think upon the past, which were now only hanging memories in her eyes.

A tiny bird flinted down towards Lihan, and landed on her knee. "Nifra abûrlu eno." she said, speaking in her familiar language, instead of the humans' language which she had learned at a very young age.

With a flint of irritation in her senses, she heard a sound behind her and the little bird flew away so quickly that she doubted the bird had actually been real and her imagination was so lonely she was making things up. She turned around ; ready to fight. The ghost shape of the old king was all she could see.

"Why were you not there, always?" she converted to the human's tongue.

"Shallihanna," the ghost's voice said her real Efalëañ name. "You trained hard, now is your turn to save the rest of your dying race. You must find the source I told you about, to make us immortal again. The source is somewhere in the Alerion Kingdom. Restore Efalëa! Take up your father's sword, and find it!"

So Lihan picked up her father's sword and sought out the source of immortality.

That was a year ago.