-----------------------[ Part 1: A Life Lost ]-----------------------

 

Harmonious melodies... The softest of touches... A tender smile that could extinguish nightmares... These were the only remaining memories that six-year-old Leiyra had of her beloved mother, Rhiann, a strikingly-gorgeous elfen priestess. Her father, Cynd, a human mage, was weeping... The only time that young Leiyra could ever recount him doing so. He had always been in control of his emotions, so confident and stoic...

 

Rhiann was his whole world, the love of his life and the one and only thing capable of dragging him away from the passion of his magical studies and experiments. She had departed a week ago to offer her holy aide to a small village that had been ransacked by orcs... Her mother was the most loving and helpful person she had known... Rhiann's body had been discovered a few days out from the village that very morning, killed by a roaming band of raiders.

 

Leiyra felt lost and numb, seeking her father for comfort and consolation. But of this, there would be none, nor would there ever be.

 

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------------------[ Part 2: Loneliness and Apathy ]------------------

 

Time passed slowly and, distraught, Cynd became increasingly distanced from his only daughter, buried nearly endlessly in his other love - his precious work. This obsession for knowledge and powerful adeptness brought him much respect, wealth and prominence in society - uncaring to the wisened mage.

 

Despite his apathy towards his loving child, Leiyra doted on and adored her father, the only known family that she had left. Ever an inquisitive child and seeking to share and help his studies, she would often ask him to teach what he knew, only to be rebuffed and generally ignored when she had showed little aptitude in her attempts to follow.

 

Cynd was always terse and critical in his treatment towards his young daughter, no matter how hard she had tried to please him... Still, she cared for him devotedly as best she could, cooking for him and tending to their home, as he was ever too preoccupied to bother with such mundane tasks. Lonely and forsaken, Leiyra would frequently spend the days on her own, playing away from the village in the forests where she had found her only joys and solace.

 

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------------------[ Part 3: Comfort in New Friends ]-----------------

 

One sunny spring morning as she was chasing birds and butterflies during her seventh year of life, little Leiyra had met Aytyn... In fact, the hapless boy was unfortunate enough to find the clumsy girl stumbling right atop him as he lay resting in the grass. As she lifted her head, she caught his gaze, eyes the colour of liquid gold staring right back at her, a mischievous smile forming upon the boy's lips.

 

"Be careful, princess," he teased, pulling her up with him to sit amidst the brightened meadow. He had been the most amazing creature she'd ever seen... His body was covered with a coat of the softest snow-coloured fur, small-yet-sharp fangs gleaming in the sunlight as he smiled, and behind him swishing slowly was a thick, bushy tail.

 

Despite how she had arrived in her current position, she offered a tentative smile, feeling oddly at ease with this strange boy... As they both sat there together, they felt a bond begin as they soon started to relax, sharing and recounting their lives with one another as if it were the most natural thing to be doing. He was an eight-year-old aslaran, traveling with his adopted mother. She was part of a merchant caravan, finding him when he was just three years old, orphaned and wailing alone as they passed through his burned out city. Unable - or unwilling - to leave him there, Ynalia brought him into her own family as if he were hers. His adopted father was a stern, but just taskmaster, teaching little Aytyn his trade of leatherworking once he became of age to do so.

 

The people of his village accepted him after a few years despite how strange he had looked compared to them; him being aslaran, and them being trill. He lives his life mostly in solitude, his only respites from the harsh but full life being the times he traveled with his mother in early spring, and late autumn to trade their wares about the Basin. Ynalia generously afforded him the time to be left to his own devices as they stopped in the villages and cities, rewarding him thusly for his hard work the year long... Leiyra told Aytyn of her own loneliness, and shunned overtures for affection from her father...

 

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-----------------[ Part 4: Time Heals.. Most Wounds ]----------------

 

The next few weeks found the two young friends laughing and romping together through the forests and streams from dawn to dusk, two lost souls who have finally found happiness and a home; one in the other. Unfortunately the day came when Aytyn told her the caravan was to move on... He was to leave that evening when he had returned home. Leiyra felt as if her heart would split in two. Smiling affectionately into her eyes, Aytyn leaned close, the look of a brother in his eyes, and whispered, "Do not cry, princess. Remember me, and I will always be with you." - He would return next spring, and Leiyra would be waiting.

 

She did as she was bade, keeping him close to her heart as she cared for and looked after her father, wrapping herself in their memories whenever she lay down to rest. She kept their friendship her own secret, afraid that somehow, someway, she might lose this precious gift she had received. The times she had spent with Aytyn every spring and autumn were the most wonderful times of her young life. They spent the days together in blissful contentment, swimming, lazing in the sun, climbing and exploring through the forests. As they grew older, they also spent parts of the evenings together, huddled up against a tree, sharing their dreams and hopes as they gazed at the velvety, star-filled skies. He would often greet her with an armful of sugary treats on their first day together, always making sure to leave her the same way when his caravan departed, hugging her tightly as he had whispered, "Remember me, and I will always be with you."

 

As the years slowly went by, Leiyra grew more like her mother in both image and spirit - loving, open-hearted and generous. Though still heavily satirical and brusque with her, sometimes Cynd would soften, seemingly remorseful and guilt-ridden of his behaviour towards his only child. Watching her grow, he saw his beloved Rhiann in her, her nature, within and without. At such times, his manner was less demeaning, callous and neglectful towards Leiyra - she glowed at these treasured moments, seeing and knowing her father's love... But his temperament was ever mercurial, causing the young girl to become insecure, lacking confidence as he gradually withdrew and became lost once more in his compulsive fixation on his studies...

 

In her sixteenth year, Aytyn spoke to her one night of a place he and his mother oft traveled to. It was there that he had met a man named Tadurn who lived openly and freely in a place called Serenwilde, hunting while still tending to the forests about him. Aytyn longed to follow the path that the man lived, finally feeling he could be welcomed for who he was and live a life he only ever dreamed of before... As her friend spoke, Leiyra's whole countenance glowed and she felt a matching throb beating out a harmonious rhythm within her chest. How she yearned to find such a place to share with her dear friend... But... She could not contemplate the thought of leaving her father...

 

Though he was lacking in affectionate demeanour and cutting in his words, Leiyra knew he loved her and needed him, though he had rarely ever voiced this... Still, they clung to their dream, believing that perhaps some day they would be capable of following it to fruition...

 

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-------------------[ Part 5: Happy Yet Sorrowful ]-------------------

 

Upon returning home that afternoon when Aytyn had departed with his caravan once more, Leiyra was surprised to find her father had taken on a strikingly beautiful elfen woman as his student. Leiyra felt a sudden chill ripple through her as she was introduced to Satiela. Around the woman's neck, falling to rest between her well-endowed, very exposed cleavage, hung a dazzling fire opal surrounded by a multitude of faceted gemstones. Everything about the woman oozed manicured glamour and prestige.

 

She cringed inwardly as Satiela leaned close and pressed an eerily cold, pale cheek to her own in greeting. Her father, usually reserved and aloof, was smiling quite broadly for once, one hand holding onto the woman's. Confusion and shock overwhelming Leiyra, she managed to smile politely in return, reluctantly welcoming Satiela to their home. After a few short moments of sugary-sweet chatter, Cynd and Satiela retired to his study. So went the days, the two of them so engrossed in their work and in each other... Though Leiyra begun to take notice that her father was beginning to grow more gaunt and sickly looking, while the elfen woman seemed to flourish and glow with life. He rarely ate, nor slept nearly enough, and Leiyra became more and more worried, as her once handsome and robust father seemed to wither before her very eyes.

 

Cynd was, at this point in his long life, a well-respected and very accomplished high magician, one of much wealth and influence in their village. Always a vain and self-centred man, Cynd easily succumbed to Satiela's stroking of his ego, lavishing praise and adulation upon him at every given opportunity. With her fevered interest in his work that she had also excelled in, combined with her natural beauty, she neatly wormed her way into Cynd's world. Satiela adroitly took control of all matters of the home, leaving Leiyra almost no role in her father's life. She attempted to speak to him of her concerns about Satiela's true intentions, only to be given a deathly glare and told to curb her jealous delusions...

 

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---------------[ Part 6: The Cycle of Life and Death ]---------------

 

Deeply saddened, and yet unable to change the course of events, Leiyra met Aytyn the following year, unburdening all of her anguish to him. Aytyn consoled her as best he could... Satiela, more than noticing the girl's absences during the springs and autumns, thought to employ this to her wicked benefit. Her calculating, cruel mind would not allow Cynd's loving daughter to stand in her way of gaining all that she could from him; his wealth, his knowledge, his standing... His very mortal essence, should it come to that... During Leiyra's eighteenth year of life, as she had left to meet Aytyn, Satiela stealthily met with an unscrupulous man - one who was knowledgeable in the ways of discreet, silent elimination. She had offered quite the generous paying to follow Leiyra in the upcoming autumn, and kill her. Permanently ridding herself of the vapid nuisance.

 

The cloak-covered stranger eyed Satiela warily, ever one to make the best of a deal, and would settle for no less than the large, gem encrusted pendant that she always wore around her pearly throat. Haughty and confident she would soon have much more than these, she readily agreed to the trade and quickly paid him. That very evening, Cynd, entranced by Satiela, asked her to be his wife. Triumph gleamed in her crafty eyes as she accepted his proposal. Leiyra, unaware of Satiela's diabolical plans, drifted in the warm sphere of friendship which Aytyn surrounded her with day and night.

 

Returning home after the end of their spring, Leiyra was mortified to hear of the upcoming nuptials. Try as she might, she could do nothing to sway her father's oblivious mind, only serving to provoke him further to greater rages with her attempts. When autumn came around once more, she had reluctantly departed from her father, deeply disconsolate and full of sadness. Aytyn had not yet arrived at their meeting place, so she had opted to settle down in the patch of grass to await her best friend, heart in complete despair and wholly unaware of the danger that had stalked her like a predator to the meadow.

 

Just as the assassin was about to throw the lethally poisoned dagger into her unsuspecting back, Aytyn had arrived, and with an enraged leap, slammed the man to the ground. Filled with murderous intent at seeing his dear Leiyra so close to death, Aytyn growled deep and low. Baring his brutally-sharp fangs wide, Aytyn tore viciously at the man's throat, sinking his teeth in deep with deathly precision and ripping a gaping wound in his neck. The skilled assassin, though mortally wounded, still managed to struggle with Aytyn before quickly overcoming the young and inexperienced trader; driving the dagger deep into the aslaran's ribs.

 

Gurgling grotesquely and clutching at his neck, the assassin collapsed in a puddle of his own blood and died, throat a mangled mess of severed flesh. Leiyra rushed to Aytyn, distraught and frightened at what she'd witnessed, and placed his head into her lap. Stroking his face, tears streamed down her cheeks as she bade him to lie still while she went for help. He took her hand in his, placing a silver ring and pure white bracelet into her palm.

 

Aytyn leaned close as he struggled for breath. Feeling the creeping approach of death upon him, he smiled weakly at his bonded sister, whispering low with his final, dying breath, "Remember me, Leiyra and I will always be with you."

 

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--------------------[ Part 7: A Father Scorned ]---------------------

 

Hysterical with grief, Leiyra held his warm, furry body close to her own, sobbing uncontrollably - How could this have happened? All their dreams and happiness, lost in but a mere and inexplicable moment... The glint of something sparkling in the nearby grass caught her eye and, reaching down to retrieve it, instantly recognised it as the jewel Satiela prized and ever wore. Realising the assassin must have dropped it in the fray, she knew who had been responsible for this... Whispering a quiet prayer over Aytyn's body, she vowed to return after she had made Satiela pay for what she had wrought.

 

Swiftly, she made her way back home, tears staining her cheeks as she ran, her soul and heart both feeling torn asunder.

 

Satiela, horrifyingly pale and stunned to see Leiyra still alive, fumbled to right her generally complacent demeanour. Leiyra quickly recounted to her father what had happened, and showing him Satiela's pendant, accused the now-flushed woman of the hideous plot to have her murdered in the middle of a field. Cynd looked at Satiela, the veil of deceit crumbling as he found how close he came to losing his only child to his vanity, obsession and neglect, and unerringly saw the true nature of his newly-wedded wife.

 

No longer dazzled, he stood firmly, shaking with rage. Demanding to know the truth from her, he had threatened to do all that was in his power to uncover the truth of what had transpired. Satiela in return, regained some of her composure, seeing the futility in attempting to deny what she did. With a sinister smirk she lashed out a powerful attack at Cynd; she would see the poor, weak fool dead, then take care of the simple-minded daughter herself. Afterwards, she would devise a story for their deaths, playing the grief-stricken widow, thereby keeping all she had strove to gain...

 

...What Satiela didn't account for was Cynd's love for his daughter. Though sadly and deeply hidden, he had loved her with every inch of his being. Drawing forth all of his power as he fell to the ground, Cynd released a counter blast of his own at Satiela in a massive burst of unbridled strength, instantly killing the she-devil where she stood; her hideous smirk forever burnt into her now unrecognisably-deformed remains... Leiyra fell to her knees, cradling her father against her chest. He looked into the face of an angel, his Leiyra, his nearly forgotten daughter who so much resembled his beloved Rhiann.

 

"Forgive me, Leiyra... I was a fool to close myself off from life for so long, and opening it to a sinister snake... Please forgive me for all I have done to you... I know I never showed it truly, but I have loved you the best I knew how to..." Leiyra nodded quietly to her father, a heavy numbness enshrouding her; her life and world turned inside out so quickly. Her father attempted to speak again, only to fail and finally succumb to his wounds in his daughter's arms. Leiyra made arrangements to have her father buried beside her mother's grave...

 

Returning to where she had left Aytyn's body, intent on burying it in the forests they loved and played in as children, she was utterly dismayed to find it no longer there... She searched and searched for hours to no avail, simply no trace left of her childhood friend... Filled with sorrow, she settled her home, intent on leaving behind the village she grew up in, its social intrigues and the life she once knew.

 

She set forth to find the place she and Aytyn believed they would share together forever. Perhaps in this new place she could begin to heal and find hope anew. With a heavy, shattered heart she began her journey, the words of her only friend still whispering through her, knowing he would indeed be with her...

 

          ~Always.

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