Umbrae of Eryll

Name: Umbrae
Age: Over 500
Natural form: Night Elf (or close relative of)
Birth Date: Fifty seven years before the great war.
Family: None-All presumed deceased.
Home: Eryll
Abilities: Perfect nightvision, eagle-eyed, ability to semi-blend into the darkness (beyond human perception), master of swordsmanship, bow and close-range kiri combat. Agile, better than human hearing, multi-lingual, highly trained in stealth and acrobatics from a very young age. Immune to manipulation from Umbral energy.

My home was lost in the great war many a year ago, the darkest times still unheard, still untold. THEY now now hold MY ground, my people's ground which was taken with bloodied hands.......Our blood. Eryll was peaceful in my eyes. With the cool summers dusk breeze blowing through the holy Madancana tree, they came. Any who resisted were butchered, any who fled or surrendered were murdered. The village elders took action but their knowledge and powers of the arcane were no match. All except from small handfuls of us, mainly adolescents lead by Davignon, son of Elder Ravnil. I was one of them. Seeing the fires burn higher into the night with every scream and yell with every stride getting darker and quieter into the night unseen and unheard. Unknown. Possibly a large a number as one hundred made it out, but maybe only half that made it out alive. Our group was five strong, all still possessing possible lethal force. We were all students of Elder Kivo, who taught us the way of the Kiri. The Kiri is a small blade, about six inches long, which is used to take down enemies silently, effortlessly. We were also dressed in light training armour, dents, scratches and blood of previous students covered them. It served it's purpose. We waited for days hoping that news would have spread to other clans, other races but no-one came. By the third night the trees were dark and silent, deadly silent. Davignon decided it was safe to leave our new ground of temporary safety to look for survivors or supplies. Tyri, Jori and I protested deeply but our efforts were in vain. A blue bolt shot through the group striking me in the center of my chest. The heat and pain surging from my chest was excruciating. Davignon's hand lowered, fading as he did so from an aurora of blue back to the natural grey of his skin. Davignon was too an apprentice of the arcane. I could hear Tyri, Jori and even Myra protesting at Davignon's decision to assault a friend, especially as an apprentice. I could feel the gloom of unconciousness consuming me.

I awoke hours later gasping for air which still had the lingering taste of death. The sun shone through the makeshift net like door. My friends had taken me back to the shelter of a fallen yaki tree, which was littered with fruit. Davignon was no-where to be seen or heard. He had been marked with a rough cut stamp of exile sliced into his right cheek. We had seen this mark a few times before from the public exile of traitors of the clan.

Name: Moira
Age: Not yet discovered
Race: Half caste Human Elf
Birth Date: NYD
Family: One younger sister-Presumed deceased (turned into stone)
Home: NYD
Abilities: Trained swordswoman, Equestrian.

I still remember it clearly, even this many years ago.

We heard the rustle of leaves under foot, a group of about ten marching quickly towards our shelter. A loud horn then bellowed, scattering the birds and nearby animals. The sound of someone throwing something large came, followed by a soft thud then another the second closer than the first. The object rolled into the front net, spinning slowly on the hard floor. The object was roundish and one side was marked with the stamp of exile. The object was Davignon's head. He had most probably have had given away our location in return for his life. Seems like he had been betrayed. As we were. I could see tears rolling down Myra's cheeks. We all knew this was probably the end.

"I Lord Rakien command that you remove yourselves from hiding before the count of three, or else", the voice bitter and twisted through years of chaos and evil. "One". I heard the tensioning of eight bows as I removed my Kiri from my belt. The whistle of an arrow shot through the silence followed by a muffled cry, I turned round to see only Tyri and Myra sitting with faces torn between anger, hatred, sorrow and hopelessness. I motioned them to stay put but I could see that Myra wanted out, we all did. "Two". Without thinking I untied the shoulder and waist straps of my chest and back armour plates and handed them to the other two and indicated to them to put it on their backs for extra protection from the probably rain of arrows. They both started to argue but a quick scowl put an end to it. “Two and a half” Raiken laughed humorously. I pointed for them to get to the back entrance, run on my command and never look back.

I picked up Davignon, well what was left of him anyway, and brought his head near the front entrance. “Three” I whispered. I thrust the head out of the net, in full view of the awaiting archers. Almost instantly the head had been struck out of my hand as five arrows imbedded into it, falling to the floor. I turned back to the back entrance to see that Myra and Tyri had already made use of the distraction and I could hear the sound of their dash through the woods. Whistling arrows flew through the foliage, followed by the occasional scream. I was unsure of whether they were screams of pain of just fear. Hope prays that it is the latter but knowledge is almost certain it is the first.

“You four, after them!” Raiken roared. Four pairs of running footsteps followed into the woods. They are on their own now; only time will tell if they made it. The whistle of arrows finally stopped, followed by the start of a very sarcastic slow clapping. “Bravo, bravo, see what you did there. Quite brave, yet most stupid my young adversary.” He seemed to be pacing up and down the line of archers. I sat back down on the rock floor, mind working frantically as ever; meeting dead ends at each turn. There was no escape for me. I heard more arrows being loaded to bows. By the look of the shelter, it would not be able to stop the flight on many if any arrows with it’s rotting carcase.

I closed my eyes awaiting the inevitable. Death by firing squad. “This is your last warning. Come out and you shall not be harmed, you have my word” his voice was becoming tiresome. His word? Ha, not worth the air it was breathed on. I sat there a little longer. “Come get me!” I screamed defiantly, a smile bore deep on my face. As the last word left my lips, the first of the arrows started raining through the shelter as I had expected. I just lay there listening to the arrows thud then clang against the rocks all around me, some skimming across my skin, leaving small nicks where they hit. I sat there still unflinching. Suddenly it was almost as if they’re aim had gotten better, an arrow stuck deep in my upper thigh then one plunged through my forearm. The pain was almost unbearable, but I stayed ever still and quiet.

As quickly as it had started, the rain of arrows had stopped. I slowly opened my eyes to see that I was surrounded with arrows, some still lodged in the shelter ceiling, as expected. A thought had swiftly crossed my mind. Maybe they have run out of arrows. Still ignoring the two arrows imbedded in my flesh, I began to bring myself to a more upright position, preparing for a ground assault. A sound perked up my ears. The sound of a single bow tensioning. I winced at the sound before the release, as I knew. I knew lady luck would not be on my side this time. The twang then short whistle followed by the searing pain confirmed my thought. I sat back down; shock and disbelief consumed my face and my emotions.

I could not bear to look down at the cause of my pain. Yet I slowly looked down. First I saw the feathers on the end of the arrow, ruffled and torn from its travel through the rotten tree. I followed the smooth shaft down until it reached the point that it entered my chest, blood trickled down my chest from that point, dribbling down the scorched patch of skin. The sounds around me began to waiver in and out. I could hardly make out any of the voices around me. Then everything seemed to be coming darker, almost black in places as I struggled to draw in breath. I looked round in the darkness to wearily. I softly chuckled to myself before the darkness finally consumed me. Probably for the last time.