The villlage of Mir, 13 years ago [M]

[Wild]

(This is the background story for how Wild and Mist gets to know each other. In this story Wild is around 5 years old, and it is the day where her village will be attacked)

The village of Mir had existed for as long as anyone could remember. Once it had been a large village, populated by two different races, the Light Elves and the Dark elves.

The Light Elves were fair skinned, with long hair, beautiful eyes and broad smiles. They were the artisans of the village, skilled in music, theater, dancing, and many of them were great culinary chefs or shaman healers.

The Dark Elves had darker colors in hair and skin, and were more gloomy of nature. They were stronger built than the Light Elves, and many of them were great warriors, hunters, miners and blacksmiths. They made strong and solid weapons and kept the village safe from enemies.

The Dark Elves and Light Elves had once been at war with each other, but after the Dark Elf Chieftain had married the powerful Light Elf Shaman Healer the two races slowly started warming up to each other.

The Chieftain and the Shaman Healer had a daughter. She was the joy of their lives and they proudly named her Wild, as she early showed she resembled her Dark Elf father more than her Light Elf mother. No baby in Mir could scream louder when she was hungry or needed diapers.

As the child grew up, she scurried happily through the village - endangering any fragile household item that stood in her way. The items broke as she bumped into them, and to find her, the parents only needed to follow the trail of broken shards of pottery and hear the annoyed cries from exhausted housewives. This was how the young elf child earned her nickname: Little Hurricane.

[Medievarad]

((Mist - 16 years of age))

And while a brazen young child like Wild would leave a lot of damage in her wake, she still needed protection. Protection that came into the form of an able bodygaurd, none other than Mist.

The young warrior had been found wandering with festering wounds at the age of six. Unable to speak a word, yet his facr was twisted in disgust and horror. Leaving what happened to the dark elf to pure speculation. The one finding him was a powerful shaman. The woman that would give birth to a child named Wild roughly five years after that.

While Mist was raised as a warrior, he also became a master tactician, becoming an advisor to the Chieftan at the age of fourteen, aswell as becoming a personal bodygaurd to the child named Wild.

Mist was one of the strongest and the youngest. A child prodigy that used a sword he couldn't even lift at first. A sword that was at least twice his size back then. Yet he never forgot his debt to the shaman that saved his life and taught him how to speak. From that debt, his determination was fueled. And through that determination, people soon started speaking of the child prodigy.

The warrior recieved the nickname of Immortalis at the age of fifteen, due to defending Wild from a warband of goblins single handedly, surviving by the skin of his teeth and wiping out the opposition. Soon tales, poems and jokes filled thevillage. Rumours about Mist being from a lost legacy of warriors. He was exalted as a hero and seen as an idol to the children of the tribe. A fearsome warrior to the men and a person of desire to the women.

His fame also gave birth to envy. Soon he was challenged to duels on a daily basis. Yet he has never lost a fight. The young warrior was untouchable, unbeatable and unbreakable.

[Wild]

It was a bright and early morning. The sun was shining brightly from a clear, blue sky, and in the Village of Mir nobody had any clue that this was the last peaceful morning they would have in a very long time.

5 year old Wild was sitting by the breakfast table, her dark hair still tousled after a night of peaceful rest and her eyes still heavy from sleep. She was still wearing her nightgown as she was placed by the table and offered a bowl of hot porridge for breakfast.

"Do I have to get up yet?" she pleaded, looking up at the adult with her most adorable face expression in a hope they would be melted to let her sleep just a little bit longer.

"Yes," her mother replied, her face expression more stern than usual. "I have ran out of Nightshade flowers, and you are going to the forest to pick some more..."

Wild looked up at her mother in disbelief. Ever since she had learned to walk she had tried to explore the forest outside the village, but her parents had always stopped her, telling her it was dangerous. And now they wanted to send her there!

"Alone?" she asked in disbelief, thinking Mother was joking. Her lower lip quivered, and her big, round eyes brimmed with tears. "But you said..."

Her words were cut short by her Mother. "Of course you are not going alone," the Shaman Healer said. "Mist will go with you. Won't you, Mist?"

Her gaze rested friendly on the young man placed by the side of her rambunctious little daughter. He was young, but no babysitter could be safer than him. Besides, little Wild seemed to really like her older bodyguard.

If Wild had been a bit older she would have noticed the concern in the eyes of her parents this morning. The Shaman Healer had long known that the enemies planned to attack the village. She had seen the attack in the visions of her nightly dreams. The Chieftain  knew too, but he tried to stay calm in front of his daughter, not wanting to let the child know that something was wrong.

They had planned to send the child into the forest, hoping that she would be safe from the enemy there. Even if she was only 5, she would be safe with Mist. He had already showed himself worthy as a warrior.

[Medievarad]

"Ofcourse. It goes without saying." He answered from his casual and laid back position in the chair. Even he knew what was going on, as one of the chieftan's most notable advisors, the young warrior knew as much as Wild's mother did. He still disagreed on sending out their best warrior, wich was no other than himself, to safegaurd the child, rather than utilised in protecting the village. But due to the information he had recieved, it was a moderate force that the other warriors in Mir could handle. He trusted they could. He trained half of them, for god's sake.

He glanced at the enourmous blade that was posted against the wall by the room, everything but the hilt bandaged up. He turned his head, the eyes of him and Wild's mother meeting. The cold and stoic expression expected of a warrior. Yet his eyes testified of the doubt about this plan. Nonverbally asking the shaman that saved him if she was sure of this. It wasn't like the young Wild would notice the dilent communication between the two.

[Wild]

Wild yawned as she chewed sleepily on her breakfast. While she ate, her mother tried to brush her dark tuffs of hair and braiding them in sweet little braids.

It wasn't easy to brush the hair of a child that slipped away like a bar of soap in a hot shower, but after a lot of struggles Wild's mother finally succeeded in dressing her daughter and braiding her hair. She even managed to give the child a quick wash before she slipped away.

"What goes without saying?" the child requested as she overheard some of the conversation at the table. Her big, round orbs glanced from one adult to the other, clearly waiting for a reply.

'Instead she saw her mother rising from the table, staring at Mist with a (for her) stern and stubborn face expression. Her father seemed just as stubborn. The child noticed that the room was unusually quiet today, and the lack of conversation worried her.  Why didn't the adults laugh and chat like they used to? Was it her fault? Had she done something wrong?

"Mist?" she pleaded, looking up at the young man with her  most adorable puppy gaze in a feeble attempt to melt him.

"It is time for your trip to the forest, Wild," her mother said and placed a basket at the table in front of Mist.  The basket contained some warm clothes, as well as food for a couple meals. When this was eaten they would have to hunt in the forest. "Mist can carry the basket you bring with you, and you can gather the Nightshade flowers in it."

Both of Wild's parents hugged and kissed the little girl as they prepared to send her away. They tried not to make the hugs too long, not wanting to alarm the child that something was amiss. Wild hugged them back, thinking that everything was normal. Little did she know that this was the last time she would see her parents alive.

"Bye Mommy, bye Daddy," she said, waving her tiny hand towards them as she turned to leave. Looking up at Mist, she reached out a chubby little hand to hold his hand as she had been instructed to do in unfamiliar surroundings. "I am ready when you are, Mist..."

[Medievarad]

"That I'm going with you, li'l un." He replied to Wild's quedtion. Just a mere glance at the mother's face affirmed his suspicions. She was being that stubborn idiot again. This stubborness bith Wild's parents had really ticked him off. Annoyed him to no equal. Solemnly because he could not change their minds at all when they were like this. He didn't trust his. Mist's gut told him to stay here and fight. And he survived because of his gut feeling. He looked down at Wild."Why're you giving me that particular stare?"

He was certain whatever argument or protest he brought up to his commanders would be ignored. Her parents were resolute. He merely nodded thoughtfully as the basket was placed infront of him, he stood up, heading over to the colossal blade and lifting it on his back, heading to pick up the basket aswll as their parents said their goodbyes.

He wanted to smack them both in the face. Tell them he was going to fight here. Going to prove his title once more anddefeat whatever opposition appeared. He was not called Immortalis for nothing.

Yet he merely bowed before the two leaders as he followed the small girl, holding her hand with his free one and goving one of his rare and curt smiles as they walked out. And that soft smile he made stabbed him right through the heart. Painful because every fiber in his body was screaming to stay. Yet he had his orders.

His stoic face didn't change in the slightest. Indicating towards Wild that nothing was wrong. This was just Mist.

[Wild]

Wild's tiny face lit up in a big smile when she was told that Mist was going with her, and the tears that had started brimming her eyes vanished. She was not afraid when Mist was around. He was big and strong, so nothing bad could happen with him around. Bouncing over to his side, she tried to wrap her chubby little arms around him, placing soft baby kisses where ever she could reach.

"I am glad you are coming with me, Mist," she beamed towards him. "I am not afraid to go to the forest with you around."

She beamed and looked up at him with all the admiration a little child could feel towards one of her greatest idols, giggling when he asked why she gave him that particular stare.

"I am trying to melt you like I do with Mommy and Daddy when I want to cuddle," she giggled and looked up at him. "Does it work?"

She did not notice the silence between her parents and her young body guard.  She did not know that her parents had chosen to send them both away because the enemy were closing in on the village, each step sending the Mirions closer to their doom. She believed she was only going to the forest for a little while and pick flowers and then go home again. Little did she know that in only a few hours there would no longer be a home to return to.

Wild's father sent Mist and Wild a last friendly gaze as they turned to leave. "Go in peace, my friends," he said. "Mist, know that I trust you with my greatest treasure, the one who will be the hope and future of us all.... Make sure no harm comes to her, no matter what happens."

Wild thought her father spoke strangely. Why would he say this just for a little walk in the forest? Nothing could happen to her when Mist was here...  Mist's calmed demeanor convinced her that nothing was wrong, and she beamed towards him as they left the house, dancing beside him as she held his strong hand in her little chubby one.

The forest  at the Western side of the village was green and dense. Silvery tree trunks against pale leaves made people call it The Silver Forest.  The Mirion Folklore spoke of a milky mist covering the forest when enemies were near, and that will o' the wisps would lead enemies astray, making sure they sank deep into the Swamps of Sadness.  But the Silver forest were also rumored to be the home of the tiny fairies.

Wild danced happily beside Mist as they entered the forest, her dark braids bouncing when she jumped happily up and down. 

"Do you think we will meet the fairies today?" she asked Mist, her dark orbs sparkling with joy as she looked up at him. "I have never seen a fairy before! Have you? My mother says that when I lose my first tooth, we can place it under my pillow and the tooth fairy will give me money for it!"

[Medievarad]

He huffed dryly at Wild's affections, giving her a gentle pat on the head. He chuckled slowly. "You shouldn't be." He said as she giggled. "Well. I'm feeling something. But the desired effect is not present." The corners of his mouth  went up in a faint smirk, lifting the small child up without any effort. "Come on now, finish your breakfast." He said as he put Wild back down.

He stopped for a brief moment at the chieftan's words. "Believe me, old man. I know." Was his only reply as he walked out with his young protegé.

"Perhaps.. But fairies are very shy. So, we would have to be very lucky to see one." Mist smirked slowly at the sentiment of a tooth fairy. "Maybe you'll have to stay awake to tell me. But the tooth fairy only comes when you were sleeping, no?" He chuckled slowly. "Cunning creatures.."

His exterior seemed relaxation itself. Off guard and just laid back. Yet he was keeping a close eye on everything near him. His ears twitching at any sound that could indicate an enemy. The crack of a branch, alarmed whistling of a bird, the rustling of leaves. Anything that could betray someone's position.

[Wild]

Wild grinned broadly as Mist gave her a gentle pat on the head, rubbing her head affectionately against his hand as he petted her. It was clear from her grin that she enjoyed the affection he showed her. "Awww, why not?" she asked when he said the desired effect was not present.

She laughed when he lifted her up into his arms, wrapping her chubby arms around him and trying to place a soft baby kiss on his cheek. "I wuvv you, Mist," she said, rubbing her tiny button nose against his. "None of the other men are as strong as you are. And you are much more fun to play with..."

She giggled happily when he told her to finish her breakfast, and she chomped down the last spoonfuls of her porridge before she pulled away from her now empty food bowl. "I am full!"

She stuck out her tiny tummy to show him that she was full indeed. And there was a tiny bulk on her tummy, clearly showing that this was a well fed little girl.

Without any suspicions she waved goodbye to her parents, happily unaware that this was the last time she saw them. "Bye Mommy, Bye Daddy!"

In the forest the child giggled happily when Mist spoke of the fairies. She had never seen a fairy herself, so she didn't know anything about them - except from the things she had learned from numerous fairy tales before bedtime.

She nodded when Mist asked if the tooth fairy only came when she was sleeping. "That's what Mommy says," she said and nodded, then her face lit up in a smile. "Perhaps we could make a fairy trap? You are good at hunting, so you could make one!"

In the distance she could hear breaking of twigs breaking, the stomping of many feet touching the ground. She looked up at Mist, wondering if he heard it too. Looking back in the direction she came from, she could see a grey pillar of smoke rising towards the sky. She sniffed, and it smelled like something was burning.

"Mist?" she asked, looking up at the elf. For once in her short, sheltered life her big dark orbs were filled with fear.

[Medievarad]

"Doesn't affect me as much." Is what he chuckled as he put her down after the kiss she gave her. Smirking as she eclaimed how full she was. A bitter contrast to his own youth.

And thus. They headed into the forest.

"A fairy trap?" He let out a bitter smirk. "You do not wish to invoke the wrath of a fairy. They possess powerful fairy magic! They might just polymorph you into a mushroom." He said with a slow chuckle. "Perhaps we shou-" his sentence broken by the rustling of leaves, the sound of footsteps. His ears twitched. The scent of charcoal and smoke protruded his sensitive smelling. These weren't goblins. These were orks. He grit his teeth. The warriors at Mir were ecpexting a goblin force.

They wouldn't be able to stand up against this. He had to go back, yet he couldn't. That would mean endangering Wild. He had a choice.

He picked up and threw Wild over his back like he occasionally did, giving her a piggyback ride on the enourmous blade, wich was bandaged up. So Wild couldn't cut herself.

Then he started to sprint in the opossite direction of the village. And away from the ork force.

He sure as hell hoped he had made the right choice. What was approaching was the bulkhead of their army. A forward force could be anywhere.

[Wild]

Wild smiled and held his hand when he put her down, ready to walk with him anywhere he decided to go. He knew better than her where the forest was, and thus she thought it best to let him decide where to walk. Being only 5 years old she thought the adults knew everything.

Her eyes looked up at him, big and round with awe, when he told her that fairies possessed powerful fairy magic. Some of the words he used were too difficult for her though. "What does polymorph mean?" she asked. "Is it dangerous?"

She was not certain if it meant that she was trapped inside a mushroom or if she became the  mushroom. Either way it would mean she had to stay out in the forest in the dark - and Wild was a little bit afraid of the dark. She had often snuck into Mist's bed at night for comfort and cuddles when she heard scary sounds from the forest.

Wild stopped herself from talking when she hard the rustling of leaves and detected the pillar of smoke and the sound of footsteps. The pillar of smoke rising towards the sky grew thicker, and she could hear strange roars in the direction of her villlage without understanding what these roars were and what they meant.

"Mist, I am scared," she said as she looked up at him. "What is going on at home? Should we go back to see if they are alright?"

She was happy when he picked her up and threw her over his back, clinging onto his ears to not fall off like she always did when he gave her a piggyback ride. But instead of running towards the village he started running in the other direction.

As Mist ran she could hear behind her the sounds of a horn blowing a revellion. Little did she know that her village was now under its last attack and that soon her home would no longer exist....

[Medievarad]

"To change into.." He chuckled slowly. "You do not wish to be a mushroom, do you now?"

Yet. He didn't reply to going back. His orders were clear. Protect Wild at any cost. Yet. He hussed painfully as he felt her tiny hands around his ears. "Anywhere but the ears!" Was what he said before he took off. Somzthing he had always tried to make clear to the young child, something she'd always forget in her enthusiasm. His ears were sensitive, even for elven standards. So. He always told her to grab his shoulders, around the bandaged and thus harmless blade, around his neck. Even his hair was better than his fucking ears.

After half an hour of the sprinting, the worst case scenario popped up. A band of stragglers. Roughly thirty of them. "Shit.." Was what he muttered under his breath as he was surrounded by the small warband.

((Gonna leave the description lf the orks up to you, here ^^))

[Wild]

The child shuddered by the thought of being turned into a mushroom. She pictured a tiny mushroom with pointy ears, alone in the forest where she easily could be stomped to pieces by a large animal with giant feet.

"Nooooo," she said in her little voice. "I don't want to be a mushroom. I want to be something with wings! A Phoenix eagle perhaps? Or a dragon! I wuvv dragons!"

She released his ears with a sheepish smile when he hissed painfully. "Sorry," she said and kissed the top of his head before draping her tiny arms around his neck. She held him gently, to not strangle him when he was moving. "There, now I won't fall off when you run."

Half an hour later she spotted a band of stragglers, and her eyes widened in childlike wonder. Why were they here?

The orks were carrying giant weapons, and they were all marching in the direction of Wild's village.

"Hurry," one of them said in his goblin language as he tried to rush the other. "Morg has offered us a pot of gold if we burn down the elf village before midnight. Two pots of gold if we manage to get rid of that blasted chieftain..."

Morg was the name of one of the Light Elves in Mir. He was sly and treacherous. His eyes were steely gray and narrow and his hair was dirty blond. Some said he was well trained in the use of Dark Magic, and they may have been right. He hated Wild's father because Wild's mother had chosen him as her husband instead of Morg.

Morg himself was nowhere to be seen during the attack of the village. He had hidden himself somewhere, casting spells of Darkness and Doom to assist the ork troops attacking the village.
In Mir the first troops of orks had already arrived. Treacherous hands had opened the gates to them and let them inside. The attack had come suddenly to some of the villagers. Houses were burned, cattle were killed and elven warriors fought for the lives of themselves and the villagers.
Near his house Wilds father, the Chieftain had armed himself, ready for battle. He and his loyal warriors met the orks with raised weapons, and a bloody and long fight started. But more and more orks came to the village, supported by goblins, and at the end of the battle, the entire village was burning.

It was Wild's mother who hid the Book of Spells where she knew only her little daughter would find it. She knew that her own end and the end of her husband was near. Wild was the next in line to be the village chief. The child had been told that this Book must NEVER leave the Family's ownership, or bad things would happen.

Once the Book was hidden, the Shaman Healer turned to assist her husband in their last stand against the enemy - a stand they knew they were going to lose. Their only comfort was that their beloved daughter was safe - entrusted to the strongest warrior of the tribe. If anyone could protect their daughter now it was him.

[Medievarad]

Mist looked warily at the remainders of their army. He oculdn't speak all too well. Yet he could understand some simple words. "Filthy traitor.." The insult left his lips as he slowly put Wild down behind him. "Stay there.. Do not get involved, alright? Now close your eyes.. I will hold them off." He offered a warm and soft smile to Wild, before he stepped forward, pulling the colossal blade from his back, shredding the bandages around it.

And so, Immortalis threw himself into enemy ranks. As a last and desperate attempt to keep Wild safe. He knew he couldn't evade the army once seen. He had no choice but to make a stand here. And thus, a bloody battle took place.

And Immortalis lived up to his name. Felling at least sixty enemies before he dropped to his knees. Bleeding from wounds that would prove fatal to anyone else. Some of his ribs and even organs visible. Flesh shredded, arm broken, leg snapped. His eye forced shut due to a warhammer that also had cracked his skull.

The orks and goblins seemed to swarm around him, poking him with the sharp tips of theor spears. Yet, the instant one came too close, Mist managed to pull out his last reserves, throwing himself to his feet agqin and slicing an ork diagonally from the shoulder down to his waist. Splitting flesh, bone and organs with the massive blade.

After that last attack, the world spun around him, smacking him against thd floor on his back. The sword dropping from his grip. The finger of his right hand twitched, touching the hilt slowly. It was unreachable.

He felt the last of his strength slowly seeping away from him. Blood ran from his mouth. Soon breathing would become impossible.

He hoped that Wild managed to escape. And such, with the last gurgle of Wild's name, his heart stopped beating. His breath halted and his eyes looked up at the sky with a blank gaze.

[Wild]

Wild did not understand the words the strange creatures said, but she heard the words slipping from Mist's lips as he slowly put her down. "What is a traitor?" she wanted to ask, but he placed her behind him and she realized that now was not the time for questions. She nodded when he told her to not get involved and to close her eyes.

Closing her eyes, she tried to make herself as small and as invisible as she possibly could. She thought that if she closed her eyes hard enough, perhaps the scary creatures couldn't see her.

She heard the clinging sound of metal meeting metal, voices growling and hissing, roars of anger and roars of pain.  She heard soft slashing sounds, and soft thuds of something soft falling to the ground. There was a strange smell in the air. She didn't like this smell, it made her feel sick.

Then all of a sudden everything was silent. She could no longer hear the scary creatures. What was worse - she could no longer hear Mist. She knew that he had told her to close her eyes, but she was only five years old, and she was too curious to stay like this forever. So she opened her eyes, only to find herself alone in a half-dark forest.

"Mist?"

Her voice sounded tiny and alone, and she walked alone towards the place where she last had seen him. It was there she found him, laying on the ground. He was covered in something dark and red, his eyes looking up at the sky with a blank gaze.

"Mist!"

She tried to tug at his body, but he laid completely still. She realized that the red seeping from his clothes was his blood. "Don't worry, Mist! I'll go get Mommy! She'll know what to do..."

The child started running towards the village as fast as she possibly could. It was far to run, but she was tiny and fast, with all the energy of a restless child. She wasn't called  "Little Hurricane" for nothing.

When she finally arrived the village, she found it in ruins. The houses she had seen this morning were now reduced to ashes. The streets were covered in blood, and filled with corpses of dead cattle and elves. The child started crying as she ran through the ashes, seeing the dead bodies of people she had known all her lives. Through the smoke and flames from the last burning houses she saw her father being stabbed by enemy swords, her mother already laying lifeless beside him. The child knew in this moment that Mommy couldn't help Mist anymore.

Tears stained her face as the child crawled into her favorite hiding place to avoid the enemy detecting her. It was there she found the Book of Spells, the book where the shamans and druids of her family had gathered their wisdom through the centuries. Tired after all the running she fell asleep, clutching the book to her chest. In the dream she saw her mother talking to her, her face kind and sad at the same time.

You are our only hope now, her mother said. Take this book with you and run away, as far away from here as you can come. Go to the human world. They will never think of searching for you there. And no matter what you do - NEVER let this book out of the family's ownership. Bad things will happen if you do....

The child nodded in her sleep, showing she had understood her mother's orders. It was dark when she woke up, and she realized she had to escape before the enemies returned to gather their spoils of war. Crawling out of the hiding place, she looked around, before starting to run towards the forest, as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. With her she carried the Book of Spells, to honor the promise to her mother. Little did she know that many years would pass before she returned to Mir...

(End of this part of the plot?)

[Wild]

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