The Long March Vanishing Light - In Flames "Seek out the City of Doors..." Those words burned burned in the young woman's mind. It had been millenia since the fall of of her home, yet only a few years since its rise. Existence had come and gone since, and to her, it was only a lapse, a breath, a blink.
A sleep.
Such had happened all so quickly, but with her friends, both new and old, she stabilized and harnessed her innate abilities with vindication, yearning for a child's innocent idea of an existence without such persecution or exile.
"Seek out the City of Doors..." The figure was cloaked in tattered leathers, only her glowing eyes stood out from the shadows that walked behind, before walking away before time itself could be bothered. The witch would show in her dreams, she looked at the corner of her eye, swearing to see the orange glow of her eyes, only to be met with disappointing silence. Such an enigma, this witch.
Yet her adventures led her away from home, straying her north toward Silverymoon, renown elven territory. It was difficult to sift through patrols, but with some cunning she managed, filing down her horns and allowing her hair to grow, and using heavy robes to keep her tail from sight. She looked like any sun elf ironically. It made her think... If I look so close, what makes me so different from them?
The veil gave her access to archives, libraries even where she was to find information on the Ring. Silverymoon's libraries were renown for their thoroughness, a true jewel of the north, that had yet seen the plague of disease of war directly.
---
"Planning to leave already?" A friendly voice would ask.
"Oh... Well, in truth this was more of a stop along a longer, greater path I walk." She responded with cool, lowering her eyes away from his shyly.
"Journey to the center of existence, Mm? What a thought... You know, I heard a lot of people don't like what they see, once they stare infinity face to face. Makes everything else seem so... bland. He would chuckle merrily, leaning over to skim over the pages she had opened.
"Well, I have a calling that leads me there." She'd afford him a little smile, he was kind enough to deserve it, she thought.
The man brushed in closer to her side, brushing a finger along the edge of her splayed hair curiously.
"Truly? I had a calling too, and it led me right here... She swallowed a breath as he leaned in to press a kiss to her neck, such a feeling was foreign from anyone beyond blood. Her body tensed at first, before melting into the contact, welcoming it, her guard let down for that moment.
A hand insisted his way to brush the hair from her eyes, eager to see her own, but her eyes widened at the realization of this. Her eyes met his, as he stared. Those fingers parted those bangs away to reveal the stub of her filed down horn.
"You... " He murmured, turning to the side to spit away that kiss he'd stolen.
"Abomination! Guards! Gua! . .. . Blood gargled groans silenced the man as he fell slowly to the ground, a blade had sliced clean at his throat by the young woman. Her heart was pounding from her chest, she'd never had to resort to such a thing before, but her cover was blown. Swiftly she gathered the tome and dashed from the library.
---
She didn't have enough time to pack her things, but she was bright enough to prepare an essentials satchel, quickly snatching the bag before sifting through the crowds of the market. The shimmer of the Silverymoon Rainbow-Bridge started to fade, as a deep horn bellowed from the barracks tower. The hunt was on.
There'd been some hints in the tome, something vaguely familiar, but it rushed through her mind as she dashed through the pale countryside. Calvary was already preparing at the gates of the city, while blood packs were assembling with bounty hunters and other specialists.
Those images from the tome flashed through her mind, words piecing together. Ring... anything can be a portal... anything can tear a rift...
She pressed her way up a hill as the sounds of barking canines can be heard behind her, chasing, hunting her down, as mounted sentries followed close for the kill.
The girl made a fatal error in disregarding the slope, finding herself at the edge of a cliff, while the dogs slowed to surround her. A mounted hunter smirked smugly at the sight, going as far as to dismount and slowly approach the woman.
"Well well... murdering monster, you fit the bill quite perfectly. Shame yeh' got such a pretty face there, lass." The young woman's eyes narrowed at the soldier, edging back slowly toward the edge as the canines growled and barked viciously, only awaiting the order to pounce.
"Yer finished lass! Give it up an..." The hardened hunters eyes widened in bewilderment.
The young woman stared cold with defiant eyes for only a moment, before her patience would end. Those lashes would draw shut, and in a moment there was serenity as she leaped. Falling away from the cliff she plunged to her demise accepting nothing less than death.
Free fall seemed so slow in certain death, yet all was not as it seemed, as an overhang of branches started to glow and spark violently in anticipation to the falling woman, a rift had opened, swallowing the young girl.
---
A ploom of feathers littered the air as she landed, causing her to sift around in complete surprise, finding herself in an endless urban sprawl, a market no less.
"Make the chase, Berk! Or I'll make ya' buy the whole wagons worth! Lousy jumpers, all of ya! She quickly scurried away from the mouthing merchant, slowly padding out toward the center of the square, surrounded by strange creatures and foreign odors all around. Looking up, she saw the expanse of the structure, the road ahead curved upward, looping around into a magnificent loop in the sky.
"The City of Doors..." She muttered to herself, mixing herself into the passing scrawl.
