《Elvendark》 Chapter 1 - It starts A young elven boy and his sister are in the forest. The girl has just killed a deer and is explaining to her younger brother that elves give back to nature as much as they take. Suddenly they hear a groaning. Going to investigate they see a stranger. A man dressed in a black suit and tie, wearing a rolex, and carrying a briefcase shambles forward. "Brains! Brains!" It grows in a low and pained voice. The young girl has never seen anything like this. She has heard of humans, but they live far away, and even humans would not wear such outlandish clothing. it advances slowly. The girl shielding her brother shoots an arrow into the foul creature. Brains it says, still advancing. The young elf maiden shoots six more times, but noting stops it. From the forest she hears more shuffling. "Brains!" "Brains!" "Brains!" The noise is all around her. She grabs her younger brother & runs. Through the deep and twisting eld forest. This is a holy place to the elves, but she feels in her heart that these shambling menaces are dessecrating the forest. "Brains!" these words rise like a tide washing over the normal forest sounds. Then she trips. Her Brother falls. She tries to get up but her leg is hurt. Sprained. A strange female shaped figure in a Vera Wang couture dress shambles forward, "Brains!" It says. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Knowing her position is hopeless, she tries one last desperate gamble. Calling to the spirits of the forest, she begs for their aid and then uses the simple flame spell that the village mage had been trying to teach her in order to temp her to become his apprentice. She feels the mana take hold, and the tip of the arrow catches fire. She aims at the slowly plodding woman and looses her arrow. It flies faster than the wind and stikes the evil menacing woman through the eye. The woman catches fire, like she was an old died out corps or a stack of birtch bark tinder. The shy elf lass''s vision turns blue words in a script she knows as Elvish appear in her head.
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What does this mean! She gathers her brother in her arms and begins to run, ignoring the pain coursing through her leg, through the forest, back to her village, to warn the Elders. Chapter 2 - Her village Holding on to her brother, the Alannah runs and runs. Outside it the sky grows darker and darker as the day turns into night. All around her the sounds of "Brains!" "Brains!" brains can be heard from in the forest and from the woods. When she gets to the edge of her village she sees the central tree in the middle of the forest in flames. Other trees where hundreds of the forest elves have lived from times immemorial are bathed in the glow of multiple fires lighting their limbs. Down on the ground Alannah sees the corpse of the elven village''s mage lying in a twisted heap on the ground. Three Bro-figures wearing floral Hawaiian shirts, beer caps and bermuda shorts, surround the poor corpse of her mage friend, saying "Brains, Brains, Brains" as they devour her dear mentor''s corpse. Alannah''s little brother yells "Mommy! Daddy!" and lets go of his sister''s hand to run in the direction of their tree. The young elvish girl chases after him, yelling, "No, be careful." but her brother doesn''t listen. They pass pockets of fighting, but it is plain that the village warriors are being overwhelmed. Their bows and arrows just aren''t effective against this undead scourge. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Finally they reach their home tree. The branches rise up into the setting sunligh. Following her brother and climbing the steps really quickly, they reach the top of the Tree. There stand four zombies feasting on the cranial cavities of Alannah''s dead parents. Her brother charges at them. Swinging his tiny little fists and screaming. "Mommy! Daddy!" but Alannah unlimbers her bow. Once again drawing an arrow it bursts into fire, and the first zombie is down. She shoots again and again each zombie bursting into flames as a fire arrow strikes its chest. But the tree, their home is now on fire, and even though the zombies are gone, it is unsafe to be here. Alannah has to force herself to grab her brother and drag him down from their burning tree home. "I hate you! I hate you!" Her brother says, but Alannah has to focus because she cannot see past the blue screen in front of her face.
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Chapter 3 - At the Village Clearing Alannah had to drag her brother behind her and he fought her every step. If one of the horrible deadly things that were killing all of her friends and family and loved ones stepped were say "Brains!" and come at her, she would have to let her little brother go and who knows where he would run off too. "Quite Timmus, Mother and Father are gone, and we will be dead soon if you don''t keep quiet." she was almost in tears, hoping that he would just calm down. But he just kept saying, "I hate you Alannah. I hate you!" She moved towards the edge of the woods where some of the village warriors and hunters liked to spend their time. There was a small tavern where they liked to drink and a small field where they liked to practice their skills. If anybody could survive this, it might be them. Up ahead she heard shouts, and she whispered to her brother Timmus, "Please little mouse, there are people fighting for our lives up ahead, just a little more." Timmus withdrew into a sullen silence. The village trees broke out into a mass of the human shaped figures. Easily thirty or more. They were moving pushing forward slowly, to where three elven warriors with swords were fighting them. Bodies of other defenders lay dead across the ground. But it looked as if the dead elves had taken their fair share of these strange otherworldly monster lives. Headless corpses of figures in strange clothes lay in massive piles scattered across the green. The taven, one of the only buildings in the entire elven village that was on the ground, was in flames. Alannah turned to her little brother. "Promise me you will be good and not run away." Her brother nodded sullenly. Alannah let him go, and Timmus promptly sprinted away from her. Then Timmus stopped. He hid from her behind a nearby tree. Even from here Alannah could tell that Timmus was crying. Turning back to the monsters closing in on the few remaining warriors. They were in a precarious position. Alannah held one of her arrows out to the burning tavern, and her arrow caught fire. She shot it at the nearest monster. Then she shot another. And another. One turned towards her and began to shamble in Alannah''s direction. A female looking monster, dressed in a cheerleader outfit. She said "Brains" and Alannah, holding back her fears fired, watching it burst into flames. Another three of these monstrous humans dressed up as slave girl Princess Leia from a cosplay convention turned towards her and said "Brains" in unison and began to shamble towards Alannah. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. She shot each of them with flaming arrows. Her last three arrows.
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The warriors were no longer as pressured, or as hemmed in, as they had been. Alannah''s timely intervention had given them room to cleave their way through the moster mass, and they began to cut their way through the remaining hell figures in front of them. These beings might be pure evil and desiring of brains, but they were slow and died easily to swords decapitating them. Soon all these monsters were on the ground, with their heads removed. The bodies still twitched and spassamed, as if trying to move and kill, but without a head to guide them, all they could do was lie on the ground and thrash their legs. The two warriors came over to Alannah. The first one said, "Thank you little lady." "Yes, thank you," said the second surviving warrior, "without your help, we would be dead now. Where did you come from. I thought all of the surviving civilians had made their way to the caves of Lloriell." "The caves of Lloriell? My brother and I just came in from the forest. We thought to warn the elders." Both warriors had cuts and bruises and claw marks all over their bodies. There were at least fourteen other dead warriors on the ground around the clearing. Alannah recognised a couple as people who she had been friends with. "Trust us. The elders know what is going on." Then he paused as if understood how rude he was being. "Sorry that was unkind of me. Where these foul creatures clawed me hurts more than it rightly should. What about you... Brains!" Chapter 4 - A Tall Oak No! Quickly Alannah backed away from the warrior who had turned to his companion. There was a terrible evil in the warriors eyes as he said "Brains" again. He advanced. His companion spared not one second. With his sword he quickly thrust and took off his once friend''s head. Blood that was red but tinged with black splattered all over Alannah. "Many of my Elven friends in this past battle turned into those monstrosities during battle when they had been bitten or clawed." The warrior said, moving quickly. He went among the elvish dead picking up quiver after quiver and handing them to Alannah. Then he took the friend he had just killed''s sword and handed that to her as well. "Take care of your little brother. I don''t think I have much time left. The burning sensation that he mentioned... I am starting to feel too. When I change, kill me quickly. Go to the ... Brains!" Alannah backed away, but the elf she had just been talking too advanced upon her, she held the sword he had given to her out in front of her, but the elf didn''t pay any attention. Alannah began to cast her only fire spell. As the elf just kept walking towards her. "Brains" it said as it the blade slid through its chest. "Brains" it said as it continued to make its way slowly up the blade, as it emerged through its stomach and out its back. It reached out to grab Alannah, but her spell was cast first, and the once elf''s clothes and then body burst into flames. Alannah backed away quickly as it flailed in the crackling roaring inferno it had once been.
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Part of her was in shock. Another part of her wanted to fall down and cry, to curl up into a little ball and just quiver and ball and hope this terrible dream would just go away. Yet another part of her brain noticed that she was still holding on to the sword the elf she had just killed had given her. The her little brother ran up to her and held her. "Alannah!" he said. "We need to make it to the caves" she said. "That''s where the survivors went." Taking her brother, hand in hand they ran through the forest. They didn''t see any of the monstrous figures, but they took no chances. Alannah had her bow at the ready as she ran, and she had her brother carry some dried grass she''d gathered, twisted tightly into a kind of torch, and then lit on fire. When they got to the cave, there were 10 of the terrifying figures standing around the mouth. This cave had been used for centuries, as a place to keep supplies like grains and certain tubers cool and safe. As a place to age wine and to grow mushrooms. Sometimes in the big rain storms that swept the continent every dozen years or so the Elves would take to these caves for safety. Or when Dragons were seen overhead, or when the rumors of human mercenaries and armies were passing through the forest. Long ago someone had installed secure doors that were firmly shut, keeping Alanah and the terrible beings out. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. There were only ten of them though, and that was worth a risk. Moving backwards a distance, Alannah turned to her brother. "Can you climb this tree and stay very quiet until I come back for you." "Don''t go Alannah," Timmus said. "Shush. Be very quiet. It is very dangerous. I go away for just a few minutes. I promise will come back for you though. But only if you climb this tree and stay very quiet and only come down if someone you know asks you to come down." "Please Alannah, let me go with you." It tore her up inside seeing her brother this scared. But Alannah knew what she had to do. "Timmus, go up the Tree now. And stay up there. I am older than you and this is a command little warrior. See, i have the sword and arrows and you do not. That makes me a warrior and in times of war, warriors command little boys. You wouldn''t want me to tell the king that you didn''t obey a command from a superior officer would you?" Her brother looked at her in shock "You would tell on me. To the king?'' "Yes. He takes disobedience very seriously. He might even lock you in a dungeon. All because you wouldn''t follow commands and climb this tree and stay silent." With wide eyes and fear, the little boy climbed up the tree far up into the branches then he stopped moving and had Alannah not already known he was there she wouldn''t have been able to see him at all. Quietly, Alannah crept back to the edge of the forest near the cave. She too found a tree that she could climb. Getting to a thick branch about 10 meters up she found an empty birds nest. Dried twigs and banches and mud. She straddled the branch and then hung her quiver in a branch near where her bow drawing hand would naturally rest when she released the string. Concentrating she lit the bird''s nest on fire. She sighted the menacing figures still clawing at the door to the cave. She recognised some of these as being elves she''d grown up knowng. Wasn''t that elder... it didn''t matter. Lighting her first arrow she released it from her bow. Not even looking to see if it struck, she released a second and a third and a fourth arrow. All of her arrows were on fire. The mass of figures had turned to the new source of motion and were heading her way. Alannah shot again, and again, and again, and again. Now the the two last beings stood beneath her tree and the words "Brains!" "Brains" drifted up to her from below. Breathing deeply and shooting downward she shot once and then twice. Both of these zombies were in flames below her tree, and then the base of the tall oak she had been hiding in itself caught fire.
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Chapter 5 - A Brave Warrior Alannah felt like a cat who had seen a bird, climbed a tree to get it and promptly forgotten how to climb down. The fire was spreading up the base of the Oak tree''s trunk. If she climbed downward she would get horribly burnt. The only choice left was to see if there were any large enough branches she could climb out on and maybe drop down outside of the fire''s range, if the branch was low enough. Franticly as the fire climbed the elven girl looked up and down the tree. There was nothing going down that would take her past the fire. But if she went up slightly there was a branch. It wasn''t very big or very strong, but it looked sturdy enough to hold her, and out beyond this branch there was another sturdy branch on a willow tree just beyond it. Alannah could climb out on one branch and then drop squirrel like, down onto the other tree. At least she hoped she could. Climbing up, and up, and then out and out. Alannah clutched the oak branch she was holding desperately. Inch by inch she crawled out onto the limb. Down below the fire had spread and the oak tree she was on began to sway dangerously. It would fall soon, it''s trunk undermined by the flames. Yet inch by inch Alannah crawled out on the branch. Then she let go with one hand and tried to grab at the branch on the tree below her. When that was in her grasp she let go with the other hand, her legs still wrapped around the oak tree above. With both hands tightly clutched to the willow tree, she let go with her legs. But Alannah had forgotten one thing. Willows are pliable. When the weight of her tiny body fully on the willow branch, the branch swung down at an amazing speed. Alannah held on for her life, and at the bottom of her decent she tried to grab onto another branch and succeeded. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. In the tree she found herself holding onto the first willow branch with her left hand and the second willow branch with her right. The first branch wanted to snap back into place, the second branch wanted to take its turn plunging down towards earth. And she was stuck in the middle. There was nothing to do except let go with her left hand and try to go where the Willow took her. Branch by branch she made her way down the willow tree. Until finally she was close enough to the bottom to simply jump.
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With both feet firmly on the ground Alannah ran back to the tree Timmus was hiding in. "You can come down now little warrior, the monsters are gone." she said. Timmus scrambled down the branch and jumped into Alannah''s arms and kissed her. "I was very scared. But will you tell the King I was brave and followed orders?" "Of course Timmus. Not only are you my brother but I know you were very brave and very quiet. Come, let''s go to the caves." Hand and hand they ran to the caves where the last elves of her village had taken shelter. The door was closed, and she and her brother had to shout and pound on the door in order to be heard. Alannah was worried that her shouting would bring more terrifying monsters, but it was necessary. Up above a window opened and an elvish face looked out. Seeing Alannah shouting down below, the face that she now recognized as her mother''s sister Sosha, Alannah yelled up, "The ones at the door are gone. I killed them, can you let me in." Chapter 6 - Skills, Inventory, Status... so close The slit above the door closed and the doors opened. Three figures, every inch of their body covered in leather, opened the door and grabbed Alannah and her brother forcefully. They quickly shut the door behind them. While Alannah yelled "What''s going on," and her brother cried, these three figures dragged the brother and sister forcefully through the caves and pushed them into a closet where the cleaning supplies were kept. Shutting Alannah and Timmus into the tiny dark room and then locking it, a voice she recognized as Alvindar the village blacksmith said "It is only for a short time, Lass. We don''t know if they got you. Too many of our people seemed normal and then changed." "I saw it with a couple of the warriors in the village. Is there anything that can be done?" she said. "Nobody knows. This is unlike any blight we have ever seen. These humans are unlike any humans we have ever come across." Alvendar said. "They are humans, then. They dress so outlanishly, I wasn''t sure." "Aye. Though don''t let their strange garb fool you. Humans of all Status have always had horrible senses of clothing. These ones are the same, and yet they are different. You say you came from the village? What was the Status there?" said the blacksmith. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Alannah wanted to cry, locked as she was in the dark with her brother, instead she said "Most of the trees are on fire, the only two people I saw living were two warriors, and they both died. I had to kill one when he changed." "Many of us had to make similar hard choices girl, or else we would not be here. Did you see any supplies on your way here. The Inventory in this cave will last us days, maybe weeks, but we don''t know how long these terrible beings will ravage our lands. We need all the Inventory we can get." Alannah thought about it for a while. "I''m sorry, I was more concerned with running with my brother. I did not see anything." "It takes many Skills to survive." Said the Alvindar. "We will only keep you in there for a short time. Your Skills are in dire need right not." "Thank you. Thank You. Thank you." she said. Chapter 7 - The day of the Blue Screens It took about six hours before they let Alannah and her brother out of cleaning supply closet. Timmus went of with an elderly elven woman, who said something about "The other children" and Alannah was ushered into a room that where about 15 other elves stood. "Ahem." Said, Laoralai, the sole remaining village elder, at least in the room. She was ancient even by the measurement of elves, and was well known equally for her wisdom and her crotchety nature. "Ahem. If you don''t want to hear what I have to say then, by all means keep chiter-chattering, it isn''t like I am getting any younger. Ahem. Ahem" When the room was silent, and all eyes were focused on Laoralai, she began to speak. "Until this moment, I had thought these stories were apocryphal. Something we elders passed along almost as a joke. Yes Hamolyn, we elders joke. If you don''t stop snickering I am going to take my cane and rap your knuckles. I''m serious. There. Now where was I. Oh, yes, this was something we elders passed down, because it was part of the collection of lore passed down by the elders, but none of us believed it was real." "Let me tell you the legend of the time of the Blue Screen" "Once long ago, at least according to the legends, there was a time when Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, and Ork were one people. We looked alike, shared the same small villages. This was many many years ago. The elder who told it to me, said he''d heard it from the elder before him, and the elder before that one heard it from the elder who taught him. We elves live for centuries, and some elders are over a millennia, maybe..." Elder Laoralai stopped speaking. She walked over clumsily over to Hamolyn who had just stopped whispering to her husband. Taking her cane, she struck Hamolyn once, and then turned around and walked back to the spot where she was speaking. "In case you were wondering, according to Hamolyn I am apparently older than the mountains, and smellier than centuries curdled milk. Hamolyn if you are not going to act your age, I will have to send you to be with the younglings." She paused, and then Elder Laoralai, spoke again. "As I was saying, this story goes back before there were elves. Once long ago, at least according to the tales the Elders tell amongst themselves, there was a time when all peoples except the Humans were one. Living in harmony with the animals and plants and the seasons." Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. "Nobody knows how long we lived like this, but all elders agree that it was a time of paradise on earth. Then one day it all changed. Strange figures began to appear. All across this great land these figures appeared where they had not been before. At first it was simply the Loombies or Zonbies or Roombas, legend has forgotten what these monstrosities were called. Then stronger and stronger monsters appeared." "Some among us, our bravest and our wisest, began to see blue screens appear before their eyes, and these blue screen helped them change and combat the menace. It was one brave figure of our history that summoned the first human in these dark times to help him fight these monsters. The strange creatures called humans seemed to know how to deal with monsters. Unlike the humans who live in their empires, these summoned humans were filled with knowledge, sympathy and understanding." Together, legend tells us that the blue screened people and their summoned human guides fought these monsters to a stalemate. But vast populations of people were without protection. Not everyone could become a blue screened hero." "Some took to the trees. They said that the waves of monsters could not climb so the trees were the safest place to be. These, people bred with the changed blue screen heroes and became the forefathers of the elves. Others chose to live in caves. They became the dwarves. Still others chose the path learning to turn themselves into stone and hiding in gardens. These became the forefathers of the Gnomes. And others yet met the invading Roombas head on in savagery and barbarity and they became the Orcs." "I believe a new time of the Blue Screen is upon us. A time of change." Alannah stepped forward "I have seen these blue screens. They speak of Levels and Stat points, and it frightens me." Hamolyn spoke up suddenly. "The day of the Blue Screens is upon us! We found protection in a cave. I don''t want to turn into a Dwarf and be attracted to bearded women." Chapter 8 - Casting a Spell "Come with me Alannah!" said Elder Laoralai Alannah followed the Elder away from the rest of the elves and into cave rooms where the elves kept wine that was being aged. Elder Laoralai looked around. "I don''t know how long we are going to manage here," she said. "We have plenty of food, and shelter, but these caves were not built for elven occupancy. There is no privacy. No view of nature and the sky. And I suspect the presence of all this alchohol will lead some of our people into temptation." Then she stopped and gestured to Alannah, "Tell me about this blue screen you saw." Alannah quaked under the Elder''s fearsome gaze. She spoke hesitantly, "Elder. I have seen the blue screen at least three times. Maybe more. I stopped counting. All I have to do is wave my hand and it goes away. When I was fighting the Roombies, or Zoombas, or whatever these terrible creatures are called, the screens were very distracting. I swear to you I didn''t do it on purpose." "Nobody is blaming you, dear child. Go on with your story," said the wise but ferocious elder. "That''s it. They say that I have gained a level. That I have attribute points to spend. I don''t know what it means." "Neither do I. Neither do I." said Laoralai. "Dear child, would you be willing to perform an experiment? There is an ancient chant, that has been passed down the millennia from elder to elder. It may to nothing. It may confirm my suspicions that we are undergoing the same kind of blue screen apocalypse that happened thousands of years ago. And it may do nothing." "Will it hurt?" said Alannah. "I don''t know child. This is as new to me as it is to you." Alannah thought about it for only a brief time. "If it will help my people then I will help." The frail elder, sat crosslegged on the ground. "Sit, sit child. My old mind has to remember the words, and I do that best sitting. I can''t have you standing there looming over me." Alannah sat down cross legged across from Elder Laoralai. She too, like the elder closed her eyes and concentrated on remember all of the strange things that had happened to her that day. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! After a while Elder Laoralai said to her. "Okay. I think I remember. This may not be entirely correct. Child when you were younger, did you ever play the game where you would sit in a circle with your friends and whisper a secret to the first person, who would pass it on to the next, and pass it on to the next, until the secret got back to you and was entirely different? This might be like this. It has been a very long time. But we Elders are very good at whispering secrets, so this might also work." "Alannah child, clear your mind and repeat these words:" "Darkness and light, blessed tree mother and sky father, From your holy Status Menu in the name of hill and stream and lake and mountain I Alannah Choose the Summon Spell sub menu Oh great godesses and gods, Here my plea. Grant me the fourth option down in the second column I choose the spell Summon Companion Familiar A holy symbol of the divine power of nature And in the wisdom of our forebears, I cast the spell I have chosen, Cast Summon Familiar from Far Away Earth Use All Mana Except One Point I grant 50% of my experience points, Shared as equals For the trial and duration Of the coming days." Alannah repeated the words, blue screens opened and closed in front of her eyes. She felt oddly drained, as if something was being sucked out of her body. A golden light began to form in the center of the room. The light grew bright and brighter as the Alannah grew tired and tired. Then at the peak of Alannah''s exhaustion, when she thought she couldn''t loose another bit more of whatever she was loosing, when she thought she would fall into unconsciousness or maybe die, the light in the room coalesced into a figure. The new figure looked strangely like one of the horrid beings outside. But Alannah could sense no evil from it. "A Roomba," said Elder Laoralai, "Run child. I will try to destroy it, but if I cannot, you must get help. Our defenses have been breached. "No Elder. I think your spell brought it here." Said Alannah. "I can sense no evil from it. I think it is a human."