Veldyn's Elven Tale

Veldyn's Elven Tale

Veldyn was an ordinary Elddar. She lived her long life in peace in the Elddar forest, weaving silk and tending the wounded. She was young in the terms of her people and well loved by all. There was a festival the day that the world ended -- the day Solusek Ro's jealousy brought an end to Elddar prosperity. The trees were filled with glowing wisps. Food was laid out on the grass beneath the trees of the great forest. Everyone was singing and dancing in celebration of Tunare and her gifts to them. By the time the celebrants heard the rumbling they were already being thrown to the ground. Trees fell into the grove, crushing many of Veldyn's friends and family. Shards of rock burst through the grass and rose from the ground like the great trees had only moments before, crushing most of those that still lived. The noise of the rending of the earth and the creation of the great mountain chain, the Serpent Spine Mountains, was so great that Veldyn never heard the screams of her family and friends as they died.

There were seven survivors from her grove. Three of them died within hours of their wounds. Two more simply chose to die, for without their great forest there was no reason to live. Within a few days of the destruction of the Elddar forest, Veldyn was alone with an ancient Elddar named Selvin. Before he chose to join the rest of is family and rest with their goddess, he spoke with Veldyn about her choice to live on without the forest and her family. Just before he left her, he had a vision about her future, of pain and deceit. He chose not to reveal this destiny to Veldyn to spare her, but he was unable to convince her to join him and her family with Tunare.

Veldyn began to wander the mountains. The terrain was rough and she was a forest creature, used to grass and cool breezes. She was lost and in mourning. She cried as she walked, finding that her sobs helped her keep up a steady pace. She was close to starvation when an Elddar appeared at the top of a ridge. She did not know who he was and she was immediately struck with the impression that something about him was not quite right. But when he, a wandering Elddar elf like her named Lethar, spoke to her it comforted her. He cared for her, fed her and soon her worries abated.

Lethar led her to a wondrous place at the bottom of a tremendous hole in the ground. It seemed a paradise in the desolation of terrible jagged rock and dangerous crevasses. It was a magical place, he told her, where the water would flow forever and the plants would always remain green. She felt safe with him and felt she had found a new life to open her heart to. It was not long before she came to love him. They lived a great romance for many months in the underground refuge.

Not too much time had passed when Veldyn found herself with child. They named their son Dyn'leth to honor their union. The boy grew strong in that magical place beneath the mountains. He grew even more slowly than was usual for the Elddar, but he was tall and strong when he reached maturity.

As her son grew stronger Veldyn grew weaker, almost as though she fed him her strength through the power of her love for him. There was a great bond between the mother and son, while the distance between mother and son and Lethar grew with each passing year. Veldyn knew Lethar kept secrets from them. He refused to allow them into areas of the refuge that she came to think of as an old abandoned shrine. Lethar would also not explain the great roars that they heard coming from deep within the mountain's core and even from deeper within the shrine. Dyn'leth and Veldyn grew to fear Lethar as he grew more and more cruel to them. Veldyn was beginning to think of fleeing with her son, but that changed when Dyn'leth suddenly changed.