I'll do a dub soon I guess. Chapter One - Sol Sol slowly blinked awake. His long legs and arms stretched out underneath the covers, his thin, whip like tail twitched back into feeling. He got up, performed a few more stretches, and promptly got ready for the day. He pulled on his clothes, carefully, as he always did to prevent his claws from shredding the fabric, and combed his hair in the mirror. He took a minute to note his features, to make sure everything was presentable. His long, half-elven ears were clean, his tail was brushed, his hair… was a little on the long side, but he would cut it tonight. He was just glad he could get ready before the shrieks of the other students alerted him it was time for breakfast. He lived at Hiralyn Christel's School for Wayward Children, although he himself was not one of the wayward children. His mother was Hiralyn herself, the founder and headmaster of the school. He trotted down the stairs from his room to the dining hall. He really was lucky to have his own room and to not live in the dorms with the other kids, if he could even be considered a child himself. He was technically twenty, although his body and mind were only fifteen, due to his elven nature. As he reached the bottom of the stairs to the dining hall, he found his sister, well, really half-sister, Gelefont. She was wearing the uniform, something she often liked to do to fit in, and her furry, hoofed legs swung carelessly back and forth as she sat on the high bench to the table. Sol sat down on the bench and grabbed a banana muffin. “How’s it going my half-satyr half-sister?” he asked with glee, just as he always did. “You really never will get tired of that, will you?” Gelefont sighed. “I was doing pretty good, right up until about when you got here.” Sol scoffed, a bite of muffin still in his mouth. “Do you really think that low of me, dear sister?” he wailed melodramatically. “Yeah, yeah, tail boy,” Gelefont said as she finished her oatmeal she had adorned with all sorts of nuts and berries. “Have you seen Rusty today?” Ah, Rusty. The only reason that the two stuck around at all. It wasn’t that they hated it here, it was anything but, but the two were instilled with an innate wanderlust, due to their unique parentage. Both of them had magic in their veins, and even though Gelefont had no desire to use it, it still called both of them. Their mother encouraged them to explore and find out who they really were, but Rusty kept them tethered. He was thirteen, the same age as Gelefont, and was here for petty theft, but he was really a sweet kid. He was one of the only people who would actually talk to them like an equal, and not like they were snotty little spoiled brats who could get away with anything, of course, the snotty brat persona they had been given was completely based on resentment and bias. Sol shook his head. “No, I haven’t. But he’ll be down in a few minutes, since breakfast hasn’t technically started.” Gelefont frowned. “He said he’d wake up early though… whatever, I’ll chew him out when he gets down here.” Sol nodded and continued with his various fruits and nuts. Just as he had predicted, in a few minutes the breakfast bell rang and a flood of students poured from the stairs. The siblings sighed and scooted to the end, where they wouldn’t be crushed by the horde of hungry delinquents. They both kept their eyes peeled for Rusty’s signature red hair, only for it to never appear. They shared a concerned look, and ran to the dorms. They checked the barren common area, and all the bunks, but they couldn’t find him. Sol started to panic, he could feel his tail thrashing, but was only vaguely aware of it. His heart threatened to smash his ribs, and his lungs felt they were about to pop. Sol dashed back to Rusty’s bunk and checked under the mattress, their spot to leave notes. To his immense relief, there was a single folded piece of paper with both Sol’s and Gelefont’s names on it. Sol called her over and they read the letter together. Continued in notes & credits
READ INSTRUCTIONS FIRST! “Sol and Gelefont, I have something really important to tell you, but first you need to know that I decided to leave. I just couldn’t do this anymore. I still like both of you, you’re amazing friends, but that stupid school actually was sucking out my soul. I’m in the woods behind the school, and I trust you to be here tonight. I found something really really cool at lunch break yesterday and need your opinion on it. I’m not gonna say what it is in case it’s like, cursed or something, but I promise it’s super duper ultra cool! Your bestest friend, Rusty Dreeson” Sol and Gelefont looked at each other once they were done. Gelefont twitched her goatlike ears and nodded. “I know exactly what you mean. We absolutely need to meet him, though.” Sol frowned. “Gel, you’re doing the thing again.” He met Gelefont’s confused stare with a sigh. “The thing where you hear little snippets of people’s thoughts with your weird fey ears, remember?” “Oh yeah… sorry? I guess? But should we go ask Mom if you can go to the woods?” “Eh, maybe. She’s always encouraging us to go explore the whole world, basically, so I think she’ll be fine with it.” “Okay. See you tonight, then, if you’re up to it.” “Tonight.” And so the two parted for the day, to go to their classes. Sol’s mind was absent as he went through his studies in magic, then his physical drills, and then math, and civics, and lunch, and pretty much everything up until dinner. As he bit into a slice of garlic bread, all he could think of was Rusty. He was worried for him, and rightfully so. The school was known for its kindness towards the kids and comfortable dorms, but also harsh lessons, and that they didn’t look for the kids if they ran away, since most of them came right back after facing the cold, inhospitable forest that surrounded the whole school. After dinner, Sol went up to his room and put on a scarf and coat, since it was early fall, and the air hadn’t quite warmed up yet. He met Gelefont outside the front gate, eager to meet with his friend. Gelefont was still in her uniform, the thick coat of fur on her goat legs kept her perfectly warm, apparently. They walked out together, calling out for Rusty as they wandered into the forest. Eventually, around half an hour later, Rusty’s voice called back to them. They sprinted to the source of the sound, and found Rusty curled up in a blanket, shivering. He grinned from ear to ear and stood up. “L-Look at w-what I got g-g-guys!” he announced proudly as he held up half of a crown. The crown half was made of a silvery metal that Sol immediately recognized as striil, the sacred metal of high elven society, and his wood elf half felt slightly uneasy with it. It was inlaid with onyx and obsidian, and had moths carved into its surface. The ends where it had been broken were jagged and rough, which one might find odd for a metal to break that way, but striil was different. It had a consistency similar to glass, but could be carved as easily as wood. It was truly a wondrous metal. The thing that offset Sol the most about the crown, however, was the intense amount of magic the item held. It wasn’t dangerous, from what Sol could tell, but it was strangely ominous, and bubbled with a power that Sol had never seen or heard the likes of. “Rusty,” Sol said gently as he moved in closer. “That is a half of a magical elven crown that has such an immense amount of power it is literally flowing from the gemstones. Set it on the ground. We don’t know what that does.” Rusty’s face went pale as he placed the crown half on the ground. “I’ve had that in my bag the whole day. What if it’s cursed? I don’t wanna be cursed, you two, I DON’T WANNA BE CURSED!!” Gelefont moved in to comfort him. “Hey, hey, don’t worry,” she soothed as she set her hands on his shivering shoulders. “I didn’t hear any curses, and trust me, they’re one of the loudest kinds of magic out there, second only to hexes. And there weren’t any of those, either.” Rusty let out a sigh of relief. “Thank Yandrall,” he cried, Sol always forgot he was Mandri, the religion of the harbour, as it was often coined, “I’m just gonna go back to my dorm and give this to an instructor, because I cannot take this cold, man!” Sol smiled. “It’ll be good to have you back” Rusty laughed his coarse laugh, “I was gone for less than twenty four hours, dude! But yeah, I’ll be happy to be back too!” He smiled, and an obsidian tipped arrow sprouted through his chest and chaos erupted in the peace of the forest.
