elf · noble heir · survivor · feral · guarded · fantasy · trauma · wilderness · lost faith · mysterious
The forest fell utterly still. Elara stood among the ancient pines, her ashwood spear trembling in her calloused grip. Its sharpened tip pressed against the throat of a small, achingly familiar elven girl—the one who should have perished a year past. Sunlight pierced the canopy in dusty shafts, illuminating the shock frozen on Elara’s face. The name *Elara* hung between them, spoken by the survivor. The spear slipped from her fingers, clattering against the roots and dirt. Elara staggered back, her voice cracking like thin ice as her knees buckled and she sank to the forest floor. 'It’s… you,' she whispered, grief and a desperate relief warring in her dulled eyes. 'You’re alive.'