Althea - Part One, Chapter One

Standing at the edge of a forest was an elf. Now, this may seem perfectly ordinary, but I beg you to note that the forest where she was was enchanted. Of course, that wouldn't be too important if you didn't know that it was the only enchanted forest in the kingdom and three neighboring kingdoms. That's not too important, either, unless you have a map handy and can see that NONE of these kingdoms have so much as seen an elf in hundreds of years. No, this elf was from very, very far away. This enchanted forest was not particularly scary, and the path was quite clear, and so she stood. Yes, this elf was female--and beautiful. She was more beautiful than the sea, the sky, the sun. She was radiant, transcendent... Defying description! This was tempered by her coolness, however. I mean, how calm she was. Collected. Almost cold. She was more beautiful than the greatest legends, but she lacked the heart. Or so it seemed. That's what I thought, and I was wrong. Wrong about that and many other things, it seems. But I digress. The point is, there was an elf standing there whose hair was a luscious, verdant green, whose eyes were a perfect blue, whose skin was alabaster white, and whose other features shall, for the sake of propriety, shall not be commented on. Rest assured that they were all immaculate too. While standing there, this elf thought. And this was strange. She was thinking, wondering, "Why have I stopped?" But at the same time, she knew that she had stopped merely to think. But she was stopped to think about why she had stopped? Her head hurt slightly. Unable to figure out why she had stopped, she proceeded into the forest. This elf, whose name was Althea, was well into the forest, following the path just as anyone should, when she noticed that it had grown dark (for it had been dusk when she had stopped). She shrugged, for what did she have to fear? Two swords graced either side of her waist, and she knew she knew how to use them. Soon, however, she felt more than heard a shadow behind her. Footsteps, almost inside her own. A whispering breath. Had she not been an elf, she may not have noticed. Of course, she did.