Chapter Text
Things had been normal for the silvergrove, until the mid morning hour. Children chased after one another with empty threats of death and murder, their parents watched with small laughs. Assassins were training in a corner, some watched, others simply minded their own business. Ethari was making his way through the grove, on his way to the home of a new client with a spear laced to his back, prepared to have the client test it out.
No one suspected the battle to come until it was too late.
It started when the illusion around the silvergrove gave way and revealed them to the rest of the forest. In a moment of panic, all non-fighters and children gathered behind those who had weapons and could fight. The assassins rushed forward and stepped into stance of preparation. No one knew what was going on, they only knew something was wrong. That made it all the more worrying. Ethari found himself between both parties, he had a weapon, which he pulled out and held at the ready, but he only knew enough to know how the weapon would be used by others. In a fight he would be essentially useless, but if luck was on their side, he would be the second most likely to be caught in a battle.
There was silence for many long moments. No one breathed, not even the forest surrounding the silvergrove made a noise .
Then Ethari heard it: hissing. Loud, constant, and approaching fast.
After that, everything was a blur of movement. Snakes with evil green eyes and a chain like pattern on their backs slithered out of the surrounding trees by the hundreds. The assassins moved to act and while the rest fled, but the snakes completely ignored them in favor of pursuing the children and the unarmed. Ethari watched with a mix of horror and terror as snakes caught up to match their pace, then launched at them, twisting around their legs, then transforming into chains and forcing them to fall while another one slithered up to restrain their arms in a similar fashion. When the assassins jumped in to help, they too were quickly overcome and forced to succumb to the chain snakes.
Ethari gasped aloud as he watched, immediately connecting the dots between the snake's odd transformation, the dropping of the illusion, and the sudden attack.
Dark magic was being used.
The snakes were momentarily forgotten in favor of Ethari whirling around, spear gripped tightly in hand, in search of the source of the snakes: A dark mage. That had to be the answer. If he could just take out the mage-
A loud hiss sounded behind him. He turned and, with a loud surprised shout, blocked a snake slithering towards him, stabbing it through with the spearhead until it turned back to metal, only for another snake to take advantage of his momentary distraction and bite him. The spear fell from Ethari's hand, nearly Ethari lost balance from the pure pain of the stabbing sting on his ankle. He cried out, reaching to grab the bastard, but it's tail whipped up and wrapped around his arm. Another bite in his other leg sent him to his knees entirely while a fourth snake wrapped around his other arm, then pulled until his arms were completely restrained behind his back. Only then did it shift into chains and hold him in place
It was only a matter of seconds that the masterminds behind this plan made themselves known: one girl with half of her hair black as coal on one side yet white as Ethari's own on the other, an old man with a gray, horrifying face and black eyes, and an elf.
A startouch with a single, upside down star symbol on his chest.
Ethari's eyes widened in shock and fear. Be heard others behind him have similar reactions as well, some gasped. One yelled in outrage, but was quickly silenced by something Ethari couldn't see. The entire silvergrove went quiet except for the hushed whispers and warnings. They all new the legend of the elf in the mirror. The startouch with a single upside down star on his chest.
Aaravos the Archmage.
"You said we needed someone here," The girl looked expectantly at Aaravos. "So who is it?"
Aaravos glanced over, then chuckled in a way that made Ethari shiver from the pure, malicious delight. "Yes, one in particular."
"Well do you see that elf or not?" The old man asked with a scoff and a similar, expecting look. He seemed annoyed but Ethari could tell he was proud of this, somehow. Perhaps it was simply that obvious.
"He's here." Ethari's attention was stolen back to the archmage, only to freeze as golden eyes met his own head on.
The blood drained from Ethari's face, he felt weaker, panic began to settle in. The adrenaline seemed to miss it's mark as Ethari tried to scramble for the spear that had fallen beside him. He felt tired and shaken all at the same time. Aaravos made his way right towards Ethari, but as much as he fought, the snake chains held Ethari in place.
Ethari gave a silent curse of pain as he was roughly grabbed by the chin, then forced to meet those golden, tricky
eyes once again. He was frozen for a time, almost captivated by fear and.. sick awe.
"This is the one." The archmage announced back to the humans.
Aaravos speaking seemed to be what broke the trance. With a near-hissing noise of his own, Ethari tried to pull away, yanking his head back. Aaravos held on and even dug his nails further into Ethari's skin until Ethari was sure he was bleeding.
"This one?" The man approached with an almost dismissing look towards Ethari. "You're certain? He doesn't look like one we would need in order to become 'more powerful' as you say. I thought we needed someone who could fight well."
"Trust me." The archmage chuckled out. Ethari felt chills run down his spine as the archmage ran a hand down Ethari's bangs, then twisted his finger in Ethari's hair as if Ethari were some kind of doll. "He's the one we're looking for."
"If we don't need some sort of fighter then what makes him special?" The man asked. Though Ethari wanted to shoot him a glare, he closed his eyes instead in an attempt to focus only on his breathing as the startouch even began tracing his markings with featherlight touches that felt so off putting yet familiar to a past that felt so long ago yet had only existed a month before-
"This particular Moonshadow is a craftsmith."
Ethari felt his heart drop. He opened his eyes wide in shock, looking back to the archmage. How did he know?
How in the moon's very face did he know?
Aaravos gave a quiet laugh towards Ethari, then tapped Ethari's nose and stood. "We have what we need. Lets go."
"What about the other elves? The girl asked. She hadn't spoken up since they had arrived but now that she did, it wasn't hard to hear how young she was.
This girl was still a kid herself. Possibly no older than Rayla. That was a rather disturbing thought...
Another knowing grin fromAaravos, then "What's the point of conquering Xadia if there's no one to be conquered? Let them live normally, this one here is all we need to be victorious."
There were more shouts of outrage all throughout the crowd around Ethari. Ethari lifted his head to join in, yelling out "I WILL NEVER HELP YOU!" yet as soon as he did, Aaravos reached forward and, in a single, swift movement, he drew a rune, then tapped Ethari's throat.
First there was nothing, as if nothing had happened at all, then it felt like Ethari needed air. He gasped, but nothing came. Tried to breathe through his mouth, then nose, even to cough to try to get something, but still nothing. A new type of panic began settling in. He scrambled to get loose of the chains, to free himself of the scarf he wore even, that had to be the cause right? At least to try to lean forward to breathe- He could do nothing but gasp for empty breaths until the roaring around him stopped entirely for concerned shouts and demands he could hardly hear. The edges of his vision went black, everything around him began to blur, the sounds became too much and yet they sounded so distant...
Before everything faded completely, all he saw was Aaravos' mouth, twisted into a cruel smirk.
The last thing he heard was the distant screaming and, past all that, clear as the moon on a cloudless night:
"You Will."