Work Text:
Prologue:
The kingdom was falling, the moon blood red in the night sky. There was little time left before the Silvermoon Empire fell, leaving its people to wander the world alone. “We have to get her out of here. Now!” A dark haired man held his newborn child, looking for a way to save her. “There’s only one way, we need to send her to the Frost Fae’s, they can keep her safe until the time is right.” Her mother knew this had to be done. It was the only way they could ensure their child’s safety. “If this will allow her to live peacefully, so be it.” Her parents bid farewell before sealing their daughter within a realm that only existed within memories. A realm of Fae who would take care of her until the day came for her to return to this broken world. “Farewell, my dear. My little Jacqueline.” That was 1,000 years ago, only time could decide if their daughter would live.
Chapter 1: The Lost
‘Hungry…’ A young girl, about 6 years old, thought to herself as she wandered farther and farther from human civilization. She had been abandoned for the 12th time in the entire time she had spent in the human kingdoms. She had been seen as a curse, a bad omen, all because of her white hair and icy blue eyes. The world was cruel to her, and now she was refusing to go back to try again for the 13th fail, the 13th fake family. The forest seemed to stretch on for miles and the hunger she felt only worsened with each step she took. Then she stopped, realizing for the first time just how far she’d gone, she had gone all the way to the border. A huge river of lava that stretched on for miles lay right in front of her, meant to keep both humans and elves out of each other’s territory. On one side, there was life and magic everywhere and on the other there was the life she had gotten used to. The moon had risen and these strange runes formed on a path of stones floating on the lava. She had read about them in a book she found in the forest once. The moonstone path was one of the few ways any living creature could cross the border unharmed. Now it was her turn to decide if she wanted to try again or try somewhere new. With the moon high and the warmth of the lava, she stepped onto one of the stones, then the next, and so on until she was already half way across the river. With nothing left to tie her down to the human world, she stepped onto Xadian land and refused to look back at the place she once thought was her only home. A few steps into Xadia and she knew she would have to use desperate measures if she wanted to survive. She pulled a blue-ish white orb with a three moon symbol on it out of her bag. By tapping one of the three moons, black smoke started emitting from the orb and surrounded her entirely. The next second, the black smoke formed several large dire wolves with black eyes, no white visible. ‘Go,’ she thought. ‘Find somewhere with food…’ The dire wolves ran off in many directions, leaving her alone once more to continue the search while they tried to help her much faster. The only thing left to do was wait and hope that something edible would show up eventually. The night only grew darker as she continued her endless journey, and it was right as she thought she was done for, that she collapsed. The last thing she saw before she was consumed by the darkness was one of the smoke dire wolves running towards her with two Moonshadow Elves following closely behind. She couldn’t see them clearly but she could feel one of them scoop her up in their arms and cradle her against their chest. For the first time in what seemed like years, she felt the warm embrace of someone who cared even though she had no idea who they were. A thousand thoughts raced through her head as her consciousness slowly faded. ‘Who are they? Why are they helping me? Am I really worth it? Do they need something from me? Is that why they’re trying to keep me alive?’ She could hear them running, she could feel them trying to save her. Yet in the back of her mind there was still that question, ‘Will they leave me in the end?’