[center][h1][color=007236][b]Aimless Ambitions[/b][/color][/h1][/center]
“C’mon! C’mon! I can see the light! We can make it.” Amelia nagged at her parents.

“And how would we move through the dark nights?” Her mother, Assulie, asked. “No, we make camp here while we still have some sun left.”

“But mom!” Amelai protested.

Which was quickly stopped by her father: “Just a bit further dear. The light guides.” Assulie looked at him while Amelia hugged him tightly. She had always been a daddy’s girl. Justly, as her father would do anything for her. “Just a bit further. We can camp with your sisters then.” He continued.

“Fine, but if I trip over a branch you’re carrying me!” Assulie quipped. All three of them let out of a snicker but both Kiros and Assulie picked up their heavy backpacks again. They kept walking as the shadows grew longer. “How much time do you think has passed?”

“It felt like a few months at most. But you’ve heard Theneros. Time can be weird.” It was a weird reality to acknowledge. Assulie could be older than her oldest sibling right now. Amelia could be the eldest of her cousins. By Allianthé, she hoped there would be cousins. She rubbed her own belly. Kiros didn’t know. Not yet. She’d tell him in time. Amelia gave her mother a sidewise look. The girl had such an affinity for life. The way she talked with animals despite not understanding each other, she truly must have a gift.

Amelia knew her mother was carrying her brother already but was a wise enough woman already to know not to tell her father just yet.

In a comfortable silence all three of them made their way through the thick forests. Some places felt familiar to the small family. It allowed them to move in almost the pitch blackness. Though the lights of the growing city could be seen in the distance. “We’re almost there.” Kiros said.

Something rustled in the bushes. An animal probably, but something primal in everyone made them stop to look at the source. In the dark they couldn’t see anything. “Just something foraging.” Amelia said.

“You’re probably right.” Said Assulie. “Kiros, let’s keep going. I want to see my sisters like you promised.” Kiros didn’t respond. “Kiros?” Assulie asked again. “This isn’t funny! You know-” She stopped and looked at the faint shimmer of Amelia she could still see. It was unwise to admit such fear in front of someone as impressionable as her still. “Haha, Kiros. You got me. Now please come out.” He still didn’t respond. “Kiros!”

Something wet flopped down with a hard thud. The two women turned. Something hot splattered over Amelia. She touched it with her fingers and looked close. “M-Mom… this is… blood.” Their hearts sunk.

“Run!”

Amelia did as her mother told her. She started running. Assulie was right behind her. She felt the roots beneath her moving. Not so much against her though. It was as if the forest was trying to guide her in very small ways. Chipmunks chittered in the forest.

Then eyes appeared. First a pair of glowing red ones. Then a few more circular, chittery eyes joined. Then a few more. Eleven total stared her down. She stopped moving. Assulie bumped into her. Sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

They got up again. Spindly legs moved in the shadows. “Keep running!” Assulie yelled as she got up and helped Amelia up after. She tore her daughters backpack off of her and threw it at the beast. It let out a staggering cry before ripping the bag appart. Food and small trinkets clattered to the floor but both of the women bought a moment.

It wasn’t enough. The outer beast came rushing after them. With one needle-like leg it pushed aside Assulie. The woman was thrown against a tree. Amelia tripped, fell, turned over and looked into eleven, chaotically throw about eyes. “No, please. Allianthé please.” She begged. It seemed as if the beast cherished the begging. It reared up two of its spindly legs. Amelia saw her very short life flash before her eyes. Them discovering a waterfall. That one night on the beach.

“No!”

Again Amelia felt something hot hit her. She opened her eyes and saw her mother’s face. Smiling at her. “You’re alright, honey.” Her words were strained, as if she could barely get them out. “You’ll be alright now.” Then she collapsed and Amelia felt something pierce her arm. She screamed out in pain. The eleven eyes in the dark appeared over her again. She couldn’t move. Her mother’s corpse and the spindly leg it pierced her arm with were pinning her to the ground.

[i]I’ll see you again soon, mom.[/i] Amelia thought as she closed her eyes again.

Death didn’t feel like much of a transition. Or so Amelia thought. She was still breathing. Did dead people breathe? She still felt warm. Dead things definitly don’t feel warm. Carefully she opened one eye. In the dark it was hard to see. The eleven eyes weren’t gone, just… pushed aside. Then something pulled out the leg from her arm and through her mother’s dead body. Amelia let out a starteld scream of pain.

“You’re alright.” A voice said. “You’re alright.”

The weight pinning her down vanished. Then she looked at an elf. He had white hair and there was something wrong with his face. It was as if the skin was pulled too tightly over his skull.

“I’m Aenos.”  The white-haired elf said.
[hr]

“She’s the only survivor?” Irrithae asked. They were standing in a tree-home, a hollow tree that offered protection from the elements. Irrithae had grown this one herself, right after that dreadful day.

“I’m afraid so. Outer Beasts are still everywhere. We’re doing our best but-” Aenos broke off his own sentence as he looked at a still dazed looking Amelia, who sat huddled in a blanket before a small fire.

“You can’t be everywhere.” Irrithae finished his sentence. “I understand. We understand. Arbor is grateful for you and yours work.” Her eyes turned towards Amelia as well now. “What do you think?”

“She’s not fit for the Deathguard. It’s why I brought her to you. She still has a spark. I’m sure you can nurture it.” Aenos turned and grabbed his divine, cold spear next to the flap that led outside. “I’ll see you later.” Then he left.

Irrithae moved towards the elven girl and knelt down beside her. “Do you remember why you and your parents were coming?”

Amelia had to think really deeply. She remembered talk about aunts and cousins, but she was far too young to remember them. She just shook her head. “S-Sorry.”

“No, no it’s okay. You’ve gone through something terrible. It’s okay. Here, drink this.” Irrithae offered Amelia a wooden cup filled with tea. “It’ll help you sleep.”

The elven girl nodded and lifted the cup to her lips but stopped before she could take a sip. “There is something.” But it was selfish. How could she think of that now!? A tear fell from her eye. “Sorry. No, sorry. It’s nothing.”

“You can tell me everything you want, Amelia.” Irrithae assured her as she sat down next to her with her own cup of tea. “You can tell me about the chipmunk you saw in a tree or about the most beautiful night you’ve seen in your whole life. I’ll listen.”

“I heard… rumours about a lake or something… near the big Tree… that gives you magic powers.” Amelia said as she gently sipped the tea but kept her eyes on the fire. “Magic… sounds so… magical.” She couldn’t think of the right word, but that hope that she might one day have it kept her going.

Irrithae fell silent. “The Wellspring.” She said, her tone betrayed her heavy heart. “It does give magic to those who bathe in it but-”

“I want to bathe in it.” Equal part determination and desperation made Amelia say it.

“There are risks to it though.” Irrithae explained. “If you go into it… you may not come out of it again. You might die. And even if you come out, your life will be different. Magic gives but it also takes.” There was a reason why Irrithae had ordered that all those who wished to bathe in it should first come to her. She didn’t outright forbid it, but it was important people realized the risks.

“I still want to do it! I’ll whatever it takes.” Amelia’s flame from before was flickering again. Like it was in danger of being extinguished. It broke Irrithae’s heart.

“Very well. If in three days you still feel so confident, you can bathe in the Wellspring.” That was Irrithae’s rule. Three days of consideration.

[hr]

Those three days moved at a snail’s pace for Amelia. There were other things that she did, other than crying for most of the days. The names of her parents were etched into a monolith. Soon enough Amelia’s family would see those names and come to Arbor’s defacto ruler.

But they didn’t come before that fateful night. Amelia woke Irrithae in the middle of the night. “It’s time!” The elven girl said, filled with excitement despite the tear streaks still visible on her cheeks. “Three days! I waited like you asked. Now please, can I get my magic?”

“Now?” A half asleep Irrithae asked. But she only had to see the elven girl’s eyes once to realize that Amelia was jumping into the Wellspring. With or without Irrithae. “Very well then.” She said with a drowsy chuckle.

In the middle of the night they moved through ever growing Arbor. With the advent of Greensinging many people were growing their homes at a rapid pace. A new sort of forest was growing around the Tree of Life now. While glowbug swarms were offering illumination throughout the larger streets.

They reached the Wellspring, and the still sealed Tree of Life in no time. Irrithae still felt a pang of guilt when looking at the door. It hadn’t been too long ago when a crowd had crushed itself there, trying to get out. She wished she had acted faster, to disperse the people so more would’ve survived.

Amelia was blind to her guide’s guilt. The girl was almost jumping in excitement. In the last few days she had told herself that this was her destiny. This is why she survived. So she could cast magic! She hadn’t thought of what to do after just yet.

“Remember. The Wellspring isn’t regular water. This isn’t some test of strength. You need to accept it into you. And once you did, you need to want to come back.” Irrithae explained for the tenth time during Amelia’s short stay.

“Have you gone in?” Asked Amelia. In the dark the Wellspring looked far more foreboding. Like a black inky patch surrounding the tree. With a million shimmering colors just below its surface.

“No. I chose the Font.” It was a kinder fate, Irrithae found. No one drowned or vanished from the Font. “You can still step back Amelia. There’s no shame in it.”

Amelia just shook her head. “I have to do this.” She said with resolution. Though she wasn’t feeling so sure anymore. For some reason she thought the Wellspring would be far more inviting. Still, what else was there. She took a step forward. Her toes were dangling over the mystic waters. Then she took another step. With a small splash she jumped into the Wellspring.

It was deep, serene, beautiful and even warm. It was nothing like the water she was used to. She could feel her blood warming through her body. Had she been cold? The bubbles rose slowly to the surface. The surface. Such a distant place now. Down here she could vanish. Up there… Up there she was the daughtered of murderer parents. Down here she was just Amelia. Up there she would have to deal with a whole life lost and a whole life she had to rebuild. Down here…

No! Irrithae warned of this! Amelia began to kick violently, as if there was something in the water that she could kick back to go up. She didn’t move. She fought harder. There was still something she had to do. She wasn’t done living just yet! She kept kicking. More bubbles floated slowly up. Mocking her own inability to do the same. She started screaming. Water flooded her lungs. The lights turn dark and the water cold. A blackness was encroaching upon here. Maybe this was how it was meant to be. Maybe she was supposed to have died three days ago, and now she’s paying her due to Death. This hurt far less though. The world turned dark. Maybe it was better like this.

Amelia vomited up water like her life depended on it. It flowed from her mouth and nose as her body retched it up. The moment she got enough - not all but enough - water out she took giant, panicky breaths. Where was she!? What happened?

“You’re not dead.” a comforting voice said as someone put a warm hand on her shoulder. Somehow Amelia knew whoever spoke had a gentle, kind smile. But she could look. She was coughing up water and grasping for air at the same time. After what felt like whole hours of recovering, she finally fell back on her back to look up at her savior. Irrithae stood over her.

“You saved me?” Amelia asked.

The Syllianth nodded. “You survived the Wellspring.” Hearing that conjured a smile on Amelia’s face. Which quickly faded when the Guide of Arbor asked her: “So what do you want to do now?”

For the first time in her life she had no clue.

[hider=Summary]Amelia and her parents are travelling back to Arbor after having been gone for a few months, which might have been years considering the wanky time flow. They talk about family and walk through the dark. Until they’re attacked by an Outer Beast. Amelia’s father dies immediatly and her mother dies trying to protect her. Aenos arrives just in time to save the girl and kill the beast.

He brings Amelia to Irrithae, who takes the girl in. Amelia wants to learn magic but has to wait three days. The time passes and Amelia is led to the Wellspring. She nearly drowns in it but Irrithae saves her again.

After that Amelia realizes she has no clue what to do next.[/hider]

[hider=MP Allianthé]
[b]Start MP:[/b] 13
- 1MP - Create Artifact - “Crone” - A spear that kills non-sapient creatures with a single wound. It causes death upon hurting an enemy. The instant kind. It is given to Aenos.
[b]End MP:[/b] 12

2/4 MP spent to attain the Death Domain
[/hider]