A Half Wood Elf, born amidst the sway of ancient trees and the hushed lullabies of the wind, his childhood in the Wood Elf village of Sylvan Hollow seemed idyllic. Yet, even in the tranquility of the forest, the undertow of fate had already woven its threads around him.
For generations, his people had learned to avoid outsiders, that they could not be trusted, and yet on that fateful day, a stranger arrived, shattering the tranquility of his secluded existence.
Erin Thaw, a Half Wood Elf of humble origins, watched from the shadows as a stranger made her way through the village at dusk, her presence like a flame of the last embers of daylight. She was a human barbarian, clad in furs and bone, wielding a massive axe with the ease of one born to battle. Her fiery red hair danced in the wind, and her eyes burned with a fierce intensity that both intrigued and unsettled him.
"Stay clear of her, Erin," his mother warned, her voice tinged with concern. "There's danger in her eyes, a recklessness that spells trouble."
But he could not heed her words, for the stranger held a magnetism that drew him in like a moth to flame. So, he followed her, keeping to the shadows as she moved through the village, her every step a testament to her strength and determination.
"Are you lost, little Elf?" she called out, her voice cutting through the silence of the night.
Erin froze, realizing too late that he had been discovered. Stepping out from his hiding place, he met her gaze with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity.
"I-I was just curious," stammering, his heart pounding in his chest. "I've never seen anyone like you before." His eyes swept across her body, her scars, the battle worn axe and her hair, he was always drawn back to her hair no matter where he tried to look. It was long on one side but shaved low on the other and a shade of red that would put fire to shame.
The barbarian chuckled, her laughter like thunder in the stillness of the night. "It's rude to stare at a lady. Didn't your mother teach you that? Now that I think of it, it's rude to follow a lady from the shadows!" Her voice boomed echoing off the trees and through the quiet village as she quickly put her hand over her mouth.
"I'm Erin," still unable to tear his eyes away from her imposing figure. "Erin Thaw. You should probably see the chief before you go screaming through the village. Didn't your mom teach you that?". His voice was high but it held the confidence that betrayed his age.
She nodded, a hint of amusement dancing in her eyes. "Well, Erin Thaw, you'd do well to stay out of trouble. These woods can be dangerous at night especially with th..." she was cut off as two guards approached with lanterns lit, Erin ducked behind a barrel not wanting to be caught. He already had the reputation of a troubled child, he didn't wish to bring more condemnation towards his mother.
Sneaking away into the night leaving the Barbarian to her fate. The last thing he heard was the guards disapproving tone "We only let an outsider like you in because of the chief's request, don't make us regret it by disturbing people."
With that, he turned and disappeared into the night. 'What does the chief need a Warrior like that for?' He thought, but quickly decided getting home was more important.
He couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to her being here . Despite his mother's warnings, he couldn't resist the urge to learn more about her.
The following weeks were spent in a mix of childlike espionage and playful banter as Erin would attempt to follow the large but surprisingly vigilant Barbarian through the village and the neighboring woods. Every now and then he would be joined by other curious children, but they would either run in fear after being caught or lose interest when they find the woman would do little more than patrol and hunt in the woods.
"And if you bend it like this it will break and you'll have to start all over" The Barbarian's voice somehow managed to keep its confidence even after messing up a simple snare trap for the third time in front of a child. Erin had been trying to learn from the woman both how to hunt and how to stalk prey, one day hoping to hide even from her vigilant eyes.
"You're bad at this, why are you trying to teach a kid something if you can't even do it right?" Erin scolded her like only because he had managed to build his snare after her explanation, but she somehow managed to fail to make her own.
"Be grateful I don't use you as my snare little one, since your arms are about the same thickness as the twigs I'm using." She couldn't defend her lack of dexterity but she liked to poke fun at his lithe frame whenever she could, secretly she was fine with failing at making the trap, they had never been her preferred method of hunting. She'd sooner wrestle a bear with only the clothes on her back than rely on some twigs to eat.
"Teacher, when are you going to teach me something fun? Like sword fighting or how to stich up a cut." Erin wasn't really bored of her teachings but he'd never pass the opportunity to learn how to fight from an actual Warrior, the guards had long learned not to teach him any sword play when his mother berated them for "bullying her boy". No matter how Erin tried to explain it to her she would just say he didn't need to learn something so dangerous.
"Trust me little one, you don't want to learn my type of fighting. All I do is swing my axe and ignore the pain, it's not a fighting style you should mimic. With your tiny arms you'd probably bleed out from a thorn prick let alone a few bites from a real beast." The chuckle in her voice held a tinge of seriousness as she pictured the small child Infront of her in even the tamest of encounters she'd faced.
"I'm only small because I'm young. Just you wait when I grow up I'll be just as strong as you Then you'll have to look up at me"
Erin spent his days hunting both as a form of training and to feed his mother who worked as a tailor in the village but with so few travelers and sewing as a common household skill, very few needed her help and it was only the repeat jobs of the elderly that kept her afloat. He spent his nights trying to stalk the Barbarian or other guards through the village, mostly without success and ending with a stern talking to by either his mother or sometimes the village chief.
Even with the presence of an outsider the village continued to flow as usual, though there were occasional whispers of monsters in the woods or thieves stealing cattle at night nothing ever came of it and the Barbarian woman who refused to giver her name, wanting to be called "Teacher" for some reason, would always say there was nothing to worry about.
Eventually his day hunts turned to night, his ability to travel the woods at night became like second nature. He even managed to surprise his teacher once or twice but he didn't know if that was because he was getting better or if she just let him think that.
As time passed his teacher started coming back from her hunts with more and more wounds, but he never managed to find where she was going. Every night she'd go on her serious hunts Erin would always lose her trail, just another reason he thought his ability to surprise her was just her boosting his confidence.
After a while her hunts turned into several day long trips, then weeks and sometimes she'd be gone for a month at a time. "Hey teacher? You're not going to up and disappear one day without saying goodbye, are you?" Her trips where always a surprise to him, he never know if it would be the last time he'd see her or she'd be back for breakfast the next day with the same overconfident smile she always wore.
"Who knows? Maybe my little pupil will have nothing left to learn soon and I'll have to move on to the next village" She joked, she always joked, changing the subject and never letting the topics get too serious.
"Are you ever going to tell me why the village chief hired you to stay in our village? I know you're not just here to teach me how to hunt and break twigs" Even after all this time none of the adults in the village let slip why they needed a warrior like her. She never brought back game from any of the hunts where she got injured, and she'd always try to distract him with "training" so he couldn't see why the guards would leave shortly after.
Like this the months passed eventually Erin got used to his hunting and even learned a bit about sword play from his teacher. He still tried to follow the Barbarian on her hunts and it was on one night in peculiar that he was finally successful.
Night fell and the village settled into a soundless slumber, Erin found himself drawn once more to the edge of the forest, where the Barbarian had disappeared to in the dead of night. The urge to try again grew stronger, guiding his steps deeper into the heart of the woods.
Her trails were always surprisingly faint, despite her large frame and heavy steps when she entered the woods it was like she was a different kind of beast, in her natural element. Over the months Erin had learned to decern the signs of her passage almost like second nature and for the first time he followed with the confidence of a hunter, no longer a child chasing his teacher. He traveled deeper into the forest than ever before and even after hours he still hadn't lost her.
Eventually he caught the sounds of conflict, he circled the sound not wanting to emerge from the same path his teacher took and avoiding the wind in case it was a beast with a keen sense of smell.
Soon the air grew thick with tension, and the sounds of battle echoed louder through the trees, drawing him ever closer to the source. Then, as if emerging from a dream, he stumbled upon a small clearing bathed in moonlight, where the scarlet Barbarian stood alone against three towering giants.
His breath caught in his throat as he watched the fierce battle unfold before him, an axe cleaving through flesh and bone with a savage grace, massive clubs smashing into the imposing albeit small by comparison woman before him. Even as she fought with all her might, he could see the toll it was taking on her, the weariness in her eyes and the blood that stained her skin.
Then, in a moment of chaos and confusion, one of the giants was sent hurtling towards him, its massive form crashing through the underbrush with a deafening roar. Erin screamed, toppling over as the ground shook beneath him, and the giant loomed overhead.
"Ahhh" His own scream seemed to pull all the confidence he had built during his hunt out of him, he knelt, frozen in a mix of fear and awe as the giant stood from his previous position and its eyes fixed on his cowering frame. No amount of hunting could prepare him to face such a creature but unlike him the creature continued to move, drawing closer until it raised its wooden club, looking like something between a tree trunk and an uneven spike of wood covered in splinters and still dripping blood.
But before it could strike, she was there, her body interposing between him and the beast, her axe flashing in the moonlight as she felled the creature with a single blow. The other giants closed in around them, she fought with a ferocity born of desperation, her every strike a testament to her unwavering resolve.
Erin was still frozen, his thoughts where still stuck on the sheer size of the beasts she faced single handedly, it was only when the second giant fell its legs no longer able to hold up the massive weight of its frame after she split them like the trees they dwarfed.
In the end, it was not enough. Despite her bravery and determination, she was outnumbered and outmatched, and as the last giant fell, so did she, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
The young Elf rushed to her side, Dropping to his knees and cradling her head in his arms as she looked up at him with a weary smile.
"Idiot student... I thought I taught you to hide better" she grumbled, her voice barely above a whisper. Even as the blood drained from her face she continued to avoid serious topics, joking instead of saying something that would worry her student. "Li... Little one, promise me something." Blood started flowing from her mouth but she kept the same smile she always wore, like a trophy she won in some great battle, too proud to put it down.
"Anything teacher! Anything, just please don't die!" As his mind was panicking at the sight before him he couldn't help but shout his response to the pale face in his small lap.
"That's not how this works... Idiot student of mine. It's called a 'last wish' for a reason" Her voice was weakening, even her smile started to crack as her eyes seemed to well up but before a single tear was shed, she continued. "Bring my totem to my people, let me be buried with them... Then... Find your own purpose in the world, don't let others tell you how you should live your life" as she finished speaking she closed her eyes her hand reaching for a carved claw of a beast she kept around her neck.
"Teacher, you still never told me who you are. Who are your people? Where do I go?" The desperation was only barley concealed by the exasperation of the impossible task she had just asked of him.
"Oh... Yeah... I guess your teacher is also kinda stupid too. Rona, my name is Rona and..." *Cough* Her smile fully cracked as she fell into a fit of hacks and coughs, spilling blood onto the poor Elf boy holding her. "Northman's... Last Peak" The words seemed to fall out of her mouth as her body fell loose and her grip on the totem dropped to her side. She was gone and her student had his first quest and a promise to keep.
"I-I promise," he choked out, tears stinging his eyes as the moon started to hide behind clouds soaking him in the darkness of the night.
Alone in the darkness with nothing but her memory, the smell of battle and a small totem taken from her before fleeing back to his village.
His tear filled eyes caused him to trip and stumble through the forest cutting and bruising his still lithe frame. He ignored the pain, it wasn't hard, the pain in his chest was far greater than anything his arms and legs could feel at the moment. His grip on the totem caused it to dig into his palm his blood creating a small puddle when he finally stopped at the makeshift gate to his village. The guards approached at first with exasperation at another one of his late night hunts, then with worry seeing his bloodied and teary eyed state.
When a search party was sent out they never found Rona's body, only her axe and the corpses of three slain giants remain, partially eaten. Some speculate that she was dragged off by some wild animal few even think she survived. Regardless ever sense that night Erin has felt a weight on his shoulders that never seemed to go away.
Months passed and eventually years. In that time, the village guards began to marveled at Erin's keen instincts and his innate ability to blend seamlessly into the shadows. As a silent observer, he found solace in the dance of leaves and the melody of the night creatures. However, tranquility was short-lived as he would hear ghostly Whispers throughout the forest.
"Little one, it's not safe in the woods tonight." Erin would often hear these words and many like them on his adventures through the forests, but try as he might he could never find their origin.
At the tender age of eighteen, his small village had another visitor after years, a high elf man wearing long royal looking robes and accompanied by three dragonborn guards.
He came bearing a prophecy of the one true oracle, one he was commanded to spread far and wide, into the lands of the Elves.
"The Silent Storm! Become the key to a veiled future. The moonlit night and shadows cast upon the mountainous divide bear witness to choices—a destiny that intertwines with the war's echoes, awaiting the Silent Storm's role in deciding the very fate of Estuary!"
"Silent Storm; as the bridge across the Umbral Mist Peaks—a figure that shadows both realms, a symbol of unity or discord!"
"Silent Storm shall bear warpaint unseen, echoing the hidden burdens of giants and the silent cries of the humanoids!"
"A quiet call to arms resonating through the Umbral Mist Peaks, becomes a rallying cry in the silent storm's wake. A harbinger of change, wielding the shadows to mend the wounds or deepen the scars of a world divided by a mountain range."
As he listened to the loud and flamboyant Elf the light of day seemed to dim, looking upward Erin could see stars. He continued to look and could see lines connecting them. Constellations like strings of fate weaving before his eyes tying to tell him something.
Before Erin could gleam the true meaning Behind the stars, they vanished, the elf was no longer shouting, and the crowd began to disperse.
Over the next few hours as he waited for nightfall, Erin contemplated both his life and the existence of fate.
His path had diverged from the quiet life he had known. No longer content with the subtle artistry of theft, Erin sought a deeper connection to the shadows.
That night Erin left his humble little village on the edge of the Umbral Mist Peaks, leaving only a short handwritten note for his mother. He knew she would scold him, maybe even give a valid argument as to why he shouldn't leave, but he couldn't give her the chance. He had a promise to keep, two really. It was on that night that he felt it, his connection to the overbearing voice that always seemed to warn him, like a mother watching his back, like a teacher.
"Erin, my charge. Embrace the Emotions within, seek adventure, for only you have fate ahead of you."
It was then that the shadows claimed him fully. The silent rogue transformed into a storm of fury, a force of nature fueled by a promise. He became an instrument of his own creation, embodying the relentless undertow within his soul.
As Erin's silent thoughts reverberated through the forests and hills, a Prophecy began to unfold—a prophecy that spoke of four unlikely heroes, each carrying a unique burden, destined to stand against the rising tempest.
"A Prophecy? Maybe this is the purpose I've been searching for."
Guided by the stars, shadows, and a phantom teacher, Erin Thaw found himself in the company of three others—a Shifter Druid, a Tiefling Warlock and a Veldelkin Wizard. Bound by a destiny yet unknown, they rode together in a carriage through the foggy moonlit night, each harboring secrets as profound as the shadows themselves.
There he sat flanked on all sides, his sharp ears displaying his Elf heritage, his eyes the color of almonds holding an almost perpetual glint of trouble. A cascade of raven black hair just short enough to not cover his eyes framed his face almost accentuating his high cheekbones and full but dull colored lips. His outfit a combination of Dark leather and a green cloak, a worthy attempt at camouflage in the forest was tight to his still lithe body, now grown he stood at just 5 foot 6 inches (1.67 Meters) more than a full head below his late teacher and without any expectation to get taller he resigned himself to his fate.
He shared his story, in small parts. Mostly in the hope they would know of Northman's Last Peak, of Rona and her adventures, but he always kept to himself, he didn't need their companionship. He had a destination with no direction and a name he didn't even know if it was a person, place or artifact. As he looked to the Man sitting across from him he decided to turn the attention away by continuing the conversation.
"What about you? How did you get here?"