Once the sun set and night fell, one of the elf sves checked for guards before giving Ani and Aria the all clear. The mother-daughter duo had quickly and quietly moved through the sve quarters. They easily managed to slip by the zily patrolling guards as they had done many times before.

  It had been almost ten years since the st major incident involving the sves. Going that long without any big happenings made the guards and svers x in their patrols.

  This naturally raised the question of why none of the sves had tried to escape.

  Their voiding colrs were to bme for that.

  They made it hard to gather and use Ether. And even when they were able to finally gather the power, the colr weakened any Arts used while simultaneously increasing the amount of Ether wasted. And holding the power for ter use wasn’t an option either, as the colrs forced its wearers to constantly leak any gathered energy at an accelerated rate.

  Another infuriating function was that it would send out an alert if the sve wearing it wandered too far out from a certain radius. According to Ani, that radius typically spanned the entirety of whatever area they were being forced to work at.

  The st feature was one Aria wasn’t too sure about. According to her mother, the third function of the colr was that it let the humes know the locations of their sves, and gave out an especially strong signal if the aforementioned arm feature was activated.

  Thankfully, the pce where they trained was within the working radius, so there shouldn’t be any risk of an arm.

  The current work area was a mine. Here, Aria and the other sves were forced to mine endlessly for commonly used ores and Ether crystals. As they neared an entrance to one of the mines, Ani gestured for Aria to hide behind a nearby ruined pilr.

  “Let me check to make sure there’s no guards. Wait here until I get back,” her mother said before she moved without a sound.

  She could move as silently as an owl in flight when she wanted to. Because of that, Aria had the utmost confidence her mother would return. And she did about twenty or so minutes ter.

  Ani gestured for Aria to follow her. Once they made it to the entrance of the mine, her mother stopped.

  “No guards in there. Not surprising since it’s pitch bck inside. Make sure you hold my hand and follow me closely,” Ani said.

  Aria did as instructed.

  “Good. Now keep an eye out while I gather Ether.”

  Ani opened her mouth, and inhaled. Aria knew how the process went. She knew it was more than air her mother was breathing in. Even after her mother’s lungs should have been full of air, Ani somehow continued to inhale. At that point, Aria knew it was mostly the Ether in the air that her mother was gathering.

  Thanks to the bsted colrs they wore, it took many, many deep inhations for her mother to gather the necessary Ether to guide them through the pitch bck mines. Though it was dark out, Aria knew the colr her mother wore, as well as all the colrs the sves wore, had Athanasius’s All Seeing Eye, the symbol of his bsphemous religion, branded repeatedly all around. It was as it was a reminder to them all as to who owned them.

  Aria clenched her free hand into a fist at the thought.

  Ani squeezed her hand to let her know she was ready. She squeezed back, and her mother began to guide her through the pitch bck mine. It was honestly terrifying walking through darkness so thick that she couldn’t even see her own hand in front of her face. But holding onto her mother comforted her and told her everything was fine.

  For with Ether, Ani could navigate even through this pitch bck area.

  She didn’t know how long they walked through the darkness, but eventually, Ani spoke, “Alright. We’re here. Stay still while I move these rocks out of the way.”

  Her mother let go of her hand, and Aria remained motionless. The silence made it easy for her to hear her mother’s grunts as she moved the rocks she had pced to hide the entrance to their secret training grounds. After a few minutes, Aria felt her mother grab her hand again, and she led her into the opening before pausing to pce the rocks back, hiding the entrance. A few more minutes of walking through pitch bck darkness ter, and Aria began to see an orange, glowing light.

  “We’re here!” Ani announced happily.

  Aria and her mother walked into a rge and spacious cavern filled with glowing, orange crystals that lit up the entire area. It was here where Ani had trained Aria for the past few months. It had been a blessing of the Maker that they had found this pce, which she’d taken to calling her Sanctuary. None of the humes knew about it yet. Void, their people didn’t even know about it. The fewer that knew about this pce, the less likely it was to be discovered.

  “Well, let’s take a quick breather before we continue your training, Aria,” Ani announced.

  Aria nodded, though she was eager to get started already. Her mother had taught her much, but there was still far more to learn. At first, Ani had only taught her the history of their people, their nguage, and parts of their culture.

  The Dominion, of course, did everything they could to stamp out their history and culture among the sves. Yet they had persisted. Aria’s own habit of speaking only in Elvish with her kin was one such example of the stubborn pride that elves possessed. Naturally, when no humes were around, she and her mother only spoke in their ancestral tongue.

  Once Aria had turned twelve, Ani had begun to teach her how to fight. And that was something her mother was very good at, even after centuries of being a sve.

  Ani Tufani had been one of the fiercest and most talented warriors her people had ever seen. Being a part of the Hunters, Vindanna’s most elite force, she was widely considered one of the best the order had ever seen in its entire history. Ani had quickly mastered the combative arts, and then proceeded to evolve her talents and skills even further beyond that. She had been an invaluable soldier of Vindanna’s army in the war against the humans. After unfortunately being stranded in Axis Mundi by the Great Fragmentation, Aria’s mother had taken scores of the heartless monsters down in her st stand before being captured.

  That was what the other elf sves had told Aria, anyway. Her mother always downpyed her own accomplishments. Whenever anyone tried to tell her otherwise, Ani would walk away with a forlorn expression while saying, “Yeah, well… however strong I was back then, it clearly wasn’t enough…”

  Over the centuries of being a sve, Ani had found ways to continue her training, limited as she was by the cursed colrs. Once Aria had turned ten, her mother had finally allowed her to join her in that training.

  Ani strove to teach her daughter everything she could while keeping the training a secret from their svers, and Aria was more than eager to learn it all.

  “I can see you’re very eager to get started. Very well,” Ani got into a fighting stance, “we’ll start with hand-to-hand combat. Ready yourself, my daughter.”

  Aria got into her own fighting stance, and responded with a small smile, “I’m ready, mother.”

  Ani returned her smile, and the two began their sparring session.

  ***

  Aria y on her back, gasping for breath and reeling from the rather intense training. Ani, for her part, simply let out a deep breath as she sat next to her.

  “Not bad. You’re improving quickly. Armingly so,” Ani complimented with a proud smile.

  “Not... bad?” Aria challenged in between gasps, “I managed... to nd a hit on you… Considering how rare it is for me… to pull that off… I’d say I deserve something better than… ‘not bad,’ don’t you think?”

  Her mother chuckled, rubbing the cheek where Aria had nded a kick.

  Which Ani had then responded to with a combo that resulted in Aria lying on her back, gasping in pain and exhaustion.

  “True,” she relented, “how about remarkable then? And I’m not just referring to you nding a hit against me. You’re improving quickly. So fast that it’s almost frightening.”

  Aria flushed at the praise. When it came to combat, it was rare for her mother to give out compliments like that.

  Aria sat up slowly, wincing as she did.

  Her mother gave her a half smile, “Rest up for a bit. Then we’ll move on to Ether training.”

  Aria frowned at that. She felt something was off with her mother. She seemed extra… pushy tonight.

  “Is something wrong, Mom?” Aria voiced her concerns.

  Ani sighed, “As astute as ever, my daughter.”

  She gave Aria a serious look, “I’m not one hundred percent certain yet, but… a chance for us to escape may soon come our way.”

  Aria perked up at that, “Really?! How?”

  Ani shook her head, “I’m not sure yet. Once I confirm the details I’ll let you know. I promise. But if we do get a chance to escape, know that it’ll be the two of us only. No one else.”

  Aria choked at that bit of news. Ani Tufani had been one of the key people helping to keep the sves from completely giving in to despair. She loved her people deeply! To leave them all behind...

  That didn’t sound like her at all.

  Aria’s shock must have been visible, because her mother actually looked ashamed. But a moment ter, that shame faded to resigned determination.

  “Listen to me, Aria,” her mother began, “if, and I do mean IF, we have the opportunity to escape, then it has to be just the two of us. I’ve already spoken with the oldest of our people. They know that I’m only pnning to take you with me. As a matter of fact, they even encouraged me. You know the more people that know about something, the more likely it is to be found out. Likewise, the rger the group, the easier they are to track and find.”

  Aria didn’t like the idea of leaving her people behind. For them to continue to be ensved by the evil humes while she attained freedom didn’t sit right with her.

  She gave her mother an intense gaze. Ani wasn’t telling her everything. Aria knew her too well. She wasn’t the type to be this selfish. Not without a reason.

  “What else aren’t you telling, Mom?”

  Ani didn’t answer.

  Aria pressed further, “If we do manage to escape, where will we go? I can’t imagine you of all people are telling me to abandon our people. Not without a good reason.”

  Ani sighed. She took a deep breath as she expined, “The arrival of the new Champion has changed things. You know from what I taught you of our history what that means. The st one had primed the Dominion, then called the Empire, to conquer all of Avani. It was only the Great Fragmentation that prevented that from happening. And even then, the world suffered unforeseen consequences. We can’t have a repeat of history.”

  “But wasn’t that event ultimately a good thing? It prevented the ashborn from getting to the other Realms!”

  “Yes, but remember that it was the first Champion that ultimately pushed things to that point. A new one being summoned…” Ani shuddered, “I have a terrible feeling for what that may mean for the future of Avani...”

  “And what does our escaping have to do with that?”

  “Well, someone has to warn our fellow elves in our home Realm about the coming of a new Champion. Someone has to warn them to prepare.”

  Aria’s eyes widened, “Does that mean-”

  “Yes,” Ani confirmed, “our ultimate goal is to get to Vindanna. When we make our escape, we’ll make our way to the Boundary of this Realm and enter the Void Sea.”

  “But didn’t you tell me that surviving a trek in that pce was impossible? Let alone navigating it!”

  Ani put up a finger as she corrected, “I said it was nearly impossible. And that’s if you go into it without any form of preparation. Luckily for us, Elder Feno is working on making us a… well… I’m actually not sure yet. But he said it would serve to guide us to our ancestral home while we traverse the Void Sea. Once we have that, and once we find a way to get to the edge of Axis Mundi, we’ll be able to make it to Vindanna.”

  So that was why her mother seemed extra pushy with the training tonight. Time was running short and they’d soon have to try to escape the Dominion and return to Vindanna.

  Aria gave her mother a look of determination as she stood, ready to continue their training.

  Ani chuckled, “From that look, I take it you understand the stakes now?”

  Aria nodded, “Yes. I’m still not happy about leaving our people to their ensvement… but I understand why. I want you to know, though, that I fully intend to return to free them one day.”

  Ani nodded, “You and I are of the same mind. I don’t pn on allowing Athanasius to continue growing in power. I want that false god to be brought down and taken out. For the good of all Avani.”

  Aria didn’t think she could agree more strongly with that sentiment. Oh how glorious it would be if she herself could be the one to sy the man so full of pride that he dares cim to be a god.

  Sying the false god of the wicked humes would be the start. Then, Aria would return the suffering they inflicted on her people and the other races tenfold.

  “I’m ready to continue our training, mother,” Aria said with a cold expression.

  Ani paused, and gave her a look of concern, but didn’t say anything. Rather, she slowly nodded and began Aria’s Ether training for the night. All in preparation for the day of their escape.

  **Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed Aria's introductory chapters! Who do you all like more between Galen and Aria thus far? I'm curious to see what you all think.**