Chapter 1

The soft bell rang in the air, waking me up from my dreams, and I took my time to feel the warm duvet wrapped around me before I slowly opened my eyes. The room was still dark, illuminated only by the soft glow of the small lamp on my desk and the faint stars that shimmered through the window. Stars that would soon become our home… But Sylvaroth wouldn’t be with us…

I stretched and sat up, lowering my feet onto the soft carpeted floor that looked like the sea after a storm. It had been a gift from my great-aunt, passed down through the generations. I had to find a way to take it with me… Tauriel was excited about us leaving, but Tauriel was strange in so many ways, and she’d become even worse with each day bringing us closer to The Journey.

I got up and whispered the word of power, and the lamp’s light slowly faded, leaving the room in darkness. I walked over to the window, watching the stars before turning my gaze to the empty row of houses on the other side of the street. Their windows were dark now, and the autumn wind played with the freshly fallen leaves, swirling them through the empty streets. It was so quiet…

The white gown waited for me on the chair where I had left it last night. Its silky fabric felt crisp against my still-warm skin as I slipped it on, but the shawl I wrapped around my shoulder took away some of the chill. It was the same garb our ancestors had worn when they left Elarion to settle here, in those long-gone days. I’d seen countless pilgrims over the years wearing these gowns as they passed through our city, coming to bid farewell to Sylvaroth. I wanted to respect the same tradition now when it was my turn to say goodbye to my friend. My vision blurred, and the tears fell on the silky shawl. Why didn’t he want to come with us…? The bell rang in the air once more, reminding me that I had to hurry if I wanted to meet him before the sun rose.

I whispered the word of power, summoning a large silver mirror whose soft glow illuminated the room, and smiled at my reflection. My gown sparkled with the slightest movement, and the brooch my mom had given me on my eleventh birthday pinned the shawl in placea. I wondered if this was how our ancestors had looked when they set out as well. Only my long golden locks fell loosely on my back. If only I could braid them, just like they had done...

I’d told Tauriel yesterday that I would go to see Silvaroth, hoping she would offer to come and also to help me to look proper, but she’d ignored me as she always did and only kept cleaning the shelves in the Academy’s library, making sure that the place would be tidy when we left. She would probably have refused even if I asked, telling me that the world had changed and we should look towards the future that awaited us once our journey ended.

I pulled my shawl up, trying to hide my unbraided hair. Why couldn’t we say goodbye to Sylvaroth together…? I had been so happy once I realised she would leave on the last ship, just like us. Even though she had been a bit strange back then and ignored me most of the time, I couldn’t imagine having spent these last seasons alone, with my friends already having left and my parents too busy with work that required them to be the last ones to leave.

If only she had told me from the beginning. I spent many nights gathering the courage to tell her what I felt before I bade her farewell, only to learn her family would stay. When I confronted her about it, she said it was obvious that her dad, as a FlowSinger, would be the last one to leave, and she became even stranger than before, starting to ignore me all the time.

I walked over to the door and carefully opened it, not wanting to wake up my parents, and then made my way down the staircase. The house was dark and quiet, and I didn’t want to break the stillness and turn on the light, so I made my way through the darkness, feeling the familiar surroundings I’d grown up with but only started to pay attention to once I was old enough to understand that I would one day leave them behind.

A small bump on the staircase’s railing brushed under my palm as I continued down, and the sharp edge of the third step, damaged by some heavy furniture hauled upstairs long before I was born, grazed my bare toe until I stepped onto the worn-out carpet in the corridor whose fibres felt like dry grass under my bare feet. I knew I would miss it once we left. Only the faint starlight illuminated the living room, seeping through the silky curtains pulled across the large windows, but I found my way to the altar sitting on the wooden table by the wall and hesitantly picked up the small silver lamp. It felt almost weightless in my hand.

I didn’t think Mom and Dad would be happy to find out I’d taken it, but I hoped they would understand why once they woke up and noticed it was gone. It was a family heirloom crafted by Elarion’s RuneSmiths in the days long gone, whose light had guided my forefathers on their long journey towards Caeloria when the homeland of Elarion lay in ruins, consumed by the Darkness. They would understand….

I whispered the word of power, hoping it would be enough to light the lamp, and smiled when the soft glow emanating from the small crystal, held by a piece of intricate silverwork shaped like a half-open lily, appeared. The light wasn’t bright, old artefacts relied on the strength of the user to power the spell, and I was too young to be able to light it fully, but it was enough to illuminate my way.

A cold gust of autumn wind made my gown swirl the moment I stepped outside. Instinctively, I shielded the lamp with my shawl, even if I knew no wind could extinguish its light, and walked towards the road, feeling the dry leaves crumbling under my feet. It was colder than I’d expected as I made my way through the empty streets, barely illuminated by the few still-working street lamps left to illuminate the once bustling city. I still remembered the hustle of the crowds and the colourful skids soaring above our heads, but now only my quiet footsteps echoed between the empty buildings. Once we’d left, the city would go completely dark, and only silence and dry leaves would fill its streets…

I brought the lamp closer and shivered as a cold gust swept down the road, leaving my gown sparkling for a few moments before it faded and I heard a rustling that wasn’t leaves. I halted and lifted my lamp in the direction of the sound. My gaze fell on one of the empty houses to my left, and in the soft light of my lamp, I saw a family of squirrels scurrying between the dry leaves that littered the porch. One of them, an old one with a long grey tail, paused and stood on its hind legs, attracted by the light, before hesitantly making its way towards me. I crouched down and extended my hand to pet him, regretting not taking any food with me. Not that he needed any, judging by his look, but it would still be a nice way to say goodbye to all these beings who would stay behind when we left. Would they miss us as much as I would miss them…?

He sniffed my hand, and I managed to brush my fingers through his soft fur before he ran back to his family. Did they know what was coming…? Mom said nature knew its cycles, even if they lasted for aeons, but knowing it and understanding what it really meant weren’t the same. They were probably too small to fully understand that soon their world would come to an end… I hoped it would be painless…

Was Sylvaroth staying for them, to comfort them when the time came…? I wanted to plead with him, hoping he would change his heart, even though many had tried before me, but if that truly was the reason for him to stay, how could I try to convince him otherwise? It would only break his heart and make it even more difficult to see us leave. No… I would not ask him to come.

I slowly got up and gazed up at the dark sky. The Star of Ithildor shone brightly in the east, and I knew I would need to hurry if I wanted to reach the grove before sunrise. I quickened my pace, making my way through the empty streets to the centre of the city.