The Fireborn Chronicles: The Lost Maiden

Chapter 1: The Daily Life of An Outcast

It was early morning. The birds were chirping high up in the trees, and the sun was shining in the sky outlining the new days of spring. The grass whistled along the coast of the Hunspr Sea, and the crashing sound of the waves bouncing back and forth across the sand made the day even better. These days were her favorite days, and she wanted to cherish every one of them until she couldn't anymore.

She was lying beside a tall and old oak tree, which was positioned right alongside the coastline where she could see all the faraway images across the wide blue sea, to the seagulls along the coast, and to the faint images of dolphins jumping up and down the water. She loved watching the dolphins play around; after all, she was accustomed to seeing them from her favorite spot. She admired their playful attitude and wanted to be like them, with not a care in the world, and could roam the seas as much as she so desired.

But then she remembered who she was. 

Her name was Silva Dreida, whose seventeenth birthday was just a month or two away. She was an elf and an odd one at that. She was the only elf in her town, a town occupied by the people of Czésta who consisted of humans from the mainland. It was said that they had decided to settle down many years ago along with the many islands in the Hunspr Sea just a tad bit away from the country of Alagonia, which hosted the capital city of Czahunlia.

She lived inside of a church, near a town named Rolnik, and the caretakers of this church were nuns and priests. These people had set up an orphanage for children all around the country, ones who were abandoned by their parents or not able to be cared for. They worshipped the one true God, which was a practice that Silva had assumed that humans had created themselves and spread to many areas around the entire continent.

She had not known why she was here in this small town located in the middle of the sea where she found no trace of her distant race. The sisters of the church had explained to Silva that they had found her on a battered down rowboat along the coast of Rolnik, and they had taken her in and nurtured her when she was just a baby. These beaches where she had been found had always been the place where she would be the most, as her thoughts always seemed to expand imaginatively as she relaxed on these beaches.

Maybe there had been some purpose to her being here. Maybe she was a lost elven princess, born a descendant of the elven queens and kings of Ilasloyka and Rhunon and had been lost at sea not long. She had theorized this because the Hunspr Sea had opened and expanded along the great Pacifica Oceandí which then gave way to the elven homelands where she possibly had originated from.

This had given her hope, hope which was that one day her family who had been searching for her all this time had finally found her waiting in the small village of Rolnik and would take her back home. It had been sixteen years that she had waited and waited along the coast, hoping for them to arrive with caring and open arms.

She had always wanted to meet her people, grow familiar with their customs, and sing their joyful and somber songs that could be heard throughout the forest, but she never did. Instead, she had worked around the Rolnik church, dusting the cobwebs and other critters in the shabby basements and attics of the old building, and helping with dinner for all of Silva's other brothers and sisters who she had known her whole life. Around town, she would help sometimes with the local weaver or blacksmith, gaining some coin on the side as well from completing these jobs.

It was a normal life, as the nuns had said, that transpired among the people living in this town. This life was a life where the villagers would remain in peace and harmony, where they didn't have to worry about playing kings or queens or having to make important political decisions and have big piles of gold in their treasure rooms with fancy vests or dresses. They were common folk who lived a simple life with pride.