Elven

Chapter 1

Lucas's POV

I had just been woken up by loud music and singing. That, and some man spilled beer on my face. I sat up, my vision blurry, and began to walk out of whatever pub I was in. I walked out the door and looked up at the sign swinging above the entrance. "The Empty Boar", it read. Oh yes, I remember I thought to myself. I remember I got drunk that very afternoon and fell asleep on one of the tables. I walked, more like stumbled down the street towards my home. Since it had been raining previously, the streets sparkled like silver under the moonlight. Unfortunately, I had to go through the woods to get through my house. I tripped over roots and rocks and unintentionally snogged multiple trees. I wasn't even sure where I was or where I was going anymore. At one point I got so dizzy that I just had to hug a nearby tree to keep my balance.

In the distance I could see a glowing orb getting brighter and brighter. I had to blink a few times to get my eyes to focus. A few trees away stood a young girl. About my age, but much shorter then I am. She was peering at me from behind the trunk of the tree, like she was trying to hide. Not easy when you glow in pitch blackness. I didn't know if it was the beer making me see things, but I could have sworn there were wings extending from her back. She reached her hand out and made the "come here" gesture with her index finger. So, when you're drunk out of your mind, in the forest, and a strange glowing girl tells you to follow her, what do you do? Naturally I followed her deeper into the woods. She scampered off in front of me, but not far enough to where I could no longer see her glowing aura.

Her dress seemed to be made of silk and lace, her long black wavy hair shone from she light she was giving off. Her face was pale like the moon and achingly familiar. Her lips were full and her eyes were sparkling green with specks of gold. As she walked, the train of her dress flowed over roots and logs with ease as if the train were laced with water. Once I was only a few feet behind her I could no longer see her wings. She had either retracted them, or my mind was playing tricks. For all I knew I could be following a firefly to who knows where. But of corse I continued to follow her, not caring about these things. She stopped at a wide stream, turned, and looked at me expectantly.

She started walking on the water. No, literally she was walking on the water as if it were solid ground. The water sparkled like mint crystals from underneath her feet. She moved slowly and with more grace then a swan, and while she was about half way across the river I tried to follow her, but my feet sank right in like they normally would. I honestly didn't know what I expected. The water was only up to my knees anyway. So I waded across the river slowly with not much grace at all, and got to the other side in a relatively short amount of time. And there she was, hiding behind a tree again. She motioned to me with a nod of her head and flurried off into another part of the woods. And again, I clumsily followed her. She stopped at a boulder covered in a shroud of vines, and for the first time she let me get close. Now getting a good look at her face, I knew I had seen her somewhere before. Her name was on the tip of my tongue.

She reached up and sweetly stroked my cheek with the back of her hand and I closed my eyes.

"Lucas." She suddenly spoke, her voice as soft as a sigh but my name powerfully spoken.

A million memories came back to me, a million flashbacks and precious moments that I had once sworn to never forget.

Evangeline

That was her name. Soft and sweet like the way she touched my face.

"Welcome home." Evangeline drew back the curtain if intertwined plants to reveal a small kingdom that hade heavens depictions seem like the restrooms at "The Empty Boar." There was a castle that sparkled with multiple hues of silver and blue, there were rolling hills that were so perfectly green that they seemed to be part of a painting, and the small village was quaint and calm looking with its average sized stone houses and its huffing puffing chimneys. The streets were bustling with life and livestock, all the farmers selling their dues and the farmers wives selling fabric and looking after the playing children.

The odd part was, I did feel at home. I even knew some of the people I saw in the town. There was Quinton, a round man with a round face that tended the geese and harvested the snow peas. And there was his wife Laura, who was equally round with the exception of a third child on the way. Her jobs were to make and sell cheese from their goats, and to knit and sell silk doilies.

"Tharia." I whispered, the name of the place rolling off my tongue.

Something was licking my face. My eyes snapped open to a dogs wet, black snout directly above me. I sneezed and sat up, wiping the dog saliva off my face.

"You gotta leave hon, it's closing time." A voice said, soft and sweet like.....

I turned slowly. There stood a woman sort of on the short side, in a navy blue long sleeved dress that cinched her waist in a black corset. Her long wavy black hair was half tied up by a burgundy hair ribbon, and her eyes sparkled green and gold. I gapped at my dream come to reality.

But before I could get a single word out, she winked at me, and walked away.