male sitting on a throne created from living trees that had been twisted together as saplings. His bulk reclined on them as pearl-white eyes narrowed in his hard face. His lashes were thick and black so that his eyes appeared to be thickly outlined in kohl like some desert denizen, offsetting his glowing eyes against the marble hue of his face. He was the picture of menace as he shifted his weight onto the forearm braced on his throne and glared down at the male bowed before him. A nymph with long blue locks of hair spiraling down her back approached him hesitantly, but he waved her off as he focused on his supplicant.
“What is one of the aelven court doing in the depths of the Eternal Forest?” he growled. “Do you not have enough with which to keep yourself occupied in the northern woods of your kingdom, Prince Bilban?”
The prince stood warily, his shining armor almost painfully luminous. “It is not that we wish to disturb you, Silvas, but my sire thought it prudent to send word to you.”
Silvas sank back into his throne and smirked, the adornment between his antlers clinking. Throwing up a graceful hand, his obsidian claws flashed as he gestured for the prince to continue. “What is it that King Emidoran thinks he knows of the Eternal Forest that I do not?” he asked silkily.
If the male shuddered beneath his stare, it was slight. How disappointing. So little reaction. The tightly controlled aelven people always failed to be entertaining. Silvas sighed and waited impatiently as the prince bowed again.
“I bring warning of disturbances in the northern wood.”
“Disturbances?” Silvas interrupted, brow furrowing. “What do you mean by disturbances? I trust this is more serious than puckish fae… Surely you would not waste my time with such things.”
“It is quite serious, lucomo. There are reported sightings of things unnatural within the woods. Things that have been long since buried in our world when they used our forests to enter the world of men. None of us considered that the expansion of the Eternal Forest might break old magics keeping them tethered, but we are afraid that this may be the case. They are venturing into the human world once more. There are… disappearances.”
Silvas scowled. Impossible!
“Clarify.”
Bilban took a breath and met his eye. “Humans, lucomo. Whatever is coming out of our forests is taking the humans from their world. We find remains, at times near our kingdoms. They are terrible. We fear it may only be a fraction of the losses suffered in the human world. They are awake and feeding.”
“What of Freyr, the lord who holds dominion over your world? Can he do nothing to preserve the human life at your borders?”
“The gods are restricted by the Fates. You know this as much as we do. Perhaps more so, I would wager, as ancient as you are. He aids as he can, but ultimately this is in our hands.”
A low growl rolled out from Silvas’s chest as his long, leonine tail flicked in agitation beside the seat of his throne. It cracked in the sudden stillness of his throne room.
“So you come to me…”
The aelven prince nodded, paling ever so slightly. “You are the oldest among us, the ruler of the Eternal Woods themselves. Although you do not interfere in the various domains that inhabit this world, it was only natural that we would seek your counsel. You possess considerable power to even pass easily between worlds. Did you not assist against the infernal creatures when they broke through into the human realm?”
“My role in that was small, to say the least,” Silvas growled. He cocked his head, curious. “Are you not afraid that I will bring my terror through your sunlight, wood aelf? Is that not what your polite courts think of all silvani, that we are brutes of the wild woods who bring destruction and mayhem to any civilization we encounter? And I, the silvani lucomo, the king of all the silvani, am the worst of them all… Am I not?” he purred.
The male stiffened and met Silvas’s gaze. Finally, he was able to catch the slightest perfume of fear from the aelf. It delighted his senses, feeding his pleasures. He inhaled slowly, drinking it in. Such sweet elixir.
“The silvani are known to be… unpredictable… in behavior, but careful guardians when it comes to the forests themselves. As the threat comes from the depths of the Eternal Forest, we humble ourselves before you. As of