Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 01

Silvertree Chronicles Book One, Chapter 1, The World Awaits (Enhanced Edition)

Synopsis: The life of Eldar Silvertree from graduation at the prestigious Elven Academy and desires to leave it behind; only to return full circle to shake Elven Society to the core.

***Inspired by multiple fantasy environments. Not endorsed by any of them. © EmotionalStorm April 2020. This story cannot be transferred to any other site besides Literotica.com without the prior authorizations in writing from the author and EmotionalStorm must be credited for this work.

Author's notes: Chapter 1 is a glimpse into the younger years of Eldar Silvertree. They are drawn from his journal entries. The main story is seen in Chapter 2 and beyond.

For those who have not read my bio, please note I write as a form of therapy for a Traumatic Brain Injury. I know the English majors will probably encounter issues that annoy them. If this is your only focus, instead of the story itself, then this is not the story for you. I am not and will never be a professional writer.

I do it to tell the story, for those who wish to read them. I originally submitted this story back in mid-2017 to mid-2018. I have worked to try and improve my writing style while struggling with this issue. I have added some editing software and written a few other stories. Now I am revising and editing this earlier work to try and bring it up to a higher standard from what I have managed to learn over the last few years.

Prologue

During the 6^th Era of the Dragon Arlos, the world of Tildar was a complex place. Wars existed between different cultures with the races being only mildly tolerant of each other. Intermixing of races was highly discouraged. Even between different groups of the elves such as Drow, wood-elves, Moon-elves, and even High-elves were considered 'impurities' within their own race let alone breeding with humans.

The Council of Dragons had formalized a method for all races to track the years of each era. All races had since adopted this as the standard method for tracking time in accordance with the Peace Treaty ending the War of Dragons. Each era was 1,000 years and was named after a different dragon that had passed on during the first 900 years of the previous era.

Dragons tend to take their time on matters so 99 years became the standard period for the Council to debate this simple issue. Prior to that time, each race kept track of time differently even changing calendars based upon the ruler at the time. Tildar had a few peculiarities like three moons. The first moon known as Darion was unusual in that it appears low on the horizon but only did so at dusk and dawn.

Darion was always a full moon. The other two moons were known as the twins and had regular lunar cycles, yet were not tied into a month as the phasing of the moons changed every day, With crescent moons appearing in the night sky every 8 days, facing in one direction or the other. The moons were extremely close together, so both moons would be in the same cycles. Full moons were considered a time of celebration and storytelling as the two moons had the appearance of the comedy and tragedy masks.

Chapter 1 Who Am I?

21st Janta 6942

My first journal entry; after 10 years of life one of the oddest things I had found is history. While history is recorded by scholars and historians, very little happened to be recorded from the firsthand account of those who were involved. What can I say, I read a lot and it is encouraged by my mother. I would want some means to have a say in any history written about me, not that I might have an interesting history. I took a quill to this journal to record my own thoughts. I decided to start with who am I?

I was born on the 5th of Septa in the year 6931 on the night of the double crescent—which is the easiest part of my life that everyone could agree upon. My mother, Elara Strong Oak of the wood-elves, and my father happen to be Heliar'vasius Silvertree of the Moon-elves. My name is Eldar Silvertree...sort of. My parents were never married having a yearlong romance during the Hordda Orc Wars, which ran from 6920 to 6930.

Both my parents were in their first century of life with my father approaching the end of his first century, just 20 to 30 years into adulthood when I was conceived. I was not just a bastard but an impure bastard. If I had been half-human, I would have been an abomination bastard! I lucked out in that regard. My father recognized me as his eldest child, though he was forbidden by his family from even considering marrying a Wood-elf.

My mother is a warrior, good with a bow and quick with dual blades. Longsword with shortsword being her favorite combination. While my father is a mage that had some skill with longswords instead of the quarterstaff. My features happen to be a stark mix of my parents. I had the olive tanned complexion of my mother and the silver hair color of my father. My eyes were another matter. Violet eyes are considered a rare feature in the moon-elf line and non-existent in wood-elf lines. Normally there were gold flecks in the iris or even no flecks in the iris when it did occur. Mine, however, had silver flecks in the iris.

1st Feba 6980

I spent the first 37 years of my life living with my mother and training with long swords and bows. I have been adequate with a bow and the swords which I have excelled at, especially for someone of my age. My father came to see me only once during this time when I was 35. He gifted me with my first true and only prized possession. An elven long sword made of red crystal. The sword was obviously very old and enchanted. Its abilities shrouded from any divination spell I could cast. My father stated he would not give me the command word for another 40 years and only if I took good care of it.

Tragedy struck in this year when my mother was killed during a border skirmish. I don't know when or where. The information not being shared with me. With no wood-elf relative willing to take me in, I was sent to my father's home in the Capital. My arrival in the Capital City of Aileron created havoc for my father, mostly for my father's family as he was away in business. He had been married for only 11 years and I had a half-brother named Elios'vasius who was 3 years old.

His wife was Vattia'Desua Silvertree, who came from a very wealthy Moon-elf family. The marriage was arranged to strengthen magical traits in the offspring they produced. Needless to say, I never met either of them. My father's family sent me straight to the Academy as soon as I arrived at the city gates.

Most students of the Academy lived in dormitories which kept me out of their sight. The academy went about testing me for different talents to figure out which path my education should proceed. Interestingly enough, my strength in swords was noted as well as a yet my barely tapped aptitude in magic.

My time would be split between the melee and arcane schools with a focus on magic initially, to get me caught up to where someone of my age should be. My sword skills were more advanced than someone my age should possess. Testing for arcane talents in the very remote parts of the kingdom was rare, my skills were far behind my peers which frustrated me initially. I started hardening myself to the ridicule that I was subjected to even further from both students and staff. I found solace and freedom in the vast libraries they had. I only hoped this path would somehow give my life some meaning.

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Deca 17th 6981

I gave up on making friends at the Academy. I had a few acquaintances. The history of the Orc wars happened to be a topic of interest to me. I have taken the time to read as much as I could on the subject given my parent's personal history in the last war. I went further back into history, over 5,000 years back to look over the history compared to maps of the Elven Kingdom. Hundreds of miles of land had been lost over generations. Entire sections of forests had not been replanted even after the last war.

Maybe it was the Wood-elf in me. I thought it should be important to stop the loss of territory. Maybe even reclaim some of it, if possible.

...

Septa 5^th 6986

Life in school continued to be lonely and difficult. Very few students of undesired lineages stayed long at the Academy. Some of the more intolerant bullies have gone to other easier targets as my time here has progressed. Some due to my last name and others because of my speed with a sword. Today, I turn 55. To my surprise, I was 1 of 6 students brought in for additional evaluation. I had been given no warning as to what this would entail or who would be doing the evaluation.

The 6 of us were broken into two groups and each person faced off against each member of the opposite team in the use of swords. There were over 30 people who watched the evaluations including one half-elf of moon-elf heritage. A rarity to be seen at the academy. He seemed to be leading the evaluation. The top three from swords then moved on and faced each other in terms of magical skill. The top two moving forward to face off in a head to head competition with a mix of both. I was selected to face off with a student who was 5 years my senior and from House Goldbar.

He lived for offensive spellcasting. I had been on the receiving end of some of his spells early on in my training and he was one of the bullies who had backed off from that stance after facing me with swords years ago. Still, he hated me and he was a better arcane, while I was a better swordsman. I mixed offensive and defensive spells. Knowing he would not immediately challenge me with swords I went and cast shield as I expected and got a magic missile thrown at me. I went for a melee attack that caused him to lose concentration and disrupted his next spell. I cast a mirror image after he disengaged.

I pressed forward with my melee strikes as his shocking grasp got one of my images. I gave him no room to cast spells after that and pressed the fight on him and would not give him any quarter to recover. He moved and I countered it aggressively. My melee attacks put him completely into a melee defensive position and out of his comfort zone.

He finally yielded after I disarmed him. The elf that conducted the evaluation was a half-elf Blade Singer Grand Master. He came to the academy to upgrade his status and to select an apprentice. Grand Master Yetto offered to train me. This was a 30-year commitment just to become a Master with a requirement to return to the academy every 20-30 years to be evaluated for Grand Master status.

Once a Grand Master at least one 30-year commitment to training another apprentice was required. Selecting an Academy student was desired but not required. If you defeat an existing master or Grand Master who has gone rogue in combat you should claim their ring. Any rings of fallen Masters or Grand Masters had to be returned as soon as practical. Any details of how the ring was recovered or obtained would also be given.

This was considered a huge commitment and a great honor. I told Grand Master Yetto I had not been informed what the evaluation concerned, as this was my first time in the proving ground. He stated it was irregular to not be informed beforehand. I told him I would be honored to be his apprentice. Maybe this could be a future worth pursuing. I had been getting more frustrated with the path of my training of late.

He seemed to be in a similar circumstance to my own situation as he did not fit the paradigm of those who taught here. He had been trained by his father and mother outside of the Academy starting at the age of 7. He wanted to be recognized as a Grand Master which he had just completed at his first trial and against the head of the Blade Singer Council.

Grand Masters could only be recognized through the Academy. He decided he wanted to take on at least one apprentice before he died, maybe two if he felt he had the energy. As half-elves have a very short lifespan compared to other elves. Some had made it to 160 years of age or just beyond. Nobody kept statistics on them at the Academy.

While my master understood my problems with acceptance in the elven community, he would not allow it to be a crutch or a motivation in my instruction. He had faced it himself and he knew it was possible to achieve that balance against prejudices. He expected My biggest competition was and always would be against myself and my own fears. Now the downside to all of this was a strict code of conduct. Honor in all actions in battle and protection of the elven people being the two big issues.

While I believed in helping fellow elves, those around me tended to only pay lip-service to the idea. When I finish school, I would look to leave the city as I have no home. I would either be an adventurer looking for lost treasures or a mercenary. Heck, I could be both to advance my skills. I have a long life if I keep my wits about me.

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Miya 15^th 6991

Every five years during this training Blade Singer apprentices faced off against each other in a tournament. My instructor warned me to not expect to win these competitions until my twenty-fifth or thirtieth-year evaluations There had only been a few students to ever win it more than once and they had never had anyone win them 3 times since the origins of the academy and tournaments. There were 30 apprentices at this evaluation and I was 1 of 5 first time competitors and I finished in 23rd place, top spot by any five years that came into the contest.

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Mia 15^th 6996 Era of the Dragon Vloxin

My 10-year evaluation, 32 competitors in the field with graduates having moved on and 7 new 5th years entered the contest. I finished 13th out of the field but another 10th year finished in 11th. She was a High-elf or gold elf with lots of family money, named Traylar'sune Goldensong. I found her fighting style to be unpredictable at times. As though she had been able to anticipate the opponent's next move in some cases As I had watched her previous matches.

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Septa 5th 6996

I received an envelope in the mail with a Silvertree logo and a slip of paper with the command word and the phrase to enjoy. I didn't put the command word into my journal as I don't want to spread that information around. But I did head out to a practice field and thought the words after drawing the sword and purple and blue flames flickered across the edge of the blade and the red crystal turned black.

The fire puts off torchlight but increases low-light vision range to almost double. The dark vision was an entirely different matter as they were originally designed to fight abyssal creatures and their minions, such as the Drow. This blade was definitely a one-off from being a 'Hells Blade.' They were all said to be of a black crystal that repels other light sources.

The sword carried a similar enchantment from blades I had researched, yet it was not one of those blades. It was said that the spell used to enchant the blade was lost to known memory, since before the first age. Something to watch for in my travels. Today also marked my move out of standard dorm housing and into the adult dorm housing. Not many adults still attending the Academy but because of our age and potential for sex, we are relocated.

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Janta 15th 6999

While this did not affect me personally, I thought it worth noting. The Council of Dragons was late in naming the next Dragon year Era—Trorgar. Apparently, the heated debate resulted in merging two dragons' names together in order to end the deadlock— the first time in known history. The two dragons in question Rogartus and Trobarim; a gold versus red dragon no less.

The council was typically made up of nine members; however, a council member fell ill and died mysteriously before the final ballot occurred resulting in a 4 to 4 standoff and no additional time scheduled to debate the issue.

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Octa 7th 7000 Era of Dragons, Trorgar

My voracious reading habit continued to get me into trouble with some instructors. Especially instructor Fleius, Goldenear. She shouted at students who got the data on elven treaties wrong. Then she shouted at me for correcting her on mistakes she has made in regards to the treaties. Does anyone besides the students actually read the treaties with our allies?

There was some great information that could be called into play from those treaties. The problem was they require a village capable and willing to support a multi-racial protection force to cover our borderlands. I brought this up in my argument with her. She flat out told me, 'No elf village or human town would support and house such a group. She did not know why the entries were placed in the treaties, to begin with. They might as well not exist.'

I would start reading the Dwarven treaties next week, 6 months ahead of the class schedule to see what they had on this. I just wanted to know how close we were tied to our so-called allies. I had always had a great memory. Instructors just hated being shown up by a student, an impure bastard in particular.

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Mia 15^th 7001

My 15th-year evaluation, 36 competitors in the field with graduates having moved on and 12 new 5th years entered the contest. I shocked the field by winning the contest this year while Traylar'sune Goldensong finished in 4th place. If her stare had been daggers, they would have plunged to my death. I found the tell in her fighting style and it wasn't something I expected.

Magical equipment was not allowed in the contest but I noticed a dim green light from under the edge of her armor but this only occurred when an opponent had cast an offensive spell at her. I could not come out and accuse her of cheating as all gear is inspected and I still managed to beat her.

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Feba 27th 7003

My mind was adrift with emotion. Traylar'sune Golensong would run a sword through me then spend 10 minutes talking to me. She had started to come into her own; more than just on the field. Last competition she managed to move up to 4th place but I am not sure how much she deserved. She spent time off the field between matches flirting with her opponents instead of watching their matches.

She figured out a way to distract them with her hips, but she appeared to be all flirt. What am I even thinking? She was not even of legal age yet? I need to keep my wits about me as she would be gunning for me. Her friends had even started taunting me that she was going to kick my tail in the next competition. Good thing I was in the adult dorms or I would not have gotten a moment's peace.

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Janta 6th 7006

Oh, by the gods, someone is out to sabotage me. What is the likelihood that two bards would fail an advanced music composition course at the same time and turn 75 within days of each other? Then be moved into the room next to mine when half the building was empty. I could hear them fucking each other in the nether-hole every fucking night. The night always started out the same.

First Jamous fucked Egis and you can tell by the different octaves in their voice. I swear they were trying to fuck in two-part harmony and worked the rhythm section to improve their performance. Then Egis fucked Jamous followed by blow jobs for each of them in the same order. The only time one of the two was quiet was during their sexfest.

The other made up for it by shouting "Oh Gods yes suck it harder." or "Stick a third finger into my nether-hole I am going to blow and I want it all over your face." Three hours later and they went for a second round. I asked for a change of rooms and it was denied. No explanation just denied.

I swear the person who handled housing seemed to be 'happy' that I was upset over those two. I thought if their instructor spent an evening or two in their room, he could see they could do advanced composition. They were well versed in percussion, voice, and playing of the skin flute.