[Central Continent, Forest of Dawn, Capital City of Elves]

(4 Years Later, Year 167)

Within the central region of the Central Continent’s Eastern Forest (which had now been named the Forest of Dawn by its residents), a beautiful city which had incorporated the surrounding giant trees into its architecture… was undergoing what seemed to be a civil war.

The once ethereal designs of the Elven architecture had been soiled by blood and ashes, creating a scene of horror as the Elves within continued to clash against each other with strangely carved out bits of wood that bore suspicious resemblances to swords and spears.

Clearly, the Elven Queen, Titania had not stopped advancing her race during the past 40 years, and they had even learned how to create weapons with the intent of causing damage. But what was the current situation?

And what… were those beings with Wings on their backs?

…

[Forest of Dawn, Capital City of Elves, Shrine of Life]

Not too far from the Elven Queen’s palace was the Tree of Life which still stood domineeringly at the very centre of the Forest. Its height was so vast that it pierced the clouds and its multi-coloured leaves were so vibrant that they tantalised the eyes, and just below, the Spring of Life shimmered with its green liquid and seemed to have greatly increased in size since the beginning of its existence, reaching roughly 10 hectares large.

Both of these 2 treasures of nature were extremely dazzling and it would be hard for anything in the vicinity to match its beauty, but just a few Trees away was a splendorous shrine that possessed many intricate carvings that seemed to portray both the Tree of Life and the Spring of Life. Its delicate designs and beautiful wooden materials were so eye-catching that it almost rivalled the Tree of Life in beauty.

What was more amazing was that this building was the only one in the entire city that hadn’t been sullied by the fires of war. Even the mighty palace was looking a little sorry! But in its defence, this was where the war was the hottest. People were dropping like flies all over the place and it was in total contrast to the tranquillity of the Shrine.

But perhaps… that had something to do with the fact that the very Queen who should have been protecting the palace was currently missing. Well, not missing to be exact, but she was certainly not anywhere near the palace.

Nay, she was currently within the Shrine and was prostrating herself on the ground with her noble head pressed against the floor and her eyes closed. She was completely alone and seemed to be praying quite fervently, but when this was coupled with her divine looks, it made her look like a devout shrine maiden.

This continued for 2 more minutes before the peace of the environment was abruptly broken and the Queen was no longer alone.

…

Green water that looked suspiciously like the water belonging to the Spring of Life had suddenly materialised in front of the praying Queen like a ghost before it quickly took on the form of a teenage girl. But even then, it hadn’t finished its transformation and other colours started to appear on the humanoid-shaped blob of water.

Soft white skin with a healthy ruddy glow, pearly white teeth and a delicate pink tongue, light green hair and eyes of the same colour, long pointed ears that stood erect from her hair, small hands with pretty green nails that seemed to be grasping a wooden sceptre? And finally, a shrine maiden garment with green hakama trousers.

A few seconds later the being became solid enough to look no different from an actual Elf, and yes, she was indeed carrying a wooden sceptre. But considering the fact that the being was obviously formed from water… was it really wood or did it just look like that?

Despite the bizarre change in events, the Queen hadn’t moved in the slightest and it soon became apparent that she had been expecting this. Not wasting time, she immediately paid her respects to the newly arrived teenage girl with her head still pressed against the ground.

“This lowly one greets the Heavenly Daughter.”

“Mmh…” the Heavenly Daughter noncommittally responded with a small nod, but clearly, this was the avatar of the Spring of Life, the self-proclaimed daughter of Eridel Domicus and the Anomaly known as Ciera Domicus. But how had she changed so much?

Previously, she looked no different from a 10 year old humanoid blob of green water with twintails. But now, even though she still had her twin tails, she now looked like a flesh and blood being. An Elf on top of that. Moreover, she seemed to have grown by 6 years in appearance (which considering the fact that she was actually 167 years old was quite deceiving).

How was this possible?

“Heavenly Daughter…” the Queen started cautiously. “Are you sure that you don’t want me to get involved yet? My- our people are dying.”

“I understand that. But when the Fae first rebelled 12 years ago, they didn’t even have the chance to cause a single kill before you had already killed over half of them, subdued half of the rest and let the remaining ones flee, including their leader.” Ciera responded flatly, but when she spoke about the leader, there was a noticeable hitch in her voice.

Even the Queen’s heart began to race at the mention of the Fae leader. She still remembered the blood-curdling green energy that she had only seen once before, the emotions that it had inspired within her and the chaos it had caused… Who knew that such an event would lead on to cause such problems within her recently established Kingdom?

“Now, our people know what rebellion tastes like, but not of the true repercussions.” Ciera continued with a wary look on her face. “Of course, they know that you would do worse to them if they were to rebel again, the Fae I mean, the regular Elves are as loyal as can be, but most of them think that if you did not exist, they could easily seize control.”

“This is why I had you stay in this Shrine for 2 years, Titania. I wanted them to learn.” Ciera said before turning around.

“I wanted to let them experience the repercussions of war. What it means for your friends and enemies to die all around you. What it means to fear each and every sound you hear and every motion you see…”

Ciera made a quick swiping motion across her face before sighing.

“Now they know.”