There came a point in almost everyone’s life where they sat back and took a long hard look at where they stood, wondering how they could have ever gotten there. All of their choices laid bare before them for only their mind to scrutinize and analyze as if all the thought in the world could fix it. All the decisions and all their accomplishments. Lasair was not at that point in her life. Mainly because she knew how she got where she was, she just didn’t know how she was going to leave. It was a long story and a mystical tale, filled with mystery, intrigue and danger that lurked around every corner, ever ready to pounce. Ever ready for that one moment when her enchantment would fail on her and she’d be sent to this place. Might as well explain now that it’s even been mentioned...

It was a dark and stormy night...sort of. For starters it wasn’t night, but deep clouds of grey and black covered the sky, threatening to let lose a downpour unlike any other. Yet their threat seemed hollow and empty. As the hours dragged on no rain touched the ground and no lightning or thunder rent the tumultuous sky. It set the stage though, a wonderful stage, a majestic stage as one lone Fae adventurer stood before the towering Comb Mountains, staring her Fate right in the eye and dar—

“Lasair, please don’t tell me you’re lost again.”

The once rigid and sure shoulders of the petite woman fell slightly as she sighed and dipped her head, locks of hair streaming down across her shoulders and chest like rivers of blood. As soon as the uncertainty took root within her heart, her head shot back up, knocking the little man made of cloth from her shoulder and sending him spiralling to the rocky ground below.

“I’m not lost! I’m standing before an expanse of rock known as the Comb Mountains; therefore I know where I am.”

She nodded her head, shaking those rivers of blood that flowed down her back, the only brightness of an otherwise droll day. The small man she had knocked off her shoulder quickly flew back up and hovered inches in front of her face. His tiny and detailed body intricately and lovingly made of cloth looked exactly like her best friend Tristram right down to the last scale on his cute little wings.

“Remember what happened the last time you said you knew where we were?”

Lasair paused for a moment, raising her hand to tap her finger against her lips. “Oh, I remember! We got trapped inside of a village cursed by malevolent forces that wanted to steal our souls and keep us in that hellish nightmare, only with the help of Jame and Sivienna we eventually escaped our own certain death!”

Tristram bowed his head, realizing that for some reason, she was actually proud of how she’d handled that whole scenario; despite the fact that she’d poked a ghost in the face and called it cute.

“Come on, onward to the Cave of Wonders!”

“I don’t think the man called it that...” Tristram mumbled under his breath.

Having not heard him, Lasair quickly headed off towards the base of the mountain, grabbing onto the rock and hefting herself up.

“Uh...Lasair, there’s a path over here...”

“Oh!”

Hoping down from the rock, the small Fae headed over towards the path and began humming as she practically skipped up the side of the mountain.

Sometime later...

Lasair lay on the side of the mountain, a small plateau of nearly flat rock, her nearly flat chest rising and falling with her quick breaths as she stared up at that same sky. Her dark purple dress was strewn all around her as her limbs lay whenever they’d fallen and her rucksack rested against her thigh.

“Go on without me Tristram... I can’t make it... live... Tristram...” She said between desperate gasps for air.

The small plushie Draconian shook his head, “But Lasair, the cave is right there.”

“Huh?”

Immediately she perked up, grabbed her rucksack and rushed over to where Tristram was, floating in front of a cavernous and gigantic black opening in the rock face. It looked like the wide mouth of a monster ready to eat her. Oblivious to this fact, Lasair merrily skipped into the cave opening, with Tristram quickly catching up.

“Make a light, please.”

Tristram quickly did as she asked and the soft glow of a tiny orange and yellow flame cut through the darkness of the cave, creating harsh shadows along jagged rock. With him lighting the way, the two of them began exploring the darkest depths. After a time, the two of them came to a massive opening in the cave and in the centre of it a gentle, blue glow filled the room, clashing with the orange light of the flame. At the centre of that glow lay a cluster of crystals on a small stone pedestal.

“There they are, Tristram...”

Quickly, Lasair hurried over to the crystals, slipping her rucksack from her back and placing it on the ground. Using both her hands, she wrapped her little fingers around the ice cold crystals and picked them up.

“Lasair?”

“Almost done.”

Opening the top flap of her rucksack, she gently lowered the crystals inside, cutting off much of the light and casting the room into darkness. As she did, Tristram began tugging on her dress.

“Give me a minute.”

“Lasair!”

Closing the flap on her rucksack, Lasair turned with a curse on the tip of her tongue, one that quickly crawled back into her throat and died somewhere along the way. Just feet away from them lay ten pairs of glowing red eyes attached to narrowed faces covered in white fur and hiding long, pointed sharp, fang thingies protruding from long muzzles.

“Meep.”

Reaching into her rucksack, Lasair wrapped her fingers around an escape talisman and pulled it out, quickly slamming it on the ground and breaking it. The world around them exploded in white, warped and then everything ceased and left her with no senses.

She came to sometime later on a small dirt road in the middle of a village with a number of children and adult humans staring at her in fear, wonder and worry. The second thing she noticed was how cold it was and the strange, white fluffy things that gently fell from the sky.

That was how she ended up here, in this cute and tiny, bright and cheerful tavern. The enchantment on her talisman had malfunctioned and sent her here and here happened to be a town called Denfrai in the region of Salvar. She knew of the region but had never been there before. It seemed barren to her though. Cold and barren but at least the humans were friendly, once they got past the wings and the talking plushies that kept her company. Talking plushies that were perched on the bar counter next to her, drinking down pints of the local ale. Avery was practically on the verge of passing out as he boasted to Tristram that he could drink him under the table. Godhand just ignored the two of them and sat on the other side of her, quietly drinking his ale and keeping a wary eye out for those in the tavern. He always acted like a bodyguard for her and she just thought it was so cute! It made her want to hug him until his head popped off.

He didn’t need to though. The townspeople had been nothing but nice to her, especially as the only person currently staying in the Inn. Well, she had been anyway, but this morning a group of men had shown up and quickly rented out most of the other rooms. Some of them had worn odd robes while others had looked like soldiers. Most of the townspeople had been wary of them, though Lasair didn’t know why. She’d barely seen them since they showed up. They spent most of their time away from the village as if looking for something.

Reaching for her glass, Lasair took a small sip of the sweet liquid—ice wine as the locales called it—and picked at the platter of bread and cheese in front of her. Soon she would need to figure out how to leave this place, but right now she was enjoying the peacefulness that seemed to surround the village.