A new sunrise

Defeated but determined, Elyrielle got home when the sun was setting. Her husband would arrive later, when the night takes over. This meant that she had at least one hour to herself. Good, that is enough.

She went to their room, grabbed a bag, and started packing. Comfortable dresses, comfortable shoes, a canteen, a rusty knife, a little bowl, her lost but still trustworthy bow, arrows (of course), and some fruits to eat for now. She grabbed her bag and gave their home one last look. She didn't feel sad, she didn't feel happy... she felt empty. That reinforced the idea that leaving was the right choice.

As a last act of kindness, she decided to leave a note. She casted a piece of paper and an old pen. The note said something along the lines of:

"Elthar, my dear son, I must leave to find meaning to my unanswered questions. I, sadly, found out that I now suffer from the so feared elder's fog. This means that my old self would most certainly disappear little by little, and I don't want you to see that. All of that said, please, understand my decision. Be a better elf, a better adventurer, a better person. I love you, I always will."

"To my husband, Lirienor, dear. I lived centuries with you, made my life, and took life choices around you. I know that our marriage was arranged, I know that you did it because you wanted our son to inherit your intelligence and my magic abilities. But still, even though you don't, I do worry about you. So, as my last request. Let me go, be happy, find your happiness. We don't need to live together and make miserable the other forever. It's not fair for any of us. Don't look for me either. I made my mind, and I'm not coming back. Where would I go? What will I do? Only time will tell. All that you need to know is that I do this because I suffer from Elder's fog, and I don't want to keep living a life that makes me feel empty. Live your life and leave the memory of me behind forever. This is my final goodbye."

Once she was done, she left the piece of paper on the dinner table and left. She took Spotty with her as well. After all, it was hers. All hers.

She decided to go and look for his father. The all-powerful King of elfs was living his best life at Ry'kloth. This was a continent away, but she felt that she didn't have anything to lose anyway. So, she went north, towards the first town that she would need to go across, Lyroz, the town of magicians.

The night caught up with her, and she needed to rest, so she decided to make a campfire to rest for now.

She found a beautiful big tree and chose that spot to camp. With her magic, she tried 4 times to cast fire but was unsuccessful. "I guess I would need to rely less on magic." Elyrielle grabbed sticks and rocks and started a little but stable fire.

The temperature started to drop. The fire was not enough to keep Elyrielle warm, so she curled up in a ball close to the fire to avoid the cold. It wasn’t working. Shaking, Elyrielle started questioning herself. After all, it's been years since she even left her house for something else other than going to the market. Now, for a glimpse of hope, she thought that she could survive in the wild. How stupid.

Right then and there, a crow landed on the tree under which Elyrielle was, with yellow glowing eyes, opened its peak, and a familiar voice came out from it:

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Elyrielle laughed out loud. A sour laugh. Her wife told him that she had a life or death, well, more death than a life situation, and he chose to scold her about it? She would rather die out there frozen to death that spend one minute hearing his complaints again. There, she remembered. You need magic to send a message through an animal like that. That also meant that she could absorb that magic and use it.

She started laughing again, her lips blue because of the cold. She used her hand, reached for the crow, and grabbed it. She out all her concentration on to that crow and saw its glow. She finally could start extracting the magic from the animal. The pure magic, golden and glowing, got out of the animal's body as a shining orb.

She redirected it to the little fire that she had, and boom! With an explosion, the fire became big and hot.

Elyrielle burst in laughter. His idiot husband helped her for once. The animal finally woke up from the "magic sleep" (that is the phenomenon that happens once magic is taken out of you. It doesn't hurt. It just makes you fall asleep for a few seconds)

She grabbed the bird, petted its head, and gave it a soft kiss.

- Sorry about that, my friend. Go and fly to your home, okay?

The bird responded "home" and flew away.

Maybe from exhaustion, maybe because she couldn't use magic properly anymore, but Elyrielle finally fell asleep. Her loyal friend, Spotty, lied down by his side and both sleeped through the rest of the night.

She woke up with the first rays of light of the sunrise. She stared at the sun for what seemed for whole minutes. For some reason, she thought that it looked beautiful. Big, yellow, and shiny. As her eyes used to look when she was younger.

Her first day on her own was hard, but she managed to survive. That surely meant that her journey wouldn't be easy. But she was ready to go through it.

She hopped on Spotty, and they both went towards Lyroz. It was just a few meters away now. With a new sunrise behind her, her journey to the truth just started.

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