ArianaDS

For as long as Ielena could remember, she and her mother Alena, a Half-Elf, had been traveling for most of the young girl's life. They had moved from towns, shanties, even momentarily in simple huts by glades in the wood. Ielena grew up exposed to various races and their beliefs, and saw from a young age the differing dynamics between cultures—however much a child can comprehend differences in cultural practice. Throughout their travels, Ielena's mother had taught her of herblore, of which flora in various localities yielded various effects, helpful and disastrous, when duly prepared. Ielena often prodded her mother on the identity of the father she never met, and in these moments Alena simply either waved her daughter off, or quirked about a tryst with a lord from a faraway kingdom. Ielena would always dismiss the tale in anger, remarking on the pair's life of near-poverty and constant travel. By age 16, Ielena and her mother settled in the Kingdom of Oren, which at the time still licked its wounds from the Brothers' War. The two found a meager living in a village some leagues from the capital, where Ielena's mother set up a small apothecary. Most of Ielena's days were spent assisting her mother in the apothecary, gathering and ascertaining herbs in the nearby forest, preparing potions, and reading books on history and adventure. The young Ielena was obsessed with such stories, and yearned to one day lead a life of adventure—far from the damned fate of being a "husband's caretaker" women like her were often expected to be among human villages. Being an attractive quarter-elf, Ielena often had multiple men professing their admiration; she quickly responded with a resounding rejection, fearing that marriage would be the end of her dreams of adventure. Soon enough, the insatiable bibliophile Ielena chanced upon a fantastic tale of wizards, magic, and witchcraft. It was a massive tome spanning numerous volumes. And though the story was purely one of fantasy, it filled the impossibly idealistic girl with a desire to pursue learnings on the arcane. On her 18th birthday, Ielena vowed to uncover the mysteries of magic...no matter how far along the world she is strung for that purpose. It did not take long before Ielena proclaimed her desire to leave their small village to travel to the capital city of Providence. It was there, according to her, that she might find a wizard, whether living in secrecy or at the employ of the royal court, who would teach her of the arcane arts. To Ielena's surprise, her mother did not protest her daughter's planned departure. "You are the blood of your blood," she merely retorted, a response which only left Ielena confused. Though Alena made no revelations then, the truth was that she had ceaselessly traveled from city to city with Ielena in order to protect her. Ielena's father, unbeknownst to the girl, was Izarion Voldara, a noble scion and rogue wizard responsible for the practice of necromancy, and damningly involved in an incident 18 years ago that nearly led to the wholesale corruption of a druidic circle. The two were madly in love—Izarion was an aristocrat warlock, and Alena his lady-alchemist. Izarion, however, was consumed by his quest for power. Soon enough, he concocted a plot and sought to sacrifice his own daughter Ielena in a dark ritual. Learning of his intentions, Alena swiftly spirited the baby away, precipitating mother and child's endless travel to far-off kingdoms, never once staying in a single village or city for too long nor too conspicuously. Incognizant of the circumstances that befell her, and armed only with the desire to master her destiny, Ielena embarked on her lone journey to Providence. Only time will tell if the shadows that sought her, the shadows her mother kept her from, sought to haunt her still.