Chapter 1: At the Edge of Darkness
It is said that one of the greatest gifts we are given lies in the ability to make choices. Often we are told that we are at the mercy of Fate, and sometimes it may seem to be so, yet such claims do not survive close scrutiny. Feet may be set upon a path, but the way they travel on that path is directed by choice. One may even turn from the path altogether, if the strength is there.
Gaelen Taldin, a Wood-elf of the Greatwood Realm, had summoned her bitterest and most deadly foe, Gorgon Elfhunter, to stand before her that he might pay for his dark and terrible crimes. Gorgon was cruel beyond all reason, and he had tortured and killed Gaelen's friend, the gentle and steadfast Thorndil, only to announce his return in a manner that Gaelen could not ignore. Gaelen was a being of Light, and yet it was ironic that her choice to face her enemy had come from the darkest of emotions: hated, rage, guilt, grief. Her hated of Gorgeon and her grief for those he had slain had drawn them both to the very edge of Darkness. Her rage and her guilt had unbalanced her, and had fueled the reckless courage that had allowed her to summon him to this reckoning. She chose the battlefield.
Gorgon Elfhunter, on the other hand, had been taken unaware. He was normally so highly attuned to the dark emotions of his mortal enemy that he would live out the rest of his days wondering how she could ever have concealed her plan from him, yet she had done so. This pathetic, undersized She-elf, unsophisticated and unenlightened, had dared to put on Gorgon's ring, and now she had drawn him from his hiding place to stand before her. He was unprepared, confused, and not a little fearful; his body felt strange, almost as though he walked in a dream. There was very little sensation in his strong limbs, but there was weariness. A mist surrounded his enemy such that he could not see her clearly, yet as he looked into her eyes he knew that, although she shared his weariness, she did not share his confusion. Gaelen had walked in this realm before.
She had taken a desperate chance in placing Gorgon's ring on her own finger, for no one, not even the great artisan that had made the ring, had known what would happen if she did. The ring was meant to be worn by Gorgon alone; the Necromancer had given it to him, and it was his until he breathed his last. Gaelen was the vessel, the servant of the ring and therefore of Gorgon. She was never meant to control it. She did not know what would befall -- perhaps she would die, or turn to ashes, or simply lose her mind. Yet Gaelen would not allow such terrifying speculations to sway her, for she would confront Gorgon and make him pay for the dark deeds that he had done. It was the only way to be free of him.