Chapter 1

Long ago in a far away land known as the Kingdom of Norad, there is a small and peaceful village. The small village known as Alvarna rests just north above the great ocean and is surrounded by the beauty of nature. To the north are the beautiful snowy mountains called the Padova Mountains. To the east is a lush forest full of life called Trieste Forest. And the west is a cool tranquil valley called Messhina Valley. The ocean has many nearby islands, including the famous Blessia Island known for it's summer climate and tropical fruit.

In an early Spring day, you can hear bells ringing in the air. These are not just ordinary bells rung by the church to hold service on Holidays. These are the holy wedding bells, only rung when a young couple are exchanging their vows in holy matrimony. The young couple is a strange pairing to most people.

The groom is a farmer that has proved his worth in the village by defeating many monsters lurking everywhere outside of Alvarna. The young farmer's name is Kyle. When he first arrived in the village of Alvarna, he had no memories of himself or his past. With the help of some new friends, he was given a home, a job, and a new life.

The bride's name is Cecilia. A beautiful young woman who was working as a maid in a mansion in Alvarna. Unlike most people in Norad, Cecilia is a half-elf. Her mother is an elf, and her father is a human. Like Kyle, Cecilia is not from Alvarna. When she was a child, she was born and raised in the small town called Kardia. As a child, she fell in love with another man who also had amnesia. But she was only a child and the man she loved is a grown adult. Kyle reminds her of her childhood romance, so she she quickly fell in love with him as well.

A year after they met, they both decide to get married and start a family. After they've exchanged their vows, they share their first kiss as husband and wife. One by one, the other villagers of Alvarna approach the newly weds to wish them luck on their marriage. Everyone wishes the best for them, except for one person.

From the corner of Cecilia's eye, she sees a close friend of hers standing against the corner of the church. A young half-elf man named Jake attends their wedding, but he is far from happy about it. Even though everyone already knew that Jake hardly ever smiles for anyone, he is especially unhappy today. Jake had always been against the wedding between Kyle and Cecilia for two reasons. He always had strong feelings for Cecilia, and he has a strong hatred for humans. Jake wanted to crash the wedding during the time they were exchanging vows, but he promised Cecilia that he wouldn't. As much as he hates to watch them get married, he would rather see Cecilia happy than worry about his own feelings.

Rather than congratulate her on her wedding, Jake decides to leave the church without saying a word to them. Even if he allowed Kyle to marry her, he is nowhere even close to accepting Kyle as her husband. He fears that if he gets close enough to them, he might do or say something that Cecilia might not forgive him for. So rather than looking at him, he leaves so he can be alone for a while.

Jake decides not to go home, the last thing he wants to do is show his father how upset he is about the wedding. So the place he goes instead is to the entrance to the Trieste Forest. He believes that everyone is at the church celebrating the newlywed couple, so he is sure he is going to be alone. The first thing he does when he gets there is sit on a nearby log and think about Cecilia for a moment.

He remembers the first time he met Cecilia. His father, who is a pure blooded elf, told him that they were having a new guest staying at the inn that he owns. At first, Jake thought it was just another human, so he was not looking forward to meeting her. But when he discovered that the girl staying over is another half-elf like he is, he quickly felt attracted to her. Her light green eyes and carrot colored hair were features that he liked the most. Her ears were short for an elf, but definitely longer than any human's. Because they were both half-elves, Jake felt that they were meant to be with one another.

Then he thinks of the day when Jake proposed to Cecilia. He knows it was a bit sudden, but he already saw that her heart was being captured by a human. Even after threatening Kyle, he still got closer to Cecilia. So instead of fighting Kyle, he thought that he would propose first. But unlike Jake, Cecilia wants humans, elves, and monsters to get along with one another. As long as Jake hates humans, she will never share the feelings Jake has for her.

Thinking about how he let a human take the woman he cares about upsets him even more. He cannot help it, it's all he can think about at that moment. He places his hands in his pure white hair, and tries to think about something else. But all that flows through his mind is the voices of Kyle and Cecilia as they exchange their vows. The anger he feels makes his light brown eyes tremble.

As Jake continues to think about Cecilia and Kyle's wedding, someone else walks into Trieste Forest entrance. A young female traveler that who just arrived in Alvarna recently. This young girl's name is Yue, a traveling merchant who visits many villages, towns, and even cities in a quest to meet as many different people as possible.

Yue is unique to the Kingdom of Norad. She is from Japan, a country far away from the kingdom. Other girls wear dresses, Yue loves to wear short Kimonos that hangs just below her waist. She has long very dark blue hair which is an uncommon hair color for humans. Since the Kimono does not cover her legs, she wears extremely long socks that covers what the kimono does not. Even her footwear is unique, wooden clogs that resemble sandals. She has large blue eyes that are very attractive to most men, and her hair has flowers, feathers, and other Japanese ornaments decorated in each side of her head.

She arrives at the Trieste Forest entrance carrying her large backpack full of goods she sells. As soon as she gets there, she quickly notices Jake sitting there completely frustrated. Yue and Jake had ever spoken to each other before. Mainly because of Jake's hatred to humans. Yue doesn't find Jake unattractive, but he can dress a bit intimidating for her. Unlike most people, Jake dresses in leather armor and always carries a sword. The single earring on his left ear makes him look especially aggressive.

The Trieste Forest entrance is one of the places where Yue sells goods for people who wish to explore monster infested areas. Since Jake is sitting there, she wants to go find somewhere else to sell her goods. But seeing that Jake looks like he may be troubled, she thought that she could do something for him. Maybe talk to him to see if there is something she can do.

Yue walks to him quietly. She may want to help him, but he already looks upset. The last thing she wants to do is provoke him in any way. But even as she is standing next to him, he doesn't notice her at all. His mind is stuck on the fact that Kyle has married Cecilia.

She doesn't know why, but she dares herself to tap him on the shoulder and say, “hey-”

As quick as lightning, Jake draws his sword and swings it at Yue's direction. Before she knows what just happened, she already has the end of a sword pointing at her throat. She sweats nervously as she looks into Jake's furious face looking back at her. She doesn't know what to do at that moment. She even feels that she may even get killed.

After staring at Yue's terrified face for a moment, Jake lowers his blade and sheathes it. With a frown on his face, he says, “it's just you, the merchant human. Don't ever do that again, I thought you were a monster sneaking up on me! If my blade was only an inch closer, I could have ended your life.”

Yue lets out a sigh of relief. Even though she just escaped death by a hair, she is just glad that Jake does not hate her. After taking a few deep breaths, Yue says, “sorry. . . But you looks so angry. I thought that-”

“Just leave me alone!” yelled Jake.

Yue sighs again and walks over to her usual spot so she can wait for potential customers. It can take hours before Yue encounters her first customer, but she is used to the wait. As she waits, things remain quiet for a while. Even though Yue is waiting by the entrance quietly, it still bothers Jake to have a human standing so close to him, especially at this time.

“So, is there anything bothering you?” asked Yue.

Jake looks back at Yue and yells, “why are you here?! Don't you have somewhere else to be at?!”

Yue quickly looks away. She just wants to help him out with whatever is bothering him. But she feels that she is only making things worse. So she just stands there, and continues to wait for customers.

About 30 minutes later, Jake begins to cool down. After sighing a few times, he looks to his right noticing that Yue is still standing there waiting for customers. Seeing that she hasn't budged yet, he feels that he might as well talk to her. With the exception of Cecilia and his father, everyone else in Alvarna is a human. He doesn't like talking to his father too much, and talking to Cecilia will not be an option now that she got married to a human. He's going to end up talking to a human, so he might as well hold a conversation with Yue who is standing just a few feet from him.

“Cecilia got married today,” he tries to start the conversation. Listening to himself talking to a human only frustrates him once again. He feels that stooping as low as talking to a human about his problems is an insult to his own morals.

“I see,” answered Yue. She may not be close friends to Cecilia, but she is a good customer to her. Cecilia does like to buy a lot of gemstones from Yue. Jake's feelings for Cecilia is not something new to her either. She wants to say something else to him, but she cannot find the right words to say. Would she just upset him more if she says, “I'm sorry that it wasn't you.” Or maybe, “You'll find someone else.” She doesn't understand the heart of an elf, she encountered many of them in her travels, so she knows that elves' feelings are different than humans.

After another quiet moment, Jake picks his sword up and begins to walk back to the village. As he leaves, he says out loud, “forget about what I said earlier. Humans are weak and worthless. You can't possibly help me.”

Yue sighs. She knows that Jake doesn't like humans at all. It's not uncommon, many elves do not like humans for one reason or another. But in the same time, there are just as many elves who get along well with humans. She doesn't know Jake too well, but she does know that Jake is half human. The anger he expresses is way different than an elf who truly hates humans. In most cases, Elves who hate humans would find any excuse to kill them. Jake could have ended Yue's life if he wanted to earlier, but he decided to spare her life anyway.

She can tell that deep inside, he can learn to get along with humans. Will she be able to find that part of him? She has no idea if she can, but since she does visit Alvarna every now and then, she might as well try.