Faira's fingers moved over the seal of the envelope, after she had gathered it up. The image depicted was familiar, but not obvious. One of the more prominent dark elves, if she remembered correctly, but his mark had been so rarely seen in her lifetime, even for a while before she had been born. Still, something about it pulled at her curiosity. She should have called for the guards and the priestesses of the temple of the goddess. If the parchment was cursed in some way or bespelled, they could surely discern it. But her curiosity won out over the need for safety.<br/><br/>Faira opened the letter. She scrutinized the words written on it. Some secretive ally would offer her a way out of this utter and complete mess? Was that even fathomable? The moon would reign over the sky in two nights, the moon would shift from it's pale color into something much darker, as if it were poured in crimson for a night. They believed it was a time to be born a new, a promise that the spring would return to the world and that the goddess herself was infusing the world with her lifeblood to see it done.<br/><br/>So she waited. The message had been so simple, she wondered if there was still some magic that the note might possess. When the sun faded from the sky and the moon, drenched in red, rose behind it, Faira stood on the balcony of her chambers. The note did not behave exactly how she expected, but her thoughts were at least partially right. The seal upon the letter melted, almost as if heated, but in a way it looked more alive than inanimate. It twisted into new words, revealing to her whatever this hidden party wished her to know. It was as simple as the previous message: it provided only location and a time. The next evening, at the once grand home of one of the long since gone elven noble families. It was a family name she had only heard a handful of times, usually as a warning and a whisper.<br/><br/>Faira's council had continued to bicker. She was not sure what compelled her to seek out this offer of escape, but she could not ignore it. She made the necessary preparations and the following evening, she ventured out to meet this mysterious party. When her carriage came upon the place, she found herself utterly surprised at the look of it. The stone of this grand mansion remained, but the woods that surrounded the grand building had worked to reclaim as much of the area as they could. Great vines twisted around the columns and trees grew up through the walls, as if rebelling against whatever architect thought they could create walls to resist such a thing.<br/><br/>It was something more than that, though. While many of the trees and vines were deep greens, there were some that had a decidedly reddish hue.<br/><br/>"Are you sure you wish to go alone, your highness?" Her guard, Aurora, asked as she exited the carriage.<br/><br/>"Yes. I cannot explain why, but it is best if I do, I believe." She replied. Faira had even let those at the castle believe her absence was due to a meeting with a visiting diplomat, rather than some unknown stranger. Something about the situation seemed to reaffirm the fact that she should keep this too herself.<br/><br/>With some hesitation, she walked toward the large front doors of the mansion. One was already half open, forced by those same crimson vines. It seemed to let out an odd creak as she entered, a sound that more closely approximated a distressed moan than the sound of a door on old hinges. It was then she felt it. Her ties to the goddess made Faira light and life itself in so many ways, but this place? This place knew only death.