The army of soldiers clothed in the United States Army attire marched onward, following their general off a lush Yosemite trail. In the back a soldier pointed his rifle at Ultheron’s back, prodding him once in a while to make him move forward if he slowed down. To Ultheron it was very annoying and he wanted to just turn around and kick him in the you-know-what’s, but he knew if he did that he will be executed. The General led his soldiers across a large meadow and towards a large forest of dark evergreens. A wooden sign stood at the foot of the forest that said:

Dangerous! Do not enter! Off limits!
Trespassers will be persecuted.

Some of the soldiers became wide eyed when they saw this sign. Why was it such a danger to venture into these beautiful trees? Was it because of wolves and bears? Many of the soldiers wondered this but never asked anyone about it. The sun was setting and the sky darkened as the General walked ever so deeper into the forest. Ultheron began to hear very loud guttural snores but couldn’t find the source. And then all of the soldiers stopped marching and Ultheron accidently collided with the soldier in front of him.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” The soldier said.
“My apologies.” Ultheron whispered. The soldier looked towards the front and grabbed Ultheron. He shoved him in front of him and the next soldier did the same. And the next, and the next, and the next . . . Before long he knew he was being pushed to the front.
“Watch and learn, Shadow Elf, as I put this fierce chimera into a terrible sleep!” The Xerain inside the General said. He pointed towards two unusually tall evergreens. Between the towering trees was a large creature. It had the body, legs, paws, and head of a lion, but its tail was twelve long slim snake heads. On the left of the deformed lion’s head was a large cream white goat head, and on the right was a large scaly green snake head. Behind the chimera was a dark cave but as Ultheron stared deeper into it, he saw a mass of white orbs of light. Though the orbs floated eerily about the cave, they seemed to be quite graceful. The chimera snorted and awakened. All of its heads yawned; the lion head showing its large sharp teeth, the goat head showing blunt teeth, and the snake head showing two very large and venomous fangs. The chimera looked down at Ultheron and the snake head gave him a kind smile. But when all of the heads turned to the General, they roared, bleated, and hissed angrily. The Xerain stepped forward.
“You are nothing more than a worthless animal! You do not frighten me!” The Xerain yelled. The chimera roared once more and bounded forward. It lashed out an enormous paw, but the Xerain dodged the attack cleverly and swiftly ran behind one of its legs and slapped a hand onto it. The chimera stopped. It lowered its heads and stared at the Xerain. The Xerain smiled evilly.
“What? Cat got your tongue?” The Xerain sneered. The angry chimera opened its jaws to roar, but no sound came out. Then the chimera looked down at its paws and whimpered. A strange cement gray crust was forming on its paws. It climbed up the chimera’s legs and the chimera gave a final roar of distress. The strange gray crust climbed up the poor chimera’s chest, and soon encasing its heads and swinging and hissing snake tails. Ultheron gasped at this horrid sight. What heartless person would harm such a magnificent creature like the mighty chimera? He watched in horror as the chimera gave one last muffled roar as the gray crust covered its entire body. The chimera had its last breathe. The chimera was frozen, encased in stone. Just like Gaedin.
“Now, that was some show.” The Xerain laughed. Ultheron glared at him. The Xerain turned around to face him.
“What? Never seen a chimera turned to stone?” The Xerain said.
“I can’t believe you would kill a great creature like that! How could you? Chimera’s are going extinct!” Ultheron shouted. The Xerain laughed heartily but in a sinister way. Ultheron closed his eyes and tried to block out the insane laughter. He had enough of this madness. The Xerain stopped his maniacal laughter and sighed.
“Ah, we better get going. Wouldn’t want to late for the – wait, what was that?!” The Xerain said. A twig snapped noisily followed by soft whispers coming from the north of the forest. Large and heavy footsteps echoed through the quiet woods.
“Okay people we need to get going! Everyone move towards the cave!” The Xerain shouted. All of his men ran forward into the cave. There were numerous flashes of white light as the soldiers traveled to Tellios. Before Ultheron could move forward, the Xerain stopped him.
“You go last, Shadow Elf.” The Xerain said, and chased after his men. The whispers coming from the trees began to move closer and easier to hear. Heavy wing beats vibrated the air around Ultheron.
“How could they have defeated Lionclaw?”
“It’s devastating!”
“We must secure the Portal!”
“We might be too late!”
“Our sacred chimera defeated . . . how could that have happened?” The ghostly whispers continued as the heavy wing beats grew louder and nearer. Ultheron heard footsteps dashing towards him and twigs and branches snap. Once the last soldier was through the Portal, Ultheron dashed inside the cave and was sent to Tellios. Right when the light faded away, a group of people dressed in green tunics and capes crashed through the trees riding on white horses. They all had pointy ears and soft tan skin. Above them was a person riding on a giant brown eagle. The man on the eagle rode down to the earth.
“We are too late; they have trespassed into the sacred world.” One of the men said, hopping off his horse. Another man followed behind him. This man had green eyes and blonde hair and wore a light green cloak, white pants, brown boots, and a dark green tunic. He held a long wooden staff in his right hand. The man knelt down next to the footprint that Ultheron had left.
“All these tracks . . . there must have been a whole army.” A woman in a green-white tunic said, looking down at the many footprints.
“Hmm, yes there were many of them,” The man with the staff said, studying Ultheron’s footprint carefully. “Look at this print . . . it seems it was left by a Shadow Elf.” All of the men and woman rushed towards him and knelt down beside the footprint.
“How can you be sure?” A man wearing a pine green robe and hood said.
“Look closely, Fernheart. Do you see how the footprint shines an eerie purple light? Do you see the other footprints doing this?” The man said. Fernheart looked around at the surrounding tracks. None of them seemed to be glowing an eerie purple light.
“It seems Oakwood is right. None of the tracks don’t shine the light.” A man behind Fernheart said. Oakwood beckoned a young girl with a long blonde braid and green eyes towards him.
“Hibiscus . . . go signal King Firoh! He must be warned! Tellios is in danger and so is this world! We are all in danger to recreating the Great War!” Oakwood commanded, and the girl bowed and ran back the way she had come. Oakwood sighed.
“No, not the Great War! I thought we have settled our differences with the humans long ago! This cannot happen after the many lives were lost when the Elves and humans fought each other!” Fernheart said. The surrounding Elves bowed their heads. Oakwood stood up.
“But why was there a Shadow Elf with them? Shadow Elves don’t form an alliance with unknown humans!” An Elf next to Fernheart said.
“Perhaps the Elf wasn’t forming an alliance with them. You are our scout, yes? Tell me, did you see his hands tied with rope or metal, Birchfur?” Oakwood asked.
“Well, his hands were tied with those weird metal rings. And when the general defeated Lionclaw, the Elf started shouting at him. But he shouted at him with a furious tone of voice.” Birchfur said.
“Okay, well, that answer’s your question. This Shadow Elf must’ve been held captive.” A woman next to Birchfur said.
“Yes, he must have been held captive. While we cannot enter Tellios without the king’s permission, we shall guard the entrance ourselves and make sure no more humans enter Tellios. It is a member of the Wood Elf’s race top priority to protect the sacred Portal from any tainted souls.” Oakwood said, and they walked back to their camp, leaving the frozen stone chimera by the Portal.