He had been at it for hours when he came across the oldest record thus far. It was writt en by the first scribes of the Elfin people, the scribes to the King, before they were divided.

I, Cyntree, scribe to the King of the Elves so write this account of the last record of his reign. Our people are fighting amongst themselves. They have forgotten the Forest Lords and the love for their creation. They no longer honor their creator or the King put in place by them. Triktapic, Tamsin paused over the name, he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. Trik was indeed the King of all the elves; it was him.

The King of the Elves has petitioned the Forest Lords. He asks that they relieve him of his duty for he is tired of his people ignoring his council, refusing to obey his commands. He has tried to show them mercy, tried to understand what it was that was tearing them apart, but he has grown weary. The Forest Lords were not happy with the King’s request, but they granted it. Written here is a summary of the terms by which they allowed Triktapic to abdicate his throne.

He would give up his Royal powers endowed to him by the Lords. He would become like the other elves.

His abdication would cause a split in the elves, dark and light, and his place would be with the dark.

He would serve the new Dark Elf King as an assassin, merciless and fierce. For if he was tired of being a loving King then he would know no love.

His appearance would be altered so that none would recognize him and his reign would fade into history.

Only one thing would restore him as the rightful King, only one thing will unite the dark and light elves and once again make them the Elfin race. The King’s Chosen. Trik would have to love his Chosen above himself, above his desires, wants, and needs. He must do for his Chosen what he did not do for his people. He must love her unconditionally through the peaceful times and the times of strife and war, no matter how difficult it became. He must recognize this love and choose it. Choose to love her for she will not always be loveable, just as his people were not always loveable. Once his heart has been restored to its once selfless state, then he will be King once more.

The Forest Lords gave him one last warning before they completed the request. Because of the life he would soon lead , darkness would begin to seep into his once pure heart. He would kill, torture, and destroy many lives before he would meet his Chosen. Their warning was this—if the darkness consumes you fully before you meet your Chosen, you will have lost your ability to love selflessly. For love brings life, life is brought forth in light, and if darkness seeps into every cavern, crevice and secret place inside you there will be no room for light to shine and no way for love to grow.

Tamsin sat in stunned silence as he read the last paragraph over and over. His Chosen. Trik must love his Chosen. Did he love Cassie? Tamsin could tell that he felt strongly for her, he was certainly possessive and protective of her, but did he love her? He was willing to walk away from Lorsan. Was that an act of love? But he wasn’t being honest with Cassie about how he would be walking away. Would the love for your Chosen allow you to lie to her or would it pierce your heart so strongly that you kept nothing from her.

No, Tamsin wasn’t sure if Trik loved her. And if he did he might not even realize it. He needed to speak with the Forest Lords again. He needed their guidance on how to move forward. Tamsin wondered then if Trik remembered the decree given him by the Lords, or if it was too late and he no longer had enough light left in him to remember.

~

Cassie stood in her room staring at the bag sitting on her bed. The bag Trik had left in the back of her car because it was supposed to have her dress in it. She shook her head at it as she thought that there could be no way a dress could fit in that bag, and if there was a dress in that bag then it was for a Barbie doll. She was actually a little nervous about opening it and found herself stalling. She took a shower, blow-dried her hair, then put on some makeup. But now there was nothing else she could do other than open the cursed bag and get it over with. Her mom had asked her what it was and she did not want to see her mom’s expression when she told her that Trik had bought her a dress to wear. So she just told her it was a surprise from Trik and she hadn’t opened it yet. And that was the truth. It would be a surprise to find out how he stuffed a dress for a grown woman in that tiny, blasted bag.

“Okay,” she muttered as she stepped towards the bed, “moment of truth.”

She grabbed the handles and held them like they were covered in flesh eating mucus as she pulled the bag open. She reached down into it and felt her fingers touch a handful of fabric. She bunched it up in her hand and pulled her arm out. She held out a piece of material and watched as it seemed to grow in her hand. She dropped most of it, only holding on to a small piece and the fabric continued to magically grow. Finally it stopped.

Cassie grasped it in both hands and spread it out and saw that it was a beautiful, black dress with a black lace shell over the fabric. It had long lace sleeves that allowed the skin to be seen and a V neck that plunged a little lower than she would have normally picked. She held it up to her and stood in front of her mirror. The dress hit just below mid-thigh, short enough to be sexy, long enough to not have to pull it down constantly.

She grabbed the bag off of her bed intending to lay the dress out while she got undressed and realized that the bag was not empty. She was sure there hadn’t been anything else in the bag when she had pulled out the dress. Peeking over the edge of the side she looked back into it and grinned. She reached in and pulled out black heels, the strappy kind that accentuate small ankles. She hadn’t thought about having shoes to match. Well Trik was good for one thing at least. She smiled to herself knowing that Trik was good for much more than one thing.