Faelynn Naïlo

An excerpt from "Night Mistress - The Balance of Light and Dark" by Martha Windwallow
"In her youth Faelynn was a free-spirited wood elf prowling the canopy of the Forest of the Fey. A skilled archer and tracker she stalked the trees hunting game, exploring the natural wonders and reporting her findings to the village chieftess. She trusted Faelynn as one of her sets of eyes and ears outside of the village. Their small village of huts was nestled into the tallest trees, their homes always facing east, towards the wayward sun. This provided them much needed light and warmth and contrasted the dark, dense forest below them. Trustworthy and honest, Faelynn always had the chieftess’s ear. She trusted her judgement, never doubting her - all the way to the end.
It was a night seemingly like any other, Faelynn was stalking an enormous boar. She tracked it across miles of forest waiting for her moment to strike. Slowly she followed the boar into what she thought was it’s den hoping to trap it, little did she know it was her that was walking into a trap. Once inside the cave it was evident that something was wrong, the temperature soared, the air thickened, sweat beaded across her forehead but she felt compelled to continue. Near the rear of the cave a pulsing mass of magical energy swirled about - a portal. The site was so incredible she completely forgot about the boar. At this point Faelynn was a moderately accomplished ranger but this was completely out of her depth, still her curiosity was peaked and she approached the swirling mass. As she peared beyond the edge and into the depth of the portal she could see a twisted wrought iron city gate and the boar walking towards it, only now, it’s body was twisted, contorted in completely unnatural ways. An eternity seemed to pass in the moments that soon followed. What was once the boar stood up, turned and all of the sudden was rushing back towards her. Startled, she fell back on her heels shocked by the grotesque figure. She ran faster than she ever had, every step felt like two, every fiber of her being screamed to get away. Running throughout the night, she never stopped, never looked back. She clamored through brush and bramble alike, her feet refusing to ease. Her only thought was that if she could get to the safety of the village, if she could get to that sunrise she could make it. She didn’t have time to think about how wrong it all felt as she scaled the trees as fast as she could. With her asslyum finally reached she took a moment to collect herself and finally check her trail for pursuers, nothing. She drank the entire contents of her waterskin and began to made her way to the cheiftesses hunt.
Even this late at night she could see a small light coming from inside, she quietly knocked and was welcomed inside. Once inside the chieftess could see that Faelynn was visibly shaken and began to question her about what happened but before she could finish Faelynn interrupted her, asking about the protection spells guarding the village. The chieftess found this strange, but assured her friend how the spells worked and how they shielded the village from the more dire threats of the forest. She reassured her that she performed the ritual daily just prior to sunrise and that it all but assured their safety. She even invited her friend to assist her if it would help her feel better. Faelynn thanked her friend as tears began to well in her eyes.
In one swift motion Faelynn spun around plunging an arrow from the quiver on her hip deep into the throat of the chieftess - a hunter knows just when to strike. Her eyes now a dead black void, Faelynn clasped her opposite hand over the mouth of her friend smothering her as tears continued to pouring from the black pits where her eyes. The full effect of the fiends spell grasping her mind even tighter now. She was powerless to resist. When it was done, she ran her fingers through the blood and viscera of what she had done. She began to draw symbols upon the floor of the hut, spoke an incantion infernal and broke the wards protecting the village. Seemingly as if signaled, fiends and monstous beasts raged throughout the village sending entire huts crashing to the forest floor in the process. The demonic horde feasted on the villagers with reckless abandon. With them being ambushed and the wards protecting them gone it was hopeless. The door to the cheiftesses hut slowly opened and what used to be the boar walked in. It politely thanked her for removing the wards, let her know that the spell would wear off at sunrise, then turned and left. It left the door wipe open so she could watch the carnage outside. Faelynn sat there eyes black, sobbing, paralyzed. The screams of the villagers echoed in the dark forest for miles but no screams were louder than the one’s inside Faelynn’s mind.
It was just then that she noticed first rays of morning just barely beginning to show, the sky a predawn crimson. When the sun finally rose Faelynn collapsed to the floor of the hut finally able to move of her own accord. Crawling to the door she creaned her neck to see if there were any survivors and horsely called out. 
Nothing. 
She laid there on the deck outside the chieftess hut and passed out, the stress of it all washing over her, she gave in to the exhaustion. When she finally awoke, she shrieked with agony and then roared with rage, her very soul ablaze and in that moment she made vow to her people, to herself and to those responsible that there would be justice. Resurrection magicks were beyond her and the village clerics were all dead so she lit the pyres, performed the rites to the best of her abilities and set out to take on the tortuous task of putting what was left of the villagers to rest. Once it was completed Faelynn set out, she was to begin a new hunt. One that would last her many years and take her to the ends of Avalor and beyond. Living off the land Faelynn never staying in one place for too long. She was always moving, pursuing her prey, watching and learning what she could - anything to give her an edge. She took odd jobs as a monster hunter in small villages, always away from large cities as to not to be too noticed. Eventually as time passed she honed her skills enough to be able to control the magicks of portals. The time had finally come, she would walk the horizon between realms and finally be able to keep her promise to her people.
She returned to what was left of her former home, one last time, for one last sunrise. There in the ruins of her former village she meditated, reaching out with her mind to open a portal to the place she saw all those years ago in the cave. She focused on the image of the twisted edges and corrupt angles of that city gate and she began to feel the her body vibrate. In a moment a shimmering swirl of energy was framing an image all too familiar to her even though she had only seen it once. She stepped through and the portal closed behind her. Inside she was waging her war, she listed every name and safe every face of every villager these fiends had slain. She moved with purpose and razor sharp precision, she was a force of nature. She blinked in an out of spaces quickly eliminating devil after devil, fiend after fiend, monster after monster. When she finally found the boar, for oddly enough whom she still had no name for, she simply called him “the boar” they stared at eachother momentarily. He calmly walked toward her and without a word his eyes ran jet black, she knew what this was now, she played along. The boar stepped closer, within arms reach now. He knelt down partially and began to ask how she got there but before he could finish she plunged an arrow deep into its throat. Now immune to its charms, she used her free hand to clasp its jaws shut, muffling its screams as she exacted her revenge making sure to make it as painful as she could. Her mission now complete she returned to the material plain, again amongst the ruins of her former home she finally rested.
Faelynn wandered Avalor for years before coming across an abandoned shanty tucked away in the swamps that would eventually become the Dead Marshes. She would dub her place of operations, The Wayword Sun, to remind her of what put her on this path all those years ago. It was from here in this seculuded place that she continued to hunt down problematic creatures and help the people of Avalor her ability to use portals always giving her the option of amnesty. Over the years others joined her cause, each for their own reasons and each seeking to do their part. It is with them that she founded the secret Hunter’s Guild and where she took on the mantle of “The Night Mistress”. To this very day, the current members of the Hunter’s Guild are still battling to keep the balance in the war that Faelynn waged all those years ago."