Elthor and Amia

The story of Elthor and Amia is one that is told by bards and storytellers all over Kaigan. It depicts the fictional story of two lovers created by Jacalath Thefaren, a famous bard from the 48th century. It was first created as a song and later adapted in poetry, storytelling and plays. The story has a tragic ending and is often used to show the crowd the importance of trust and honesty within a relationship.

Setting

The story of Elthor and Amia is set in the small, fictional, village of Ervast which is located next to the Blackwoods, a forests with such thick vegetation that almost no light reaches the ground. In the story it is almost impossible to traverse the Blackwoods as, besides having thick vegetation, it is full of monsters.

Summary

On a particularly dark and stormy night, just after full moon, a lonely traveler enters Ervast. Completely soaked and shivering he enters the tavern in search for a warm meal and a place to rest. The tavern is empty, except for Amia, the barmaid, who looks in shock at the traveler. She notices his thorn clothes and filty appearance. Immediately she draws a warm bath and gathers clean dry clothes for the weary traveler. They exchange pleasantries and Elthor introduces himself as he is being cared for by Amia, telling her he came through the Blackwoods.
It doesn't take long for the two to fall in love as Elthor volunteers to help Amia in the tavern in exchange for his stay there. But just shy of one month later Elthor announces that he has to leave Amia for a couple of days. Amia is in shock when he comes back about three days later in similarly destroyed clothes and filty, just like the first time they met, as Elthor was normally a pretty clean and well put together guy. Despite this disapearance the two get engaged with the wedding planned next summer.
In the months following, Elthor leaves for similar periods of time and Amia starts to get suspicious. She asked Elthor about it, but he doesn't give a clear answer to his disappearances. After almost half a year of monthly trips Amia has enough. She is sure he has found someone better and will leave Amia one of these times. Resolute to find the answer, she follows Elthor when he leaves on a warm summer night. She is surprised when she sees him entering the Blackwoods, but decides to follow. It takes great effort to follow Elthor as he is way more skilled in navigating the thick vegetation than she is, but eventually she sees him go into a small clearing with a ramshackle shed.
After opening the door she sees heavy claw marks on the inside of the wooden walls. It takes a while to locate Elthor, but eventually she sees him in a hurry, chaining himself to the bedpost with heavy shackles. Before she can say anything, Elthor turns around, looking like a shocked and scared at his fiancé. He tries to warn her and get the shackles closed, but he is too late. Amia sees tufts of fur sprouting on his arms and his physique grows in odd angles. Fangs grow from his, now pointed, face and claws tug on the loose shackles and break free. Unable to move, Amia stands frozen as the wolf-like creature pounces onto her, clawing at her clothes and flesh.
Two days later, Elthor lays exhausted in the almost destroyed shed. Bleary eyed he looks around, unsure of what exactly happened, until his eyes meet those of Amia, bloody and lifeless. He gasps and starts sobbing, shambling towards the cold body of the love of his life. Remembering what happened before, Elthor gets up and walks to a loose board in the bed, grabbing a silver dagger from a small chest. He hugs Amia again and places the blade against his chest. The two were never found again.

Date of First Recording

48th century