Billowing Brume

Blankets of fog passively wafted through the treeline,
muffling the sounds of the contained wildlife.
It was nearly choking in depth,
in positive volume...
Small rabbits died of the stress of zero visibility,
and the birds were too frightened to so much as peep.

All was still, but she.

The Maiden of the Mist walked beside her most trusted steed,
an elk of living metallic sinew.
Bold she may be, her steps were not even a whisper, nor his.
Even the trees held their breath,
observing her passage with unwary awe.
She, Lora, Maiden of Mist, seemed to become her title in bodily image,
wisps of her form fading in tendrils to mark her passage.
Eerie, unnatural...
Surreal.

Here, she searched for a certain being,
an ancient golem,
to ask him a favor for the time being;
newcomers would hardly understand the realm into which they are thrust,
and the death of them would reflect poorly upon her.
Keeper of the Forest, Aexyvival, did not normally accept travelers.

She stopped in sync with her steed, both their glowing gaze directed forward,
toward a mass of mossed rock, interlaced with the roots of the forest.
As one, mount and rider bowed toward this pile.
It stirred.
And was giant. Colossal.

"Aexyvival, I request an audience..."

As the slumbering giant roused himself,
the groans of his interlacing stones grit upon her ears,
And yet the creaking of his woody joints was soothing to the soul.

"New adventures await the masses this day. They are bound,
by chance or curiosity,
to happen upon the wonders of our land.
Charity, then, is all I ask of you in their stead.
Aid their passage, yet guard your secrets well."

It seemed apparent that he had heard her request,
if the low rumble in his gut was to be any indication.
Lora rose, her duty to those she would soon govern complete.
Unlike the majority of the rulers of the land,
she was much less inclined to rule with a show of force,
instead allowing her mystery to shroud her.
Never once had she turned her back on her subjects,
and she expected as much respect in return.

Without so much as another word she and the elk that accompanied her turned
and allowed the mist to swallow them.