The Forbidden Letter

The vampire sat enthroned on the roof of the old theatre in Britain, where he had met her, Tifatina Kain, on that fateful night. Raindrops were hammering and bouncing off the old stones of the theatre's structure. Alien and seemingly shifting, the stones were coming alive in the moonlight and thin streams of rushing rain. Nathan slightly bowed towards the stones, and as if obeying, he decided to appear where he had last seen the wood elf Yllaria.

The air felt purer in the forest, though he had no need for breath, he still appreciated the scent of moss and birch. The vampire realized Yllaria had activated and stirred emotions and memories deeply buried inside him. Something mystical had happened.

No rain.

At least not below the forest's canopy. And so Nathan began to write.

"Yllaria, come, I have bidden you to come.

Through words chosen most carefully and masked so as not to reveal the secret.

I saw you as a sentinel of the forest's nightmoon, and eternally you joined the spirits that surround the forest for Aeons, hunting those that threaten it.

I felt your presence days before we met, and like a fool, I mistook this for the night, calling you to come to her. And truthfully, I almost succumbed, eager to bring a companion into the invisible world.

This is why I now regret my words, for I realize the burden is too great for one as lively as you, enthroned on the chair of life.

Everything depends on what calls us, and where to. It is different for every... soul.

I only have one thing to offer; it is all I know at this point. A door to the invisible world, which can teach us, if we are wise enough.

But it can only be for those who care more about the invisible world that surrounds us than their own life. For those who cannot bear a shallow life, and are moved by the touch of the unseen.

For many, it is a path of blood and destruction that swallows them. Eternal pleasure; eternal loss. Unable to carry their burden, they care only about... blood.

That is why I ask you not to seek my presence, for you are in grave danger if you do."

Nathan

The vampire looked at the parchment he had written on, took an arrow, and shot it into a tree perpendicular to where they had sat.

Then sadness overcame him, thoughts of centuries of grief and loss. Nathan realized he would likely regret his words, and so he shot another arrow, doused in oil and fire, which penetrated the letter.

Then he vanished into the shadows.

What the vampire did not realize was that, just as he left, a gush of water made it through the canopy of the forest, perhaps an animal had stirred it, and the fire of the burning letter was quenched. Only two words remained visible:

"Yllaria, come."