Chapter 26: Journey to Elvenstar

Cyril agreed to meet Alissa in the morning and travel to Elvenstar with her.

Cyril had his Valkyries and Kronian's forces looking for their parents. So Cyril wanted to get Violet healed, and going to Elvenstar may accomplish this.

Kyra decided to return to StarRock and continue with her studies, and simultaneously go back and forth with Elendil to monitor the search for their parents.

She would join Cyril by portal once he reached Elvenstar, as she always wanted to visit the legendary city of the elves. 

As Cyril joined Alissa on her giant eagle, Kyra departed with Glorian on their eagle to StarRock.

Cyril sat next to Alissa on the royal eagle, which was as large as the eagle that took them to StarRock. They were encompanied by a team of 20 elven windriders, all the personal bodyguards of the princess.

On the journey, Cyril got to know Alissa better. Apparently, she was a 800 year old elf, but she still looked like she was only 20. She was next in line to succeed her father, the legendary King Aruthal of Elanil, the king that has ruled since millenia.

She happily chatted about her time adventuring the world, the most recent being 20 years ago with Layton Brightstar and his team, which also included Glorian, one of the most famous fire weavers in existence.

They flew over the portion of Grimdeath Forest that was within Elanil's boundaries for a couple of days when suddenly they flew into a fierce storm that appeared out of nowhere.

The giant eagle screeched as it tried to escape but it was being sucked into the storm. 

Cyril sensed something strange about the storm as time-space energies were flowing all around them. As he looked out, he then understood that the maelstrom was formed by a portal in the eye of the storm.

The elves were all frantically trying to assist the eagle escape the storm by trying to control the wind. Princess Alissa was a famous wind weaver herself, and she too was struggling to assist the eagle escape.

Cyril extended his hands and started bending the wind himself. Although it was not enough to escape the storm, he managed to form a cocoon of wind around the eagle so as not to get shredded by the wind.

Suddenly, a huge vine appeared from within the portal and grabbed the eagle and pulled it into the portal. The portal then closed stranding the elves and Cyril on the other side.

The vine's strength was incredible, it broke through the cocoon easily and crushed the eagle as it screamed its dying breath. Cyril pushed himself and Alissa out of harm's way, but several of the elves were smashed together with the eagle.

Cyril flew using the wind, with Alissa holding his hand as multiple vines appeared and started attacking them. The whole land was covered in vines, and the vines seemed to be sentient were actively attacking them.

They dodged several attacks from the smaller vines. The vines were smaller than the gigantic one that killed the giant eagle, but the vines were still the size of a human limb.

Several elven guards were also flying around them, but one by one they were caught by the vines and pulled into the vine forest below. 

Cyril and Princess Alissa flew frantically, hand in hand as all the other elven guards were captured. Finally several vines managed to catch both Cyril and Alissa and they were separated as they were pulled into the underbrush.