F’tang. The arrow flew past her shoulder and narrowly missed her head. It embedded itself in the wall. Lyka rolled onto her back and leaned back against the wall. The orc across the room from her smirked at her and began to put his bow away, readying his sword instead. Lyka scanned the room she was in. There was a splintered table lying in the middle, with the remains of chairs scattered around it. The orc slowly began to walk towards her, not expecting much of a fight. He stepped over the remains of the table and loomed over her. He raised his sword, Lyka twisted her right leg around his and pulled the orc to the ground with one swift motion. She raised herself up and stomped on the side of his face, rendering him unconscious. 
Now I can do what I came for, she thought as she walked to the other end of the room. She exited and walked down a long hallway leading to the foyer. It was a right turn that got her into this situation in the first place, so she decided to try her luck with the left side. The door led her into another hallway, with only two rooms connected to it. She walked towards the only one with a standing door and kicked it open. Pieces of paper scattered the floor, but that didn’t matter to her. What mattered to Lyka, was the desk in the center of the room. She approached it and began tearing open cupboard after cupboard. They were all empty, but then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something. 
There was a small crack on the side of the desk, halfway to the ground. She quickly slid her hand into the crack, and it revealed a hidden door. Inside was what she was looking for, her mother’s ring. This ring was the key to her parents’ freedom. 
Lyka’s parents have been trapped in the third plane of Aelyn for 5 years, and she had spent that entire time searching for a way to rescue them. Her mother, in her last goodbyes before being sent away told her that this ring would be the key to their rescue, and told her of its last known whereabouts. It was not an easy journey for Lyka, it took years of dedication and searching for her to reach this moment. 
I just hope I’m not too late. She thought to herself. Everyone knew that being outside the 1st plane of Aelyn could corrupt the mind, but there were very few people who had been stuck outside of the 1st plane for extended periods of time. 
Now that she had her ring, it was time for her to return to her parents. After all these years, it was time for her to see them again. 
She left the remains of the old log cabin and walked to the nearby road. All around her was quiet. Once the Orcs invaded, whatever hustle and bustle that once existed in these hills was now gone. The only noise still remaining was that of the nearby blue jays, who continued their lives as normal. Lyka continued down the road until she came to a nearby crossing. There was a sign, nearby that read, “Carriages! Anywhere in Aelyn for 10 gold!” The prices are going up, ugh, she thought to herself as she reached into her pocket for any change. She managed to scrounge up eleven coins, just enough for the trip. She walked over to the sign and looked around for a nearby carriage. None were in sight. “Well this is worthless,” she thought out loud. She turned around, and just as she was about to walk away, she heard wagon wheels slide against the dirt behind her. 
“You rang?” the driver asked. 
“Take me to Anore and stat,” she said as she handed him 10 of her gold coins. 
“Anore it is, get in, it’s a long one,” he spoke. Lyka opened the carriage door and climbed in. She sat down onto the barely covered wooden seat carved into the inside and closed the door to her side. The carriage driver was no-nonsense, just like her, she was glad to see someone that didn’t go on and on with unnecessary dialogue. She leaned back and nodded off. 
After what felt like days, they arrived around the outskirts of Anore. Lyka opened the door and stepped outside. The driver sped off immediately, onto his next station. Lyka looked around her surroundings and took it all in. The trees all around were still, and there was barely any noise from the surrounding wildlife. Something was off, and Lyka knew it. She raised her eyes towards Anore and noticed a large plume of smoke drifting from the city. A look of fear flashed across her face, and she ran towards the city gates in a panic. The gates stood strong, but beyond them was chaos, she stopped and stared in awe. 
While she was gone, the Orcs had come. The buildings she had loved as a child were on fire, there were piles of armor and weapons scattered across the ground. She stared on in horror. Three appeared out of the scraps of a nearby building. Rage flew across Lyka’s face. She walked towards them, making sure she was in their field of view. The orcs laughed when they saw her, thinking she was no match for them. They brandished their axes and moved to surround her. She walked a little closer and waited for them to make the first move.  
The orc to her left walked closer to her, lifted his ax, and swung down hard towards her head. She sidestepped to her right and kicked his left knee out from under him. He fell onto his knee and she swung her leg and kicked the back of his head. He fell limp onto the ground and the orc towards the middle swung impulsively sideways towards her. She ducked underneath and sidestepped behind him, while the other orc came charging towards her. In a blind rage, he swung at her., she stepped to the side once more and watched as the ax went right into the forehead of the second orc.  
He screamed in pain as the third orc dropped the ax and swung his fists at her. She quickly parried with her own strikes and snapped his elbow over her arm. She threw him to the ground and kicked his side, still enraged by what they had done. 
She looked back towards the city square and saw what remained of the house she grew up in. It was still standing, but smoke billowed out through a hole in the side. She ran towards it and kicked down her front door.  
“Stop running through the halls Lyka!” She could hear almost hear her mother scolding her as she darted through her childhood home. 
She ran through the hall and remembered being scolded for doing the same as a young girl. The hall was sparsely decorated, and except for what was scattered on the floor, was exactly as she remembered. She ran down the hall towards the side of a staircase leading up to her old bedroom. There was a small door into the side of the staircase with a small hole just above the door handle.  
She had never actually been in this part of her home before, but the last thing she remembered about her parents was seeing them enter this room. Her mother talked in detail about if something were to ever go wrong and her parents were to be trapped down there. When she was younger, Lyka never knew why her mother would tell her such things, but after that day five years ago, she understood clearly. 
She pulled the lost ring out of her pocket and slid the small diamond on the tip into the hole above the door handle and twisted. There was a small click, and the door unlocked, Lyka twisted the handle and opened the door slowly. She hesitated for a second before venturing further, not sure of what she would find. 
Into the corridor, she went. Having to crouch as she entered the tightly fit stairwell. Slowly, she continued to venture down the stairs. She walked onto the staircase and into the entryway to the basement. The wood walls became stone, and the light became dark. There were small sconces on the walls with ashes of long burnt-out torches. Now realizing she needed light, Lyka quickly walked out of the basement and ran into what was left of her kitchen. There was a small cabinet near the table where, if she remembered correctly, there would be torches. She opened the cabinet, and inside was one last torch, and an almost empty box of matches. She set the torch on top of the cabinet and opened the box of matches. She opened it and lit up the torch. With a warm glow, the flame kept steady. Lyka held the torch in front of her and ventured back into the basement. 
Holding the torch steadily in front of her, she walked down the old stone stairs. From the looks of the moss growing alongside, she realized this structure must have been here long before the house was. She continued down the staircase slowly and methodically, watching every step. As she descended, the moss along the surfaces around her increased. She reached the base of the stairs and looked around the room. It was a small room, about 140 square feet, there were no decorations or furniture save an open stone square, about 4 feet around each side lying in the middle. The outsides of the room were covered in moss and plants, there was an overwhelming amount of plant life, and it all emanated from the square. 
Lyka walked up to the square and looked closer. There were ancient elvish markings carved into each side that she didn’t know the meaning to. Lyka dropped the torch in frustration, her mother hadn’t told her about this. She remembered that day clearly.,  
“If we ever disappear, Lyka, find the ring. The ring will lead you to us,” she remembered her mother saying. She thought back to that moment. At the time she thought it was just a key to the basement, but after thinking for a moment she pulled the ring out of her pocket and took a closer look. 
She held it up to the torch. Along the band of the ring were engravings, in elvish no less. These markings, though, were in a modern tongue so that she could actually read them. She held the ring up to her eye and read them out loud.  
“Linewe -esse I endya ar quet palime.” 
She knew exactly what to do know. She gently placed the ring in the center of the square, and spoke, “edr.” 
There was a flash of light and a wave of purple light filled the square. It became transparent and Lyka could see what she assumed to be the third plane. With nothing impeding her, she hopped through the hole.  
She didn’t know what to expect, but she stepped out into a large purple plain. There was no sun here, but for no light source this place was surprisingly bright; to Lyka it looked just like twilight back home. She walked around this new area for a moment, hoping to find her parents, luckily, the portal had a manifestation here as well, in the form of another small square placed onto the ground, so there was still a way out. 
Lyka looked around for a moment. To her left, the plane became a field. With a copious amount of purple plants that looked similar to lavender. To her right, was a grove of purple and black trees. Forward and behind her, the plane continued for what looked to be forever. If Lyka knew anything about her parents, she knew that they would try to survive anywhere, but they preferred living among the trees like when they were children living in Elfheim, the large Elven forest in the southern half of the first plane. Lyka decided on the right. 
She walked towards the grove. As she got closer, she realized it was thicker than she expected. Most of the trees were small, but every once in a while, there were larger trees, about 6 feet taller than those around them. When she neared the trees, she realized it would be more difficult than she originally thought. The trees were very close to each other, and it was almost impossible for her to walk through them. She walked up and tried squeezing herself into the grove. It was tight, but she managed to get into the grove and realized that this would be exactly where her parents would go in this situation.  
She kept going through the forest until spotted an anomaly in the trees. There was no wind anywhere near her, and no wildlife anywhere in sight, but the leaves of the tree in front of her were rustling. She paused. That must be them, she noted. Very carefully, she crept along towards the tree being careful not to make a sound. Her heart was pounding in her ears by the time she made it to the tree. She paused again, and then knocked on the bark.  
“Hello!, Mom? Dad?” she rang out. There was more rustling and Lyka backed up. More rustling. A familiar face appeared out of the tree to her right. 
“Lyka, my darling, is that you? Oh, it’s been so long my dear please come in.” Her mother dropped from the tree and waved towards the treetop. The branches unfolded downwards to reveal a ladder, cleverly hidden in the leaves. Lyka let out a cry. She ran into her mother’s arms. After all these years, she could finally see her parents again. 
“It’s been such a long time, I’m so glad you found us,” her mother embraced her. 
“I feared that I’d never see you again!” Lyka cried softly, letting years of emotions out in one sentence. 
“All will be well, dear, we’re together again, now come inside, your father will be dying to see you.” Her mother gently ended the embrace and walked towards the ladder. She climbed onto the first rung and leaned outwards towards Lyka. 
“Now come on, you simply have to see our home.” Lyka grabbed onto the ladder and followed her mother into the tree. 
        Once they reached the tree, Lyka was surprised by the size. She looked all around, and the interior was much larger than it looked on the outside. There was a clear seven feet to both sides of her, and a further fourteen in front. The inside was decorated with a handful of simple purple-wooden furniture, including a table, and a handful of chairs, some cooking equipment, and a bed made out of wood and what looked similar to the plants she saw earlier. 
“This really is quite spacious, how did you manage to fit it into this tree?” Lyka asked. 
“‘This tree’ is much larger than you think,” her father turned around from the pot he was cooking in and smiled at Lyka. He walked towards her and opened his arms into an embrace, Lyka joined in and they held together. They separated and he turned back around to the pot he was cooking with, while Lyka’s mother sat down in one of the chairs decorating the left side of the room. 
“Now who’s ready for some grub?” Her father grabbed a handful of wooden plates off the nearby table along with some homemade chopsticks. He passed them around and served up what he had been cooking. 
“What is this exactly?” Lyka inquired. 
“It’s simply a ground-up mixture of oilarë and morco,” her father answered. 
“There are bears here? I haven’t seen any other life while I’ve been here.” Lyka asked. 
“Yes, there’s plenty of wildlife if you go further from the center, not far past this grove is an even larger forest full of life!” her father answered, enthusiastically. 
“I’m happy to see that,” Lyka responded., “I was scared there was nothing alive in this dimension.” 
“Oh there’s plenty of life if you know where to look for it,” her father responded back to her. 
“That’s nice,” Lyka said., “Now let’s hurry, we need to leave.” She set her food down on the table and stood up. 
“Of course dear, we’re just waiting for you to say the word.” her mother responded. 
They all stood up and Lyka lead the group back to the ladder. Together, they all climbed down and Lyka showed them back through the forest to the portal entrance. They all jumped through the portal. Finally, Lyka’s family would be together again.