Hi, the first four chapters of this story was written by Foxfires Fighter. But I will be continuing on from chapter 4. So please enjoy.

A/N . So this is my first foray into writing fanfiction and actually putting it on the site hahah. Please no flames, but constructive advice would be alright. It's going to be AU, and OOC for the most part. Hope those who read it will enjoy. :P

Disclamer: I own nothing.

Two elves walked along the winding road toward the looming palace in the distance, watching its black marble gleam eerily in the stormy weather. They pulled their cloaks around themselves as a cold wind picked up and whipped around them angrily.

Seeing them walking, a person of Labinia might come to the wrong conclusions about them for it wasn't everyday they saw people from the world below come to their scared land, but the elves continued to walk towards the palace, ignoring the crumbling walls of homes and the gleaming yellow eyes of the inhabitants within. They had a purpose, a mission, and there was no way they were going to turn back.

Fat drops of rain pelted their sides while the wind ripped at their cloths sending the deepest of chills into their bodies. Labinia was not a nice place to live, for it rained constantly and if it wasn't rain it was the bitter cold with hard snowflakes trying to seize the warmth from the living. It was a place of death. But it hadn't always been that way. There had been a time when the land flourished and the people prospered, but the people were greedy and selfish and they had wanted more. Taking to unhealthy and destructive practices with the land threw them into turmoil and then the darkness came.

Upon the storm clouds that had covered up the land and the harsh weather it had brought with it, the land fell…the people fell. Darkness took over. The people who remained had turned to performing experiments on the weaker humans, wanting to change them into something close to Changelings. They received a totally different result then what they were expecting. The chemicals and magic they used on the weaker humans took root and spread, revolutionizing the people who were forced into it. These people turned into savage animals; they could shape shift at will and had extraordinary powers that outmatched their creators. The test failed and the people who had been created lived their lives like many others until the government rose up and the war happened, destroying everything in its wake.

That's how Labinia was shaken to ruins.

The man that ruled now over the barren lands used the creatures that had been created long ago as pets that could be trained if their powers were restricted and they were denied free will. For some of the people in the castle, they were pets; for others, guards. They were sold to people on the outside world for a pretty penny.

The king said they were less than animals, less than the living. He trained them…he punished them. When his wife had bore him a son that was not his own he threw that son in with them, experimenting and torturing him, hoping to see more results on how to improve the creatures he already had. The son was thrown into a life he didn't ask for seventeen years ago, a life his eighteen year old self still could barely comprehend.

The elves that walked toward the palace now didn't know of the past of the land they now walked on. They simply assumed that times had been hard and the people had done what they needed to in order to survive. They were here for a pet and wanted to see what this king would offer them. They didn't want a pet just for the sake of having one, for their own culture and society and morals screamed against what they were doing but they had no other choice. Their people were backed into a corner and, while they could fight and possibly win with great loss, they needed the element of surprise and this kind had offered what no other person had…

…A beast within a person that would fight for them and them alone. Betrayal wouldn't be an option with the loyalty these creatures are said to have.

Coming up to the twisted iron gate that was tilted off balance ever so slightly, they pushed it open and walked up the black marble staircase that was slick from the rain. As they continued higher they heard the gate moan and creak, and it shuttered back into place. As they came to the front door of the palace, a very tall man stood inside the doorway. Wearing all black flowing robes, he was silhouetted by the bright light emanating from behind him. One of the two companions stopped and stared, starting to rethink her and her mother's decision about what they were doing for this strange man put her on edge, with his black robes and mutilated mask that was covering his face. His dark hair spilled out from his head falling about his shoulders.

She couldn't get over the mask; it was an image of a smiling face with the eyes closed but it looked as if someone had put it into the fire melting and deforming it until it was a disgusting representation of its former self. Repulsed but unable to walk away from what might be their only chance, the daughter followed her mother into the palace with the unsettling stranger.