Free Origins of the Never: A prequel to The Tales of the Neverwar series, with dragons, elves, and faeries. For Young Adults and Teens by CJ Rutherford, Colin Rutherford Page B

same night she stole Tenybris’s heart.
    That night, Tenybris realised his childhood was over. For centuries he and Olumé had raised merry havoc across the Lands. Their misadventures were the subject of ballads sung all across Teralia, with a quick tune and happy voice. Overnight, Tenybris found himself excluded from his friend’s presence in ever increasing amounts.
    Over the long years of their courtship, Olumé and Lynnaria publicly sought to include Tenybris in everything. Both of them appeared to love him as a friend and brother, but instead of happiness, they granted him a tortured existence. His life turned from one of joy and happiness to an existence of lies and denial.
    A shadow grew in his soul, and as the years passed, the darkness began to exert a subtle influence over him, as if it was whispering to his subconscious. For decades he dismissed it as idle imaginings brought on by his melancholy nature, but lately there was no mistaking it, as the voice grew in strength. Now it was shouting to him, telling him that it should be he standing in Olumé’s place, but Tenybris willed it down deep inside him. He smiled to keep up the act, even though he longed to tell Lynnaria how he loved her; but he wouldn't, because he loved his friend too much. He stood suffering in silence, willing himself to be happy for the couple, but failing abysmally.
    The ceremony was perfect. Olumé and Lynnaria offered a part of each other’s soul to their new mate, as tiny shining sparks fashioned into rings they now wore on their left hands. These would bind them forever together, as their love for each other now existed in an unbreakable token.
    Tenybris cried with the rest of the crowd gathered around the couple, although the emotions flowing through him were anything but joyous. The rapturous approval of everyone swept over him, taunting the love he held for her. It made him all the guiltier for feeling the opposite. He wanted to run from this torment, and as he looked around he saw his method of escape.
    Gathered around were members of all the races of Teralia. Tenybris watched the gossamer winged Faer mingle with the granite skinned people of the mountains, the Dwelves. And across the room, keeping a respectful distance from everyone else, a group of beings huddled together. They looked like nothing more than a small shrubbery, as they shifted about in their obvious discomfort. The Brownies were the shyest and most elusive among the peoples of this world, choosing to inhabit the darkest, most hidden places in the woods and forests. Their unprecedented move to attend this wedding surprised everyone, but then, everyone knew they loved Olumé as they had loved his father before him.
    Olumé’s bond with the Lands and the People had grown into a marriage of a different sort than the ceremony taking place today; different, but no less unbreakable.
    Tenybris, however, didn’t need an inhabitant of Teralia. A few of the outsiders, known as Walkers, attended the ceremony. Olumé had discovered their world, Sanctuary, over two centuries earlier, on one of his explorations of the universe. Tenybris didn’t understand why, but his friend seemed to delight in meeting people from other worlds. Over the course of the last few centuries he had visited thousands of them.
    Tenybris thought it fortunate Olumé alone possessed the ability to travel the stars. He grew weary of the frequent visitors from other worlds, who invariably wanted to use his world’s magic to further their own selfish needs and wants.
    Olumé used this power to banish sickness and poverty on every world he encountered, becoming a great friend to many races. Unfortunately, some beings wanted more.
    Until recently, this want would have been totally alien to Tenybris. The Lands gave everything you might wish for. Until, that was, he’d fallen for Lynnaria. Tenybris tried to deny it, but he accepted there was a hole in his heart which would never be healed by the power of the