MISTRESS OF ILLUSION (Also called “Snoots” in her animal form)
Eye color: Soft brown
Hair color: White
Fur color: White with orange tips on her ears and paws
Distinctions: Black tear-drop markings on her face, present in both forms
~Story~
She is called the Mistress of Illusion, an ethereal embodiment of the Forest of Illusions–an ancient wood poisoned by grief and hatred at the savagery of mortal men. A wild beauty full of menace and tricks, she is sometimes glimpsed as a little golden-white creature darting among the shadows, and sometimes as a beautiful white-haired woman clothed in moss. Her Forest is a twisted place of moss-laden trunks, jagged roots and tangled vines, a black stain on all travelers’ maps. It is located in a wide valley between Nefar and Meoddrey.
But once, she was as tranquil and content as other forests, a haven for weary creatures to whom she would whisper ancient secrets and sing drowsy songs. A nameless boy often came to visit, to play in her branches and sleep in her shade and sing with her voice. This boy was murdered during one of the bloodiest battles in recorded history, and the Forest withered away in loneliness and confusion at the senseless cruelty of mortals. She barred herself from men, hid her beauty and sought vengeance on any who bore the taint of violence in their hearts. Any who strayed into her wood would be driven mad by the phantoms hidden within. She came to be feared by all, and endured the centuries in miserable isolation.
Until Faeren, a young Silene who bore a striking resemblance to her lost child, stumbled upon the Forest and awakened her shriveled heart from its long, murderous sorrow. He was a compassionate boy with a quiet nature and a fondness for music, and though he carried a sword, Illusion saw in him the beautiful child she so missed. She begged him to stay, to play in her branches and sleep in her shade and sing her songs…but when he will not, she takes him anyway. She changes him, binds him to her so he cannot leave, denying his mortal ties until he becomes fully dependent on her nurturing. She shelters him continually like a jealous lover, a beloved and cherished secret, and gradually he begins to accept his new life and to return her affection, soothing the ache of centuries and dispelling her loneliness. During the day she appears to him as a little golden-white creature (whom he calls Snoots), and at night as a woman who holds and guards him while he sleeps, and at last she is content.
But when a strangely familiar threat rises, a corrupted form of her own ability to deceive with light and shadow, retained by the few mortals who escaped her torments in time past, she can no longer keep her secret from the world. If these new creatures calling themselves “Illusionists” are not stopped from spreading, soon all the forests will be crippled by their need for energy and their willful misuse of it for their own gain. Though the Mistress tries to ignore the plight of the outside world, Faeren is so distressed that he refuses her protection and finds a means to escape her borders, determined to help his former people fight this unnatural menace. Despondent and fearing that she will lose her child once again to the cruelty of men, the Mistress risks leaving her Forest to follow him. She will never stop searching, never stop calling until she finds him, until she brings him home safe again, no matter the cost.