Origin Story: Atalanta — The Huntress Queen of Atanesia

A child of spring, the young princess Atalanta was every bit as lovely as one would expect of the sole heir of Atanesia’s verdant kingdom. Fleet-footed and keen-eyed, Atalanta’s love for hunting was second only to her love for her people, over whom her father King Wilhelm ruled with a gentle and just hand. Life for Atalanta was idyllic and carefree…until that one fateful day on her 16th birthday.

Laughter rang through the forest as Atalanta frolicked with the forest spirits, who were celebrating her coming of age. Dryads took turns to braid her hair as she cooled her feet in the crystalline waters of the River Erelin.

“Do you think father will finally let me use Heartseeker just once, now that I am of age?”

Atalanta slapped her feet excitedly against the waters, scattering droplets of water across the face of Nyla, the naiad soaking near her feet.

“Should I thank you for gracing my waters with your royal feet, Attie?” Nyla swiped the droplets off her face, agitated.

“Forgive me, dear friend. I was preoccupied.” Atalanta laughed as she withdrew her feet from the rushing waters. Nyla sighed.

“I’m sure you are more than worthy. There’s no huntress more adept than-”

Nyla’s voice cut off and she clutched at her throat, eyes wide in panic as she turned to gaze upstream, fingers clawing desperately at the riverbank. Atalanta leaped to her feet as the dryads started screaming in unison.

“Sofia, go!”

The mighty snowy owl took off from a nearby tree branch and soared into the sky, its large wings swooping soundlessly in the air.

“My lady, you…must flee…” A dryad placed a hand on Atalanta’s shoulder before she promptly burst into flames and rapidly disintegrated into ashes. Before Atalanta could react, Sofia screeched and Atalanta felt a quick jolt to her senses as her familiar became one with her psyche.

Atalanta opened her eyes, and found herself hundreds of feet above the ground, watching the forest beneath her wings smoulder. Plumes of smoke dotted the Atanesian forest, and as she turned her eyes towards the towering Lifetree at its heart, she saw dark tendrils of magic engulfing its silver-white branches, peeling back the bark wherever it touched.

She blinked hard, and suddenly she felt the damp soil beneath her feet again. Piles of ashes swirled in the wind — the last remnants of her dryad friends whose spirit trees were razed to the ground miles away. Nyla lay motionless against the riverbank, fading away before Atalanta’s eyes just as the water started to turn crimson.

Atalanta ran and ran. Even as she bitterly acknowledged that she was the swiftest huntress in the land, in the back of her head she just knew–-she would be too late by the time she returned.

By the time she reached the sacred grove of the Lifetree, the dark magic of the Shadow Horde was nowhere to be seen, but the wake of destruction it left behind was vast. Tears streamed down her face as she wove deftly between the corpses of the fallen Atanesian soldiers. Atalanta choked back a gasp as she finally reached the Lifetree, where its lower branches lay broken and hanging, every bit as defeated as the forest around it.

“Father!”

King Wilhelm lay motionless, his body draped across the massive roots of the Lifetree. Atalanta dashed over and gently turned his head to face her.

“My child…it is time…”

With the last vestiges of his strength, King Wilhelm reached for Atalanta’s hand and gently placed Heartseeker in her grasp. He smiled weakly at Atalanta as her body heaved in silent grief.

“My dearest Atalanta, promise me…seek not revenge, but a worthy life for you and our people. It is our sworn duty.”

Then, the mighty King Wilhelm shut his eyes and breathed his last.

Atalanta stood, clutching the family heirloom in her hands. Steely-eyed, she took one last look at her beloved father and stepped away.

“I’m sorry father, but that is a promise I simply cannot keep.”

With that, the auburn-haired princess — now queen — stalked out of the grove and disappeared into the Atanesian forest, with nothing but Heartseeker in her hand and revenge in her heart.