All Novel Sweet
698
“Yes and no. The effect was similar, though it brought a greater cataclysm with it than any volcano I have known of. Had The Creator not prevented anyone from coming near his home, it might have caused terrible damage. Even so far away, the impact of the blast was said to trigger earthquakes in this very forest. None know what began it, but any sensitive to magic know what it began. The Withering. The weakening of magic in the world. It began then, and continues even today. Kingdoms fell because of it. The power of human mages crumbled. Even the gods themselves fell in its wake as their once-powerful forms fell apart to nothing.
After it began, The Creator was never seen again. The ruins of his home within the mountain were swept with molten rock and uninhabitable. The Enchanted forest had burned with the impact of the cataclysm. Then, a few decades after The Withering began, the dark ones emerged in the barren mountains of the north.”
“You mean the Black Orcs that Grolfir mentioned?”
“Nay, the orcs of the Northern Mountains were once much like those you know now until the dark ones seduced and defiled their race.”
“Weren’t they caught up in the blast when the mountain went boom?”
“No, the northern mountain range is much like that which you can see to the south from the camp. It is very long, and The Creator did not keep it all for himself.”
“Right, sorry. Just trying to keep a picture of it all in my head.”
“It’s perfectly alright, Gregory.” She turned and kissed him softly, and he kissed her back with a loving enthusiasm. “I’m glad I’ve managed to keep your attention. Not many care about the fate of the elves, or our stories.”
“Why not?”
“I’ll get to that part soon enough, now where was I? Ah, yes. The dark ones. It is thought by the wise that the flow of magic in this world was somehow important in keeping those creatures away, for they are not of this world. They are beings of shadow made flesh. Their magic comes from elsewhere, and it wasn’t weakened in the slightest. A great war had raged for many years in the human kingdoms, spurned by The Withering and tensions that had long been festering. We elves distanced ourselves from it, even when it was ended and the human Empire rose from the ashes, we stayed isolated in our forests between the Northern Mountains and the Empire. Though we suspected the demon influence, and the loss of contact with the northern orcs was troubling, we were not prepared for the evil deluge that eventually crashed down upon us.”
Her eyes had grown distant with the memory, and it became clear that Valise had experienced a part of this story first hand.
“The elven realms fell one by one to the dark ones’ invasion, and with frankly terrifying speed until only the realm of my mother and father remained. Mother died in our last great battle, and father disappeared. Soon after, all the men within our tribe disappeared in the night never to be seen again. Our warriors on guard had been placed into some kind of enchanted sleep. I was left to take the mantle, with the aid of my sister. I was left with two choices. To plead with the humans for aid, or…”
Her voice trembled, and Gregory shifted his arms to wrap about her waist and hug her gently against him. A couple of warm tears splashed against his arm as she quietly wept. In this time he said nothing, but waited for her to finish the tale in her own time.
“I… It was pride, I think. Even then, I couldn’t shake that weakness of our race. If we had fallen so quickly, I doubted the humans would even be able to muster a defence at all. So, I decided to work my own magic using power from a well I knew to be plentiful. I used dark magic. The magic of the demons. Nature’s supposed guardian wielding the very essence of destruction that yearned to rot the heart out of every natural thing in this world. I thought I was strong enough to wield it against them, but I was not. It consumed me, and I became a tyrant and an addict. Thankfully, my sister rose up against me before I could turn our last fortress over to my need for more of that vile power. She was crowned as our new queen, and she had my ears clipped and my power diminished before banishing me to my mortality. I was sent away to the human lands where I watched the humans do what I had thought impossible. Their years of warring amongst themselves had made them fierce in battle, and capable of pushing back the demonic incursions. They did not fall, but by then I knew my homeland would have been overwhelmed. I have not seen my sister since then, nor any other true elf.” She stopped and sniffled as his embrace of her had loosened slightly. Lifting her hands to wipe her eyes, she offered a sad little smile. “So you see, I am unworthy of your kindness. I am a fool who sacrificed her people on the altar of her own pride.”
She fell silent on those bitterly spoken words, and he felt her body tense up within his arms as she braced herself for his reaction.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
“Yep,” he finally said with a nod of agreement. “On the scale of staggering fuck-ups that’s pretty high up there.”
“You would make light of this?”
“No. Not exactly.”
Gregory paused for a moment to consider his thoughts on the matter before trying to set them out before her.
“How long ago was this, Valise?”
“It has been a hundred and fifty-four years since my exile.”
Gregory tried very hard not to smile at that, and just about managed it.