The Elven Queen

CHAPTER 24

RAYDIA'S POV

“Welcome back Gaizen” I greet the only Faye nearly as old as I was

“There she is, the star of the hour, I greet you Elder Raydia I’ve been hearing great things about your little experiment I heard you even got her to refine her core for you” the truth in his words stung me, yes, I brought her to the library so she could find those meditation books but the more I taught her the more opinions she formed, the more she grew and the more I wanted to see the extent of that growth and test the limits of her ingenuity

A truly selfish endeavor to satisfy my own lust for knowledge but the look on her face every time she made a break through, how could I resist?

“Gaizen I don’t think we should go through with the core transplant”

“What?” the entire room went silent, Gaizen was displeased, though he was younger than me he garnered more influence over the years than I did because I never cared for that, all I cared about were my children

“This can’t be the only solution, if you give me more time I can think of another way to save her, we don’t need the elf let’s just let her go”

“You were like this with the last one too ....” he spat out in disgust “......You know better than anyone how long we have been doing this, how many we have sacrificed, how many we have FED to her to keep the magic alive, with this we could end all of it, it’s not like the morbien is going to die anyway, just her consciousness, that way the mana reserves will be backed up inside her, the core of the morbien will become the new central core for the mana flow and you get to keep her forever while saving your plant at the same time”

“This PLANT is years older than you and that morbien has a name.....” I reply coldly, I take a deep breath, this is not the time to lose my head “....You don’t even care, as long as you get your mana reserve you don’t care who we kill”

“And all of a sudden you are a saint?! Whose idea was it to lure in and drain morbiens of their life essence just so they could keep alive a tree that should’ve died years ago?, I’m just a man who recognizes profit so I know that this way we won’t have to capture morbiens anymore, well not for a while at least, you chose your children over everyone else, the least you could do is see it through”

He was right, this was all my fault, my greed and selfishness brought to this

“I believe we have an understanding” he places a menacing hand on my shoulder freezing me in place “Good, bring the morbien”

At his words his goons rise from their seats and bolt out the door without missing a beat, I chase after them, I needed to get to her first, To help her escape? To tell her the truth? To beg for forgiveness? I didn’t know what I wanted to say, I just knew it had to be me

I get to her room ahead of the other faye, I didn’t even notice when I ran passed them, I push open the door to her room and there she was, sitting on the bed legs crossed with the etiquette befitting the Queen that she is, she was still here

“Are you ohkay?” I understand her concern, I was in a disheveled state, I open my mouth to give a snarky reply when

“What are you two still doing here? Gaizen is back” brain dead lackies

“I know" I compose myself "that is exactly what I came here to inform her, Leave us, I will bring her” not bothering to hide the venom on my tongue

They contemplate for a while staring at each other before turning tail and leaving

“What was that?” the little elf asked

“Nothing, Gaizen likes to pick up strays whenever he leaves and they are always overly eager to please Now, let’s not waste anymore time let’s go see Gaizen”

She walks to my side and I resist the urge to grab her, I had no right, I try to make conversation but that only proved to make the atmosphere more unbearable

“Are you ohkay?” she stops me

“How important is that information to you anyway? Can’t you just leave right now without it?”

“I can’t do that, people are in danger, MY the lives of the people I care about depend on it, besides I’ve waited this long for this man to show up, and he’s finally here wouldn’t hurt to ask, right?”

Would I feel less guilty if she wasn’t so noble? “right” was all I could say, soon we arrive at the room at the door swings open revealing all the Faye who came for this sick ceremony, all except Grundal, you defy me until the end, huh? I could feel a small smile creeping at my lips

“Greetings, it’s a pleasure to finally meet the brave Elf that ventured here in search of wisdom, I welcome you” he says with his head held high, what a sleaze

“Thank you, but you are too kind, I wouldn’t say I ventured here, your tree is very Inconspicuous and easy to find” the sharp tongue I’ve grown to love

“The others said the exact same thing” he said with a slight chuckle

“I take it you’ve received many others”

“Yes, our coven frequent here year round so we always meet an eager adventurer or two”

“Have you met a dwarf named Ludvig?”

I flinched, of course I remember him, I remember all of them, they are the reasons I can’t sleep at night

“Who?” answered Gaizen c*ocking his head to the side “Forgive me, we meet many or so adventurers so it’s hard to remember them all” he says with an innocent smile, monster

“It’s fine”

“Was he a friend of yours?”

“He was someone I knew very well”

“So, what brings you here?”

She says her piece and passes around the image again

“Creptic symbols”

“You know what that is?!!!” she was thrilled, seeing her this happy pained me

“Yes, those are ancient runes, as you people like to call them, they were the original connation of runes before they were sub-divided, since the new variation was easier to use the original was rendered obsolete and faded out of existence, a shame really, the seal on the other hand, now that is something truly troublesome” he repeated exactly what I told him to

“Can you tell me what it means?” he brings his hand up to scratch his temple, deep in thought, then turns to me

“Of course, but first, I hear you have taken an interest in Morphis and Transmigration” of course he jumps quickly to her core, spinning the little elf and the conversation in circles her frustrated face was a little cute

“Leader…..”

“Please, call me Gaizen”

“Gaizen, what about the seal”

“Of course, the seal, come with me there’s a something I would like to show you”

He stood up, leading her to her death, the smile on her face sent daggers to my very being, I needed to stop this so I raced ahead to Gaizen

“Tbis haug lik dal helstin jesu tahkt dab van heutalk” There’s another way, there has to be, I can find it, I begged

“Nauel hag de soon” And how long will that take?, his cold reply sent a wave of dread over me

Soon we arrive at the tree’s center, the room we threw in all the morbien we drained of their life force, but today was different, we weren’t simply robbing a person of their life, we were taking away her ability to live as well as her ability to die, I turn to the little elf and I can see the cogs in her brain turning, she realizes something isn’t right

“Now why don’t you come in?” she inches back slowly, trying to escape but she’s surrounded, she sides steps them and makes a brake for it, she might make it, I didn’t realize I held my breath till Giazen appeared in front of her, I close my eyes shut like the coward I was, I heard the sound of bone crunching probably from Gaizen punching her, I feel strong wind blow pass me as I stood by the door, Gaizen probably threw her into the room, I wonder which face she made when she realize I had betrayed her, anger? Sadness? Contempt?, either way I deserved it, I hear her land on the ground with a thump followed by the sound of breaking bones, soon the air is filled with her screams of pure agony, I don’t want to hear this, I bring my hand up to cover my ears and slide down the walls till I get to ground, my back hunched over as the sounds of her screams crash over me in waves

What was I doing? I had no right to hide here while she suffered, I needed to fix this

"Grundal!!! Can you hear me?!", I call out to him telepathically

"Yes", He answers me almost instantly, always the reliable one

"I need you to do something for me"

"Why? What’s going on? Where are you? Tell me where you are and I’ll come to you"

"No!! I just need you to listen!"

"Raydia let me help you"

"AND YOU WILL!!" I shout through the link, I take a deep breath "Do you love me?"

"More than everything I have and everything I will ever be"

I know, I know because I love him too, he was the only one who ever stood by me even when he didn’t agree with my methods he never left me, I love him so much that it makes this even harder

"Good, now I need you to listen" after giving him careful instructions, I get up wiping away the tears in my eyes

Something wasn’t right, her screaming had stopped

“NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!” I screamed while banging at the door “Let me in!!” I instruct her “Open this wretched door” I order her but she doesn’t listen this has never happened before, Gaizen that bastard

I muster all my strength and slam my shoulder into the door pushing all my weight repeatedly until the door swung open revealing the horror behind it

The little Elf was skewered, tree trunks sticking out of her limbs, her body bumpy from the branches that took root under her flesh, she looked within an inch of her life

“EZTLIII!!!!!” I screamed and rushed towards her, the 8 Faye that Gaizen brought charged at me, mere whelps, I dodged and weaved, pushing them aside, my only goal was to get to Eztli, I needed to save her, the tree wasn’t trying to merge with her core, it was trying to consume it, the mana was backing up, with all this excess the tree can’t regulate it, I can feel her crying out in pain, Gaizen that sick bastard, he was killing her, he was Killin both of them!! and he didn't even notice

I get knocked back by the sheer force of one of the Faye tackling me, I’m done with this, I wrap my arms around his shoulder and squeeze them till I hear a satisfying crack, his screams ringing in my ears, I drop him, flinging the next Faye that charged at me, she lands on her back with a crack, the next one comes and I snap their necks, none of them were using a magic, probably because the mana in the room was rampaging had they tried it would kill us all, I run towards Eztli again but I am thrown back by my hair

“Get out of my way” I spat at Gazien

“Can’t you see we are on the verge of something glorious?”

“Can’t you see that you’re killing them both?” I charge at him, his swings were predictable, he clearly forgot who thought him how to fight, I keep dodging his jabs, he gets behind me and wraps his arms around me restricting my movement, he begins to squeeze and my bones cry out, I let out a scream, I bend my head forward then bring it back hard, breaking his nose, he lets me go, I turn and send a sharp kick to his knee pushing it out of it’s socket causing him to fall in a kneeling position, I grab his head and bring my knee forward hitting him square in the face, I do it again and again and again, every time, I hear a crunch, I don’t stop till I couldn’t hear the crunching any more, dropping his head I make my way to Eztli again, I was going to get her out of here

So why?

Why can’t I feel my body?

Why is the ceiling spinning?

Ah, it's not the ceiling it’s me, I was in mid air

Why was I in mid air?

I can see my body, why can I see my body? And where is my head? oh, here it is

Behind my headless body I see a Faye with a sword, Ah I missed one, as my head is about to hit the ground, I see Eztli, a mix of blood and tear pouring from her eyes

Please don’t cry little one, I’ll fix it, I swear

There’s only one thing left to do, it’s all up to you now Grundal

With the last of my strength, I muster one thought

“burn"