The Girl and The Gift

Chapter Seven

MILO

"Milo? Hey...Milo? Milo!!"

Milo jerked to attention, turning his back to the window he'd been staring out of to face Archidus. Archidus looked concerned, and Milo wondered how long he had been spacing out. 

"Are you okay, man? You look really out of it..."

Archidus trailed off, looking Milo over slowly. 

"Uh, yeah I'm okay. I just have a lot on my mind I guess."

The truth was, ever since Milo had gone to see Fae he couldn't get her or their night together out of his mind. If only he'd had more time, he thought, he was dying to touch her skin. Milo shook his head vigorously trying to clear the imagery creeping back into his head. He noticed Archidus staring at him again, this time he looked a little nervous. 

"I'm fine, Arch. I promise."

Milo turned and started to walk away but Archidus caught him by the arm whirling him around to face him. 

"That's a damn lie. Tell me what's going on or I'll get Theo over here to beat it out of you."

Archidus tried to hide the smile on his face, but they both knew Theodore couldn't take Milo in a fight. Milo laughed and rubbed his forehead in resignation. 

"Well, we wouldn't want it to come to that would we? Let's go somewhere else, I have to ask Sana something anyway and I'm guessing she'll be at the library."

Archidus rolled his eyes in protest. Sana and him had never gotten along, and truthfully; Milo felt it is was more or less because Archidus had a crush on her growing up and Sana never held much interest in men, let alone her older brothers friends. It didn't take them long to reach the library, it was a quaint little hut hidden at the edge of the woods. Milo often found Sana here, studying the words and legends of the world at all hours of the night. Sana had actually become quite the wealth of knowledge where it concerns magical history, though she had many interests. Milo was hoping she'd be able to shed some light on his situation, and maybe explain more about the history between elves and witches. He'd paid attention in school well enough, but when he thought back on it, it seemed as thought they had never covered that topic in much depth. 

Archidus reached the door before Milo, opening it and bowing in a ridiculous mocking manner. 

"After you, Sir Milo the Second of Sailenor."

Archidus waved his hand through the air obnoxiously, while repetitively bowing. Milo rolled his eyes and laughed, shoving Archidus as he entered the library. Inside the plain little hut lived a world of literary magic, walls of books, scrolls, and incantations stretched out before the boys. Milo sighed, he loved coming to the library, but finding Sana here was always a tedious task.

"Oh, what's up dipshit...and dipshit number two. What are you guys doing here?"

Milo turned to his right, startled by Sana's sudden presence. Archidus huffed and crossed his arms indignantly. 

"I'm not a dipshit, training bra."

Sana raised an eyebrow and then a hand, Archidus flew backwards crashing into several bookcases and emptying their contents on the floor. A little old man, presumably the librarian, came rushing around the corner immediately admonishing Archidus for his recklessness. Sana snickered to herself before returning her focus to Milo. 

"Don't look at me like that, he's fine. And he'll clean it up with councilman magic or whatever. But seriously, why are you here?"

Milo groaned and shrugged.

"I guess I'm hoping you can help me out with, uh...my issue."

Sana's expression softened a bit and she gestured for Milo to follow her. 

"Archidus come on, you should hear this too!"

Sana called over her shoulder as she pressed forward. Archidus had already cleaned up the books and was rushing to catch up with them. By the time he did, the three of them were standing outside of a large steel door framed with odd ancient symbols. 

"This place is actually way bigger on the inside than it should be, what the hell is this?"

Archidus scratched his head in confusion and stared expectantly at Sana. 

"Wow, you're actually dumber than I thought. It's called magic genius, and this is an archive. It houses important magical information from the last decade. There are quite a few of these actually, one for every decade passed in the elven regions."

Milo nodded, and Archidus rolled his eyes avoiding eye contact with Sana or Milo for that matter. Sana pulled a key out of her back pocket and inserted it in the door. Then she mumbled what sounded like a few elvish words and the door sprung open majestically. The three of them entered slowly, examining the contents of the room. In the center stood a large oak table, engraved with the symbol of the Sailenor tribe. Around the edges of the room stood four statues Milo didn't recognize, and on the wall, several maps of what appeared to be different areas of the entire magical realm. Sana stepped toward the oak table and knocked on it, a panel suddenly sprung open in the center of the table revealing a black leather bound book with no apparent writing on it. 

"Well, I think this is what you're looking for, I'll have to read it to you, its pretty old and not many people are allowed in here. I don't want you touching it with your gross man hands."

Sana shot them both a dirty look, but Milo felt it was directed more at Archidus than him. 

"So, what's in the book, Sana? And how do you have access to this room?"

Sana shrugged.

"Pays off to be the best student in the village. I'm trusted, I guess. I think they're also hoping I'll become the next librarian or a knowledge keeper but they can count me out."

Milo sighed and stepped up to the table, examining the book. 

"Well let's get to it. Right, Arch?"

Archidus was keeping his distance, standing a few inches away from the table, close enough to see still though. He nodded, and Milo noticed he looked a little nervous, though he wasn't sure if that was due to Sana or the ominous book. Sana took a deep breath and opened the book, she paused as she scanned the pages. 

"You know what, I'm going to cast a skimming spell on myself and then I'll summarize it for you. That'll be faster."

Milo nodded and so did Archidus, then they waited as Sana entranced herself and sped through the pages of the book. It didn't take long for her to reach the back page. As she refocused her self and looked up at the boys, they realized she had an expression of horror and confusion plastered across her face. 

"Guys, if this is true, I-We've been lied to. Everything we know about the council, the witches, I mean everything...It's all wrong. Milo, I'm going to tell you something and you need to listen very carefully. This could be life or death for you."

Milo held his breath and waited for his sister to continue. 

"It says here that long prior to the war of witches, the regions lived in a tentative peace. Apparently the biggest issue facing the realm was magical races vying for more land, this led most regions to form political or familial alliances through treaties or marriages so that they had access to resources in neighboring areas. All of the regions participated, except for the witches and the elves, their regions were secluded and too large to pernitrate, no one saw them as a threat. This brought on an era of peace, which brought about new and unusual magic. In other words, it brought about the first appearance of the gift in over a thousand years. At the time, the witch who received the gift was already married to a warlock from the region, a political marriage of sorts."

Milo raised a hand to interrupt her.

"How long ago was this?"

Sana shrugged.

"I don't know, this was supposed to be about the last decade but honestly I think this was at least a hundred years ago?"

Milo nodded, signaling Sana to continue. 

"Well, the witch who received the gift, she began to see visions of an elf, her soulmate, and this infuriated both her husband and the witch's tribune. They reached out to the Elven region, hoping to find a solution and of course, as we all know, there was none. All the while, the witch and the elf had begun to fall in love. What's worse, the elf was next in line to become chief..."

Sana looked at Milo for a moment, gauging his reactions, but he kept his face steady. 

"It looks like the witch wanted to leave her husband and marry this man. But, there was no precedent for the matter. Additionally, witches and elves have strict rules regarding marriage, a marriage between the two would've meant a unification between the two races and lands. That would've been a problem for the entire magical world, because their regions were on two opposite sides of the realm. They would've become a threat."

Milo nodded and began to speak, but Sana cut him off. 

"I'm not done, this is where things get tricky. In order to stop the witch and the elf from getting married, and unifying the lands, it seems as though the council and the tribune worked together to turn them to stone. Afterwards, they swore themselves and their people to secrecy, and declared each other mortal enemies so no one would ever discover the truth. The elves kept the statue of the man, and the witches kept the women....up until about eleven years ago. Apparently, the statues went missing and that's what started the war. Each race accused each other of stealing the statue and well, the rest is pretty much history. Except, no one has found either statue to this day."

Milo took a few steps backwards and doubled over onto his knees, breathing heavily. 

"Are you telling me, that war was for nothing? Are you telling me the only reason I can't be with my soulmate is because of a few ancient statues?"

Sana nodded slowly and came around to sit on the floor by him. 

"Milo, I think the gift isn't just some random witch's gift, I think it's the gift of peace. I think that gift was meant to unify the magical realm through love, and they failed. They destroyed everything it stands for. I think this might be destiny, Milo."

Archidus began to pace the length of the room over and over. 

"They lied, he lied. My father lied to me."

He stopped and turned to face Milo. 

"I need some time to think about all of this. Okay? I can't be part of the council if they would lie to their people and prosecute someone for loving. On the other hand, I can't really tell my father I know about their lies either. I just need to go think. I'll catch you tomorrow."

Milo nodded solemnly, and for once, Sana didn't say a word. She smiled softly and watched as Archidus left. 

"Milo, I need to be very, very, clear about this. If you want to be with her, it's going to be extremely dangerous. If you're going to have any chance of survival at all, you'll need to get married...and fast."

Milo nodded again. He was at a true loss for words. Of course he wanted the opportunity to be with his soulmate, but at what cost? Could he allow himself to be torn from the village by some arbitrary destiny? More importantly, what would Fae think? Were they in love? Could they be in love? Milo's head filled with thought after thought, each new wave threatening to drown him in anxiety. Sana placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him. 

"Hey, snap out of it Milo, there isn't anything you can do just sitting on the floor in a library. Plus, I have the feeling we should leave. I don't want to spend too much time here. Let's go home."

Sana helped Milo to his feet and began to put the book away. Milo stood in a dazed trance, pondering all the new information he'd just received. 

Fae

Milo just wanted to get home, the only person he wanted to talk to was Fae. He needed her to know the truth, and he needed her comfort right now, and he suspected she would need his too. Milo cared for her deeply,  he thought, and it happened all too quickly. Maybe this was destiny he thought, or maybe it was love. It didn't matter to him right now. What mattered, he thought, was that when he saw Fae, he would hold her and take in every detail of her face. He swore to himself that he would remember every little thing about her, just in case they met the same fate as their predecessors and all he had were his memories.