Chapter Six: The more you know

Over the next few hours I read some of the books Orla had kindly placed down for me. All the ones she left were in the common tongue, so I understood what I was reading, as the majority of their books are written in the elven language.

After reading and then placing the first book down, which was based on monsters of old, I hear a knock at the door, and Elder Forlum peeks his head through. “Hello Aliana, would you mind if I had a quick word?” he asks hesitantly. I wondered what he had to say, so I motioned to the chair that Orla had moved beside the bed I was in. “Of course not, Elder, please come in. What can I help you with?”

“Well.” He starts as he sits on the chair. “The Elders and I have been discussing what happened at the ceremony last week. I understand you’re as confused as we are, but a few of us here have…er, let’s call them special abilities, and we’ve noticed something odd.” He opened his mouth to continue, then hesitated.

Special abilities?

This is the first I’ve heard of any elves holding any sort of abilities. As far as I can remember from lessons I received from some of the tutors here, elves lived for long periods of time, and they had great hearing and had excellent eyesight. Apart from that, I don’t recall anything else that seemed unordinary, at least as opposed to a human.

“Are you able to elaborate, Elder? From my teachings here from tutor Dumaris, I understand elves have excellent hearing and eyesight, but nothing unordinary bar that.”

The Elder rubbed the back of his left hand in an anxious way. “There are some stories we would have told, but you missed them at the ceremony due to the light that hit you, one of them being that some elves are gifted with small powers. Powers that will not cause any imbalance of power in the world, and we believe these are gifted directly from the Goddess and God themselves. One of the powers that has been gifted is to see when magic is sealing something or when it has been lifted.” He looked me directly in the eye as if expecting me to spill something, but I was just more confused.

“I’m sorry, Elder, I really don’t know what is going on. Elder Liandor seemed to think, or well hinted, that I may be hiding something, but I have no idea what happened or is happening.” I responded honestly, unsure where this was heading.

The Elder continued to watch me, gauging my reaction. After several minutes of studying me, he sighed. “During your time here, one of my students has been studying you, as they’ve sensed that you have some magical power within you, or…well, as they put it, are blocking something within you. A very small sliver of noticeable magic, but there nonetheless. That was until the Lunaris Solaris ceremony, when the light hit you; it lifted this magic off, or well, it evaporated off of you. My student has told me they can now no longer sense any magic on you, but instead something else, which they are unable to place, as it doesn’t exactly…seem like magic.”

I pondered on this information for a few moments, processing the words the Elder had just told me. Magic? Is that even a thing? The Elder senses my confusion, clears his throat, and quickly switches the conversation to something else.

“There is also one other thing that I had to bring up to you, which I think is very important, especially after the light hit you, as we believe it has for a reason.” The Elder sees the books beside me on the table and goes to pick up the book on the monsters of old I had put down earlier and opens it up to a page on the dark elf named Fedori.

“This story about this certain dark elf—do not regard it as a children’s story or fiction. This is a story passed down from legend and is based on histories known to the older ones here that have been passed down from generations of elves. As it proclaims, this elf is also known to be a thief of the gods and had been cursed a millennium ago.” He turns the page to show an outline of a humanoid in a blaze of fire taking what seemed to be the light out of the sky. “The dark elf was once one of us, similar to the elves of the Druida, or at least it seemed he was created in the same fashion we were, created with light and was pure and was said to be created by the Goddess herself and gifted to those of us on Earth. But something corrupted him, and he learned how to take life force and use it to his advantage.”

The Elder then stood up “There is a prophecy that says he will be reborn and will consume all of Earth and her sister planets and will end the God and Goddess completely. The Prophecy also says that a lone white one will be the fate of us all.”

I looked at the Elder, completely baffled by everything he had just told me. I have magic in me… but I don’t anymore… Or do I? Then this story and prophecy—why is he telling me this?

The Elder then shuffles a bit closer to me until he is close enough to whisper. “The other elders and I believe this time will come to pass soon, and we have decided we cannot take any risks. We must ask you to leave sooner rather than later if you want to go your own way. Elder Liandor is the exception to this, as he has grown fond of you, but we know you would understand our desire to lock our doors, figuratively speaking. If you do not leave now, you will not get a chance later on. You must decide. Stay, or leave. The choice is yours.” He gave me a stern look to state he already knew what I would choose, but he gave me that choice anyway, and I was grateful for it.

“Thank you, Elder Forlum. I really appreciate you coming here. I will take your advice and start my goodbyes; I understand the need to close up.”

The Elder nodded, then turned and left, leaving the door open slightly.

As soon as he closed the door, my mind started racing. I decided to stand up and take a few steps back and forth to calm my mind. As soon as I felt I could think straight, I started to process the Elder's words from start to finish.

He said that one of his students saw magic in me but didn’t specify how or what it felt like…or looked like. What was it? Does it look like it was being blocked by something? He had then said as soon as the light hit me, it was removed, so what was left? Normality? I don’t remember feeling any different from how I do now. He then said that something replaced the magic, but it wasn’t exactly magic…. What the hell does that mean?!

I decide to think on the next item he mentioned. The dark elf. I open the book to the page and read through the limited chapters in the book that I had read earlier in the day. More or less the same information the Elder had given, but the prophecy was missing. Why? Maybe it was not put in so it didn’t scare the children? Actually…was it even a children’s book? I let out an exhausted sigh but keep walking up and down the room. I have been asleep for a week, after all.

Lastly, the Elder said they were going to start closing their borders soon. I was going to mark the end of the month for my departure, but the way he worded it seemed like they were going to lock up before then. I suppose I had best get the go-ahead from Orla and then look to gain a few supplies and leave.

After debating with myself on what day I should depart, I decide I will leave as soon as I can, hopefully tomorrow. It just feels like the quicker I can leave, the faster I can forget about these conversations and travel further inland, as I’ve switched between going a few miles inland and then reverting to staying fairly close to the sea whilst roaming the last couple of years, and I feel I owe it to myself to explore further inland, whereas before I was worried I’d get lost without knowing my way back to the sea. I’ll need to speak with the Elder to see which direction to head to first, or what would be best to avoid….

I stop pacing up and down the room and decide to remove the green gown I had been wearing and put on the clothes someone had placed for me on the side. As soon as I was changed, I turned to the door just as Orla was coming in.

“Oh, I thought you had left me,” I cautiously said, hoping she wouldn’t keep me here another day.

“No, never, don’t be silly! I am just about to head away for the day but wanted to come tell you that you can leave now….. Oh! Also that I have the results back from the blood samples I took from you earlier,” she said, quietly.

She then looked outside the door before coming in and closing it softly behind her. “It’s really strange; the blood sample we took from you when you first arrived months ago was 100% human DNA, very common from what we have studied over the last few hundred years, and very easy to decipher.” She started but then looked awkward and shuffled her feet about. She then moved closer towards me. “…But the latest blood sample I pulled from you was a completely different DNA sequence. I’ve never seen it before. It seemed very dominant from the strands I looked at.”

I had no idea what she meant by this, but before I could question her on it, she lowered her voice to barley a whisper “I was asked not to tell you this, but it seems your DNA has changed completely…you’re not human. At least, not anymore.”

I looked at Orla, shocked. She put her index fingers up to her lips, and I understood. She couldn’t answer anything else. I didn’t want to put her on the spot, so I thanked her and told her I will grab my belongings before I leave.

So much information had been provided to me in this room, but I had so many more questions rather than answers. I took one last look at the room and noticed the Monsters of Old book sitting beside the bed. I took it and shoved it into my pocket, as the book itself had a soft cover, so it could bend easily. I then headed out of the medical wing and started heading straight to Elijah’s house, where I planned to tell him of my early departure.