The Dark Elves

It is like stepping into another world.

Oh wait. It is!

Beyond the magical portal is a completely different universe, operating on a completely different rule and principle than the prime universe, where I have come from.

Ancient trees tower over me, reaching far into the sky and glowing majestically under the twin moons – red and green – above.

I think goblin comes from the green one.

Moonlight streams through the dense tree lines, through their thick branches and vast leaves, bathing the waist-high grasses and foliage on the ground brilliantly.

Eternal night blankets the entire forest day and night, disorientating my perception of time – not really since I do know exactly what time it is.

It is just one of my senses thanks to my power. It helps me navigate the timestream, jumping back and forth in the timeline with pinpoint accuracy.

"It is always night here, Master. Another blessing from the Goddess herself."

Elune reminds me when I stare unblinkingly at the clear starry sky.

Due to all the light pollutions back on planet Earth, being able to see the natural beauty of the universe with a naked eye is a very rewarding occasion.

I did a few times when I wandered around the Sahara Desert with a team of Hydra, looking for ancient burial tombs.

We did find it after several night of searching. The desert is a very big place after all. I will tell you all about our little treasure hunts around Egypt as well as all over the world later.

"Please follow me, Master. The elders wish to see you."

Elune beckons and slowly walks towards a massive tree located in the centre of the forest.

There is a very clear path, leading there even if the ground is covered with overgrown foliage.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my excited heart before following Elune, all under the discerning eyes of the Rangers and Hunters.

Rangers and Hunters are Elvish Classes or Ranks. It is probably classes. Ranks are different from what I can tell. Elune is a Huntress, but her rank is very high thanks to her connection to the Goddess herself.

There are more classes like Druids and Wardens amongst the elves.

This starting to sound a lot like Azeroth.

I think I will name this world Azeroth just for the heck of it. It is called Azula – meh.

As for Warcraft itself, the game hasn't even been conceived yet.

In fact, Blizzard Entertainment hasn't existed as far as I know. It will be around February 1991 if I recall correctly. I am still unsure whether I should start the company myself or let those nerds do it for me and buy them out in the end.

I am leaning more to the latter since there is no need for me to do all the hard works.

Blizzard might not even follow the same growth rate and gain immense popularity like they did in the original timeline. So much have changed in the prime universe.

The PlayStation will basically bulldozer the whole gaming market when it is released.

For its powerful specification and relatively cheap price, there is no way the console will not dominate the market, especially when I already have like hundreds of high-quality games ready to be sold.

Selling just licencing and toolkits will make back the insanely (falsified) expensive manufacturing cost, so it will justify our marketing strategy. I don't want the United States Government looking too deeply into this.

I wonder whether Nintendo or other gaming companies will come knocking on my door, begging for a meeting on the account of me killing their market? They would be a fool not to.

The gaming companies are one of the reasons why I need the power and fame of Chrono Holdings.

Chrono Holdings will also force Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and their respective companies to the table, making them take me seriously amongst other things.

Revealing the powerhouse that Terra Entertainment during the court case does kill a lot of birds.

In any case, I will deal with all of that later. There is no need to hurry when the whole prime universe is completely frozen in time.

The elves are hiding in the treelines, watching me. They are whispering amongst themselves, but I am unable to understand what they are saying.

They are obviously not speaking English. They probably have no idea what English is.

I don't know why I can understand Elune and she can understand me though. Perhaps it is due to the master-servant sort of connection we have. That makes thing easy, I suppose.

"Selene. Linguistic analysis. I want to know their language by heart within the next 5 minutes."

I order the virtual intelligence in my head.

[Acknowledged, Operator]

Selene will map out the language for me and produce a neutral interface package for me.

Once the package is uploaded and integrated into my brain, I will understand and speak their language fluently.

This is how I get around all the language barrier when I am in a foreign country.

I tend to only speak English when I am outside the United States since I like to see what the foreigners are saying about me, especially when they think I don't know their language.

People speaks their mind when they think no one is listening or understand them.

Over the decades, Shield have gathered a lot of dirt on everyone in the United States through its totally illegal surveillance system.

There are probably enough blackmail materials for me to basically take down the entire United States Government – but not yet.

Some important pieces aren't in place yet.

I think I speak about 60 different languages at the moment, including dead one like Egyptian and Aztec because of reasons.

Although sounds a lot, it is not really that many considering there are more 6500 spoken languages in the world.

Most of those languages are not that useful, so I didn't bother learning them.

Regardless of whether I can understand the elves or not, I think they don't like me very much, probably due to their deep seeded grudge against the humans of their world.

Those humans are encroaching on their forest, cutting countless trees down to power their constant expansion. They have also kidnapped a lot of dark elven children, who are quiet exotic goods due to their longevity and natural beauties.

I don't need to tell you what those humans use those elves for.

This is a medieval age after all.

Democracy is dead. Actually, it isn't even born yet.

Even as a human, I am a guest, and as one who is favoured by the Goddess, they will not harm me.

Well, if they tried, they will find that I am not a pushover.

My power will work on them since they are mortals. They will age. And they will die.

It is simply the natural order. I am the master of that natural order.

No body fuck with time!

As I follows Elune while staring a little bit at her swaying butt, I could feel the extremely dense magical energy flows through me unhindered.

If my body has a magical core or magical pathways or something similar, the magical energy would be absorbed into my being, strengthening me, powering me and allowing me to cast magic.

Sadly, I don't have any mean of storing or producing magical energy in my body. I was born on Earth, to a pair of muggles after all.

"Is there a way for me to use magic, Elune?"

I question casually.

Although I am not very interested in the magic of the elves since they draw their magical power from the world instead from within themselves, I am still curious.

There might be some uses to that, which I may have not thought of yet.

Besides, the way the elves casted and activated magic is similar to consuming manastones, so it could still prove very useful for the creation of magictech.

Magictech just bypasses some of the necessary sciences and mathematics, giving me some awesome toys to play with.

Alex and Hans have managed to create a magic capacitor, which sucks magical energy up like a sponge and then releases it steadily. Sounds a lot like manastones, but pure technology.

No runes or anything of the sort necessary.

Those two impresses me greatly. I will find some more brains for them to collaborate. More brains are better. I am talking about scientists, not actual brains.

Hammond uses their theory on magical energy to build a temporal container, which can capture and contain temporal energy.

That is just awesome.

Too bad the damn thing doesn't work most of the time. He will figure it out eventually. And when he does, I think I will have enough power to open temporal rift on my own.

"I am unsure if there is a way, Master. But if there is, the elders will surely know. They have lived for a very, very long time."

I nod and scan the treelines, but I am unable to find any elves hiding within.

They are shrouded by a camouflage spell or something.

Selene helps me locate all the dark elves hidden up there with infrared sensor. At least technology still works here, giving me an edge.

And they are susceptible to laser blasts just like Elune did during our little spar.

"Greeting, the one who is favoured by the Goddess."

The five elders greet me after I entered the huge room nested inside the tree. They are not crones like I have imagined. They are still quite old though – about in their 60s if they are humans.

The room is quite large, considering how big the damn tree is.

I swear I could fit an entire house inside here.

Also, I am able to understand them because of Selene.

"Greeting, esteems elders of the dark elves. My name is Maximilien Maxwell. Since we are on a very good term, please address me as Max or Mr. Maxwell. Whichever you prefer. May I know your names in return?"

The elders are shocked, learning of the fact that I have just spoke in their language fluently.

"Please leave us to speak with the one who is favoured by the Goddess, Elune of Whisperwind Clan."

Elune nods and excuses herself.

"I will be waiting for you outside, Master."

"Okie."

I response and face the five elders.

Despite their extreme ages, I can tell that they manage to retain some of their natural beauties. I think they are about 15,000 years old, give or take a few centuries.

This is one of my other sensory. I can tell how much time passes for an object or a person.

"I have a name, please use it, esteem elders."

I point out. I didn't like being called the one who favoured by the Goddess.

"Please forgive us, Mr. Maxwell. We are previously unsure whether Elune of Whisperwind had actually been summoned by the Goddess herself. The Goddess has not spoken to us for a while now. My name is Eliana of Shadowsong."

Each of the elders give me their name – all starting with E.

I think it has to do with their language or something.

And by a while, they mean the last 5,000 years – holy fuck!

That is a while huh?

"I see. I suppose the Goddess might be busy cuddling with her boyfriend or someone of the sort. Who knows. Anyway, what can I do for you? Perhaps return your youth, maybe?"

I response calmly.

The elders blink in unison. It is probably not one of the reasons why they have brought me here. They did not know about my power at all.

"You can do that?"

One of the elders asked. She looks like she won't have long left to live. Morality is a bitch after all. And towards the end of their lives, anyone is fearful of death.

"Sure, but it is not for free though."

I response with a smile, thinking of what kind of outrageous price I can charge them.

So much devious thought run through my mind.