18

Although they were both told that smithing the runes straight into whatever they were creating was the most effective method of inscribing. I learned a lot from Sekka about the elven world. They had a hierarchy that was a bit old fashioned. There were the long eared high elves, and the short eared low elves. High elves had the strongest connection to mana, and therefore had the strongest affinities.

Some of them were even able to use divine energy, and auras. Thankfully it was a rare ability among the high elves. The low elves also had a fairly strong connection to mana as well, but if divine energy was rare among the high elves it was almost unheard of in low elves. Their connection to mana, and ability to use divine energy was what determined an elves placement within their society. Then at the bottom was slaves.

Human slaves weren't the only kind of slaves that elves kept. They kept slaves from just about every world they invaded. Most of them died out rather quickly, but some managed to produce half elf offspring that survived, and kept the slave market working. Humans must have been some seriously valuable property. They were a race that weren't affected by the normally poisonous mana.

They were probably some of the more valuable slaves that could be bought so it would be noticed when I started stealing them all. I was getting tired of waiting for the humans to disturb the peace we'd built here. We would need to negotiate some sort of trade agreement fairly soon since we were dangerously low on some of the things humans considered a necessity. I could sneak a few out fairly easily, or they could make use of the shuttle they still had. My muscles tensed when the unicorn appeared before me.

She alerted me to the appearance of someone at the edge of the territory. I could sense them as well, but it didn't hurt to keep respecting her properly. She was a powerful high spirit that had gained a physical form. Her ethereal beauty made people stare at her. She was still a being that was composed of pure mana so it wasn't difficult for her to appear seemingly out of nowhere.

I jumped off the top of the hollow mountain, and flared my wings slowing my descent as I made my way to the bottom. Ethan had yet to transform, and his temper would become a problem if I left him behind. I invited Eliza, and a few of her people as well as Letty. He had more political know how than I did. Eliza was more of a character witness.

There was a good chance that Savannah's father would be there. I invited Sekka as well. Actually insisted was more accurate. I crossed the distance to where the humans had disturbed our boundaries quickly. Leaving the humans I'd invited along behind.

Aurora joined me in the sky as I flew down to where the humans were. We landed on the ground lightly. My own landing managed to be lighter than Aurora's only due to a little gravity manipulation. Aurora growled at the strangers, and paced away from the strangers slowly as she lowered herself to allow Goliath off of her back. Goliath glanced at me before walking over to the shuttle that had landed just within the walls.

I flicked my tail casually. Glancing at Aurora to silence her as she laid down. Ethan stayed close to me while Savannah, and Jax both approached the group. I switched to my human form quickly. My jacket flared out around me as I dropped to the ground.

"I halfway expected an army on our doorstep," I smirked at Ethan.

"You know they can probably hear you right?" Savannah called back to me.

"Do I look like I care?" I chuckled, "If they want to be offended than they need to come out first."

Letty just appeared by the door of the shuttle when it opened, and bowed like a proper butler.

"Forgive me," Letty spoke first, "This place hasn't been prepared for guests of your stature."

A platform of shadows appeared on the ground before they could step on the ground. The man that stepped out first was an exhausted looking man with red hair that appeared to be greying quickly. He didn't appear to be that old, but his hair was greying quickly for his age. He looked right at me, and a black thread shot out from him to attach to me. A thin barrier of divine energy stopped the thread from properly attaching to me, and it broke.

He acted calm as if nothing happened as the others stepped out behind him. He sent out another thread toward Aurora. I cut that thread as well.

"Please stand on this platform, and I'll take you to somewhere more suited to these formal proceedings," Letty stayed low in his bow.

Magnus, and the earth great both gave me dirty looks. I could swear I'd been told his name, but I didn't care enough to remember what it was. They were all high powered figures so I wasn't surprised when they showed that they were armed in a way that was supposed to be covert. They also had a contingency of men with them. I imagined that they were probably wearing heart monitors that signaled the start of some massive attack.

"You've got some sort of contingency plan in place don't you?" I stepped on the platform of shadows as it lifted off the ground slowly.

What Letty was doing now had to be dominance over shadows. It was hard to tell what affinities he had dominance over when his power made me feel as if I were suppressed completely. There was no doubt in my mind that he probably had divine energy, and a powerful aura. The fact that he could suppress me without using it felt dangerous. I remained quiet as I waited for them to say something.