You used what again? (Part 1)

Ruins were... ruins after all.

They were not tended to, albeit being a hideout. Why? It was not because of some reverie or feelings of respect in front of the ancestors. No. Behind the ruined columns and among dilapidated rooms one can easier hide from arrows and find a shooting point.

In this regard poetical creatures, elves usually depicted to be, were surprisingly practical, taking after humans or bloede d'hoine how the like to call them. Bloede can be removed, but they rarely do so.

Scoia'tael base was not as militant as one would think it to be. There were little kids running around, women and elderly taking care of chores and everyday wellbeing. Several elven warriors went to the side to hug their families with smiles on their faces.

"Surprised d'hoine?" - asked Iorweth. - "We are not wild and brutal. We have families too."

"I'm not among the people who are ignorant enough to think you replicate like cabbages do." - said Alan.

"Thaess aep, bloede d'hoine!" - came a scream from the left and a fist headed straight to Alan's face, that he easily dodged and kicked assaulter in the leg, making him fall down.

"Stand down, Echel!" - screamed Iorweth, but in action didn't even move a finger to prevent the attack. Some great captor he is. But one can't expect more from the witcher world.

"Why? This bloede d'hoine dies if I want him to die!" - argued elf the same age as Iorweth.

"Some loud words from someone who can't even land a hit." - Alan really got angry. Who the hell this pointy ears think he is?

'I die when you want me to die? Some big balls out there! My fully empowered space ram can color this whole tunnel in tone of your blood.'

"D'hoine swine can't understand after being captured where it's place is?" - Echel sneered.

"You would have being dead already if I wanted you dead, idiotic creature." - Alan shouted in bad mood and exuded gravity spell on the elf, making him go on his knees. - "Educate your dogs properly, Iorweth. You seem to be hugely mistaken, if you think that you can do anything to us! Want a fight? Let's see how many of you will survive me!"

The later narrowed his eyes and lead them away under the loathsome curses of the elf, who was too emotional for his own good. But Alan knew that partly it was a test that he needed to pass. And he did that with flying colors.

He can't stop praising his own luck to be in possession of Vibe.

They were eventually sent to a room and left there. It was empty and at least here elves done their homework removing anything that can be used as a weapon. Poor sods just never counted on Alan the same way Rostan never counted on them.

"We need to talk." - after some time two people walked in. A very beautiful elven woman, no, more like a girl about twenty, and Iorweth.

The moment a girl entered, her eyes were always not on Geralt or Ciri, but Alan. She seems to be shocked, afraid and a bit expectant of something, but one could be clearly interpreted from her behavior – that is not the first time she ever saw Alan and she had a very deep impression of him.

"This is Naevis Yinrais, a sorceress. I want to hire you Geralt to help us deal with the trouble blocking the passage to the north." - Iorweth said directly.

"And the long story?"

"No long story, take it or leave it." - cut Iorweth.

"That's not how it's done. I need to at least know what we are dealing with."

"We don't know." - sighed Iorweth in exhaustion. - "It killed about a dozen of my men already. I can only tell that creature is so fast, that it can literally catch arrows from our bows in point blank range."

"Anything else?" - at this question of Geralt elf commander looked at Naevis.

"It... it is nearly immune to magic. No fire, water or even wind spells can injure it." - she said while being broken from her enthralled state and blushing a bit. - "And during brief moment it stopped, I happen to see it. Thin, humanoid, taller than any human or elf with long blade like claws."

Geralt face became unusually serious and grim.

"You sure about what you saw?"

"I am a mage, Gwynbleidd. At least I can assure you of my proper memory." - she said frowning.

"That's not what I meant. Tell me, did it drink blood or absorb it in any other way?"

"No. The strange thing is, it never even wanted corpses. It just killed us like butchering cattle, Gwynbleidd."

"Not strange. It just feeds in a different way." - said Geralt with a rare pensive look deep within his reptile eyes.

"Gwynbleidd, do you know what it is?"

"I have a hunch of what this creature is, but there is a catch. It is very. I underline it, very hard to kill." - said witcher. - "Actually to the point where witchers don't normally take contracts for it. It is advised to leave."

"Leave? Witchers kill monsters, that is what they do for living!"

"But witchers never were the most powerful beings in the world. By far actually. There are many creatures that can easily kill me no matter what I do and how I prepare. This one can be just that kind of creature. Still, there is a thing or two we can do, depending on what you need to achieve. If I can avoid fighting it, I will."

"Are you afraid?" - Iorweth asked with clear provocation.

"Yes. I am afraid. I don't want to die. I know that I will die one way or another and not in bed writing a will, but in some ditch buried by monsters I went to kill. Monsters that this unlucky day were a bit faster than me, a bit smarter and a bit stronger. That's it. I get used to this thought and embrace it, Iorweth. However I'm not stupid enough to march for death knowing that I most likely can't achieve anything with it."

"Is it that dangerous? For you to know, Gwynbleidd, it is blocking a path to the other side. A shortcut to Kaedwen." - said leader of elves.

"But what will you do getting to the other side?" - Alan asked with sharp look. - "I know what will happen. You will enter forests and fields of Kaedwen and Aedirn, reunite with other divisions and continue terrorizing normal people. Who will die from you arrows, aen siedhe? Soldiers? Yes, without a doubt. But mostly it will be defenseless farmers, merchants, cattle of the villages you will hunt to eat. The villages that later will starve and hundreds will perish from hunger. I don't know about you being some elven hero, but being a Nilfgaard dog that bites and barks where it is told to, that is for certain."

"You are pushing it, bloede d'hoine!" - roared Iorweth throwing a chair to the side. - "You, d'hoine, are oppressing us and killing us as we speak. We taught you art of magic, our elder speech and language of force itself. We were the ones who gave you a way to survive in this monster infested world, but what you did in return? You bloede d'hoine killed us, kidnapped our kids to be slaves, raped our woman and burned our villages and forests!

"Am I really pushing it? Do you know why you are so angry? Because that..." - Alan spread his hands apart, as if embracing the whole hideout. - "is not how you envisioned the future and life of your people! And it is not like you are all innocent! How many people who are completely harmless to you died from your arrows? How many woodcutters? Or normal merchants? You know what they say? They say they better deal with the bandits who are after their money than scoia'taels who are there for blood! You will eventually isolate yourselves to extinction, because you can't kill us all. And eventually you will have to learn to coexist, but with so much blood and crimes on your hands you, Iorweth, you will be one of the first to be sold as a culprit and a slaughterer in the name of future peace."

"We are fighting for the future of all elves!" - shouted Iorweth.

"Future where there is no place for the likes of you." - sighed Alan and what stopped the elf from assault is in what tone it was said. There was no mocking or anger. It was full of compassion and sadness.

And not on empty ground. By far.

Alan firsthand knew what it feels like to fight for the world, that rejects you and doesn't need you anymore. For your own conviction and to make it better place for people that might not even know you anymore. For the world that has nothing except your own unsettled wishes left.

Wishes you can't even share, only doing it to feel at peace while saying your final farewell.