Painted Black

After a nice meal of honey glazed fruit salad, everyone was...relatively rejuvenated and ready to follow the king and Zinnia into the Tree Cradle to meet the third platoon. And follow them they did to a very packed hall room with over 20 elves looking around nervously until the king arrived.

"Men." The king nodded and made a polite bow that the elves all quickly returned in a much more venerable way.

"Sir, I assume Laurestine has explained our peculiar situation to you?" One of the soldiers asked anxiously.

"I have." Laurestine nodded, "The king is here to explain. So listen up men!"

The soldiers all straightened up on their legs or chairs, waiting for the king to begin.

"First, I must welcome you all back to the Tree Cradle." The king said, "Our ancestral home welcomes you but know that the world still needs you. Your bravery and strength is what holds our world aloft. So regretfully I must ask you to return to the front of battle by the following day. Travel is being prepared and you will even receive reinforcement from the few able bodied elves of age in this cradle. Until then though, please take a moment to unwind what I am about to say."

A few soldiers looked disappointed to hear they would be returning to battle so quickly but the king's explanation took precedence so the soldiers pushed aside any complaints they might have to allow the king to continue.

"A few days ago, a change was made to the Tree Cradle." The king continued, "The changes are minimal in terms of the elven form but are more for internal changes including the increase of our mana levels. These changes cannot be retrofitted to our current bodies so I took the time to prepare newly updated clone bodies that your consciousness can be transferred to once you die. As you can imagine, that is exactly what happened and in a timely manner as well. However, this is currently a one time deal as it takes time to grow the replacement bodies. I am working right now to see if I can apply this backup to the rest of the elven race and how quickly I can automate the regrowing process. Do not worry if you die without a replacement ready, you will simply be reborn again as a child as per the usual system. That is all."

A loud murmur grew among the soldiers speaking mostly positively about the king's explanation.

"I see!"

"So these are the new changes the king has been working on!"

"Amazing! As expected of our king!"

"Our king will surely lead us to victory in this war!"

"Wait till everyone else hears about this!"

"As this is a feature that we've just added, I'd like you all to keep this change a secret." The king added, "Wouldn't do us any good if our soldiers just recklessly endangered their lives because of this."

"True, we wouldn't want those dwarves taking advantage of our race again."

"Thank you, my king, we'll be sure to make use of our second lives you've so graciously gave us!"

"I apologize for being away from the battlefield for so long." The king did a short bow, "There are yet more changes to be implemented so I must ask you all to continue to hold the front lines for me. Rest assured, when I do return, I will make sure this interminable war will finally meet it's termination, no matter how many years it takes."

The soldiers all roared with energetic approval as the king turned around and left the room, Zinnia following behind him silently.

"Was it okay to lie like that?"

"Whatever do you mean, Zinnia?" The king asked as the two stood outside the room of the yelling soldiers.

"There were no magical enchantments involving the creation of a second body from what I recall."

"Heh. I assigned you to work on the enhancement magic to our natural bodies. The rest have been a...personal project I've been planning around for a while now."

"..."

"Come now, there was no reason to bother you with work that I've been developing personally. It is the king's duty to regulate the core's enchantments, there was no need to drag anybody else into it. Besides, I hardly think anybody but you would even be able to understand the complexities of my intentions."

"..."

"Are you angry? Or perhaps simply displeased? It's hard to tell with your stoic face sometimes, my old friend. But if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you right now."

"...What is the purpose of increasing the mana levels of our race?"

"There are many useful applications for an increased internal mana level. Spells can be cast stronger or more abundantly without the need for external mana and it's been speculated that greater mana levels can lead to longer lives. Very useful wouldn't you say?"

"In what case would we have an absence of mana to use? And according to modern mana theory, increased mana levels means we'd require more mana in our natural environment in order to survive."

"Are you quoting the humans' research papers?" The king chuckled, "If I recall, mana at rest disperses to fill mana deplete environments. Including mana generated from living beings. A mana rich being in a mana lacking environment will leak mana to the point that their health would be affected. Is that right?"

Roko turned to look at Helena who shrugged. Then he turned to Kaguya.

"This has since been proven true for the most part." Kaguya said.

"Say for a moment, we believe the humans when their understanding of magic is so different from our own." The king continued, "What is the issue? You yourself claimed that there was little risk of running into mana low environments so what's the problem with raising the quality of life even if it should make us indulgent?"

"Because an increased mana level also means more data about any and all elves can be recorded."

"Yes. For the replacement bodies."

"We have a reincarnation system in place, it does not take a 200% increase in mana levels to make replacement bodies."

"Is that how you calculated it?"

"..."

"...Heh heh. Sorry, sorry. I don't mean to question your abilities. But there are plenty of uses for increased mana besides monitoring. I understand your concerns but they're all measures taken to ensure the end of this endless war. The world can't keep fighting forever, Zinnia. The world, her people are getting tired. But we cannot show weakness, we at the very least must keep fighting for what it's worth. Until the very end, we must demonstrate the resistance of the world."

"..."

"Zinnia!"

Borage's enormous frame barreled down the corridor, stopping right in front of them as he caught his breath before continuing, "Hyacinth says she can't find Lycoris and wants you to help out! And also to keep this secret from the king and- ...oh."

"It's fine." The king smiled, "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. But do try your best to find Lycoris, okay? I'm afraid the coming days will be too busy for me to help out. But I am quite concerned for her safety so I'll leave the search to you all. Good luck."

And with that, the king walked off into the memory's mists that ended their time in this memory...

"Well if the reincarnation theory wasn't true before, it certainly is now." Helena let out a playful sigh, "This just keeps getting weirder."

"Kinda funny how we could've found this out if we were just a bit more patient." Momo said, "Roko worked his noggin for no reason."

"Maybe I should just stay quiet from now on." Roko sighed.

"I think it's really impressive." Corissa smiled, "Every time you seem to look into the future, it always feels so cool to watch unfold."

"Certainly doesn't feel that way to me." Roko said.

"Just in case." Roland said as he turned to Brook and Reaumur, "Neither of you can revive from the dead after you die, right?"

"Not to my knowledge." Brook scoffed, "If this turns out to be true in modern day, I'd have to seriously wonder how they kept this a secret for 700,000 years."

"If this isn't a thing in modern day, then that means this system somehow disappeared in between these memories and now." Roland nodded, "But how could something like that happen?"

A long pause follow Roland's question. One that held no anticipation or ponderance. A simple blank silence before Helena said,

"Yeah, that's what we're here to find out. Was that all you had to add?"

"Dammit, I thought I was onto something there." Roland scowled.

"Not easy reading ahead in the story is it?" Momo chuckled, "That's why we usually leave that up to Roko. He's always trying to figure everything out before us anyway."

"Someone has to put in effort." Roko muttered.

"Anything, Roko can do, I can do better." Roland fixed the front of his armor and touched his white fedora in a cool, confident, dandy pose.

"OH. OH HO HO." Helena grinned the biggest grin Roko had ever seen her make "OH, this is gonna be pure platinum."

"Well let's not delay the event any further." Kaguya smiled, "Let's hear what you predict will happen, Roland."

"My prediction..." Roland tipped his hat down with a knowing smirk, "Is that the king will use the gem's power to mind control all the elves and his guards will have to be the ones to stop him!"

…

"I mean...it's possible I suppose." Momo shrugged.

"Roko?" Helena turned to Roko, "How we feeling about this take?"

"Lukewarm. It's missing a lot of details and only takes in the recent events without speculation on the characters and their personalities and intentions. Plausibility is all you can really give it."

"Oh yeah? Well what kind of things am I missing then, genius?"

"For one, the dark elves. We're here to find out how dark elves emerged, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

"Yeah, I kinda forgot that too." Helena said, "Hey Enlil, how much longer til dark elves show up?"

"You've got two right there." Enlil scoffed, "I don't know, I'm learning all this along with you. Maybe we would've gotten there already if you didn't decide to have a training arc."

"I mean, there's always time for a training arc." Momo smiled.

"I'm the one who has to keep up the space you know? How long do you want this to go on? Anyway, Hyacinth says it should be in this next memory."

"Ask and you shall receive." Helena chuckled, "Alright, let's get this memory underway and see how far off Roland really was!"

"Or how RIGHT I really was." Roland smirked.

"Where are the dark elves, Roland?"

"Shut up!"

The next memory started with Hyacinth leading Zinnia around the edges of the cradle's town. The streets were barren and the homes around them seem to have been converted to warehouses. For as big as the cradle was, it seems only a small portion of the cradle was in use. Perhaps the scale of this operation used to be bigger before it shrunk down in size. Much of these repurposed buildings seemed to not have been used in years. Which was why it seemed strange that Hyacinth seemed to be wandering around them.

"Sorry to take you away." She spoke up to her quiet colleague, "You've been working with the king on the changes to the cradle right?"

"Small adjustments here and there." Zinnia replied nonchalantly.

"Heh heh. Anything you can tell me about it?"

"..."

"No? Ah, I probably wouldn't understand it anywa-"

"It's mostly stability and compatibility fixes."

"Oh yeah? Do you know what the king's been working on?"

"No."

"Really? Not even you know?"

"I haven't been to the core room since the first installation. I've just been fixing data that's been reported to me by the king."

"Oh...that..."

"..."

"...Do you still trust the king?"

"...My position does not require me to trust my king. All I do is what is asked of me."

"A job is a job I guess. But...do you agree with the king? About the way he's been doing things?"

An awkward silence took hold of the conversation for a bit. Zinnia's face remained ever unreadable even with Hyacinth stealing glances back at him.

"The king has been too busy with recent events to afford time for us. If the king has nothing to ask of me, my duty turns to serving the people."

"Heh. That's a Zinnia answer all right."

"Have you found Lycoris?"

"...Yes."

"Have you managed to get any answers out of her?"

"...Can you keep a secret?"

"From who?"

"...The king."

Hyacinth bit her lips. It was hard to tell if she was bad at lying or if she was carefully letting out tidbits of information. There was no subtlety in their tests. Hyacinth knew Zinnia too well to keep secret that they had secrets. The only thing in question was their alliance.

"Who wants to keep this a secret?" Zinnia threw out a question.

"We do." Hyacinth answered, "We...we all do."

"I see." Zinnia nodded, "Then, should I respond not as a member of the royal guard?"

"...What does Zinnia the person want to do?"

"...It's been so long that there is no person beyond 'Zinnia of the Hyssop Circle'...but there is a 'Zinnia the soldier'. Someone who still protects people."

"...You've had a rough life haven't you?" Hyacinth offered a soft smile.

"My story is one shared with nearly all of elvenkind." Zinnia replied, "You will find nothing special about me."

"Even as a guard of the Hyssop Circle?"

"That person is currently on leave."

"Right, right." Hyacinth laughed softly, "Alright. We're here."

Hyacinth stopped in front of a long house. Among the homes that had been converted into warehouses, this one seemed to have been intended to be a warehouse from the beginning. It was no less dusty, this area seemed to have been neglected for quite some time, and Roko could've sworn these two had walked past this structure once or twice before. Hyacinth placed a hand on the door's handle...took a deep breath...and lead the way in.

Inside the warehouse was a large collection of crates, piled on high with barely enough room for people to walk through. Dim light filtered in though small thin openings along the top of the walls. A lone hanging brazier was meant to be the main source of light for the room but it remained unlit. Instead, a small lantern on the floor lit up the remaining darkness. And right next to it was Lycoris, sitting right in front of the entrance on a crate and looking down anxiously.

"Lycoris." Hyacinth spoke up, drawing the young girl attention but easing none of her worry.

"Lady Hyacinth." Lycoris offered a courteous but stiff bow like always, "And...Sir Zinnia."

"It's been a while." Zinnia returned the stiff bow, "I would ask if you were well but it appears that this is not the case."

"Apologies for my erratic disappearances, sir. I hope the king isn't too mad."

"Forget the king for now." Zinnia knelt down to look the child in the face, "What have you been busy with?"

"Ummm..."

"Lycoris." Hyacinth reached into one of her pouches, "I bought some chocolate."

"Thank you." Lycoris accepted the bar of chocolate from the royal guard, "I'll give it to her now."

"Come on then, Zinnia." Hyacinth sighed, "It's time to show you our little secret."

Lycoris picked up the lantern and lead the way through the piles of crates. The further in they went, the higher the boxes piled up. From the few labels Zinnia could see, they had clearly been moved to be more obscuring but there was no way that little Lycoris could have moved them. Even with Hyacinth helping out, Zinnia couldn't see the two moving some of these heavier crates. Not without drawing attention.

Zinnia's speculations ended when they entered a small opening in the crates' formation. The boxes were now like a fort, piled up to the window's heights on all sides, making it pretty much impossible for anyone to peer in should they even be able to reach the windows. And in this dark, cramped space was a hooded figure shivering on a crate. Zinnia and Hyacinth stood back as Lycoris rushed over to this person's side, patting their back and whispering reassurances to them.

"It's okay. It's okay. We've found more help. Don't worry. Here, have some chocolate. It tastes really sweet. You'll love it."

A shaking hand took the chocolate bar but made no movements to eat it.

"Come. Let's take off your hood for now."

The figure shook their head strongly.

"We need them to understand if we want them to help, remember? It'll be okay. Nothing will happen to you."

Lycoris tried to remove their hood again and this time, the figure did not stop them. So with baited breath, Roko and Zinnia watched as Lycoris pulled back the hood...and revealed a young elf child. Whose skin had turned a deep rich brown.