Chapter 27: The Elf Society Pt. 4

Hunter and Shen Yi stared in awe as they passed an invisible barrier, the city of Ulibel open to their eyes for the first time.

"I forget humans have a hard time processing magic, that barrier is to steer people away," One of the elven women said as she smiled at her home.

The two elves were from another world almost, where there was no magic or technology beyond what nature provided; it had been so long since either of the two had held a phone.

Seeing this beautiful city completely made them forget modern society, this was simply breathtaking. The elven society was a sight to behold.

They stood on the edge of a large bridge overlooking one side with huge trees all around them, while across they could see buildings jutting out above other buildings, but still far enough back that you couldn't really tell if it was natural rock formation or something else entirely. It was almost as if the city was alive.

"This is amazing!" Hunter exclaimed. They both walked down onto the sidewalk, which looked like marble stone set into wooden planks laid atop each other without any gaps between them. Their feet sunk slightly below ground level when they stepped off the curb before lifting again once they'd taken several steps forward onto the solid white stone that was the city's road.

As they continued walking through the streets, more and more structures came into view: tall towers built up against towering cliffs, some reaching hundreds of meters high, others much lower but still higher than even the tallest human buildings.

"Woah... This is an insane feat of engineering, this is nearly two millennia of work, how did you guys manage to build such an intricate place?" Shen Yi asked, looking at the city in awe.

Sure, no technology, but that wasn't important in a society that didn't even acknowledge such things existed. To Shen Yi, this was almost perfect living.

That was until she saw the dead child in the middle of the road, beaten and laying limp, stripped of their clothes and all belongings.

Hunter looked at the dead boy in shock. It was such a contrast to the beautiful city that it genuinely made him gasp in surprise.

"What's wrong with you two?" One of the elven warriors asked, noticing their change. Following their line of sight the dead child reached her view.

"What happened to him?" Shen Yi asked, walking toward the body before being grabbed and yanked back by one of her shackles.

"Don't fret, it's just a male child, probably got caught stealing or walking on the wrong side of the road, come, we are nearly there."

Shen Yi gulped, a child was laying dead on the road and the elven warriors shrugged it off, as if it was normal. She had to remind herself, from what she'd seen and heard about this place, these elves were ruthless beings. Not even an hour had passed since She and Hunter had nearly lost their lives.

She watched as they stopped near a building with a sign hanging overhead reading 'Aquilla House'. It was a modest building, much smaller than a lot of the others along the road.

After a few moments, an elf walked out, holding several papers in a thick stack.

"Per the usual methods, how do you want to proceed with the bond? Slave mark or free mark?" The elf asked, looking at the two humans with blank eyes.

One of the elven warriors stepped forward and grabbed the papers, opening her hands and magically sorting them, as well as signing each paper.

When that was finished she handed them back and looked at the elf. "The male gets a slave mark, the female gets lower class status, she may be useful as a servant to the queen, maybe even her personal guard..."

Hunter widened his eyes. "A slave mark?!" He asked, yanking at his chains as each elf grabbed him from a different side, holding him still as the elf with the paperwork nodded, walking back inside and coming back out with a stamp like object.

"No, I won't let—"

He never got to finish saying anything because suddenly he felt himself lifted into the air, blue tendrils wrapped around him, covering his body and restraining him as the elf muttered something in a language he didn't understand.

It hurt terribly, but not enough to make tears form despite knowing what would happen next. His entire right arm was paralyzed, then every joint in his legs and shoulders went numb as soon as the pain started.

A black mark spiraled up his arm, searing into his skin. In the next second, he was dropped, shaking from the pain on the ground.

Shen Yi dropped down next to him, her hands on his arm, looking at the mark in shock.

"What was that!" She yelled, summoning her sword and holding it with both hands, the shackles jingling as the warriors pulled out their own weapons.

"Put the weapon down human, we will not hesitate to use force..." One of them said before Hunter coughed.

"God, Shen Yi put the weapon down, we shouldn't do anything rash..." Hunter said, 'At least not until we find Theriault.'

Shen Yi hesitated before making her sword disappear, looking at the elven warriors cautiously.

Hunter examined the mark on his arm, it wasn't unappealing to the eye, but it hurt like hell when he moved his arm.

"All males are given a slave mark, that is simply the rule, it's been that way for millennia now..." One of the elves explained.

"But I don't understand why? Why are they treated so terribly?" Shen Yi asked.

"We're not allowed to question our rulers' decisions. That's how things have always worked here. If you get too curious about your ruler's actions, you'll end up losing everything." The warrior said coldly.

Shen Yi squinted her eyes. "But... If the ruler decides, what about before? Don't you guys switch queens?"

The elves looked at her as if she had asked an impossible-to-answer question.

"Well... I've been around basically every time the queen switched, and they all hold the same beliefs... That war showed why they deserve to be second-class citizens or less..."

Shen Yi was shocked at the answer. "But that war had to have been thousands, no tens of thousands of years ago... How-"

The elf held up her hand, silencing Shen Yi. "We elves live until we are killed, we hit peak adulthood at 4 years old and go on living forever at our peak condition, we don't die naturally... As you saw not everyone gets to live forever... Now stop asking so many questions, we're nearly at the palace..."

For a moment Shen Yi forgot she was chained and began to protest, only to feel the pain in her arms flare again and remember she had better shut up. She gritted her teeth, feeling anger rising within her.

If those bastards were going to treat children worse than animals, then she wanted nothing to do with them. Her mother used to say, "If you can't control yourself and your anger, you should take a good look in the mirror to make sure you haven't become a monster," but seeing how cruel these elves were made her blood boil.

Sure, war was terrible, and many people changed during them, but this society was too much. She'd never seen such a group of heartless individuals, not in any of her 19 years.

Her mind wandered as the elvish warriors marched ahead, leaving Shen Yi behind with Hunter, whose face was pale from the pain of having his arms restrained and searing constantly.

Their walk took them past dozens upon dozens of buildings, each with its own unique design and color scheme, some with ornate designs etched in the doors, or names, but most had designs depicting some event in time.

Eventually, they came to a large building that resembled a castle, except it was far larger than any structure that fit that description. A large courtyard lay in front of it, filled with flowers and plants; Guards, dozens of them dressed in what seemed to be the elven combat attire as the elves leading Hunter and Shen Yi were dressed the same, were surrounding the building.

"Ah, Nuala!" One of the elves cried cheerfully, running up to the black haired elf who'd claimed to have been alive since the war.

Nuala hugged the other elf, a smile appearing on her face.

'So even monsters like these can be happy?' Shen Yi thought. it almost made her think that maybe she was being unfair, but remembering the boy's lifeless body in the middle of the beautiful marble roads made her disregard that thought immediately.

"The queen is expecting us Phyrra," Nuala said, smiling. Phyrra looked at the humans with a look of disgust, "Alright, go on in... She's requested we all stay out, even princess Thalassia is in the courtyard, no one knows what she's doing in there..."

They entered the building after passing through a pair of double doors adorned with gold leafs. Once inside they found themselves standing in a hallway lined with paintings and statues lining the walls.

There was a faint hum of electricity as they walked further into the palace, but none of them paid it much attention.Almost like it was background noise of a forest, completely irrelevant to the setting.

Nuala led the two humans deeper into the building. Eventually they came to a room guarded by two implausibly large golden doors. Walking in they were all greeted by a sight no one was expecting.

"Well, it's been a while, how about you all get seated, friends," Theriault said as he sat on the queen's throne, the queen standing off to the side with her head down...