Chapter 8 - Heaven and Hell

Ango was shocked to say the least. He didn't know how this magic and fate stuff worked but he knew whatever someone as powerful as Solomon wanted to do with humans, he could.

Lord Folium could not believe what he had heard. Fate scribe Solomon how tried to interfere in the fate of a weak human but failed?

"What's the meaning of this? How did he fail?" he spoke in anger and with haste.

"He had even prepared himself for weeks, how COULD he fail?! How could one of the oldest and most powerful people in this world fail in this matter?!?!?!" the lord was practically yelling at Talia at this point.

Talia's countenance changed as her eyebrows furrowed and she slowly stood up from her seat, putting the pastry she was eating back on the plate. She looked deep into Lord Folium's eyes as a heavy and dense green aura seeped out of his skin. Her eyes flared with green light, the air vibrated and the wooden walls started shaking.

Ango fell to the ground unable to stand under the crushing pressure while Lord Folium was taken by surprise.

'What is this weight'

"Lord Arbor Folium, Do Not Mistake My Show of Respect For Weakness"

She spoke, emphasizing each word. Her aura was expanding with each and every one of her words. Ango could barely breathe under her aura and the lord had come to understand that he had gone too far.

"Know That I Am Informing You By the Orders of The King"

The Walls started humming as thorns started to grow out of them and the wooden ground beneath them came alive and moved. Ango was shaking under the pressure.

"Know Your Place" the pressure accompanying those words was so heavy that Ango nearly passed out. The ground creaked and the tables were crushed.

Amidst the heavy pressure, Lord Arbor stood his ground unfazed. As the lord of a border territory naturally he was not weak, he was actually stronger than Lady Talia but he knew that he had made a mistake.

He took a deep breath and lowered his head and spoke "My apologies lady Talia, in my shock I went too far, forgive me"

Hearing the lord apologize, Talia's aura started shrinking and after a few moments it was gone. She nodded toward the lord as a way of accepting his apology.

Now that the pressure was gone, Ango could once again fill his lungs and started to frantically breathe.

'Monsters … they are both monsters' he thought.

The lord waved his hand and the room started to go back to the way it was. Thorns retracted and became one with the walls again, the ground went back to its original shape and the different pieces of chair rejoined each other and become whole once again.

Ango was in awe. he had seen other elves use magic before; Producing thorns, healing wounds, animating wood and others but he had never seen magic of this scale. Lady Talia had basically animated the entire room while Lord Folium had controlled his power to such a small detail that he could not even notice that the room was in ruins a minute ago if he had not seen it.

He stood up from the ground, bowed toward the two and asked in a rather shaky voice, his body still in a state of shock "My lords, should I fetch another cart of food?"

The room might have been restored and repaired but the food was ruined.

Lord Folium spoke without even looking at Ango "No need, pour drinks" he then sat on his seat and said "My lady, please continue"

Lady Talia took her seat and started to continue where she left off "Not only did master Solomon fail, he was also heavily wounded. The king visited master Solomon and they thought of a solution"

She paused for a moment and then added "There were other options but there were either impossible to achieve, like gathering all the oracles in one place to interfere with fate together, or a waste of time, like looking for this person that we don't know the facial features or place of birth of"

At this point both lord Folium and Ango were listening attentively, waiting for lady Talia to tell them of this decision.

Lady Talia drew a deep breath, held the royal medallion on his neck and spoke "And so his royal majesty ordered all the lords under his command, and sent messages to all the other nations that they to execute all humans"

'Huh?'

"What?!!! Bu-" the lord exclaimed but was interrupted by Talia

She then stood up and spoke with a voice full of authority "His royal majesty, King Legaxus Evergreen, first of his name, has ordered the extinction of the human race". This was a royal decree; there was no escaping this unless he wanted to be branded as a traitor.

Hearing the proclamation, the lord swallowed his words, kneeled down on one knee and declared "I, Arbor Folium, have received his majesty's orders and shall execute them"

This shook Ango to the core. He was a slave and he certainly knew that his life and death depended on the whims of his masters but this... he did not expect. His face was a mask of shock and horror, his mind stuck on the word "extinction"

'Extinction? Extinction??? THEY WANT TO KILL US ALL'

His heart was beating like drums, and his whole body was shaking. He didn't know what to do.

'Should I run? How? Where? Where can I run? How do I outrun the elves, I don't want to die, I don't want to die …' Ango was becoming hysterical, he couldn't help it. the prospect of death was a terrifying thing for most but extinction? The annihilation of their entire race? Turning into dust and the world forgetting about their existence? Horrifying to the point Ango could not even plan an escape.

But he didn't need to because after the lord and Talia took their seats once again, she asked lord Folium "Now that I have informed you of this matter I have a request if you'll hear it"

The lord who was deep in thought did not hear her. He was thinking about the consequences of this decision. Humans were weak for sure but far from useless. Human laborers were used widely in all manners of industries and places. They had to be replaced because the sudden reduction of the workforce would cripple the nation. They had two options, either find new slaves or hire workers.

"Lord Folium?" she tried to get his attention.

"Hm..?"

"I have a request; I wonder if you will agree to it" lady Talia asked again.

"Please speak"

"Would you give this slave to me? I quite enjoy him and would like him to accompany me" her voice jolted Ango out of his mental block.

'What now? Does she want to keep me alive??? I didn't know I was that good… but isn't that treason?' he could only think and dared not ask. Even if he asked his opinion didn't matter; slaves were traded every day and it was a normal occurrence but what she said opened a window of hope for him out of certain death.

"But isn't that treason?" lord Folium was intrigued, he thought that maybe lady Talia knew of a way to hide the humans or had found a loophole. If she had such a way, he would ask her about it.

"Do not worry, though I do enjoy him, I will end him myself after a few days, he is just a slave, not my lover" she said with a light giggle.

And the window slammed shut in Ango's face.