Chapter 11
Exactly as I heard it from our Wise One, I transmit to you the teachings of the past, we have been a mistreated race for centuries, our lives far from being satisfactory or cultured were limited to being and being under the command (call it yoke) of the High Elves, we lived enslaved even after they abandoned the plains and left us in charge as servants of their Alcazar. ... anyone could say it was an improvement, but the fortress had its plans, written deep in its structure was a code of activities and who should perform them, the cruelty of their punishments for not fulfilling them led us almost to extinction.
While we lived our humiliating existence without being aware of what was happening outside, in our beautiful forests that we missed and about which we wrote beautiful poems and wild songs for years, which we reflected as best we could in the gardens of the entrance and in the different levels of the building, everything went unchanged, our skin, which was brown, became paler with that shade of disease that can only be acquired in the dark.
One day the Alcazar gave us the news "there is a new master", we thought they had returned, those haughty, cynical and despicable elves, but we did not care much, they and only they could let us go to bury the bones of our ancestors in the forests they dreamed of, so we managed the best we could, We chose the most beautiful and handsome children and teenagers to become the new master's sacrifice, they would probably be killed or mutated, but they knew their future, it had been the future of many before them and it would be the future of generations to come.
We arrived wearing clean rags and went straight to the dining room where we found a surprise: a human, a being without magic, waiting for us in front of a banquet prepared by the Alcazar itself. The older ones invoked their weapons and work tools, ready to defend their masters' home. The young human smiled coldly and asked, 'Are you defending yourselves from me?' I will let you do it. However, if you wish to protect the legacy of your enslavers, I will show you no mercy. At that precise moment, we felt an immense power that defied description. No one from the old races possessed such raw power, not even the former owners. We all knelt down before our new master, a different race but one that had become our new ruler.
We presented our condition as slaves, but he disdained it. We offered our lineage as a gift, but he snorted in disdain. We waited disgruntled for his orders. There were references to eliminating those who did not think like them, which was difficult because no one knew what happened behind their unscathed faces. They only used us as guinea pigs. Finally, one of the youngest asked what he wanted. ... and when he pointed to the tables, those who were going to be sacrificed went and sat down. We remained in our place, not even wanting to consider what poisons he had seasoned the food with, or worse, if the chairs would activate their traps and impale us.
The younger ones ate while he watched us with piercing eyes, slowly, deliberately, he raised his back, crashed it against the floor, making a huge crack in the immaculate marble, a bolt of lightning left the walls destined for his body, it is a revenge that some had already experienced, a concentrated attack intended to leave a stain on the floor, It was stopped with one of his hands, while he took a glass from the table and drank it, one, two, three drinks, while the Alcazar's attack proved useless against a power of that caliber, when the attack stopped he smiled again, "If you want it that way, this time I will be as you wish," he drew his sword and pointed at those of us who remained at the entrance, "if at the count of three you are not sitting with one hand on the food... you will die! ... you will die! Needless to say, at the count of two we all (including me) enjoyed our first bite of meat, some had never eaten it before, for me it was just a memory of my childhood, so delicious that we started to cry.
While we were eating, he asked everything that came to mind, I, being the oldest, answered, first in a hurry, then gluttony overcame me in front of the delicacies on the table, I ended up talking with my mouth full, he didn't seem to mind, we told him that we were elves of the forests, we explained our functions here, we told him that since we had no magic other than that related to the plants, we could not escape from this construction, I told him how we had to live on the giant mushrooms in the deepest levels, as we could not consume anything from the larder, thoughtfully he insisted on why we did not confront the castle, only a few tried, I told him, they did not try to dominate it, only to go out into the forest, but none of us were high elves and the castle destroyed us when we reached the limits of the entrance.
After lunch he took us to the library and asked for the most obscure volumes, some of us were librarians so we could tell him the contents of what we thought he could look for, he told us that some would stay with him, the rest would compete to choose the hundred most agile, intelligent and strong, no one asked, I went with him while the young people began to see each other.
About three months passed while I accompanied him through various volumes of magic and botany, he sent to bring samples of our mushrooms, water, even asked for samples of blood, skin of men and women, no one understood what he was looking for, I could only watch him and curse my ignorance, I saw him so powerful, but for the first time since I existed, I met someone for whom time was a priority.
In all that time he only asked one thing, that no one should touch the coffin that was already in the front garden, we all obeyed, not only because someone so powerful asked for it, that coffin gave the impression of being deadly just by looking at it, the gardeners avoided coming within ten meters of the forbidden object, yet the condition of the garden did not deteriorate, it looked beautiful, but with that beauty that only something very dangerous could radiate.
Finally he came out, in the throne room many of the strongest and most intelligent of my people were waiting for us, he spoke to us and for a moment I wished he wouldn't.
- "Children of the trees, your home is no more, everything the elders knew is gone, the forests you so longed for are gone, they have been consumed by this Alcazar to provide you with water and raw materials" - we elders wept, we did not want to admit it was true.
- There is no power that can bring your beloved trees back to life," he continued in a whisper that echoed through the room.
- "I can make them grow, but it will be artificial, there is no water or minerals to sustain them after I leave" - we all panicked at these words, knowing that if he left, this construction would be waiting for us to make up for our insolence.
- "Forest elves, I offer you a chance to experience freedom! The mushrooms you consume are of magical origin, it is not much, but they generate and keep the runes of the castle working, I can make them multiply, I can cover miles with mushrooms as big as your beloved trees, you will eat from them, you will live from them, they will be your shield and your armor, In exchange I ask you to guard this place and not allow it to fall into the hands of anyone else, those who accept will renounce their skin color, I will tattoo runes that will allow them to channel the magic of these new forests, but it is not white magic, it is the magic of the night, that is what they produce and that color will be their skin, those are the terms, do you accept? "I proudly tell them that our raised fist formed a forest of will.
We all cried those weeks, we saw the forest grow in the barren plains where the ancestors lived free, the tattoos were very noticeable at first, but every time we used magic those darkened our skin, today in front of the new generation of brothers who look at us, have heard the story, the legend of our prison and the liberator, we are free men who decided to serve our Darklord until the last breath, we are elves who renounced the forests disappeared, we are the dark elves! No one will take away our freedom, because we have achieved it!