Of Gods and Elves

As Alustriea led Xing Lei out of the castle she started into her history lesson, at first he was quite interested in the tale but as time drew on he found himself realizing that, like most alternate races, they viewed themselves as the center of existence. In elven terms this generally equated to them being the first civilised race, having their empires existing millenia before humans left their caves. According to their history their deity, Estrelie, was originally mortal and ascended to become consort of Tyrix, a lesser creation god at the time. From her was born the high elves, the source bloodline for the elven people.

When Tyrix fell, becoming a dark god of demons, it was here that the drow were born. According to legend, Tyrix stole several bloodlines from Estrelie's main children and hid them away in the dark underbelly of the world through years of adaptation to the underground, the dark skinned, red eyed monstrous elves that were called drow or dark elves came to be. As for the other elven species, well, apparently Estrelie wasn't the most faithful of consorts anyways. Her tendency to have affairs across the three pantheons lead to many other variants, most notably, the Dragon God and his consort Zee, Damak god of Truth, Gilgas god of beast folk, Omoul a lesser elven deity and even her old flame and his new consort, Tyrix and Quellia.

Needless to say, as varied as humans were due to regions, Estrelie had quite literally seeded the world with her children, still, high elves were viewed as her primary children with regular elves and moon elves forming a noble pair of bloodlines. Wood elves, sea elves, shadow elves, and half-elves all took up the lower strata of bloodline purity with half-elves being viewed by her people as little better than humans. Still even a blood traitor was better than drow, who all elves were taught early to fear and kill on sight since in just about every situation the drow would do worse to them.

Rubbing his temples, Xing Lei shook his head, little wonder the old arch mage had looked at him like a cockroach, if even lesser elven bloodlines were frowned upon by high elves, non elven races might as well be talking pigs in that mans eyes. This made him wonder about his mate and just what trials they had put Fleet Spear through to not only give her an elven name but also allow her to lead some of their forces. Glancing to Alustriea he interrupted her lesson, "Alustriea, what happened after I left you all?"

Alustriea fidgeted a bit before sighing, "After you left Xing Lei, we found a small camp area to hold up in. When your original deadline passed, Osilliaice, wanted to charge into the capital after you immediately. Yelrena was all for letting her but I managed to convince her to honor your words and we lead her towards our homeland after staying a week in the woods."

Alustriea didn't look at Xing Lei and continued, "Crossing the border wasn't easy, we were almost captured. Thanks to Osilliaice, she managed to get us back to the Silvertree Empire. We spent a month travelling to my home in the capital, it wasn't easy on her, tensions were high due to the council voting on wether or not we should instigate the war or let the humans do such. With my words, the council felt they had sufficient cause to launch their campaign."

"In recognition of her deeds Osilliaice was granted a boon by our Queen. At the time her common and elvish were not very good so her request came across as a bid to join the empire. The Queen granted the request subordinating her to House Illtalian. My father immediately threw her into one of our harsher training grounds. I expect that he wanted her to either quit or die trying, but despite his actions she strove harder than ever to strengthen herself."

Alustriea smiled softly, "I won't lie to you Xing Lei, the next six months was torture for her. Surrounded by elves and moon elves they put her through hell and back again, yet she took it as just a way to save you. It was a good thing you guided her on that cultivating you showed us else she might not have lived. Once training was over, Father put her on the frontline where she practically begged to be put. She lead the charge on the border."

"From the reports I overheard given to Father. She proved to be a huge benefit, she was promoted a few times and quickly became the commander of her own platoon. Word got around that they were the craziest of fighters, single minded and deadly. Even Yelrena begged us to transfer her over and you know her love for Osilliaice was non existent but your wife is just that special. It was when she led her troops to capturing several forts along the way they granted her her new name. In our language Osilliaice means War Child, apt name for how she took control of the forces under her."

Alustriea blushed softly glancing at Xing Lei who couldn't smile any wider, hearing that Fleet Spear had over come all odds and kicked an empire's worth of haughty soldiers to claw her way up to a place of significance was in no ways bad news, yet then he saw her gaze, "There's a price isn't there?"

Alustriea nodded softly, her once excited voice dropping to barely above a whisper, "Elven army recruitment is not a temporary thing, to put it simply, to become a soldier of the empire is to become one for life. Most elven soldiers die in the line of duty long before they reach the required age of eight hundred to retire with honors. I'm not sure Osilliaice's life span, but all things considered, I suspect she's attached to my homelands army for the rest of her life. I'm sorry Xing Lei...."

Xing Lei couldn't help but frown at this news, his eyes shifting to look at her, "That condition isn't normal is it?"

Alustriea shook her head, "Typically that condition is reserved for the low caste elves. Wood and shadow elves in particular, to bind them to certain Houses. High, Moon and regular elves all have rights to leave service after twenty years. High elves in particular can leave service in five to ten years if they are related to the existing ruling bodies."

Xing Lei nodded lightly falling into silence. In truth the 'bad' news wasn't that bad, to be completely honest, tying themselves to the elven empire was not a horrible situation. By relying on the empire they could get materials more easily for body tempering, in fact, with military connections they might even be able to soon start true cultivating. Pausing he glanced at Alustriea who still wore an uncomfortable look on her face, "Let me guess, the real bad news is that I'm not being extended an invitation to stay with Fleet Spear right?"

Alustriea's burning face bobbed softly, wetness rimmed her emerald eyes threatening to spill over. Xing Lei chuckled and shrugged, "I'll convince them."

Alustriea shook her head sadly, her voice tinged with sadness, "There's no chance Xing Lei, simply put I've told all this to you out of past friendship, but there's more..."

Xing Lei's eyes widened as he suddenly dove to the side, feeling a sharp pain from his hip. Turning he looked to the crying Alustriea who stood to one side of the street holding her arms, her face burning with shame. Before him though stood Yelrena, smiling as she casually flicked her slender sword to toss off the blood that marred its silver edge. Glancing around he noted a similarly sad faced Volune but also half a dozen other high elves emerged from the various alleys and side streets, even the roof tops sported a trio of silver robed mages, each holding a crystal topped staff that began churning with energy.

Stepping forward Yelrena sneered, "By order of Archmage Illtalian, First advisor of Queen Silvertree, you, Xing Lei, are sentenced to die. And oh how I've waited for that order."

Xing Lei grimaced holding his bleeding hip, the lull caused by Alustriea's lecture had dulled his attention. Never in a million years did he thing this naive waif of an elven mage would be party to an ambush set against himself. Yelrena and her brother he could see, even Alustriea's father made sense, but Alustriea herself? He just could not see it. Ignoring Yelrena he looked to his former friend, "Why?"

Alustriea sighed looking at him with tear filled eyes, but in those eyes were not sorrow for betraying him, rather he saw blame and rage directed at him, "Because of your wish Xing Lei. My mother is dead, slain by one of those monstrous beasts your wish created, and now her killer will be sent to serve her and all others who died wrongfully for your lust of power."

Xing Lei blinked. With that he could understand the reason, but how could Alustriea be so blind? While he had never been to their empire the sheer fact they were so casually sending out their armies in a time where the beasts were growing meant they felt secure on the home front, how in the world did a beast manage to enter the capital to slay her mother?

Sighing softly at the naive girl he focused on his current encirclement, his hand on his hip glowing as the energy of a healing spell knit the rended flesh and scale. Standing straighter he looked at Yelrena who hadn't yet advanced to finish her initial surprise attack. Glancing around, he rolled his shoulders, "So. All at once or you want to try claiming my head yourself first, Yelrena?"

The assassin glared at the kobold, her lovely face marred by the cruel smile and blood hungry gaze she leveled his way. Her body twitched and both moved as one, the slender elven blade stabbed forward only to be knocked aside by a blade in his hand, yet he did not press the attack rather he rolled to the side deftly dodging a trio of lances burning with mystical fire that converged on the spot he had previously stood. Rolling and running, he dodged about as the elves tightened their encirclement. The sword in his hand swept back and forth parrying thrusts and slashes as he circled inside the closing net.

Again and again magic flew his way, in most cases the mages sent favor the archmages [Fire Lance] spell, yet every now and then a series of painful bursts would slam into his front or back. Like a swarm of unerring hornets these lights chased him down and slammed his body hard. Yalrena and Volune worked in tandem with the other soldiers, unlike General Geralds blade encirclement in the arena these elves moved with and against him, their flashing blades moved to fatally wound him, or block one of his own counter strikes from hurting others in the formation.

Xing Lei had to admit the elves were skilled. The only flaw in the formation was it wasn't complete. While the rest masked the flaw in their trap well, he could tell it was missing someone. Glancing to one side, Alustriea still had not moved. As much as there was hate and rage in her gaze there was also confusion, frustration and shame. From the looks of things, she was suppose to be casting against him as well, or trying to throw off his mind with words, yet silent she stood, an outsider to this screwed up situation. If nothing else he admitted to owe her for her indecision, were this formation complete and moving as intended, he would not be able to escape the trap.

Jumping back from the latest string of attacks, his eyes sparkled as the sword in his hand vanished. Replacing it was a fist full of dimly glowing orbs. Ducking another pair of thrusts, feeling the sharp edges scraping the scales of his back painfully his eyes squeezed closed before smashing the beads at his feet. Screaming in pain the formation shattered as elves reeled from the miniature sun blossoming right before their eyes. While the blindness would not last long it was long enough for Xing Lei to escape the formation and run for an alleyway.

As he jumped into the open maw of the alleyway a cold spike of pain coursed through his body. Glancing to his shoulder a long icicle, one end tinged with his blood protruded from his shoulder. Glancing back Alustriea was staring at his back, a trio more of ice missiles rotated behind her before lashing out at him. Realizing her hesitancy had allowed her mothers killer to run free she now unleashed her magic, half a dozen such missiles screamed through the air looking for his flesh.

Ducking and diving, the sound of shattering ice smashing at high speed around him filled his hearing. The enraged cursing of Yelrena sounded out above the clamor as Xing Lei ran from his 'allies' and vanished into the winding side streets...