It took about six hours before they let Alannah and her brother out of cleaning supply closet.  Timmus went of with an elderly elven woman, who said something about "The other children" and Alannah was ushered into a room that where about 15 other elves stood.

"Ahem."  Said, Laoralai, the sole remaining village elder, at least in the room.  She was ancient even by the measurement of elves, and was well known equally for her wisdom and her crotchety nature.  "Ahem.  If you don't want to hear what I have to say then, by all means keep chiter-chattering, it isn't like I am getting any younger.  Ahem.  Ahem"

When the room was silent, and all eyes were focused on Laoralai, she began to speak.

"Until this moment, I had thought these stories were apocryphal.  Something we elders passed along almost as a joke.  Yes Hamolyn, we elders joke.  If you don't stop snickering I am going to take my cane and rap your knuckles.  I'm serious.  There.  Now where was I.  Oh, yes, this was something we elders passed down, because it was part of the collection of lore passed down by the elders, but none of us believed it was real."

"Let me tell you the legend of the time of the Blue Screen"

"Once long ago, at least according to the legends, there was a time when Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, and Ork were one people.  We looked alike, shared the same small villages.  This was many many years ago.  The elder who told it to me, said he'd heard it from the elder before him, and the elder before that one heard it from the elder who taught him.  We elves live for centuries, and some elders are over a millennia, maybe..."

Elder Laoralai stopped speaking.  She walked over clumsily over to Hamolyn who had just stopped whispering to her husband.  Taking her cane, she struck Hamolyn once, and then turned around and walked back to the spot where she was speaking.  

"In case you were wondering, according to Hamolyn I am apparently older than the mountains, and smellier than centuries curdled milk.  Hamolyn if you are not going to act your age, I will have to send you to be with the younglings."

She paused, and then Elder Laoralai, spoke again.  "As I was saying, this story goes back before there were elves.  Once long ago, at least according to the tales the Elders tell amongst themselves, there was a time when all peoples except the Humans were one.  Living in harmony with the animals and plants and the seasons."

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"Nobody knows how long we lived like this, but all elders agree that it was a time of paradise on earth.  Then one day it all changed.  Strange figures began to appear.  All across this great land these figures appeared where they had not been before.  At first it was simply the Loombies or Zonbies or Roombas, legend has forgotten what these monstrosities were called.  Then stronger and stronger monsters appeared."

"Some among us, our bravest and our wisest, began to see blue screens appear before their eyes, and these blue screen helped them change and combat the menace.  It was one brave figure of our history that summoned the first human in these dark times to help him fight these monsters.  The strange creatures called humans seemed to know how to deal with monsters.  Unlike the humans who live in their empires, these summoned humans were filled with knowledge, sympathy and understanding."

Together, legend tells us that the blue screened people and their summoned human guides fought these monsters to a stalemate.  But vast populations of people were without protection.  Not everyone could become a blue screened hero."

"Some took to the trees.  They said that the waves of monsters could not climb so the trees were the safest place to be.  These, people bred with the changed blue screen heroes and became the forefathers of the elves.  Others chose to live in caves.  They became the dwarves.  Still others chose the path learning to turn themselves into stone and hiding in gardens.  These became the forefathers of the Gnomes.   And others yet met the invading Roombas head on in savagery and barbarity and they became the Orcs."

"I believe a new time of the Blue Screen is upon us.  A time of change."

Alannah stepped forward "I have seen these blue screens.  They speak of Levels and Stat points, and it frightens me."

Hamolyn spoke up suddenly.  "The day of the Blue Screens is upon us!  We found protection in a cave.  I don't want to turn into a Dwarf and be attracted to bearded women."