Chapter 2: Resurrection

My name is Raelin Nerorneth. I was an average wood elf housewife who had two beautiful children with my loving husband Eredhon. He was an adventurer and would often leave our village for months or years at a time, but he always came back.

Like most wood elves, we were both relatively short of stature, but even so, he was a strong and reliable warrior. His party was filled with equally powerful elves of various tribes and specializations, they were known as Faervel or Strong Spirit.

As elves we are taught from a very young age that everything happens for a reason or higher purpose. Nature is always kind and gentle to those who show reverence to the Spirits, but that can’t be true. Before my babies were even able to speak their first words, they were taken from me.

A demon in the form of my beloved Eredhon came home that night, drenched in the blood of nearly the entire village. He smiled at me with crimson eyes filled with lust, and exposed his hideous fangs before violently tearing open my neck with them.

I didn’t die right away, before that he wanted me to watch as he drained the life from my beautiful girls who weren’t even a year old. He laughed hysterically as he dangled their lifeless, broken corpses in front of my eyes.

I was so angry at my weakness, at the Spirits who did nothing to protect my babies and at the cruel reality of nature that I had no power to control. Before I even realized what was happening, my teeth were digging deep into his ankle, trying to hurt him even just a little before my inevitable death.

He kicked my weakened body across our living room with one blow, and then left without even looking back at me. I sincerely believed I would be reunited again with my babies in a few moments, so I breathed a sigh of relief and closed my only eye…

***

When I was a very young child, I believed I could become a powerful mage.

However, after nearly blowing my own head off with a fireball spell, and spending the next year struggling to recover, I first met Eredhon. My only thoughts past that point were of becoming his wife one day and raising wonderful children… If only he didn’t accept that blood elf subjugation request.

When I opened my eye again, I was alone, in a cold and dark place. Wood elves believe in returning our bodies to nature after we die, so we bury our dead below the earth and often plant a tree above their shallow graves.

When I easily dug my way out of the ground and looked around, beside me were two young saplings. At first I couldn’t even understand the situation, I just felt thirsty and weak, so I searched for water.

The farther I walked from the graves, the more I began to remember watching my babies get devoured and torn to pieces by my husband. Blood red tears fell down my face as I wandered aimlessly through the forest that I lived in for my entire life. When I finally left it for the first time, I wept, loudly and for hours.

Then it all went away, I can’t remember what happened after that but when I came to my senses there was a baby boy even younger than my daughters who was yelling at me. Somehow my eye and ear that were scorched off my head nearly 20 years ago were completely healed.

After I expressed my surprise that he was able to talk, the boy yelled “For fuck’s sake! Just tell me your name already! I’ve been taking care of you for over a month, if I have to refer to you as Blood Elf Woman one more time in my inner monologue I’m just going to give you a new one!” in an angry voice, that was really cute but unreasonably vulgar.

I suddenly noticed that my body was completely naked and there was an orb of water roughly scraping against a part of my body that hasn’t been used since my children were born. If I wasn’t so focused on the cute little boy who was holding his arms out towards me while yelling, I probably would have been a lot more embarrassed.

Before he had a chance to yell again I quickly said “Raelin… What’s your name Little One?” in a cheerful voice while smiling to hide my own insecurities. Then I finally heard what he said a few seconds before, I had become a blood elf.

I was so upset that I never even thought about how I was still alive, but wasn’t there something seriously wrong with that? My husband had become a complete monster after transforming into a blood elf, but I was so docile and calm.

The boy sighed and said “My name is Michael, from now on you’re my mother. I know you’re still suffering, but get over it. We aren’t safe here, it’s far too exposed.” in an adorable voice that made me unconsciously reach out and hug him tightly. He was so small and fragile, and his tail felt so fluffy… But eventually I got a hold of myself and calmed down.

I made a serious-ish face and said “Wait, you want me to be your mother? How did you know about… Wait, what do you mean we’re not safe?” in a flustered voice while sorting through the things he said in my head. I was wondering ‘Does his race choose their own parent’s?’ but then I realized how silly that would be.

He said “Listen carefully mother, I’m far too weak right now to properly survive on my own. I can tell you just lost your own family because of how obnoxiously crazy you were when we first met. You seem to be fine at the moment, since you're not thirsty, but don’t let yourself become so weakened again. In case you haven’t noticed, you’re a vampire, you drink blood. When you’re thirsty, use me as your own personal food supply. Anyway, we need to leave this cabin immediately, there should be some relatively clean clothes in that cabinet over there.” in a serious tone, while continuing to use some kind of water magic on my body.

I still had no idea what he was, but Michael seemed to be concerned about me a great deal. After he finished washing me off, I put on some simple human clothes that seemed to belong to a farmer’s wife. Before leaving the cabin I asked “Wait, what kind of danger are we facing?” in a worried voice.

He sighed, in such a cute way that I almost had to hug him again, then said “We’re monsters, and we’re in human territory. Eventually they would find us, and then they would try to kill us or worse. We have to find a dark, dreary cave somewhere and lay low for a few years.” in an irritated voice.

I suddenly remembered my secret base from when I was a child. A deep cavern in the woods where I would practice magic. With a hint of nostalgia in my voice, I said “I might know the perfect place!” while smiling and giggling.

Michael reached towards me with his tiny arms and motioned for me to pick him up. He was so light. It reminded me of when Talia and Laebeth were just born, but before I could start crying he said “I was only born a month ago, so you have to carry me there. Until we arrive, try to concentrate on the present. There will be plenty of time to throw a pity party later.” in a serious voice, but there was a surprisingly deep sadness in his dark red cat-like eyes.

I hadn’t even thought about it, but maybe he was abandoned by his parents because he could speak? Maybe he was a mix breed between a Cat Tribe and a human? I was afraid to ask, so I just quietly carried him in my arms as I swiftly walked through the forest.

After a few hours of walking deeper into the woods, I realized that he had passed out. When gazing down at his cute, sleeping face, I got distracted and tripped over a root. His tiny body flew out of my arms and down into a deep ravine.

“No!” I gasped in shock as he seemed to fall in slow motion, deeper into the darkness, eventually I heard a quiet *splash* and quickly began descending the steep hill. We were at the entrance to the cave, but that river he was being swept away in led to a huge waterfall deep underground. If I didn’t hurry and save him, he would either drown or be impaled by sharp rocks at the bottom.

As soon as I managed to catch up to him, his body was tossed out of the river into my arms. Then I saw something amazing. Why was there a mermaid in the river? I had heard that mermaids were once elves, but used magic to transform their bodies so that they could remain in their kingdom after it sank to the bottom of the ocean.

That mermaid looked different from the stories though. Merfolk were said to be as beautiful as high elven royalty, but the one I saw was… Strange. She had no eyes, her nose was practically nonexistent, her elven ears were replaced with spiny fins, and she had many rows of long, fang-like teeth. Her entire body was covered in shiny blue scales, fins protruded from her forearms and elbows, and she seemed to have breasts but no nipples. Her tail flipped out of the water as she dove back under.

Such a vicious looking creature actually went out of her way to save Michael from drowning. Not only that, but he was still sleeping… So I decided not to wake him up.

After reaching deep enough into the cave, I finally sat down by the river and began rocking his tiny body in my arms. As cute as he was, I still couldn’t stop thinking about my babies and began crying silently.

By the time he finally opened his eyes, my mind was beginning to wander off into terrible thoughts. At first it was revenge, on my husband who betrayed me, on the monster who made him that way, and on the Spirits who didn’t protect us. Strangely, the more I thought about that horrible scene of him tearing my daughters bodies apart with his grotesque claws, instead of disgust, I started to feel hunger.

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Their blood, it was all over me. I wondered what it would have tasted like. I was so hungry that I couldn’t even feel the anger or hate anymore, just the urge to feed. That’s when Michael shoved his tiny finger into my mouth. It was more delicious than anything I had ever tasted before. The finest elven wine would be nothing compared to that sweet red nectar he offered to me.

As my mind began to clear I heard his cute, high pitched voice saying “Drink it slowly, savor the taste, focus on me, and don’t forget who you are. You aren’t doing anything wrong, it’s okay to enjoy this, because we are literally bound together by blood.” in a way that seemed to put me into a trance.

When I came to my senses, I had no idea how much time had passed, or how much blood I had drained from his tiny body. However, he cut me off before I could start apologizing and said “I don’t like to sound needy, but do you know how to fish? Whenever I lose large quantities of blood, I always get really hungry.” in a weak and quiet voice.

I did think it seemed a bit strange that such a small baby wouldn’t need to drink his mothers milk to survive. When I walked over to the river and tried to come up with a fishing strategy, without having a rod, reel, string, or bait, a small white carp jumped out of the water into my hands. In the river I saw a shiny blue tail flash by and disappear out of sight.

One of the reasons I made that cave my hideout as a child was because of the glowing blue mushrooms on the walls and the highly reflective crystals on the ceiling. It was a place that always seemed to have a pleasant atmosphere. Maybe there were mermaids there the whole time, and they just never revealed themselves to me before?

While I let my mind wander and think of silly things, I simply handed Michael the still living carp. I couldn’t believe how thoughtless I had been lately. Before I could take it back from him, he had already used a small sharpened stone to sever the fish’s head. It was amazing how quickly he was able to clean and gut the fish, removing the scales and then fileting the meat.

Finally he began eating the raw fish meat with such a happy expression on his face. I had never seen someone enjoy uncooked and unseasoned food so much in my entire life. It made me wonder what kind of silly face I was making when I was drinking his blood.

It’s embarrassing to talk about but I noticed as time went on, various changes occurred with my body. Mainly, I was concerned that my bowels seemed to stop working properly. Actually, they didn’t seem to be working at all and I eventually realized that I didn’t need them anymore. Since my diet was purely blood, it seems they were unnecessary and shut down.

My menstrual cycle had completely stopped as well, but it was common knowledge that vampires couldn’t reproduce that way. Knowing that I would never again be able to have children of my own… I was very upset. Then I remembered I wasn’t alone and decided to snuggle with Michael for a few hours.

Every day the mermaids provided fish, seaweed, and shellfish for Michael to eat. It made me feel useless, knowing I couldn’t even provide a simple meal, while he was my sole food source. Though every time I pouted or made a displeased face, he would tell me “You brought me to such a wonderful place, where I can eat seafood everyday, I’m truly grateful.” in a happy voice while smiling. It made me wonder, was seafood really such an amazing thing?

He spent almost every moment he was awake practicing magic and expanding his mana pool. Whenever he would train with fire, I would end up nagging him to be careful but I knew that he had much more control and talent than I ever did. Eventually I stopped just watching and started practicing as well, since there wasn’t really much else to do.

***

The next three years were very peaceful, it was like we were monks training in the mountains… Except we were deep underground. The mermaids would come to the surface more often lately. I couldn’t understand anything they were saying, but Michael would have conversations with them. I had no idea what they were talking about, but whenever I asked he would reply “We were having a serious debate regarding salt and freshwater fish.” or “I was explaining to them how delicious blue-fin tuna was, because they’ve lived in this river for generations.” but the common theme was always about seafood.

One day I finally said “You always talk about the ocean, and all these places you’ve seen or foods you’ve eaten, but we haven’t even left this cave since you were one month old. You sure have a vivid imagination.” in a slightly irritated voice. I immediately wanted to apologize for rubbing it in that he’s spent pretty much his entire life so far in a cave.

However, he just smirked and fed me some blood from his wrist… It was amazing. Maybe it was some form of mind magic or maybe it had to do with our blood bond, but I had never experienced something like that before.

Since the moment I was born I had never traveled more than three miles away from the village, but when I was a child I would always dream of leaving. Traveling the world as a powerful mage in a party of adventurers. The one thing I always wanted to see at least once before I died was the ocean.

Of course there were plenty of oceans, but the huge Wood Elf Forest was in the dead center of the largest continent in the world. Our village was close to the western edge, but it was still thousands of miles to the nearest ocean. The closest I had ever gotten to even knowing what one looked like was a painting my husband bought for me for our five year anniversary.

What Michael showed me was something far beyond anything I could have imagined, we were there. On a small white sailboat, made of a strange material I had never seen before. It was beautiful. The bright sun felt amazing on my skin, it was the first time I had ever smelled the salty sea air or felt the strong, warm breeze against my face.

It wasn’t my body, but that didn’t matter, it was like I was actually there. I ate some raw tuna, which tasted surprisingly delicious, then watched the sun set over the ocean. When I came back to my senses he said “How did you like the vacation?” in a smug voice while grinning.

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling happily as I asked “How did you do that?” in a curious voice.

He seemed to be thinking deeply about how to respond, like he wasn’t sure if he should tell me or not. Eventually he stopped grinning and said “It was something you wanted to see… I showed it to you using telepathy mixed with a blood trance.” in a solemn voice, while struggling not to frown.

I knew there was more to it than that, and he probably wanted to explain the details to me but I could tell he wasn’t ready yet. He didn’t intentionally show me any visions like that one again for a long time, but every few feedings bits and pieces would slip out. Like a flash of a memory from long ago, but before I could understand anything, it would just suddenly stop as I came back to reality.

On his fourth birthday, which was the fourth anniversary of the day we met, he showed me another vision. It was something completely beyond my comprehension, it didn’t make much sense at first but I eventually understood. He showed me the Earth, from a perspective far above the skies, looking down.

For some strange reason I was floating around. There was an incredible amount of freedom. However, it was just like the last one in a way and I noticed something, I was completely alone. Shouldn’t he have been there with me? What’s the point of seeing such an amazing sight, if you can’t share the experience with someone you care about? That day I finally realized something that was so completely obvious… They were memories.

I wonder why I didn’t mention my revelation to him?

I’m sure he would have answered any question that I asked about who or what he was. Maybe I just didn’t care, since my own past was so painful that I was afraid his might have been even worse.

***

Seven years of peace. Maybe that number had some secret meaning behind it. I think he somehow knew what was happening, or maybe he simply predicted that something similar would happen eventually.

We spent every day for seven years expanding our mana pools, honing our elemental affinities, practicing a wide assortment of spells and recently we had even been training our bodies to become physically stronger. War was coming, on a scale that I had only read about in ancient history books, and Michael was actually looking forward to it.

It was just like any other day, but during our morning meditation the ground began to rumble violently. Crystals were falling from the ceiling all around us, and then came screams, echoing from deep within the caverns.

We were already a mile into the cave, but never traveled too far from that spot. However, the actual depth and length of the caverns was completely unknown to us. Michael immediately said “Dwarves maybe? Who else would live in a place like this?” in a casual tone. His voice was still pretty high, but unfortunately it wasn’t nearly as cute anymore.

I was freaking out, not only had I never experienced an earthquake before, but we were inside of a cave!

I yelled “Why are you so calm!? We need to get out of here before this whole place collapses on top of us!” in a terrified voice.

He laughed, then stood up calmly while saying “This cavern has been here for millions of years, or longer, this tiny earthquake won’t cause any serious damage. Although, the source of those screams might actually prove to be interesting.” in a serious tone. Then he stretched his arms out wide while yawning loudly. He was probably making fun of me, but I was too paralyzed with fear to possibly understand that at the time.

After what seemed like forever, the shaking finally stopped and I yelled “Okay let's leave before there’s another one of…” but before I could even finish my sentence, he was gone. Briskly walking towards the ominous echoing screams in the deep darkness.

Six hours, five miles, four earthquakes and three panic attacks later, we were finally at the wrong place at the worst time. We stood at the top of a sheer cliff, gazing down upon an immense landscape, nearly half a mile below us. I unconsciously yelled “Did I ever mention my deathly fear of heights before?!” in a nervous voice, on the brink of tears.

The scene below was of an immense underground city with extremely complex architecture. Within the city that stretched for miles in each direction, there was complete chaos. Dark Dwarves, Rat Tribe, and even Red Goblins were all fighting and killing each other with swords, axes, hammers, spears, bows and a few other weapons that I didn’t really recognize.

In-case you didn’t know, Dwarves are a type of human that is typically very short, stout, are excellent craftsmen and natural alcoholics. Rat Tribe are beastmen who are about the same size as dwarves, have the heads of rats or mice, skinny human bodies, rat-like hands, feet, legs and a long rat tail. They tend to be natural merchants, but are shunned by many races because of their appearances.

Red Goblins are very similar to the green kind, but the big difference is in their level of intellect. Technically all goblins are elves, the same with orcs, but they are typically considered barbaric, uncivilized and hideous by their elven relatives. Long ago, it was perfectly natural to massacre entire villages of goblins because they weren’t considered anything more than monsters.

I had no idea why they were all living together in the same underground city, or why they were suddenly slaughtering each other in the streets. Unfortunately, before I could explain to Michael why we should just turn around and leave, he was already gone. I heard him yelling “Wait there, I’ll be back soon!” while gliding down towards the center of the city using wind magic.

My son was growing up so fast… But maybe I should have reminded him that normal people tend to wear clothes?