Ambu worrisomely looked at Arav, feeling his anger behind the calm expression;

“I am not surprised you were aware of it..”

“I was, but I never desired this much to be wrong..” Arav responded while stepping towards the edge,

[HUM!]

Arav felt energy rising at his back, he turned to look at the source;

“It seems our time together is over,..I will be waiting for your next call…lord Pralaya..” Ambu spoke with a smile, as her body slowly began changing in a mass of water. Her teary white eyes stayed locked on Arav, who looked at her with his usual calm expression. She disappeared, along with the water she turned into, leaving a last drop of tear behind, as it slowly fell down, making the blade of grass shine like a gem under the red sunlight.

“Thank you..” Arav whispered while turning and making his way down the hill. As he got closer to the town, he noticed a group of people gathering near the podium. He continued and arrived in front of the group, and found dozens of people with long pointy ears, smiling brightly while their eyes gazed at him. Understanding the situation, Arav forwarded towards the podium, but his steps were halted by a familiar girl. Drishti stood in front of him with her cheeks turned red.

“What happened?” Arav asked while appearing confused;

“Well….I…I’m sorry..” Drishti said while lowering her head, Arav’s ears caught a few other girls giggling in his left. With a smirk, he stepped forward towards her;

“A warrior shouldn’t be this timid.” He said in a low voice while walking past her, causing her shy expression to turn into surprise as she looked at him climbing on the podium.

“He knew..” She whispered while stepping back.

Arav glanced at the people standing, and felt their gratitude with just their gazes.

“Ahem!...” The group turned towards their back, as they heard a voice. Arav felt a familiar energy slowly approaching towards the podium. But, the moment his gaze fell on the individual, his eyes widened, countless memories, which were buried deep in his heart, resurfaced with a strong flow of emotions. His complexion wavered, with his heart beating faster as his eyes saw the man climb the podium. Arav stood silent, only looking at the man, who now stood right in front of him;

“Young man?”

A voice snapped Arav back in reality, finally noticing the utterly confused expression of the elf standing. Arav regained his calm, with a smirk he replied;

“You are not much of an old man..”

“Hahaha..” His sudden response caught the elf off guard, causing him to burst into laughter.

“You have quite the way with your words. Did my real appearance surprise you this much?” The elf said with a smile, while his eyes expected an answer;

“I just got reminded of an old friend…”

“Ho?...I wonder what friend did I remind you of…” The elf spoke while his smile got even brighter;

“He died while saving me from my mother trying to rip my heart out..” Arav spoke with a calm expression, a silence covered the entire town instantly. They all looked at each other, while wondering the authenticity of Arav’s words.

“O..Oh..I reminded you of quite the sore memory..” The elf said with a nervous chuckle, while he moved towards Arav’s left.

“Ahem..Ahem!..We all elves have gathered here to offer our gratitude for your help..” The elf spoke with his voice slightly raised. The other elves got distracted from Arav’s previous statement with their smile returning.

“In all honesty, many of….no, most of us were sceptical about your promise. But now, we all don’t have a single hint of doubt about you.” The elf spoke again, while others looked at Arav while smiling. But Arav stood with a serious expression, completely ignoring his words.

“Your curse,...how much did you all suffer because of it?”

Arav’s question left the elf speechless, with the smiles of others disappearing in an instant. They all looked at Arav while confused, including the elf standing beside Arav.

“Hmm…You keep surprising me with your words,...We never asked about how you were aware of our customs and curse. But, as a sign of gratitude and with respect to our elder, we will not hide anything..” The elf’s expression turned serious as he continued speaking;

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“That curse prevented us from using most of our magic, as well shortening our lifespan to mere decades. Our children were born with mana deficiency, that means they could no longer learn elvian magic. Striping them of their ancestral heritage, and rendering them weaker than the filthy humans. We could not taste food or smell anything, nor feel the company of our partner. For the stronger ones, the effects end here, but the weaker elves got their life force chipped away every moment. But we all kept living, even with the fleeting life we had..” The elf’s voice got heavy with the last words he spoke, Arav silently listened with his eyes closed, while hiding his clenched fist behind his back.

“The forest beside the river provided us food and shelter, we stayed there for generations peacefully, until the humans got aware of our presence. They began hunting us like wild animals, and captured elves in large metal cages. We were too weak to show any kind of resistance. We hid deep in the forest, but the humans increased their power and kept finding our location. This cycle of hiding and getting captured continued for decades, until five years ago, many elvian warriors sacrificed their lives to gather information that the humans strangely stayed away from a particular group with saffron clothes. My..”

“Your wife sacrificed her life force to change your appearance like those humans, and you all moved on this hill.” Arav said while the elf was in the middle of explaining. He just nodded after hearing his words.

“Vanraj, What would say about the timing of the curse appearing and the humans invading sundarvan?” Arav asked while opening his eyes, the elf’s brows expanded upon hearing his question. All present there began whispering while looking at each other, while the elf standing beside Arav looked down, with his fingers holding his chin. He thought for a moment, then looked at Arav while confused;

“That name…, my uncle told me that we were Invaded twenty years after the dragon lord’s disappearance, we moved to seek refuge around that time. And the curse appeared almost four centuries later..”

“Hmm…Have you heard about the dragons ever since?” Arav asked again.

“No..we haven’t..”

“What if the dragon returned and asked you to serve them?..” Arav asked while turning towards him. Vanraj suddenly felt his heart getting heavier, as if his life depended upon his answer.

“We…will accept their order…” Vanraj answered with a drip of sweat streaming down his forehead;

“I have all my questions answered, and accept your gratitude. But, now it’s time to move to the next stage.” Arav spoke while taking a step forward towards the elves.

“Next stage?” Vanraj asked while confused;

“Hmm?..Don’t tell me you have given up on the captured elves?” Arav’s words caused everyone to get serious, with their eyes beginning to burn with rage.

“No, we haven’t…we never did…we always tried to lure humans here and interrogate about the elves, but our efforts never turned into fruition, either they had too insignificant information, or no information at all. We could not afford to meddle with the humans any further, as they were far superior in terms of strength..” Vanraj spoke in a serious tone, while his clenched fists shivered.

“An intelligent choice of action by you Vanraj. But don’t even think about invading human territory, you may have gotten some of your strength back, but the humans have grown stronger as well. And as of the elves captured, I’m afraid their condition is too severe to say the least.”

“What makes you say that?” Vanraj asked while stepping forward, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“What would you conclude if a mere soldier spoke about their mistreatment without a hint of hesitation?” Arav’s question darkened their expression, he noticed but continued;

“I must say, either they are used for labor or wors....”

“I WILL EXTERMINATE THE HUMANS!!!!!” A boy standing in front of the elves shouted, but unexpectedly, a smirk appeared on Arav’s face.

“You?..Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the emotion, but boy are you weak..” Arav said while mockingly staring at the boy;

“HOW DARE YOU FILTHY HUMAN!!!” The boy began running towards Arav, he climbed the podium in mere seconds and struck at Arav’s face.

[SMACK]

The sound of his punch hitting Arav’s jaw echoed throughout the town, Drishti along with other girls covered her mouth with both of her hands, while her eyes witnessed Arav hitting the tree truck on his back.

[THUD]

Arav fell on the ground, while his mouth began bleeding heavily.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING YAKSH?..[SLAP]..” Vanraj shouted and slapped the boy, causing him to lose his balance and fall down. Vanraj quickly moved towards Arav and tried to support him, but stopped as Arav raised his hand, with his palm facing him. He slowly got up while supporting his body with the tree.

“Hooh…You…[COUGH]..You got angry with a human calling you weak,...and lost control of your emotion…Haah..that’s..[COUGH]...that’s why I suggested meditation..” Arav spoke as he stood up, and walked forward.

“Ugh…It’s these moments, when I miss Ambu…” Arav whispered while blinking slowly;

“I..am sorry for hi…”

“No…don’t apologize..” Vanraj tried to speak, but Arav interrupted;

“Haah…everyone listen…I will free the elves,...and end this cycle of terror…along with the responsible ones..” Arav barely spoke with his heavy breathing, Yaksh did not even look at him and stood with his face turned away from the elves. With his blurry vision, Arav could still see the gazes of elves not very confident in his words.

[THUD]

Arav fell on the ground, with his vision getting darker;

‘This brat…I can kill him at least seven times..’ With these thoughts, Arav lost consciousness.

***

In front of the white castle, Vijay stood with a group of soldiers. A soldier moved forward and bowed his head,

“Young master, we searched the entire forest, but could not find him.” He spoke in a regretful tone,

“Haah…this is driving me crazy..where did that fucker go?...” Vijay scratched his head,

“Young master,...what should we do about the headless body? Could he be the mis...” The soldier said again;

“NO!, THAT ISN’T HIM!” Vijay took hasty steps towards the soldier, and held him by his neck. The soldier’s face went pale, as he saw Vijay’s rage filled eyes.

“I TOLD YOU TO NEVER TALK ABOUT THAT!” Vijay angrily spoke while tightening his grip, the soldier’s eyes rolled over with his sword falling off his hand.

[THUD]

VIjay threw him on the ground;

“Tch,...that fucker still keeps annoying me…you, show me that cloth again..” Vijay said to another soldier. He quickly rustled in his pockets and took out a piece of cloth covered in dry blood.

“BLEGH!...just burn it..” Vijay turned his head away and spoke while covering his mouth, as he waved his hand up and down at the soldier. He ran away instantly upon hearing his order.

“Hoof…Disgusting filthy blood,..you all continue your search.” Vijay said while entering the castle.

***

“Ugh..” Arav opened his eyes, and found a wooden ceiling on top. He turned his head and saw strong sunlight entering through a small window.

‘I stayed off the entire night..’ Arav thought while standing up, and stepping out of the door. He saw people wearing saffron coloured clothes doing daily chores, while some boys sat under the large tree while meditating.

‘It seems they understood.’ A smirk appeared on his face as he forwarded towards a familiar old man sitting on the podium.

“You seem fine.” The old man said with a smile, as Arav arrived near the podium.

“I need the three warriors you have trained to accompany me in the human city”

[Chapter 6 END]