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Cal's eyes were shut tight for almost the entire flight after the elf lady had snatched her up in a princess carry and launched off over the edge of the mountain.
She had opened them several times to see the nauseating sight of the ground far below them, rivers and fields passing by in a blur causing her to quickly slam them shut again.
They had flown back to Ranock and then through the portal to Crossroads before heading straight East, The Great Road the one unchanging part of the landscape below them.
The elf had threatened to drop her a few times if she didn't loosen her deathgrip around her neck, and Cal's arms were sore from clinging so tightly.
Suddenly they began to plummet from the sky and Cal squeezed her eyes and arms shut even tighter, choking the poor elf who carried her once again.
The stomach churning descent stopped suddenly and it felt like they were no longer moving.
She hesitantly pried open her eyes and the elf lady grinned at her, finally setting her back on her own wobbly legs.
"Who knew a princess would be so scared of heights." The elf teased.
"Not so much the heights as the possibility of being dropped by the person who just kidnapped me, who still hasn't even cared to tell me her name, even though she knows mine." Cal lied, she was very much afraid of heights.
"Appologies, I assumed a princess of Ranock would recognize the Queen of the elves. I am Lumina Dawnwing." The elf told her with a slight bow.
"Alright Lumina, why are we stopping in the middle of this random field, are we setting up camp already?" Cal asked, not at all surprised to hear this beautiful elf was a queen.
"The Dawnwings have used up almost all of their stored flight energy traveling to Ranock today, as well as the faster than normal flight from Ranock to your castle to save you Princess."
"We will camp here tonight, and will be camping several more times on the way to your new home." Lumina replied.
"Stored energy? From what?" Cal asked, remembering the glowing pink and orange wings Lumina had that were no longer present.
"The dawn of course." She replied as the other elves began touching down all around them, their beautiful wings turning into clouds of rapidly dissipating orange and pink mist.
Cal watched as the elves pulled green softball sized pyramids out of their packs and twisted the top like a section of a rubik's cube, setting them on the ground quickly and rushing away from them.
Her mouth fell open as the pyramids rapidly unfolded and expanded upwards, turning into large cone shaped tents like teepees.
"This is your tent Princess, it will be watched all night so please don't try anything, I would hate to have to tie you up but I will if you make it necessary." Lumina said, ushering Cal into one of the dozens of tents that were springing up.
"Dinner will be brought to you when it is ready." She said as the tent flap closed.
The cut in the side that served as the entrance seemed to stick together like magnets but came apart with a little force, forming back together as Cal entered the tent.
A hammock made out of the same green canvas material as the tent was stretched from one side to the other, seemlessly coming out of both walls and dipping slightly in the middle.
Cal sat on the hammock which was surprisingly comfortable, and began to think.
She could teleport right back to her castle after dinner, and the elves probably wouldn't find out until tomorrow, but they would surely look for her again.
She could tell Lumina that she was a spatial mage and charge their portals, if that's all she wants from a spatial mage.
But then Lumina would know she wasn't Princess Alexandra, and might tell Eamon or someone else important in Ranock.
She decided to wait until after dinner and then teleport home to see what her friends thought, she could always just come right back to her tent.
Over an hour later an elven man asked if he could come in to give her food and she accepted, receiving a plate of hard bread and pungeant cheese that actually tasted pretty good.
She ate the meal quickly and then pulled apart the entrance of her tent, handing the plate off to a man waiting outside.
"I'm going to sleep, please don't disturb me until the morning." She lied before letting the door of her tent reseal itself.
She wrapped her spatial energy over herself and pictured her room in the castle, vanishing and reappearing in her room, right at the foot of her bed. What she saw made her gasp.
Sophia was leaning back on a pile of pillows with her eyes closed and rubbing her nipples while Kyla was on her knees between her legs, rubbing her own pussy with one hand and fingering Sophia with the other while eating her out.
Sophia heard Cal's gasp and yelped, grabbing at the sheet and pulling it over them.
"Cal what the fuck! Get out!" She yelled, her face red with what she had just been doing, as well as anger and embarassment.
Cal turned around quickly, face flushed in embarassment. "This is my room Sophia, you're in my bed."
"I told you I'd be back before you could miss me, if I didn't know any better I'd say you planned to have me catch you." She said, retreating quickly to the door.
"You said to pick any room we wanted, you didn't tell us this was your room! It's the only one with a bed big enough for two people!" Kyla screamed at her, throwing a pillow at Cal as she raced to the door.
"And you didn't think the Princess who owns this castle would be staying in the biggest, most well furnished room?"
"Didn't you see my clothes and stuff in the dresser or the wardrobe or the massive chest at the foot of the bed?" Cal asked in exasperation as she left the room.
"We hadn't gotten around to unpacking yet." Sophia said as Cal closed the door and leaned against it with her heart pounding in her chest.
Vera appeared in the hallway in her black nightgown, likely alerted by all the shouting.
"Cal, thank the gods you are back. Do we need to run? I have an idea of where we could go that no one could follow us or know who you are." She asked.
"Actually I haven't decided yet, I came back to ask all of you for advice. They have me in a tent in their camp so they don't know I'm gone yet, we could run or..." Cal began.
"What do you all know about the relationship between the elven kingdom and the Kingdom of Ranock?"
"Are they close allies? Would they be likely to tell the King I'm not the princess?" She asked in a rush.
"The elves hardly ever talk to humans. I doubt it would be an issue." Kyla's angry voice said through the door, and Cal's hopes soared.
"But obviously if you charge the elves' portal in Crossroads there will be a giant silver shimmering sign that screams 'I'm a spatial mage!'." She finished sarcastically, apparently still mad Cal had teleported into her own bedroom in her own castle.
"I don't know why you're joking about this Kyla, that dragon lady might come back thinking she can use you against me."
"Although the joke would be on her when she realizes holding you hostage wouldn't get me to do anything." Cal quipped.
"What if you just tell the elves the truth, and get them to agree to lie to the humans that they found a different spatial mage?" Vera asked reasonably.
"Then they would not need to hold you hostage until your child is born."
"That might work... and I could have them take me to the dragon's portals in a disguise to get them off my back too." Cal said, rubbing at her chin that would now never grow any stubble.
"But if they do tell Eamon that I'm not the princess we will have to flee from the entire kingdom of Ranock."
"We don't really have anything to lose Cal." Sophia's still embarassed voice chimed in through the door.
"If you don't at least try we will have to flee the Kingdom anyway because the elves and dragons won't stop looking for you. If the elves won't play ball the same thing happens, we run."
"Alright then, off to tell the queen of the elves that I'm a spatial mage who switched bodies with his traitorous wife." Cal said, and teleported back into her tent.
She pulled apart the entrance to her tent and stuck her head out the door, being spotted instantly by a guard. "I need to speak with Lumina." She said loudly.
"What is it Alexandra?" Lumina said, pushing out of her own tent across from Cal's.
"In here please." Cal said, holding apart the flaps of her tent that seemed to want to press back into each other.
Lumina pushed past her into Cal's tent and let the door seal itself.
"Elves have excellent hearing Princess, nothing we say in here will be private." She warned her.
Cal grabbed the elven queen's wrist and they both vanished, reappearing in the courtyard of Cal's castle.
"What did you do?!" Lumina yelled, a long blade of orange and pink energy coalescing in her hand and pointing menacingly at Cal's throat.
Cal held up her hands and gulped. "Um I wanted to talk in private, I'll bring you right back I promise."
She tugged off her right hand glove and showed her mark to Lumina. "I'm the spatial mage, let me explain."
She explained how Cal had been basically forced to marry Princess Alexandra or leave Ranock and then been betrayed once Alex was pregnant.
She finished by explaining how they had switched bodies as Cal's body died, showing Lumina the ruby heart ring she wore on her left hand.
When Lumina saw the ring her left eyebrow rose. "You are incredibly lucky that you put that ring on that exact finger."
"My mother made those for some human lord to whom she owed a favour. If you put one on any other finger you would have died quite horribly."
Cal gulped, looking down at the innocent looking ring on her finger.
"If you are a spatial mage why did you allow me to take you?" Lumina asked.
"I was just going to wait until tonight and then teleport back here to evacuate the people that live here with me." Cal answered honestly.
"But if we can come to an understanding that won't be necessary, and we can continue to live here in peace."
"So what, you will charge my portals if I don't tell the Ranock's that you killed their king and are impersonating their daughter?" Lumina asked.
"Yes, I need you to lie and say that the elves found another spatial mage."
"Also I need you to arrange for me to go to the dragons in disguise and charge their portals to prevent them from coming after me again." Cal responded.
"I can make that happen, but the dragons believing that I have a different spatial mage will not make you safe here in Ranock."
"The humans don't pose any real threat to them and Sirenia will come to retrieve you again."
"An unborn spatial mage is not a prize she would let go just because her portals were already charged once." Lumina said sadly.
"However, you can still come live with the elves, we will keep you safe and you will be able to go where you please, you are a spatial mage after all." She suggested.
"Can the people who live with me here come too? I can't just leave them behind, Sirenia has seen them and could find out who they are to try and use them against me." Cal asked hopefully.
"I'm sorry but the elves aren't very trusting or friendly towards humans, especially males. Maybe if your whole household was female I could..." Lumina began.
Cal cut her off, "They are all female! And only two of them are humans, the other two are vampires." She said excitedly.
"Oh and there's also a dog." She added.
"I will need to run it by the council, but I promise I will fight to secure them all a place with the elves if you will return with me."
"Even if they don't agree to let your household live with you I promise Ranock will not be made aware of your identity, so you will only have the dragons hunting you down." Lumina said.
"Deal." Cal said.
"Good, then please take us back to camp. My family is probably scrambling over themselves to find where we went." Sirenia said with a laugh, holding out her hand.
Cal grabbed her offered hand and pictured a spot in the field she had seen when she looked around after landing, well away from camp.
She didn't feel like teleporting into a tent packed with elves looking for signs of their disappearance.
They walked back into camp and were soon surrounded by worried elves.
Lumina explained the situation while Cal went back into her tent to 'sleep', teleporting back to her castle to report to her friends.
This time she decided it would be a good idea to teleport into the courtyard, just to be safe.
Although if they are still doing stuff in my bed this time it would be entirely their fault. She thought.
She headed inside and made her way up the stairs and down a long hallway to Vera's door, knocking softly in case Mia was sleeping.
"Come in!" Vera shouted, and Cal stepped inside.
Vera was sitting on the bed reading Mia a book while she sat in her lap and Lilly was curled up on one of their pillows, exhausted from keeping up with Mia all day.
"Cal, how did it go?" Vera asked, closing the book and setting it aside.
"Well that depends on how you and Mia feel about going to live with the elves, let's go find Sophia and Kyla to discuss it." She replied.
Mia slid out of Vera's lap and the three of them headed off to find Sophia and Kyla.
They found them in the first place they checked, even though Cal had assumed they wouldn't be there.
She knocked on the door to her own room and Sophia called out for them to come in, at least this time they were clothed.
"Sophia, Kyla, still in my room even after our little mishap?" Cal grinned.
"You aren't using it and the bed is comfy, we aren't doing anything weird you asshole." Kyla snapped.
"You can have it back when you get us a big enough bed in a different room." Sophia chimed in.
"Hey don't let me stop you from doing 'weird' things in my bed Kyla, I certainly won't complain." Cal said.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Kyla grabbed a pillow to throw but Sophia held it down.
"Enough you two, this is serious. Are we going to be forced to flee or did they go for it Cal?" Sophia asked.
"Well Queen Lumina did go for it, but she also raised a good point."
"Even if the dragons believe the elves found a different spatial mage, and that spatial mage charges their portals, they will still try to get their hands on my child."
"We won't be safe here unless they know I got rid of it." Cal said.
"Cal!" Vera said sternly.
"And I can't get rid of it apparently." Cal winced.
"Lumina offered to let us all live with the elves if some council approves, if that doesn't work out we can go somewere else."
"I'm truly sorry I got you all wrapped up in this." She said, hanging her head.
"It is not your fault Cal, you could not have known dragons and elves would seek you out." Vera reassured her.
"Why don't we just go back to Ranock, Sophia? I know Cal and Vera are your friends but we don't need to be mixed up in all of this." Kyla pleaded.
Sophia sighed, "That dragon identified me as a combat healer and a royal guard, I won't be safe in Ranock anymore."
"I have to go with Cal, but you don't have to come with me, Ranock will most likely still be safe for you." She said sadly.
"You don't want me to come with you?" Kyla asked in a hurt voice.
"Of course I want you to come with me Kyla, I love you."
"But you have family here, you have a life here, I can't ask you to give that all up to go live in a forest with a bunch of elves." Sophia assured her while rubbing her back.
"What makes you think elves live in a forest?" Kyla asked, puzzled.
Cal and Sophia looked at each other and grinned.
"Legends from our world." Sophia replied.
"Well whatever, of course I'm coming with you Sophia. Besides it sounds like an adventure." Kyla grumbled out.
"Sophia raises a good point Vera, you should take Mia and get far away from me, the dragons and elves don't know about you yet." Cal said.
"Cal?" Vera said.
"Yes Vera?" She asked.
"Stop being an idiot please." Vera replied.
Cal grinned, "I love you too Vera."
"Ok, so we are all decided then? You have a few days to change your minds, Lumina said we would have to camp several times before reaching our destination." She said.
Everone voiced their agreement.
"Alright, I'll come back each night to feed you or Mia when the elves set up camp." She told Vera.
"Enjoy my bed girls." She said with a lacivious grin while waggling her eyebrows and disappeared as a pillow sailed through the place she had just stood.
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Sophia sighed as Cal made one last suggestive quip before dissapearing.
Sometimes it was hard for her to remember that Cal was actually still just a kid, only turning eighteen after being pulled into this strange world.
Times like this however it was all too apparent.
"She is so infuriating!" Kyla shrieked.
Sophia smiled, "We should have known it was her room Ky, but yes, before you get mad at me, I agree she is infuriating."
"Goodnight Sophia, goodnight Kyla." Vera said.
"Goodnight." They both reflexively blurted out as Vera closed their door and walked off down the hall.
"I did know it was her room, I thought it was pretty obvious." Kyla said.
"What the fuck Ky! Why didn't you say anything when I asked if you wanted to..." Sophia asked incredulously.
"I was hoping she would be mature about it and maybe offer to join in, not make jokes and run out of the room." Kyla said like it was obvious.
"Kyla! Are you serious? She used to be a guy, and we're friends and..." Sophia began.
"Soph, she's a princess, and she is also the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on, besides you of course."
"Besides, you said you would be open to including a third person sometime." Kyla grinned at her.
"Just, not her ok? Don't try something like this again without telling me, please?" Sophia asked.
"Ok ok, I promise next time I try to include one of your friends in our bedroom fun I will ask you first." Kyla said, grinning mischievously.
Sophia smiled at her antics for a moment before switching gears.
"Kyla, are you sure you want to go with me? We just got back together, and I know your mom is..." She began but Kyla cut her off again.
"Don't start with that shit Sophia. I said I want to go, so I'm going." Kyla said, crossing her arms and huffing angrily.
"Did I ever tell you how cute you are when you're angry?" Sophia asked with a grin, wrapping her arms around Kyla from the side.
Kyla uncrossed her arms and hugged her back, breaking out in giggles.
"I can't stay mad at you Sophia." She said before kissing her deeply.
The kiss deepened and then they seperated, looking into each others eyes.
Kyla reached down and tugged off her nightdress, throwing it over the side of the bed and Sophia moved to do the same but Kyla stopped her.
"Let me get that for you." She said, grabbing Sophia's gown and pulling it slowly up her body, revealing her skin inch by inch.
It rose above her breasts and Kyla finally pulled it the rest of the way over her head in one swift motion, throwing it to join her own discarded dress.
They stared at each other for a moment before Kyla pushed her backwards, making her almost fall off the side of the bed from their position right in the middle.
Her shoulders and head went off the edge of the mattress and she tried to lift her upper body back up into a sitting position, but Kyla didn't let her.
"Now where were we?" Kyla said mischievously. "Oh I remember!"
She pushed on Sophia's knees and dove into her with her tongue, causing her to gasp and squirm.
"Kyla, let me up." She begged, sliding a bit further off the mattress.
"Can't talk now, I'm busy." Kyla mumbled out into her pussy.
Sophia slid further off the bed.
Kyla crawled forward after the sliding Sophia, never letting up on her relentless tongue assault as her shoulders slid all the way to the floor.
Kyla held on to her knees while eating her out, not letting her get back up or slide all the way out of bed.
Sophia gave up on trying to move and started rubbing her nipples in slow circles, letting out loud low moans.
It wasn't long until her compromised position and Kyla's relentless assault on her clit caused her to reach a shuddering orgasm, squeezing Kyla's head between her legs as she squirted out a stream of liquid.
"Sophia! Look what you did to poor Cal's bed, I hope you are going to clean that up." Kyla teased.
Sophia covered her face with her hands in embarassment, she hated it when she squirted.
"Can you let me up now Kyla, please." She pleaded breathlessly.
Kyla let go of her knees and she slid onto her back, lying on the floor for a minute exhausted.
"You better be ready Ky, cause I need to punish you for making me squirt." She said with a grin while shakily climbing back to her feet.
"Do your worst witch!" Kyla giggled.
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Vera listened to the moans coming from down the hall and pressed her blanket into her ears.
Good thing Mia is asleep, but I really need to think of a discrete way to tell Sophia and Kyla about vampire hearing. She thought morosely.
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Sirenia Sandscale turned off The King's Road and headed South back to The Sands with her two hundred and fifty mounted soldiers behind her.
She was thinking of all the most painful ways in which she could kill that elven bitch and her whole insect-winged family.
You caught me alone this time elf, but next time we meet I will kill you. She promised herself.
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Sophia sat with Kyla on a bench on the Western castle wall, bundled up in winter clothes and watching the sunset.
Cal had been traveling with the elves for four days so far, teleporting in each night to update them and feed one of the vampires.
She heard footsteps down in the courtyard behind her and looked down, expecting to see Vera, but to her surprise it was Eamon Ranock.
"You're one of Alexandra's guards, where is she? Is she alright?" He asked frantically.
"Um she's fine, the elves took her with them, did you climb up the whole mountain just to come check on Alex?" She said, confused at how and why Eamon had come here.
"Of course I did, she's my niece, I've been panicking over the possibilty of the dragons having her this whole time, fucking elves couldn't even bother to take a moment to let me know they got here in time." Eamon grumbled.
Sophia and Kyla exchanged a glance. "Um is there anything else we can do for you Lord Eamon?" Sophia asked.
"If you could just show me the location of the kitchen, and an empty room I could stay in for tonight I would appreciate it." Eamon replied, he did look exhausted to her.
"Kyla do you think you can show Lord Eamon around for me? I need to speak with Vera about her dinner." Sophia asked with a pointed look at her.
"Of course. I will be right down my Lord." Kyla said to Eamon, and Sophia raced down the stairs into the courtyard passing right by Eamon and rushing to the castle's entrance.
Kyla got the hint and took her time walking down to Eamon to slowly show him inside.
Shit if Cal teleports in now the jig is up. Sophia thought as she raced to Vera's room.
Cal had so far designated a teleportation spot to keep clear in Vera's room, the courtyard, and a room right next door to the room Sophia and Kyla had appropriated from her.
She reached Vera's door and knocked twice loudly before opening the door, Vera looked up from her book as she barged in.
"Lord Eamon is here, we need to be ready for Cal to teleport in and make her leave quickly, he can't see her." She said in a rush.
"Mia, stay in this room and if Cal teleports in tell her to leave because Eamon is here, I will take the room next to yours Sophia, you head back out to the courtyard." Vera ordered quickly.
Sophia rushed back the way she had come and passed by Eamon and Kyla just now getting inside.
"Why is she in such a rush?" She heard Eamon asking Kyla as she raced by.
"Oh there's not much room up here to exercise, so she runs all over the castle." Kyla lied.
Sophia raced across the courtyard and stopped near the dry non functioning fountain in which Cal's designated teleport spot was.
As she stood there gasping and clutching at the stitch in her side she decided she really should start exercising more like Kyla told Eamon she was.
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Cal had gotten used to being carried through the air at breakneck speeds over the last four days, and kept her eyes open almost all of the time now.
She just enjoyed the feeling of Lumina's breasts pressed up against her own, and the beautiful scenery down below of course.
Lumina started to descend and Cal stopped her.
"Wait can we stay up just a bit longer please? I'm watching the sunset over your shoulder." She shouted over the wind.
The wind didn't actually flow against them, which explained how Lumina's hair was always so straight and perfect even after flying all the time.
An invisible shield of still air seemed to surround them as they flew, though it didn't do much to dull the sound.
Lumina smiled down at her. "Sure, we can watch it together." She stopped her descent and slowed her forward momentum, turning around to face West and hovering in midair.
"It's really beautiful from up here." Cal said, watching the bright orange glow start to encompass the few fluffy white clouds on the horizon.
"Yes, it has been too long since I simply stopped to watch the sunset, thank you for suggesting it." Lumina replied.
As the sun finally dissapeared below the horizon and the glow left the clouds Lumina started to descend again, turning back to where all the other elves had already landed.
They touched down and she set Cal gently on her feet. "We are stopping late tonight, go meet with your friends now, I am sure they are worried." Lumina suggested.
"Thanks Lumina, you're pretty nice for a kidnapper." Cal grinned. Lumina snorted right before Cal dissapeared.
She reappeared in the courtyard fountain this time, it was pretty late and she didn't want to bother anyone.
"Sophia, did you run all the way here just to greet me?" Cal asked the gasping and hunched over Sophia.
Sophia glowered at her, "Cal you need to go back to the elves right now, Eamon is here looking for you. We told him the elves took you."
Cal's eyes widened and she didn't take the time to respond, picturing the spot she had picked out near the elve's current camp and vanishing.
She walked back into the camp and Lumina noticed her. "Cal, back so soon? Were they already in bed?" She asked.
"No my uh, Alex's uncle, Lord Eamon is there looking for me." Cal explained.
"Oh, I guess I should have told him we were in time to save you from Sirenia, he sounded pretty desperate when he begged me to save you." Lumina said.
"Jeez Lumina, a man begs you to save someone he cares about and you just leave him wondering for days? That's pretty cold." Cal said with a grin.
"I do not know what 'jeez' means, but you are correct, it wasn't very thoughtful. I will appologize if I ever see him again." Lumina actually looked a little embarrassed.
"Well I guess I'll turn in early tonight since I can't go visit with my friends. Could you show me to my tent?" Cal asked.
Lumina pointed at one of the tents that looked exactly like all the others, a large green cone.
"Maybe you would like to chat for a bit first Cal? Surely you have some questions about our destination." Lumina offered as Cal entered the tent.
"I would appreciate that." Cal said, holding the flap of her tent open for Lumina to enter.
They both sat on the hammock which sunk in the middle, pressing them together side by side.
Lumina was at least eight inches taller than Cal, and put her arm around her shoulders to keep it from pressing painfully into her side.
It might have been awkard if Cal hadn't already spent the last four days carried in Lumina's deceptively strong arms and pressed up against her chest.
Once they were comfortable Cal began to ask her questions.
"What's the name of the place we are headed? And why has no one mentioned it yet? I've only heard you mention we would be stopping briefly in a place called Edgewood." She asked.
"The elven capitol is known as Vale, and no one talks about it because it is a secret of the elves." Lumina answered.
"The portal at Crossroads leads to Edgewood, which used to be a trading hub for the elves that we pretend is our only city."
"There is another portal in Edgewood unkown to the humans and dragons, it leads across the mountains to a hidden valley further East, the true lands of the elves."
"Only Dawnwings have been able to cross those mountains for almost five hundred years." She explained.
"If it's a secret of the elves why are you telling me?" Cal asked.
"Because you are going to be charging that secret portal as well as a few within Vale itself, and I would rather ask you to keep our secret than risk you unintentionally spilling it because you never knew it was a secret to begin with." Lumina explained.
"You will keep it a secret, won't you Cal?" She asked sweetly, pressing into Cal's side a little more.
"Of course I will." Cal replied, her face flushing a little at the contact.
"So uh next question, why are elves so against having humans stay with them, and why keep Vale a secret, especially if you can only get there by flying?" She asked.
"The other races have a history of enslaving and abusing elves for their long lasting youthful beauty." Lumina began, and Cal remembered the trio of elven women she freed from Taro's dungeon.
"Despite that, the elves are actually close allies of the humans. Humans cannot fly, but of course our enemies the dragons can. So it made sense to just keep Vale a secret."
"And then when the spatial mages arrived in Selara and set up the portals we just kept on keeping it a secret. Even though humans finally had a way to come to our aid in Vale."
"Good thing we did too, since the spatial mages killed themselves off in the Great Plague." She finished.
"Spatial mages arrived in Selara, they weren't always here? Where'd they come from? Were humans always here and there just weren't any spatial mages?" Cal asked.
"Well there have always been non-magic humans in Selara, but the ones with magic marks weren't always here, we believe they arrived in this world shortly after the elves." She began, and Cal immediately cut in again.
"Wait there's humans on Selara who don't have any magic marks, even passive? And what do you mean by arrived here? Where did elves and magic humans come from then?" Cal asked.
Lumina sighed. "I only intended to answer a few questions about my home, not explain the whole history of the world." She said.
"But luckily for you history was always my favourite subject to research and discuss." She took a deep breath.
"It is believed that of the humanoid races inhabiting Selara there were originally only dwarves, vampires, gnomes, and non-magical humans."
"Over ten thousand years ago a bunch of portals dumped a bunch of races not of this world out in different places all over this continent."
"What order the races arrived in is a hotly debated topic, but it's agreed they all arrived roughly around the same time."
"Elves arrived in the East, dragons in the South, fae to the West, and humans with magic to the North."
"Dryads and naiads arrived in the Southwest, harpies in the Southeast, orcs and goblins in the Northeast, and beastmen in the Northwest."
"Originally the magic marked humans were all born with both a passive and an active magic mark, but they bred with the non-magic humans of this world and now roughly half are born without an active magic mark at all."
"As for spatial mages, they only showed up roughly four thousand years ago."
"No one knows where they came from either, but unlike the other races and magic humans that arrived here by unkown means, scholars believe they know how the spatial mages came to be here."
"There is a rare passive mark called the great disaster mark, which shows the bearer visions of disasters in which a great many lives are lost."
"There was an eruption of a massive volcano near a large settlement of gnomes in the Southwest quarter, and by the time the ashes had settled spatial mages had arrived."
"They built their temple atop the volcano that had allowed them a glimpse into this world, surrounded by toxic environments."
"They kept themselves isolated and never exceeded one hundred spatial mages alive at a time."
"It's assumed they did so to prevent spatial magic being used in harmful ways, which may explain why they left whatever world they came from in the first place."
"Any questions so far?" Lumina asked.
"Just one, you mentioned that spatial mages killed themselves with the Great Plague, I read a book by a man who said the same thing, can you explain?" Cal asked.
"That ties in with the way we believe they arrived in this world in the first place."
"Right before the Great Plague happened there was a young spatial mage who had a great disaster passive mark."
"It is believed he shifted to a world he saw devastated by a plague in a vision, and brought it back here." Lumina explained.
"I see, that makes sense I guess, could you tell me a little bit about each of the races? Do they all have a racial magic like the dryads I met?" Cal asked.
"I'll give you a very short decription of each, we should be getting some sleep soon Cal." Lumina said.
"Elves are one of the four higher races, which before you ask basically just means they do not die of old age. Vampires, dragons, and the fae are the other three."
"Elves' racial magic is the ability to absorb and mold natural energies, such as my family's ability to form magical wings with the energy of the dawn."
"Elves use this magic to enchant items, though we are not the only race who can make magical artifacts."
"Dragons' racial magic is quite obvious, they can transform into massive flying beasts for short times, as well as partially transform for longer. They can also breathe fire."
"When they group together their magic actually sucks the moisture from the air and earth. They reside in a desert surrounded by an otherwise humid rainforest that they corrupted over time."
"The fae's magic is a bit more abstract and varied than other races. It's normally referred to as dream magic, though that is a bit misleading."
"They can craft perfectly realistic illusions, put people to sleep, and even charm weaker willed people into doing things they normally would not."
"They also have abilities we simply don't know about."
"But you don't need to worry about them, they all died when the island they inhabited sunk into The Endless Deep a few thousand years ago."
"Many people believe dwarves don't have any magic, but they do have some magical assistance with detecting ores and gems, possibly even with mining itself."
"When the Great Plague hit they abandoned all of their aboveground cities and holed up in the Northern mountains where they remain to this day, far below the earth."
"Dryads and naiads are also called nature spirits. They can control the power of plants and water respectively, as well as having healing and fertility abilities."
"The dryads live in small groups called groves, and naiads tend to live alone, patrolling large sections of whatever source of water they can find. They spread all over the continent."
"Harpies are winged humans that have control over the wind. They are hunted for sport by the dragons and tend to move around the Southeastern quarter a lot."
"Some races capture them and harvest their feathers to use in various potions and rituals. Other races just trade for them, they contain a large amount of magical energy."
"I don't think orcs or goblins have any racial magic, but the orc shamans brought knowledge of an inherent system of magic anyone can use known as rituals with them to Selara."
"I believe you told me you were brought here through such means."
"The goblins are almost constantly at war with each other and very unintelligent. The orcs however are a mostly peaceful race that studies the inherent magic of the world."
"Beastmen are humans that can shift forms into animals, they live in tribes based on which animal they change into."
"The magic marked humans fought many wars with them and drove them even further Northwest into harsh prairies and mountains."
"Gnomes are similar to elves in that they can imbue magical energy into items, and are also incredibly intelligent, many believe magically so."
"They reside in the Southeast, you should avoid them at all costs."
"They are not capable of doing their own manual labor and so enslave humans to do it for them, eating them when they can no longer work."
"And finally vampires, their system of magic is based on their bloodlines."
"The amount of different magics they have is too much to get into tonight, but they all draw magic energy from blood."
"The other part of their racial magic is to cause humans, dwarves, and elves to 'ascend', as they call it, into vampires if they die with vampire venom in their blood."
"Like the nature spirits, they exist all over."
"That's all we have time for tonight Cal, we have a long day of flying ahead of us and I need my rest."
"Not all of us just get to rest in someone's arms all day." Lumina grinned.
"Wait! What about demons?" Cal asked, thinking about Zatira.
"Demons do not live on Selara, but whenever they come here they cause widespread devastation and death."
"They reside in the Twilight Realm, a twisted mirror of our own world walked by horrors the likes of which you couldn't imagine in your worst nightmares."
"You should pray to whatever gods or goddesses you believe in that you will never meet a demon." Lumina said gravely.
"Anyways, good night Cal, see you tomorrow." Lumina said, getting up off the hammock.
"Goodnight Lumina. Thanks for the history lesson." Cal grinned.
Lumina gave her another smile and left her tent.
Cal laid down on her hammock and thought about all that she had just learned.
She still had a lot more questions.
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