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"Grandpa, Grandpa!," the young maiden ran across the emerald green field together with a group of young teenagers toward her grandfather who was busy carrying wooden planks to maintain the wind mill next to the wooden hut.
"Please tell us the story of the Great War!," begs the girl as she arrived at the wooden hut at the outskirt of the forest, "I told them that you were a hero but they wouldn't believe me!," the girl pointed her finger toward that small group young teenagers with the age around thirteen years old.
Grandpa, the old man whom the girl was talking to, sighed as he put down a pile of wooden plank next to him. "Ah, Siziliana, Can't you see that I'm a little busy at the moment?," said the old man while he started cracking his hip, "The old age really got me this time.." muttered the man to himself.
"But you promised me!," speaks Siziliana in a tone mixed with mild anger and disappointment.
"Heh, I knew it the old man is full of crap!," one of the boys in the group started to get impatient.
"Hey! My grandpa is not a liar!," Siziliana gives the boy a soft hit to the head. The boy moaned in pain while he was rubbing his head to soften the trembling headache.
"Fine fine fine! But after this, help me with the windmill later, got it, Siziliana?," Grandpa told the young girl grumpily as the girl accepted the deal.
"Hmm.. where do I begin?," Grandpa cleared his throat. The kids started sitting on the ground and listened carefully. "You kids already know that us Human were always weaker than the elves, the beast people or even the the blessed human themselves."
"But why is that so?," asked the boy who was getting the hit from Siziliana earlier.
"Simple. We can not use magic. We are what other folks like to call, the Exiles," Grandpa pointed up the sky, "Humans, blessed or not, used to live peacefully with the other folks until one day a pair of human hurt one of the holiest rules of the gods."
"What was the sin?," asked one of the girl among the group curiously.
"Well, they were talented magicians and leaders of a cult. They stole the the power of a powerful goddess and used it to aid other human," he started rubbing his messy grey beard, "But there is also other version of the story, told by the Elves, that they were using the power to kill other gods and to claim more of the divine power."
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"But what version of the story is true?," asked Siziliana. She started making a confused facial expression as she speaked, "Does that mean we are bad people?"
"I don't know it myself, it's been thousands of years. I just reached my 80s!," Grandpa bursted out the laughs. The kids just sat there with blank expression. The old man continues with the story. "The gods were not happy with the human and they then sent their army to defeat the cult. After that there was a trial by the Kings and Emperors of all countries. The remaining members of the cults were sent to the other side of the world before the gods supposedly seperated the lands into 2 half, making them unable to reach the holy lands of the divines - hence the name 'The Exile'. Not only that their rights to come to heaven were taken away, but their magical ability as well."
The boy whom Siziliana hit on the head argued, "That's cool and all, old man, but we want to know about the Great War! Not extra history lesson.." the kids agree with him.
Grandpa breathed in deeply while thinking how he kind of disliked annoying youngster who knows no manners.
"Before I continue, let me ask you one thing: What is the true strength of humanity?," he saw only the puzzled look on their faces, "Look around you, see the lamp over there? It's juiced up with electricity. The windmill over there uses no fuel, only wind!," the old man stands up, "The Intelligence and the power of craftmanship is what made us truly stand out of the other races!"
Some teens are enlightened before Grandpa continue with the story. Some thought what the Grandpa was actually blabbering about. After all, they never actually were in any developed settlements before.
"You see, the Exiled never gave up on getting back to their origin, so they spend time inventing something the spoiled brat in the city would call science and technology, in hope of ever going back to their homelands," Grandpa started to explain.
"But couldn't they just sail the boat across the sea?," asked the boy mockingly who sat the furthest away from Grandpa.
"Idiot, did you forget about the sea monsters?!" his friend who sat next to him countered. The boy apologized embarassingly and let Grandpa continue with the story.
"Our human technology nowadays is capable to destroy the whole world in the blink of an eye. It's not good for neither side if you ask me. And that is what really sparked the war," Grandpa sits on his place again and looked up to his feet, "It was horrible!," He sat there silently for a short moment before he looked at the teens again and smirked, "But at least I'm glad you kids didn't have to go through what kids that time had to," If it was something that Grandpa had learnt through out these years is that there were times he had to do things he was not proud of and that human invention was a two sided sword. That's why he decided to settle down at a less developed settlement where technology have not touched much after the war.
"Are you sure you kids want to sit through this? Don't your Mothers want you back before dinner or something?," Grandpa worried, but it's useless, the kids want to listen to the story.
"Alright then, then so be it. Don't blame me if you got home late!"