When Feyrith came to again, for a short moment he didn't remember what had happened or why he was on the dust-covered floor of some old, dark room with his hands and ankles tied together with rope.

But everything immediately came to him as soon as he noticed the dark, imposing figure of the elf who had attacked him, standing over him menacingly. He flinched, automatically pushing himself against the wall that was behind him.

"Aris!" Feyrith yelled by instinct the moment he realized he wasn't gagged anymore, trying to summon at least the weakest shield spell he knew just to protect himself from the other elf, if only for a moment. But there was only a very weak flash of light that momentarily lit up the old, stone walls of the room before dissipating.

Oh, Goddess, he really couldn't use magic, could he? Feeling his eyes starting to sting, Feyrith tried to force his face into a neutral expression, but he knew it wasn't working. The wave of panic and despair that was hitting him was too strong to hide. All he could really do was force himself not to start crying in front of his captor.

"That shield wouldn't have done you much good, anyway," the other elf said, glaring down at him. Feyrith glared back, pulling on the ropes. What did she even want with him at this point? They'd already taken his magic. He had nothing left to give.

That thought just made his eyes burn more. He hung his head as he felt what little fight he still had left in him dissipate. If this was permanent, if he couldn't get his magic back, then there was no reason to fight anymore. His life was over, whether the elf standing in front of him decided to kill him or not.

In fact, if she did kill him, it would be better for him. The Goddess taught them never to hope for death, but Feyrith was having a difficult time not doing so at the moment. The Council would banish him like this, just like if he were Cursed. And what kind of a life was there for an elf with no magic?

"Do you recognize this?" Genrith asked him, once again making Feyrith look at her. He could barely see what she was holding in her hand through his tears and with how dark it was, but he recognized the item immediately anyway.

"My communication stone..." he gasped, trying to get up in his shock only to give up immediately as his bound ankles refused to give him enough support to do so.

"Indeed," the other elf replied, looking at the stone in her hand. "I knew you would try to contact the Council immediately, which is why I took it from you."

Feyrith's mouth hung open in shock. So, the stone had been stolen from him. The fact that losing the stone hadn't been his fault did help push away some of his guilt and shame. He gritted his teeth as anger started to burn inside of him instead.

So this elf had been with him throughout most of this entire trip. She must have snuck into the room he'd rented and taken it from him, disappearing before he could have seen her. That noise that had woken him up back then must have been her.

The sheer audacity of this was completely unbelievable, but before he could say any of the things he wanted, she pointed his own staff at him. Feyrith gulped as the wooden tip almost touched his neck.

"Now I do need you to use the little magic you have left and contact them, however," she said, a small smirk on her face. "And I need you to tell them that you found absolutely nothing here."

Feyrith stared at her, his outrage at being asked this overshadowing his fear. What she was asking him to do was insane. "I will never lie to the Council."

Genrith's smirk grew. "I don't care about what you perceive as right or wrong, whelp. I am telling you what will happen. And if you refuse to do this, I will kill you and those humans who came with you. I would hate to leave witnesses."

Feyrith was afraid to die, but he was willing to accept it if it meant not betraying the Council like this. But Lanna and Arbane didn't deserve such a fate. They'd only come here because they'd wanted to help Edwyr. Feyrith couldn't be the cause of their deaths, and if he refused to go along with this, he had no doubts that was what would happen. The two humans had proven themselves surprisingly capable, but they wouldn't stand a chance against an elf, much less one as powerful as this one.

But Feyrith couldn't agree to do this. He couldn't lie to the Council. It didn't matter what would happen to him now that he had no magic. Lying the Council was...unthinkable. It was wrong and went against everything Feyrith stood for. It was one of the worst things any elf could do.

He had to do this, but.... How could he?

"Difficult, isn't it?" Genrith mocked him, finally putting the staff away. "The most important mission for any good pawn of the Council is protecting humans. But to do that, you have to betray the Council itself."

Feyrith swallowed, keeping his eyes trained firmly on the ground. He didn't want to see the other elf's taunting eyes.

"You will kill them anyway," Feyrith finally said, finding the strength to speak.

"I might, I might not," she replied uncaringly. "But I guarantee I will if you don't do this."

Feyrith was sure this meant that she would kill all of them, whether he did lie to the Council or not, but he also had no way of knowing this, so it hardly made it easier.

"So, which will it be?" she asked, her sharp smile audible in her tone. "Your misguided sense duty, or your foolishly placed loyalty?"

Feyrith didn't look up, despite how angry those words had made him. He would not be lectured about what was right and wrong by a deranged elf. But fear kept him from saying anything.

"I will let you think it over for a moment," Genrith said, sounding very amused by all of this. "I am sure you will make the right decision."

And with that, she started to walk away, heading up the stairs without another word. Feyrith stared after her in surprise, having expected her to demand he decide immediately. But she was clearly enjoying this. Perhaps she wanted him to suffer for longer.

With the other elf out of sight, Feyrith felt the barriers that had been holding back his true feelings break down. He let out a shuddering sigh, putting his bound hands over his face. How had he gotten to this point? Before he'd left, the worst thing he'd thought could happen was failing at completing his mission. But so much more had happened on top of that.... Feyrith couldn't even imagine what could possibly make this situation worse, anymore.

And now he had a choice to make—likely the last one he ever would make. He already knew what he'd choose, but he doubted he would be able to lie to the Council convincingly. Whichever member of it the stone would connect him to, they would no doubt pick up on something being wrong. Perhaps that would even reveal to them that something much bigger was at play here.

Thinking that did help him a little, though the idea of actually going along with this made him sick. He tried to swallow the feeling down, but if anything, that just made him feel worse. More tears pricked at his eyes, this time spilling over, forcing Feyrith to scramble to wipe them away. Even though he was alone for the moment, he couldn't handle bringing more shame to his people by displaying emotions so openly like this.

He flinched when he heard footsteps descending towards him, shutting his eyes. He hadn't expected the other elf to come back so soon, but.... Wait, those were two sets of footsteps. Had she brought her associate from before with her as well?

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Unable to resist his morbid curiosity, Feyrith looked up, only for his eyes to widen in shock. Staring at him with similar levels of surprise were Lanna and Arbane, who were now rushing to him.

"Fey! Are you okay?" Lanna asked with a whisper. She seemed very angry—in fact, they both did—but at least she didn't seem angry with him. "We've been looking for you for ages."

Feyrith had no idea how to react to that, or even if he should react as the two humans made quick work of the ropes binding his wrists. It was very considerate of them to worry for him, but it confused him profusely. Still, that was not what he should be focusing on right now.

"You need to leave," he argued with a shaky voice, keeping his tone as low as he could. "She will come back and kill you."

"We would have left already if it weren't for you, you dummy," Arbane whispered and pulled the elf to his feet as his ankles were freed as well. Feyrith would have assumed that the man was blaming him for the two humans still being here, but the tone he'd used didn't quite fit. "Now come on, before that crazy elf comes back."

Feyrith nodded, his eyes not leaving the ancient, stone staircase he was facing. At any moment, the other elf could appear there, and they would all die. Even if they managed to leave this place, they might still be killed. And like this, Feyrith couldn't protect the two humans anymore.

He voiced none of these thoughts as he followed Lanna and Arbane, his steps shaky and unbalanced. He could barely believe it when the old, dark steps came to an end, and finally, he saw the night sky.

Feyrith did his best to keep up with the two humans as they started running away, noting that he was already very tired as he tried to keep his breathing even. He didn't know whether this was due to his sudden lack of magic, or if it was from everything that had just happened to him, but it brought tears of frustration to his eyes.

Just a few hours ago he had been able to heal any injury, and now he was getting winded from running for a minute or two.

He could barely hide how hard he was breathing as they finally reached their quasir. Feyrith didn't need to be told to mount his, no matter how clumsily, and then they were galloping away into the night. Feyrith let his quasir chase after Lanna's as she zigzagged between the ruins, wisely avoiding the main road.

Even after they left the ruins they didn't stop, forcing the quasir to keep pushing on and to go faster and faster. Feyrith was permanently stuck between wanting to look back to check if Genrith was following them and being too afraid to do so in case she was there.

But as they continued moving, the landscape slowly changing around them, and nothing had still happened, Feyrith felt some of the terror he had been feeling for hours finally lessen, leaving him exhausted.

None of them spoke a word for what felt like hours until they came across an alcove of trees with a cliff hanging over it, which was where Lanna decided to stop. Feyrith wanted to keep going, terrified that that elf would find them, but rationally he knew that they were too far away to be found easily and that their quasir needed to rest.

Still, he only reluctantly climbed off his quasir, leaning on it as he struggled to find his footing. If anything, he now felt even less steady on his feet. For the first time in his life, he just wanted to sleep and ignore his troubles for the few hours of oblivion it would give him. But he would try to stay conscious for now, as it would be incredibly rude to his human companions. They had just rescued him, and while that didn't make his situation much better, he owed them gratitude at the very least.

Which meant being unable to escape his thoughts and the horrible reality that was now his life.

"T-thank you," he finally managed to force out as they sat down among the trees. Neither of the humans was trying to collect firewood, which was good because giving away their position would be about the worst thing they could do at the moment. "For rescuing me. Again."

"Yeah, of course," Arbane replied, patting the elf's shoulder. "We weren't going to just leave you there."

Feyrith was about to point out how dangerous what they'd done had been, and there was no need to try to trivialize it, but then he realized something very obvious. "Edwyr is still not with you?"

It had completely flown over his head in the rush of things, but now it was impossible to miss. Arbane and Lanna immediately scowled, making Feyrith worry he'd said something wrong, but then Lanna answered.

"No, and he's not going to be with us anymore." Feyrith frowned, not sure what that was supposed to mean, but thankfully Lanna continued after a moment. "Those people that attacked you—Edwyr decided to join them."

Feyrith blinked, frowning as he tried to wrap his head around this. He could tell the humans didn't want to talk about it, and technically this was none of Feyrith's business, but he couldn't help but ask for an explanation.

"What would they want with Edwyr?"

He received an odd look from both of the humans, but neither of them commented on it. "He said they would give him magic."

Feyrith was immediately about to question that when he froze, realizing what this could mean. Curing Edwyr's condition should not only be impossible, but it would also just be...wrong. But then, the elves who had attacked him didn't seem very concerned with following anything the Council or the Goddess had to say.

Still, even though Feyrith still doubted that curing a Cursed elf was possible, it couldn't have been a coincidence that his own magic had been taken away from him at the same time. What if they somehow planned on giving his magic to Edwyr? What if he'd not only let someone take the Goddess' gift from him, but also helped give it to a Cursed elf?

That thought made all of this so much worse. The Council would be right to not even let him cross the border after all of this. But he had to tell them what happened. He had no doubts that the female elf had intended for him to give the Council a fake message and then kill him or at least wipe his mind, so that the elves on Aendor would never know what had happened.

"Are you okay, Fey?" Lanna asked, looking at him with worried eyes. "She didn't hurt you, did she?"

Feyrith let out a shuddering breath, his shoulders slumping as he hung his head. He had to tell them, if only to warn them about him not being able to protect them anymore.

"She took my magic away."

"What?" Arbane exclaimed, his voice far too loud in the deathly silent night. "How is that even possible? That's...."

The man trailed off, realization in his eyes as they widened. Next to him Lanna looked horrified, clearly also coming to the same conclusion. Feyrith didn't want this theory to be true, but it simply made too much sense not to be.

"We have to go back and tell Edwyr," Arbane said after a moment of stunned silence. "He wouldn't do this if he knew—"

"We can't. That elf will kill us. Even staying here is probably too risky," Lanna reminded him, letting out a sad, defeated sigh. "Besides, you heard him. Do you really think he'd turn away from these people, even if he knew?"

"Hey, you're just pissed at him right now. Of course he'd care," Arbane argued, but he didn't sound like he believed it much himself. Then he sighed as well, hanging his head. "But you're right. Dammit."

Feyrith decided not to say anything. He still didn't know much about humans, but they were grieving over the fact that their friend had left them, and he was concerned that if he said something that would be deemed as insensitive, they might yell at him. He wasn't sure he would be able to handle that at the moment. Even now he was doing all he could not to break down in front of them. He couldn't bring even more shame to his people, but it was so difficult....

"I have to...." Feyrith cleared his throat to hopefully steady his shaky voice a bit. "I have to report to the Council."

"They'll fix this, right? You'll be fine?" Lanna asked. Feyrith found it impossible to reply at that moment. He felt like he was choking, and if he even tried to make a noise, he knew he would start crying. So he just shook his head.

Of course, it was theoretically possible someone on Aendor would be able to help him, but it was incredibly unlikely. He'd never heard or read about anything like this happening, so why would they know how to deal with it? And even if he could be helped, he didn't think it would be right to fix it. The Goddess had made this happen for a reason, and it was his own fault, anyway.

And beyond losing his magic he'd also lost his staff, to make matters worse.

"I'm no use to them like this," he forced out, somehow managing to keep his voice mostly neutral. "They will banish me." He shut his eyes as his voice broke at the end, shaking his head.

He flinched as he felt arms wrap around him. He almost pushed Lanna away immediately, his instinct to defend himself kicking in, but he stopped himself. It...felt nice, shockingly, even though it just made his tears spill over. He was sure he'd seen humans do this before, but he hadn't noticed them reacting so dramatically to it.

Why was this affecting him so much? Even as Lanna pulled away, Feyrith took in a shaky breath, feeling just as upset as he had when she was still hugging him, and he couldn't shake it off.

"Look, I don't get anything about elves but...." Lanna paused, looking Feyrith right in the eye in a firm, uncompromising way. "If they do, you can come find us."

Feyrith stared at her. What did this mean? Surely they realized that he couldn't do much for them now that he couldn't even summon the simplest shield. But seeing Arbane nod as both of the humans smiled at him, Feyrith couldn't force himself to argue. He supposed he would have plenty of time to talk about this later.

"Come on, we should go somewhere else," Lanna said, sighing again as she got up. "We're too out in the open here."

Feyrith said nothing, agreeing with her silently. He had to pull himself together. It didn't matter what would happen to him. The important thing was to get the information about these hostile elves to the Council. He had failed so many times already, but he couldn't fail at this.

If this was his final mission, then so be it. This grave piece of news was more important than him, anyway, and it was his duty to deliver it.

Feeling at least motivated enough to get up and move, Feyrith mounted his tired quasir, making it trot behind the two humans as they once again set off, the three of them disappearing into the night.