I looked around the cave again for the third time this hour.

They should have been here by now, but it was typical of them to be late. They always complained about my choice of residence, but where else could I live?

I was on probation.

Finding rent anywhere in the city with that kind of mark on your record was almost impossible. The few places where I could stay were not places I’d allow myself to suffer through and besides, if I lived there I’d probably never get off probation.

It’d be easier for those bastards to frame me if I lived in that type of neighborhood, but down here, twenty miles beneath the city, they’d have a tough time proving I did anything remotely illegal.

Suddenly the roof of the cave groaned and rumbled, and a light tremor filled the earth.

“About damn time,” I muttered.

A hole popped open in the earthen roof and a large drilling machine pierced through it. The metallic cab continued to drill forward until it dropped from the roof and onto the ground, landing upside down. The floor shook with a thump and I held up my cloak to protect myself from the dust.

The vehicle squeaked and groaned and turned till it was right side up again, tumbling onto its treads and aching for a few seconds before the door popped open and two suited elves tumbled out, gasping for air.

Both of them coughed roughly for about a minute, unable to catch their breath.

“That’ll be three hundred and forty-six dollars, laddie!!” The dwarf driver yelled from inside the machine.

The elves didn’t acknowledge the price, still coughing from all the fumes and surrounded by the rumbling of the drill taxi, possibly unable to hear him.

“I said-” The dwarf tried again.

“Kill the engine!” One of the elves yelled. “We can’t hear you!”

The machine coughed and let out a sigh of steam and groaned as the engine turned off.

“I said that’ll be-”

“We’ll pay you later, on our return trip up! Don’t worry, we’re Celestial Order Patrol!”

The elf said, flashing his badge.

The dwarf nodded from the inside of the vehicle. He then turned to me and waved. I waved back.

Grunder was one of the few drill taxi men who was willing to go this deep beneath the city. Most dwarves refused to dig this deep unless there was gold or mining to be done but not him. He was my go-to guy to get up top and the best way for these plant-loving bastards to get down here.

“I don’t know why you live down here,” the male elf said, patting down the dirt off of his suite.

I didn’t say a thing to the man. They’d come here several times over the past ten years, and each time they pretended to be kind even though they were looking for any reason to extend my probational period.

“Alright. Let’s get started then.” He said unfazed by my attitude.

“Holy Light,” he said raising his hand to the roof, and the whole cave lit up in response.

I closed my eyes in discomfort. They didn’t need to do that. They were capable of a basic illumination spell, something that wasn't holy in nature, but these bastards wouldn't spare me that. Holy light was a holy element spell that was generally used to scare off low-level undead. It was costly and completely unnecessary to light up a mere cave.

But he knew it would cause me slight discomfort as all holy things did.

“That’s better. Much brighter in here now, don’t ya think?”

I refused to reply once again. The female elf frowned, clearly annoyed with my lack of response.

“Reply when spoken to half-demon! Show some respect!”

“Relax Darci, relax. He has a right to not like us, after all. Also no slurs, you know we’re trying to improve our public image.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I grumbled.

“We will go through the procedure on our time timetable!” Darci replied.

I frowned at the high elves.

There was a time ages ago when the Lord of Light and The Mother Tree had blessed them, making them the most beautiful of any race, immortal and unaging. But those high elves had left with the Lord Of Light, ascending into angelhood and becoming higher beings.

Now the Lord Of Light’s influence had faded and these elves were as far removed from nature as could be. Sure they lived for thousands of years still, but they aged and their beauty had been reduced to mere fair skin.

It was the same for my people, the dark elves. We used to shine with darkness and weave webs of shadow and power, but with the departure of the gods from our realms, our patron’s blessings faded.

But my dark elf lineage wasn’t why these morons hated me. No, they hated me because of my demonic half. That was the whole reason I was on probation.

The Celestial Order Patrol dealt with a few things in the giant megacity of Asrin, mainly the handling of Celestial-type beings, angels, demons, and all types of holy and unholy shenanigans.

Of course, having to deal with soul-eating demons all day didn’t leave them with a compassionate and understanding perspective on their bastard children, which left me dealing with the shit assumptions my more pure-blooded kin had left.

“Now let's get started then,” said the male elf, holding his hands directly towards me and casting a truth spell.

I hated this part. Being bathed in light holy magic was bad enough but being held under the direct scrutiny of the Lord of Truth was even worse. I also had a general disdain for the God of Truth, seeing as I worshiped the Goddess Archina, Lady of Shadows and Weaver of Darkness.

Not to mention this spell was the reason the Celestial Order hired on strength rather than merit. Who needs smart investigators when you can cast a spell and get all the answers you want?

“What’s your name?”

“Elurn Rathor, son of Gothen Rathor of the Rathor Tribe of Dark Elves in the Woven Forest.”

“Why did you come to Asrin?”

“My clan disowned me after my mother died at the hands of a demon.”

“Did you have anything to do with it?”

“No,” I replied unfazed.

“Was it your father?” The man asked me.

“No. He’s been in hell since my birth.”

“What’s your father’s name?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then how do you know he’s in hell?”

“My mother told me.”

“Your dead mother?”

“That’s the one.”

The elf frowned, clearly unhappy with my answers, and moved on.

“Have you ever in your life worked for the forces of darkness?”

He always asked me this question.

“I have a holy bond to Archina.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“Archina lords over the dark and has Divinity over the darkness element, but if you’re asking if I’ve ever served the Lord of Darkness and his Night minions, then the answer is no.”

The elf nodded lazily.

“Do you have any ill intentions towards the common people or any evil intent towards the world itself?”

“No.”

“What are your aspirations in Asrin?”

“Same as most,” I answered.

“Mind clarifying?”

“Yes, I do mind.”

“Have you or are you planning to commit any illegal and unlawful activities?”

“No.”

“What is your primary source of income?”

“Artificer.”

The elf scowled.

“For who?”

“Dwarves, goblins, trolls, anyone in this area who needs a hand.”

“And that supplies you well enough for rent food and water?”

“There’s no rent down here. This was an abandoned cave before I claimed it.”

The elf let out a dramatic sigh and threw a piece of paper onto the floor. We’d done this interview many times and he knew all of my answers, he was just trying to make me stumble.

“Darci? Any signs of malevolence?” He yelled.

“No,” she yelled back, hands held forward while conducting a scanning spell. “Nothing here.”

“Well, I guess that’s it,” the elf muttered.

“I guess it is,” I muttered back.

“Don’t get smug demon boy. I know what you are. You know what you are. It’s only a matter of time before you act like your instincts tell you to and when you do, when you turn into a killing machine, The Celestial Order will be there to put you down like the damned dark filth you are.”

I felt my mind being tugged and pulled and a desire for malice and destruction growing within me.

For a second, I thought he was right. I thought my demonic heritage had taken over and started gnawing at my sanity. But then I felt the magic at the edges of my mind tugging me to violence, small bits of fury trying to bury themselves within my soul.

Mind magic.

The elf smiled.

“Can’t blame an elf for trying can ya? Well, see ya when you kill something demon boy. Till then, bon voyage!”

The elves marched back to the drill and went inside, and the underground taxi dug its way into my dirt floor. The light remained, shining for a few more minutes before blinking out and leaving me in my familiar darkness.

I picked up the paper he’d tossed and opened it, a Declaration of Freedom. It declared me a resident of Asrin and free of probation.

I was almost a fully legal citizen.

I was free.

I smiled.