“You… a white elf? That is impossible… they went extinct since millennia.” — Ariawyn grabbed my shoulders once again, and pulled me closer, holding me in a way for the magical light I was still keeping alive to shine over me easily.
“I cannot argue with the similarities that are written in the history books of elven kind. You have a pale skin, unlike any other elves I have ever seen, and silver eyes, which are very rare in other elven races, but were a common eye color among white elves.” — She paused for a while, then added thoughtfully.
“Yet the strongest proof of your bloodline remains your unlikely talent in magic. Even if you are a pact witch, the strength of the magic you can manifest is still based on your body’s natural talent. No matter how powerful your patron is, the magic you can unleash always relies on the wielder’s endurance and capabilities.” — The woman stated while taking in my appearance with as much detail as possible.
“I concur.” — She stated at last. — “The human girl does not lie, I would have noticed it myself if we were not in such a hurry. However unlikely that sounds, I cannot deny your claim based on what I know.”
There was a tense silence lingering in the side tunnel for a while before she continued.
“This… this has changed everything. The possibility for a true immortal to still walk the land of Rixa. It seems that the Gods have smiled upon us at last. The king must be notified of your existence.” — The woman stated with an emotional tone.
I sighed, already expecting a reaction along those lines. It was quite mild for what I assumed to happen.
Ariawyn shifted lightly, those gentle emotions quickly overcome by raw fury. — “And to think that those stubby bastards dared risk your precious life in some meaningless task.”
Now, that was closer to my expectations.
“No! Stop that already… don’t you understand that I wanted to help them?” — I said loudly. I was losing my shit with this woman’s logic.
She turned on me and said with a disregarding tone. — “Of course you did, child. You are too innocent and naïve to know any better. A fine prey for opportunist bastards like humans and dwarves.”
“Hey?!” — Camilla cut in but was promptly ignored.
“But-” — Just like I was, when I tried to complain.
“Silence! Those fools can’t even begin to comprehend the true worth of your eternity. Princes from west to east will be lined up for your hand, girl. For the chance to share a fraction of your light with them.”
My stomach flipped at the thought, and my face turned slightly green as I imagined just that. — “Like I care! They can jump in a river head first and drown themselves.”
Camilla started to laugh in the back, hearing my reaction, no doubt. Seeing our frantic banter didn’t help either, probably. Witnessing us in a situation that was everything but graceful, as all elves were generally described by humans.
Ariawyn, looked at me harshly, which shut me up.
“You are still a child yet, but you will come to desire a man’s companionship soon enough.” — She smiled knowingly and added with a cat like smirk. — “You will hardly refuse when offered to choose from the finest of men among our fair race. No women could refuse such an offer.”
No women… but am I really a woman, as you said? As I remembered my lack of reaction to her touch, I felt my heart skip a beat. A fearful realization that lingered in the corners of my mind came to the surface.
My lips parted, then closed, forming a thin pressed line. My left eye ticked occasionally under the suffocating weight of stress that pressured down on my psyche.
What if I was?
Could I actually look at a man with the same desire as I used to look at women? Was such an attraction more of a bodily thing than that of the mind and soul?
Another possibility came to mind, one that was more worrying in its nature. What if… what if Lord Axis messed more with my head than I initially thought? What if it was not only my original name that he changed, but my orientation… And if that was the case, what would that imply about said God? Come to think of it, for some reason I never even entertained the thought about Lord Axis not being the generous God he told himself to be.
I swallowed drily, trying to clear my head from such thoughts.
“Anyway, this is no time to talk about such things. We need to focus on surviving first.” — Said Ariawyn with a sigh.
“The dark elves should have already realized what we have done. Have you rested enough? Because we need to move on. There is no more time to waste.”
We exchanged a glance between all three of us, then nodded and moved towards the opening that lead us back to the main tunnel. When I was about to step through the opening, a hand grasped my shoulder and held me back.
My awareness immediately skyrocketed as I focused on the outside of the cavern. Just as I did, I noticed the sounds of distant shuffling and the occasionally kicked up gravel clattering on the rocky floor.
“They are here.” — I whispered towards Camilla, who was desperately trying to catch the sounds of movements, sensing our sudden tension.
The girl nodded grimly towards me, then looked to the older elf with a questioning glare. Ariawyn took in her glance, then nodded while pulling out a short dagger and handing it to Camilla.
“Get ready.” — The older elf said, while sneaking closer to the entrance of the side tunnel, ushering me and Camilla towards the shadows. She was standing by the entrance with a sword ready to strike.
I stepped back a few times, readying my ice spells in my mind. The previous incantation was still active, and I could call forth its destructive power whenever I wanted. That is, until I had enough mana.
We waited like that, stiffened with tension while the inevitable creeped closer. I have weakened my light magic, hoping against hope that they won’t find our hiding place.
My eyes focused on Ariawyn’s form crouched low by the entrance, hiding behind a small protrusion that hid her body, at least partially. A shadowy form appeared in the entrance. It was tall and agile, based on his contours, but I could not see the person clearly because of the low level of light.
There was the sound of a dark chuckle, followed by a blur of movement.
As the figure stepped towards me and Camilla confidently, Ariawyn’s sword struck out with vicious precision. The shadowy form was completely overtaken by the unexpected ambush, his hands reaching up to his throat from where a viscous liquid was dripping down to the ground.
It was not the end, though. The dying man’s body was pushed out of the way as two new shadows appeared in the entrance. This time, they were ready to face the threat.
Sounds of clashing swords and grunts filled the narrow tunnel, shaking me and Camilla out of our trance. Everything was happening so fast, I was not sure if I could ever get used to such an experience.
The sword fight that played out across the narrow tunnel was not something I have ever seen before. Even through the darkness, I felt its intensity. Over the few seconds that passed since its beginning, numerous strikes were exchanged. The precision and viciousness of the attacks were as shocking as they were mesmerising.
There was calculated deadly intention behind the smallest of movements between the three elves. They were not simply using their swords to kill; they were using every part of their bodies. Doing it with an eery proficiency and coldness. Like a dance practiced a thousandth time. A dance of life and death.
Kicks, fist strikes, attempts to grab or push the other out of balance... There were no rules here, and there was no time to hesitate.
Realizing that there was no more hope for us to get away without a conflict. I empowered my light magic. Blinding rays of light shined through the tunnel, momentarily distracting the enemy that was facing towards us.
I saw as their dark contours lighted up. Two dark elves were standing in front of us, Ariawyn being the only barrier keeping them from us.
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The moment my light magic pulsed, both dark elves froze for a second, their eyes blinded momentarily, just as I intended.
The wood elf woman leaned in as fast as a striking snake. A flash of a sword crossed the distance between the two combatants, and soon enough, another body collapsed to the floor clutching its throat, followed by inhuman gurgling sounds. Leaving a slowly growing pool of dark blood on the cold ground.
An enraged snarl filled the tunnel as more intense sword clashes happened. The sharp ringing of metal against metal filled my ears, causing the occasional twitches going through my entire body, and not just my ears this time.
The intense exchange of sword strikes paused as suddenly as it began.
“I see… I see… now, that explains a lot.” — The sole standing dark elf said while hungrily glaring at me and the light globe held in my left hand. He was walking slowly from wall to wall, blocking the exit, while keeping a distance from the wood elf’s blade. His voice was deep and ominous. — "So you were the caster we were looking for all this time… Would have never expected you to be so young and tender… To think that the master wanted to feed you to his spider, it would have been a waste indeed. The beast loves the taste of young supple flesh…”
There was a dangerous glint in those red eyes as the man continued with a strange hunger in his gaze. One that sent shivers down my back and prickled my skin. — “Who knows, I might take a bite myself? He-he…” — I shivered as the man’s red eyes snaked over my body. I was still covered in sweat from the run, but I could almost feel as a fresh layer of sweat appeared on my skin.
Our rest did not take up more time than fifteen minutes. To think that they have already caught up to us, we had no chance to escape without a conflict to begin with; I realized with icy dread.
Still, I was not going to go down without a fight. I narrowed my gaze at the man and said in its own vile tongue.
“You will have to kill me first.” — The man’s eyes rounded slightly. He was likely taken aback since I knew his language. One of the strongest gifts I received from Lord Axis was knowing this world’s languages.
I saw both Camilla and Ariawyn stiffen lightly. Hearing me speaking in the dark elf’s tongue. It must have been a surprise to them. After all, they do not know of my extensive knowledge of languages.
“My-my…” — He cackled in cold amusement. A spark of interest appearing in those deep red eyes, causing me to immediately regret my previous decision. — “I wonder… how did a small thing with such tender flesh learn the tongue of the dark ones? You might be worth more than nourishment for spiders or meat to fuck.” — I winced hearing those vile words. With every spoken word, I felt my fear growing, molding into a barely contained terror.
It was one thing to die in a bed among pillows, and it was another to be brutally murdered and raped. Death was bad enough on its own, but I had absolutely no intentions of experiencing the other. Especially in a combination.
My rebellious thoughts scattered hearing the following words of the dark elf.
As he added casually. — “Of course… I will still enjoy breaking you in. After all… every wild dog needs to learn its place, and get used to the weight of the collar or the sting of the whip.” — The man licked his lips, his eyes practically stripping me naked, making me shiver in disgust and fear.
“I am already excited to hear your screams… To see your body slowly submit to me. Yes, first your body, then your mind.” — He chuckled darkly, and a tight knot began to form in my throat.
“Based on the way your legs shake, I give you a week before you break completely. By the time I am done with you, you will know who is your new master.”
“Yes, I might make you my personal whore… who knows? It will be an interesting change to understand your futile pleas, since you already know our language. Most only learn it when they are little more than husks, unable to resist. All that incoherent crying can get on one’s nerves. I tend to beat them until they learn to stop squealing all the time, or until they can’t any longer. It’s effective, but tedious after so many times.”
“You, however… you offer something new, and I will give you special attention.”
“Your friends will be watching it too… They will see every step of you descending into the pits of hopelessness, from where you will never see the light again. Then, they will come to the same fate as you. How is that? Aren’t you excited for your upcoming performance? Who knows, maybe if you satisfy me, I might decide to simply kill one of them. Of course, it will be you to decide which one. A clean death compared to what awaits them and you is a genuine gift.”
“Why don’t you swallow your own dick and choke on it, you sick fuck!” — Camilla shouted from the side, shaking the dagger angrily in her hand.
The man completely ignored her, likely not understanding her words as she spoke in a human tongue. He instead continued to focus his gaze at me.
“Did you know that our esteemed master lets us play with troublesome new slaves?” — He leaned his head to the side with an ominous smile. — “We are to teach them a lesson. In case if said slaves try to run away, otherwise we are not to touch them. Not before bringing them back to the city.”
I shivered at the realisation, and the man continued just as I expected.
“You seriously thought that it would be so easy to escape from the dark one’s grasp?”
I felt Ariawyn’s body shift uncomfortably in front of me, and could even sense Camilla’s stiffening body by my side as she felt the growing tension in the air. Even if she doesn’t understand the conversation.
Shit… I realized with a sudden burst of terror. We have walked into a trap, not that we had any other choice…
In a moment of panic, I reached up with my right hand an open palm towards the grey-skinned man and willed a thin blade of ice into existence, propelling it forward with my telekinesis.
A ten centimeter long icicle manifested at my command, followed by a small explosion of compressed air that sent my hair into a chaotic dance and propelled the ice towards the surprised man.
There was another flurry of movements playing out in front of my eyes. I could barely follow what happened, and half of it was a guess on my part.
The man seeing my manifesting magic froze for a second, his eyes widening in surprise and fear?
The icicle was sent towards him, yet the man, to my complete shock, parried the ice shard in midair with a perfect strike to its side with his sword. Just enough so that the shard didn’t hit him in the middle of his chest and instead moved by, causing a flesh wound on the upper part of his right shoulder.
The dark elf howled in anger, and from the sheer effort he had to make to pull that move off. Yet he had no time to rest because he needed to block an incoming blade that was aimed at his neck with cold efficiency.
He locked his blade with Ariawyn’s shouting into the woman’s face, his expression twisted in rage.
“A bunch of whores will not best me!” — The man snarled, spitting into Ariawyn’s face which caused the woman to revolt in disgust. It was enough for the man to plant his fist into her stomach, which caused her to fall to her knees, trying to breathe between dry heaves.
“A fitting place for a tree hugger whore like you…”
I was about to send another icicle towards the man, but his cold words stopped me.
“If I were you, little sluts, I would think twice about my next move.” — Just then, I noticed that he was holding his sword against the throat of Ariawyn. Grasping her hair roughly in his other hand, while pressing down on her sword with one of his feet. Not letting her to pick it up.
The man smiled in a disgusted, toothy way.
“Is this wood elf whore your friend? A relative, perhaps? Maybe if you start begging, I will consider going easy on her.” — There was a revolting smile spreading across his face as he added. — “You, on the other hand, are a different topic...”
“That spell of yours was quite dangerous. Look at me, you sluts… I am bleeding… How long has it been since someone spilt my blood in a fight? As a reward for that… I am going to rip you apart. You will squeal like a pig as I rape you, and I will squeeze your throat until you faint, then do it again and again. After the whole camp is done with you, you won’t even remember a single word of your precious spells. To think that three dirty whores managed to kill so many of my men. I guess they deserved it being so useless.”
“So what will it be, sluts, fist or cock?” — The man shouted, jerking me out of my fear induced trance. — “You better start stripping now before my hand slip.”
He shook the wood elf by her hair to emphasize his words. Ariawyn was still occupied with trying to refill her forcefully emptied lungs. She could barely fight back, and I know that we could not rely on her help now.
My skin was covered in fresh layers of cold sweat, my limbs were shaking, heart hammering in my chest painfully as I faced with the impossible decision.
Both choice, that were offered to me filled me with utter disgust. What should I do? WHAT!?
“I am losing my patience whores, on your knees or I will cut her from ear to ear, then do the same to you after I had my fun.” — The disgusting leering smirk sent shivers up my spine.
What should I do?! If I try to attack him, he will kill her… without my staff. I couldn’t manifest my magic fast enough. Yet again, I…
I gulped down my saliva as an idea came to my mind. It was risky, no it was ludicrous, but this was a world of magic, and it sometimes required unorthodox solutions.
Well, at least that was what I told myself. As the alternative option, meaning stripping and begging to be raped while being suffocated and possibly killed didn’t sound that alluring.
I glanced at Ariawyn as if seeking her permission. In truth, that was merely an act. At the time, I already decided that I will do it. I will commit to my disgusting plan. As the alternative was condemning all of us. Our eyes met, and she nodded with the briefest of nods. Sensing my intentions. A strange calm seemed to smoothen her pained and dirty face as she accepted her fate.
My insides squirmed and quivered from the wrongness of what I was about to do.
I sent a quick prayer towards the gods, then acted with decisiveness. A decisiveness driven by an instinctual level of terror and sense of self preservation. My body moved and I could see it, as if I was sitting behind a glass wall. Seeing everything playing down in front of me with unusual clarity, while all the noises drowned out into an incoherent mix of sounds. My body seemed to move on it's own, as I watched everything with abated breath.
I focused my power silently, forming two icicles this time. The moment the man saw my action, he snarled with a surprised anger. There was a gasp coming from Camilla’s direction as the ice shards launched towards their target.
I tried my best to not focus on the sight as the man cut Ariawyn’s throat without hesitation. Only to be pierced by both of the icicles in his chest. He gasped, touching his chest with a strange fascination. Seeing his own blood pulsing through the open wounds.
“Heh?… Killed? I… by whores…” — With that said, he fell to the side, slowly fading from the extensive blood loss.
I run to the side of the wood elf, shouting to Camilla to cover me. She nodded, shaken out of her momentary disbelief, and jumped to my side, holding her dagger in a defensive position. Meanwhile, I desperately started to chant the first real spell I have learned in this world. Only if the world wasn’t all that blurry…
Only if I wasn’t crying that much, under the weight of my own actions, and the unbearable guilt I felt. Oh, and the fear, the suffocating fear whispering in my mind that I did not possess the power to right it.