"At least, I am the last still living whose feet the blame can be laid upon." Yelxidor amended.

"Yelxidor?" Nuvirlum looked like a lost puppy. The gray-haired old Elf seemed to deflate at his friends hurt look.

"Yelx. Please explain." Richard couldn't imagine the kindly old Mage doing something that would hurt an entire race.

Taking a deep breath, Yelxidor seemed to gather himself mentally. "Very well. But please understand that it is hard to talk about. When you hold onto a secret as long as I have, it is like holding a rock tightly for a long time. You're hand cramps around it and does not want to let it go." He took a long drink from his glass of wine. "I am not proud of the thing in which I assisted. But if we are to fix what I helped create, you should know it all."

"When I was younger, Humans were everywhere, in every city, in every echelon of society. And they were a force to be reckoned with. The things they could do with magic. Well, shall we just say that while Elves are capable of more powerful usages of magic; Humans were able to weave magic in ways we could not keep up with. They were always pushing themselves to do better, do more. They created some of the most advanced mana tools at our disposal today. Including figuring out how to cultivate and use the mana crystals the Guilds are so fond of." He pointed at the crystal hanging from Richards neck.

"Unfortunately, it was their understanding and usage of mana that would also end up being their downfall." He took a moment to swallow some more wine. "All sense of modesty, or humbleness aside, I am quite skilled in many areas of magic. It was not long after my second century that I drew the attention of a small group of Elven Mages. They were each from high-profile aspects of society. There were the court mages of Kings. Some were nobles in their own right. All of them were powerful people. Both in society and their abilities with magic. They invited me into their fold, seducing me with praise and promises of teaching me ancient magics and long thought lost secrets."

"I was young, and all the attention swelled my head. Their tactics worked, and before I knew it, I was being inducted into their clandestine society. Now understand, we were not some evil shadow conglomerate bent on world domination. Yes, we influenced things from time to time. Allowing two Kingdoms to war until they were weak enough that a third Kingdom, who would care for its citizens better, could conquer them both. Funding a lower-ranking nobles cause, so that they could eventually replace a powerful noble who was abusing his position. But everything we did was under the thought that it was for the good of all. Even now, looking back, there was nothing we did that was something I would have truly called evil. Until the day Humans scared us."

"We always kept tabs on Humans and what they were doing. We never interfered in their work. They created too many wondrous things. One day, we learned of a project that Humans were working on. They believed they had found a way to create an almost unlimited amount of mana energy. They said that it would produce enough mana that even the weakest Mage could cast the highest level spells. Potions would always be able to be brewed at their highest levels. A single device could power all mana-based tools and items in an entire city for years to come. Needless to say, we were very invested in this new process."

A haunted, far away look entered Yelxidors eyes. "It took them several years to build a prototype device. And when they did, they were so excited. They held a large event for their first public demonstration. There were thousands present for the even in the city of Mayna. One of the largest cities on the continent at the time, home to hundreds of thousands of people. I wasn't there, but I was watching via a long-range viewing crystal. The humans brought out the device, and it was beautiful. They had gone all out for this prototype. A dwarven forged mythirl sphere the size of a small carriage that glistened in the light. It was setting upon a table with numerous wires, levers, gauges, and apparatuses for which I have no name. The Humans readied everyone and flipped a switch. Colored lights flared up throughout the city of Mayna. Other mana-based devices sprung to life, filling the city with even more noise than the event was already causing."

"The Humans received cheers and praise as they performed demonstration after demonstration of what could be achieved with the prototype. After almost an hour, a new light flared to life on the table that housed the sphere. A buzzer sounded on the device, and several Humans researchers rushed over to the table and began twisting knobs, flipping switches, and whatever else they could to the device. The presenter worked to calm the crowd, explaining that the device was simply overworked and needed time to cool down. Just as everyone started calming down, all the viewing crystals just stopped receiving signals. I assumed the mana the device was producing had overloaded the crystals. But it was so much worse."

"Truthfully, we are still not sure exactly what happened. These days the city that was once known as Mayna, and the surrounding area for about a days travel in all directions, is now known as The Barrens. It is a twisted, lifeless area where nothing can survive. Even mana in the area is warped and hostile. Any who gets too close to The Barrens will end up suffering from extreme mana poisoning and dying a slow horrible death."

At this point, Yelxidor folded his hands in front of him and laid his chin on them, his eyes closed as a single tear fell from them. Neither Richard nor Nuvirlum said a word, not wanting to interrupt the poor old Elfs grief. A pit had formed in Richards stomach. He had a pretty good idea where this story was going, and he didn't like it. It was a long minute before Yelxidor spoke again. Finally gathering himself together, he took another deep breath and cleared his throat.

"Of course, there are always accidents in the furtherment of society. However, there had been none on such a scale before. Had this been the end of Humans experiments on this project, I am sure that it would have been a lesson in the things that could go wrong while pushing boundaries. However, not even a year after the incident, we learned that Humans were preparing to start their project again. Our group gathered together to decide what we should do. The advancement Humans offered would be life-changing. Should they manage to figure out what had gone wrong and create it correctly. However, should another accident occur... In the end, the decision was made to stop them from continuing with their project. We tried talking to them. To dissuade them, to get them to focus on other projects, or at least to just stop working on the project that had led to such disastrous results. But Humans being Humans, we could not divert them from the task they had set their mind to."

"When it became clear we could not change their minds, we instead decided we must stop them in another way. Many suggestions were made during this time. You are aware of the one we chose. The only way to make sure they would stop for good was to make sure they could not continue their work at all. There had not been a spell cast on such a scale in living memory. Even our group, with all our lost knowledge and power, had only scraps to go on. It took us almost another year to develop our curse. During that year, we also worked hard to undermine Humans at every turn. We got their fundings cut from multiple sources. We spread rumors to get Humans removed from positions of power. Sabotaging Humans to make sure they could not press forward with their work."

"The curse we settled on was a mixture of several branches of magic. We modified a basic shield spell to cut Humans access to their mana. We linked it, via Divine magic, to their God to make sure only Humans were affected. And lastly, we used Shadow magic to hide our casting." At this, Nuvirlum made a sound of disgust but didn't interrupt. "I know, my friend. As I said, I am not proud of the things we did at the time. We were all so convinced we had made the correct decision. Over the centuries since, however, I wish more with each passing day that we had made different decisions."

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"But the curse was a success. Overnight, Humans lost their ability to channel their mana. We congratulated ourselves on successfully saving the world from Humans misguided works. However, it wasn't long before we realized that there were unintended side effects of our ministrations. Even after we cast the curse, Humans were looked down upon. We had done our job too well. The rumors and work we had started had grown a life of their own, adding to that their inability to work with mana limited their options and positions in society. A problem that we could have easily corrected with time and effort. However, Humans began to exhibit traits that exacerbated the problem."

"There are always good and bad in every race. Humans are no exception. However, after we cast the curse, Humans started becoming dishonest, deceptive, unreliable, violent, and displaying numerous negative traits on massive levels. The Shadow Magic we had used hadn't just hidden our casting and intent. It had managed to seep into the part of the spell linking it to the Human God which in turn tainted Humans."

"And that's why bloody Shadow magic is bloody banned in every bloody civilized society in the entire bloody world, you daft old Elf!" Nuvirlum exploded, finally unable to hold back. "It corrupts every bloody thing it touches!"

Yelxidor withdrew into himself. "I am aware of that, Nuvirlum. But, like many others before us, we thought we had a handle on it. I am not attempting to provide an excuse and will accept any and all anger you wish to get out. I deserve it for the things I aided in." He waited to see what Nuvirlum would do, but the Dwarf just poured himself another shot of fire whisky and drank half of it in one gulp. Richard wasn't sure who he was more afraid of right now.

"When you learned all of this, why didn't you do something to break the curse?" Richard asked as calmly as he could. In the back of his head, his thoughts were screaming in pain and anger for the people of Mayna. 'A magic nuke. Humans created a magic nuke.' Outloud he said. "I'm sure you guys were smart enough to leave a way to undo it if you needed to."

"We tried. We had to break the focus anchoring the curse and keeping it cast. The problem arises from Shadow Magic itself. It is derived from all the dark, evil things in the world. Think devils, demons, and other, even more unnatural ancient beings. It is a twisted version of magic that I will not teach you. It is also almost impossible to trace spells cast with Shadow magic. This makes it very alluring for Magi that don't want their castings tracked. It is also unstable and can create unexpected outcomes, as I described before. Another unexpected outcome was the curse creating a defense for itself. A being made of shadow that slew the mages that approach it. Even I only managed to fight it to a standstill. During my battle with the creature, I did manage to learn its weakness. The curse had been cast on Humans, so only a Human could defeat the creature to break the curse."

"Wasn't this ages ago? Why did you wait till now to do this?" Richard had thousands of questions, but these seemed the most pertinent to him at the moment. To his surprise, it was Nuvirlum who answered.

"It takes magic to defeat a damned bloody shadow beast, lad." He said, downing the other half of the shot he had poured.

"And since we had made sure Humans could no longer use magic, we assumed we had doomed Humans. The rest of our group moved on, content that they had done what needed doing and accepting the consequences of their actions. Yet, I held out hope that we could one day correct our misguided error. In all the time I've been looking for an answer, I had never been so hopeful as the day I heard the rumor that a Human had shown up in the local guild who could use magic. And not only can he use magic, but he is honest and hardworking."

Yelxidor sent an unsure smile at Richard. "I have no idea how you escaped the curse, my boy, but I thank the Gods every day that I was able to convince The Council to let me train you. Not that it would have stopped me if they had said no. I was prepared to do anything within my power to get my hands on you."

It was Richards turn to look withdrawn. His elderly teacher had been a part of something horrific. But he seemed like he genuinely was trying to reconcile the things he had done. And it wasn't like his world had been a shining beacon of Humanity. Should he tell his Master exactly how it was that he had escaped the curse? He looked across the table. Nuvirlum seemed lost in his drink, nursing the new cup of ale he had poured for himself. Yelxidor had an apprehensive look like he was waiting for Richard to denounce him and leave.

"I can't be mad at you, Yelxidor. It's not like I've never made any mistakes. Everyone does, especially when they're scared. You've learned and are attempting to correct the mistakes you've made. That's all anyone can ask of someone." Richard hesitated, but only for a second. "And since we're sharing secrets, I know how I avoided the curse." Both the Elf and Dwarf looked at him expectantly. Richard told them about where he was actually from, his experience with the being between universes, and how he had only been in this world since the day he showed up in town. They took it pretty much as he would have expected. Nuvirlum downed an entire goblet of wine and poured a second. Yelxidor nodded sagely.

"Yes, that does explain much. You never really talked about where you came from. Given your many idiosyncrasies, I assumed it was some extremely remote or distant land. I was not exactly wrong."

"Dragons balls! That's all you have to bloody say to that?!" Nuvirlum exclaimed and took on a mocking tone. "Och! You're from a different world, lad. That's not too far off from what I was thinking!" Richard noticed the Dwarfs accent was getting thicker the more he drank.

"Different reality technically." Richard corrected.

"Same bloody difference so far as I'm bloody concerned!" Nuvirlum said, finishing his current goblet of wine.

There was another silence after this exchange as each individual let their thoughts wash over them. After a few minutes, Richard stretched. Muscles he had forgotten were sore, complaining at his renewed movements. "Alright, so I'm the only one who can defeat this thing and bring Humans back from the curse. So then, what next?"

It looked like a weight lifted from Yelxidors shoulders. "For now, I continue to teach you. From another world or not, you seem to have a talent for spellcraft. I pushed you hard to learn the basics, and you responded masterfully. I expect you to continue surpassing my expectations. Also, given the information you have provided, perhaps you could impart some of your knowledge to me?"

"I'd be happy to tell you anything I can, Yelxidor. I gotta tell you upfront I'm no expert."

"That is quite understandable, my boy. I do not expect you to be able to divulge your worlds deepest secrets to me."

"And what of me, Yelxidor?" Nuvirlum interjected. "What do you expect me to bloody contribute to this little endeavor of yours?"

"The same thing you always do, my dear friend." Yelxidor smiled. "Companionship and that marvelous talent of yours. Also, training Richard in fighting, I fired his previous trainer after all."

"You fired Grogg?" Richard said happily while Nuvirlum simply nodded.

"Yes. Even with all my knowledge and experience, I am not a physical fighter, thus so did not know that he was training you improperly. After discussing it with Nuvirlum, Grogg and I had a talk and decided that his "expertise" was no longer needed."

Richard couldn't help but let a smile spread across his face. "Yes, I thought you might like that. Now then, we should-" A small bell chimed from the hall. "Oh! I had not realized it was quite so late!" No wonder Richard was feeling so tired it was midnight already. "Well, in that case, let us all take to our beds. We can continue discussions in the morning." Nobody argued with the old Elf as they pushed themselves away from the table.