As we walked to the stone house, the Elder gave us a brief tour of the settlement. He explained where craftsmen work their trades, where children would gather for lessons and the reason for the settlement being centered around this hollowed tree.
“Much like the other races, we too pray to the Elder Spirits and the Creator. The only differences, elves all make their homes with sacred places at the center of settlement given how important it is to always remember where our survival and prosperity comes from.”
The Elder said with utmost respect and reverence reflected in his eyes. Despite apparently being around 10,000 sols (whatever the hell that is) old, he appeared very youthful and lithe with nigh a wrinkle on his face. Much like the younger dark elves, the elder shared their mahogany brown complexion, only he had sharply pointed ears and silver, almost white hair. His posture was straight and firm like an arrow.
He walk with a steady stride as graceful as every elven depiction on Earth. Truly, this old man is very much unlike the elderly among humans both here and on Earth. Elderly humans typically are hunched over and appeared extremely weathered to the point a gentle breeze might knock them off their feet.
There’s a rumor, or better yet a superstition amongst humans in Duxley stating the elderly in elven clans after reaching a certain age either turn into particles of magoi as they become one with the world. Or take the form of trees, stone, and other inanimate objects so as to watch over their future generation and prevent others from entering their settlements. I don’t believe a single word of that horse shit since most humans in this country have never stepped foot inside an elven settlement, and for good reason.
For starters, the magoi density is too much for the average person to bear. It would be like drowning with every breath you take, yet being nowhere near water (the blessing of having mostly diluted mixed blood reveals itself at last!!). Next, most but not all elven settlements do not allow members of other races to enter their settlements unless approved by their clan Elder. Therefore, elves lives as colonies of isolationists.
It’s not to say they do not mingle with the other races, but simply prefer to keep to themselves unless the situation calls for it. This is understandable given the differing customs each race had which can easily lead to misunderstanding and sometime scuffles over honor and the like. To avoid these types of problems, certain criteria must be met before leaving a settlement…
“Only those who undergoing their rite of passage, joining the military or other organizations are allowed to leave and return unhindered. Those like Andy who have family outside of the clan act as a liaison of sorts as they travel back and forth between the settlement outside society. Of course, you and your family are an exception to the rules, young Yuriy.”
The Elder explained as we sat inside the quiet and warm stone house, enjoying a meal and the comforts a cozy home provides.
It took us about 3 days to settle in our new living quarters for the moment. According to Andy, we will be staying here for about 248 days. Our return trip will be about a day or two before Katya’s and my birthday. This would give us loads of time to consider fully what direction our lives will go from here on.
Given our lack of skill with the elven language and little to no experience with casting spells and the like, the Elder recommended we joined the lessons taught to all children around our age. This way we can meet new friends, learn our elven culture, and nurture our abilities under the tutelage of experts. To be exact, the lessons taught are provided by the leading members of each craft, school of magic and warrior type. This is to expose the youth to every viable option they can choose from.
Personally, I like the idea and so did Katya. In this way we didn’t have to worry about watching Saphire since adult elves would be looking out for the children. We also get the chance to explore our options even if we already have a desired path we wanted to follow, at least we can consider what information and skills may apply to our training and development. It was decided we would join the next class in the morning.
…
Four days have passed since we started learning with the rest of the children. Katya, Saphire, and I enjoyed the lessons about the Elven clans and their history taught by the leading archivist of the clan. Just yesterday, we learned about an exceedingly small tribe of dark elves which observe the 4 moons and the stars.
During their time of observation and meditation, these elves would take in more magoi than usual and glow as luminously as the moons and stars. These elves are known as Lunar dark elves, or Lunar Elves for short. They can only be found in places with high magoi concentration atop mountains which have no snow, rainstorms, or any other kind of precipitation. Today we will be learning the history of the races on Ohmdorra and where the languages of elves which are used for conversation and spell evocation come from.
Our teacher today is one of the leaders within the settlement who specializes in illusion-based magic. Once class started, the teacher shrouded everyone in a dark illusion which let us watch everything she said. Plus, her melodious voice made the information pleasant to learn. Unlike how human mages typically use arcane arts, the elves speak the archaic language of celestial dragons!
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Human and beastmen typically chant spells using a simplified version of the language. As a result, they require an additional catalyst besides their mage cores. Anyhow, the celestial language is one of the few gifts dragonkind has given to the races. The teacher began manipulating the illusion while narrating,
“In a time before the demonic dragon’s dominion, celestial dragons had acted as teachers to the races and caretakers of Ohmdorra. Whereas aethereal dragons acted as the world’s protectors as this was part of the covenant made with the Creator. When elves, humans, dwarves, beastfolk, and fairyfolk started populating the world, the celestial dragons taught each race how to feel magoi and use it for survival. This unconditional blessing earned them the eternal reverence of all races.”
When the illusion started creating the ancestral representation of the races, I first thought they would be caricatures at best. Instead they were very lifelike and detailed in appearance. The ancestral elves looked rather plain, tan skin, pointed ears, no hair and riddled with archaic birthmark tattoos from head to toe.
The humans looked much like I’d expected dark skin covered in dirt. They had hair everywhere and bore very gruff features. Surprisingly, the dwarves looked exactly like what they appear as today. Whereas, the fairyfolk was as tall as the elves which is different from what I imagined. This mostly because most fairies are the size of pixies with the exception of a few types of human to massive sized fairies such as dryads, treants, nymphs, sirens, and such.
Lastly the beastfolk truly resembles lycanthropy and therianthropy from Earth like in the movie Overworld: Return of the Lycans. They exuded this feral, but intelligent aura and were able to shift between their “human” and beast forms with ease (not requiring a certain celestial body to transform). Now, beastfolk resemble the animal ear people in anime... sigh.
From awesome and fearsome, to cute and cuddly… such a sad evolution that is. Then again, the fuzzy lovers on Earth world salivate with ecstasy. While I marveled at the illusion, the teacher continued,
“Some even tried to worship them as gods; however, the dragons stopped such practice immediately, given it would be a breach in their covenant. Instead, the dragons introduced the Elder Spirits to the races. They admonished the races to pray to the Elder Spirits instead of them.”
“Raku spirit of fire, Samuu spirit of water, Ayol spirit of air, and Sendaan spirit of Earth. When all four spirits are together, they allow Ohm-Deohm the Creator to hear the prayers of all on Ohmdorra. As a sign of respect, the ancestral elves created a separate language which is now used for normal speech. Our Ancestors felt it was disrespectful to use the celestial language for anything other than evocation and prayer.”
While learning this, I quickly noted something. The four elemental spirits when together allow the Creator to inhabit the world. It’s almost like how Captain “No help” needs the four elements plus love to manifest himself (Just don’t throw and trash on him or… “the power… is yours!!). Anyway, what I don’t understand is if the celestial dragons introduced the four elemental Elder Spirits, then who introduced the Elder elemental Spirits of light and darkness also known as spirits of life and death? When asked, our elven teacher replied,
“An astute question. These two Elder Spirits also existed at the time of creation; however, their former selves have been lost to the ages due to the corruption of the demonic dragons. They are now known as Integumentum Mortis which, translated from the accursed language means “Death’s Shroud”. This is the spirit of darkness and death, while Corona Vitae translates to “Life’s Crown”. This is the spirit of life and light.”
“Remember because of the contamination brought by the demonic dragons, these two spirits are not what they should be. It is why we do not pray to them nor evoke their names or spells. Instead, we directly commune with the elements of light and darkness using the celestial language. It would be wise for you to also do the same. For evoking either of the two spirits is to bring destruction to yourself.”
Hmm, why do those names sound familiar? It’s like I have heard this language before, and maybe spoke it on some occasion, but I can’t recall. No matter, I will learn about it in the future. After listening to the elven teacher for another 20 minutes, it was time for me and Katya to learn and train in our specific paths. Saphire on the other hand, went to play with the children her age.
During this time, we were allowed to seek guidance from any of the leaders in the clan who followed particular specialties, even the Elder. I decided to speak with the Elder since he’s the last person alive who experienced the time when my ancestor Yuriy was around. Maybe he can fill in the blanks I have about this ancestor and the impossible relation to Uncle Yuriy.
After making up my mind, I first saw Katya off at the settlement’s Alchemic craftsman, then proceeded to the elder’s house. I wasn’t worried about Saphire seeing a sizable number of adults were watching over the little children playing. Elves are very protective of children, unlike humans who saw children as either an annoyance or pawns. Either way, Saphire is safe. Thus, without worry I headed towards the Elder’s home.
As I walked towards the Elder’s home, I took in the sights of the settlement again. I had never seen anything like this in my time on Earth. The buildings were neatly arranged in three rings with the hollow tree as the center of everything.
The outer ring was for the most part the homes of hunters, warriors and those who are tasked with guarding the settlement and interacting with other races. The middle ring was for common elves who for the majority of the time looked after the children and the elderly of the clan. The centermost ring was where the craftsmen workshops, smithies, produce, and meat stalls were all located. Even the area where children are educated is in the centermost ring of the settlement.
Pathways are carved out between each row of buildings neatly with the same spacing, and overall length, almost as if the entire settlement was a magic circle of sorts, with the hollowed tree being the midway point of the circle where mages would be when evoking spells and rituals. Truly, the setup was genius and offered many ideas human countries should use for their towns and cities.
-End of chapter