by Max Jager
"If you hurt her you are as good as dead" Kaden snapped back at him.
Adamus gave him an annoyed expression. "I am a soldier, human, not just any soldier but the one in charge of the entire Elven military. That basilisk that nearly killed you all is nothing, I face creatures hundreds of times more powerful nearly every day and I do not need four people to bring them down. You couldn't even touch me."
"If you are so high and mighty, then why consider us a threat? Why bother locking us up?" Zanath countered.
"You threaten the civilians, human. Not me. I am not always here to protect them." Adamus countered. "And understand, I do not want to kill any of you. I'm not some bloodthirsty monster. Anyone with a sense of religion or morality should know, peace before all else, save a life instead of ending one, do not fight unless forced to fight. However an alien creature deemed to be extremely violent and dangerous showing up on our doorstep while we are in the middle of a war makes me question your allegiance and question if it is safe to even allow you to leave with the knowledge of where our village is. Those are the exact traits of our foes, extremely violent and dangerous creatures from another world, you could be allied with them or tempted to join creatures that are similar to your own kind."
"What are you fighting against?" Zanath asked.
"Demons." Admar stated flatly.
"You think we are similar to demons?" Mendelen questioned.
"Very similar, only less monstrous in appearance." Adamus stated.
Mendelen shook his head. "Some humans are, not all humans. And not us. Just like I would presume some elves, not all just some, share traits similar to demons." He said, taking a bold move to try implying that elves are no different.
Adamus watched Mendelen for a moment, but did not say anything. As if studying him, thinking about what he said.
"Back to the topic at hand. Where is our friend Estellese?" Mendelen asked. "You do not seem like a bad person, so you would not have harmed her, right? She's just in a different cell?"
Adamus hesitated, thinking his action through. He placed his hand on the lock to their jail cell. His hand emitted a gray-ish glow and the lock clicked. With it unlocked Adamus walked into the cell with them then closed and magically locked the door behind him, locking himself in the cell with the three alphas. He stared back at Mendelen, straight into his eyes. "I killed her."
The second the words left his mouth Kaden slammed his fist into the side of the man's head. Mendelen had also been about to punch him, but Kaden got to it first. At a loss for words, Kaden sprinted after Adamus to strike him again and screamed "you sonofa-" But he was stopped when Mendelen grabbed his shoulder to hold him back. Kaden shot a glare back at Mendelen, but stopped.
Adamus stumbled back from the blow, he was shocked the man could move so fast with the prisoner uniform on, but he did not attempt to fight back. "I eliminated the threat to my village. So what will you do? Kill me for protecting my people? You claim your previous acts of violence were okay because they were to protect your friends. Mine is for the same reason. Is that enough reason to kill me?" He questioned and watched them closely.
"No." Mendelen answered. "While I will not apologize for my friend hitting you, that and worse was merited, but no, killing you when you were only protecting your loved ones would not be morally right." He stated. He glanced at Kaden, who was clenching his fist and seemed ready to beat this elf to death. Mendelen tightened his grip on Kaden's shoulder to silently tell him to relax.
Adamus listened and waited for them to finish. "I will admit, I deserved the smack on the head." He said. He turned and unlocked the prison door and walked out of the cell, then left it open as he walked down the hallway. "Come. I will bring you to your friend, she is being taken care of in the infirmary."
"She is alive?" Kaden questioned as the three guys followed Adamus out of the cell.
"Yes. I lied to see what you would do. If you would forgive my supposed actions, when they were for the protection of my loved ones, then I should forgive yours." Adamus answered. He lead them into a side room where their clothes were and unlocked their prison uniforms so they could change back into their old clothes.
Kaden frowned a bit and looked down. He was glad Estellese was alive but irritated that the man had pulled such a trick.
"We have many questions to ask." Mendelen said. "They do not need to be asked now, and we do not intend to take information and offer nothing in return. We offer our assistance in any way we can help."
Adamus nodded. "I'll answer your questions or direct you to people as best as I can. But I can not promise answers to everything. Especially since your race appears more technologically advanced than ours."
"Well. We have one big question that I doubt you can answer but I have to ask. If you can not answer that, then we will need to know as much about this world as possible. Everything here, the creatures, the land, the magic, it is all completely foreign to us."
"You have no magic in your world?" Adamus asked. "What skill do you have? Incredible speed or strength?"
"Neither. Average speed and strength. We are intelligent, but it would appear that you elves are equally as intelligent." Mendelen answered.
"Saying average strength and speed in a world where humans do not exist is meaningless, considering what we call 'average' is based on human skills" Zanath pointed out. "Average untrained human running speed is twelve miles per hour. And on average can lift at most about a hundred twenty five pounds."
"How did you survive out there without any magic or special skills? By your analysis, you are about as powerful as a non-combat elven civilian." Adamus replied.
"Luck." Mendelen answered "a lot of luck, and teamwork. We protect each other no matter what the risk."
Adamus nodded "I see. It would seem like asking for your assistance driving back the demons would not be possible then. Ah well, you can help in other ways I'm sure."
"We will gladly help with the demons" Mendelen replied.
Adamus shook his head "You can't. Even a lesser demon, the weakest of them all, could take you all down in an instant. They can run approximately 25 miles per hour, lift a thousand pounds, are equally as intelligent and technologically advanced as us, and have a complete mastery of one element of magic. Typically fire, ice, or black Aether. And those are the bottom of the barrel weakest demons in existence. Their ranks go all the way up to Abyssal demons, titans the size of towers with ungodly speed, strength, intelligence, mastery of all three of the mentioned elements and a fourth Psychic element, with the ability to summon hordes of other demons to its aid." Adamus explained "in this world, that basilisk was just a guppy compared to the real monsters out there."
"How the heck do you take out something that powerful?" Kaden questioned.
"With an army." Adamus replied. "And even with that we have yet to take one down without heavy casualties. Thankfully those creatures are trapped in the underworld, with all the other demons. Some can escape into our world through rifts that have opened, but very few rifts are big enough for an Abyssal demon to fit through. The ones that are big enough, we have locked down under heavy security at all times."
"Why not close the rifts?" Zanath asked. "Or is that not possible?"
"We have tried, and have sent our best mages to do it. But we can not figure out a way to close them." Adamus replied. "We assume there is a way, our mages were able to shrink the portals by striking them with Aether spells, both black and white Aether worked, but only by a very tiny amount.
Zanath nodded a little and became silent, as he often did while thinking about something.
The group stepped out of the prison and into the village, the houses here were all stone and medieval looking and there were elves roaming the streets everywhere. The three humans were catching odd looks every once in awhile, clearly the majority of the village had not yet seen the report about them. "Are they the snow elves from Tiraka village?" A small group of villagers they passed by asked. "No no, they can't be elves. T
heir ears look more like that of a dwarf." Another said. "But they are by far too tall to be dwarves! They are taller than some of us." The first interjected.
The group followed Adamus to a large building lit by candles and walked inside. Inside they were greeted by a short woman with long blonde hair. She wore a long green dress and held a staff in her hand, the staff appeared to be metal with a type of crystal on the top end that made it almost look like a spear. She had a thin but very curvy body type, and appeared to be in her twenties. Although her demeanor was that of someone much older and wiser, quite similar to the way that Adamus looked significantly younger than he really was.
"Cora." Adamus greeted. "These are the other three humans, I believe they have also sustained injuries in their travels. Correct?" He turned to Mendelen.
"Just Kaden." Mendelen said as he gestured to his friend. "The rest of us used potions. There wasn't enough for everyone."
Cora smiled a little and nodded. "Alright. I hope you three are as entertaining as your friend. She is a character, especially when angry."
Mendelen and Kaden chuckled softly at the comment, then Adamus spoke up. "Humans, this is Cora, the head healer of the town. The best of the best when it comes to any and all nature-element based magic, not including the fairies."
"You can't include the fairies in any magical competition though. That would just be unfair." Cora commented.
Adamus nodded "I have reports to file and work to do. I will be sending some body guards to watch over the humans."
Cora chuckled softly. "It is not necessary, I can handle them. Plus Alicia is here if anything goes wrong."
"That is precisely why I am sending bodyguards. To ensure Alicia's safety. I know you can handle yourself." Adamus countered.
Cora placed a hand on Adamus's shoulder, "Hon, Alicia is fine. She does not need protection." She stated in a tone that seemed like an adult telling a child to not be afraid of the boogeyman.
"She is still just a child, she is only sixteen and still doesn't realize that she is not unstoppable. She doesn't have enough experience, or knowledge of the world and its dangers." Adamus stated.
Cora shook her head. "Almost all teenagers believe they are unstoppable Adamus, that is normal. But Alicia is being smart and responsible about this whole thing, and we know she is a decently good fighter."
"She is not being responsible!" Adamus interjected, but then realized he had raised his tone and promptly lowered it again. "She showed up while I was capturing the humans. That was a dangerous situation, we didn't know anything about them."
Cora shook her head. "She showed up fully geared up in armor, with a weapon, ready to defend herself if need be. AND she took two body guards with her. Three if you count Lillith who, while she is not a fighter, is still a good shot Adamus. Should she have been there? That's up to personal opinion, foreign affairs is a job for the royalty, not the military. So I think she should have been there, but I also fully understand your reasoning for trying to keep her safe. Regardless, you can't say she was irresponsible about it, you owe her an apology for that." She scolded.
Adamus opened his mouth to speak, but didn't. He paused a moment then started to speak again. "I can't argue that, I will apologize when I get the chance. But understand where I am coming from, it is my job to keep her safe. I have to worry about these things, her parents died because I didn't worry enough. I didn't use enough safety precautions, that is my fault."
"And now you are worrying too much and keeping too tight of a grip on her." Cora stated. "And it was not your fault, nobody is at fault for that. Although I think this conversation has gone on long enough, the humans are looking quite confused and probably feel like that awkward third wheel watching a friend's family argue." She chuckled softly and gave the three alphas an apologetic smile. "They are not dangerous. While healing the female I scanned her as well. Their bodies are pretty much exactly the same as ours, only their lifespan seems to be about one tenth of ours, just a little taller and without the pointy ears. Surprisingly, they appear to be the missing race in the demons. If you remember, there are demons of each race in the world and there was one race of demon that did not match any other. It matches the humans."
Adamus sighed softly, and nodded at the mention of the conversation going on for too long. Although he looked interested when she spoke about the demons. "Good observation Cora. Lillith also mentioned in her report that the abandoned village was a human village. So they do have some sort of presence in the history of the world. Somewhere."
"There is also the legend of the boy and his dog." Cora pointed out. "It isn't just a fairy tail, many people claim to have seen him over the last several years. He called himself human as well."
"That is definitely a myth, or some boy playing a prank that coincidentally called himself human." Adamus replied. "The boy also claimed to be the son of god."
"Well, the myth states that he claimed his father created the world. He didn't claim to be the son of god. But I guess that is being nitpicky since they are similar enough to mean the same thing. Anyways, good luck with your work." Cora stated, not so subtly stating that he had talked enough now.
Adamus finally took the hint. "Alright, I will trust you with keeping an eye on the humans. And Alicia." He said as he turned to leave.
"Alicia can keep an eye on herself Adamus!" Cora called back to him, then turned to the humans. "I am sorry, that man would just talk us to death if given the chance. If I wasn't over a hundred years older than him I woulda thought he liked me or something."
"Does he?" Kaden asked out of curiosity.
"No." Cora replied simply. "Now what is wrong with you?"
"I was struck in the torso by a giant snake, and slammed into a wall. I believe I have injured my head and torso." Kaden answered.
Cora nodded, then placed her hand on Kaden's shoulder and focused. "Don't move. I am manipulating your skin and bones and everything else inside you, moving will make that difficult for me." She stated as her hand began to emit a green glow. She closed her eyes for a moment and focused, then said "You took quite a blow to the head. I can fix your skull, but I am not a psychic, I can't fix any brain damage. If there was any brain damage caused by the blow, I wouldn't know. You also broke your ribs and bruised up your body." She said. Then Kaden suddenly could feel his bones moving around inside of his own body, he felt his ribs piecing themselves back together and then rapidly regenerating until they were back in one solid piece again. He gasped and tensed, biting his lip as he tried not to squirm at the sudden, scary and bizarre sensation. Eventually it ended and he felt the same thing in his skull. Within about twenty seconds the pain was gone and he felt in perfect condition again.
Cora took her hand off his shoulder. "Done." She said. "Good as new."
"Really? That fast?" Kaden asked in shock.
"It is magic, and I have achieved a mastery of it. Unlike potions which only speed up the body's natural regeneration, I am skilled in nature magic. I can bend and alter any part of nature to my whim. Your body, is a part of nature. I could make you grow a third arm if I wanted to. Ooor." She said before placing her hand on Kaden's head, and within a second his hair turned from black to pink. "Change your natural hair color. Or whatever I felt like doing." She laughed lightly.
Mendelen and Zanath couldn't help but to laugh at the sudden change in Kaden's hair.
Overhearing all the commotion Estellese and Alicia walked out of the back room, Estellese had already changed back into her old clothes. Upon seeing Kaden's hair Estellese also burst out laughing. "Oh god, please tell me that is permanent." She laughed.
"Please kill me now." Kaden sighed.
"Yes, Estellese, unlike your own hair I changed his natural hair color to pink, it would always grow back pink if I don't change it back." Cora replied.
"Wait mine isn't natural?" Estellese asked.
"No, your hair is dyed pink. It is naturally brown." Cora said. "I can make it naturally pink if you would like me to."
"Yes please." Estellese replied. And with that Cora walked over and placed a hand on Estellese's head to adjust her natural hair color.
Mendelen looked puzzled and concerned. "That means someone dyed our hair, for those of us who changed our natural color, before they sent us into this g-" He stopped before saying game. "This world." He did not want to offend the elves.
"Me too please." Zanath spoke up. To which Cora nodded and made her way over to him to permanently change his hair color so it would grow back the same color of white it currently was, then she changed Kaden's back to his normal black color.
Alicia had been patiently waiting for everyone to finish, and once the conversation died down she finally spoke up. "Humans, we have things to discuss. For starters I would like to set up a peace treaty between the humans and elves. Not an alliance mind you, but some agreement that we will not try to kill each other. I would also like someone to meet with the scientists of this village and begin explaining human technology. I would only need your leader to set up the treaty."