Chapter 50: Elves

  It turned out that Alex didn’t have to travel very far. He was led north for about two miles and then told to wait while standing next to a rather large and thick tree. The elves vanished among the forest like wraiths in a dark alleyway and Alex sat to settle his back against it’s trunk and closed his eyes.

  For once he felt safe enough to stop monitoring his surroundings. It was refreshing, and most certainly a welcomed change to his frayed nerves and over stimulated brain.

  With Obby’s rock stored in his bracelet, and the bracelet now taken away by the elves, the damned pebble was far enough away that their mental link was down. So Alex didn’t even have the rock to pester his thoughts.

  A moment to breath.

  Short lived it was though, as what felt like only a moment after Alex had settled in, he heard a polite cough. He looked up to find the elf which had drawn his bow on him earlier now looking down at Alex with a stern expression.

  “Shall I be brought to my death then?” Alex got to his feet, brushing off the dirt from his backside. “What’s the verdict?”

  “Follow,” was all Alex got in response.

  The elf promptly turned and began walking again. He hurried to do as he was told, moving in lockstep behind the tall slender figure in front of him. He had a small momentary flash of memory back to basic training, learning to march in lines and columns day in and day out.

  His thoughts were so filled with the past, he almost missed the moment it happened. The elf had stepped forward, and once again vanished. This was not a quick but gradual vanishing as he had done before, but instant. There, and then, gone.

  Alex nearly tripped as his stride faltered at the suddenness of the event. His momentum carried him forward though, and he stumbled through the very area that the elf had disappeared.

  It was like walking through a veil of reality.

  A translucent curtain of space peeled itself from his view. The world shimmered for just a fraction of a second, and the forest in front of him changed from standard trees and brush, into a vibrant display of light and movement.

  Alex paused, gawking about at what appeared to be a small village like he had never seen before. The elves had built houses, buildings and shop-fronts directly into the trees. “No, they are trees.” He corrected himself. As he peered closer, sure enough, he noticed the trees themselves had been morphed or grown into bulbous shapes allowing for such hollow centers that they functioned as structures for the elves.

  Lights danced about around the trees like fireflies, washing everything in a bright yellow tint that let him see ahead for nearly two hundred feet. Tree-buildings dotting the whole way.

  Most amazing though, were the elves. Tall, lean, and immensely graceful in form and beauty. Each one wore clothes of a fabric Alex did not recognize, looking to be of plant matter somehow magically altered and made silken smooth. Those that did not wear robes of these fashion, instead wore leather armor and carried spears in their hand or swords at their waists.

  He had no doubt that even the figures that did not carry visible weapons could kill him upon a whim.

  “Come,” the elf leading him once again ordered him to follow.

  He simply nodded in response and started walking again. His mind abuzz with questions unspoken, and thoughts unbidden.

  This is a real fucking elf village. They really do live among nature. Holy shit.

  Alex could not help but stare as he passed by on their journey. Trees with large open windows that functioned as shops dotted one side of a natural walkway in the brush. On the other side, it seemed residential houses sat, as they had no large openings and only smaller doors at the front or side for entry.

  The elves themselves peered at Alex curiously. None showed true hostility, but he noticed what looked like reactions of disgust or contempt on a few of the faces that he passed.

  So some certainly don’t like humans. He took mental note.

  Alex was eventually led down a pathway into a small clearing. It was an irregular circular shape only roughly thirty feet in diameter. As the elf stopped at it’s edge, Alex could see it was empty, save for the high grass that covered the ground throughout.

  “Go in.”

  “Is this where I’m put in a circle firing squad then?” Alex smiled wryly.

  “Go.”

  “Okay, fine.” he shrugged and stepped forward into the clearing.

  His elf escort once again melded into the forest and was gone, leaving him alone in the clearing. He assumed he was once again to wait and so he stood there as still as possible, listening for any sign of an approaching figure. The clearing was silent, unnaturally so, until a subtle shimmer in the air coalesced into a figure standing amid the tall grass.

  Alex’s breath caught in his throat.

  Sylvaris.

  The elf stood as if carved from moonlight and shadow. His robes, made of that silken plant fabric, trailing in the air as if caught in a wind only he could feel. His long hair flowed down past his shoulders, untouched by leaves or dirt. His eyes, which were ancient, star-bright and cold, regarded Alex like one might observe a wounded bird. Detached, and patient, or almost... curious.

  “Human-Alex. You look...” Sylvaris said at last, is words came with a tone that was low and resonant, “as though the forest has chewed on you and decided you lacked flavor.”

  He coughed out a dry laugh. “Yeah, pretty sure I taste like desperation.”

  Sylvaris tilted his head slightly. “And yet you still walk.”

  “I have to.” Alex straightened, ignoring the burn in his legs and the pressure behind his eyes. “My friends have been— my core was… a lot has happened”

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  A flicker passed through the elf’s gaze, not quite surprise, but perhaps something adjacent to it. “Alone?”

  “Not for long, if I can help it.”

  There was a long silence. Then, with a gesture as fluid as water falling, Sylvaris stepped closer. His bare feet made no sound against the earth. Alex instinctively shifted his stance, shoulders tense not in hostility, but taken aback in awe. Standing this close, Sylvaris radiated presence and power. In Alex’s sight, aether rippled around him like the tide beneath the surface of the ocean. He could almost feel the man’s core, vast, refined, balanced, and potent to a degree far beyond anything he’d ever sensed.

  Magus tier, at least. Maybe even Sage.

  With his new sight, and his heightened sense of aether, Alex could now more properly appreciate Sylvaris’ power. In their first meeting, Alex was but deaf and blind. Now, it was like standing near a bonfire with no heat. The fire existed, immense and untouchable, but did not burn him.

  Sylvaris studied him with an expression unreadable as mist.

  “You are unbalanced,” he said finally. “Your body is young, and your channels weak. You lean on will, but your essence gate is strained. Your spells are inefficient, your body sluggish from excessive abuse.” He clicked his tongue once. “And yet, you stand before me, in all your broken form.”

  “I’ve certainly seen much better days. Like I said, a lot has happened.” Alex said.

  “Truly an understatement. Glenfir told me the mosslings had attacked you. I assume it is because you are a worldstrider, and thus a foreign entity here. Not that you were actually harming the forest in anyway.” Alex simply nodded. He wasn’t attacking the forest that’s for sure. But he didn’t know what those freaky plant beasts were, so he didn’t really know the true answer.

  “Alright then friend-Alex.” Sylvaris waved his hand, beckoning him closer. “Tell me what has transpired since our last convergence.”

  ***

  It took Alex roughly three hours to go through the entire story while speaking with Sylvaris.

  “A sordid tale indeed. This kobold played with things she should not have.”

  “I think my main issue is the rest of the kobolds now. As I said, they have my friends.”

  “I’m sure you would see it that way.” Sylvaris tapped his chin rhythmically. “A broken soul, with few options against an entire legion of draconic spawn. While this Doudra is certainly dead, she would not be their only Adept tier denizen. She may have been their shaman, but they still have their chief to contend with. You would be hopeless against an Adept mage.”

  Alex swallowed. “Then help me, please. Even if just a little. Teach me something, anything, that can get me strong enough to save them.”

  Another pause.

  Then the elf spoke a word, one that seemed to hang in the air like a string plucked in a forgotten chord. The ground at Alex’s feet hummed and the air thickened. Sylvaris raised his hand, and aether flowed like breath into a single glowing sigil, hovering above his hand and forming a semi-translucent screen. Alex could see the form of the spell even without his aether sight.

  It was strange to see that screen above his hand, Alex recognized it as almost identical to a system message screen. He could only guess that it was replicating something similar, showing Sylvaris some sort of information.

  “Show me what you can do,” Sylvaris said. He spoke softly and yet his tone was heavy with command. “Not what you wish you could do. Show me what remains, after your pride, your fear, and your exhaustion are stripped away.”

  Alex hesitated, unsure exactly what is was the elf wanted from him. Yet, he knew he had to at least do something.

  Then he stepped forward, summoned the aether contained within his body, and began to cast.

  It was a basic [Flare], the first spell he’d ever learned. But now he flooded it with all of the energy he could manage. The wave of aether erupted from his body like a detonation of C4. An expanding bubble of force tore as the ground, ripping up the grass and launching dirt in every possible direction. The force crashed against Sylvaris, and failed to ripple even his robes or a single strand of hair. To the elf, Alex’s spell was a gentle breeze upon a marble statue, nothing more.

  Alex bit his lip hard enough to taste blood. “I know I’m weak,” he said, the words ragged. “But I can’t stop. Not until they’re safe.”

  Sylvaris did not speak immediately. Instead, he extended his hand, and with a delicate motion, formed the gesture for a spell and chanted a few familiar words. Aether came from his open palm like a volcano eruption. Instead of moving in all directions, Alex watched as the aether contained itself to a narrow cone directly in front of the elf. It moved toward the edge of the clearing and impacted the treeline nearly instantly. Faster than Alex’s eyes could follow.

  He took in a surprised breath at the result in front of him. A wake of earth was carved out of the ground in a long cone all the way to the treeline, where the first few trees had been… obliterated. He watched tiny wooden shards the size of his fingernail rain down instead.

  Sylvaris seemed to have cast a very similar spell to his own, but it was drastically more devastating.

  “The problem,” the elf said, “is not your will. It is your understanding.”

  He moved like a dancer, a stick suddenly in his hand and he was drawing in the newly exposed dirt. “Aether is not a sword. It is a language, a song. You attempt to shout, but some truths can only be whispered.”

  The elf stepped back, revealing a drawing of lines, channels, glyphs and even more symbols that Alex couldn’t recognize or decipher.

  Sylvaris paused, turning those starborn eyes back to Alex. “Three days,” he said.

  Alex did a double take. “What?”

  “I will grant you three days. I will not train you as a master trains a student, I have no time for such bonds. But I will correct your posture. I will refine your breath, show you how to properly cast spells.” He narrowed his eyes. “Do not squander this gift. And do not mistake it for mercy. I find your struggle... interesting.”

  Then, with a flick of his wrist, the clearing shifted as if the forest itself was a creation of the elf’s will. The trees formed a new circle, the grass regrew and softened, and the air filled with resonance. Sylvaris settled into a seated position on the grass, his legs folding beneath him like falling leaves.

  “Sit,” he said.

  Alex did.

  And the world began to change.