The retribution we wrought upon the elves for the death of the Chief Guide was likely the tipping point. After that, we won many battles in quick succession. If I had to guess, it was likely at this time when the elves began in earnest to convince the other races to enact the Great Fragmentation. To this day, I still can’t believe those fools listened. I wonder, at times, if they look upon the damage done to Avani and regret their choice. I suppose it matters not. What’s done is done. Remorse will not absolve them of their sin.

  -Excerpt from “The First Champion’s Reminiscence: Volume Three”

  If there was one thing Aria hated as much as humes, it was storms.

  And unfortunately, tonight one raged over Ignis.

  The heavy rainfall that accompanied the booms of thunder roared as they collided with the roof. It was rare for Axis Mundi as a whole to see rain. Lightning storms were not that uncommon, but rainfall was. The ever present heat of Ignis lessened a tad as the heavy rain fell, though the horrendous humidity that came with it made things far worse. At least the air had been dry, but now everything felt like wading through hot soup.

  In spite of the humidity and heat, Aria trembled on her bed, which consisted of a thick blanket on the ground. She stifled a yelp as she heard thunder crack powerfully outside. She covered her ears with her hands in a desperate attempt to tune out the storm, but it was for naught. The evil tempest was determined to be heard.

  She barely managed to suppress a sob as the storm seemed to increase in volume and intensity. It took her a moment to realize she was crying from sheer terror.

  That’s right.

  Aria Tufani was completely terrified of storms.

  Years ago, when she had only been four years old, she’d seen an entire score of elves completely annihilated by a powerful bolt of lightning. Not even ash remained where it struck.

  It had allegedly been Athanasius Durai, the false god himself, who’d struck them down. The bolt had been unbelievably powerful. Unnecessarily so. The bolt had been so bright that nearby elves had gone blind, their eyes seared by the intensity of the flash. The devastation at the point of impact had been so great that nothing could grow there anymore. And the sound had been so loud that the subsequent crack of thunder deafened many nearby and could be heard for miles.

  Aria, being nearby, had been both nearly blinded and deafened. Had it not been for her mother immediately healing her with her Arts, then she surely would have lost both sight and hearing that day. After making sure she was okay, Anila had proceeded to secretly go about healing others who’d suffered collateral damage.

  Even though she’d been healed physically, wounds of the mind were another matter. No Art could heal the psychological trauma done to her that day. Even now, a decade later, Aria would be reduced to a pathetic, terrified whelp whenever a storm occurred. Anila would always be there as a source of comfort and strength whenever that happened.

  Only now, Aria didn’t have her mother to console her through this storm.

  BOOM!

  As another boom of thunder resounded, Aria couldn’t completely hold in the sounds that had threatened to come out. She’d barely managed to avoid screaming, and had instead managed to stifle it to sobbing.

  “Mom…” Aria found herself crying as she curled into a fetal position, “Mom… Mom..!”

  She shut her eyes tight as the storm continued to rage, the feeling of having her eyes seared and eardrums popped, and then the scene of destruction that greeted her when Anila had healed her, came to mind with every flash of lighting and crack of thunder.

  Aria sensed someone move and wrap their arms around her.

  She was so desperate for comfort that she immediately enveloped whoever it was into a nearly crushing embrace.

  The presence stroked her hair in a soothing manner, and she could hear them whisper to her, “It’s okay, child. Don’t cry. It’ll be alright.”

  “Mom?” Aria asked as she cracked her eyes open.

  “No, child. I’m sorry, but I am not your mother.”

  As her blurry vision cleared, she saw that it was Sana who was returning her tight embrace. The older elf had a look of worry on her face as she gazed down at the mess that was her face.

  “What’s wrong, child? You scared us all half to death when you suddenly started sobbing like that,” Sana asked.

  Before Aria could answer, another boom of thunder made her flinch and bury her face into Sana’s chest. She subconsciously tightened her embrace on the older elf.

  “Ah,” she heard Sana say in an enlightened tone, “I see now…”

  The woman hugged Aria in a more comforting and gentle manner, “It’ll be okay. I may not be your mother, but I’ll do what I can to soothe your fears.”

  Sana began to sing an elven lullaby in a whisper to Aria’s ears. It was one she was intimately familiar with, because her mother had sang it to her many times when she was a child. She was surprised the older elf knew it.

  Sana repeated the lullaby until she began to calm down, and sleep blissfully enveloped her.

  ***

  When Aria awoke, she had no initial memory of the prior night. That is, until she realized she was holding onto Sana.

  She gasped, taken aback, wondering why she had been holding onto the older elf.

  Her sudden motions woke up Sana, and the older woman sat up as she rubbed her eyes. “Ah, Tufani. Are you feeling better now?”

  “Feeling better? What do you-” Aria flushed a deep red as she finally remembered her freak out from last night’s storm.

  The blush reached her ears as she looked down in embarrassment, unable to meet Sana’s eyes. The others were still asleep, at the moment.

  “I see you remember now,” Sana giggled.

  Aria flinched as Sana put a gentle hand to her shoulder. “It’s alright, you know,” she began, “you don’t have to be ashamed. For the Maker’s sake, child, you’re only fourteen years old! I’d nearly forgotten how young you were given how you’ve acted during your time here.”

  “I’m the daughter of Anila Tufani,” Aria muttered with a self conscious frown, “I shouldn’t have acted in such a shameful manner…”

  She bit her lip, angry at herself, Damn it! It’s been years since that incident, and yet my fear hasn’t lessened at all in that time…

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  “Just because you’re the child of someone important doesn’t mean you’re a grown up from birth. You’ve barely entered your teen years, Tufani. It’s surprising you’ve got such a good head on your shoulders given your age. Especially considering the life we have,” Sana countered.

  Aria kept her gaze lowered to the ground.

  Sana audibly sighed, “Honestly… I’m wondering if that pride of yours is one you developed on your own because of your heritage, or if it’s genetic.”

  “Perhaps both,” a new voice spoke.

  Aria looked up, and saw that Onas had joined in on their conversation. He shot Aria a concerned look, “How are you faring, young one?”

  “I’m fine,” Aria responded a little too quickly.

  Onas didn’t look as though he believed her, but he thankfully dropped the subject, “Very well. The storm seems to have passed, which leaves us much work to do, no doubt. It’d do us some good to prepare ourselves for a busy day.”

  Aria snorted, “Please, the work we do here is child’s play compared to what I’m used to.”

  Sana flinched at that, but Onas merely chuckled, “We are aware. We once had to work outside of Ignis too, you know. Now, let’s get everyone together and meet up with Mistress Adele.”

  Aria couldn’t help but glower as she heard another elf regard a hume with such a title. Onas did the smart thing and avoided her gaze, and thus, avoided an early morning argument.

  ***

  After they all got ready for the day, Onas had them all line up on either side of Adele’s door as they awaited their “mistress’s” arrival. The vile hume took her sweet time before finally making her appearance.

  The doors leading to her master bedroom swung open, and of course the woman couldn’t be bothered to have opened them herself. Rather, she had two slaves each open a door for her as she strode out with an air of self importance.

  If you were as important as you make yourself seem, then I wonder why you were demoted to the Second Circle you voiding ashborn, Aria had to put in some effort to not crack a smile at that thought.

  Adele walked down the hall, giving each slave a glance and lazily assigning them tasks. She stopped when she got to Aria’s position. Though she held onto her stoic expression, her heart began to race as the woman turned to face her and simply… stared.

  Her gaze wandered up and down Aria, and she felt a shiver threatening to escape her. She didn’t like the way the hume was regarding her.

  The woman suddenly reached out and cupped her cheek in one hand.

  Her first instinct was to grab Adele by the wrist and snap it with a burst of Ether enhanced strength.

  Elves.

  Did.

  Not.

  Like.

  Being.

  Touched.

  Especially by humes.

  It took all of Aria’s willpower to remain planted in place and not break the woman’s arm.

  She felt a mixture of fear, rage, and disgust building within her as Adele cupped her face, regarding her features. She then smiled in a manner that unnerved Aria.

  “It’s been about a month since I purchased you, yes?” Adele asked.

  Aria tried to nod, but couldn’t with the hume’s repulsive hand on her cheek. So instead, all she said was, “...Yes.”

  “Yes what?” Adele tilted her head, her smile melting a tad and a dangerous glint appearing in her eyes. The hand cupping her cheek slowly began to tighten.

  Yes, I’ll snap your wrist if you don’t take your filthy hand off me, Aria thought, but out loud she said, “Yes… Mistress Adele…”

  She wanted to throw up merely uttering those words.

  Adele nodded, her smile widening as she finally took her hand off her cheek. Though she continued to gaze at her face in that chilling manner.

  “Yet despite having you for an entire month now…” Adele continued, “I still find myself taken aback at your beauty despite your young age. I know you knife ears were renowned prior to the Great Fragmentation for your grace and beauty. It is difficult to find any one of your kind one could call honestly call ugly. However, even among them you stand out. You were truly a steal for the price I bought you for.”

  Despite the hume contemplating her looks, she saw a sneer on Adele’s face. For a brief instant, she saw the unbridled envy and the smoldering rage it wrought in the woman’s eyes. Aria blinked, and the hume’s elegant mask of calm returned.

  She gave her another unnerving once over, and smiled in a way that reminded Aria of a predator, “I’ll be keeping an eye on you, tree hugger. A rather close eye.”

  She couldn’t stop the shudder from escaping that time.

  Adele let her words sink in before giving Aria her task. She was to go with Sana to clean the roof of his manor. She was all too eager to leave the hume’s presence.

  ***

  Sana looked nervous as she led Aria to do their appointed task. The older elf looked so anxious that it was beginning to affect her too.

  “Is everything alright, Sana?” Aria found herself asking.

  The older woman shook her head and gave her a scared and worried look. It took her a moment to realize that Sana’s fear was not for herself, but for her.

  “I’ve never seen Mistress Adele give such select attention to one of our people before,” Sana explained, “the last one she showed any interest in… she was called to her room, and we never saw her again…”

  Aria’s eyes widened. She gulped and began to break out in cold sweat, “That… does not bode well…”

  “Oh child… That is the biggest understatement I’ve likely ever heard.”

  “What… what should I do?”

  Her first instinct was to slit Adele’s throat as she slept, but she figured that wouldn’t go over well with Sana and the others.

  “I… I don’t know… keep your head down I suppose and perhaps Mistress Adele will lose interest. I hope…” Sana answered unhelpfully.

  Aria frowned in disbelief, “So just hope for the best? Really? That’s it?!”

  Sana looked pained as she wrung her hands in distress, “What else can we do, child?! You know the consequences of defying the humans!”

  The older elf took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

  Suddenly, Sana’s eyes widened, “Wait… keeping your head down and trying to avoid Mistress Adele’s attention might actually be the best move.”

  Aria didn’t believe her, “How?”

  “Your mother,” Sana answered simply.

  Her stomach sank. She felt a lump form form in her throat, Did Sana somehow figure out that my mother and I are planning to escape?

  “I don’t know why I hadn’t realized it sooner,” Sana continued, “from what I’ve heard of her, there’s no way she’d leave you to your fate after being separated from you. So, perhaps… it’s only a matter of time until she makes a move to save you from here.”

  Sana turned to Aria, and asked, “What do you think? Am I wrong about that?”

  She let out a sigh of relief. The older woman thankfully didn’t have the whole picture.

  “Yes,” Aria confirmed before reluctantly saying, “perhaps you’re right. It’s already been a month. She should come for me soon, though I don’t know when.”

  Sana nodded eagerly, “Yes, yes that’s right! So just take my advice and keep your head down. And also… please try to convince Lady Tufani to not kill Mistress Adele… please?”

  Aria closed her eyes in annoyance. She wanted nothing more than to kill the ashborn woman, but she knew the consequences of such an action. Her people would suffer for it. Severely so. Their collars alone made escaping monumentally difficult. The response that would come their way if they killed a hume noble, even a demoted one like Adele, would make it that much harder to escape.

  She opened her eyes and met Sana’s gaze, “Very well. I’ll see what I can do.”

  Sana let out a breath she had been holding, “Thank you…”

  The two worked in silence from there on as they set about their task of cleaning the roof of the manor. It was a bit dangerous as the roof was still wet from last night’s storm, and more than once Aria had nearly slipped and fallen off. She’d managed to finish with Sana without incident, though it had taken quite a bit of time.

  They then separated to help the others with their own chores, and by the time all that was done, the sun had set.

  Adele returned after sunset, and had dismissed them upon seeing they’d all finished their tasks as ordered. Aria couldn’t help but notice her gaze linger on her longer than the others. She avoided eye contact and slipped out with the rest.

  They all had a light dinner before getting ready for bed.

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