Chapter 57 - Assassins and Blackheart

Discourse #11

Oh yes, before I continue with my story, I am afraid I shall have to do another discourse, seeing that it is quite relevant in regards to my story.

Dark elves—they are a race of dark-skinned humanoids, whose skin tones range from grey, black, and the rare purple. If disregarding their skin color, the only other distinguishable trait they have that differ from humans are their long pointed ears, which jut outward to the sides.

These dark elves can be seen roaming around the various human kingdoms in the human lands, creating a bad reputation for themselves, since most of them are raiders.

They are worse than goblins—stronger and more cunning. But taken collectively, they cannot measure up against the population of the widespread goblins.

This race of dark-skinned humanoids have long been a curiosity of mine. By that, I mean to say that dark elves are a mysterious race. And though I have done some extensive research on them during my past human life, the only information I learned came from wild tales and other accounts.

One such tale I had heard from a traveler and from reading excerpts and treatises on the dark elves was that their main population was somewhere along the south-eastern mountain ranges.

Thus, it was quite intriguing to see these dark elves in the western part of the central area of the continent, in Shail Kingdom, my birthplace. Of course, they are also found in many other human kingdoms, and are usually blights upon these kingdoms, raiding small villages and towns.

I have no doubt that you know this basic fact already, but let me state the obvious.

The human lands, which encompass the southern part of Valian continent, is divided into three regions: southern, central, and northern.

My birthplace, Shail Kingdom, is located near the somewhat unexplored far western area of the central region, bordering the ocean with its western boundary.

Oh yes, by the way, having reincarnated into a dragon has given me a new perspective on my previous race.

That is to say—humans are quite numerous.

Yes, I know, it's not exactly the most elegant of observations, but it is undeniably true. There are countless human kingdoms in the southern Valian continent, so numerous that humans pretty much have dominance over the other races in this area of the continent.

The only race that would come close to dominance in the southern Valian continent would be the goblins, whose numbers come close to matching the humans.

The reason why I am discoursing on dark elves with you now, Marius, is because I had not known back then that my ties with this dark-skinned race would deepen irrevocably.

Indeed, I would know more about dark elves than any outsiders would have the privilege to know.

Now then, shall we get back to my story?

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[291 Days Remaining]

At this moment, I was in the middle of a stretch of forest to the north of the frontier town of Listace. This area was where the supposed forty or so dark elf raiders were last seen heading to. The size of the forest seemed large enough to hide those numbers too.

And despite my somewhat okay tracking skills, I still could not find any signs of the dark elf raiders in this forest. It was as if they had erased their trails, and quite proficiently at that too.

I was beginning to regret coming alone as the sole scout to search out this stretch of forest, where beyond it would lead to the northern plains.

The forest floor felt soft under my booted feet, its soft verdant turf making for easy footfalls. I made my way across the forest for a longer moment, searching for any tracks of those raiders. But try as I might, I could not find any hint that the dark elf raiders had come here. I was beginning to believe that the town chief had been wrong, having pointed toward a mistaken direction. Or perhaps the chief had been subtly lying to me, having been threatened by the dark elves. Or perhaps he was secretly working along with those dark elves. These were some ideas that came up in my mind as I searched the forest.

Some more minutes passed by, and I was about to conclude my scouting a failure, when I noticed the cave. To any casual observers, the entrance of the cave would have only registered as foliage and heavy vegetation.

But right away, I noticed something was wrong. There was a purposeful feel to the foliage and heavy vegetation. On a closer look, I also noticed that the green hidden entrance, behind which I assumed was a cave, gave out a faint blue sheen.

Unmistakable. The sheen was from magic—a blue colored magic.

I could feel a sense of uneasiness looking at the foliage, making me want to turn away from this part of the forest, as if the entrance was nothing more than a wild growth of vines and plants. It was as if there was a subtle nudging on my mind, telling me to avoid this area of the forest. I knew then that this was most likely the hideout of those dark elf raiders.

I crouched slightly, and started a cautious pass, checking my immediate surroundings. I moved behind a large tree, which could have hid a thousand things.

I felt suspicion...it was strange that there was no one around here. The place felt quiet. Too quiet.

Then I felt a jolt on the back of my skull. I immediately turned around, but before I could even see my attacker, the ground beneath my feet exploded. I was thrown more than four feet into the air, and landed on top of a moss-covered tree root with a hard thud, the air exploding painfully out of my lungs.

I recovered instantly. The hardness of my skin, even in human form, after all, was no laughing matter. It would take more than that to injure me. The impact of the explosion, though, had left me a little disoriented.

I stood up and cleared myself of the leaves and dirt covering my black steel armor. Then I looked toward the direction where the arrow had been shot from.

Nothing. There was no one there; just a stretch of tall trees, all of them looking undisturbed. I could not sense the presence of anyone here. The area had returned to its unnaturally quiet state, which was out of place in a forest.

Strange, I thought to myself. Was this perhaps the work of that assassin earlier this afternoon?

I paused in the middle of the step I was about to take, stopped by the strange singing pervading the air. The lyrics were sung by an odd voice, coldly sensual and strangely feminine.

The voice was not human...neither was it in any recognizable language I knew. The only reason I understood this mystifying language was due to a dragon's gift for comprehending any spoken language.

“O, my love, love, love. Do you not notice what I feel for you?”

“Your lips quivering, my heart shaking. I still remember the moment we met.”

“The first time I stabbed you, the first time I felt your sweet blood run down my face.”

“The first time we kissed; I still remember the sweet taste.”

“O, my love, love, love. Do you not notice what I feel for you?”

“I swore to the night sky, that these hands of mine will forever hold you,”

“That my love will last forever, that you would never part from me.”

“Yes...even if Death bars my way. Yes...even if I have to preserve you...”

At the end of the song, the woman walking toward me let out a mad giggle. A huge bow was strapped behind her back, and the top end of a quiver jutted outward from behind her right shoulder.

I stared at the strange sight that was her—my attacker. She wore a revealing attire, silky, skimpy-looking clothing that barely covered her bared body. Her pale, long legs were covered only by the barest of thin strips of golden wrappings. On each side of her forehead, two long horns traveled outward, each of the two curving in reverse directions.

Her long hair, which reached toward her thin, elegant waist, was of an unnatural color—a silvery blue that glowed even in the forest bathed by the few rays of light that managed to penetrate through the canopies.

In her right hand, the four-horned female humanoid held the head of a dark elf. Blood dripped down in an easy, steady flow, suggesting that the head had only been recently beheaded. A look of frozen terror was on the face of this male head.

As the female humanoid walked toward me in slow, graceful strides, all of my senses and my gift for sensing danger screamed at me to run away from this presence.

But I could not tear myself away from the inhumanely beautiful sight that was her. I was rooted to the spot, as if frozen in a moment of time.

Emotions churned inside me as the female apparition walked closer and closer toward me. But for the life of me, I could not discern these powerful feelings, having never felt the full brunt of them.

Then it hit me.

I was feeling fear. A cold, hard fear that settled at the pit of my stomach. It even cut through my dampened emotional capacity.

From this four-horned apparition, I felt a riptide of bloodlust, mixed with an ocean wave of ancient something—I could not discern it. Her emotions were a ferocious, foreign torrent battering at me.

The apparition came closer.

But I could not move. I could not even summon my magic, nor could I even begin to imagine fleeing, or even attacking her.

Finally, the four-horned female humanoid and I were face to face.

She drew a long fingernail toward a side of my face, tracing it around my cheek, until it reached my jaw.

“You,” she said in her mystifying language, “are not human. Nor, it seems, are you a dark elf. How curious.”

I battled for control of my body harder, fighting against the freezing and pressing feeling bearing down on me. Somehow, I managed to speak.

“What are you?” I said in a weak and whispered voice, barely managing to spit out the sentence.

My sentence caused a small surprise to be shown on her face, as if she had not been expecting me to speak.

“Impressive that you managed to weaken my hold on you, even if it was only slightly. Though I find it more impressive that you can speak the same language as I can.”

Then the female apparition leaned into me, her soft lips pressing against my own lips. We were together for just a merest fraction of a second, before the horned female darted backward, a cry of agony resounding from her mouth.

She regained her composure almost instantly afterward though, and turned her golden eyes toward my own emerald eyes.

“It seems that you are marked...” she said in a calm voice, expressing no anger or surprise at the pain she had felt previously.

“Marked?” I croaked out weakly.

“Tell me, do you notice what I am feeling right now?” she asked in her strange, calm voice, entirely ignoring my question.

I thought hard upon her question. Naturally, one would assume anger or perhaps even annoyance since she had cried out in agony from kissing me. But I trusted my observation.

I could, after all, sense that she was a little curious about me. After all, curiosity was a long-time lover and friend of mine, one of the few emotions I could truly feel and know about thoroughly.

“Curiosity,” I answered.

Hearing my answer, the woman gave out a short laughter that trilled vibrantly. “Hmm...it seems you are able to notice what I feel for you. How interesting.” The female apparition stared into my eyes intensely. “Know this as I depart, my love. Your answer has spared your life.”

Then she turned her bared back to me and continued, “Oh yes, it also seems like you have company. Do be wary.”

With that warning, the female apparition disappeared.

And along with her disappearance, I felt the hold on my body break free.

I soon heard the footfalls, the crackles of leaves which could have only been caused by a group of humans or humanoids walking. Then from the corner of the trees, a group of dark elves appeared.

That was the last clear vision I had before I fell down onto the forest floor from weakness. Then a final blurry vision of the decapitated head of a dark elf, which the female apparition had been carrying around, was seen.